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.
One of the most popular ranges for adult newcomers to LEGO has been the Botanical Collection which has now broken free of its ICONS co-branding. Today, four new sets have been revealed. First, there are the 10343 Mini Orchid (274 Pieces) and 10344 Lucky Bamboo (325 pieces). Both are due for release on the 1st of January 2025. Together with last year’s Chrysanthemum and Plum Blossom, they make up the ‘Four Gentlemen.’ These plants are frequently depicted together in Chinese Art. These sets both retail at $AUD49.99/€29.99/£24.99/$USD29.99
There are also two of the more traditional bouquet/flower arrangements. Set 10342 Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet has 749 pieces and will be released on January 1st 2025, priced at $AUD99.99/€59.99/£ 54.99/$USD59.99. We will need to wait for February 1, 2025 for the 10345 Flower Arrangement. It has 1161 pieces and is priced at $AUD179.99/€109.99/£94.99/$USD109.99.
There are plenty of LEGO® sets that have been released over the past couple of years that have given builders the chance to put together some brick built flowers, but otherwise not formally labelled as being part of the Botanical Series.
The 40863 Flower Trellis Display is a novel set, bringing us some colourful flowers growing on a vertical trellis. It is a substantial build that brings a pleasing , unique floral model, arriving just in time for Mothers’ Day in May ( in Australia at least – other geographies might vary.) It is scheduled to be available April 1 – 16, with a purchase threshold from LEGO.com of: 150 EUR/ 150 USD/ 135 GBP/ 240 AUD.
Interested? Let’s take a closer look. This set was provided by the LEGO Group: All opinions are my own.
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 1st 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:
It’s coming up to January 1st. This means two things in the Rambling Brick Household:
A new Botanical Set is awaiting review.
The Knoller-In-Chief and I have just celebrated another wedding anniversary.
As such, part 1 was able to contribute to the sense of occasion associated with part 2. This year, the new year Botanical release, hot on the heels of December’s Tiny Plants is the 10328 Bouquet of Roses. This 822 piece set brings us a dozen red roses, along with a little spray of baby’s breath to break up the sea of red. It goes on sale with on January 1st for $AUD99.99; $USD59.99; €59.99; £54.99
Was this just the activity to cap off the week that began with Christmas Day? let’s take a look.
Another of the upcoming June Releases, 40647 Lotus Flowers looks like it offers a simple but effective floral arrangement in a relatively inexpensive package.
When we got our first look at the Flower Bouquet, one of the first questions that people asked was ‘Why are the roses that colour? Surely they should be red.’ I should know, I was one of those people!
One of the overarching design goals was for it to surprise people with what subtlety, what simplicity, what elegance we can achieve with LEGO Bricks. Those are adjectives I don’t think you would hear a lot of people necessarily use about a LEGO toy. Many other positive adjectives (were goals) like elegant, sophisticated – I hope we achieved that. One of the things that came first to mind was that we have this beautiful soft peach colour, and we’ve barely used it. We’ve certainly never used it like this….
Anderson Grubb, designer of the 10280 Flower Bouquet set.
And so, in part that challenge was to drive that set towards surprise, subtlety and sophistication. And while you cannot deny the subtlty of that colour, it is probably not what many people would expect from a rose.
As we approach February, and with that, the 14th – Valentines Day , we find our selves reminded that
Roses are red, Violets are blue
This poem can’t express myFeelings for you
Anon.
And so, at this point our attention turns to roses, and indeed rose buds, which are a traditional gift at this time of the year..
I was recently sent some examples of the new Xtra sets for 2020. These can be great little parts packs to enhance the quality of a small vignette, but perhaps can be expensive compared with other ways to increase your supply of the elements enclosed. I compared the new 40376 Botanical Accessories with 40310, from 2018.
The older set has retired in some markets from shop.lego.com (including Australia), but you might still find it in your LEGO Branded Stores. The new pack was released on 1st January 2020.
When we look at the bags side by side, you get a pretty good idea of what you are getting yourself into, with all elements illustrated on the front.
The original version had a large and a small tree, a shrub, some examples of the ‘new flowers and leaves’ as well as a white picket fence, and some spurs of 3 leaves. In addition to these parts, we also receive 2 frogs in yellow.
In the new version, we have two small conifer trees, as well as a small brick built tree in blossom. Again there are two fence elements (in reddish brown) and some of the relatively new ‘curly grass.’ We also have some of the new flowers in light royal blue and the new daisy design. We have two ‘bamboo elements’ used for the base of the flowers, although the 2018 leaf is included, in both bright green and orange. We also have 2 small 2×3 foliage elements in white.These can be substituted for the bright yellowish Green ones on the tree, for a more wintery feel. I like the addition of the buildable tree to this set – it feels as though there is a little more to it than the set from 2018.
Here are elements included in each set, initially as they are in the bag, and then after putting together the flower stems and the like.
Its all very well having these parts around the place, but what can we do with them. I think each pack works quite well as a way to create a lilt garden/pice of parkland:
Perhaps I would have been better off aiming for a wintery tree instead of using the white elements here… but I thought they both work quite well as a way to provide some scenery for a simple minidoll.
I think I prefer the versatility of the new set over the old: the 3-leaf plants feel quite different to the current generation of LEGO flowers. Personally, I am not a fan of the bamboo leaves under the flowers, but there are plenty of other elements to use with the flower stem.
At $USD3.99/€3.99/£2.99/AUD6.99 each, I would not recommend these as a way to buy these parts in bulk, with the possible exception of the trees. The floral elements, as well as the new leaves in green I have found in pick a brick walls at our local certified stores.
I was sent a copy of the 40376 Botanical Accessories by the LEGO group for review purposes, and had a copy of the earlier set floating around, looking for an opportunity to escape from its polybag. With the exceptions of a couple of polybags, that may not find their way into routine retail channels, the Xtra sets (and classic Blue/Green boxes) are some of the only sets available this year with a RRP less than £5/$USD5. I give both of these backs 3/5 Arbitrary praise units. As a way to quickly enhance a small scene, they are great BUT they are not necessarily the best way to bulk up your supplies of the smaller elements.
What do you think of these two sets? Do you prefer the old or the new? Leave your comments below and until next time,
Play Well.
While you are here,
You have probably heard about the current Bushfire emergency, currently engulfing the eastern states of Australia. Over 11 million hectares has been affected by the fires.
