LEGO’s Botanicals range has been kicking absolute goals since it was introduced in 2021. All the sets look beautifully built, to the point where they’ve become the perfect AFOL (adult fan of LEGO) gateway drug for many people who wouldn’t have considered the hobby otherwise.
In a follow-up to 2021’s LEGO Flower Bouquet, the new LEGO Botanical Collection Wildflowers 10313 ($99.95) set lets you build a bunch of flowers that won’t die.
What is it?
It’s a LEGO set where you build flowers.
Using 939 pieces you can build flowers “inspired by” cornflowers, lavender, Welsh poppies, cow parsley, leatherleaf ferns, gerbera daisies, larkspur and lupins. I know bugger all about flowers, so I can’t really say whether or not they’ve nailed them, but they definitely look like flowers. My favourites are the ones inspired by larkspur and lupins.
The set is recommended for ages 18+, not because it’s filled with drugs and sexual themes, but because it’s a bit fiddly and kids would find it boring, like a perfectly aged triple brie.
Is the LEGO Wildflowers set good?
Yes. Yes, it is. This set really ticks all the boxes that you’d want from a set like this, but it’s not for everyone.
Adults who want to build the biggest most complicated things to prove to themselves that their building blocks hobby isn’t for kids will be utterly bored by how cleverly simple and repetitive this set is. If your idea of a perfect day is building one of the big $700 Technic cars, you’ll probably hate this.
This set is for people who are stressed and lead stressful lives and just want to be able to build some pretty flowers in half-hour increments.
There is a lot of extremely smart part usage in this set. Using brightly coloured pirate hats as petals is a genius move. Having what looks like a Ninjago hat as the centre of a gerbera? *chef’s kiss*.
But there’s nothing inherently difficult about this set. The biggest challenge will be finding a vase of the right height, or 30 uninterrupted minutes to build each bag. There are a lot of repetitive actions where you either have to apply 20 identical things or build the same thing twice or thrice.
Some people will see that repetition as a flaw, but I actually think it’s the point. Maybe you’ve had a long day at work where your boss was on an unpredictable tear, or the kids have decided to be monsters that day. This is an activity that won’t take too long, and you have a decent idea of what’s involved, and you can just turn off your brain and put pretty flowers together and know that nothing weird will come out of left field. Unless you’re really stressed, it’s very difficult to screw these flowers up. And, even if you do make a mistake, that just means that yours is unique and extra pretty.
That’s the real beauty of this Botanical Collection. Hardcore LEGO fans can enjoy the beauty and smart part usage in these sets. But they’re really accessible for new fans, or people who just got a bunch of LEGO flowers from a partner as a gift.
My favourite flower to build was the one I think was inspired by lupins, the light blue one. It was so simple, yet looks so, so beautiful. An utter joy to build.
LEGO Wildflowers instructions
My one minor gripe about this set is that I thought it broke down the steps into too many smaller steps, which I occasionally found frustrating. However, that probably makes it more accessible to less confident builders, so that’s fine. It would be good if maybe on the app you could pick your difficulty level, but that might be too much effort for the designers.
My big tip for newer builders is to use the LEGO Builder app. The paper instructions are fine, but some sets (including this one) have 3D instructions so you can move the model around in the app so you can see it from different angles. I find that I need to do this a lot on sets with Technic elements to see how it all fits together. It’s especially useful for zooming in a bit as you get tired.
LEGO Wildflowers verdict
This set is great. The finished product is beautiful, and it’s deliberately made to be welcoming to builders of all skill levels. It makes a great gift or decorative item, and I prefer it over the original LEGO Flower Bouquet in terms of techniques and finished product. It makes a great gift.