For the first time in a while, LEGO BrickLink Designer Program sets have sold out before the end of crowdfunding, offering advice for Series 8.
With just hours left in the pre-order and crowdfunding phase for the seventh series of the BrickLink Designer Program, 910059 Privateer Frigate Fortuna, 910060 Sushi Restaurant and 910062 Alchemist's Shop are completely sold out. It's the first time that we have seen BrickLink Designer Program sets sell out since the 'real-time production allocation' strategy was introduced in Series 6. That series saw the strategy work well and ensured that all models remained available for the entire crowdfunding phase.
The idea behind the strategy is to adjust the number of sets produced for each set based on demand. Those not selling as well may have their number of copies dropped to accommodate more stock in the sets that are selling better, or those that are selling better may receive a boost without such a sacrifice.
| Image | BDP Series 7 set | Price | Current allocation | Percentage pre-ordered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 910059 Privateer Frigate Fortuna | £319.99 / $349.99 / €349.99 | 40,000 | Sold out |
 | 910060 Sushi Restaurant | £249.99 / $279.99 / €279.99 | 40,000 | Sold out |
 | 910061 Antique Collection | £99.99 / $109.99 / €109.99 | 30,000 | 47% |
 | 910062 Alchemist's Shop | £179.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 | 42,000 | Sold out |
 | 910063 W.A.L.T. | £34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 | 30,000 | 54% |
The latter is what we saw with Series 7, where 910061 Antique Collection and 910063 W.A.L.T.'s base 30,000 copies have not been dropped, but the other three models have received boosts to their allocations.
“What we can do is, in real-time, look and see if a set’s trending towards 15,000,” BrickLink Designer Program Lead Alex Kastelic explained to Brick Fanatics and other LEGO fan media in Billund.
“We know a majority of sales happen in the first 36 hours and the last 24 hours of the crowdfunding period. So we can shorten that window, which allows us more flexibility with our production team to get things ready. If something jumps from 30,000 to 50,000, there’s a little bit of extra planning that needs to go into that.”
This change also saw the progress bars get removed, causing fans to not know how close sets were to selling out without digging into the website's source code. Without doing so, you would have had no idea that the three Series 7 models would sell out this afternoon.
“That’s one of the things that caused some chaos,” Alex acknowledged. “We weren’t thinking about if we adjust the numbers, then all of a sudden the progress numbers are jumping around, and that creates confusion as well. So we’ll remove that. It’ll handle a lot more similarly to what you’d see on a normal launch day on LEGO.com.”
The BrickLink Designer Program is only getting more popular day by day, recently setting a new record in Series 10. While we didn't see any sets sell out in Series 6 following the introduction of this strategy, three of the five Series 7 sets have still managed to do so just before crowdfunding ends later today. It suggests that the program is more in demand than expected, and might forecast a warning for future series.
The next crowdfunding phase for the BrickLink Designer Program will be for Series 8 on June 1, featuring five more sets. These are listed in the following table, though final designs have yet to be revealed.
BrickLink Designer Program Series 8 finalists
| BDP Series 8 set | Pieces | Stickers | Designer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Coconut Cape | 2,425 | 0 | BallisticBricks |
 | Hot Air Balloon | 876 | 0 | ExeSandbox |
 | Brick Railroad Locomotive | 1,428 | 4 | Thomas Roeder |
 | University of Science | 3,995 | 7 | KingCreations |
 | Dustmark Keep | 4,000 | 9 | Brickproject |
We can tell from these fan models that some of them are inevitably going to be more popular than others. Based solely on the sold-out sets in Series 7, you'll want to crowdfund Dustmark Keep and University of Science as soon as possible. These are the projects based on Castle and modular buildings, similar to 910059 Privateer Frigate Fortuna and 910060 Sushi Restaurant.
Expect the Pirates-adjacent Coconut Cape and Brick Railroad Locomotive train to follow closely behind, looking at other popular sets in the BrickLink Designer Program. Hot Air Balloon falls into a similar category as 910063 W.A.L.T., as the smaller and likely more affordable set of the round. not selling out but doing decently well.
It will be especially interesting to see whether the BrickLink team adjust the real-time product allocation further before Series 8 and this summer, and the two other series beyond it. Nothing is officially confirmed for now, and the last two Series 7 sets remain available to order for a few more hours.
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