Review: 10370 Poinsettia from LEGO® Icons Botanical Collection

Charming festive display piece or stunning parts pack? LEGO® Icons Botanical Collection 10370 Poinsettia is both! One third of its 608 parts are rare or exclusive, all of which are integral to the plant's striking bracts, plentiful foliage and sturdy woven-basket flowerpot.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

10370 Poinsettia

• Release date: 1 October 2024
• Pieces: 608

Price:

• US$ 49.99 on LEGO.com US
• CA$ 64.99 on LEGO.com Canada
• GB£ 44.99 on LEGO.com UK
• AU$ 99.99 on LEGO.com Australia
• NZ$ 64.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
• NL€ 49,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
• DE€ 49,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
• FR€ 49,99 on LEGO.com France
• PLN 214.99 on LEGO.com Polska
• NOK 689,90 on LEGO.com Norge
• DKK 449.95 on LEGO.com Danmark

Other countries click here

 

The parts

Let's start with the flagship recolour of the set and its companion, both exclusive in regular red:

• 18x Flag 2 x 4 Triangle (6511983 | 5555)
• 6x Plate Special 1 x 1 with Hole Through Stud, 3 Bars and 3 Bar Holes (6515586 | 1941)

See Toby's LEGO Friends Summer Adventure Camp sets review for some thorough examination of the new flag's geometry.

A shade darker next with these elements in dark red:

• 8x Plate Special 1 x 1 Rounded with Handle (6483130 | 26047) - 3 other sets
• 2x Large Figure Weapon 6 Blade Ninja Star / Shuriken (6516524 | 41125) - Exclusive
• 15x Wedge Sloped 4 x 4 Pointed (6511987 | 22391) - Exclusive
• 15 x Hinge Cylinder 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger and Axle Hole On Ends (6431687 | 53923) - 3 other sets

Petals, check! Now for the foliage, starting with this pair of exclusive-ish parts in bright green:

• 6x Technic Pulley Wheel (6515235 | 2786, 4185, 49750, 65668) - Exists as a Q-part for use by LEGOLAND Model Shops
• 15x Technic Pin Connector Hub with 1 Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise [Square Holes] (6515234 | 65487) - Exclusive

Turn another shade of envy with a look at this batch in dark green:

• 2x Large Figure Weapon 6 Blade Ninja Star / Shuriken(6511985 | 41125) - Exclusive
• 6x Wedge Plate 2 x 4 27° Left (6515237 | 65429) - Exclusive
• 6x Wedge Plate 2 x 4 27° Right (6515238 | 65426) - Exclusive
• 8x Technic Axle and Pin Connector Angled #5 - 112.5° (6515241 | 32015, 41488) - Exclusive
• 15x Plate Special 1 x 2 with Pin Hole Underneath (6515236 | 18677, 28809) - Exclusive
• 6 x Wedge Curved 3 x 4 x 2/3 Cut-out (6390054 | 31584) - 3 other sets
• 15x Windscreen 6 x 4 x 1 Hexagonal with Handle (6465521 | 27262) - Also found in 10328 Bouquet of Roses

An umbrella term for the following yellowy/orangey/golden hues was tough to pin down, but I felt they belong together nonetheless:

• 17x Hair Small Tuft in Bright Light Yellow (6516341 | 68212) - Exclusive
• 8x Slope Curved 3 x 4 x 2/3 Triple Curved with 2 Sunk Studs in Medium Nougat (6515240 | 93604) - Exclusive
• 4x Tile 3 x 3 Curved, Macaroni in Dark Orange (6468066 | 79393) - 3 other sets
• 10x  Plate Round 1 x 2 Half Circle with Stud (Jumper) in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold (6503258 | 1745) - Also found in 75398 C-3PO

Finally, a couple of bar-based elements. Both have appeared in a fair number of other sets already, but they still have that air of newness about them:

• 18x Pneumatic T-Piece (T Bar) [New Style] in Reddish Orange (6486091 | 4697) - 3 other sets - Note the generous quantity, narrowly beaten by the 19 in 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale that originally introduced the recolour.
• 3x Plate Round 1 x 1 with Vertical Bar in Black (6508269 | 3661) - 4 other sets

The build

The planters in Botanical Collection sets are often just as interesting to make as the plants themselves. The Poinsettia's 'bricker-work' basket is no exception:

It uses SNOT bricks to connect the outer panels but also has a few facing inwards to lock alternating sides at 45°. 

There's some parts-based ingenuity in the larger flower heads too:

Both pulley wheel's axle holes are reserved for the stem connection below so a 1x1 plate with vertical bar recentres the spindly structure up top. It's a neat solution, utilising the spare LEGO Technic hole courtesy of the 5-petal design.

There are three flower designs, each showing a different stage of development. The small and large each have a duplicate, making five flower heads in total. 

The smallest flowers use left versions of 1x2 curved slopes with stud notch (29120) for their petals. This streamlines the instructions and avoids the frustration of discerning lefts from rights, but it also mean there are 8 mismatched slopes per set out in the ether. 

It's a quick build with many repeated sub-assemblies that follows a predictable path of pot to plant to flowers. Installing the final flower in the centre is a little finnicky with so many leaves and petals to negotiate, but once in place the model is complete:

It's certainly recognisable as a poinsettia with red accented by yellow popping against dark green. It does lack the papery quality of the real plant, and the jump from dark red to red is a bit extreme. However, short of resorting to vinyl pieces, crafting wafer-thin petals with colour-subtlety in bricks will require some compromise.

On that note, the texture of the shurikens is a little distracting but the overall shape of part blends better than anticipated - especially the partially obscured dark green ones. 

Alternate build

With so many pointy elements in bright colours at my disposal, I had intended to make a dragon. However, as a parts-intensive face design took shape, a new idea emerged.

He may not be the majestic dragon I had in mind, but I'm pleased with this grumpy swamp shepherd all the same - especially as creature builds aren't my forte.

He's not so pretty around the back where the supply of parts began to run dry. Standard bricks and 1M-wide plates are rarities in the set's inventory so the head's structure is a little bare-bones too.

What's a shepherd without a flock? Here he's staring down a particularly disobedient herd member that's wandered far from the group - built with a handful of remaining elements. 

Closing thoughts

You'll find better value and accuracy elsewhere in the Botanical Collection range, but despite the red flags (ha!) 10370 Poinsettia remains a respectable festive display piece. Its size is decent, the build enjoyable and it comes with a mountain of exclusive recolours to admire even when completed.

• Set 10370 on LEGO.com US
• Set 10370 on LEGO.com Canada
• Set 10370 on LEGO.com UK
• Set 10370 on LEGO.com Germany
• Set 10370 on LEGO.com Australia
• Set 10370 on LEGO.com New Zealand

READ MORE: Gift with Purchase update for US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

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