Review: 11502 Sunflowers
Posted by Huw,
The botanical collection has been going for six years so, inevitably, just like Star Wars with its myriad X-Wings and Millennium Falcons, subjects are now being repeated.
40524 Sunflowers, which was launched in 2022 and well received at the time, now looks crude in comparison to 11502 Sunflower Bouquet, which utilises recently introduced foliage elements to create far more impressive and realistic helianthus blooms.
Summary
11502 Sunflower Bouquet, 686 pieces.
£54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 | 8.0p / 8.7c / 8.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
These life-sized flowers look very much like the real thing
- Three different designs of flower head
- Flower heads are large and heavy which makes arranging them in a vase difficult
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Notable parts
Leaf 2x6 has been produced in many colours since its debut in 2023, but this is the first time it's appeared in yellow. The piece is the perfect shape for sunflower petals and there are 104 of them in this set!
This piece was introduced last year and will hopefully completely replace the similar octagonal part introduced in the 1990s that had been used for flower heads prior to that. With eight clip-sized bars around its circumference, it's much easier to align whatever's attached to it, in this case, the petals.
The completed model
Ten stems make up the bouquet: two large sunflowers, three medium-sized, one that's not yet opened, plus four of eucalyptus foliage.
The large heads, which comprise two layers of 14 of the aforementioned petals, are impressive in size and larger than I expected, at around 13cm in diameter. The petals are clipped to two dia. 5 steering wheels which are then covered up with a 8x8 round plate with 1x1 round plate 'seeds' on each stud. The result is very realistic.
The smaller heads utilise two of the round black pieces shown above, with eight petals attached to each, and a 6x6 round plate in the middle. Unlike on the earlier version of these flowers, the petals do not flap about in the wind and, in fact, on this particular head they do not move about at all.
The flower's pedicels are represented by dark green tubs, and the stems of the larger ones are thickened with six of the strangely named beam 1x5 with cross hole, new here in dark green.
The yet-to-open head utilises the new finger leaf, and six dark green pagoda corners to add texture and shape around the body, and the overall appearance is very realistic.
Finally, two different designs of eucalyptus foliage provide contrasting colour and balance to the bouquet. The seeds of the tree are cherries, made in brick yellow/tan for the first time. Two of them have 32l sand green axles for stems, the others are made with medium nougat 3l Technic connectors, which it appears were first made in that colour for 75430 Wicket the Ewok's spear.
Verdict
The three different heads, at various stages of their lifecycle, are life-sized and very realistic. Having that variety adds considerable interest to the set and, while – like most botanicals – it's slightly tedious to build, the variation makes it less so.
It seems that the designers of botanical sets can do no wrong: every set in the theme is excellent and, other than occasionally having to complain about their prices and repetitious construction, there's nothing else to criticise. I can think of no other established LEGO theme where that is the case.
Botanical fans will be very happy to add this to their collection, especially as it seems better value than, say, the magnolia.
It is difficult to arrange everything neatly in a vase, due to the size and weight of the heads. You need a sturdy vessel to put them in: a lightweight 3D-printed one won't cut it. This one is partly filled with dry rice to help keep it from toppling over and the stems in place.
I've used this vase in a review before, but it was the only one I've printed that's sturdy enough to support the weight of the flowers. It's printed with Overture sedimentary rock PLA filament which subtly changes colour over its length to give a pleasing layer effect.
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15 comments on this article
Love the vase. Good review as usual.
They look superb, as always with these new sets which I always want to get, finding shelf space will be an issue but they look super realistic with imaginative parts usage and there looks to be a lot going on for the cost of the set too.
Nope , I’ll keep my oar-based sunflowers, thank you.
While more realistic, the newer Botanicals just don’t have the same cleverness or soul as the more innovative, early sets.
Just my opinion; happy for those who love the new elements!
I agree they look better than the original sunflowers set but, to me, these are less LEGO looking. They are made from parts specifically made to be petals or leaves so it is no wonder they look more realistic. This is plant parts being made into a plant, whereas the original was nice parts usage of fairly basic parts originally intended for a very different use to create an organic looking object.
This set is fantastic. So cheerful and beautiful.
You did Van Gogh proud.
@speedorz4ever said:
"Nope , I’ll keep my oar-based sunflowers, thank you.
While more realistic, the newer Botanicals just don’t have the same cleverness or soul as the more innovative, early sets.
Just my opinion; happy for those who love the new elements!"
I agree. The early botanical sets were charming with some very clever part usage. But then I think Lego was surprised at what a runaway hit the theme was, so then they started designing a bunch of theme-specific parts to make the flowers even more realistic. In doing so, they have lost some of that early charm in my opinion. Is "realism" really the goal they should be striving for?
I don't mind the new customized pieces because they can oftentimes be leveraged for City flora too. But I do agree that the more customization Botanicals gets, the less special they feel.
That being said, I love the look of this set. BUT I really am done with the flower clip wheel process. I didn't enjoy it for the original sunflowers, I didn't enjoy it with the Pink Bouquet, and I'm not going to enjoy it here.
Additionally and as noted by @Huw , it can be so tedious displaying these heavy stems. I wonder if my tastes are quickly pivoting to the Botanicals that include pots. I do love my Bamboo set, though I'm never seemingly satisfied with how the loose 2x2 stones are arranged...
Loveeee the vases you use in these reviews.
@yellowcastle said:
"Additionally and as noted by @Huw , it can be so tedious displaying these heavy stems. I wonder if my tastes are quickly pivoting to the Botanicals that include pots. I do love my Bamboo set, though I'm never seemingly satisfied with how the loose 2x2 stones are arranged..."
I never really had any interest in the bouquets. 10314 is really the only Botanical set that doesn't have a pot that appeals to me in any way, and that one still doesn't require you to provide one.
These seem much better than the original sunflowers which I find frustrating to deal with when rearranging my flowers.
I’m always torn, because of course I love the cleverness and wit of the part reuse - and they’ve kept doing it, thankfully, such as we see in the big fish tank - but I think I would be hard-pressed to argue that the old oar-based sunflowers *looked* better. The new kit is very pretty indeed.
I’m not sure how much of the Botanicals fanbase is people familiar enough with Lego to be amused by seeing an oar, or a hat, or a mop, or if it’s more tilted towards people who really like their kit to get as close to tricking their guests as possible so that they get the big reveal. Or simply like to have some flowers that last a long time and don’t wither, for which accuracy improves the effect.
Must buy for me! Love them, love the different stages! Also the added greens gives the bouquet something special.
I definitely fall into the camp of really liking the history of nice parts usage in the early botanicals. It doesn't really matter because my wife builds all of my botanical sets. She has shown no decrease in interest. In fact, she seems to be happy to continue to have more to build. And she loves yellow, so this one is a slam dunk.
@Hiratha said:
"I’m always torn, because of course I love the cleverness and wit of the part reuse - and they’ve kept doing it, thankfully, such as we see in the big fish tank - but I think I would be hard-pressed to argue that the old oar-based sunflowers *looked* better. The new kit is very pretty indeed.
I’m not sure how much of the Botanicals fanbase is people familiar enough with Lego to be amused by seeing an oar, or a hat, or a mop, or if it’s more tilted towards people who really like their kit to get as close to tricking their guests as possible so that they get the big reveal. Or simply like to have some flowers that last a long time and don’t wither, for which accuracy improves the effect."
Yeah, we tend to forget that we're only part of who these are aimed at, and I suspect a pretty small part.