Designer Dan Squirrell has done an admirable job capturing the humble Helianthus in "brick" form (there aren't really any bricks here), and the result looks lovely in a (very short) vase.

Sunflowers are "composite" flowers that are actually composed of hundreds of little flowers, and the natural studs of a LEGO plate make a perfect texture for the centre ("er"!) disk. Among the various flowers in the Botanicals line, these are among the most realistic.

The building techniques that Squirrell has used are clever (petals from paddles is just great) but unavoidably repetitious. That isn't a problem, though, because this is a "pocket money" set and comes together very quickly. I even split the building duties with my wife, so that we each only constructed one stem.

Speaking of stems, the only real flaw with this set is that the stems are too short. Sunflowers are known for their stature, and these examples barely fit into any of the vases that we have about, without mangling the cockpit pieces used as leaves. This is easily remedied, of course, by a trip to LEGO.com or Bricklink, but I do wish that there were a few more Technic stem pieces included in the box.

Overall, this is a nice, accessible addition to the Botanicals line that will be sure to add some colour (there is no "u"!) to a room or balance out a custom bouquet of LEGO flowers. Happy Spring!

Building experience:

+ easy-to-follow instructions

- a little bit repetitive but not tedious

Parts:

+ / - only 1 spare part left after finishing the building process

Playability:

- not much, but this set is not really to play with

Value for money:

+ cute little gift for anybody who likes flowers

Overall rating:

This is a great set if you want to try out botanical sets for less than the bouquets.

Aspetto molto bello, sembrano fiori veri. La costruzione è abbastanza noiosa dato che tutti i 24 petali sono uguali. Tuttavia, fa un bell'effetto come decorazione, quindi consiglio