Trees are large, making them less than ideal subjects for life-size LEGO® models. Bonsai, the Japanese art of cultivating trees to grow in a miniaturized form in limited space, offers an end product that may be better represented in a domestic brick-building studio.

Bonsai trees have been part of the Lego Botanical Collection since its earliest days, and we recently saw a Japanese red maple added to the collection. Set 10373 brings us a collection of three small bonsai trees: a ginko, a Japanese black pine and a wisteria. But will this be a beautiful decoration, or the start of something more interesting?

LEGO® Botanicals set 10373 Mini Bonsai Trees will be released on 1 August. It is priced in $AUD99.99 / €59.99 /£54.99 / $USD64.99 and has 709 pieces. Let’s take a closer look. [This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

The elements

We start by taking a look at the parts. The set comes with 6 bags, two per bonsai.

We have a repeated cluster of dark blue elements: tiles, plates, brackets, and one by two curved slopes with an inward arch amongst the elements. There are generous collections of many different plant specific elements: yellow and green 2×3 foliage elements; leaf plates in yellow and spring yellowish green; Volverine claws in green (70 of them!) lavender peonies and floral studs, as well as white and bright purple daisy elements. Our tree trunk elements are tan, reddish brown, and dark tan, as we work through the different models, and there are plenty of arches,SNOT elements, and connector bars present. Exoforce ‘bad robot’ arms appear in each of these colours, as well as bicycle handlebars. The clip ad bar element appears in green for the first time. Finally, there is a mossy, organic “design plate 1x1x2/3 No.4”, and a frog in olive green.

The set comes with three instruction manuals, and each manual includes a paragraph about the significance of each. Let’s work through in order.

The Ginko

The build for this starts with a pot on a 6 x 6 space, placing a number of brackets and covering in the outer edges with dark blue tiles. Indented arch elements make for fluted corners. The overall effect is quite dramatic. The overall look is incredibly simple but elegant. So elegant that it will be repeated for each tree.

We build onto this pot with some lime green tiles. At the base of the ginko tree, lime green tiles and olive green surface, while light tan slopes and archers formed the curved trunk of the tree. A macaroni tube is attached to a snot brick and, in turn gives rise to further branches through a T-connector. At the top of the trunk, a brick with studs on four sides provides a number of bars serving as connection points for Exoforce’s bad robot’ arms. Onto this, we connect dark tan bicycle handlebars; these handlebars support foliage elements which are decorated with leaf plates and butterflies.

The Japanese Black Pine

The Japanese black pine uses a similar basic pot but also features a small table with a mesh surface.

The trunk of the tree is brown and consists of a number of macaroni tubes and a dragon horn attached to bars and clips; Reddish brown handlebars are used to support the foliage elements which are covered in green and dark green plates before being decorated with 70 claws in green.

The Wisteria

The final tree, a wisteria, again uses the same basic pot design. This time the table is extended on bricks and supported at the lower end using antennas slotted into the studs on the side of snot bricks at the base. Tucked away inside the table is a small frog appearing in olive green. This harks back to the original Bonsai Tree’s use of pink frogs to represent cherry blossoms.

The trunk of this final tree is built up in dark tan, zig-zagging back-and-forth with larger curved elements as well as the standard macaroni tubes having T-connectors with the now routine tan ‘bad robot’ arms and handlebars supporting the foliage. On this occasion, the foliage consists of a stack of leaves, the new Daisy element, and the element and the five pedal stud. Unfortunately, the foliage on the Wisteria is not as dense on this tree as it is on the other models, and does not do as an effective job at duplicating the source material. It does, however, effectively demonstrate the versatility of these botanical elements, not simply as leaves and flowers but also as part of a larger plant.

Thoughts

Each of these builds is relatively simple and comes in just two bags. They did not take long – maybe around 20-30 minutes each. They could easily be done by a group, each working on one specific tree with varied techniques, either to be handed out as gifts or to go towards some other greater purpose.

While thinking about this review, I was wondering just why do we find ourselves dealing with so many bonsai trees in the botanical range? And then I realised that is certainly a multifaceted purpose: bonsai, a small, elegant and looks great on a table, that’s a big tick for anyone who’s not established LEGO fan just looking for something to decorate the house, perhaps to build with friends.

However, these builds do use a significant number of elements and present some interesting, relatively advanced building techniques, particularly for the purpose of getting the shape of the trunk. When we look at their final finished scale, they really aren’t that far off mini figure scale for the purposes of decorating a small parkland MOC.

Each of the specific botanical elements: the traditional foliage elements, leaves, butterflies, green handles, green claws, spring yellowish-green leaves, bright purple and white daisies, lavender peonies and lavender floral studs, all appear in significant quantities and could certainly be rearranged into the foliage of your choice, with the elements used for the trunks and branches certainly being useful for creating your own designs as well. I wonder if this set is where the true strength lies.

What do these trees have to teach us?

While the trees share a similar form, quite different techniques are used for each. It reminds us that we are moving on from the simple, single piece large pine tree that is now moving on to qualify as a ‘heritage element’

I note that the foliage for each tree is quite different: the ginko had a horizontal foliage element, decorated with other elements, the pine has these decorated foliage elements mounted vertically, attached to the handlebar elements with a clip and the wisteria features a literal stack of elements, attached to the handlebars via the hole in the stud of a 2×1 rounded plate.

As such, you can see that great effort has been made to ensure that a variety of techniques are demonstrated in the model, providing multiple opportunities for learning new techniques for both the fledgling and experienced MOC builders.

Are they fit for minifigures?

I took the Ginko and the Black pine, and placed them on a plate with minimal supporting scenery. From here, I added just a couple of minifigures: in the first, the geisha prepares to meet a lord who, in deference to years of tradition, has chosen to engage in an unexpected display of affection.

Meanwhile, the Sushi Chef prepares to sit beneath the black pine deep in thought before heading out to prepare fish for the day.

In both of these examples, the overall scale seems to work for minifigures, and certainly brings a bit more realism than some of the other options used in LEGO sets over the past 50 years…

The design of the pots, I think, is particularly elegant, and the use of the inward arch to create the fluted corners continues to impress me after staring at it on and off for more than a week. The trunks all provide elegant details for small landscaping, and the foliage barely scratches the surface of what is possible with the provided elements.

In short, 10373 Mini Bonsai Trees has a lot to offer, as a decorative feature, a team build, or even a launching pad for more interesting tree builds to go with your minifigures. I got more than I expected out of it, but I feel it would be better value at a lower price (although the pricing is consistent with previous botanical sets of this size.) I give it 3.5 out of 5 Arbitrary Praise Units.I expect this will be someone’s first LEGO Set, and it will open up a world of possibilities for them.

the 10373 LEGO Botanicals Mini Bonsai Trees l will be released on 1 August and is available for preorder in some markets. It is priced in $AUD99.99 / €59.99 /£54.99 / $USD64.99 and has 709 pieces.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!