Tag Archives: praying mantis

LEGO reveals The Insect Collection as the next LEGO Ideas set [News]

Introducing 21342 LEGO Ideas The Insect Collection, originally conceived by LEGO fan José Maria, from Spain. The set itself consists of a blue morpho butterfly, a Hercules beetle and a female Chinese mantis. The insects are accompanied by a small honeybee and a seven-spotted ladybug. Each one of the main bugs comes with their own buildable habitat. To celebrate the launch, the LEGO group will be accompanying the set with a new nature-inspired ASMR playlist called Green Noise. The playlist is created in partnership with award winning and Emmy-nominated Foley artist Sanaa Kelley. It can be enjoyed online at LEGO.com/insects. Available September 7th (September 4th for Insiders), 21342 LEGO Ideas The Insect Collection will retail for US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99.

Channel your inner-entomologist below!

So, head or no head?

Guys only want one thing and it’s disgusting. However, in the world of praying mantises, that doesn’t always work out. It’s the lady who gets the head — literally. Expert builder Djokson sets the table for a romantic candlelit dinner, with fancy tablecloth and a glass of wine. Lady mantis appears to have been stood up by her suitor, until her meal is served on a big platter.

Date Night

While this is a fun scene, we have to talk about NPU when we write about Djokson’s many ingenious creations. For example, Lady mantis wears pieces of cloth that can only be from either Scala or Belville — two old LEGO themes full of large dolls. It’s just hard for me to pinpoint which cloth piece is from which. However, the eye sockets of each mantis are the shoes of said dolls, with the good old minifigure arms wedged inside them. Other pieces include the rubbery Krana and Kraata from Bionicle, which Djokson uses in the head and stomach respectively. I also enjoy the use of the fantastical key element from LEGO Elves, which gives the elbows a spindly look.

I guess you could say Djokson’s builds make me… lose my head.

Yo ho ho, it’s a bug’s life for me

Hachiroku24 shows us a collection of LEGO bugs made with an amazing eye for detail. Their collection consists of a lady bug, a praying mantis, a butterfly, a bee and a rhino beetle and all of them are amazing. Let’s zoom in on each bug individually. The lady bug is just a cute little ball. The 2×1 wedge with stud notch work perfectly for the eyes of the lady bug and have you seen those little feet? The praying mantis head is simply perfect using the bionicle tooth and the technic ball for eyes. There are a lot of plant stems, tail ends and even surfboards used in this little bug. The butterfly is a beautiful build using different shades of blue for the pattern on the wings. The bee and the rhino beetle are the best of the bunch. Although it is not pictured here, they both come with a set of wings using transparent pieces including the 1×4 curved slope which looks stunning! You can watch a video of the build here. Now I am off to build these myself. I think I will frame them and hang them on my wall in stead of buying an entomology display.

LEGO Insect Collection (new LEGO Ideas project!)