LEGO Botanical Collection sets have featured iconic flowers from around the world, and the vases included have also reflected some of their real-world counterparts’ popular styles using various unique building techniques. Paired with 10368 Chrysanthemum, the second set in the summer 2024 wave is the iconic plum blossom, which has a very similar Chinese-inspired vase and wooden base. These two flowers are part of four Asian flowers known in Chinese culture as the four gentlemen, one representing each season. The plum blossom represents winter. LEGO Botanical Collection 10369 Plum Blossom contains 327 pieces and will be available on August 1st for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts and instructions
The set comes in a black, 18+ branded box with the finished plant against a slight pink glow to match the color scheme of the plum blossom. Along the bottom of the box is the strip of LEGO elements we’ve come to expect, in this case color-matched in sand-blue with the vase. As we noted in our review of the chrysanthemum, the little icons above the theme name may hint at future sets in the collection. The back of the box includes a diagram of the set dimensions as well as an inset image of the real flower.
Inside the box are three paper parts bags of various sizes and an instruction booklet.
The booklet includes some special content in the form of a beautiful watercolor style illustration, photos of the real flower, and additional information about the set design.
The build
The set starts with the base, built to resemble a traditional wooden platform with a ceramic or porcelain vase on top. The feet of the base are made with reddish-brown horse tail elements, which are perfect for the overall aesthetic. A small ring of sand-blue curves forms the bottom of the vase.
For the middle part of the vase, a core of bricks and modified plates with studs facing out on multiple sides is used to form the gold band around the middle of the vase, and more large quarter-circle curved slopes are added above and below the core. These sections are then all combined.
The last part of the vase is the stem, made with two round Technic elements attached with axles that will be where the two plum blossom stems connect later.
It’s time to start on the larger of the two stems, built by connecting a series of 2 and 3-sided Technic connectors. LEGO has some of the best instructional aids, specially designed to help novice adult builders, but useful to everyone, such as their helpful 1:1 comparison diagrams.
A few curved elements and cones are added, and now we are ready to start building those iconic plum blossoms. We start with a bunch of small clusters that use the small plant studs in dark pink (or light magenta), and then add these throughout the main stem.
The larger plum blossoms come in two sizes built from four and then five 2×2 rounded tiles. The first three blossoms are accented with red claw elements, and a bright yellow crown appears in the center.
These attach along the lower part of the main stem. The stem also features several smaller closed blossoms built from a single pink peach element in a dark magenta eggshell base.
Next, we build a smaller stem in much the same way as the larger one, and attach it to the vase. The last two blossoms are built from clips attached to a small ring element. The same yellow crown piece goes in the center.
Finally, a handful of reddish-brown studs go in the vase to serve as dirt.
The finished model
The completed branch and vase captures the look of these iconic flowers very well, using a variety of elements in similar colors to show blossoms in different stages of bloom.
Paired with the vase’s traditional wooden base, this set is a great display set, especially when displayed alongside LEGO 10368 Chrysanthemum, as the vases of the two sets have many aspects in common while using different colors and shapes.
Conclusions and recommendations
Do you enjoy the first bloom of plum blossoms as winter draws to an end? Whether you’re a fan of the LEGO Botanicals Collection or you feel a sense of nostalgia for these fragile blossoms, I can honestly recommend picking this set up. The details of both the stems and blossoms are spot on, and for anyone who has trouble keeping living plants alive, the botanical theme is a great way to add some color to your spaces. For other LEGO builders, there is not anything particularly unique about the parts in this set aside from some gold elements and those large curved slopes, but the price makes this a decent parts pack if you’re looking to add these parts to your collection. LEGO Botanical Collection 10369 Plum Blossom contains 327 pieces and will be available on August 1st for US $29.99 | CAN $39.99 | UK £24.99
Finally, if you’re interested in building your own botanical creation inspired by these sets and plan to attend Brickcon 2024 in Bellevue, Washington in just six weeks, consider registering your MOC under the Brothers Botanical collaboration.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
