This was my first adult set, which I had already read that they tend to be repetitive and straight-forward, without much room for creativity.

This is absolutely not the case here.

Even though the pot and the base may be a little repetitive, they are the smallest part of the set.

The bonsai trunk is very complex and unique, with somewhat difficult bits.

The leaves and blossoms may be a little repetitive (because there are many), but they absolutely leave room for creativity, you being the one shaping it, moving it, panning it as you wish. The end result has lots of "articulations" that you can play with.

The manual is well-made and has lots of curiosities.

The only lower point I can put is about the number of pieces. The box says 878 pieces, but there are 200 loose 1x1 circles that you just drop in the bonsai pot to act as pebbles, so those are not playable. Also, since there are 2 possible results (either green leaves or pink blossoms), you don't end up with an 800+ pieces set because some of it will be left aside. You end up with a ~450 pieces tree + 200 pebble rocks. This also leads to the set being quick to assemble.

Still, a very nice set. Fun to build, extremely hard to disassemble

The best thing about the Lego Bonsai Tree are the pieces. You get 101 frogs in the set and most of them are pink (which I believe is the first time lego frogs have been that colour). You also get interesting facts (ex. there are 101 frogs, this is the first time vines have been a dark brown colour, etc.) in the instructions. The set looks incredibly realistic and is a great display. The only annoying part was building the many repetitive tree branches.

From a few metres away this build is indistinguishable from a real bonsai tree. Up close it is a super detailed and ingeniusly designed model.

I prefer the white/pink blossom leaves to the standard green, mainly because the green had more gaps. Still, both look great.

The build is amazing and surprising. A whole bag is built in one step by just pouring all the studs, and the blossom is made of almost 50 frog pieces!

I love this set, its the perfect desk model.

I'd been wanting this set since it was released; I like the novel concept and have recently been more interested in sets I can display. This seemed to hit the mark. But it is so much better overall than I really expected.

The build goes surprisingly quickly. I was expecting a bout 1.5–2 hours of build time but actually got the basic build completed in about 45 minutes. Building is split into 6 phases: pot, tree trunk, soil, green foliage, white foliage and the stand. The pot is quite simple to construct with a lot of repetition, but produces a very pleasing effect of a small lacquered or porcelain pot. The trunk uses quite a few sideways (SNOT) techniques and mixes up brown shades, slopes, wedges etc to create uneven textures. The “soil” effect is composed of 200 loose 1x1 tiles. The stand is again quite repetitive, using a fairly basic construction of reddish brown to produce a pleasing model of a wooden stand. I would suggest completing the relatively straightforward part 6 (the stand) before embarking on the foliage, leaving the best until last.

The fun in building really comes with the foliage. Here there is lots of scope for creative arrangement of the parts to produce a pleasing and unique arrangement. 2 sets of foliage are provided representing spring blossom (pink frogs on 2423 white leaf elements) and summer leaf (built around 2417 green leaf elements). There is plenty of scope, even with this fairly basic set, for quite a lot of creative arrangement. At first, I thought the pink frogs were a bit of a gimmick, and they can seem that way at close range, but stand back and they present a very pleasing blossom effect.

There is a nice selection of parts, some quite rare, for putting the tree together. And with several parts in large quantities, this could feasibly be bought as a parts pack. But that would very much defeat the core purpose — I'm only tempted to buy a second set to be able to expand my tree. It is also interesting that the instructions highlight some unique and rarer parts as you go along, not something I've seen before.

I've scored this high a playable set, even though it is intended for display. It isn't playable in the traditional sense of Lego sets, but there is lots of scope for creative adaptation, addition, rearrangement - a more grown-up play experience. Indeed, at the back of the instruction booklet you are encouraged to adapt and recreate, noting that the true art of a bonsai is that it is never finished. I already have ideas for various other arrangements, including one for each season. I'd encourage anyone buying this to dig into their collection or hit up Bricks & Pieces or BrickLink to create further arrangements.

Overall, I think this represents excellent value for money, not just in the relatively low PPP but also the extended scope for creative expression that I believe is the core of the Lego experience but now updated for an older audience.

This is a truly great set and a great way to kick off the Botanical line from LEGO. It looks almost real and is great for a desk display. It was a great idea to include both options for the bonsai with the cherry blossom option and the normal green option. It is very easy to go between both versions and to switch them out. The soil in which the tree sits is unique in the way that once the tree is built the soil is poured in and is a mix of loose 1x1 tile pieces of varying earth tones that do not connect to studs but are loose and can be changed to the owners liking. There is also a very interesting technique used to build the trunk. The tree does not have to be on the stand but looks good on it. This is a must buy for the years to come or if you have seen the Karate Kid.