LEGO Ideas 21355 The Evolution of STEM – Quirky, yet charming [Review]
Back in late 2023 LEGO hosted an Ideas contest where builders were tasked with submitting tributes to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). The winning model is an encyclopedia exploding with mini-build homages to important elements of STEM history. LEGO Ideas 21355 The Evolution of STEM contains 879 pieces, including 3 minifigures, and will release on March first, retailing for US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99. Join us as we dive into the pages of this book to see what treasures they hold!
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts, instructions, and sticker sheet
The elongated box features the 18+ black motif with a sand green accent strip. The model takes up the vast majority of the front of the box, with just enough space for a custom “The Evolution of STEM” logo, along with the the Ideas number: #063. It’s impressive that there are so many “fan-designed” sets that have been released. Meanwhile, the back of the box shows the model shrunk down a bit, with enhanced details framed below. Interestingly, the build on the last page of the instruction booklet is different than that on the box or front of the instructions, with the bee and probe swapped.
Inside the box are seven bags numbered 1-7, a square instruction booklet, a small sticker sheet, and a black rigid hose.
Like similar kits, the first several pages contain details about the story behind the set as well as the fan designer, Daniel Bradley.
The build
There’s quite a lot of stuff jam-packed into this relatively small model. Right off the bat we build the spine of the book, which contains a mechanism that creates two different types of movement within a fairly tiny span.
This is certainly a useful technique that I will use in the future with my own builds.
After the mechanism, we lay the foundation for the “cover” of the book, and install our first two features of the model. On one side, we have “STEM” in Morse code and on the other, we have a representation of the light spectrum.
These initial details are really cool, but unfortunately, they are immediately covered up, hidden within the “pages” of the book. I see the design necessity and fun Easter egg nature of it, but I can’t say I’m a fan. That said, I do like the new slopes used for the pages.
Next up, we make our DNA helix, which towers as a back centerpiece and will eventually facilitate the “flying” of some of the other sub-builds. This, too, includes a great new Technic element in the form of a 2L liftarm with a perpendicular axle in the center. This helix geometry wouldn’t be possible without it.
To the right of the helix, we add a microscale version of a modern city. Its inclusion is to depict STEM coming together in one place. One of my favorite features of the city are the 1×2 printed advertisement tiles. They’re adorable and useful for future projects, although I’m a little bummed that they skimped and doubled one up versus having three separate signs.
On the left of the helix (pictured here from the back) sits the infamous tree that supposedly dropped the apple that sparked Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. The use of handlebars to join two limb elements is a nice technique.
There is a bit of a sense of building the set in layers from back to front. Perhaps this is a way that it could be shared between more than one person, or split between multiple build sessions. Here, we have completed the back layer and are moving on to the middle.
Like the back, the middle layer has three elements, but instead of doing the centerpiece first, we do it last. To the left we build a road and an early automobile. The car is cute, but there’s something off about it that I can’t quite put my finger on. However, I know I’m being nitpicky, and while playing with it, it’s growing on me. To the right we have a small garden honoring the work of George Washington Carver, who we’ll come back to later. The garden features a new window piece and one of the new flower pieces for the sunflower.
Our centerpiece (pictured from behind and temporarily using a 1×1 round plate as a stand) is a carbon atom – one of the basic building blocks of all life. Its six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons all rely on the use of new 1×1 studs with a clip to create the look. This is a highly useful piece and a major asset to the LEGO palette. The structure also uses the “C” tile from the LEGO Ideas 21327 Typewriter set, two Ninjago weapon holders, six tow ball bars (with an azure recolor), six Technic ball joints, a Technic ring, and the rigid hose that was loose in the box (with a couple other common parts). The hose is a little tough to get perfectly round, which is a bit frustrating for a perfectionist. Altogether, the atom is a fairly clever conglomeration of parts.
With that tacked on to the center of the book, we now have our middle grouping complete.
The final grouping of the book consists of a large desk, which is laden with nods to important STEM history. There’s a microscope with printed petri dishes (1×1 round tiles), a writing quill, books, archeological/paleontological finds, an early computer displaying the internet, and a chalkboard covered in important notations: a depiction of the Pythagorean Theorem, Fibonacci’s Spiral and the Golden Ratio, Newton’s Second Law of Motion, and a peanut plant (another tribute to George Washington Carver). Tucked behind and to the left of the desk is a robotic arm, giving a brief nod to mass production and the future of STEM.
With that, the “ground level” of the book is complete. Well.. almost.
Before we round everything off, by taking our model up, up, and away, one last element sits tucked behind the right side of the desk. It’s a pearl gold 3×3 round tile with a faint sticker on it. The images on the sticker are almost difficult to make out, but fortunately there is an explanation in the instructions, as there is with most other sub-builds in this model. This disk represents the “Golden Records” aboard the Voyager probes, which include audio greetings in 55 languages, music, and nature sound bites from all over the world.
Of course, this pairs with a mini-build of the NASA Voyager 1 probe – the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space.
Next, we have a mini-build of a space shuttle. For the most part I really love this design, although I’m not 100% sold on the drastic, square step-up from the body to the tail.
Our final mini-build is the honeybee, one of the most important creatures in the world for its pollination and indication of a healthy ecosystem. I’m torn on the construction though. There are some interesting techniques being mashed together here. As you’re building you’re thinking it’s cool, but the end result is a tiny bit off, like the car. It’s really difficult to capture the bee’s “good side” for a picture. I guess it’s the head that throws me.
And with that, we’re done! Ready for the final reveal!
The completed model
In pictures, the model feels larger than it is in person, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As previously mentioned, there’s a lot going on in a small space, and I’m fairly pleased with what they were able to capture.
It’s clearly intended to be displayed from the front, but the back doesn’t look too bad either. Continue to the conclusion section to see a GIF of the movement in action! (After we introduce our figs!)
The minifigures
There are three minifigures in the set, representing just a few of the most important minds in history: Sir Isaac Newton, Marie Curie (née Skłodowska), and George Washington Carver. Let’s take a closer look at each…
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was an English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, most known for his gravitational theory and the laws of physics, as well as work with light prisms. (Hence the spectrum we built early on.) Despite the passage of time and further discoveries done by Einstein and others, his formulas are still used today. His minifigure has dual-molded white and black legs and a front-and-back-printed sand green coat with white scarf and azure waistcoat. His face is also printed on both sides, with one featuring a pleasant smile and the other showing concern – perhaps from the apple falling on his head, which he carries in his hand. Atop his head is the same wavy gray hair found on the female statue in the modular 10326 Natural History Museum.
Marie Curie (née Skłodowska) (1867-1934) was a Polish chemist and considered the mother of modern physics. She is most known for her discovery of radium and work with radioactive material, and she was not only the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, but the first person in general to win two. Her death was related to her exposure to radiation, and both her and her husband (who studied alongside her) were laid to rest in a lead-lined tomb. Here, her figure has a black torso printed on both sides and a plain black dress – the outfit you see in many pictures of her. Her dual-sided head features a confident smile on one side, and concern on the other. A dark tan bun tops her head and in her hands she carries a “radium-filled” flask and a 1×1 glow-in-the-dark printed tile of radium’s square on the Periodic Table of Elements. As a bonus, the set contains an extra of this piece.
Last but certainly not least is George Washington Carver (1864-1943). He is renowned as an American chemist, botanist, agriculturist, environmentalist, and humanitarian. According to the booklet, he “invented 325 uses for peanuts, 108 applications for sweet potatoes, and hundreds more for soya beans and pecans.” He made major contributions to efficient and sustainable farming, and the prevention of soil depletion. His minifigure includes unprinted dark brown legs and a dual-sided, printed, reddish-brown torso with a coat, shirt, and pink flower. His head is single-sided due to the newpaper-boy cap atop his head, but the face print is nice, with a gray mustache and eyebrows, and a weathered look. In his hands are a printed peanut tile (again, there is an extra with the set), and a what looks like a bee-smoker or watering can.
Conclusions and recommendations
I find it intriguing that it’s really Bradley’s concept that won the Ideas contest to make this a model, rather than his actual build. There are plenty of Ideas sets that stray from the original submission, but I’m not sure if there’s another that strays quite this much. Many of the components are there, but they look absolutely nothing like the original design, and the layout and scales are completely different. Really, the not-so-upfront prompt was “Make something that will inspire the LEGO designers to make something somewhat similar.” While I do like this design far better than the original, if it were me I’d feel a bit weird about being credited for a design so drastically different from my original concept. I also would’ve loved to see the antique microscope be picked as the winner, because I think it would make a beautiful display piece, but that’s a separate issue.
So far I haven’t paid a huge amount of attention because I didn’t want to be swayed one way or the other, but I’ve heard murmurings of this being a popular set to hate. It is indeed a little wild, and perhaps somewhat MOC-ish (the custom build of a fan versus an official LEGO model) which is ironic after my previous comment above. Another thing that’s ironic is how LEGO is such an artistic medium, yet they chose to go with STEM over STEAM. But I can’t imagine trying to add art references to this whole thing!
However, while all that sounds fairly negative, I actually like the set. I found the build process quite enjoyable and interesting! I learned a couple nice techniques, and overall, despite nitpicks, it’s fun. The price-per-piece isn’t awful either, and it’s full of interesting new elements/recolors. For those reasons, I would recommend the set to anyone considering it.
LEGO Ideas 21355 The Evolution of STEM contains 879 pieces, including 3 minifigures, and will release on March first, retailing for US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99. You might also be able to find it from third party retailers such as Amazon and eBay.
The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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