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 will be a numbers game. How many times will each flower fall apart during construction? How many times do the leaves fall of when putting it in a vase? And how many times do we see the ‘x’ in the instruction manual for the lovely 10342 Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet (AU$99.99/£54.99/US$59.99/€59.99) ? The LEGO Group kindly provided this set for review, but all opinions are our own.
The first flower bouquet release surprised me with how different and fresh it was. Since then four bouquets have been released; Roses, Wildflower, Flower and now Pretty Pink. Incidentally they are all still available for purchase at time of writing (please consider the referral links provided here). One key aspect of these bouquets is that like a regular flower bouquet, they do not come with a vase which means you tend to get more flower for your money than with some of the rounded botanical sets.
Follow us to explore what this bouquet offers, and if the numbers stack up at the end of our short counting journey.
After looking at the 10343 Mini Orchid yesterday, Branko takes a look at another of the 2025 Botanical sets: This time its the 10344 Lucky Bamboo
Upon seeing the completed 10344 Lucky Bamboo on my table, the comment “It looks better than bamboo ought to” was uttered. We’re looking at 10344 Lucky Bamboo, the last flower of the four noble ones to come out in LEGO form. Bamboo could potentially be very boring, so let’s see how this translate to LEGO.
This set was provided by the LEGO group for review, but all opinions are our own.
A couple of weeks ago, Branko took a look at a set featuring an orchid, albeit with a Disney Flavour. Today, he takes a look at another….
It feels like I have just recently written about a LEGO set with orchids, comparing it with the original, gold standard for brick-built orchids, the aptly named 10311 Orchid. And yet here we are, about to embark on building yet another orchid and comparing it against the other LEGO® orchids. After all, why not?
The LEGO Group has generously provided us with this particular rendition called 10343 Mini Orchid. All opinions are our own. This is part of four sets related to ‘The Four Gentlemen’ or ‘The Noble Ones’; four flowers often associated with each other in Asian cultures. The set contains 274 pieces and retails for AU$49.99/£24.99/US$29.99/€29.99.
Join me as we have a look at this light-weight botanical build, and determine how it stacks up in the world of LEGO flowers.
Another review from Branko today. We asked for a copy of 31158 Sea Animals to look at (Thank you LEGO® Team), and what started as a simple look at a nice looking set got a bit out of hand!
Botanical sets have become an integral part of the Grown-up LEGO® Experience. Since the release of the first life-sized flowers in 2021, they have become such a regular and expected release that LEGO has now decided to explicitly dedicate a theme to it: Botanicals, rather than continue to release them under the generic ‘ICONS’ banner. The theme is expanding in a way that suggests that it is popular (see these newly announced sets and this Botanic garden). But today I would like to look at an alternative to these plants, that may serve a similar purpose: Aquascaping!
An aquarium serves a similar purpose of colourful natural decoration, emphasizing moving living creatures more than plants, so how does this translate to LEGO? Is it possible to create a pleasant natural decoration based on underwater creatures as an alternative to plants?
Today, Branko takes a look at another type of set featuring floral builds: a Disney Botanical set, specifically 43237: Isabela’s Flowerpot. This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes at our request.
The set based on Moana was released a few months after Isabela suggesting that this may be an ongoing series of sets based on Disney characters. Today, we will explore Isabela’s Flowerpot to see what it offers to the ever-expanding field of botanical LEGO sets.
Today, Branko takes a look at several Stich models, and considers how models are displayed in LEGO Stores around the world..
Years ago (2016) I bumped across this Stitch model on LEGO Ideas and I fell in love with it. Regardless whether or not the idea would get approved by LEGO Ideas, I set about building this wonderful creature based on instructions by Tyler Clites (who went on to win US LEGO Masters season 1 with Amy Clites in 2020).
In relation to this new Stitch set, I made two observations how LEGO sets are displayed in store: this varies a lot per store and per country, and I like getting a bit of inspiration beyond ‘what’s in the box’.
A couple of weeks ago, Branko took a look at the 42174 Koenigsigg Jesko Absolut, in Dark Grey. He wasn’t overly wrapt with it, although it is certainly a functional car. The same car has been released in White as well. Will this colour his opinion?
The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut will be available in Dark Grey and White! This is another example of a recoloured set, meaning that it is the same as the ‘original’ 42173 Grey Jesko except for the colour.
In this article, we set out to discover how much the colour has really changed between all of LEGO’s recoloured sets, and we will see how this one compares.
Today, Branko takes a look at another of the upcoming Technic Releases for August 1, the Mercedes-Benz G500 Professional Line.
While building this car, I finally got it! I think I now understand why some people so passionately dislike electric cars! As I was building this beast of a vehicle with the intricacies of the transmission, a 6-cylinder engine and several differentials with or without locks, I suddenly realised that if this was an electric vehicle, it would be a lot less entertaining! All these great inventions have been made over the last century to harness the power of controlled explosions (combustion) in a way that allows us to move vehicles how we want. And these inventions are captured in functional detail in this model with lovely mechanisms and gears. Next: cue electric cars; they do away with the need for any of these inventions. They can just provide power to any wheel any way you want it when you want it with no need for mechanical trickery. Where is the fun in that!?! I can imagine to some people, this feels like using a cheat code in the motoring world, not playing a fair game. I do feel sorry for those people for their perceived loss of classic engineering and, frankly, I love the cheat code that EV’s provide, but I digress.
The LEGO Group and Mercedes-Benz have worked closely together to bring us this detailed model of their four-wheel drive G500 Professional line SUV, in New Reddish-Orange*! If you read my review on the boring-grey Koenigsegg Jesko you will not be surprised that I am delighted that this model contains a bit of colour. And a new* colour even!
For me, Technic models do not need to accurately capture the outer appearance of their real counterparts, but in recent years, there has been an increase in attention to the outer detail, and this is no exception. When finished, it is very clear what this car represents, and it’s a vibrant, striking, and big presence. But, as expected with Technic, the fun with the model is the functionality! The car comes with forward- and reverse-gears, 8 cylinder engine, high and low gear, differential between front wheels and between rear wheels and between front-to-rear with the ability to lock front-rear and rear left-right (if you’re confused just keep reading after the break). All five doors can open and have a working door latch, there is an opening roof window, cargo trunk, working suspension and a spare wheel.
This set is available from the 1st of August 2024 for AU$ 399.99/£219.99/$249.99/€249.99 (affiliate link) and is available to pre-order now. It contains 2891 pieces, which is always an odd statistic with Technic sets with a large portion attributed to pins (over 700 in this set). The set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes, but all opinions are my own.
This is a great set. Yes, that’s a period. I’m not really into cars, or Technic all that much but this is just an impressive set that provides a great balance between looks and functionality. It does come with hefty price tag so keep reading if you want to find out if this is a set for you. Or if you want to see a simple demonstration of the effect of differential lock.
It is a bit of a bugbear for me to see that most cars on the road are white, black or the fantastic mix, grey (sometimes ‘silver’). I realise there are practical reasons for white and resale reasons for black and grey, but I wish there was more colour on the road. Everyone knows red cars are faster, right? So, why? Why? WHY, did Koenigsegg decide to offer their $ 3 million hypercar, the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, in light grey or black?!? And why did LEGO decide to pick exactly *this* model, and not another model in some cheerful colours, and then translate the black version to dark grey!? Who designed this; LEGO Batman?
At 801 pieces and AU$89.99/£46.99/US$49.99/€52.99 this is one of the mid-sized Technic sets and, as seems to have become the norm, is a car. I like Koenigsegg’s cars typically, they have an exotic space-ship style to them and it is nice to see what the Technic team could do with the shape, after we experienced the speed champions version in 2021.
When looking past the colour of this set, there is quite a nice build; there are a few nifty tricks used to capture the shape of the car, and the mechanisms remain easily visible once the car is finished, so nothing disappears completely during the build process.
LEGO generously provided this set for review, but all opinions are my own.
