Five differences between LEGO Ideas 21342 The Insect Collection and the original project

Like the vast majority of LEGO Ideas sets, 21342 The Insect Collection has undergone a few changes from concept to shelves. Here are five of the biggest differences we’ve spotted so far…

Designed from an initial pitch by Spanish builder José María, the newly-announced 21342 The Insect Collection brings together a quintet of bugs within a single box – but perhaps not in the way you were expecting. While the original project only includes five different insects (at varying scales), the finished product also builds out habitats for them, which then double up as display stands.

That’s the biggest immediate difference in comparing these two projects, but look a little closer and the alterations start to become even more apparent.

5 – The focus is on three bugs, not five

While all five different species of insect pitched by María are present and correct in 21342 The Insect Collection, the focus is first and foremost on the Blue Morpho Butterfly, Hercules Beetle and Chinese Mantis. The honeybee and ladybird are given short shrift by comparison: the bee is a smaller brick-built addendum to the butterfly’s flowery base, while the ladybird is relegated to the status of a 1×1 tile. Here’s hoping that wasn’t your favourite part of the original project… 

4 – Each insect has its own display stand

Did we mention display stands? While María’s wildlife was free-wheeling around his desk in his original submission, the LEGO Group has instead followed the template first established all the way back in 2015 by 21301 Birds for 21342 The Insect Collection. That means a trio of larger insects, each with their own stand – but these displays go even further than those of their feathered friends, building into bite-sized habitats for the real-life insects from around the world.

The Hercules Beetle is situated on a decaying log from Central America; the Blue Morpho Butterfly is perched on a branch from the Amazon rainforest in South America; and the Chinese Mantis’s thin branch is intended to reflect forests in Asia. 

3 – The beetle is a different colour

Colour swaps are probably the easiest change for the LEGO Group to make to Ideas submissions, and often the most effective. With so much greenery already otherwise in 21342 The Insect Collection, the designers responsible for realising María’s project have swapped out the Hercules Beetle’s sand green wing casing for orange and yellow. It also diverges from the original design by displaying the bug with its wings out, here built using an attractive mix of trans-orange tiles.

2 – The butterfly swaps out bricks for tiles

Speaking of tiles: María designed his Blue Morpho Butterfly with standard bricks, leading to a hefty (but possibly not quite structurally sound) bug. The LEGO Group has swapped out that approach for wings built up with a mixture of curved and angular tiles in various shades of blue. The result is a design that’s presumably less fragile, but has also given the designers more freedom to experiment with more organic patterning on the butterfly’s wings. Fingers crossed those tiles around the edges are printed.

1 – The mantis is beefier – and more lethal

The Chinese Mantis also hasn’t escaped a slight redesign, and the solutions the LEGO Group has cooked up for its limbs and body have led to a beefier brick-built bug. The golden crowbars on its head are a particularly nice touch, while the pieces selected for the tibial spines on its front legs are a little more menacing. Things get properly lethal on the tips of its jointed legs, though, where this little guy is rocking sand green revolvers. That’s inspired part usage all round.

21342 The Insect Collection launches on September 4 for LEGO Insiders, and September 7 for everyone else. You’ll be able to buy it directly from LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores for £69.99 / $79.99 / €79.99.

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