LEGO Ideas The Evolution of STEM (21355) Review

One of my favourite themes is LEGO Ideas and already this year we’ve had two sets released. With a third one coming out this month. I wasn’t too worried about the Twilight set which was released in February but when I saw The Evolution of STEM (21355), it went straight onto my wish list.

The set didn’t go through the usual LEGO Ideas process, instead it was won a competition run by the Ideas team in 2023 to celebrate STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. The designers have made numerous changes to the original design, with the most obvious difference being the DNA Helix in the centre that has microbuilds coming off it. I know that Ideas sets often look different to the original fan design but this has to have the most changes I have ever seen between the submission and final design.

Original submission

Build:

The set has a book as the base and then has all the various references to STEM spilling out of it.

The first couple of bags build the base of the set which is a book. But there are a couple of hidden features to it, that are revealed by lifting away some of the book pages. One side was a representation of the light spectrum and the other spells “STEM” in Morse code.

After that we then build the DNA Helix in the centre of the set, before starting the various mini builds that make up the set. The first is a representation of a city with skyscrapers a double decker bus and a plan flying overhead. There are also some printed pieces that used for advertised tiles, similar to Times Square and Piccadilly Circus. 

The tree that inspired Sir Isaac Newton to come up with the theory of gravity is then shown and to be honest isn’t the best built tree you see in LEGO form. This completes the mini builds at the back of the set.

The middle section, has my favourite mini build in the set which is one of the earliest cars and goes on a brick built road. 

We also have a garden that honours the work of George Washington Carver, which has a new flower piece for the sunflower. The centre piece of the middle section is the Carbon Atom. This uses a rigid hose piece that you have to bend into a circle, which is a little frustrating to get perfectly circular. I’m still not happy with it after messing around with it a few times. The “C” is reused from the Ideas Typewriter set. The six protons, neutrons and electrons are all represented around the “C”. 

The front section has a desk which is packed with loads of references to “STEM” and some nice Easter Eggs which have nods to the fan designer. There is a microscope with microbes, a blackboard which has references to Pythagorean Theorem, Fibonacci’s Spiral and the Golden Ratio, Newton’s Second Law of Motion, and a peanut plant (which is another nod to George Washington Carver). The final thing that finishes off the front section is Voyager’s Golden Record, which is off to the side of age desk.

The last few mini builds attach to the DNA Helix and to me really finish off the set. The first is NASA’s Voyager 1 probe, then we have a space shuttle and the final build of the set is a honeybee. 

The set has a play features, which has a knob at the back that when turned spins the DNA Helix and causes the Carbon Molecule to lift up and down.

Minifigures:

We get three minifgures in the set, which are Sir Isaac Newton, Marie Skłodowska-Curie and George Washington Carver. I was familiar with the first two from learning about them at school but hadn’t heard of George Washington Carver before who was an American agricultural scientist and inventor. Whilst the Minifigures are exclusive to the set, they do reuse parts from other Minifigures. 

Price:

The set retails for £69.99 which doesn’t feel too bad for a set that has nearly 900 pieces at first glance. But are a lot of smaller pieces that make it up, so once factored in the price per piece isn’t that great.

Display & Final Thoughts:

The set looks great on display and packs loads of references to STEM and shows off the various scientific and technological achievements of mankind. As an educational tool it will be really helpful to learn about some of the pioneers and visualise the concepts of STEM.

At a time when Lego seems to be focussing mainly on licensed sets it’s nice to get something different. This really shows off how varied the Ideas theme is but this set is very niche. I bought the set on release day and it wasn’t the most popular, with people mainly focussing on the F1 sets and some of the other new releases.

Scores:

• Build – 8
• Minifigures – 8.5
• Price – 7.5
• Display – 8.5
• Overall score 8