Dual-Molded Petals and Printed Plants: LEGO Botanicals Are Getting Delightfully Weird

We all like LEGO botanical sets. Sick part usage, interesting colors, goofy techniques—what’s not to love? Speaking of goofy colors, one of the most recent botanical sets completely changed the game…

11510 Magnolia Branches is one of the newest LEGO Botanical sets, and it is hiding something amazif in plain sight! Eggshell elements? Nah, that’s old news. Technic spokes? Those have been around for a while. Cupcake flowers? The Chrysanthemum has those already.

But let’s take a peek at the petals. Notice how they’re both white and pink? For the first time since their introduction back in 2021, the Botanicals line has dual-molded elements! Part 7096 (Leaf, 5x6x1 2/3, No. 1), comes in dark pink and white at the same time!

Oddly enough, this makes every single element unique. Maybe it swirls to the left, maybe to the right. Sometimes there’s way more pink, and sometimes there’s more white. (Before we dive in, you should read this brief article on dual molded elements, also called 2K molds by LEGO.)

A Brief History of Dual-Molded Botanical Elements

As it turns out, LEGO has been making dual-molded elements for decades! Way back in 2002, the first wave of Bionicle villains each included a color-coded windscreen piece matching the villain’s elemental powers. Black, blue, brown, green, red, white, and eventually orange Bohrok windscreens changed the game forever.

While it wasn’t instant, the first marbled plant-specific element appeared in a Belville set. 5961 Snow Queen came with a single pine tree that appears to be covered in snow achieved through injecting two colors of plastic into the same mold! Only two other sets included the same element, so its rather difficult and expensive to find on the secondary market now.

Another 12 years later, the LEGO City Jungle subtheme came with some wacky giant carnivorous plant elements that were dual molded. Combining lime green with red, these only appeared in three sets. I assumed these would show up in the Elves line too, possibly in sand green and magenta, but nope. The colors in the Elves sets were absolutely delightful and could have used such an outlandish mold.

Let’s fast-forward to 2023: LEGO DreamZzz is the hottest new theme! Most of the sets from the initial wave included a crazy tree/slime/fire/feather piece, molded with both a transparent and solid color. I love this element—it’s wacky in the best way.

Nowadays, dual-molded elements typically appear within the DreamZzz and Ninjago lines. But who knows where they’ll end up next? Star Wars? Friends? Duplo? The possibilities are endless.

Of course, I had to make something wacky too! As I mentioned earlier, Bionicle sets had the first dual-molded elements. A few years later, they released Krika, who looks slightly like an orchid mantis, with milky white and red weapons. The new magnolia leaves look almost exactly like one of the leg segments on such an insect.

Apparently, I have a much smaller collection of dark pink than I previously thought, but most of these insects have a few different colors. Mixing red, bright pink, and lavender among the white and dark pink turned out well, if I do say so myself!

Licensed… Flowers?

 

After the success of the LEGO Botanicals line, a few botanical-esque sets have appeared in otherwise unrelated themes.

Harry Potter, Wednesday, and various Disney Princesses all have their own takes. The newest of these would be 43288 Sally’s Flowerpot. But there’s something rather unusual about this set too…

If you take a quick glance at the tallest flower, you’ll notice a few petals with prints! While this isn’t the first Botanical-style set with printing, it’s extremely rare for a plant element to have a pattern.

Predating the minifigure by TWENTY-THREE years, some of the first LEGO sets ever included painted trees. They don’t resemble modern elements whatsoever, but they’re pretty rad in their own right.

Some Fabuland sets came with printed apple trees. I love how whimsical they are, the holes are kind of strange but fun nonetheless. Too bad the LEGO House Fabuland Tribute set didn’t red circles for fun!

10311 Orchid was the first Botanical set with printing. Turns out recolored Demogorgon faces with a printed petal pattern look just like small orchid flowers. Out of the thousands of NPU in official sets, this is one of my all-time favorites.

For comparison, here’s Sally’s Flowerpot. I like the muted color palette for the pot. It makes the plants really stand out. The blue violet flower buds are magnificent—what a lovely color! While orange jack-o’-lanterns have been a thing since the Scooby-Doo sets in 2015, the dark orange variant is exclusive to this set. The Pumpkin King is worthy of it, for sure! The large flower on top looks as if it’s made from a bunch of different plants combined into one, just like Sally herself.

There’s a bit of space within the pot where you can hide Sally and her pet cat. In the Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally creates potions to keep her creator, Dr. Finkelstein, at bay. In the set, she’s got a cauldron to make said potions, a picture of Jack, and a kitty.

Giving Jack Skellington His Own Plant

Jack Skellington is missing out—he needs his own plant! As the personification of Halloween itself, I figured he’d need something spooky. Replacing the Deadly Nightshade, I added a few spiderweb elements. Instead of the patchwork flower, I made a wacky loopy blossom. There was just enough space for a pair of tombstones, and voilà!

But wait, there’s the inner compartment that we need to customize for Jack. As he dresses up like Santa in the film, he needed a place to hide the beard and hat. Instead of a cat, a plushie reindeer has to suffice.

And here’s Jack and Sally together! Maybe we’ll get a Jack mini-doll one day, who knows…

The Botanicals line has quietly become one of the weirdest and most creative corners of LEGO design. Between dual-molded leaves, printed petals, strange recolors, and bizarre new molds, it feels like the designers are using flowers as an excuse to experiment. Honestly? I’m all for it.

LEGO Botanicals 11510 Magnolia Branches and LEGO Disney 43288 Sally’s Flowerpot are each available for around $50 US | $65 CA | €50 EU | £450 UK | $100/$80 AU.

DISCLAIMER: This set was provided to BrickNerd by LEGO. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

What’s your favorite weird or unexpected LEGO plant element? Let us know in the comments below.

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