Sorry for the wait, but I’m finally back open on Bricklink.com. You can visit the store here. I’m working on getting the eBay store back up and running. In the meantime, there are a few new sets I’ve accumulated from during the closure to include a few GWPs.
We’re still running the current campaign for the Brick Chalk Guy so 15% of the profits will go towards buying sets for kids who can’t afford them.
Thanks and happy building!
We’re up to round 5 here. I think Bricklink needs to slow these down a bit. We haven’t shipped round 1 and we’re already voting on round 5. Maybe if they did fewer rounds we could keep up with these better? Or maybe Bricklink needs to do this many because it takes so long to develop the sets?
Either way, round 5 was released for voting. You can vote here until 14 June 2024. As with the past four rounds, I selected five that I liked. I will be honest and say that I wasn’t too impressed with this round. There were a lot of castle, pirate sets, and modular type buildings. I was hoping to see something different out there. Here are my thoughts (which include some repeats from past rounds):
Up first is Biplane 2.1 which contains 2,743 pieces by EmanueLego. This isn’t the first time I’m recommending a biplane by this builder. The design looks similar, but this one has some different colors with some flames. It also includes some smaller biplanes to go with it. I don’t have high hopes that we’ll see this one go through, but I think a biplane would go good with my Concorde.
Farm Life contains 2,877 Pieces by builder FNeuwald. We have had CITY farm sets in the past, but this is a bit of a larger set. It’s not a giant farm, but it’s a good start if you’re looking to build a larger farm MOC. Plus you’d get some additional animals which is cool. It’s a bit compact and the farm house is a little small, but it works.
Harbor contains 2,642 pieces and is by user Anast55. This one is cool with some trucks, trains, and boats to move cargo. The crane looks interesting, but I’ll be curious to see how it works. Also the cargo ship is rather small. Maybe the upcoming CITY cargo set will go along with this set? We’ll have to see if this gets voted in and how the final design would end up.
Inverted Corner Building contains 2,496 pieces and is by user Rexkeks. I think the design could use some additional work, but I like the concept of an inverted corner. It could be a cool addition to the modular building line and to a lot of LEGO cities.
Last up is the Popcorn Wagon with 577 pieces by user Mictur. This is a fun smaller set to go in a city and at 577 pieces it hopefully won’t strain our wallets too bad. I’d like to see this one get into the mix.
Somehow I’m trying to will the crowd to select the sets I think are cool. So far it’s worked on one out of every five nominations I’ve made. Maybe I need to try and think like the crowd? Anyways, you can see my round 3 selections here. Once again, only one of the five sets I liked made it through. Let’s take a look at the final picks for this round.
Camping Adventure by user name thepresident14 contains 643 pieces. This one is a smaller set and hopefully that means not as expensive (hint, hint LEGO if you’re reading this). I think there are a lot of camping/camper related sets already so I wasn’t a big fan of this one. It could go well with #21338-1: A Frame Cabin though as the trees look similar.
Forest Stronghold by username Krackenator contains 3,208 pieces. The Castle fans had yet another win. Don’t we have enough grey sets with the Star Wars line? Okay, you have to admit this one looks cool. The two structures with the bridge and then rope at the top to swing across. There’s some creative stuff in this one. The piece count is sure to make this one cost an arm and a leg though.
Harbormaster’s Office by username Rich_Herbert contains 2,395 pieces. To me, this one was similar to #21310-1: Old Fishing Store. Maybe it’s a chance for folks who missed that one to grab something similar? I like some of the details and what I assume will be stickers. You might be able to connect it to the Old Fishing Store as well which could be fun as a dock scene.
Lost City by username letsgolegobrick contains 3,332 pieces. This one is a very detailed build with some cool looking techniques (the roof colors are awesome). You could see LEGO doing a whole theme with this one. I wasn’t a huge fan of this set myself, but it is an impressive build. With the number of pieces, it’ll be a pricey build too.
The Art of Chocolate by username Brickester contains 2,574 pieces. This was the original pick that I had. I’m a big fan of this one as it’s something out of the ordinary from what we normally see. Plus you can use it in your Winter Village or with your modular buildings.
Well done to all the builders. I look forward to seeing the final products! Happy building!
After a brief hiatus, Bricklink is back up and running. If you missed it, a brief synopsis of the situation is that the Bricklink became aware of some fraudulent activity going on in October. Apparently people were listing sets at very cheap prices, accepting payment, and then not delivering. These payments were not through PayPal or Stripe, but instead through direct fund transfers (having lived in Europe, I’m familiar with this process). This activity culminated in a ransom letter being delivered to Bricklink threatening to start taking out the larger stores until the funds were paid.
Out of precaution, the Bricklink team put the site in maintenance mode to update their security protocols. The site went back online on 8 November 2023 with a requirement to update your password before moving forward. I updated my information and logged in with no issue. The Bricks for Bricks store is still there with the full inventory listed. It is back open so check it out! The forums have more details on what happened and the response if you want more information.
A big shout out to the Bricklink team for working through the issue. Thanks to them for fixing the situation, protecting the site, and keeping it all operational.
Happy building!
This isn’t my first post on the Bricklink Designer Program so I’m not going to go into all the details again. I’m hoping you’re up to speed by now. Voting ends on 20 October 2023 so go cast your votes now! The link is here.
And as a shameless plug, while you’re at Bricklink, you can check out the Bricks for Bricks Bricklink store to see what retired sets and minifigures are there. .
My top five picks to become sets are below (not in any particular order). For the past two rounds, I’ve gone one for five so let’s see if everyone agrees with me or not this round.
American Steam Locomotive
By Bricklink User: stijnd
Contains 2,141 pieces
As a train fan, I’d love to see more trains. This rendition of a steam locomotive is incredible and would look great going around your CITY layout. LEGO won’t produce trains that we want so let’s create some as a fan community. I haven’t seen a video of this one working, but it would look great even as a display piece or in a rail yard.
Octan Highway Truck
By Bricklink User: el_presidente0
Contains 531 pieces
The Octan brand is pretty classic and I think this set represents the brand well. Plus this one doesn’t have a ton of pieces so the cost should be lower. Maybe they’ll be able to add a logo into the final design. Even if it’s a sticker.
Picturesque Italy
By Bricklink User: levsi54
Contains 3,908 pieces
There were a lot of modulars in this round again. I didn’t want to pick a bunch again, but I really like this one. It has a good mix of buildings and would help to make your CITY look better with the addition of three well designed buildings instead of just one.
The Art of Chocolate
By Bricklink User: Bricester
Contains 2,574 pieces
This one could fit in a CITY, in a Winter Village, or just on it’s own. There are a bunch of play features and it is a great display piece. I think it would look great if you lit it up too. It’s fun to see a different theme as we haven’t seen something like this before.
Two-Seat Biplane 2.0
By Bricklink User: EmanueLego
Contains 2,268 pieces
I recommended a biplane before and I’ll try again. I like this design. It’s a great display piece and it looks like a fun build.
In case you’ve missed it, the 2023 Bricklink Designer Program or Series 1 as they are calling it is open for selections. You can find the program details and submissions here. They are open for voting through the end of March 2023. The program has some big changes this time. Unlike previous rounds where they crowd funded designs and the sets with the highest number of pre-orders get made, this one gives you three voting options. For each submission, you can select an emoji. There is one for “not for me,” one for “like it,” and one for “love it.” You can vote on as many sets as you’d like (only one vote per submission) and the vote tallies are secret so there are no popularity contests.
Overall there are some great submissions in the program. There are a lot of castle, pirate, and classic space themed sets which would be great for fans hoping for more parts and minifigures. There are a ton of buildings of which many fit into the modular line.
One complaint I have of the program is that when I go to vote on a set and then go back to the submissions, it re-arranges the order of the submissions. This was annoying as I had to search around to find the ones that I wanted to vote on after voting on a submission.
I don’t know how many they will end up producing, but I voted on five as being “love it” sets for me. So here were my picks:
#5 - Florentine Palazzo by fan user name paupadros - This modular compatible building contains 3,511 pieces and I think it looks awesome. The different floors can be removed for access and there is plenty of detailing on the inside. The yellow color with the white looks really good and then the flowers help to make the set stand out. This would be a great set to go along with #910023-1: Venetian Houses from a previous Designer Program round. At over 3,000 pieces, this one would not be cheap in the end, So we’ll have to weigh the amazing details and lot of pieces against the potential cost.
Picture from Bricklink.com
#4 - Black Biplane by fan user name EmanueLego This set contains 2,408 pieces.and I think it looks stunning. Some of the commenters weren’t pleased that it was all black, but there could be a possibility to make it interchangeable with different colored parts. I think the designer captured a lot of great details on this one and I like the addition of the stand. I have a copy of #10226-1: Sopwith Camel .in my collection and I think it would be great to have another biplane to add to the mix.
Picture from Bricklink.com
#3 - Parisian Street by fan user name CARLIERTI1 - This set contains 3,465 parts and would look amazing in a city scene. It’s not fully modular compatible as it is just the front half of the buildings, but that could be remedied based on how you set it up in your city. This one has a ton of great details, but does have a sticker sheet so we’ll see if that’s an issue or not. . This would look great next to #10243-1: Parisian Restaurant.
Picture from Bricklink.com
#2 - P-51D Mustang “Red Tail” by fan user name brick_squadron. This set would contain 743 pieces and I think it would be another awesome addition to the limited number of aircraft models outside of the CITY line. This one is technically a weapon system so I’m not sure LEGO would produce it, but it is historical and we don’t seem to have a problem making weapons for Castle, Pirates, or even the new Lord of the Rings set. This set is a little smaller, but still has some great details and would be a great tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen.
Picture from Bricklink.com
#1 - Coral Reef Diorama by fan user name Falkorich. This set would contain 1,707 pieces and is jam packed with details. I’ve seen a few fans create their own coral reefs and I think it would be great to have one as a set. The minifigure divers and whale are an awesome addition to the set and if you look at the write up on Bricklink, it is modular as well so you can take it apart and re-assemble as desired. I also think this one is something completely out of the ordinary that LEGO hasn’t done before so let’s broaden out the set themes away from some of the standard themes we see all the time.
Picture from Bricklink.com
Happy voting!
I lost track when I made the initial order. The last estimate I saw, it was 10 months ago. Well, they’re finally here. The 2021 Bricklink Designer Program Round 2 sets are shipping or maybe already arrived to you all. In case you aren’t familiar, the Bricklink Designer Program for 2021 was a chance to bring back some of the non-licensed Ideas sets that received 10K votes, but didn’t make it to production. LEGO, through Bricklink, crowd funded these sets and selected the ones that achieved 10K pre-orders. I managed to get the five that made it and they just arrived. A quick rundown of the sets is below. I’m not sure which ones I will build and which ones I will add to the Bricks for Bricks Bricklink store. You’ll have to check the store for updates.
The design of this one is cool, but I saw something that it was originally supposed to have minifigures and then they were removed before production. I’m thinking I may add this one to the store at a later date. We’ll see.
The box I received had a few rips to the printing on the box on the side. Nothing major. I like the concept of a modular building that fits with the others, but I’m not sure if I’ll build this one. We’ll see.
The idea of this one is great and the design is cool. Sadly my box showed up pretty beat up. As you can see by the picture of the back of the box, there is a large crease. Some of the seals showed up detached from the box. I will most likely keep this one, but am not sure whether it will be a display piece, if it could fit in a city scene, or if I will build it and then store it for a future date.
This one is a fun concept, but I’m not sure what I’d do with it. This one will end up in the store at some point.
I think this one is awesome. This is a definitely must build on my part. Sorry if you were hoping it’d end up in the store!
I did it! My store got featured by a famous AFOL in the Fan Media who called me out by name to say thanks for getting him the set he needed to finish the coolest video ever!
Or not so much…
Okay… in the video below, David of Solid Brix Studios, builds a LEGO Star Wars MOC only using sets from LEGO without any additional pieces. If you skip to the 3:20 mark, he holds up set #75098-1: Assault on Hoth. So yeah, he bought it from the Bricks for Bricks BrickLink store. I get it, you watched the video and he said none of that so I could be making it all up, but you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
So thanks David for supporting Bricks for Bricks and our efforts to give. The current campaign ends in 10 days so we appreciate all the orders and for helping us to help others.
We were able to give $928 to Creations for Charity through our giving campaign that started in August and ended in November. Thanks to everyone who made purchases from our store so we could be so generous to a great cause!
According to the Creations for Charity site, this year they raised over $35,000! This is awesome! Thank you to everyone who donated whether it was through buying from the site, supporting the Beyond the Brick 24-Hour live stream, or making a purchase from Bricks for Bricks at our Bricklink.com store.
We will announce our next campaign soon. In the meantime, happy building!
I’m slightly late to the game, but the 2021 Creations for Charity drive started back on 15 October and runs through 30 November. You can read more about the drive this year and what Creations for Charity is by going to their website here.
15% of the profit from sales at the Bricks for Bricks (on BrickLink.com) store will get donated to Creations for Charity on 29 November. So if you don’t see anything you like at Creations for Charity’s site, but you do at the Bricks for Bricks store, you can still support.
Thanks for your willingness to give! Happy building!