Review: 21362 Mineral Collection from LEGO® Ideas

Available from tomorrow, Wednesday 1 October 2025, set 21362 Mineral Collection is the 70th LEGO® Ideas set to hit the shelves! The idea was submitted by Dario Del Frate (user ddf72). His proposal was quite a bit larger than the official model, but I think the designer has done a good job in retaining the spirit of the original submission while bringing the smaller version to fruition. Let's take a closer look at the interesting elements and see how the rocks are put together.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

21362 Mineral Collection

• Release date: 1 October 2025
• Pieces: 880

Price: 

• US$ 59.99 on LEGO.com US
• CA$ 79.99 on LEGO.com Canada
• GB£ 54.99 on LEGO.com UK
• AU$ 99.99 on LEGO.com Australia
• NZ$ 109.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
• DE€ 59,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
• NL€ 59,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
• FR€ 59,99 on LEGO.com France
• PLN 269.99 on LEGO.com Polska
• NOK 829,90 on LEGO.com Norge
• DKK 529.95 on LEGO.com Danmark

Other countries click here

 

New mould

Surprisingly for a LEGO Ideas release, we are treated to a new mould in two different colours:

• 6x Brick Special 1x1x1 2/3 with 2 Studs on 3 Sides in Bright Green (6567110 | 7729)
• 2x Brick Special 1x1x1 2/3 with 2 Studs on 3 Sides in Dark Pink (6574782 | 7729)

As the name suggests, there are hollow studs on 3 out of 4 of the sides, enabling a 1x2 element to be attached vertically with no gaps. 

Putting two of the new 7729 elements back to back gives you a 1x2x1 2/3 core with studs on all 4 sides; no previously existing modified bricks could do this. As you will see in the build section later, this is the optimal combination to construct the sturdy Watermelon Tourmaline crystal.

This new mould fits into the family of 5-plate high SNOT bricks shown above; from left to right:

• Brick, Modified 1x1x1 2/3 with Studs on 3 Sides (7729) – the new mould
• Brick, Modified 1x1x1 2/3 with Studs on 1 Side (32952)
• Brick, Modified 1x2x1 2/3 with 4 Studs on 1 Side (22885)
• Brick, Modified 1x2x1 2/3 with 4 Studs on 2 Sides (80796)
• Brick, Modified 1x2x1 2/3 with 8 Studs on 3 Sides (67329)
• Brick, Modified 1x2x2/3 with Studs on Sides and Extended Stud Receptacle (4595) 

It is a hybrid of the second and fifth bricks shown above, 32952 and 67329, filling a gap in the available stud patterns. It bears many similarities to the beloved LEGO® Space element 4595 on the far right, which has some unique quirks that deserve a New Elementary article of their own. It was introduced 40 years ago this year and still appears regularly in sets, so it will be interesting to see if usage decreases with the introduction of 7729.

Recoloured elements

There are six new exclusive recoloured elements included:

• 1x Slope Curved 2x2 with Stud Notch Left in Brick Yellow/ Tan (6546722 | 5095)
• 1x Slope Curved 2x2 with Stud Notch Right in Tan (6546719 | 5093)
• 4x Brick Sloped 4x4 Corner in Trans-Light Blue (6570385 | 7241)
• 3x Minifig Head Special, Cube with Rear Ledge [Plain] in Metallic Gold (6567517 | 19727)
• 15x Tile Special 1x2 Grille with Bottom Groove in Trans-Clear (6570387 | 2412b)
• 3x Slope 45° 2x1 Triple with Inside Stud Holder in Trans-Clear (6570659 | 15571)
  

I was surprised to learn that the big trans light blue corner slope is only the second colour for this mould. It first appeared in black in 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Ship, released on 12 September 2025 – see Thomas' review of set 10365.

Rare elements

As for the rare pieces, in the top and middle rows we have elements which have appeared in one other set prior to this release:

• 4x Brick Special 1x2x 1 2/3 with Four Studs on 2 Sides in Transparent Bright Orange (6370565 | 80796) – also in 80034 Nezha's Fire Ring
• 1x Slope Curved 3x2 with Stud Notch Left in Medium Nougat (6452910 | 80177) – in 31166 Beautiful Horse
• 1x Slope Curved 3x2 with Stud Notch Right in Medium Nougat (6452911 | 80178) – also seen in  Beautiful Horse
• 1x Slope Inverted 45° 2x2 [No Bottom Pin, Bar-sized Stud Holes] in Transparent Light Blue (6533190 | 7261) – seen in 11040 Magical Transparent Box, a new version of the existing opaque mould
• 4x Tile 1x4 with Groove in Transparent Bright Bluish Violet/ Trans-Purple (6510186 | 35371) – just in 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy
• 4x Plate Special 1x1 with Clip Vertical [Thick Open O Clip] in Medium Lavender (6543488 | 44860) – additionally in 43257 Angel
• 2x Slope Curved 2x1 No Studs [1/2 Bow] in Nougat (6533805 | 11477) – seen in 43270 Moana's Adventure Canoe
  

 On the bottom row, in two other sets are:

• 1x Slope Curved 3 x 1 No Studs in Medium Nougat (6535837 | 50950) – seen in 75687 Elphaba's Retreat and 31166 Beautiful Horse 

and in three other sets:

• 3x Tile 1x2 with Groove in Trans-Purple (6253836 | 35386) 
• 1x Plate Special 2x2 with Groove and Center Stud (Jumper) in Trans-Purple (6499142 | 92569)
• 1x Slope Curved 3x2 No Studs in Dark Stone Grey/Dark Bluish Gray (6501502 | 24309)

Build experience

The building instructions are divided into 3 booklets, so this could be undertaken as a collaborative project quite easily. Each book tells you how to build one display shelf and two different minerals. Bags 1 and 2 build the shelf, Pyrite (Fool's Gold) and the Watermelon Tourmaline sample, shown on the far left of the image above.

The Watermelon Tourmaline utilises the new mould elements internally to provide the core. The next layer mostly consists of 1x2 plates placed horizontally on the studs – and, where there is only 1 stud on the side, the 1x2 plate is attached via the middle pin which fits into the brick's hollow stud. The next layer is a column of 2x2 trans-clear jumper plates, which are topped off by a row of vertically-mounted trans-clear 1x2 grilles, giving the required texture on the sides.

Bags 3 and 4 make the shelf, and a blue Fluorite crystal and the pointy Tangerine Quartz. The angled dark blue crystal of the Fluorite is held in place via clip and bar combination arranged around some vertical brackets. Each side is then encapsulated with an assembly featuring the recoloured trans-blue corner slope.

Clips and bars also provide the anchor points for the two smaller crystals that stick out at odd angles from the base of the main upright Tangerine Quartz crystal. This time the bar is on the bottom of a 1x1 round plate (79194) and attaches to a 1x1 plate with clip. These smaller clips are orientate at right angles to each other, allowing the crystals which sit on top to splay out in different directions.

Bags 5 to 7 construct the lower shelf, with a purple Amethyst geode and red Rhodochrosite crystals. 

The above images show the various directions of build which go to make up the geode's structure – along with the back panel, seen below:

There is clever stud-reversal on the sides, using 1x2 rounded brick with center bars held upside down with respect to the rest of the panel by two medium lavender 1x1 plates with clips, which can be seen in the gaps in the side panels. There's certainly studs going in all directions with this part of the model!

I found placing all the trans-clear angled bars with 1x1 round stud rather fiddly at the base of the Rhodochrosite. The two medium-sized trans-red cubic crystals are mounted on hinge bricks to angle them forward, while the largest 3x3 trans-red crystal is also given a 2x2 round jumper, enabling it to be twisted off-grid compared to the regular stud pattern on the tope of the hinge plate.

I like the way the display shelves can be interlocked without attachment – they just push together – to provide an elegant linear trio. They can also be used separately to good effect, as shown above.

I can see that this set fits in well with the 18+ age range. Although the shelves were a bit repetitive (I was anticipating the next moves easily by the time I got to the third set), the minerals have many SNOT-heavy construction methods, particularly the Amethyst geode. 

The mineral samples do look very nice once you have built them – and, if you prefer a less formal display, you could always arrange them directly on a table or your own shelf if you didn't want to use the brick-built shelves provided. 

Conclusion

It is good to see that a set has arrived at the less-expensive end of the LEGO Ideas line. It retails for £54.99/ $59.99/ €59.99 and contains 880 pieces, which gives us a reasonably good price-per-part value of 6.2p/ 6.8c/ 6.8c, although I admit that most of the elements which build the minerals are quite small.

I found the shelves a bit repetitive to build but the minerals showed some excellent use of elements and advanced techniques to produce a colourful collection for display. Budding geologists may be inspired to build some more of their own specimens to complement those found here.

The LEGO Ideas line has only recently begun to feature new moulds, and it is an exciting bonus to find one here, where an existing element could not have done the job adequately. Personally, I would also like to see the variants with studs on opposite sides, 2 adjacent sides and all 4 sides as well! Maybe they will come in the future? 

Buy on LEGO.com

READ MORE: Also available 1 October, 10361 Holiday Express Train from LEGO® Icons

Help New Elementary keep publishing articles like this. Become a Patron!

A huge thank you to all our patrons for your support, especially our 'Vibrant Coral' tier: London AFOLs, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Huw Millington, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Gerald Lasser, Baixo LMmodels, Sue Ann Barber and Trevor Clark, Markus Rollbühler, Elspeth De Montes, Megan Lum, Andy Price, Chuck Hagenbuch, Jf, Wayne R. Tyler, Daniel Church, Lukas Kurth (StoneWars), Timo Luehnen, Chris Wight, Jonathan Breidert, Brick Owl, BrickCats, Erin and Dale, Thunderdave, Jake Forbes and our newest top-tier patron, H.Y. Leung! You folks are better than inverted cheese slopes.

All text and images are ©2025 New Elementary unless otherwise attributed.