Why are 2x4 bricks hard to get in certain colors?

Question

I'm new to the Lego community, so apologies if this is a dumb question.

I am trying to understand how best to get hold of 2x4 bricks in a variety of colors in the brown and green spectrum but am a bit confused as to why they're apparently hard to get hold of at a reasonable price. I already have some from some Classic sets I picked up, but only a few from each. I'm just looking to scale up significantly on how many of these blocks I own so that I can build something large with them.

Pick a Brick doesn't even show brown and dark brown as options, for example. Meanwhile, BrickLink has only a handful of dark brown bricks available at rather expensive prices.

I (naively?) thought that 2x4 bricks would be some of the easiest to get hold of, regardless of the color.

What am I missing here? Is there a genuine shortage of these bricks? Is there a better way for me to get my hands on them?

Answer 1

Prices of bricks are determined by supply and demand, in your specific case, it is the supply side to blame. Check this site which shows how many sets was a particular colour of 2x4 brick contained in, and you'll see that there is no mention of the Dark Brown colour you are after. This means all such bricks for sale come from other sources than opened official LEGO sets that were parted out and sold by pieces, like designer bricks, not officially released sets and the like.

Brown bricks were found in 27 sets, but if you compare that number with the 650 sets for yellow ones, you'll see how it causes the difference in their prices (12 cents vs 53 for new ones sold in average in the last 6 months).

You haven't mentioned a concrete shade of green, but the numbers are similar in that area as well, except for the regular green: Olive Green (3), Dark Green (50), Green (309), Sand Green (18).

The rarity of these shades are best explained by the official LEGO policy of refusing to produce sets depicting realistic military equipment from the contemporary era: see for more here.

Answer 2

Just because the 2x4 Brick is the most recognizable of all LEGO brick does not mean it also comes in all colors. You are looking for Dark Brown and Brown in your question:

Dark Brown is not a color in which LEGO has produced this brick before. This listing on BrickLink shows all the colors this particular brick has been produced in, just use the selector above the picture and browse through the “Known” colors.

Brown on the other hand is a color in which this brick was produced, but this color has not been produced by LEGO for the last 20 years as it was replaced by a slightly different shade of Brown called Reddish Brown. You will find many Reddish Brown 2x4 Bricks for sale on Bricklink, Pick a Brick as well as Bricks & Pieces (Lego.com->Support->Replacement Parts->Buy Bricks). Just look for part 3001. You will not find Brown listed at LEGO.com, but might find some in Bricklink, however, they might cost more due to their status as a retired color.

Answer 3

You may see that under "Known Colors" Dark Brown isn't listed, which means there are no records of this brick it particular color to appear in any of sets.

However, this doesn't mean that LEGO has never produced bricks in Dark Brown. The only difference is that these elements have been produced for certain purpose - most likely to build some large model or other non-retail needs.

This explains the rarity and the pricing.

And one more thing. 2x4 Brick also well known by its 3001 part ID is a (iconic) collectable item and people tend to pay these prices for odd colors. You may drool a little over this Flickr galery.

Answer 4

Lego bricks (not just 2x4 but any size) in certain colors - including dark green and brown - just happen to be rare and I think this is simply because Lego mostly refuses to sell those colors for no particular reason.

When I was young, the only dark green bricks I owned were 2 1x1 bricks which I found on the ground at Legoland.

So the most straightforward route to buying those colors is probably to go with a Lego clone brand.

Answer 5

Consider buying parts from Lego clone brands instead.

If you're looking to buy bricks in colors that the Lego company hesitates to produce, you might want to consider purchasing sets from clone brands that produce modular building bricks compatible with Lego brand bricks.

Because Lego refuses to produce sets depicting modern military equipment and vehicles, many of these clone brands do so to fill the niche that Lego has produced. With a quick web search, it appears that Mega Bloks, Lepin, and Best-Lock all do so, and I suspect that many of the others do as well.

While these bricks wouldn't be official Lego brand bricks, they are compatible with them, and would likely be referred to as "legos" by the uncritical consumer.