LEGO Botanicals Woodland Mushrooms & Friends

(Written by Geneva – gid617)

Ten years ago, I would have been pretty surprised to hear that there was a mushroom LEGO set.  I would probably have asked if you meant there was a new mushroom print in a castle set, or maybe a new in-house theme featuring mushrooms somehow, like LEGO Power Miners crystals, but an actual set that is just simply a recreation of a variety of mushroom species is really a statement about how universal LEGO sets have become.  Anything from typewriters to soccer balls, it seems, can be a LEGO set now.  I’m not into typewriters or soccer balls, but I’m very glad mushrooms have not been left out!

#11505 LEGO Botanicals Woodland Mushrooms features no less than six different varieties of fungi, along with two other named plants and some leaves here and there.  Building the mushrooms was fairly straightforward; the cleverest part of the build is the circular tree trunk on the left, and as is typical with LEGO Botanical sets, it’s fun to see parts like clam shells, shields, and gnome hats being used in unusual ways.  Two notes about the build process: first of all, one of the dark green rounded plates was packed loose in the box, and therefore lightly coated with paper dust, which is no big deal but kind of odd.  Second, I had a moment of dismay when I found a 2L axle had somehow gotten into the tubes underneath one of those new dark orange domes!  Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to shake out.

The color composition of the set is lovely, and in that sense it’s a great display piece.  However, it’s a pretty random set to have in your living room or something, unless you really like talking about mushrooms with everyone who stops by.  Unlike most other LEGO Botanical sets, it’s not one cohesive object like a bouquet or flowering pot.  It’s a quiet set, colorful but without any story to it.  Fortunately, I was able to coax a few fairies out of hiding to liven things up.  So with their help, we’ll go on a little tour!

The whole set rests on a very sturdy forest-like base, built with dark and woody colors.  The mushrooms featured include the Common Bonnet, Oyster Mushroom, Golden Chanterelle, Fly Agaric, Marzipan Fibrecap, and Collard Earthstar.  There’s also a couple of Autumn Crocus featuring a fairly new blue-violet color, and two bracken leaves.  (Before this set I would have just called them ferns.  I’ve read about bracken plenty in descriptive literary passages, but I never realized it was just a certain type of fern.)

As for my little fairies, should you chance to want one for yourself, that’s a bit of clear pneumatic tube holding their arms together behind an ice cream cone body.

The mushrooms are pretty inconsistent as far as how accurate they are and how good they look.  I’m not very impressed by the yellow Golden Chanterelles or the Collared Earthstars (the dark tan ones with white borders), but I love the Common Bonnets and Oyster Mushrooms (both on the tree trunk).

The stars of the show are the large and specially printed Fly Agaric mushrooms.  Not only are the printed dishes gorgeous, but the design underneath the larger ones is perfect for this type of mushroom.  I’m sure these will show up in a MOC of mine someday!

That brings me to my final feeling about this set—it’s a fantastic starting point.  There are several well-designed mushrooms and lots of pieces and colors for fairyland-themed MOCs.  As is, however, it lacks a focal point or motive.  It’s begging to be rebuilt into something meaningful to me, and honestly, in a world full of sets for adults that seem to be designed to sit on a shelf forever, that’s a good thing!  It’s already inspired me to build a bunch of cute fairies, and I can’t wait to see where these mushrooms take me the next time I sit down to build a good fantasy MOC.

#11505 LEGO Botanicals Woodland Mushrooms (fairies not included!) is available now at the LEGO Botanicals section of the Online LEGO Shop.  The set contains 806 pieces and sells for $79.99 USD.

What do you think?  Would you modify the Woodland Mushrooms set?  Does it make a good home for my fairies?  Do you have this set already? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

• LEGO Botanicals Woodland Mushrooms Review
• Spring LEGO Sets and Botanical Favorites
• LEGO Easter Freebie & Other Easter-Themed Sets
• Build an Easter Egg Candy-Pooping Bunny!
• Mini LEGO Art Sets with Downloadable Instructions!
• LEGO Art Claude Monet Bridge Over Water Lily Pond
• LEGO Botanicals Flower Wall Decor Set