Botanical Collection launching next year
Posted by Huw,
Pictures of these 18+ sets have been doing the rounds in the darker corners of the Internet for a couple of weeks but without knowing where they've come from we've been unable to publish them here. Overnight, the source was revealed as Polish book and toy seller Bonito so we can now reveal them to you.
LEGO is taking its 18+ range of sets in a new direction with the launch of a botanical collection which will initially comprise of 10280 Flower Bouquet with 756 pieces and 10281 Bonsai Tree with 878.
They both look excellent and make a welcome change from vehicles and buildings.
10280 Flower Bouquet builds a delightful mixed bouquet featuring around 7 different varieties of flowers and pterodactyl wings for leaves! Its retail price will be around $50-60, based on the quoted retail price in Poland of 229 PLN.
10281 Bonsai Tree is also expected to retail for around $50. It comes with two sets of leaves, green and pink.
What do you think of these?
242 likes
133 comments on this article
Seems promising. And bright pink frogs :-)
Oh my god. Wow. Absolutely love them. Top marks Lego. BUT STOP MAKING ME SPEND SO MUCH MONEY!!!!!
Kind of interesting, but I can't see myself going out of my to get them soon. They look like good parts packs as well!
I'm really liking the Bonsai Tree. Excellent execution, LEGO!
I’m kind of astounded by these two sets, but I couldn’t see myself ever buying them. I lump them in with things like the colosseum and the piano, and the upcoming globe; impressive bits of engineering, but not necessarily something that Lego needed to make, either because of expense or basic functionality being compromised by the medium.
If I was going to have a bouquet of flowers somewhere I think I’d want some real ones. Sure, there’s a shelf life, but that’s also where some of the value comes from in the first place.
Are those light nougat parts? Must be the first time outside Friends (where a 1x1 tile was used as soap) that that colour is used for something other than skin tone. Maybe we’ll finally be able to get a set that uses the whole colour palette now! :)
These look incredible and shows just how versatile Lego bricks can be as an artistic medium even at a retail level.
Hmmm, the scent of Lego perfume.
These look beautiful, such a fresh line of sets and very elegant packaging. I'll get the bonsai tree, look at the gravel in the black tray!
The darker corners of the internet? Instagram...
As bonsai is a hobby of mine, I will definitely buy that set - looks great!
Interesting for the parts, but I'd never keep the builds around the house.
They look amazing. As a gardener I’m delighted to see these done so well, can’t wait to get them.
Yey, more plastic flowers in our lifeless homes. Just what we needed. What's next, a stag head trophy made of LEGO bricks? Or a lifesize plastic cat?
whats happened with Lego and their plant based pieces. Maybe they should concentrate on a bit of eco PR. Sell an empty box of this and plant a tree instead
@Mister_Jonny said:
"I’m kind of astounded by these two sets, but I couldn’t see myself ever buying them. I lump them in with things like the colosseum and the piano, and the upcoming globe; impressive bits of engineering, but not necessarily something that Lego needed to make, either because of expense or basic functionality being compromised by the medium.
If I was going to have a bouquet of flowers somewhere I think I’d want some real ones. Sure, there’s a shelf life, but that’s also where some of the value comes from in the first place."
i agree with you that these sets and the ones you have mentioned are more for display. you would just buy real flowers instead. why can't lego go back to basics and re-introduce there classic themes like castle, pirates and space instead of making 1 ideas set. i am checking out 80s and 90s vintage sets on ebay instead.
Oh wow! This looks like a very promising new collection... more money needed... hmmm!!
the bonsai tree looks really good and reasonable price, I thought these would be £80 at least. I like the change from blossom or leaves.
Not sure about the tan roses in the boquet, but the rest of the flowers look very real.
Beautiful
Must buy for me. I can see more people getting into Lego with sets like these. And would make great gifts even for non-AFOL's or for family members who don't understand your love of Lego. You could buy your parents these, the flowers for your mother, and the bonsai for your father.
They look absolutely stunning. I think they might also trigger my first display case build, as they really look like major dust traps!
Wow. I like both sets, but that bouquet is a stunner. Not sure if I will necessarily pick one up for myself (because money) but will 100% get one as a gift for my brother who used to be a florist (and who used to play LEGO with me when we were younger). I wanted to surprise him with a set this Christmas to reintroduce him to LEGO, but couldn’t find anything that matched both my budget and his interests. This is it. This is the one. Depending on when in 2021 it is released, it may be a birthday gift. I’m so excited!
I do like the look of them (although I agree that the pink frogs are a bit questionable), but I just couldn't see myself actually spending money on them.
@derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?
have to admit they are very well executed and the detail is outstanding. I'll be tempted to have the bouquet on my office window but now thinking about needing to dust them as think a display case would perhaps spoil the look
I like the bonsai tree! Since there is a collab, it would be a good idea for Ikea to sell a vase with the right height and diameter for the bouquet.
Not for me thanks, waiting on Friday for the big one !!
It's ironic LEGO is now making LEGO out of plants to make plants with LEGO.
These are really impressive! I especially like the look of the bouquet, however the bonsai must be the set with most animals ever with I think over 50 pink frogs included :O
They would have the breakthrough success they want if they marketed these as ‘Lego Mindful’.
that bonsai tree is an insta buy.....
also, I know this is unrelated to the article but ive seen reports that the new ninjago titan mech set for 2021 is only £45? can someone confirm this?
This is awesome, just what need more off, and will please the wife more than usual cars etc lol.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?"
how many kids are going play with a tree and flowers? lego messed up with this 18+ packaging idea. they could have just had all the same packaging but without the rating on the box. what do you think?
I like the bonsai as both a display piece and a parts pack, but it's does not bode well for the bonsai project in review on Lego Ideas.
^ Off topic, but titan mech is expected to be €60. ^
Bonsai is nice, always killed the real ones I had, so will be getting this. Don’t have to water it!
I've been collecting the Friend's flower polybags and I really like the Idea's birds set mostly because of the flower. I'm really looking forward to the bouquet set... and the bonsai looks nice too!
HOLY FRIGGIN’ COW, THIS IS AMAZING. I would’ve never thought LEGO would use parts like Pteranodon wings in such ways, until now that seemed like a technique that only MOC builders would use. I’m so getting that Bonsai tree one, if it’s not too expensive at least.
@derek1974 said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
" @derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?"
how many kids are going play with a tree and flowers? lego messed up with this 18+ packaging idea. they could have just had all the same packaging but without the rating on the box. what do you think?"
The 18+ rating is to reassure adults who are conflicted about whether Lego is really for them, i.e. that they are not buying a kids' toy. It's not a measure of difficulty, but rather a target audience. This was explained in the interview about the Ghostbusters car. I am sure most kids above 8 could assemble any of these, but would not really care given their lack of play value.
@derek1974 said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
" @derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?"
how many kids are going play with a tree and flowers? lego messed up with this 18+ packaging idea. they could have just had all the same packaging but without the rating on the box. what do you think?"
TLG has already confirmed they consider the 18+ black boxes a success, including in yesterday's Brickset interview with Mike Psiaki. Jamie Berard and Julia Goldin already did so earlier.
The market for Lego, including adults, is larger than AFOL's who read Brickset. The 18+ boxes expand the audience for these sets, instead of shrinking the pool of potential buyers.
However fingers crossed they soon fix the poor readability of the black instruction booklets, something they have already acknowledged they are working on.
100% inspired by my Lego Beauty & Beast rose... Love it when my ideas fail but succeed in better hands
It was epic fail on ideas so me = lame
They did better!
Love both
Oh my. I want all of them. Right now.
@thatsaltyninja said:
"that bonsai tree is an insta buy.....
also, I know this is unrelated to the article but ive seen reports that the new ninjago titan mech set for 2021 is only £45? can someone confirm this?"
It is £55 rrp.
The 2 botanical sets are £45 rrp.
@stlux said:
" @derek1974 said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
" @derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?"
how many kids are going play with a tree and flowers? lego messed up with this 18+ packaging idea. they could have just had all the same packaging but without the rating on the box. what do you think?"
TLG has already confirmed they consider the 18+ black boxes a success, including in yesterday's Brickset interview with Mike Psiaki. Jamie Berard and Julia Goldin already did so earlier.
The market for Lego, including adults, is larger than AFOL's who read Brickset. The 18+ boxes expand the audience for these sets, instead of shrinking the pool of potential buyers.
However fingers crossed they soon fix the poor readability of the black instruction booklets, something they have already acknowledged they are working on."
my mistake. i hadn't read the interview with mike.
@CCC said:
"It's nice that they can be built but if I wanted plastic flowers in my house then I'd buy realistic looking plastic flowers at a tenth of the price."
But they are not Lego. The point of these is that it they are visibly made from Lego, which is part of the display appeal. By the same reasoning, most D2C sets could be replaced by a cheap die cast model. Same kind of spurious arguments were made re Grand Piano, that real pianos (although kind of budget ones) can be bought for same price. The audience is people who want a Lego model, not a replacement of the real thing.
Like this bonsai!
Nice change of scenery for TLG :)
@Tick1970 said:
"whats happened with Lego and their plant based pieces. Maybe they should concentrate on a bit of eco PR. Sell an empty box of this and plant a tree instead "
As far as I know, they’re still using the plant based plastics, they just aren’t advertising it anymore because it’s not new.
I like the Bonsai tree especially, but I feel as if they should have released this under the Ideas line and given the fan designer some credit. Even if Lego coincidentally had the idea for this set before the Bonsai Tree looked like it would get into the review stage, releasing a set similar to a project in review and then eliminating the set in review because it’s “based” on an existing set seems a little unfair.
Very cool! I wonder what Brent Waller would think of the bonsai tree.
I’ve been collecting LEGO flower sets lately. I’ve got 40187 , 30404 , 30411. I still want to get 40399 , 30408 , 40039. Am I missing any others? I’ll definitely have to get these too now.. sigh
No-one:
Absolutely nobody:
LEGO: P i n k f r o g s
@R0Sch said:
"Yey, more plastic flowers in our lifeless homes. Just what we needed. What's next, a stag head trophy made of LEGO bricks? Or a lifesize plastic cat?"
I'd consider buying either of those. A Lego cat sounds awesome.
Love the bonsai tree, but disappointed that they threw in the wooden stand to raise the price.
@Rob42 said:
" @R0Sch said:
"Yey, more plastic flowers in our lifeless homes. Just what we needed. What's next, a stag head trophy made of LEGO bricks? Or a lifesize plastic cat?"
I'd consider buying either of those. A Lego cat sounds awesome."
To be fair, it would certainly be cheaper to feed...
that bonzai looks OK, although I have seen way better verisons on LEGO IDEAS.
Those flowers are simply rediculous...
@Mister_Jonny said:
"I’m kind of astounded by these two sets, but I couldn’t see myself ever buying them. I lump them in with things like the colosseum and the piano, and the upcoming globe; impressive bits of engineering, but not necessarily something that Lego needed to make, either because of expense or basic functionality being compromised by the medium.
If I was going to have a bouquet of flowers somewhere I think I’d want some real ones. Sure, there’s a shelf life, but that’s also where some of the value comes from in the first place."
I disagree that these sets didn't need to be made. I think these types of sets are great for Lego to expand their market. They are trying to expand their market and make more and more sets for adults. Things such as the bonsai, the bouquet, and the globe are great for adults to display on their desks or in their offices without it looking like a kids toy.
But I still want them to make things in the spirit of the Classic Space, Pirates, and Castles line, but with modern build techniques and parts.
Legos aren't just for kids anymore. They can make great sets that appeal to adults as well as making other sets that appeal to kids.
I must admit I really like these sets.
Even my wife, who is not into LEGO at all, likes them. Go figure.
Pffft. Was expecting a seed to grow into brick-built plant. What a fail.
Ok that Bonsai looks awesome.
These both look like some of the stuff I’ve seen over on The Brothers Brick. Both of them are spot on. Good Job LEGO, good Job.
OK. That Bonsai tree is remarkable. Lego at its best IMO. Wife and wallet won't stop complaining in the next few months... So many beautiful sets. Hard choices are to be made.
Hey Lego, next year can we get a Christmas Tree set? Lol
I love how the zen of building with Lego is combined with the passtime of tending to a bonsai tree. Very cool sets
Plastic flowers? I already have enough things catching dust. But there are probably some people liking this.
Also wasn't there a polybag or is that with the promo later... I thought they had a rose for Valentine's planned too...
Would be cool for mother's day...
& Memorial Day...
O:-)
@inversion said:
" @CCC said:
"It's nice that they can be built but if I wanted plastic flowers in my house then I'd buy realistic looking plastic flowers at a tenth of the price."
But they are not Lego. The point of these is that it they are visibly made from Lego, which is part of the display appeal. By the same reasoning, most D2C sets could be replaced by a cheap die cast model. Same kind of spurious arguments were made re Grand Piano, that real pianos (although kind of budget ones) can be bought for same price. The audience is people who want a Lego model, not a replacement of the real thing."
And don’t get me started on the NES...
“But I can buy a real NES for less!”
“Does it play games?”
THAT’S NOT THE POINT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD
(Aaaand breathe)
These would be an absolutely amazing idea for a present, but unfortunately they are going to be heavily terrorized by dust and harder to get rid of it than even regular plastic flowers.
I was just thinking yesterday that one of the few themes I would display for a while instead of taking apart got mocs would be realistic plants. I love both of them and hope they continue this theme. I could see some orchids, different kinds of palms, rafflesia, carnivorous plants, trees,...
AWESOME! And at $50, not terribly expensive. 1st day buys for me.
Bonito has been with us for a long time, but now they change the website and have a bit of a mess ...
They revealed several sets:
https://bonito.pl/k-165425653-lego-creator-3w1-31113-laweta-z-wyscigowkami
https://bonito.pl/k-161718621-lego-ninjago-71733-epicki-zestaw-bojowy-cole-kontra-wojownik-duch
https://bonito.pl/k-148057217-lego-creator-expert-10281-lifestyle-2-2021
https://bonito.pl/k-104101382-lego-creator-expert-10280-lifestyle-2021
PS: It's nice to hear the word "polish" on your favorite website!
These are absolutely stunning and a must-buy for me! Dust be damned :)
As soon as they announced the “18+” theme I was hoping they do some off the wall stuff like this. I’ll be getting both!
Geez, gatekeepers, this is clearly an attempt to expand adult interest in the brand beyond the stale stereotypical AFOL - white, male, born in the 80s, desperately want to be young again.
This is GOOD for us. More money in Lego's pocket means more sets. You got Barracuda Bay, now hush and let someone else have a turn. If this turns out well, who knows what we'll get next?
I am buying that bonsai tree for certain.
Fantastic and beautiful!
I really LOVE the bonsai
These are awesome! Kudos to Lego for expanding their market; just take my money... Much more appealing than yet another Star Wars set.
Very intrigued by the parts more than anything, and at those prices they will be fantastic parts packs. Hard to tell, but are we getting dark green outer cables? (Rigid hose, 3mm)
With a bit of modding, I reckon the bonsai could be a minifigure scale tree.
You could likely repurpose the rest of the bricks from the planter and stand to create a bridge or other structure though you would probably need additional parts.
@MisterBrickster said:
"Geez, gatekeepers, this is clearly an attempt to expand adult interest in the brand beyond the stale stereotypical AFOL - white, male, born in the 80s, desperately want to be young again.
This is GOOD for us. More money in Lego's pocket means more sets. You got Barracuda Bay, now hush and let someone else have a turn. If this turns out well, who knows what we'll get next?
I am buying that bonsai tree for certain."
Couldn't have said it better myself! The "I want the toys I had as a child" crowd has yet to be swayed, though
@CCC said:
"It's nice that they can be built but if I wanted plastic flowers in my house then I'd buy realistic looking plastic flowers at a tenth of the price."
You can also buy a model of the Batmobile for less, you could also buy pirate/space/town figurines for less, you can also buy ninja or Minecraft or Star Wars toys for less, why does Lego make anything at all?
These look nice. No watering required. This is what I like the most.
Lego must have bought a lot of cars from LaRusso Auto Group...
https://www.facebook.com/larussoautogroup/
Bouquet is amazing. More plants is something I wanted LEGO to make.
The 18+ range is a true breath of fresh air. Not having to worry about kids anymore allows LEGO to really explore and show its creative potential in ways that you'd only see in MOCs, as refined by LEGO's design expertise. It's LEGO unchained.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?"
I had toys from the '50s-80s (mostly Matchbox and Hot Wheels) as a kid in addition to the contemporary stuff; and I was born in 1996. And, I bought most of them, at flea markets, with my own money. They were better made, and even then, worth a lot more than the $5 or less I paid.
Bonsai Tree is going next to my Ninjago City in a modular, whenever I actually build it...
@Tick1970 said:
"whats happened with Lego and their plant based pieces. Maybe they should concentrate on a bit of eco PR. Sell an empty box of this and plant a tree instead "
You can see the plants from plants logo on the side of these new boxes.
@JasterMereel42 From my perspective, the problem isn't that Lego are trying new things; it's that some of their products aren't necessarily more appealing than the things that inspired them. These flowers are gorgeous, but I (personally) wouldn't replace real flowers with them because there's some essential qualities they simply can't capture (like fragrance, for example). Similarly the NES is brilliantly constructed, but I couldn't justify buying one on the basis I got a functioning one for a quarter of the price.
It's great that Lego are making more sophisticated products, but I can't say that the branding has swayed me towards any of them. Still, as a self-avowed AFOL I'm not exactly representative of the broader population...
@fakespacesquid Setting aside things like quality and customisability, a lot of Lego's products don't really have non-Lego equivalents. I imagine there's plenty of ninja toys, but not too many pirate ninjas or cyberspace ninjas or everything else that Ninjago's ended up doing. There's also no direct analogues with stuff like the Death Star or the Ghostbusters firehouse, for example.
Flowers are comparatively more mundane, which from my perspective makes them a tougher sell. Still, they don't seem too expensive, which is reassuring considering how expensive Lego can get nowadays.
" @stlux said:
TLG has already confirmed they consider the 18+ black boxes a success, including in yesterday's Brickset interview with Mike Psiaki. Jamie Berard and Julia Goldin already did so earlier.
The market for Lego, including adults, is larger than AFOL's who read Brickset. The 18+ boxes expand the audience for these sets, instead of shrinking the pool of potential buyers.
However fingers crossed they soon fix the poor readability of the black instruction booklets, something they have already acknowledged they are working on."
I see a lot of shelf damage on those black boxes. Especially on the sides and bottom. that black hides nothing when it comes to cardboard.
I wants them.
@Darth_Dee said:
"Lego must have bought a lot of cars from LaRusso Auto Group...
https://www.facebook.com/larussoautogroup/ "
The only reason I know what a Bonsai tree is and want this set is because of Karate Kid/Cobra Kai :)
My late grandmother had a synthetic bonsai in her apartment. A while after she'd passed, I decided I might like to have that, only to find out it had already been donated to a Goodwill. I briefly considered trying to track it down, and even entertained the though of trying to recreate it as a MOC, but never did either. The flowers were designed very well, but ultimately hold very little appeal to me directly, while I had already been planning to buy the Ideas bonsai if it got approved.
@derek1974:
The idea behind the 18+ packaging was to make it as distinctive as possible amidst a sea of rainbow colors. This way, non-traditional AFOLs who are only interested in the artsy display-only type sets can walk into a LEGO Store and visually pick out the sets that might be designed to appeal to them. Doing pretty much anything else with the boxes may be visually more exciting to traditional AFOLs (especially if it's done like Barracuda Bay's throwback packaging design), but honestly, many of us would still buy these same sets if they were packaged in brown paper grocery bags that had the set name and number scrawled on the outside in Magic Marker. These boxes aren't designed to appeal to us, but to the people who are looking for something artsy that they can decorate their homes with.
@haldir:
They advertised it with the Plant-Based Plants set because everything in the set was produced with polyethylene that was sourced from plants. If they make too much noise about it with a set like this, they'll get blowback when people realize that the ABS is not plant-based at all (nor can it be with current technology, unless you consider that all crude oil is _technically_ plant-based by origin).
@Alltimefol:
A bonsai is as incomplete without a pot to hold it as the Statue of Liberty is without the pedestal it stands on. They did that with the big SoL, and one of the first thing some builders did with it was convert a huge pile of tan bricks into a scaled pedestal, because it looks weird by itself. If they released a bonsai tree without the pot, it's just a regular tree in minifig scale. That may appeal to AFOLs who want to add it to a town display, but it's not going to work as a bonsai.
@Mister_Jonny:
Vet bills would be lower, and your furniture and drapes would be at less risk. It wouldn't do much to curb a rodent problem, though, and petting it would be rough on the hands (plus no purrs).
@DualBoot:
That's not even always shelf damage. When the Batwing came out, I showed up to buy one on day of release. They had a wire rack set out that only had stacks of Batwings on it, and most of the sets (even those that were in the middle of a stack) had scuffs or scratches showing in odd places. Some of that may have been caused in the store when transferring them from the cases to the stacks, but most of that probably happened in the factory, at any point from when the boxes were printed to when they were dropped in the shipper carton.
@derek1974 said: "why can't lego go back to basics and re-introduce there classic themes like castle, pirates and space instead of making 1 ideas set. i am checking out 80s and 90s vintage sets on ebay instead."
Why can't LEGO go back to basics and re-introduce THEIR classic themes from when they made metal cars and build a microscale city for the cars? Get rid of all the sets with minifigures and really go back to basics!
Bouquet with no vase. Frogs on trees. I am demoting these sets from first day purchase to maybe.
@DGB4 said:
" @derek1974 said: "why can't lego go back to basics and re-introduce there classic themes like castle, pirates and space instead of making 1 ideas set. i am checking out 80s and 90s vintage sets on ebay instead."
Why can't LEGO go back to basics and re-introduce THEIR classic themes from when they made metal cars and build a microscale city for the cars? Get rid of all the sets with minifigures and really go back to basics!
"
Pshh, what a fake fan, in my day we didn't have any of this die-cast nonsense! They need to go back to their REAL roots of wooden toys!
I'm not complaining as long as there's a new frog color.
OMG looks brilliant for sure buy a bonsai tree!
I love the bonsai.
Really want the bonsai just for the pink variant. I love cherry blossom trees.
"Frogs. Why'd it have to be frogs." Johnny Thunder probably.
Seriously, if the frogs are pink it means they're poisonous as hell, right?
ITT: People desperately looking for a reason to dislike fresh, creative, brilliantly executed and affordable sets.
Loving the Bonsai Tree, definitely something to put my VIP points toward in Jan!
Looks beautiful for me. Espeically the bonsai. the Wierd direction from TLG but I like it.
@Mister_Jonny said:
"I’m kind of astounded by these two sets, but I couldn’t see myself ever buying them. I lump them in with things like the colosseum and the piano, and the upcoming globe; impressive bits of engineering, but not necessarily something that Lego needed to make, either because of expense or basic functionality being compromised by the medium.
If I was going to have a bouquet of flowers somewhere I think I’d want some real ones. Sure, there’s a shelf life, but that’s also where some of the value comes from in the first place."
Very well put, your thoughts echo mine but I’d have more trouble expressing them. There are sets like the mosaic pictures that are technically impressive but I have no interest in them. They don’t satisfy the criteria for my personal interests in Lego. If others like them, great. Not for me though.
@haldir said:
" I like the Bonsai tree especially, but I feel as if they should have released this under the Ideas line and given the fan designer some credit. Even if Lego coincidentally had the idea for this set before the Bonsai Tree looked like it would get into the review stage, releasing a set similar to a project in review and then eliminating the set in review because it’s “based” on an existing set seems a little unfair."
Although it is not officially confirmed, it is likely that the bonsai tree is the work of Chris McVeigh, an AFOL and MOC expert who LEGO hired as a designer in 2018. His first big set is this year's Elf Club House.
In 2015--maybe earlier, but he has dates in many of the files--McVeigh began posting free instructions for various bonsai trees on his website:
https://chrismcveigh.com/cm/building_guides_-_bonsai.html
He also created Brick Sketches, which LEGO turned into an official product after hiring him.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpig/sets/72157634886058845/
To accuse LEGO of stealing this from Ideas ignores the potential that the person who submitted it to Ideas possibly stole the idea from McVeigh's website.
@Gataka said:
"Bouquet is amazing. More plants is something I wanted LEGO to make.
The 18+ range is a true breath of fresh air. Not having to worry about kids anymore allows LEGO to really explore and show its creative potential in ways that you'd only see in MOCs, as refined by LEGO's design expertise. It's LEGO unchained."
I, and many others, was able to build 16 + sets at age 7 with ease. The only difference I'm seeing in 18 + sets is the age rating.
I thought the Bonsai tree was a 10k Lego Idea currently in review?
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/ca8eed3e-61d3-4e2e-8978-6a71fc273356
Curious to know if there are any new pieces with the flowers?
I would prefer a Botanical garden, as undertaken by BrickPolis but as not official, I may have to wait until https://ideas.lego.com/projects/9717a196-36cc-44be-a320-f0e89e4c13a7
reaches 10k!
These look gorgeous! I hope they do a coral reef one in the future!
@ambr said:
"I thought the Bonsai tree was a 10k Lego Idea currently in review?
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/ca8eed3e-61d3-4e2e-8978-6a71fc273356
Curious to know if there are any new pieces with the flowers?
I would prefer a Botanical garden, as undertaken by BrickPolis but as not official, I may have to wait until https://ideas.lego.com/projects/9717a196-36cc-44be-a320-f0e89e4c13a7
reaches 10k!"
More than one person can build a tree, as indicated by the comment two above yours. The Ideas project isn't even close to the first Lego bonsai so they don't really deserve any kind of credit for this set
Woop! Defo getting these!
Actually rather pretty. I don't see myself buying them, but I can easily imagine others liking them quite a lot.
There's talk about about 'why can't lego do more classic inspired stuff' and I agree with that sentiment, it feels like that niche gets neglected sometimes, especially if you're a space/castle buff. (You'll get that single orange astronaut in your $30 book and you'll like it) But this isn't a zero sum game per se and I'm definitely glad stuff like this gets a chance to exist.
Another someone sarcastically mentioned a deer trophy model which got me thinking, I'd hang a lego dragon bust/trophy on my wall in a heartbeat, especially since it'd be a feat of engineering. (Ok I'd settle for a deer if I had to).
That's actually pretty cool
Bonsai is a day 1 for me. At least one, if not multiple and I'd have them around the house in recolours. I'd see if I could have an autumnal one moc'd too
I'm going to put yet another large-scale Delorean on Ideas so I can claim Lego stole my idea when they inevitably make one.
Nice looking sets! ...They look like they’d be fun to make as well.
If I owned a real bonsai tree I'd probably get a Lego version to put next to it. Also, I could see getting something like this from my office at work. We can have plastic trees and plants so why not one made of Lego plastic?
Very cool and interesting idea.
Definitely nice and rather unexpected ismart thingies!
The Flowers are great for people who like flowers but also have allergies, and LEGO flowers won't wilt either.
These are wonderful. Day 1 purchase for me, and then a repeated purchase during double days or special offer GWP days.
As a small plants enthusiast (Mushrooms, Bonsai Trees, Flowers ETC.) I must have that Bonsai Tree, and 50$ is not out of my price range for sets I want badly... for once.
It looks extremely good, and will have a place of honor in my room, and eventually my apartment.
@TomKazutara said:
" @CCC said:
" @TomKazutara said:
"18+ Flowers only for adults"
Aimed at, not only for.
"
So you admit that the 18+ tags is total bs from Legos side ?"
The age markings have always been a suggestion, meant to show a rough estimate of the build complexity, subject matter, and target market. Either none of it is bs, or all of it is. The new 18+ markings are consistent with the rest of Lego's history of age markings.
Is anyone else gonna put a George Shrinks minifigure in the bonsai tree.
Gonna get that Bonsai! Also seems like it'd make a nice, minifig-scale tree.
The bonsai looks promising, though I’ll probably just skip the bouquet. Not sure how that would go with stability.
@Roebuck:
I counted right around 70 pink frogs visible in the image.
@DGB4:
You mean like when they made wooden ducks? 40501.
@elisewong18:
It's not a tree with frogs on it. It's a bonsai that you can either display as a regular tree, or as a (very appropriate for Japan) cherry blossom tree. The frogs are mean to represent the shape of the blossoms (probably unopened buds, specifically), not look like Mama Frog landed on a tree and exploded.
@rahlmaclaren:
They might attack you with hearts and stars.
@CCC:
For the green foliage, I'm counting a minimum of seven large leaves and nothing else. The 5-petal flowers, the little tri-leaves, and the 2x2 round plates are all ABS. For the pink foliage, I think I can identify upwards of 36 small white leaves, and again the 7-petal flowers and the frogs are both ABS. And for the trunk, there's two vine-looking bits that wind from the lower right toward the upper left, which I'm guessing are flex tube. So that would be a minimum of three unique elements and at least 45 total pieces that would be polyethylene. Given the piece count on this thing, that's just a hair over 5%.
For the flowers, it's a lot messier. There's four bushes for sure. The green stalks are probably axles (too thick to be bars or flex tube), and I thought maybe the 3x brown stems in the back were maybe flex tube, but there's currently no flower stem with fully hollow studs. Most likely that's a stacked arrangement with 4L lightsaber blades stuck into the 24855 flower stem (the one that has a short bar on the bottom and a bar socket on top). There are, however, at least nine little clusters of flowers, which means there's probably at least 18 of that flower stem. Nothing else there really jumps out at me, so that's just shy of 3% polyethylene parts.
@HandPositions:
There's also the subject matter. Given the choice, most kids will opt for sets with lots of play features, and a lot (but not all) of the 18+ sets are completely devoid of such. And sets like the Batwing may appear swooshable, but are probably heavier than is really designed for kids to run around the house with. Based on the New Elementary review, the Colosseum is definitely a model that you build and then park somewhere where you won't be likely to have to move it ever again.
@ambr:
I can't see any new molds, but there appear to be sand-green 32L axles, and there are two flesh-colored elements used in three of the flowers that definitely don't exist right now. The orange petals appear to be a recolor as well.
@GSR_MataNui:
Oof. I did a very tiny one a few years ago (not even half of an 8x8 vignette), and it's a lot harder than it sounds to do realistically. I'd wanted to build one that filled a couple baseplates for a long time, but when I started looking up images of real coral for reference, I was glad I had just a tiny patch to work with. Most coral reef MOCs have clusters of each type of corral, which makes the whole thing look very cultivated. In real life, the same species never seems to touch down on adjacent patches of reef. Realistically, you could have a patch of coral reef that covers several square yards without a single type of coral repeating in that space.
@TomKazutara:
You'd think they'd have included at least one orchid in there, if that were the case.
@TomKazutara said:
"18+ Flowers only for adults"
10 year olds will be chuffed that they've built an 18+ set. 50 year olds won't feel guilty for buying a kids toy.
Win/win.
Plus the boxes look fantastic.
Win/win/win.
@R0Sch said:
"Yey, more plastic flowers in our lifeless homes. Just what we needed. What's next, a stag head trophy made of LEGO bricks? Or a lifesize plastic cat?"
Sure I mean anything is possible! lol
I dig the bonsai tree and will definitely purchase one.
Wow, the bonsai tree is really good, will have to buy that one, there goes more of my money and space!
Whingy AFOLS -
2000: “Why can’t Lego release more sets for adults, rather than this juniorised junk!”
Lego goes on to release a wide range of sets aimed at adults , including sculptures, mind-relaxing builds, a reboot of a classic Pirates set, and deluxe modular and UCS vehicle builds, expanding their product range and enticing new adult customers into the fold.
2020: “No, not like that!”
Awesome! Ingenious idea!
The bonsai is very nice, but as others I'm a little disappointed as this likely means the Ideas one won't be approved. That one looks larger and more intricate, but it'd probably cost two or three times as much too. I love the little minifig scene (and think about adding something similar to this one), but according to the Wikipedia article:
"Noted bonsai writer Peter Adams recommends that bonsai be shown as if 'in an art gallery: at the right height; in isolation; against a plain background, devoid of all redundancies such as labels and vulgar little accessories'."
So, does minifig scenes count as "vulgar little accessories"? I too thought the wooden base added needlessly to the part count, but again according to Wikipedia:
"The bonsai pot is almost always placed on a formal stand, of a size and design selected to complement the bonsai and its pot."
The only other minor issue is if the loose 1x1 round tiles (including Mario's ears?) would constantly spill out and become a nuisance, in the 21313 bottleship the "water" is at least contained in the bottle.
While some consider the bonsai stand to be excessive, the bouquet goes too far the other way - without a vase or some other kind of stand the set feels incomplete. I guess most people has some suitable vase lying around, but I don't - the only thing I have are some leftover pieces from the bottleship (I removed the middle section to make the ship fill the bottle better and eliminate some of the seams), but I don't think that would be tall enough to fit the flowers.
@TomKazutara said:
" @CCC said:
" @TomKazutara said:
"18+ Flowers only for adults"
Aimed at, not only for.
"
So you admit that the 18+ tags is total bs from Legos side ?"
Flowers reproduce sexually therefore an 18+ set :~P
@Agent00Z said:
"The Flowers are great for people who like flowers but also have allergies, and LEGO flowers won't wilt either. "
That would be a darkly funny mod: the same flowers but wilted!
@axeleng:
I've got a jar that can't stand upright. It's about 3" wide, 7-8" long, and has a circular cross section. The bottom is a hemisphere, so completely unsuited to serving as a flower vase. The mouth is flared to about the same diameter as the body, and the "neck" is just a narrow, deep channel right below the mouth. It has a cork with a label that says it was made in Japan, and I suspect the intention is that you're supposed to loop a cord around the channel and use it to suspend the bottle. If it were a little deeper, it might make an interesting way to display these flowers, but I think the flowers would stand up so high that they'd overbalance the jar and tip out onto the floor.
The bonsai, on the other hand, I suspect will end up on _many_ minifig-scale layouts, as it would work equally well as just a regular tree. Combine that with some of the elements from the upcoming Chinese New Year park, and you've got a solid start on a Japanese botanical garden like the one at Frederick Meijer in Grand Rapids, MI.
I really like the bouquet, will wait for reviews of the bonsai to make my mind up on it.
I don't think every adult-aimed LEGO set has to appeal to everyone (besides most people don't have the money or space to acquire everything they're putting out now in the 18+ range). I'm not really into vehicles, which have been a very big proportion of the more complex/adult orientated sets until this year, so I'm very glad they are doing less typical sets.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @derek1974 To be fair we did get a space range very recently, and there’s currently two pirate ships available. Since the ‘classic’ themes haven’t come back more widely, I’m guessing it’s because kids don’t actually want to play with them, which explains why things like Barracuda Bay have very adult-oriented design and marketing.
People like to wax lyrical about Lego’s ‘classic’ stuff, but we’re talking about a product range that (at its extreme) is over 40 years old at this point. Lego might be branching out (heh) with these sets, but it’s still primarily a kid’s toy. How many kids want to play with things that came out 30-40 years before they were born?"
The bin full of LEGO at the grandparent’s house of course!
Unless we’re talking about whether WE could go back and be children again...
Wow these are gorgeous! The flower bouquet in particular, a creative new direction for LEGO
@MisterBrickster said:
"Geez, gatekeepers, this is clearly an attempt to expand adult interest in the brand beyond the stale stereotypical AFOL - white, male, born in the 80s, desperately want to be young again.
This is GOOD for us. More money in Lego's pocket means more sets. You got Barracuda Bay, now hush and let someone else have a turn. If this turns out well, who knows what we'll get next?
I am buying that bonsai tree for certain."
I'm white, female, born in the 80s, and I LOVE these, and I can't wait to see what more kinds of ideas these can bring
kudos Lego!, these flowers are amazing!