One of the nicest recently released sets is the #21342 LEGO Ideas Insect Collection with buildable models of a Blue Morpho Butterfly, a Hercules Beetle, and a Chinese Mantis in their natural habitats.
Here is another view of the three insects with their surrounding brick-built habitat.
The Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho Peleides) model captures the shades of blue in this butterfly’s wings and the white dots are printed. The wings are movable. The model also includes a buildable honeybee with nicely printed body and brick-built flowers.
The Chinese Mantis (Tenodera Sinensis) is a type of praying mantis, and it comes with highly articulated movable joints. Its buildable habitat features several 7-spotted ladybugs as well as brick-built flowers and leaves. This model measures over 7 in. (18 cm) high, 6.5 in. (17 cm) wide and 6 in. (16 cm) deep.
The Hercules Beetle (Dynastes Hercules) is the longest beetle in the world. The LEGO version comes with attachable wings and the characteristic horns of the male of this species.
All of the insets are removable from their stands, so you can pose them separately, or place them in a different habitat. Also, separate building instructions are included for each model, which allows you to build solo or with others. In the video below, JANGBRiCKS will show you the set in more detail.
This is such a nice set for any age, both for novice and advanced builders and an especially nice gift for the holidays. It also goes well with the LEGO Botanical sets with various brick-built flowers. If you would like to get the #21342 LEGO Ideas Insect Collection it is available at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ideas Insect Collection? Do you have the set already? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!
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This is one of my favorite sets this year. When I was a kid I used to build Lego insects. I mean, I tried. They often fell apart, but there were less small parts for this type of building. And a lot less colors. The praying mantis is my favorite. I have the set already, but I’m tempted to get another one.
I wonder if this set will prompt someone to release a book with more critters. The birds set had that.
I would love to make a monarch butterfly. I’m wondering if that would be possible using the blue one as a template.
I’m fairly sure you could. Maybe not fully accurate but still recognizable.
If spapping the colors doesn’t work for some reason, JKBrickworks has a nice monarch butterfly with free building instructions: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-111820/JKBrickworks/butterfly-sunning-its-wings/#details
Hopefully, there would be enough relevant parts in orange. You might need to make the blacker outlines of the wings a bit thicker, too.
By the way, I believe I quite recently had a dream about a monarch butterfly or similar, that had trouble flying for some reason.