Review: 31169 Typewriter with Flowers
Posted by benbacardi,
One of this year's small Creator 3-in-1 sets is 31169 Typewriter with Flowers, allowing us to build a pink-themed typewriter, flowerpot, or bizarrely, a keytar.
There's also an additional element of choice provided with each model, as they all come with a piece of "paper" with three different phrases to choose from.
Let's take a look at this 363-piece set and see if it lives up to the high standard set by the rest of the line.
Summary
31169 Typewriter with Flowers, 363 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 6.9p / 8.3c / 8.3c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A lovely typewriter, a decent flowerpot, but a strange third model.
- Cute typewriter build
- Bright and colourful designs
- Strange choice of alternative model
- Printed phrases would have been preferable to stickers
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Unusually for a Creator set, the box contains one small sticker sheet with three stickers on it. They're each intended to be attached to a 2x6 white tile representing a piece of paper, giving you three options for the first line of your text. The first two are written in a typewriter font, but the latter in a handwritten style, presumably to be used with the pen and flower pot rather than the typewriter.
Typewriter
The main build is a small pink typewriter. Construction begins with the base, and includes a loosely-attached keyboard that rocks slightly back and forth when you press it, simulating the feedback you would get from a real typewriter key. The keys are non-functional (it would be very impressive otherwise wouldn't it!) and a single arm is included. Keys are represented by white 1x1 round tiles.
Enclosed at the rear is a small mechanism that can slide left and right within the housing, to which the carriage is later attached.
With the housing complete, the typewriter looks excellent! Knobs on either side allow you to spin the platen, as would be the case on the real thing, and a carriage return arm is included that can be raised and lowered.
Below you can see how the carriage can slide to the left, allowing you to "type" across the full length of the page. On a functional typewriter, it would also need to slide further to the right than it currently can, but even this limited movement in such a small model is very effective.
A sheet of paper is constructed from 2x6 white tiles and the aforementioned stickers. Here, I let my son choose which of the sentences he wanted to start off with—he would pick the one clearly not written by a typewriter wouldn't he!
Finally, the typewriter is adorned with three brightly-coloured flowers. Building these was reminiscent of the Botanicals sets, albeit on a much smaller scale. They look delightful, contrast with the typewriter well, and add a pop of colour and interest to the set as a display piece.
Keytar
The second model that can be built is a rather unusual keytar—a cross between a guitar and a keyboard. The pink frame of the body surrounds the black and white keys of the guitar, and there are buttons represented along the neck and above the keys. The white tiles that represented paper on the typewriter are propped up on a stand of their own—perhaps to symbolise a sheet of music? None of the provided stickers support that theory, though.
Two different flowers are attached to the rear of the stand, and what I believe is supposed to be a small blue butterfly at the opposite corner. The keytar sits within the gap in the centre, and rests against the post at the back.
From the back, the keytar is particularly unappealing—just a large swathe of the underside of LEGO plates.
It can easily be removed from the stand, although it is much too small to pretend to play. It is a strange model to put alongside the typewriter!
Flower Pot, Pen, & Notebook
Finally, the third model in the 3-in-1 set is a small pink flowerpot, accompanied by a notebook and pen. The three cololurful flowers sit snuggly in the pink pot, and make rather a nice little display, even if not to the level of interest that the Botanicals range provides.
The notebook is constructed very similarly to the paper in the typewriter, although in a slightly different orientation. I am quite impressed with the pen, for it is such a simple model that manages to look very realistic! Although LEGO's marketing material calls it a pen, I feel like it looks more like a mechanical pencil instead. There's a nib (or lead) protruding out the end, a knurled grip section, a knock (the part you click to retract the nib or advance the lead), and even a clip!
Conclusion
Sometimes, the 3-in-1 sets knock it out of the park with three incredible models, and other times the secondary models are a bit lacklustre. This set sits somewhere in between. The typewriter is a delightful model—it's a cute, pint-sized version of the real thing, with details nicely abstracted away and some bright pops of colour provided by the flowers. The ability to choose your own message on the paper is a nice touch.
The flowerpot, notebook, and pen is similar. These are not large models, but they are well designed and look good sitting on a shelf or the corner of your windowsill. But the keytar just baffles me! Perhaps I am simply not the right audience for it, but it feels like it doesn't really fit in with the other two models.
Although people are unlikely to be buying three copies of the set to build all three models at once, these were a fun build and I quite happily have the typewriter sitting on display on one of the shelves behind me in my office—until I run out of room and it gets relegated in favour of something else, that is!
31169 Typewriter with Flowers is available at LEGO.com for £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99.
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34 comments on this article
Keytar is life. Keytar is love. Keytar is everything.
This is the sole 2025 release I've picked up so far, and while it came put smaller than I expected, as a desk piece I don't mind.
I do hope that this gets a colour variant, so anyone put off by "eww pink" can have a go.
I did modify the slide to use smaller rails so it could go all the way to the right. I've not yet built the alt models, so I figured that the longer parts were required for those, but it was an easy limitation to fix.
I do wish that there was easy storage for the alternative text plates. There's space under the slide, but not easy access.
If you'd told me in 2020 that within the next five years, Lego would do not one, but two typewriter sets, I wouldn't have believed you.
I'm disappointed that they didn't reuse the 1x1 round letter tiles from Dots here.
The official B-model instructions should direct the keys to be built backwards as an homage to LEGO's first, erroneous, keytar in 71027-14
@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"I'm disappointed that they didn't reuse the 1x1 round letter tiles from Dots here."
Someone in my LUG did this. It looked absolutely fantastic.
I simply fail to see the purpose of this design.
@Brainslugged said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"I'm disappointed that they didn't reuse the 1x1 round letter tiles from Dots here."
Someone in my LUG did this. It looked absolutely fantastic."
I have a feeling the price of those tiles is going to skyrocket.
I don't know what it is about this but I really want it. A far cry from my usual big grey triangles!
Quite a nice typewriter for the size, but those flowers.....the whole design team surely must have been on drugs.....
And indeed, if only this set would have had printed letter tiles. I bet many people might buy the set just for those!
All I see are three flower pots with a Keytar in one of them. The typewriter one is quite a waste to be used as a flower pot, just like it would be if you used an actual one as a flower pot.
Personally I like the colors more than what you actually build with them.
Luckily I have 3 family-packs of 1x1 letters that I bought a while ago. It's a must have upgrade for this set. I also haven't seen many pink typewriters irl, but it does make sense for the target demographic who used to work on these. :)
I loved the Tropical Ukulele 31156 but a Tropical Typewriter is just plain weird! The Tropical Keytar is OK though.
I spent around £4 on Bricklink to replace all the pink parts with tan - it looks so much nicer.
@Ridgeheart said:
"Upon seeing this set, I thought that seeing another Homemakers-set on the front-page had finally given me the aneurysm we all know has been building for a long, long time. It's not just that "typewriter as a flower-planter" seems like a ridiculous word-salad - the fact that the existence of a keytar would be seen as stranger than A TYPEWRITER AS A FLOWER-PLANTER.
I Googled it, out of morbid curiousity. Sure enough, one or more dangerous reprobates decided that, yes, typewriters might make for wonderfully Instagrammable planters. These, one must assume, are the same people who believe tea should be served in inkwells, pasta should be eaten out of a shoe, and soup should be slurped off of a manhole-cover....
PS: I like the keytar."
Ah. Influencers are to blame for this bizarre combination? That makes sense, as the only influencers that I have any contact with are Lego Influencers, who aren't likely to be putting real flowers in anything. But there is a whole brave new world that I suspect most AFOLs know nothing (much) about. How many AFOLs really care about the fate of TikTok in the US?
Mr. R. Heart, Esq., you are to be commended for doing your due diligence in this matter.!
(And I agree that the keytar is cute, and the typewriter would be better if it had real letters on the keys--although it's still pretty delightful with blank ones.)
I doubt I'll buy this unless I need something of exactly that price to fill out an order for a GWP, but it is IMO a charming set and a worthy part of the theme. I'm also impressed by the variety of small but distinctive flowers and/or insects produced from a handful of parts!
Such an odd combo.
@WemWem said:
"Keytar is life. Keytar is love. Keytar is everything."
The keytar true happiness.
Where is the option for " All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"?
The Lego ideas typewriter was a tough sell, but this one is much more digestible to me.
I think the pink turns me off this. And the fact that the Typewriter has flowers sticking out of it which doesn’t make sense. Keytar is the best one imo.
More likely to symbolise a sheet of lyrics than music notes with the keytar,
I can easily ignore Lego’s obsession with plants and flowers so they just crowbar them into other sets however daft it looks.
Doesn’t bode well for the new Death Star and 2025 modular.
This was one of my first sets for 2025. I think it fits in the same category as the watering can or tropical ukulele from last year -- a fine Creator set, but something that can easily be displayed alongside the Botanical sets for extra effect.
So it's either an old typewriter that someone has repurposed into a flower pot, or it's a pointed metaphor about the power of the written word. Either way, I really liked it. It was a pleasant build, I liked the pink, and I thought the flowers were lovely.
@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"I'm disappointed that they didn't reuse the 1x1 round letter tiles from Dots here."
Sadly I think those were discontinued when DOTs went away. I'm not sure why Lego didn't keep them around at least internally or for Pick-a-Brick.
Does any one even use typewriters any more? And for that matter how many folks from younger generations even know what a typewriter is.
I was told by a coworker that I have an odd style of typing on my laptop so I needed to explain that I learned to type using a mechanical typewriter where you had to literally pound the keys to make clear letter strikes!
This set would be 100% better if they used letter tiles. They are still available in P @B...
This set would be 100% better if they used letter tiles. They are still available in P @B...
This set would be 100% better if they used letter tiles. They are still available in P @B...
@Blockwork_Orange said:
"Does any one even use typewriters any more? And for that matter how many folks from younger generations even know what a typewriter is.
I was told by a coworker that I have an odd style of typing on my laptop so I needed to explain that I learned to type using a mechanical typewriter where you had to literally pound the keys to make clear letter strikes!"
I'm not sure if I've ever used a mechanical typewriter (unless you count 21327), but I have an old IBM keyboard that I found at a thrift store and just *had* to buy. Its keys don't require as much force as a typewriter's do, but they do require more force than a modern laptop, and it makes a wonderful "clack" sound when the keys are pressed. You could also beat someone to death with it; it's heavy. There's a piece of 16th-inch sheet metal under the keys.
The typewriter looks very nice. I was looking for a way to use my alphabet printed dots pieces for some time . This came just in time. It's a pity that Lego didn't use printed dots on this one.
If anyone would like to add letters to the keyboard, part/element 6337918 is easily available on BrickLink
@Nuclearxpotato said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"I'm disappointed that they didn't reuse the 1x1 round letter tiles from Dots here."
Sadly I think those were discontinued when DOTs went away. I'm not sure why Lego didn't keep them around at least internally or for Pick-a-Brick."
You can pick up the letter tiles in bricks and pieces.
I think this a good, cheaper alternative to the icons typewriter, which I passed on because of the colour and type. I wanted a black one in the style from WWII.
@Blockwork_Orange said:
"Does any one even use typewriters any more? And for that matter how many folks from younger generations even know what a typewriter is.
I was told by a coworker that I have an odd style of typing on my laptop so I needed to explain that I learned to type using a mechanical typewriter where you had to literally pound the keys to make clear letter strikes!"
I too poud the keys. It's not from typewriter use though. I'm not THAT old. However, I did inherit a gorgeous 1940s black typewriter new in wooden box. Even after a good oiling, it was like breaking rocks. On the other hand, the typewriter we had in my house was an automatic- which is kind of like shooting a gun.
Speaking of which, that's why I mash keys. Passion! It's a necessary ingredient in my line of work. For me, writing is an athletic endeavor.
This set is freaking wierd! I don't really know what to make of it. But, @Ridgeheart speaks the truth... this time.
Anyone built it with the Lego DOTS letters for the keys?