Bricklink's AFOL Designer Program 2019

[Dr Jedi]

It would be nice if this became an annual program for BL, particularly if LEGO would keep putting some official logo on the set, as they are this time.

[Lordoflego]

Does anyone know how are these packed?

[DadsAFOL]

Does anyone know how are these packed?

They will be packed by hand. They will have custom boxes, but no Lego logo on the box. I imagine the 16 models will have a similar box style but it hasn’t been revealed yet.

[hockeyweasel]

Admin comment on one of the sets (I think it was Wild West Saloon) is that production will be limited to 2500 of each funded set.  If all 2500 are bought during pre-order, then none will be available after the funding period.  That puts an interesting twist on it.

[Dr Jedi]

4 hours ago, DadsAFOL said:

They will be packed by hand. They will have custom boxes, but no Lego logo on the box. I imagine the 16 models will have a similar box style but it hasn’t been revealed yet.

Where is the Lego 60th Anniversary logo going to be?

[KShine]

Some additional info regarding packaging.

@Admin Would you please provide more information on the packaging of these sets. Are they to be packed in sturdy cardboard boxes? Will they be illustrated and in color?

Yes, they will be packed in sturdy cardboard. The exact nature of the boxes is
not known yet, but they will be illustrated and identified by color photos and
printing. These will not be "brown box basics", but will be something a collector
would be proud to own.
 

How will the parts be packed inside? All in one bag or several?

We are separating parts by stage (sets have up to five stages) and the bags will
be numbered by stage. Bags with small parts will be stored inside bags with large
parts. Parts are separated into bags with the building process in mind.
To give you an idea of scope, the Wild West Saloon is tentatively slated to be
split into 16 different bags, with 2 stages.
 

How will you ensure that the correct parts are included?

Every bag will have an inventory, and every bag will be checked by weight and
some other means before being sealed.
 

Is LEGO doing the packing?

No, we are doing it all in California.
 

I can’t imagine they are all being hand picked!

Yes, they will be packed very carefully by hand. There will be a few machines
involved (a bag sealer, for example) but it will be largely manual labor. The
setup costs for a mechanized run are out of our range.
 

Lastly what form will the instructions be? A print out on copy paper or more like LEGO instructions?

They will be professionally printed in four different sizes depending on the
size of the set.

[minicoopers11]

I’ve pre-ordered one of each of most of the designs. This castle is, by far, my favorite. Not going to dabble in resale here, but it could be very lucrative.

[minicoopers11]

On 2/7/2019 at 6:23 AM, hockeyweasel said:

Admin comment on one of the sets (I think it was Wild West Saloon) is that production will be limited to 2500 of each funded set.  If all 2500 are bought during pre-order, then none will be available after the funding period.  That puts an interesting twist on it.

But what if 3000 are bought during pre-order? Or would that not be possible?

[KShine]

7 hours ago, minicoopers11 said:

But what if 3000 are bought during pre-order? Or would that not be possible?

I would guess that it will simply show sold out at 2500 - It appears that a couple of the sets (Castle & Saloon) might sell out before the end-date.

Some of the backers will likely fail to follow through with the purchase - so hopefully they will allow standby orders.

[marcandre]

I ordered the Hot Shot. Will go well with the carnival rides. Would love to see lego do a whole line of smaller theme park sets. 

[KShine]

36 minutes ago, marcandre said:

I ordered the Hot Shot. Will go well with the carnival rides. Would love to see lego do a whole line of smaller theme park sets. 

If this BrickLink AFOL Designer Program is successful, I could see the designers extending their themes into more similarly related sets (such as additional Castle/medieval theme add-ons, Western themes, or other Carnival games/attractions).

My guess though is that the actual costs/work/complexity involved in completing these projects (once they actually do it) will be the biggest roadblock for things going forward.

$200 for everything involved in the Castle is way too low (the cost of 2,000 pieces, the cost of designing and creating packaging, the man hours involved in hand sorting, the designer must be getting a %, the free shipping, etc). That is where things get tricky - Not many people would pay a more reasonable price for the set (some would, but not many), and at $200 what profit (if any) do people really think will exist in the end?

[eliminator]

Just looking at these again, really wish the Skyline Express could be motorized. Would be a nice addition to Lego city layout.

[Alpinemaps]

I ordered the Hot Shot. Will go well with the carnival rides. Would love to see lego do a whole line of smaller theme park sets. 

That’s the one I preordered as well. I agree. I hope to see more of s similar nature. It will go well with a theme park theme.

Just looking at these again, really wish the Skyline Express could be motorized. Would be a nice addition to Lego city layout.

JK Brickworks showed how something similar could be motorized. I’ve started gathering pieces to do just that, otherwise I’d preorder that set.

[KShine]

2 minutes ago, eliminator said:

Just looking at these again, really wish the Skyline Express could be motorized. Would be a nice addition to Lego city layout.

 

jazlecraz (the builder) stated:

 

Hi everyone and thanks for the support so far! For those asking about motorising this model, I actually designed the model to be compatible with a power functions motor and battery box. See the attached image for some basic steps on how this conversion works. Disclaimer: This motor conversion has not been tested yet and so may need some tweaking to get it to work reliably, but I believe the basic concept is sound. Similar approaches have been proven to work by other builders on this new roller coaster track. If this model hits the crowdfunding target I will put together some instructions on how to do the motorised conversion and post them here. Thanks again everyone! And I hope the backers enjoy the model (assuming we meet that pre-order goal!) P.S. You can check out some more images of the set and the motorised version of the train on my Flickr stream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/65513684@N04/?

 

 

 

[eliminator]

11 minutes ago, KShine said:

 

jazlecraz (the builder) stated:

 

Hi everyone and thanks for the support so far! For those asking about motorising this model, I actually designed the model to be compatible with a power functions motor and battery box. See the attached image for some basic steps on how this conversion works. Disclaimer: This motor conversion has not been tested yet and so may need some tweaking to get it to work reliably, but I believe the basic concept is sound. Similar approaches have been proven to work by other builders on this new roller coaster track. If this model hits the crowdfunding target I will put together some instructions on how to do the motorised conversion and post them here. Thanks again everyone! And I hope the backers enjoy the model (assuming we meet that pre-order goal!) P.S. You can check out some more images of the set and the motorised version of the train on my Flickr stream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/65513684@N04/?

 

Awesome, looks like I'll order one for sure. Probably Lowenstein Castle and the Hot Shot game as well.

[Mark Twain]

If this BrickLink AFOL Designer Program is successful, I could see the designers extending their themes into more similarly related sets (such as additional Castle/medieval theme add-ons, Western themes, or other Carnival games/attractions).
My guess though is that the actual costs/work/complexity involved in completing these projects (once they actually do it) will be the biggest roadblock for things going forward.
$200 for everything involved in the Castle is way too low (the cost of 2,000 pieces, the cost of designing and creating packaging, the man hours involved in hand sorting, the designer must be getting a %, the free shipping, etc). That is where things get tricky - Not many people would pay a more reasonable price for the set (some would, but not many), and at $200 what profit (if any) do people really think will exist in the end?

It’s crowd sourced from studio 2.0 designs, so no designer is getting paid per say and I’m certain the 2500 count is a number agreed upon with Lego, who will be sourcing all brand new bricks and likely sorting them, too. Instructions and packaging will be a huge question mark in terms of quality. The AFOL program is basically an advertisement for Studio 2.

Really, the main limitations of this moving forward is the restrictions placed on designers.


Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Forum

[KShine]

5 minutes ago, Mark Twain said:

It’s crowd sourced from studio 2.0 designs, so no designer is getting paid per say and I’m certain the 2500 count is a number agreed upon with Lego, who will be sourcing all brand new bricks and likely sorting them, too. Instructions and packaging will be a huge question mark in terms of quality. The AFOL program is basically an advertisement for Studio 2.

Really, the main limitations of this moving forward is the restrictions placed on designers.

After some looking around, it appears that "BrickLink will pay 10% of total sales revenue to designers for all successfully crowdfunded AFOL designs including pre-order".

This is well deserved, and great to hear for the designers.

[locidm]

2 hours ago, KShine said:

After some looking around, it appears that "BrickLink will pay 10% of total sales revenue to designers for all successfully crowdfunded AFOL designs including pre-order".

This is well deserved, and great to hear for the designers.

Wow good to know. 10% of revenue is $50,000 for the Lowenstein Castle assuming it sells out. That's a pretty nice earning. I would have thought giving the designer a certain percentage of profit instead of revenue would be a better risk management approach. 

Does anybody know if Lego Ideas designer gets a percentage of profit/revenue too?

[DadsAFOL]

[quote
Does anybody know if Lego Ideas designer gets a percentage of profit/revenue too?


1%, but the scale is much larger

[fuzzy_bricks]

I looked at the castle when this was originally posted, I liked it but wasn't interested in purchasing it, that old west saloon has my money though.

I may have missed it, but what exactly is Lego's involvement in this?  Are they supplying the bricks at a good price or just not shutting this down with a nasty letter from legal.

[DadsAFOL]

I looked at the castle when this was originally posted, I liked it but wasn't interested in purchasing it, that old west saloon has my money though.
I may have missed it, but what exactly is Lego's involvement in this?  Are they supplying the bricks at a good price or just not shutting this down with a nasty letter from legal.

Yes they are supplying the bricks at cost. They also consulted on the approvals/feasibility. There is a “behind the scenes” video on BL that gives you a feel for their involvement.

Bottom line - this is one of many experiments by TLG (such as Forma) to look for growth opportunities.

[fuzzy_bricks]

5 minutes ago, DadsAFOL said:

Yes they are supplying the bricks at cost. They also consulted on the approvals/feasibility. There is a “behind the scenes” video on BL that gives you a feel for their involvement.

Bottom line - this is one of many experiments by TLG (such as Forma) to look for growth opportunities.

Thanks.  Checking those videos out now.

I'm glad we're seeing some different projects than just what Ideas has been providing, even though some of those have been very good.  I'd really like to see some of the OFS companion models, although I'm not sure that's possible since they've been submitted to Ideas.

[modelsinminiature]

Couldn't resist the castle..ordered one.  How about some highly detailed modulars?  oh so many ideas here.....

[eliminator]

2 hours ago, modelsinminiature said:

Couldn't resist the castle..ordered one.  How about some highly detailed modulars?  oh so many ideas here.....

Yea, would have been nice if they dropped at least one modular into the mix. Perhaps Lego imposed some restrictions on BL...

[locidm]

1 minute ago, eliminator said:

Yea, would have been nice if they dropped at least one modular into the mix. Perhaps Lego imposed some restrictions on BL...

the restrictions were that it had to be limited to the builder's palette on Studio 2.0 and limited to 2,000 piece total. I heard that the minifigure selection was very limited in the palette too. The total piece count of 2,000 probably eliminated the possibility of good modular buildings.