Earlier this summer, LEGO announced both the name change of LEGO CUUSOO to “LEGO Ideas” and that the next fan-designed concept that would be produced would be that of the female minifigures set designed by Alatariel Elensar. I really didn’t expect that LEGO would have the finished product ready to be shown off at all until late summer or early fall, but it appears LEGO was farther along with the set than I thought! The LEGO Research Institute 21110 set has now been fully revealed!

UPDATE 12/12/2014: It’s taken a few months, but the LEGO Research Institute set is now back in stock and available for order online!

I feel like it was just yesterday that LEGO announced they’d be turning the LEGO CUUSOO Female Scientists Minifigures set into an actual LEGO product, but I guess time just flies by when you’re building, collecting and talking about LEGO sets! Not only has LEGO had sufficient time to finalize the design of the 21110 LEGO Research Institute set, but they’ve actually began producing the set already! Original set designer Alatariel Elensar has already received the set and shared these photos and impressions of the set on her blog.

Female scientists are very near and dear to my heart, as my wife is a middle school science teacher with all of her degrees in various areas of science. She’s also a bonafide dinosaur nut. So when my wife found out that there was a whole female scientist-themed LEGO set coming out with a LEGO T-Rex skeleton, she just about exploded!

Even the little LEGO chemistry diorama is similar to the chem lab in my wife’s classroom, so she was positively enamored with this set the moment that she saw it (and my wife does not fall in love with LEGO sets easily). I think that this is an absolutely awesome set that LEGO has chosen as the first set to bear the LEGO Ideas logo (though it’s labeled “LEGO Ideas #008”, continuing the numbering from LEGO CUUSOO). We can always use more female LEGO minifigures, and especially ones that help promote women in scientific fields (where they are traditionally woefully underrepresented).

And the female minifigures in LEGO Ideas #8 are flat-out fantastic! I love how charismatic and fun their alternate facial expressions are, and the prints on their torsos look great! Two out of the three minifigure feature printing on the back of their torsos as well (although there’s no printing on any of the minifigure legs this time). There’s a LEGO Paleontologist minifigure, a LEGO Chemist minifigure, and a LEGO Astronomer minifigure (all women, obviously). This is going to be such a positive and stellar set for parents to give their girls for birthdays and Christmas this year! The LEGO Ideas Research Institute 21110 set is expected to be released in August 2014. It’s tough to guess the official price point on this item, as the box doesn’t indicate the total piece-count, but the rumored price-tag is thought to be about $19.99 (which sounds about right for a set of this size). I’ll post an update to the Bricks and Bloks Facebook Page once the exact price and release date are known, so be sure to watch our Facebook Page for the release details on LEGO 21110.

What do you think about the first-ever “LEGO Ideas”-branded set, LEGO fans? Are you psyched to get some new female minifigure representation (with some super-smart ladies, no less!), or is this set too mundane for your LEGO tastes?