LEGO Ideas designer makes last-minute changes to crowdfunded set

The LEGO BrickLink Designer Program’s Castle of the Forest has undergone a series of last-minute changes ahead of tomorrow’s first crowdfunding round.

While other projects reach the ‘production ready’ phase at the last minute or are otherwise bumped to a future crowdfunding round, French builder Daniel Van Zonneveld has been tinkering with his design to make sure backers know exactly what they’ll be getting from his Forestmen-inspired castle.

The changes focus specifically on the parts used for the accompanying minifigures, with a torso, head and legs all swapped out for alternative versions. In a comment on his project page, Daniel says that the replacement parts were suggested by the LEGO Group ‘due to the fact that we’re running out of time’.

A green torso that was only available in the Build-a-Minifigure bar in LEGO Stores has been swapped for a red torso that’s currently exclusive to 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens; the dual-moulded dark tan and brown legs available in 21320 Dinosaur Fossils, 76384 Hogwarts Moment: Herbology Class and 21325 Medieval Blacksmith have been replaced by fully-dark tan legs; and a Forestmen-inspired head has made way for a similar, stubbled version included in 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay.

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Daniel says he’s also had to abandon the idea of including the classic Forestmen hat – in a nod to the Castle subtheme that inspired his model – as they’re no longer in production. While his build itself has remained relatively unchanged from his initial project on LEGO Ideas, the extensive changes to the minifigures arguably expose the flaws with realising rejected sets through the BrickLink Designer Program, rather than the LEGO Group releasing them as regular products.

Of course, you can always turn to a secondary marketplace – say, BrickLink – to grab a handful of Forestmen hats for your minifigures when the set arrives. You’ll be able to secure a copy when the first round of crowdfunding for the BrickLink Designer Program opens tomorrow, July 1, at 4pm UK time. As long as it’s one of the first five of the seven projects to hit 3,000 backers, the Castle of the Forest will go into production for delivery towards the end of 2021.

Click through the links below to check out all seven projects in this first crowdfunding phase. The second and third rounds will kick off on September 1 and November 1 respectively.

Castle of the Forest
BIONICLE Legends
Great Fishing Boat
Sheriff’s Safe
Pursuit of Flight
Particle Accelerator
Kakapo

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Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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