LEGO Ideas Botanical Garden (REVIEW)
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- The new LEGO Ideas 21353 Botanical Garden is simply put, gorgeous!
City builders will be looking into adapting it, while others can't help but draw comparisons with the much smaller and affordable LEGO Friends Botanical Garden set. Check all of that in my detailed LEGO review.
Buy from LEGO
Ideas Botanical Garden ❯ bit.ly/3V3ymEJ
Friends Botanical Garden ❯ bit.ly/3R2q4tN
Buy from Amazon
Friends Botanical Garden ❯ amzn.to/3Ui5GHJ
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Thank you LEGO for sending this set for review. Views and opinions are my own.
#lego #rlfm #review #21353
The LEGO Friends Botanical Garden set is 25% off on Amazon US at the moment!
Down from 79.99 to 59.99. Wish I’d known this for the review, that’s a STEAL
Buy it from Amazon ❯ amzn.to/4hika48
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I can’t believe this beat Godzilla and so many others
That’s such a great price, too. For those who want the Friends Botanical Garden, better hurry - it’s retiring soon.
Best price I've seen beats the $63 Target had it at last month!
So we could buy 6 of it, get 6000 pieces and still be cheaper than the 3790 pieces of the ideas set? :D
One key difference that I found surprising is that the Friends set identified each species of plant in the instructions as you build, but the Ideas set doesn’t have info about what each build represents. Surprising since the designer boasted about 35+ species in the Ideas set.
That is true! Should have mentioned that as another Pro in favour of the Friends set!
Interesting! I’ve been buying some more smaller sets lately just for something fun to do on breaks, and have noticed more Lego Friends sets coming up that look like really cool builds! While I’d rather get a couple new minifigs than a Friend figure I’ll likely just give away, I’m thinking some of these sets are worth it. They seem to be doing some really cool things with that series.
Also, the identification plates in the Friends set are unique to each display, whereas it looks like the Ideas set plates all look the same. I was surprised by that.
In an Aussie Lego fan and I am so tired of everything interesting Lego releasing is $500+ I hear so many people saying they’re skipping these sets..
Ideas used to be amazing value.. no longer.
I kind of agree!
If you want a nice botanical garden, with about the same parts count and even some lighting thrown in, for half the money, look at the new Mould King version. It is obviously different, especially in the colour palette, but it still looks pretty damn good!
Also If you have 2 or 3 sets of Friends Botanical Gardens, you could be easily build better MOC than this one! I have 2x Botanical Gardens, I am much more happy for my MOC than this one! (much lower price, looks similar)
oh, thats sad, I already forgot that Ideas used to be great value. They are awesome sets but aside from Polaroid camera and Tales of the space age they really arent something cool you can casually pick up anymore.
At least the pricing is equivalent to the USD pricing (330usd = 500aud). GBP price is more like 570usd :(
good use of the proble lens in this vid 👍🏼
Right?! It's been a while! Still hard to use!
@@TiagoCatarino i bet! you make it look good, though. love seeing the creative shots!
Was definitely worth digging it out as it looks great
For reals. I actually was going to comment on this, but I see it’s been covered. Your reviews are already the best out there, but this is a detail that really sets your vids apart. I watched another review of this set recently and ended up skipping through a lot bc it mostly seemed to just be complaining about not having connector pins; I don’t recall any of these details being highlighted. The layout and clever build techniques look so interesting, and the probe lens really captured so many new things for me! I wasn’t really interested in this set at first, but now I’m smitten. And all the new elements?? I’ll be sure to use your link when I buy. ^_^
i genuinly think that this set would work better in the centre of a giant park in the city instead of being another building in the row that other moduler buildings have
I paired it with the festival park that is so pretty.
9:26 I've never seen a botanical garden being placed between two city buildings on the open street. As the name suggests they're placed in the middle of a large garden with lots of grass and trees, and usually closed in by walls and a gate.
For sure.
I think Tiago just wanted to highlight how it would look displayed alongside a modular collection with (almost) no modifications.
The modifications and parts needed to communicate that more true to life setback might be daunting in terms of display space; additional piece availability or cost; or creativity for purchasers who otherwise might like the set. But I bet it would be a fun challenge!
This is definitely more of a set for those city builders that have actual like parks in their cities
I think making a little garden around it would make it fit really well into the modular buildings, espically if you use one of the one that has a little clearing on one side (like the one withe the art gallery)
Usually these kind of places are set somewhere in or near a park, with plenty of green around it. Displaying it next to buildings, even though it looks off, isn't exactly what you would want in a big city to begin with.
you must've never been to NYC
You put so much thought into your reviews Tiago. Bravo!
I try! Thank you for that :)
I feel that the plants on the Lego friends set had a more creative part usage, and having some butteflies here and the would have been a nice detail. 🦋
Still, it is a gorgeous set!
Thank you again for the preview Tiago.
I grew up with my pops working at Longwood Gardens and one of my favorite places to hang out was the conservatory (which I'm pretty sure is shown as the far left picture in the botanical gardens blurb), so this is right up my alley I hope they do more botanical, gardens sets!
With this and the Friends version, I don't think we'll see another Botanical Garden set in a while ahah, but I could be wrong!
@@TiagoCatarino Maybe just some garden grounds or fountains to go around the buildings, but I know I could do that myself so wishful thinking on my part 😬
I love Longwood. Can't wait for Christmas.
I’m from the Philly area too. I always loved going there as a kid.
I'm going there on Wednesday! It's one of my favorite botanical gardens and makes me want this set, but with the price I think id rather get the A frame cabin and El Dorado fortress since they're retiring soon
I think the Ideas botanical set looks better recessed by half a baseplate. You can continue the pavement on the two extra half baseplates, and build the entrance GWP to bridge the distance to the actual greenhouse structure.
I cannot justify the price of the new set. I have three copies of Lego friends (super cheap) and will be MOCing those up to be a similar scale but taller at a much less price. But we love your videos, critical where it needs to be, but always kind.
Calling his videos 'critical where [they] need to be' is quite generous. Like all other Lego partners, Tiago is far too lenient on Lego. Not to mention there are now competitors with higher quality pieces for 1/3 of the price of comparable Lego sets, proving how horrendously TLG is manipulating and ripping of consumers.
All right now somebody needs to do a MOC of both botanical gardens combo together for the ultimate botanical garden
For personal reasons, I’ll bricklink it at some point, and likely not until I have moved, but I will likely either fit it into my more rural district, or make it the center of the Central Park of my city. That is the most fitting place for it. Otherwise it would stand out awkwardly in the sidewalk paved concrete jungle.
Agreed, but I'm thinking a lot of people will do just that. It could work, just needs some adjustements
thank you for the review! you answered my top questions, which were how well will it integrate into the other city blocks and how does it compare to the modified friends garden set. visually, I think I like having a grander building in my city, and the architecture details look very well done!
Glad it was helpful! Only the best is good enough or so someone said!
Loving the use of the macro probe here :)
I really enjoy your videos! You show a real passion for Lego and I appreciate that you used to work for them so you have even more insight to the details and build techniques.
I’m an audio engineer and you should slap an EQ on your voice and pull out around 500Hz. There’s a constant frequency that rings when you talk and I’m telling you, it will make you sound perfect.
Nice review. You are in my top 3 Lego youtubers list
Oh thanks!
Sounds like an exclusive list
Brick Artisan, from Rebrickable, has already made a 7 bricks tall center addon and a 10 brick tall center addon to address the height issue.
AA+++ review, Tiago!!
Keep it up
👍👍
You could use the Botanical Garden set as a central feature by surrounding it with a park/grass area and then placing buildings around it. You could also place the set together with the natural history museum to create a square tourist style area, again surrounding them by buildings.
Fantastic set.
I will be picking this one up. The Friends Rebrickables lack some details (like the decorative facade tiling) that give this model a significantly greater presence. I will be modding it with sidewalks & whatever else it needs to fit better with modulars-the height difference doesn’t bother me.
The price hurts, as usual. It’s forcing me to be more selective with what I buy, narrow down the scope of themes I collect, and has me looking at alternative brands. As soon as I feel alternative brands will fit within my current ecosystem, they’ll be getting the $$ I typically reserve for Lego-no I’m not talking about Ali clones. I’m talking about alt brands with their own original designs. They’re catching up.
Always love to see Tiago’s long lense’
Bringing out the big guns!
@@TiagoCatarino Bro is more cinematic than some modern movies 💀
Amazing beautiful set, I just wish it was more affordable
0:25 except for the office ideas set
2:30 the light brown bird is a new color, I hope we get more colors in the future
The botanical garden belongs in a green area, not in between two buildings
I plan to just add some 16x16 plates in front and make a foot path that lines up with my Modulars. Add a pond like in the Friends set/ or use the tranquil gardens set. I don’t need connection pins, and the road plates are 16x16 and typically go in front of Modulars so it’ll easily fit into the grid.
What an elegant LEGO set❤
The Office Lego Ideas set contains 15 minifigures :D
I’m working on this set now… I love it even though I’m missing one piece so far…
Enjoy!
You'd expect that without the cost of licensing rights, the price would be more reasonable. For that price, I think the building should be a bit taller to match the glasshouses in real life.
Licensing doesn't bloat prices that much, it's about designer's time and considering how much time went into this set to make it look right, be able to assemble all plants and have reasonable playability takes ton of time and effort and frankly explains the cost. Natural History museum in comparison looks a bit like generic house and repurposed Jurassic Park bits.
6:05 not sure how I didn't put that one together (pun-intended), but what a great tip!
Thanks man!
I think in terms of scale with the modulars it's pretty good, as most victorian greenhouses wouldn't be more than 2 storeys tall. i think you could also integrate it into part of a square in your modular buildings too, but that doesn't really work if you're displaying them all on shelves i suppose
I actually work with botanical plants for living so was super excited for this set, although I feel this has similar problem as the A Frame cabin, it feels a little regimented, nothing too brilliant or beautiful or cosy to inspire me to want to have it.
Yes, this set is amazing in the first 5 seconds, and then you sit and think... boring
Yes, this set is amazing in the first 5 seconds, and then you sit and think... boring
Thank you so much for this review and showing it side by side with the Friends set.
No problem 😊
The thing that made the original submission great and something I would have wanted was how the bigger plants and trees filled the whole interior. The Lego redesign is thoroughly underwhelming in that regard, it feels so empty, even if they have the very marketable amount of unique plants. Combined with the typical Lego insanity in terms of pricing this is sadly once again a great idea ruined... I really want Lego to get back on track again, but unfortunately it seems that corporate greed has completely consumed them... Well, I guess all I can do is vote with my wallet and go for the new Mould King Botanical Garden.
Totally agree with you, this set look so boring compare to the original design, it kinda plain and has nothing iconic stand out,
Like In the original we got 3 trees that stand together so nicely in the middle with has its own uniuqe identity in each one
Plus The decrease of height and lack of glass part also took away the beauty of the original one.
The submission design was taller and looked much better.
I don't think the Mould King botanical garden holds up to this very well. It might be around the pricepoint you'd expect for a lego set instead of 2 or 3 times the amount that current Lego sets sometimes cost, but that still is a lot of money for an imperfect set with unknown quality. Especially the color choices aren't appealing in that knock off set, nor are the plants used.
The only redeeming factor about paying a lot of money for a Lego set is that you know exactly what you're going to get and at least it is a beautiful set that is fun to build. If you can spend the money and don't miss it for other things, at least you're going to be left with something that you enjoy and not some worse version of it.
I love the new set but can’t justify paying that much. I truly agree with those that say corporate greed!!
Ruined bc it doesn’t have enough inside trees? I think they left more floor space (with jumpers) to maintain playability and fill with with the minifigs. But if you want more trees, just pluck out a few floor tiles and put some trees in there. Problem solved.
2:15 "...yellow and PIIIINK!!" 😄😄
I love this set. Despite the crazy price it's a must have for me.
I can see why there are no connectors to modular buildings. This botanical gardens are usually surrounded by parks. The balcony and the white stairs and even the look of the building itself remind me of the palm house in Copenhagen.
It would be interesting to see this beside the Chinese New Year Spring Lantern Festival set, which was a garden with a lake and pagoda with sidewalks and modular compatible technic pin points. It might look a little crowded though.
I think the botanical garden could fit into a regular city display if placed in an open green park area, perhaps with a small lake, a couple of trees and footpaths. Granted, such a thing would have to be custom built, as a Lego City public park doesn't currently exist to my knowledge, not to mention such a thing would take up a good deal of space and be rather niche. But I don't think any city is really complete without a public park, and the garden could be the centerpiece of such a feature.
Yes exactly. I love to build green spots, you can make simple trees and a bit of water and it will look amazing with quite a few pieces and not an amazing amount of difficulty or build time. This building would fit really well as it adds both the muted building colors and the bright flowers to that.
The trees seemed to be the perfect size to block view of the interior with the roof off, yet be completely invisible with the roof on.
Great review! Thanks for the side by side comparison!
Great camera shots!
Thank you for another detailed review! The comparison to the Friends set is appreciated and I find it odd how similar the two sets look. The fact that the new arch is not the one we’ve waiting for for decades is indeed very disappointing. As for integrating it into a modular city, I think the height is fine, but I would place it on the outskirts of the city with a road leading up to it so it doesn’t break up the sidewalk.
Great review as ever Tiago.
Lowkey hoping for the X-men mansion once it comes out.
Not to far away for the November release!
Thank you! I do love the new Botanical set, but my only real question was if it was better than 2 of the Friends Botanical sets. Your review was definitive enough for me
Funny how i return every once in a while to your channel and watch 95% of the videos but never subscribe, but at the sametime have youtubers i've subscribed to that i dont even bother watching 5% off anymore.
Switching between Tranquil Garden and Botanical Garden trees is really awesome! I always felt like the Tranquil Garden lost an opportunity when it came out without minifigs, I believe it would have sold way more units!
Looks amazing will go nice with the natural history museum great review 👍
Unless if there’s a way to modify the Botanical Garden by adding technic brick holes on the very edge of those baseplates.
Yes it will
gorgeous!
If u really wanted to make it fit in with the other modular sets and u had 2 of them then u could stake them on top and put the tree downstairs and put all the flowers upstsirs and put in a board walk and the modular connecting points aswell
agreed 100%
Excellent review . Its a pleasure to See your vidéos ans listen your voice
i think that in a modular city street is perfect between two corners as a stand alone building
Regarding the city builder thing. These buildings are usually called greenhouses and the botanical garden itself is a big park with plants that can survive on their own outside. Additionally, they are never built on two levels as the plants require all the sun that comes from the roof and it is kinda hard to design the building in such a way to take into account the weight of the plants above and prevent the plants below from doing damage to the upper floor.
So the height is completely representative of what a normal greenhouse has and this greenhouse should be put in a bigger park or a botanical garden park such that the height of the other buildings doesn't really affect it. I've seen plenty of cities with forest areas or zoos so the concept is pretty easy to implement unless you have a small build like just a city block or something.
I
Agree
1000%
‼️‼️‼️
i believe the botanical garden is meant to work with and compliment the Natural History Museum specifically
To think this is half a grand really needs to be put into perspective more. HALF A THOUSAND DOLLARS!!
Freaking gorgeous thing for sure!
I really want this; I used to live just a few blocks from the one on Golden Gate Park, which looks very similar to this. Such a cool set!
I would have loved to see a koi pond or some other type of water feature on the inside of this set.
6:32 I absolutely love the use of the minifigure epaulettes (the ones that Baron von Barron uses) that are recolored to be red for the flower. Super creative stuff
Looks pretty good
It's visually stunning, that's for sure!
By my calculations, it's about 30% too expensive. I believe a lot of these adult sets are only good value now when sold at a discounted sale price. I used to buy everything upon release. Not now.
i love the new flower elements they look so cool!
Okay, we have a natural history museum and a botanical garden, so we just need an aquarium that would allow the three to go together to make Blathers’ museum in Animal Crossing.
10:15 casually dropping the set I may be most interested in this year, damn that looks good xV
I like the flower variety in the friends set better. It also feels stacked with flowers while the ideas set seems somewhat empty in comparrison.
I thought ideas did not make new elements for the line. I guess they are changing that! Woohoo
why is nobody talking about how theres a blind guy at a visual garden
Botanical gardens are enjoyable for more than just the eyes. The smells, sounds, and textures can all be enjoyed by blind people, and many people have partial blindness and need tools like a cane but can see the colors and some shapes.
Love that printed tile showing the coffee shop menu. I’m building a minifigure scale Rocinante, from The Expanse - and I’d love to include that in the galley, tribute to James Holden’s coffee obsession! 😅
I’d love to see a Lego Roci, Holden definitely needs that coffee too 😂 Awesome idea!
JANG still has the best Lego reviews 😊
Then support him on his reviews 😊
You commenting on mine pushes the algorithm to think these are good 😊
Thank you ☺️
0:25 the office set is also ideas tho and has 15 minifigs
Placing this direct to modular buildings is a no go. A botanical garden isn't something that you find next to tall buildings. It will cause too much shadow which prevents the plants from growing. What you can do however is integrating the garden in a larger park, with a pond. You can even add the Lego Friends garden as a side building. Around the park you can add streets or the modulars. I see tons of options. Ow one small problem with this: you need a lot of room. Which I dont have. I also sold my modulars, so well I have to enjoy the ideas and builds of others. Ow speaking about modulars, in that park you can also add the museum.
The ones that say that they look similar, I have been to a few botanical greenhouses build during the Victorian period in the UK, they are basically variations on Kew
You said its the most minifigures for an ideas set, but The Office had 15! Love your videos
I like the minifigure perspective camera for this review, given how much detail is in the interior. How did you achieve it?
A probe lens that made me go broke last year. Haven't used it much as the setup is really hard to pull off perfectly to a level of quality I'm happy to share with you all!
I'm astonished by all the negative comments. Even before you used the word in the video, I decided that the word to describe it was "gorgeous". And seeing side-by-side with the Friends set, I don't see any contest: the new set wipes the floor with it. The two trees in the Friends set do look good, though. The only real issue, and obviously not a minor one, is the price.
I really appreciate the in depth comparison to the Friends set. It really is a nice, more affordable option and glad that that was pointed out.
You are so welcome!
More affordable is an understatement, I looked it up cause I was interested, and you can get four of the friends set and still have change left over
@stryke-jn3kv indeed. At Target they are currently going for $60 a set.
I don't agree the Friends one is better. More affordable for sure, but I think the Ideas set looks a lot better and just works better as a complete building.
I'll pick it up some day, but I'll wait for a nice promotion or discount. 😁
I much preferred the original fan design
Looks nice, what’s the obsession with it being a modular building? X-Mansion too for that matter. Neither of these buildings would look sensible on a street in real life. They’d be surrounded by gardens. Personally I like both and will simply add gardens when integrating them into my city
I already have the friends one 2x but will also get this one. But I absolutely agree that the friends one is superior in its league.
Now wee need the Bootanical Garden shoe museum
How was the transparent pieces packaged to help prevent scratches. Really lovely review.
I love the set, I think it's beautiful. However, I do agree with you that the size/height is a bit strange compared to other modular buildings. Would be great if someone designs something so you can add an extra floor. I'm not creative enough to do that myself 😂
Might do it myself!
I think putting this one right next to 2 modular buildings would be a mistake. This building needs some breathing room to shine.
also I absolutely must have it.
I’m surprised this set even made it through tbh. I feel like they could have made it be more transparent pieces/larger windows with light grey as it’s main colours instead of just copying the Friends set. With more transparent pieces you would be able to see inside a lot easier and with light grey colour it would make some of the brighter colours pop more
Given how the Friends one was so successful I'm not at all surprised that this one got through.
@@TiagoCatarino I suspect they wanted an ‘upgraded’ version that adults could get with minifigures
Precisely
Ok, can we have some space sets now?
Looks so cool. Debating if I want to grab this when I get the x mansion
imagine being the designing working so hard on the friends one that did so well, then finding out someone else gets a bigger budget to do the same set with a bunch of usual cheating new pieces
Comparing to the natural museum set it is weird how ex ok endive this set is. There’s large clear pieces so that may be a factor. I love the look of this, and I don’t think a second floor would help much. If anything I’d love to just see more similar sets release to go along with this.
Awesome review. As a newbie who started his modular collection this year, I'm so sad to see how all these recent great sets are starting to get out of my affordable price range 😢
Second hand purchases are always a much more affordable option!
3 sets of the Friends Botanical Gardens > Lego Ideas Botanical Garden? Really do like this new set!
5:10 scratches on the door for the price.......
Oh yeah! Loved the use of the macro probe lens to put us in the garden!
Bevel gears for a tree trunk 👍
NPU
is this our “modular” set for this year or do we get one of those too soon?
This is a LEGO Ideas set, no word of Modular Building for this year yet
Something that bothers me about the design is the 'unused' parts of the green base plates (i.e. across the front and sides). I know it's meant to represent grass, but it feels strangely unfinished to me. I understand the designer probably set the flower beds back from the edges slightly so the flowers themselves don't sprout outward beyond the 32x64 perimeter and get in the way of adjoining sets, but still, I think it would look nicer and more complete if the gardens had fencing or something.
If I were to build this set, I'd be inclined to raise the whole structure by 1-2 bricks (with a longer staircase entrance), including a higher and wider garden area, and add fencing to the perimeter.
I’m not the target demographic for this, but as I fly by I want to say the combined friends set looks much better. In every way?