Today, Branko take a look at the final, and smallest, Botanicals set due for January 2025 release. While this set was provided by the LEGO Group:

LEGO has provided us with 30701 Field Flowers polybag… no, not polybag, a baggy of sorts. All opinions are our own. When I heard this set was coming I was ready for a rant about polybags being plastic and LEGO was supposed to phase out plastic packaging etc etc etc, and then this bag arrived: a paper bag. Rant over.

For years, polybag has been the popular name for small LEGO sets packaged in these little plastic bags made from PolyPropylene (PP) plastic (category 5), hence the name ‘Poly-bag’.

This bag just provided by LEGO has the icon PAP 22 signifying ‘paper’. The bag quite clearly has a thin layer of plastic on the inside, but the majority seems to be indeed paper. So does that mean these bags are called pappy-bags? Let’s go with that for now.

How strong is this paper? Are these bags going to be a problem in LEGO stores when the bags are handled a lot? And are the contents of this particular bag any good? Read on:

By now, I don’t give paper bags a second thought in a larger LEGO set, but in this case, the paper bag is the entire packaging! These bags are usually hung from hooks and firmly held by children as they are dragged through a store to show a parent. In other words, polybags can see a bit of abuse.

The looks

Looking at the pappybag bag next to a polybag of similar size shows that the paper print looks /nicer because it’s not reflective, giving it a more sophisticated look. The paper doesn’t show as many creases in pristine form, but that will change drastically soon. Notice that the pappybag comes with the same eye for a hook, which doesn’t feel quite as strong as the one in the polybag, but is probably sufficient for in-store use. (read: I could tear the eye in the paper bag with 2 fingers but not of the polybag).

The matte paper shows off the printing very nicely which appears a little cartoonish, giving the impression it’s not quite as sharp as the printing on a polybag.

The Abuse

Disclaimer; I do not value LEGO packaging a lot (I don’t mind a dented box) but I do not abuse polybags usually quite as much as I did with this pappybag. I crumpled up the bag into a ball and stuffed it in my pocket. Next I flattened it an patted it down and pushed the paper into the bricks inside the bag. The bag did not flinch.

After ‘recovery’ the bag actually still looked fine, if anything it gave a stronger impression, like it had gone through a rough time and came out on top.

The Contents

With that, it was time to rip open the packaging. There is a neat perforation that provided absolutely no guidance on the opening of the bag, but it opened with very little effort anyway.

A nice smattering of greens, yellow and gold appear. No parts stand out particularly. The instructions are a single flat sheet of paper, reminiscent of ye olden days when many LEGO sets would come with instructions like that, but it’s almost redundant; with the picture on the outside of the bag many people can probably figure out how to build this.

The Value

This pappy bag contains 77 parts which is quite decent for a set priced around AU$8/US$5. I have rarely seen this kind of bags sold online, but rather, they seem to be a staple next to the register at LEGO stores and provide good value in my book (Ed: In Australia, they are pretty well the exclusive province of LEGO Branded stores, your experience in other markets might vary) The final build is a neat set of flowers, with the biggest challenge of finding a nice way to display them; they need a very small vase (which, as the bag says, is not included).

In Conclusion

I give this pappybag 5/5 arbitrary praise units. I am very pleased with the paper bag, it contains an elegant neat set of flowers with a short sweet fun build experience. If you see this there is no reason to pass it by.

How do you feel about the shift from plastic poly bags to paper ‘pappybags’? Leave your comments below.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!