Comparing LEGO BrickLink Series 7 finalists to original designs

With the final designs and prices of the LEGO BrickLInk Designer Program Series 7 sets revealed, let's compare to the original submissions.

LEGO BrickLink Designer Program sets tend to go through fewer changes than LEGO Ideas sets, but there's still a lengthy period for refining and polishing the designs. Often these changes are to improve the stability or quality of the sets, rather than making any major aesthetic changes to the original fan designer's build.

With the final versions of Series 7 of the BrickLink Designer Program now officially confirmed, read on to take a look at each set in turn to see what's changed.

Privateer Frigate Fortuna

BrickPerfection's Privateer Frigate Fortuna appears to be structurally much the same, with all the original masts, cannons, and marine architecture from the first iteration. However, there are some minor aesthetic changes to the ship, with a new figurehead in sand green, rather than the original grey, a darker colour used for the pale panels on the side, and the flags at the top of the masts changed to blue and white from red and yellow.

Those changes have increased the piece count from 4,000 to 4,087. There also appears to be more minifigures manning the deck, rising from 10 to a mighty 20 in the final version.

W.A.L.T.

Leewan's W.A.L.T. is the cheapest set in Series 7, bringing robot cuteness in a compact package. The final version includes a buildable crate to house the extra pieces needed to switch out his expressions, but those six face options and the design of W.A.L.T. himself remain largely unchanged.

The box opens up to reveal sections to keep the tiles and plates used to switch out his expressions, while the design of the box fits into the set's sci-fi style. The blue accents also match the colour of the robot's default 'happy' face.

Sushi Restaurant

Brickproject's Sushi Restaurant has increased by 200 pieces, from 3,409 to 3,604 elements. These have presumably gone towards refining the structural build of the set and expanding the number of minifigures up to 14, as there are hardly any major changes to the build itself. That's not to say nothing has changed, however.

The base has been adapted to be rectangular with sharper corners, rather than the smoothed edges of the original, and there's some extra panelling added to some parts of the exterior. The rail on which the tram sits also appears to have been adapted, with a different style of base and some extra elements to add a boundary to the end. Plus, the final version has the new addition of a travelling food cart.

Antique Collection

Many of the ingenious building techniques from terauma's Antique Collection have remained through to the final version, like the clever way to recreate an open book and the use of circular elements to make the cosiest LEGO armchair we've ever seen. The intricate details on the display cabinet also remain almost completely unchanged, with only some minor changes to the legs of the unit, perhaps for stability.

That lack of changes is reflected in the almost-unchanged piece count, rising from 1,471 to 1,504 bricks, a difference of just 33 pieces.

Alchemist's Shop

Last but not least comes Shram's Alchemist's Shop, another set with an expanded piece count of roughly 200 bricks. The biggest change has been made to the autumnal tree outside, with new leaf elements used to add more diversity to the model. The colours on the roof tiles have also shifted, moving towards more of a gradient from green to grey and black.

There are also tweaks to the designs of several minifigures, adding additional Castle factions to the final version and a more modern-looking horse pulling the carrot. The minifigures now span the Horse Knights, the Griffin Knights, and the Kraken Knights, as well as some unaffiliated characters – including an alchemist with eye-catching pink hair.

Every LEGO BrickLink Designer Program Series 7 set

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