Tiny Plants with Huge MOC Potential
A few weeks ago, I received a mystery box provided to BrickNerd by LEGO. The only thing I knew was that the set was part of the Botanical Collection. My girlfriend already has the original Flower and Wildflower Bouquets, along with the Bonsai Tree (those sets are “hers” and I’m allowed to “steal” parts from them only for a couple of days but then I have to return them to their places), so she was very excited to add another botanical set to her collection.
We were both delighted with 10329 Tiny Plants when it arrived, and I asked her to build them so we could take pictures of the set. But after that, I wanted to play with the parts and build something out of it.
A Few Words About Tiny Plants… From Chrissy (The Current Owner of The Set)
“The box is the typical representation of the Icons sets: a clean black background with a drop of blurry color, in this case, green. What I saw right away were the colors – lime green, pink, purple, dark red, sand green and red. Oh, let's not forget dark green and bright spring green! The flowers look beautiful in the three sized pots, made with an abundance of dark orange.”
“First, I built the Carnivorous Plants. The instructions are filled with fun facts about the flowers and the new parts used to create the different leaves and shapes. Per the example, the jaws of the flytrap are made from cake icing in lime green – sweet! Pink epaulets, dark red hairbrushes and bright spring green explorer helmets along with lime green brooms are only a few of the new colors coming in the set that I noticed.”
“The pots, as I said, are in three sizes. The smallest one is made from a barrel in dark orange, a new color for this part. The other two involve more building, but both of them are beautifully shaped. I was surprised that they have even covered the corners of the middle pot, a nice touch for people with minor OCD. The corners of the biggest are equally soothing.”
Building Tiny With Tiny Plants
And now, the part I was most thrilled about – building stuff with so many new (to me) pieces!
The Rooster
Only a few days ago, I competed in the Iron Builder challenge where I received 100 Technic Rotor Blades in red. So being in a red mindset, the right thing to do with the Tiny Plants was to tackle the gorgeous red clamshell piece first. I don't own any of this specific molded element, so I was surprised to see that it was produced in ten colors already, with red being the 11th.
You will find two pieces of the clam part in the set, and the first thought I had was to build a rooster. As I love building tiny things—and as this set is called Tiny Plants—I decided to build a tiny chicken.
The build is pretty simple with only few parts, most of them not coming from the set, but I've prepared a breakdown, if you want to add a chicken to your pot. The good thing is that you can still do it, even if you are a vegetarian or a vegan!
The Frog
My next MOC is again an animal inspired by the flat cap piece—only available in reddish brown before coming now in dark green. The thing that got my attention was the top of the cap, where the green is brighter, probably where the injection was done. This “blemish” looked like an eye to me so I used two of the caps to create a tiny frog. (Hi Simon!)
The frog is based on a T-bar piece and a Travis SNOT brick. It is simple, tiny and cute.
The Hula Dancer
And speaking about tiny, my next MOC was inspired by the broom end piece, now coming in lime green. It has been produced only in dark brown and tan so far, so the green is a welcome addition.
Back in April, I shared instructions for a tiny ballerina, and now with the broom piece, I thought why not do a Hula dancer in the same style?
The Orc Potracer
(I love that title…) For my final build, I took two of the pots—a small one and a middle one—and used them as front and rear of a speeder, driven by an orc of course. We just had Orctober just last month and I had to do something orc-ish.
The orc's body is built from only parts that come in the set—only the face uses a few pieces not from the set like the maraca and Travis SNOT brick in lime green. The terrain is also built with parts from the set.
I liked the lime green plants/leaves for ears, and I used the lime cake frosting in almost the same way used in the plants—as a jaw. This piece is just too perfect for a jaw, and I'm sure we will see many character builds using it the same way.
A Short Final Thought
Chrissy and I both liked this Tiny Plants set a lot: she as a set collector and connoisseur of all things beautiful, and I as a fan of the small builds and the cool part selection. Intentionally or not, LEGO has done an amazing job picking so many different new colors and pieces that MOCers will love to have. I can even see people buying more copies of the set as parts packs even after building one to keep for display (it looks really nice sitting on my desk as I write these words… though a few parts might be missing. :D). There’s a whole lot of potential in these Tiny Plants!
10329 Tiny Plants is available for pre-order for around $50 US and launches on December 1st.
DISCLAIMER: This set was provided to BrickNerd by LEGO. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
What else would you like to see tiny versions of? Let us know in the comments below.
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