Flowerfest: Tom Loftus

Last week, New Elementary's Flowerfest kicked off with an impressive line-up of character builds by Eero Okkonen. A Sontaran built from rose petals is a tough act to follow, but I'm ready to do my best! I'll be analyzing two recent arrivals to the LEGO® Botanical Collection - 40646 Daffodils and 10313 Wildflower Bouquet - and sharing MOCs inspired by their parts.

Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own. 

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Plant Stem with Offshoot, part 1566

With all the beautiful recolours these sets offer, I feel a bit sheepish admitting that Plant, with Bar and Off-shoot with Stud in Bright Green (6388070 | 1566) caught my eye first. It barely passes as a new element anymore, having appeared in this colour 6 times since mid-2022, although it does now come in Olive Green (6426470) thanks to 10314 Dried Flower Centerpiece, another set included in our Flowerfest.

Regardless, this is the first time I've got my hands on some so I was excited to experiment with this nifty little element.

First up, some fun with duplicates. In addition to a basic stack, there's a surprising number of funky patterns you can make with just a handful of LEGO part 1566. 

Adding the newly recoloured Food Hot Dog / Sausage in Bright Green (6430093 | 25994) from the bouquet into the mix led to this satisfying woven pentagonal flower thingy. With some festive embellishments I reckon this would make a nice Christmas wreath.

Aesthetically the element is lovely but I was keen to test its potential for structural building too. Note how the blue plate with clip connects to both the stud and bar on top. And that 3.18 curved bar extension tipped with a recessed stud has got to be handy for something right?

We like our articles to have some whimsy so instead of tablescraps I made technique trees! The curved bar accepts clips anywhere along its arc, making the element perfect for compact, angular builds. Doubly so considering it's small size. 

I'm sure some of these examples could be achieved with traditional bar and clip combinations but it's fun to know an unusual part like this can do most of the legwork.

Although pleased with my little experiments, I'm conscious this is a 'parts' fest not a 'part' fest. Onwards then, to another element from the bouquet.

The Bicorne Pirate Hat, part 2528

The Bicorne Pirate Hat (2528) sports far fewer connection points than the plant stem. This made it an attractive challenge to use in builds. 

We'll take a brief departure from the white void and set sail to the blue seas with this microscale galleon. 

I used the hat's single anti-stud as the mounting point for the mast. All that keeps the sails in place is compression between two Apollo studs (28626), so lets hope these micro pirates don't plan on sailing too close to the wind.

While building the tiny vessel, I thought the texture on the hat's underside could make a cool surface detail if it were embedded in a structure. Cheese slopes seemed a close enough match for the hat's angle and the assembly grew from there. 

Spaceships are always my go-to when looking at tablescraps, only this time I was keen to try something new. Instead I built...

...a mech! Yellow seemed the obvious colour to contrast the Dark Purple seed parts. Along with the hats which double as toe-toppers, I also used Plate Special 1 x 1 with Hole Through Stud, 3 Bars and 3 Bar Holes (6420218 | 1941) for the finger joints and some mechanical shoulder detail. I recently re-read Eero's wonderful article on the Vehicle Tipper Ends (30022) and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use them here. They're prominently used on the arms and are integral to the main body.

There's no flowerfest parts at the back, just a ton of greebley goodness that I spent too much time on not to show.

Since the hat's undersides face outwards, I was left with one measly accessory pin hole to secure them into the legs. Luckily cattle horns (13564) came to the rescue. It's one of a few elements to feature a accessory pin (or rather, a tip that can pass as one) and a secondary attachment point. This tiny detail causes havoc for the mech's durability.

Embedding the tri-connector plates into the shoulders was a much easier affair. They hold quite well by friction alone but a 2x2 swivel top (3679) ensures they stay put.

I planned to use the Large Figure Shoulder Covers in Yellow (6420923 | 1686) from the bouquet or the Ovoid Minifig Shields (6426171 | 2586) from the daffodils on the build too but they just didn't fit the hard-edged aesthetic of the mech. I decided to use them as the seed parts for my next build instead.

Robo-Bug

Don't be alarmed, this creepy crawler is actually quite friendly. The research base's regular cargo drones were agitating the local wildlife so the bots were redesigned to mimic the native crustaceans - love an altruistic backstory, me.

Using multiple pauldrons for a creature's segmented body is nothing new but I was pleased with how the shields look as legs and a tail. Minifigure night-vision goggles, recently recoloured in Yellow (6401208 | 79814), came in 'handy' for grabbers too.

Closing thoughts 

With all the vibrant recolours the Botanical Collection offers, I'm a little disappointed in my efforts to use them in builds. Perhaps I ought to have built a spaceship or two after all! Even so, I hope the techniques I stumbled upon and the MOCs I did build are proof enough these sets have more to offer than meets the eye.

If you're still unconvinced then just you wait. Thomas Jenkins' installment is coming next Thursday and I hear he's got some cracking builds in the works.

READ MORE: See Eero Okkonen's Flowerfest creations here

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