Review: 10281 Bonsai Tree
Posted by Huw,Bonsai, or 'tray planting', originated in Japan in the 6th century as a variation of the Chinese practice of penjing, the art of depicting artistically formed trees and landscapes in miniature.
Some 1500 years later, LEGO is growing its product portfolio with the addition of the 878-piece set 10281 Bonsai Tree, which joins 10280 Flower Bouquet in its new botanical collection.
The miniature ABS tree costs as much as a real one but after the initial cultivation, it's much easier to care for!
Construction
The shallow container the tree will stand in is 12x16 in size with a turntable in the middle which will enable the trunk to be mounted at an angle.
Four tyres are used for the legs which prevent it slipping about on the stand.
The trunk is built as a separate subassembly and looks suitably knurly and organic.
The dia. 2 curved pieces used for the branches are new in brown in this set. They were first used for the figures' limbs in 43179 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.
Four a provided and, as they are connected to the trunk with axles, can be easily turned or rearranged to give the tree a different shape.
The set was designed by Nick Vas, whose 'calling card' is a frog. There's a brown one on the top of the tree and plenty more elsewhere as you'll see below.
Once the tree is place the potting soil loam beads -- 200 1x1 round plates in four colours -- can be tipped into the pot.
The result is very pleasing.
At this point you have the choice of building the green foliage or the white and pink. The three larger subassemblies are built in the same way, although the individual leaf pieces can be added to them randomly. These are then connected to the major branches of the tree using Technic axles, which gives the ability to rotate them to a pleasing position.
The smaller assembly is added to the top of the trunk, by the frog.
The white/pink foliage is also built in the same way, but using double number of the small limb elements instead of the larger ones used above.
One hundred pink frogs and 40 dark pink flowers are provided to embellish the branches
Because of the way the assemblies connect to the trunk it's very easy to switch between green and pink leaves.
Finally, a classy-looking wooden slatted stand is built on which to stand the pot.
The completed model
The green-leaved version looks excellent. There's a pleasing balance between the curve of the trunk and the canopy of leaves, which from my limited understanding, is what bonsai growers seek to achieve.
One thing puzzles me, though: the colours of the leaves. In the introduction of the instructions it's stated that the 'juvenile buds are darker in colour', represented here by using bright green limb elements and green 'plant w/plates'. However, on every tree and bush I've ever grown the reverse is true: the young buds are lighter than the established ones. Perhaps any bonsai experts reading could advise if they are different in this regard.
This is the default limb and foliage arrangement but as I said above there's scope to move things around to create a new look.
I'm not entirely sure about using frogs to represent blossom. I know they are Nick Vas' signature but, well, they just look too much like frogs in the tree close-up.
I suppose they are quite fun and likely to be a talking point but I think I would have preferred pink flower heads.
Verdict
I really appreciate that LEGO is willing to go out on a (tree) limb and create innovative sets like this. It won't be for everyone, and for the price of it you could buy a real tree, but that's not really the point. I hope it sells well and the botanical collection continues to flourish in the coming years.
It has no play value whatsoever but that matters not because it will look awesome wherever it's displayed and from a distance looks like a real tree. Put it on your desk at work (if you still go there) and fool your colleagues!
My lounge is still cluttered with Christmas decorations at the moment, so I can't take a 'lifestyle' image of it, but I will do so once they've been put away.
It's being launched on Friday and will be available at LEGO.com and also at Amazon by the looks of it which is good news for those of us in the UK to whom LEGO is not currently shipping expeditiously.
It's priced at £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99.
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. All expressed opinions are my own.
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36 comments on this article
"100 pink frogs"
Must buy
(like 20% of the reason I'll be buying this is for those)
Using the frogs as flower buds is genius, I didn't realize they were frogs and thus was pleasantly surprised when I looked closer to the pictures.
Definite day 1 purchase, with a shout out to the IDEAS version, which I personally liked more. Great use of the tires to prevent slipping while still looking good. I think I'll stick with the green version too, unless change it up ala the treehouse.
It does look good and I like the idea of using tires to prevent the pot from slipping around on the stand. I really like pink elements (the roses in the bouquet would have looked good in pink imo) and I really like Lego frogs, but I am not so sure about all the pink Lego frogs on the bonsai. Even with the pink frogs (and for some people, maybe because of the pink frogs), I think the set is a good one. Thanks for the review!
It really should include a couple of joss sticks for burning while building!
Much prefer this over the bouquet. I can see the bonsai tree itself being used as a minifig-scale full-size tree.
It could be sold along with the Art range. Taking care of Bonsaï trees is an art, and this Lego set elevates our beloved bricks and parts to a new category to me. It looks delightful., and what an ingenious use of the pink frogs. It is just excellent, a day 1 purchase for sure. I love it. Thank you for the review.
I’ve managed to kill a few Bonsai trees, hopefully this one survives.
I really like the whole concept of this set, its a lovely addition and it does outshine the boquet. The price is reasonable too. I wonder if its possible to a mixture of green and pink for a midway flowering look?
Huw, can you clarify - do you get enough pieces to be able to build the green and the pink, so swapping between them is just the four sub assemblies, or is it swapping out all the limb elements?
Tried my hand at growing Bonsai (briefly) as a kid with little success, this seems more in keeping with my abilities as a gardener.
I do like this, but darn it, the frogs just look too much like frogs.
This brings us one step closer to Lego Cobra Kai
@M_Jibril said:
"Much prefer this over the bouquet. I can see the bonsai tree itself being used as a minifig-scale full-size tree."
Actually this is a brilliant idea - I can see a city center with a lttle park and the ancient tree in the middle! Now a must have for me. Admittedly my expectations when I saw the first announcement of the bonsai were higher but I like the frogs. Thanks Jibril and thanks Huw for the thoughtful review.
alternatively the tree at minifig scale may as well be considered a thousand-year-old tree on a plateau in the middle of the desert. Will start soon buying tan plates and slopes...
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"I’ve managed to kill a few Bonsai trees, hopefully this one survives."
100% this! My partner would love to be a bonsai sensei, but we've found over the years that more 'robust' houseplants suit her (our...) style of plant care.
Bonsais most certainly were not in that category...
This is perfect for all those bonsai-killers out there!
Will get this for the frogs. Both brown and pink.
10281 Bonsai. Otherwise known as "Pink Frog Battle Pack"
That's a heckuva lot of frogs. And my main draw.
No good sample of a real, living, well-trained bonsai cultivar, along with a pot and a stand, can be found in the real world for a mere $50. ;-)
I do like the pink version more. The green sims kinda empty.
Not my thing but I'm excited to see Lego taking risks with a new direction. Great reviews, too. Thanks.
I like this, but it does a feel a teeny bit expensive. I guess that's the problem of including multiple foliage options in what is otherwise a fairly modest set.
Maybe going forward, in these kind of situations Lego could create a base tree, and sell separate foliage packs - that would cut down on the number of pieces and price for someone that only wants to build it one way, and they've got the possibility of putting out different packs at a later stage to customise / change existing sets.
I dont like the look of this.
There have been LEGO ideas bonzai trees that looked much better. I Mainly dislike the use of those robot-arms, the awkward switch between round trunk/branche parts and rectangular trunk/branche parts and the visible brackets...also the frogs are to gimmicky for me...I'll pass!
Hey, you can recreate one of the seven ancient plagues as mentioned in the Bible. Or am I remembering incorrectly that one was raining frogs? Don't recall whether they were pink either. ;-)
@Tuun said:
I am with you there. The Lego Ideas version currently in review looks better. It might be a wish list item but the frogs kill that.
It will be mine tomorrow night :-)
The frogs are either love it or hate it situation. Some people buy this set just for the pink frogs, but for others that is the main turn off. In a close up it's a bunch of pink frogs on a tree. It's a big no for me, but I guess you don't have to put them on. The tires are nice idea but hate the way they did with the "soil". I would rather have build-in soil that is "stick" together, not this kind of "loose soil". They are meant to be misplaced at some point, not to mention have to keep out of reach to little kids and pets.
The different alternative ‘seasons’ reminds me of the treehouse. It allows you to use one colour of foliage parts while still leaving the set intact.
That's actually pretty neat -- I need one!
This set would be way better if they changed those ugly single pipe pieces for builds.
They just look awkward
Not a bad price. I think I prefer the bouquet though.
The 10218 Pet Shop in my town ChillVille will soon have a huge sale/discount on pink frogs, that's for sure.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
"I’ve managed to kill a few Bonsai trees, hopefully this one survives."
Exactly what my mum said when I showed her this XD
I'll have to get one of these and take a picture of it next to some real cherry blossoms at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in April.
@Spartan_Ghost said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Hey, you can recreate one of the seven ancient plagues as mentioned in the Bible. Or am I remembering incorrectly that one was raining frogs? Don't recall whether they were pink either. ;-) "
A quick check of the Book of Exodus confirms there was, at one point, a plague of frogs. (Chapter 8, Verses 1-15 to be precise.) Curiously, there seems to be no record of what color the frogs were."
I think they were pink. This could be the reason why they were considered as such. Because of the teribile eye sore (pun intended) they induced.
I am guilty of killing a nice bonsai given to me by my brothers one Christmas. Who knew these things needed to be watered?
I caught a glimpse of it online and did not give it a close look. Then, I stood in line at the Lego Store this AM and saw it on the shelf. It came home with me today so am looking forward to building this one.