You'll never guess which LEGO BrickLink Series 6 set was funded first

The first LEGO BrickLink Designer Program Series 6 set further suggests that the program should be the new 18+ home of a certain theme.

It should come as no surprise that BrickHammer's Outlaw Forest Den is the first of the five sets in Series 6 to be funded enough to be made. There's little doubt that all five models will be funded enough eventually, but this once again shows the clear demand for LEGO Castle creations in this program and their success within it.

We've already posited that the BrickLink Designer Program should be the new home of LEGO Castle, and the consistent push from the community for more castles and castle-adjacent builds in the program's series suggests that it is slowly but surely becoming just that.

Pair the quick success of 910057 Outlaw Forest Den with the recent retiring LEGO set sale that just started in Australia, and it furthers our point, but changes what the BrickLink Designer Program should be for LEGO Castle in this modern era.

That new sale has seen 10332 Medieval Town Square reduced by 25% and while we have yet to see whether the discount will come to other regions, it implies that this particular medieval model hasn't been as much of a hit as the LEGO Group was hoping.

Both 10332 Medieval Town Square and 10332 Medieval Town Square are due to retire at the end of the year, after approximately one and a half and three and a half years on shelves, respectively. Most of the LEGO Group's other medieval or fantasy-adjacent creations have some kind of IP attached to them, but even the retiring 21341 Disney Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sisters' Cottage has been subject to a price reduction in the new sale.

The LEGO Group launched 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle earlier this year as a sign that the original legacy theme can still live on outside of the BrickLink Designer Program, but it might be best for the ultra-detailed 18+ creations to remain squarely within the program. They shouldn't stop entirely, but the LEGO Group doesn't necessarily need to do a job that the community is handling on its own.

Instead, the wisest investment for the LEGO Group would likely be to support the community's efforts for 18+ sets via the Bricklink Designer Program, while expanding the lore of LEGO Castle in official models. 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine is one example of this, with its two new factions, and many submissions in Series 9 of the BrickLink Designer Program are based on these new groups.

There's little doubt that the LEGO BrickLink Designer Program is a modern-day refuge for LEGO Castle, and while the official 18+ medieval sets may not have found the audience that they were expected to, there's more than enough demand as part of the BrickLink Designer Program to satisfy fans.

You can crowdfund all five of the Series 6 sets right now, and stock should last a while through the crowdfunding phase this time, thanks to the familiar product allocation strategy. Make sure you place your pre-orders before October 13, when this round of crowdfunding will end.

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