Lego has released some new botanical sets to usher in the new year. These two new releases complement the releases from summer last year to create "The Four Gentlemen" of flowers, a classic staple of Chinese art representing ideal virtues and each of the four seasons.
These flowers (or plants) are the Chrysanthemum, the Plum Blossom, the Orchid, and the Bamboo, representing fall, winter, spring, and summer. I built each of these while streaming on Twitch, so take a look at the videos if you'd like.
Plum Blossom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3H9yfCzeLI
Mini Orchid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9UvKT0Djmo
Lucky Bamboo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abEjeij7x2M
Chrysanthemum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOQ6zllQfn8
The Four Gentlemen or Four Noble Ones originated in Chinese art over 1000 years ago. The Kanji for this is 四君子, which reads shikunshi しくんし in Japanese. Gentlemen, in this context, refers to an individual that exhibits virtues and morality that all people should aspire to. Each of the flowers represents different virtues stemming from their season.
In Lego release order, the Chrysanthemum 菊 represents fall. Despite the cooler weather, the flower blooms with bright energetic warm colors. It's generally considered a loner as its virtue is to share joy and shine proudly as yourself withstanding all adversities. It also symbolizes longevity.
Winter is represented by the Plum Blossom 梅. Its petals bloom a sharp crimson contrasting the coldest whitest months of the year. Though, not the most beautiful flower, it continues the bloom its best in a time of the year when most other flowers can't survive. As such, the Plum represents inner beauty and humbleness.
Leading into the new year, the Orchid 蘭 represents Spring. The orchid is a fragile flower, soft in a form and fragrance. It is often referred to as the most inoffensive flower. While Spring often represents new beginning, the orchid symbolizes nobility, friendship, and integrity, enduring life despite its frail form.
The blazing summer months are represented by the Bamboo 竹. Physically, the bamboo is the absolute strongest of the Four Gentlemen, able to bend without breaking against harsh winds and rain. By yielding and not breaking, its virtues are cultivation, integrity, and loyalty. Bamboo is also hollow despite its strength, which also represents tolerance, humility, and open-mindedness.
Altogether, the Four Gentlemen say you should be true to yourself, represent yourself with dignity and humility, and also stay true to others.
As Lego sets, these look amazing and pair really well with the full-sized Lego Orchid, released in the second wave of Botanical sets in 2022.
Each of these sets have some form of repetition in their building, but it's really not bad considering each set only takes a full hour to build. The repetitious parts will only take about 5 minutes max. All sets have uncommon building techniques and parts usage that you probably hadn't thought of before. For example, the bulb of Chrysanthemum is created using over 30 lego bananas in different shades of yellow and orange. The flowers of the Mini Orchid use 3 handheld shield pieces, an interesting reference back to the Full Orchid, which uses 3 full-body shield pieces in its flowers.
Each are fun builds, look great, and are super cheap at only $30 each.
If you were going to buy only one set out of them all, it's hard to recommend just one. My favorites are the Bamboo and the Chrysanthemum. Both of these sets look amazing at both a distance and up close. Originally, I skipped the Chrysanthemum because I thought the orange would outshine the others. It does quickly draw the eye, but the subtle perfection of the Bamboo can hold your eye just as long. Even though both are striking, I think they stay in their own lane as part of an ensemble. I think the Mini Orchid is the weakest. The bulbs on the full Orchid look more like flowers and less like Lego than the Mini-version.
All of them together create a very nice ensemble. There's still room on that shelf for more flowers, so I'm looking forward to the next Botanical sets Lego plans on releasing this year, and beyond.