Alt W.A.L.T.: Building a Bley BrickLink Travel Buddy

LEGO was going to send me the upcoming BrickLink Designer Program set, W.A.L.T., to take an early look at before preorders start next week on February 16th. But before we jump into our “review” and the mishaps/hijinks that followed, let’s take a step back and look at the history of the BrickLink Designer Program.

AFOL Designer Program

In 2019, LEGO celebrated its 60th anniversary. That same year, The LEGO Group acquired BrickLink, and to celebrate Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs), they introduced the AFOL Designer Program. Similar in spirit to LEGO Ideas, designers using BrickLink Studio were invited to submit original models for a chance to have them produced as official sets.

The first round featured a range of models evaluated on originality, visual appeal, building experience, clever part usage, and other criteria. Sixteen finalists moved into a crowdfunding stage, allowing fans to preorder their favorites. Sets that met their funding goals were produced, and notably, many were not minifigure-based.

The Evolution of the BDP

Two years later, the concept returned as the BrickLink Designer Program (Version 1). This BDP leaned more heavily into the Ideas ecosystem, offering a second chance to projects that had reached 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas but were not selected for production.

The BrickLink team invited several designers from this “10K Club.” One major difference from LEGO Ideas: the original submitter remained the primary designer of the set. LEGO Ideas projects, by contrast, are adapted and finalized by official LEGO designers.

Which brings us to the current iteration of the BDP program, which launched in December 2022. This notable change introduced crowd voting, allowing fans to vote on what they would like before the actual crowdfunding portion. As a result of the change, every design produced so far for the BDP has included a minifigure. Until today!

Trouble for W.A.L.T.

LEGO was kind enough to offer BrickNerd an early copy of W.A.L.T., designed by Victor Pruvost (@Leewan). I pitched a review focused on expanding W.A.L.T.’s already expressive facial options and taking him along as a travel buddy on a whirlwind trip from February 4–9.

But there were some challenges ahead! The first sign of trouble was a DHL shipping delay and catastrophic box damage. This box seems to be more tape than cardboard now:

Still, the package arrived two days before I flew to the West Coast — plenty of time to build it and brainstorm some potential W.A.L.T. upgrades (a jet pack? Mech suit? Moon buggy? It is Febrovery, after all).

I’ve bought several BrickLink Designer Program sets before — most notably Jonas Kramm’s Mushroom sets (or as I affectionately call them, the Mushroom Cinematic Universe). So I was expecting the standard BDP box. Instead, I received what looked like a Pick-a-Brick online order. This makes sense since the sets themselves aren’t even in production yet, and the instructions are pre-release digital copies, so these are just the pieces to build the model. But where was all the white? Was this for a steampunk variant of W.A.L.T.?

This is clearly not W.A.L.T. but was instead the Antique Collection by Fuma Terai (@terauma). Obviously, there was a miscommunication as I was not planning on doing a review on the Antique Collection. My hopes and dreams of building a travel buddy for my upcoming trip were dashed.

We Have LEGO at Home

As I looked more and more longingly at the photos of W.A.L.T., as with many things or objects I see in the world, I started thinking about how I would have built it… So I said, screw it, I’ll build my OWN version of W.A.L.T. in my favorite colour! With the actual pre-release instructions in hand, I set upon my collection to start gathering parts.

Have you ever wondered if you could build a set from scratch with your own pieces at home? Well, I had one night to try. Thankfully, I do have a pretty hefty supply of Bluish Grey, more commonly referred to as “Bley” in the community

B.L.E.Y. – Busy Little Exploring Y-bot

Built with only a few hours to spare before my trip, my version of W.A.L.T. was ready for our 6 AM departure! Let me introduce you to Busy Little Exploring Y-Bot or B.L.E.Y. — my personal bootleg BDP set.

It was a surprisingly fun challenge substituting parts and adapting techniques to compensate for missing elements. Some pieces simply don’t exist in Light Bluish Gray (Medium Stone in official LEGO lingo), and a few areas required creative interpretation, but I was genuinely happy with the result.

Travel Buddy

The real question: How good of an exploring buddy is he?

I put him and his extra facial expressions in the super Sci-Fi-y and sturdy “Loc of Zip” so I would not lose any pieces. I tried to put it in my suitcase, but…. if you own this particular LEGO luggage, you already know: it’s small for the sake of aesthetics and studded interoperability. That said, I’m glad I brought it. The photo opportunities alone justified the decision.

I must say this robot is sturdy. The designer Victor’s SNOT (Studs Not On Top) game is top-notch, meaning it’s a pretty solid build all around—so sturdy that I carried B.L.E.Y. in a Ziploc bag on the flight and later in the side pocket of my Uniqlo cargo pants (please sponsor me, Uniqlo!)

Airport security sadly didn’t even ask me anything about it. Missed opportunity. And B.L.E.Y. made it safely to sunny San Diego (I get why people like it there):

Exploring with B.L.E.Y.

Arriving at my destination, the real fun began. Followers on my Instagram know I typically travel with a plush frog companion on my adventures. Swapping him out for a LEGO robot was a delightful change of pace. And let me tell you — I have never had more strangers ask questions about my life choices.

At one restaurant, a waitress was so intrigued that we ended up walking her through how to preorder W.A.L.T. on February 16th. Unexpected grassroots marketing, but I’ll take it.

Here’s a photo sampling of the crazy adventures we got up to:

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Besides being fairly sturdy combined with Victor’s clever way to swap out W.A.L.T.’s faces/expressions, I was fairly impressed with the posability of the model. The articulation is what really makes the character come alive. B.L.E.Y. handled dynamic poses easily, making staging photos far more entertaining than they probably should have been.

We put him in all sorts of fun situations that I still giggle about. 

Even with only a single night to source parts and build B.L.E.Y., I couldn’t resist customizing him further. I needed to add a few upgrades. The modular face system almost invites upgrades. For me, I created some additional chest plates, and of course, I had to change it from a robot into a Frog Mech:

With more time, I would like to try adding a bit more articulation in the arms to bend at the elbows, but that’s a task for another day…

Enter W.A.L.T.

My whirlwind itinerary took me through San Diego, Raleigh, and Atlanta, including the final stretch of Atlanta Brick Con. After five long days, I finally made it home and saw another package from LEGO waiting for me.

LEGO (well, technically BrickLink, operating somewhat ironically out of California where I had just been) had kindly sent a replacement W.A.L.T. set, unaware that I had already built B.L.E.Y.

Comparing the official version to my home-built variant was fascinating. The main difference between the two is the cones used on the legs introduced in the 10318 Concord. Combined with newer ball-and-socket elements, the official W.A.L.T. feels slightly more stable and refined than my improvised version.

I also skipped building the cargo container in my B.L.E.Y. iteration (the one designed to store all the alternate facial expressions) mainly because it would have required sacrificing my second cargo pant pocket during the trip. That and I’m honestly kinda tired of making cargo containers after New Hashima.

What started as a shipping mishap turned into one of the most enjoyable “reviews” I’ve ever done.

W.A.L.T. is expressive, sturdy, and surprisingly full of personality. Whether you build it straight from the instructions or reinterpret it in your own favorite color, the design invites creativity. In comparison with many of the minifigure-based submissions that are approved by the BrickLink Designer Program, this set feels more like an AFOL creation, full of life and personality, and I hope it sets a trend for future BDP selections.

So thank you to LEGO and BrickLink for ultimately delivering the correct W.A.L.T. — and more importantly for producing an affordable set that begs to be played with rather than just being a model on a shelf. I give it a big thumbs up!

BDP Series 7 preorders open February 16 at 8 AM Pacific Time and close February 23rd, so be sure to secure yours before they sell out. W.A.L.T. will be available for around $40 US.

DISCLAIMER: This set was provided to BrickNerd by BrickLink. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

What color would you like to make your own version of this cute little robot? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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