Skip to main content

LEGO Bonsai Tree 10281

 


I was going to make dinner last night but realized I didn't have a large enough saucepan, so we decided to make an evening of it and go to the Irvine Spectrum Mall instead. After a lovely dinner at the Bristol Farms Newfound Market hot bar and dessert at Chocolate Bash, it was off to Target we went. In addition to picking up some other essentials like magnesium, Aleve, the Bodum Brazil French press, and a 10.5-qt stockpot, we of course swung by the toy section.

Normally I am the LEGO connoisseur of the family, as Shannon never has great interest in activities that involve following a lengthy set of instructions, but you should have seen the delight in his eyes when he found the Botanical Collection. Our Target had a bonsai tree, an orchid, and a bouquet of flowers in stock, but the LEGO website also sells a bird of paradise and a succulent kit. He was suddenly struck by visions of finally decorating our home with the plants I had wished for, but in a much lower-maintenance version than live plants, with much more quirk than the silk plants of his mother's choosing.

A few thoughts:

  • Pretty easy as far as adult LEGO sets go. Shannon hasn't actually ever followed instructions for a full LEGO kit before, and we both only made a couple of mistakes which were easily remedied. The shading of some of the brown pieces appeared two-toned in the book but were one-toned in real life; however, this was quickly cleared up once the pieces were counted out. The leaf configurations were not spelled out in the book, so put your more creative person on that job.
  • The whole project took us about 2 hours. Usually I budget 1 hour per 100 LEGO pieces or 1 hour per bag. Bonsai Tree clocks in at 878 pieces or 6 bags, but it goes faster because one of the bags is reserved for the "other" season's leaves.
  • Speaking of leaves, there is a green version and a pink version included in the box. The back of the instruction booklet also has some beautiful and some absurd variations (including a tree of LEGO people!) that are probably beyond our desire to create. The tree is emphasized as a living creation that you keep out and edit over time.
  • Quality control was as good as always with LEGO. We had a few extra pieces but nothing was missing.
  • The pink cherry blossoms in the kit are actually frogs.
  • The plant components are also plant-based. This is part of LEGO's goal of being completely sustainable by 2030.
  • LEGOs tend to be designed for one person, but here is how we made it a two-person activity: I started from the beginning of the kit with the booklet, completing the black base and tree trunk. Shannon used the LEGO Builder App for a digital instructional booklet and started with bag 6 (building the "wooden" base), then moved onto bag 4 (constructing the green leaves/branches). When I had completed the tree trunk, he poured in the "stones" (bag 3) and attached the branches he had made, and voila! Our project was ready for display.
  • As far as LEGOs go, it's pretty inexpensive for how nice it looks, coming out to $50.
LEGOs are by nature collectible, and with Shannon's blessing I ended up ordering the rest of the Botanical Collection. I went ahead and ordered the backordered ones online, but I actually found that the backordered ones were the ones that were available in Target, so if you are a get-it-now kind of person, you may prefer to look in store and see what you can find. 

How I felt after: inspired to keep decorating the house in LEGOs; excited to have Shannon on board; greedy for more.
Enjoyability: 😸😸😸😸😸
Cooperativity: 😸😸😸😸 (Made for 1, adaptable for 2)

Recommend? Highly, unless you don't like the aesthetic and/or building LEGOs.

Products mentioned:

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PUR Cosmetics review

  Awhile back I decided to try out a cosmetic brand I had seen doing a collaboration with Tone It Up. PUR Cosmetics sells a combination of makeup and skincare products. I ordered the Eyes for You Eye Makeup Trio which includes: Full Size On Point Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner Full Size On Point Metallic Eye Gloss (I ordered the rose gold, a "soft shade of pink") Mini Fully Charged Mascara (which I haven't tried yet) As a free gift with purchase, I also received the Skin Perfecting Foundation Brush. Skin Perfecting Foundation Brush:  I don't regularly wear foundation, so I have been using this primarily for application of bronzer and to apply the eye gloss to the high points of my cheeks. The brush is soft and dense. The handle is pretty comfortable and the curve is ergonomic, but I can feel it separate slightly with firm pressure, so I think that it may not hold up for many years of daily use. My hand also cramps a little if I am using it over my whole face; I think it p...
Post a Comment
Read more

"A Dead Djinn in Cairo" by P. Djèlí Clark

Boop. "A Dead Djinn in Cairo" is a speculative fiction short story by P. Djèlí Clark, available to read for free here:  https://www.tor.com/2016/05/18/a-dead-djinn-in-cairo/ A few thoughts: Vivid world-building; even without knowing the genre you can figure it out quickly and get your bearings Good job setting up some realistic main characters through dialogue rather than excessive exposition Does a good job introducing some fantasy elements without taking time out of the story Good pacing Overall it's what I would expect from a short story, interesting and whetted my appetite for more of the same world. It is on the longer side for what I would normally read on my phone; I had to take a screenshot to bookmark and come back for more later. Probably took on the order of an hour to read? After finishing this, I am interested in reading his other works ( A Master of Djinn, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and The Black God's Drums ), which are set in the same world. I am to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pokémon Violet

It's been a little over a week since the Pokémon company released their newest set of games, Scarlet and Violet, for the Nintendo Switch. For those who don't know, the story of both games is the same, but if you want to catch all of the 400ish pokémon in the pokedex, you'll need a friend with the other version of the game to catch the exclusive ones. Shannon is playing Scarlet, and I am playing Violet, so that is what I am looking at today. Now, this game is addictive. In contrast to previous games (disclaimer: I have only played Sword prior to this), this generation takes place in an open world format. That means there are things EVERYWHERE. Once you get off of tutorial island, you can complete the main story in any order you choose, meaning that all of the main quests are given to you at once. You can freely walk anywhere on the map, which means you can explore, get lost, find things on the ground (useful items, pokémon, etc)...you get the idea. I don't normally like ...
Post a Comment
Read more