SupreOwls Coffin of Roses: Beautifully Macabre

I've previously reviewed the SupreOwls Gothic Skull Succulent Bouquet, which I really enjoyed. It was unusual, looked fantastic on display and was exactly the sort of slightly different building set that tends to get my attention.

The Coffin of Roses follows a similar path, although it's a very different design. You have a coffin containing a skeleton surrounded by flowers and roses, with the bones themselves becoming part of the floral arrangement. There's also an integrated lighting kit and an “Eternal Love” message at the bottom.

It's an unusual idea for a building set, which I like, and the finished model is genuinely beautiful. 

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The Build

The actual assembly is pretty straightforward and, for the most part, relatively intuitive. I never really felt lost during the build and generally understood what I was doing and where everything was going.

I did, however, find this considerably more fiddly than my previous SupreOwls experience.

A lot of the assembly takes place within the coffin itself and the area you're working in is relatively small. Early on this isn't much of a problem, but as you add more of the skeleton, flowers and other details, the available space obviously gets smaller.

I have reasonably big hands, and there were definitely times when getting my fingers into the right position became a challenge.

The strong clutch contributes to this. Some of the bricks require more pressure to connect than I'm used to. In isolation that's not a particularly big issue, and I'd certainly rather have strong clutch than bricks that barely hold together.

Inside the coffin, however, it becomes more noticeable.

You're trying to position a fiddly piece in a small space and apply enough pressure to attach it without disturbing everything around it. I had a few explosions.

Nothing that ruined the experience, but there were definitely moments when fitting one piece resulted in several others coming off and having to be rebuilt.

Despite that, there are some genuinely satisfying moments during the assembly, particularly as the skeleton and flowers gradually start to interact with each other.

So this isn't a difficult build. I actually found it fairly intuitive. It's the physical assembly within that limited space that brings the score down for me.

Instructions

The instructions are generally straightforward and I didn't have any significant problems following the actual assembly sequence.

The biggest issue for me was colour identification.

There are a lot of darker colours in this set and I sometimes struggled to distinguish between the dark blues, blacks and similar shades in the instruction manual. There were several occasions where I had to look again to make sure I'd picked up the correct colour.

The difficulty distinguishing darker colours isn't something I'd specifically criticise SupreOwls for because I've encountered exactly the same problem with plenty of other building-block manufacturers. Dark colours can be notoriously difficult to represent clearly in printed instructions.

It becomes slightly more annoying here simply because of the nature of the build. If you've already pushed something firmly into place inside the coffin, you don't particularly want to discover a few steps later that you've used dark blue when it should have been black.

One unusual issue with my instructin manual was that numerous pages were still joined together and had to be carefully separated with scissors. I'm assuming this was a production issue with my particular copy, but it's worth mentioning.

Nothing disastrous, but there are definitely areas where the manual could be improved.

Brick Quality

The actual brick quality is good. I didn't have any major issues with damaged pieces, poor moulding or bricks that wouldn't hold together.

If anything, my issue is at the opposite end of the scale.

As mentioned earlier, the clutch s very strong — occasionally stronger than I'd like for a build this confined. That's more noticeable because you're working amongst flowers, bones and other small details that can easily be disturbed while applying pressure.

Once everything is together, though, it's solid.

Design

In terms of design, I think this is beautiful.

It's actually a relatively simple idea: a skeleton inside a coffin surrounded by flowers and roses. But the way those elements have been brought together is really effective.

My favourite part is the way the bones and ribs are entwined with the flowers.

The flowers haven't simply been placed around the skeleton as decoration. They weave through it. The bones, ribs, flowers and roses become part of the same design, and I think that's what makes the finished model work so well.

The colours are also excellent.

You've got the white of the skeleton against the darker coffin, then the reds, blues and other colours from the flowers breaking everything up. There's quite a lot happening in a relatively small space, but visually it doesn't feel confused or overcrowded.

I also like the shape and proportions of the coffin itself. It frames the internal design without taking attention away from it.

The “Eternal Love” message makes sense. I understand the sentiment and the style they're going for, and I'm sure some people will particularly like that element.

Personally, I'd have been happy without it.

I don't dislike it. I just don't think the model needs it. The skeleton and flowers already tell that story perfectly well for me.

Lighting

The lighting kit is fine.

It was simple enough to install, it's bright and it does what it's supposed to do. I didn't have any significant problems fitting it and it certainly adds something when the model is displayed in lower light.

I do think the lighting solution could have been better for this particular design.

Rather than individual points of light around the coffin, I'd have preferred some form of continuous lighting around the edge.

The shape of the coffin lends itself perfectly to that. A solid line of light following the outside edge would give you a much more consistent glow and, for me, would suit the design better than the individual light points.

That's obviously personal preference, and there's nothing particularly wrong with the supplied lighting kit.

It works.

I just think there was an opportunity to do something better with it.

Display Value

This is the strongest part of the set for me.

Much like the previous SupreOwls set I reviewed, the display value is superb.

I really like how this looks.

The colours are beautiful, the skeleton and flowers work brilliantly together and the coffin gives the whole thing a really distinctive shape. It's also unusual enough that it immediately stands out amongst more traditional building sets.

Importantly, it doesn't particularly look like a building-block set from a distance.

I like sets that can work as actual display pieces rather than simply looking like something you've built and put on a shelf. This could quite easily sit amongst other gothic or Halloween decorations and not look out of place.

It's also not huge, so you don't need to find an enormous amount of space for it. The vertical format helps enormously in that respect.

This was ultimately what I enjoyed most about my previous SupreOwls set, and it's the same here.

The build experience has some issues, but once it's finished and sitting on display, I really like it.

Value for Money

At the time of writing, the Coffin of Roses is $69.99.

I think that's reasonable, particularly if you're buying it primarily as a display piece.

For me, the display value does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to justifying the price. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this at $69.99 purely on the strength of the building experience. There are too many fiddly moments for that.

But you're left with a really attractive and unusual model, and the lighting kit is included.

So I don't think it's exceptional value, but neither do I think the price is unreasonable for what you're getting.

Scores

Build Experience — 6/10
Instructions — 6/10
Brick Quality — 7/10
Design — 8/10
Lighting — 6/10
Display Value — 8.5/10
Value for Money — 6/10
Overall — 7/10

Final Thoughts

This is my second experience with SupreOwls and I'm really enjoying what they're doing.

They're producing sets that are a little different, and that's something I will always support. The Coffin of Roses isn't a conventional building set and, for me, that's a big part of its appeal.

The build is more fiddly than the Gothic Skull Succulent Bouquet, particularly when working within the smaller confines of the coffin, but there are still some really nice moments during the assembly.

And the finished model is beautiful.

For me, the best part is the way the flowers and roses weave through the skeleton. It's such a simple idea, but it's really effective. The colours work beautifully together and the whole thing comes together as a genuinely unusual display piece.

SupreOwls have done what they did with the first set I reviewed: created something different that I genuinely want to put on display.

And I'm absolutely interested to see what they come up with next.