Well those spring/Valentine's sets don't bode well for the rest of the year's seasonal sets. They are pretty cute though, so I'm hoping the Halloween, Autumn, and Christmas ones are nice builds as well.

How does Cherry Blossoms 40725 have 438 pieces?!

The red bridge looks a little messier than a simple Torii gate would have. Assuming that was excluded for religious reasons.

I see that one of the hedgehogs has a bow in one picture but not the other. At last, the queer representation we’ve been waiting for!

@ShilohCyan said:
""man I really wish a figure came with the Agrabah palace," we said. Lego heard us, and gave us yet another mini-doll Ariel."

I actually have need of her tail, to recreate a shirt I own.

@dudebrick:
0.000 2x4 bricks

@SolidState said:
"The red bridge looks a little messier than a simple Torii gate would have. Assuming that was excluded for religious reasons."
LEGO has certainly made torii-like structures before. I have one they produced for a 4+ Ninjago set. Also, LEGO included St Mark’s in a Venice-themed set, so is not entirely averse to religious edifices despite what it claims.

I’m tempted by this postcard set. I’ll get it and use it as background behind my samurai and ninja minifigures if it isn’t too expensive.

@TransNeonOrangeSpaceman said:
"This time around... It's not very Big in Japan."

What do you mean? You will be bigger than Godzilla in this Postcard-Japan, is that not big enough?

Good to see another Postcard set, and I honestly think this is the best of the bunch so far! Unfortunately still stickers, but at least it doesn't rely on it so heavily as some of the earlier ones. But good to see that after the disappointing Tokyo skyline set, Lego has since done a much better job on other "Japanese" sets.

Except for the Cherry Blossoms, that is..... While they look decent, it feels like I'm looking at just part of a set, not the whole thing. How are you supposed to display these in a nice way? I think they better could have done something like an ikebana set, with just some of those.

No interest whatsoever in the mermaid, just a bit surprised this has the old Ariel. As for the other two, the animals look cute AF and each would have been a perfect polybag, don't care for the other stuff. Set's I'll probably buy on a whim when I see them with a nice discount.

Not the hedgehog set you were expecting eh?

@WizardOfOss: I quite enjoyed 21051; I'm curious why you consider it "disappointing."

Good to see the seasonal sets back. Hopefully they continue through to Halloween and Christmas.

Those cherry blossoms remind me a little of this set:

https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B09VGGM39N?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

(which actually has a really cool feature in those colour changing blossoms - I have that set and it works remarkably well.)

I immediately thought of the Wombles when I first saw that Hedgehog Picnic set :)

@TheOtherMike said:
" @WizardOfOss: I quite enjoyed 21051; I'm curious why you consider it "disappointing.""
Mostly because of the two big and very prominent towers: Tokyo Tower looks waaaay too bulky. It also has the weird 45 degree twist, though that didn't bother me as much. And at least it has the colors mostly right. The same can't be said about Skytree, which apart from the (very) rough shape just doesn't look one bit like the real thing.

Could those have been done much better at this scale? Not sure about that, though a printed grey cone piece for the Sky Tree would have helped to have at least a slight resemblance. But then again: if they can't do it right, pick other subjects.

Also some smaller niggles: Fuji-san has a rather weird un-Fuji shape, and the pagoda and gate are competely random (and unnamed) things even when Tokyo would have a few actual structures they could have picked just as well.

It's not all bad though. The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower is done very well, even when that's in large part result of the big printed pieces. I do very much like how it's not just a bunch of buildings next to each other like many earlier skyline sets, it feels like it's all connected like a real city (the Singapore set does this even better). Shibuya, while not very authentic, at least felt like a very creative solution. And my absolute highlight of the entire set: the Conference Tower of Tokyo Big Sight.

@dudebrick said:
"How does Cherry Blossoms 40725 have 438 pieces?!"

I only want to know how much of Cherry Blossoms with 438 pieces..............

I see that the infamous tower in front of the central tower has been altered.

@AustinPowers said:
...
https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B09VGGM39N?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
...

This set reminds me a little of this set:
https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/10281-1/tn_10281_alt4_jpg.jpg
Wer hats erfunden? Nicht die Schweizer (this sentence is only for germans, sorry)

Animal playtime seems to be a theme for 2024: 2 sets here, one in Creator 3-in-1 and one in Friends so far revealed.

The Ariel mini doll is a deal killer for the Disney “architecture” collectibility-as-set to me, when a minifig variant could’ve been easily produced.

@aap said:
" @AustinPowers said:
...
https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B09VGGM39N?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
...

This set reminds me a little of this set:
https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/10281-1/tn_10281_alt4_jpg.jpg
Wer hats erfunden? Nicht die Schweizer (this sentence is only for germans, sorry)"
To be fair, the set I mentioned was released BEFORE the LEGO Bonsai Tree! So, technically, it was LEGO who "copied" that :-)
In actuality though I have both the alternative set I mentioned (that by the way uses the smaller type of bricks introduced by LOZ) and the LEGO tree, and they are quite different in both design and features.

"I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"

I'm just quoting. They look like pretty cool builds.

@quixotequest: I'm wondering if the minidoll was chosen because it's a Disney Princess set, or because they decided or that'd be easier to mount in the way they did than a minifig. Could be both.

@TeriXeri said:
" @dudebrick said:
"How does Cherry Blossoms 40725 have 438 pieces?!"

Stems of technic cross axles and extensions

40646 : Daffodils comes with 56x https://brickset.com/parts/4109810/2m-cross-axle-w-groove and 60x https://brickset.com/parts/6374076/cross-axle-extension-2m making up half the set piece count.

On top ofthis, this new set has all the technic pins at each branch, 1x1 hollow studs, 1x1 flowers, cupcake pieces , egg shell and leaf piece."

absolutely
Each blossom looks like it has between 3 and 6 elements each, too.

@dudebrick said:
"How does Cherry Blossoms 40725 have 438 pieces?!"

350 flowers 100 other smalls? j/k

One thing I wonder: did Lego also capture the transience of the cherry blossoms? Do the petals shower down gracefully at the slightest breeze?

Those Disney Mini buildings could be interesting collection: 40478 40521 40613 (don't understand why there is not Jasmine in it) BUT unfortunately there is lack of consistency now with minidoll.

To be honest series would suit girls/boys/AFOLs if base would be similar and there would be always minifig in it and neutral box (ocean water in this case).

Not a fan of the price increase of the small flowers, in EU they went up by 15% but elsewhere they are up by more than 23%.

Never having bought a mini-scaled Ariel's castle, I'm thrilled to see this elaborate version perfect to add to my microscale collection! That mermaid-minidoll has always worked well for me, much more than the larger and blockier minifigure version. I'm collecting the postcard sets, so I'm pleased to see a fine addition representing Japan (will the one for Mexico ever be available to the general public? I fear not!). The two seasonal sets are offbeat but cute, especially the heart-shaped mushroom cap. As for the cherry blossoms, my jaw may never climb back to meet the rest of my skull. Genius!

@HDanke said:
"Not a fan of the price increase of the small flowers, in EU they went up by 15% but elsewhere they are up by more than 23%."

roses 12.99 120 pieces
cherry blossoms 14.99 438 pieces
comparing piece count looks like great deal...