JMBricklayer Botanical Garden Plastic Brick Set (Review)

Unboxing and Impression

At first glance, the box art clearly had the aesthetic of a botanical theme nailed down. While I’m not a gardener or anything related to growing things–I’m a wargamer who enjoys the Grimdark feels of Warhammer, in fact–I do enjoy the challenge of a good puzzle or hobbies that require concentration.

The Botanical Collection includes three potted plants. For this review, I was provided with the Butterfly Orchid set, which is the one with the white flowers in it. As a gift for Mother’s Day, or for some occasion for someone who would enjoy the beauty of flowers, this could be a thoughtful gift.

I could tell right away though, based on the art, that the set doesn’t seem geared toward young children. As you might expect, though, delicate flowers with this aesthetic is something that would be attractive to an adult.

Well, of course, it states it right there on the top of the box: Ages 14+. And, just to show you, it’s fairly large set with 581 pieces. For comparison, though, it’s not even close the whopping Titanic model (which is over 9000 pieces).

Then again, if you think about it: The complexity of a construction brick set isn’t simply the number of pieces in the kit; it’s also determined by the amount of attention to detail that goes into the design itself.

And, the difficulty of any brick build is also based on the instruction guide that guides you through the construction process. Did JMBricklayer overly complicate their set? Or, was it just right?

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Was the Construction Build Hard? Fun?

So, upon opening the box, I was met with a pile of plastic bags of lego-like pieces. Yes, I was overwhelmed, but not surprised by the sheer volume of assembly ahead of me.

The best practice for assembling lego bricks is to pre-sort your pieces, so you can easily find what you need as you make progress. Taking out some kitchen ware and bowls, I set about sorting out the pieces based on what I assumed were the subassemblies for the kit, e.g., flowers go in one bowl, leaves in another, and so on.

As with Legos, the instruction booklets was laid out with step-by-step illustrations. I didn’t need to read any text to interpret any of the workflow. Arrows and symbols were easy to understand.

To proceed, the instructions called for building in sub-assembly parts. For example, the instructions led me to assemble the “base”, followed each flower assembly in sequence. This made sense and kept things straightforward. This method of assembling a large set like this is pretty standard, and made the entire process enjoyable.

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Small Parts Pose a Challenge…

Of course, not all was this was a pleasant rose.

There are some pretty small parts that require precise finger gymnastics to assemble. I can’t count the number of times a part slipped from my fingers–and I’m not clumsy–because they were too small, or required that extra bit of force to friction fit into tight slots.

Super imposed on this challenge of small parts were some unclear instructions in the booklet. One such visual guide is shown above. Although the instructions came with QR-codes where you use your phone to open a video, I found this unhelpful. The video itself didn’t open and the entire webpage was in Chinese.

I have brought this issue up with JMBricklayer and they’ve informed me that they will be making the necessary updates.

Moving on though; I was able to figure things out for the most part. And, I think any experienced Lego builder will have no trouble putting this kit together.

The details are spectacular. While some pieces were still attached to plastic sprue and required you to clip them off, this is easy enough.

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And, Done. What Next?

The Butterfly Orchid set is an elegant build with nuanced details. The completed model is a standalone piece. Before I decide where to place it in my home–or give it away as a gift–I wanted to take some photos.

Take Photos!

As with any miniature photography, there is some challenge in getting everything in focus and keeping proper exposure, e.g., not too bright or dark. Here are my quick guides on how to photograph miniatures or how to use a black backdrop in your product photography.

Close up photos are always fun to take, and show off the finer work that went into the build of this piece.

Although this isn’t a “toy” as you would imagine–you don’t actually “play” with this model–I find that these kinds of brick construction kits are more like a jigsaw puzzle hobby. Here, you may have a set of bricks with different colors and shapes that you can combine to create whatever model your particular kit lays out for you. The biggest challenge (and fun) is being able to interpret the instructions correctly, so that you don’t make any mistakes in the build.

Along the way, you’re probably trying to figure out where things go, and that subtle pleasure of making parts fit exactly to plan is a constant buzz. If you’re more of a social builder, then you can take a friend or loved one along for the ride.