Today, we have another of our 2024 Creator 3in1 set reviews from Branko: 31149 Flowers in Watering Can. It’s available now, But is it for you? Read on to find out what he thinks…

When faced with the question ‘what LEGO set should I buy’ an easy answer would always be :”Go for a Creator 3-in-1 set, you cannot go wrong.” Until now. I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this set ‘31149 Flowers in Watering Can’, released on the 1^st of January 2024, with 420 pieces priced at $AUD49.99 /USD29.99 /€29.99 /£24.99.

I firmly believe that this set is the right set for someone so I will set out what it has to offer and how it compares to other offerings from LEGO.

Read on to find out if this set is for you.

This review will consist of the following sections:

Introduction

As all 3-in-1 Creator sets there are instructions for three alternative builds in this box, in this case a watering can with flowers in it, a boot with flowers in it (that seem to have had better days), and a pair of parakeets. The most striking feature of the box is the amount of yellow. Yes, there is a lot of yellow in this box

Should you buy this set?

That’s right; let’s start with the bottom line: should you buy this set? To answer this there are a few considerations; does the subject appeal to you, how good is the build experience, is it good value for money?

Let’s dive into these three aspects, before going into the details of the builds.

The watering can.

A resident LEGO store employee at Rambling Brick remote office commented: “It’s cuter than I expected” and “it’s smaller than I expected”. The yellow watering-can dominates the view, and the flowers and butterflies are quite basic. If you like butterflies, a much better offering is 21342 The Insects Collection which is only a bit more complex (despite its 18+ rating). If you like simple flowers there are Friend Flower polybags at less than 1/5^th of the price of this set and there are several flower sets such as Roses, Lotus Flower, Cherry Blossoms or Sunflowers for half the price of this set, albeit without a vase. This main build doesn’t offer anything that isn’t available in a better package elsewhere, unless you want the watering-can. If you are a fan of Fleur and Sarah’s build in Australian LEGO Masters season 3 episode 12 (a watering can with flowers) then this can be a reminder of their time on the show.

Perhaps the alternate builds will be more convincing. The parakeets, unfortunately, also do not impress me. They are cute, but they only use a small number of the provided parts (see build details below), and set 40522 Valentine Lovebirds have two lovebirds at half the price of this set. Judge the photo yourself if they are worth the extra money.

Finally then, the boot. I find the subject amusing, making it the second type of foot-covering released as a set but it doesn’t feel quite worth the price tag. It made me smile, but it’s just not very convincing. (Third if we include this year’s Retro roller skate)

With all that being said, this is a 3-in-1 set, and you get all of this in the box. If you see something in each of these builds that you like, and if you like yellow, then perhaps getting overall the this is for you.

Perhaps the set is this good value for money as a parts pack? Alas, not really. Yellow is a fairly common colour and it dominates the contents of the box, so you may find that most of the contents of the box can easily be found elsewhere. There are a few nice pieces and colours in there (more on this below) but not in quantities that make it worthwhile just for the parts, unless you really like yellow.

This leads me to assign two out of five arbitrary praise units to this set. I will not readily recommend this to anyone, but it does provide some entertainment and it is something unusual in the LEGO assortment.

What’s in the box?

Opening the box reveals 3 paper bags (read our stress test here) and 3 instruction manuals. The instruction manuals are all approximately the same thickness which bodes well for each of the build experiences.

Building the Watering Can

Because the knoller-in-chief was not on-hand for this review the knolling was performed by our summer intern, who has a lot to learn. Bag 1 shows a dominance of yellow pieces but not particular unusual or new pieces.

Throughout the build unusual pieces are used to support the alternate builds in this set, showing they are not just an afterthought. 

Unexpected shapes and even some facial expressions appear, triggering a smile while building (bonus points).

By the time we reach the end of bag 1 a solid column has appeared with studs ready to receive cladding to turn it into a watering can. The build experience so far is reminiscent of Brickheadz , with some odd parts usage thrown in. The main difference is that the shape does not really look like anything yet.

Moving on to bag 2 we get ready for a significant turn towards yellow. I have been told that there are great many LEGO parts in yellow and I could not help but feel unimpressed with the contents of this bag, except maybe the yellow elbow (65473 Brick, Round 2 x 2 D. 45 degrees Elbow) that previously only appeared in yellow in 71411 The Mighty Bowser.

The outside of the can is created in three straightforward parts so that quickly the watering can is finished. This leaves us with a recognizable yellow, somewhat square, watering-can. The way the spout is connected into the can is quite nice, but… overall..meh.

The last bag finally got me a little excited due to a smorgasbord of unusual colours such as lavender, light aqua, bright light yellow, lime, yellowish green. The part 24201 Slope, Curved 2 x 1 x 2/3 Inverted has not yet appeared in a set in lavender before, and there are 2 provided in this set. The best part for me is the transparent 61252 Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Open O Clip (Horizontal Grip) with 24x (!) provided in the box!

The next steps of the build becomes a little repetitive unfortunately. We build three identical flowers (in different colours) and three identical butterflies (in different colours). The flowers also all have the same leaves and you’ll build 24 of them.

In the end you’ll be left with a half-decent flowery display with a bit of a distracting yellow pot under it. It isn’t bad, but it certainly isn’t good, especially for the price of the set.

Building the Parakeets

Moving on to the next build allows our summer intern to try their hand at knolling again to review all the pieces in the set. Nice pastel colours on the right, a big pile of transparent clips near the middle and the majority of yellow on the left.

While building the base for the parakeets it struck me that I had to pay closer attention than usual with a LEGO set. For example, in step 22 two pieces must be placed that are already present on the base, so where do I need to place them? Careful comparison with the bricks in your hand will reveal it but it isn’t quite as easy as most instructions nowadays (regardless of age rating). Most sets that I recall have a small red outline around the pieces to be placed, which seems absent for these instructions.

The resulting base looks nice and colourful and shows none of the yellow so prevalent in this set. Note that these flowers are a little different from the ones in the watering can.

The next few steps reveal the simple structure of the first bird. Simple but adorable.

Its partner has a slightly different construction avoiding repetition.

How cute are these little birdies? A lovely display piece by itself, but the issue is with the pieces still left over (and the price paid for that pile). Perhaps it’s possible to build the boot without disassembling the birds? Let’s find out.

Building the Boot

Surprisingly the build stalls very quickly for the boot. Already at step 5 the boot wants some eyes and you can see the birdies have other ideas. From there nearly every step needs some parts from either the base or the birds themselves.

By the time the foot part of the boot is done there isn’t much left of the birds so it’s clear, you can not build the boot and birds at the same time.

The build progresses in much the same way as the watering-can to create a solid core. As soon as the ‘cladding’ goes on a difference is apparent. Because the yellow slopes are put onto a black base, the base shines through the slopes, making the slopes appear ‘dirty’. This really does not look good and I recommend replacing that plate with a yellow plate to hide this issue. The sides use yellow plates so they don’t suffer the same issue.

Once the boot is complete it is filled with three identical flower indifferent colours; we know the drill by now and that is it. The flowers look a little sad, as if the boot has stomped on them rather than provide a living space for them.

Like the watering-can the yellow dominates the view, but in this case the flowers don’t provide much of a display by themselves, so the main feature really is the boot.

Very short summary

This set is not for me. The biggest downfall of this set is ironically the page at the back of the instructions showing some of the sets that are due to come out in 2024, that look much more exciting. And then there are all the great sets that are already out on the shelves; this set just has too big a boot to fill.

Please let us know if you find that this set is for you, because we’re sure there is a home for this somewhere. Leave your comments below to let us know what you think. [Editor: I have a need for a high volume of LEGO in interesting shapes at the moment due to a project at hand. This might actually be for me!]

If you think this is a set for you, you can find 31149 Flowers in Watering Can now at LEGO.com, priced at $AUD49.99 /USD29.99 /€29.99 /£24.99. [affiliate links]

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!

This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All Opinions are Branko’s