Review: Miniso DS1014 Plante de la Vie

I was in my local Miniso store a month ago tracking down some Hot Wheels for a guy at work and I stumbled across a new line of their clone brick sets.  They're not listed on their website but it can be found on AliExpress.  There are more sets pictured on the back of the box but this is the only one that store had in stock.

Box.  MSRP is $5.99 for a $0.05 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

 Parts 1.  Flowers and Flower Stems.  (53 pieces)

Parts 2.  Cone, Plate, Panels, 1L Bar w/

Stop, Round Plate, Corner Plates, Studless

Slopes, Round Bricks, Clip Bar  Holders, Tiles,

Padlocks, and Apollo Studs.  (64 pieces) 

 

Build.  1 Hit piece of Cover and a Proto-Frame.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Terrain/Proto-Frame.  (0)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +15 (A).  So there's a bit to unpack about this set.  The main issue is the parts count.  I didn't see it listed on the front of the box when I bought it -- mainly because it's in White on a Light Blue background in small type -- so I started counting the number of parts in each bag.  The count is ten off from what is listed, 117 versus 127.  The strange thing is, I'm not sure if it's meant to have the higher count.  A rough estimate of the parts usage of the build pictured on the box comes out to what I counted in the set.  So what and where are the "missing" ten pieces supposed to be and go?  The second issue is what you actually get from the set.  I'm sure a better builder could coax something from this set but as it stands I feel it needs parts from another set to fill it out more.  The third issue is the Flower Stem pieces.  They don't stack.  The "Stud" in the center of the stems is bigger than a normal Stud so the only way they attach is the Anti-Stud on the bottom.  To be fair this set does have some colors you don't normally see like Nougat and Light Aqua, and has parts in colors Lego doesn't have yet -- the 1L Bars w/Stop and the Padlocks -- so it does have good points.