40573 - Christmas Tree

First Impression

Upon opening the box, I immediately noticed the simple green packaging. Inside, I found a number of unnumbered bags. This is probably because you can make two Christmas trees from one set.

---

Building Experience

Building the Christmas tree was a relatively simple and dull process. I did this with my children aged 6 and 10 years old, and both could follow along without much trouble. However, there was one tricky part: pushing through the middle structure of the tree. This caused some issues, resulting in one of the layers falling off and needing to be reattached. Regarding the building techniques, it's nice that you can make multiple variants with this set. In my case, I only made the large Christmas tree, but the smaller variant doesn't seem to differ much. The build was quite repetitive, especially due to the 13 layers that mostly began the same way. This makes it feel dull.

---

Details and Design

The design of the Christmas tree is cute but not very special. A nice detail is that the top of the tree can spin. The top seven layers of the tree are loose, meaning you can lift them without taking the lower layers with you. Not very practical, considering I move it around the house occasionally.

As for the color choice, it's somewhat dull. There is a lot of green and too little variation, such as ornaments or other small decorations. This seems to be a conscious choice to make the tree sturdier, but it missed a bit of Christmas decoration charm because of that.

---

Playability

The main "play feature" of the set is that the top of the Christmas tree can spin. The set is mainly meant as a display piece, which makes it more suitable for people who want to use the tree as decoration, rather than as a toy. Quite logical considering it's a Christmas tree.

---

Price-Quality Ratio

Given the number of pieces and the building experience, I don't find the set worth the price. The build is rather repetitive, and the final tree is not particularly impressive.

---

Overall Judgment

The biggest advantage is, it’s a Christmas tree. During these days, you need one. The downsides mainly lie in the dullness of the building process. You have to bite through the repetitive steps to achieve a result.

---