MT Flexi Bricklink Designer Program 2028 Wave 1 MegaThread
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/2028-wave-1/main.page
Bricklink Designer Program 2028 Wave 1 MegaThread
Welcome to the MegaThread for the BDP Series 2028 Wave 1 Crowd Support phase. Let's get straight to the important questions:
What?
- It's time for the Bricklink Designer Program 2028 Wave 1 Crowd Support phase! This is your chance to vote for the projects that were submitted earlier in September. Your votes will help Bricklink decide which sets will eventually become official BDP sets.
Who?
- Bricklink Designer Program entries are designed by fellow Lego fans. You may recognize some of them as successful creators on Rebrickable, from past BDP programs, or from the creations they've shared here in r/lego. The creators whose designs reach the review stage will work with Bricklink's Model Governance and Building Instructions teams to ensure the designs meet Lego's standards.
When?
- The Crowd Support phase starts on Sep 30th. Voting will continue until Oct 14th. Next, those sets will all head into the review stage, and 5 sets will be announced on Nov 12th. Then a year later, in Oct 2027, those 5 sets will go up for crowd funding.
Where?
- Bricklink! Bricklink is the world's largest site for reselling Lego products. It started as an independent fan site, but is now owned by the Lego company.
- Link: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/2028-wave-1/main.page
How?
- In the comments below, fan creators can link to their projects and hopefully tell us a little more about the project. You can visit the BDP 2028 Wave 1 page and vote for the projects you'd like to become a set. You don't have to commit any money at this stage. That comes during Crowd Funding next year. It's free to vote!
What happened to BDP Series 10, 11, 12? Why 2028??
- The Bricklink Designer Program has changed the name from Series numbers to Wave numbers in the year the sets are expected to release. You can read more about the program on their website.
Closing Notes
- Still have questions? Ask them in the comments below!
- Hey BDP creators, please keep your promotion for 2028 Wave 1 in this Megathread. In previous rounds we've had over 500 projects to vote for, so the promotional posts started drowning out everything else. Thanks for your cooperation. And good luck!
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u/Opening_Background14 13d ago
Something that was recently mentioned by Alex in an interview with Slapshot Bricks (about 43 minutes in) that gives a HUGE insight into how sets are picked- something I think was previously not publicly know. We've known for some time that the goal for each series was to have an average piece count of about 2500 pieces per set. But we didn't have great insight just how sets were selected to meet that goal.
Alex just gave some interesting info that I think will drastically change how people design submissions. While we still don't know how their internal 3-rating system operates (not for me, like it, love it), we know that almost always, they will start with the highest scored set in the voting and basically build the wave from there around that 2500 piece avg goal.
So in the example he gave, Series 11 Elven citadel was the highest voted, and since it was so big, they immediately opt for a small set to balance out the wave- thus the highest voted small set (likely under 1000pc) was picked as petit bouquet. Then, the other three sets are really determined not by which next set had the most votes, but what combo of 3 decently voted on sets can get the overall avg close to 2500. Also not duplicating themes is important, though Alex mentioned that the small set doesn't have to step on toes.
He also mentioned that if there aren't good enough sets in the 1400-1700 range, they basically have to skip over other high demand massive sets. Because of this, he specifically states that the fifth set picked can normally come down to luck, because if they need a set within 100 pieces of 2200, that basically throws out anything around 2000, as well as anything from 2400 to 2600. In this format, they usually wind up with about 3 sets in the top 10 voted sets, but then maybe a set that finished 15th and one that maybe finished even 30th.
he also mentioned that their team is essentially left to play around with the final wave- working with different combinations of sets to see which final group of 5 best balances voter feedback, piece count, and theme.
He went on to mention thats why Royal Nest (Seen by the community as a bit of a controversial pick) was a finalist- because it satisfied a part count for the theme, but indeed was surpassed by other sets for that theme in voting. I suspect thats also the reason other controversial picks, such as the space train, made it as finalists.
The main reason they do it like this has to do with ensuring that their team has enough time to work with the models to refine them to stay on their tight production timeline. So I think the way they do it is here to stay.
BUT revealing that gives a huge insight for designers about how the selection process actually works- its less about sheer voting or judge opinion- its extremely algorithmic.
I think thats going to vastly change the way we see designers approach submissions, as it will definitely encourage strategic designs that fill a niche in a certain part range or theme.
But at the same time, playing that strategy will all come down to that first set- If its 4000 pieces, the next set sizes are pretty formulaic. But if its a 3000 piece set? Less predictable after that. That's how we wound up with a series 4 wave of 2 castle sets and no small set.
So I'd expect to see way less 4,000 part sets going forward, and a lot more in the range of 1300-2600.