10281 - Bonsai Tree

The Bonsai Tree has a beautiful design, but the building experience is repetitive and not enjoyable.

---

First Impressions

I do like the black boxes with the LEGO plants and flowers. What immediately stands out are the bags with a bunch of small pieces and a pile of little frogs. Further, it's not particularly notable.

---

Building Experience

The building process is generally not particularly impressive. I don't quite understand why this set is recommended for 18+; there weren't many small pieces and the instructions are not difficult either. The only thing that was a bit more complicated was building the tree trunk, which had some strange variations. Otherwise, the process was mainly repetitive. The base of the set is simple, but the branches were really tedious to build. I emphasize repetitive and tedious because, for me, this set ranks high on the list of boring LEGO. It felt like everything was the same throughout the entire set. Definitely not fun to do.

---

Details and Design

The set does look nice, especially because you can switch the branches, which creates a different look. What ultimately surprised me was how many of the pieces were used as filler. The box indicates that there are 878 parts, but it seems that about 100 of those small pieces purely serve as "gravel." The design is reasonably good, although it's strange that they put pink frogs on the branches, but it does look fun.

---

Playability

This set is not playable; if you plan to do this with your kids, expect a lot of mess. The set is full of small pieces, and they will fly everywhere. The set is meant to be looked at. And not cleaned up, already scattered pieces across the floor during cleanup.

---

Price-Quality Ratio

Based on the building experience and the number of pieces, I don't find the set worth the price. The building process was way too repetitive, and many of the pieces served as filler for the base of the tree. The design is certainly beautiful, but if you're looking for a varied and interesting building experience, this is not the set for you. However, if you're just looking for a nice design to look at, then it's definitely worth buying.

---

Final Verdict

The biggest plus points of this set are the beautiful design and the ability to switch the branches, giving you a different result each time. The building process is too repetitive and many parts are used as filler. The design is beautiful, but the building experience leaves something to be desired, especially for the price.