NOTE: I purchased the Bouquet of Roses (10328) myself, and this review is not sponsored in any way. I strive to always provide my honest opinion on LEGO® products. If you are curious about how I generate scores in this review, I invite you to read about the True North Bricks rating system.
INTRODUCTION
The Botanical Collection is an inspiring line of sets. Anyone looking for great NPU (nice parts usage) or anyone who aspires to learn how to build plants is in for a treat with any of the sets produced so far. I’ve built the Bonsai Tree, the Flower Bouquet, and Bird of Paradise so far. But I have all of them in my collection waiting for a rainy day to build. I picked up the Bouquet of Roses (10328) recently and decided to give it a go. This has certainly been one of the more popular sets of 2024 in my perception. That was particularly true around Valentine’s Day when the set totally sold out in my area. I could not find it at the LEGO® Store, Toys R Us, or Walmart. When it came back in stock, I picked it up and have now had a chance to build it.
SET SPECIFICS
- NAME: Bouquet of Roses
- SET #: 10328
- THEME: Icons (Botanical Collection)
- COST: $79.99 CAD
- BRICK COUNT: 822
- COST/BRICK: $0.097 (excellent value)
- MINIFIGURES: None
- BRICKS/FIG: N/A
- RELEASE DATE: January 1, 2024
- BUILD TIME: 1 hour 33 minutes
- COST/MIN: $0.86 (excellent build time value)
- DIMENSIONS: tallest rose is over 31 cm long
QUICK REVIEW
OVERALL SCORE: 92%
WHAT I LIKED: This is a great conversation piece worthy of display in any room in your house. Nice parts, nice techniques, and a good value (especially compared to real roses).
WHAT I LIKED LESS: Despite interesting techniques, the build is a little boring. There are four different flower designs in the set, and you build each four times. After the first, it gets boring.
VALUE: 82%
Excellent cost/brick, but not a huge amount of build time for the full price of $79.99 CAD.
BUILD: 95%
While immensely repetitive, this set looks amazing when complete and teaches you interesting techniques.
MINIFIGURES: N/A
The Bouquet of Roses does not come with any Minifigures, as such it was not assessed in this category.
ENTERTAINMENT: 100%
Great display item for any room in the house, and a better buy than real flowers.
FULL REVIEW OF THE BOUQUET OF ROSES
VALUE: 82%
SUMMARY: The Bouquet of Roses (10328) offers a lot of bricks for the price tag, but only a satisfactory amount of build time. Of course, this assumes you bought the set at full price, which I don’t recommend. The Bouquet of Roses is almost always on sale somewhere, so unless you’re in a pinch, wait for a deal.
Value Score Breakdown:
At full price, the Bouquet of Roses costs $79.99 in Canada. I do not recommend buying it at full price because it is almost always on sale somewhere. But for arguments sake, let’s say it was purchased at full price. With 822 pieces, you are looking at $0.097/brick. Anything under $0.10/brick is excellent in my opinion. Compared to LEGO® sets in general, it is a great value. However, Icons sets are generally all excellent value sets, so compared to those, it drops from an excellent rating to very good in my opinion. While I have seen better set values, I still rate the Bouquet of Roses cost/brick at 92%.
I’ve assessed this set at full price, but you can probably find it for less.
In terms of build time, I assembled the Bouquet of Roses in 93 minutes. Consequently, the cost/minute of build time at full price was $0.86. For an Icons set, that is a little on the pricey side. Icons is a theme characterized by large, complicated builds. It is hard for a smaller set like this to compare with behemoths like the Titanic and Eiffel Tower in this category. However, even when we compare more generally to all LEGO® sets, the cost/minute of build time is only marginally better than average. I would not say the build time is low for the price, but I wouldn’t say it is great either. I rate the build time at 71%. Averaging this with the cost/brick grade gives an overall value rating of 82%.
BUILD: 95%
SUMMARY: Once you have built the four basic flower designs, the rest of the build spirals down the drain of repetition. However, the parts offered are useful and rare in many cases. Additionally, the build techniques for the flowers are quite clever and educational. You end up with a gorgeous display piece worthy of your dinner table at a party.
Build Score Breakdown:
Let’s rip through the negative first like a bandaid. The Bouquet of Roses is an exceptionally repetitive build. There are four different assemblies in the kit, and you build each one four times. I strongly recommend that you assemble this set with a friend, or even up to three other people. Once you have built one of each flower type, you’ve already learned the neat techniques we’ll discuss in a moment. Of course, you want the whole bouquet for display. However, getting to that end point felt a little tedious at times when building by myself. The repetition also adds to the lower build time value. Once you’ve assembled one flower, the other three turn into a mindless assembly line affair.
However, that’s it for negatives. While the flower stems are pretty run-of-the-mill Botanical Collection fare, the flowers are quite unique and interesting to build. I am particularly impressed with the partially open rose design. The execution of the petal swirl in the centre is marvellous. It employs 3x3x1 round arch vehicle mudguard elements in an overlapping/underlapping pattern. The NPU is clever, and getting this element in red is a LEGO® first. In fact, there are 15 colour variants of elements in this set that appear in fewer than 10 others. Six of those are only available in this set, including a red, swirled whip a-la Indiana Jones.
This set is best described as repetitive but inspirational at the same time.
Another element I learned to appreciate through this set is the 4x5x1 2/3 No. 2 “design element” typically used as the head on the Construction Figures. I have never liked those sets partly because I think the head element looks ridiculous. However, the Bouquet of Roses has shown me a new use for the piece that actually looks good. Apparently it also appears in Ninjago City Markets, but I have not built that set, so I can’t comment on its use there.
Despite the repetitive build, the Bouquet of Roses is really a stunning set. It is one of those kits you look at and can’t help but be amazed that it was built with LEGO® bricks. My hat’s really off to the designers of this set. It comes with interesting and unique bricks, the techniques are educational, and the final display piece is amazing. I’m only taking off a little for the tediousness of the build process. I rate the Bouquet of Roses build at 95%.
MINIFIGURES: N/A
SUMMARY: The Bouquet of Roses (10328) does not come with any Minifigures. Additionally, the inclusion of minifigs in this set would not really make sense. As such, this category will not be assessed in this particular review.
ENTERTAINMENT: 100%
SUMMARY: The Bouquet of Roses (10328) is a way better buy and value than real flowers in my opinion. You get a great display item, and wonderful team build project. I fully intend to display this set in my house for years to come.
Entertainment Score Breakdown:
As mentioned in the previous section, the Bouquet of Roses makes a wonderful display piece. I’ve had the Flower Bouquet on my dinner table ever since 2021. However, the roses are now a strong contender for replacing them. I’ll have to build the Wildflower Bouquet and add those to the Flower Bouquet before I make a definitive decision though. Regardless, I will display the Bouquet of Roses somewhere in the house. My wife likes them enough that they don’t even have to stay in the LEGO® room.
While the flowers look amazing, I don’t see the techniques really inspiring too many MOCs I’d regularly build. The stems work well as bamboo in a nature scene, but those techniques are pretty common to the Botanicals Collection in general. I could see myself making different colours of roses from parts that I already have to bolster this rose bouquet though.
The Bouquet of Roses has real flowers beat, hands down.
Another aspect I like about this bouquet is the price. Even the full price. Many others might disagree with me here, but I think buying bouquets of actual flowers is such a waste of money. Sure, they look nice. I’ll give you that. They smell good too. But you have purchased something that is already dead and on the downward spiral towards rot and decay even before you lay hands on them. Around big flower-giving holidays, the prices also skyrocket. Around Mother’s Day and Valentine’s, flower shops charge $10 CAD PER ROSE. At full price, you pay under $7 CAD for each rose in this set, plus you get the baby’s breath. On top of that, these roses never rot. If someone ever bought me flowers, I’d certainly want them to be made from LEGO® bricks. But, I respect that some of you might not agree.
I am entertained by the Bouquet of Roses on many levels. It is a set I will keep built and on display. I also love that it feels like a great value compared to real flowers. And my wife likes them too! Even though I built it alone, the process would be more enjoyable as a team project, which is another plus. For those reasons, I’ll give the Bouquet of Roses 100% in the entertainment category.
CONCLUSION: 92%
The only major negative about the Bouquet of Roses (10328) is the repetitive building process. You can remedy that by building with friends or family because the set lends itself well to team building. I also felt the build time at full price was a teensy bit low, but not horrible. Otherwise, I really love this set, and my wife did too. As such, it earns a place on display somewhere in the house other than just the LEGO® room. It’s a great set for parts and build techniques (even if they are repetitive). Since the set is almost always on sale, you really can’t go wrong.
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