50
votes
Why was LEGO reluctant to use additional colours for regular bricks in former times?
The answer I've heard the most (with a source citing the official confirmation) is that green, brown and gray bricks were omitted from the LEGO palette because the company wanted to discourage kids ...
- 15.4k
26
votes
Why was LEGO reluctant to use additional colours for regular bricks in former times?
Early LEGO colors were inspired by the work of Mondriaan, which mainly consists of white, black, red, blue and yellow. These primary colors were considered to be most appealing to kids.
From the book ...
- 16.9k
23
votes
What was the shortest-lived color?
Further to Alex's answer, from that source I found eleven colours that only lasted a year:
Fabuland Orange 1983
Very Light Orange 2000
Clikits Lavender 2005
Chrome Black 2009
Chrome Green 1999
Satin ...
- 331
18
votes
What was the shortest-lived color?
According to Bricklink, Very Light Orange was only used by single part for one year only - in 2000. It was used in 2 sets (Scala and Belville) and 1 "gear".
That part is this cat:
Another ...
- 22.2k
16
votes
Accepted
Why do some minifigs have grey hands and some yellow?
Hand colors other than yellow are generally used to either match skin tone in licensed themes, or to represent some sort of gloves. The police officer you mentioned is probably "wearing" some sort of ...
- 39.4k
16
votes
Why was LEGO reluctant to use additional colours for regular bricks in former times?
I have a background in precision injection moulding, although not to the extremely tight tolerances of Lego. Here's why a manufacturer would try to reduce the number of colours they used, particularly ...
- 260
15
votes
Why was LEGO reluctant to use additional colours for regular bricks in former times?
A practical engineering concern could be a reason to limit the colours used for molding in ABS plastic.
The colourant added to the base plastic can affect the physical properties of the molded part. ...
- 1,083
13
votes
Accepted
What LEGO brick is available in the most colors?
Again, Bricklink can help with the answer: When downloading the catalog, you specify "Part and Color Codes". This will give you a list of all part numbers and the color codes they have been produced ...
- 2,615
12
votes
Accepted
LEGO color discrepancies and tint variations
Unfortunately, this is common to several colors in the LEGO color pallette. According to this article on Eurobricks.com, The LEGO Group (TLG) made a change in the early 2000’s in how they make their ...
- 16.9k
12
votes
Accepted
Will my mighty white rocket yellow in direct sunlight?
Absolutely it will. The yellowing is caused by exposure to UV light, which it will get more of with direct sunlight shining on it. If it has to be in the window you could look at some glass coverings ...
- 3,231
11
votes
Accepted
Why are 2x4 bricks hard to get in certain colors?
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,...
- 15.4k
9
votes
Accepted
How does LEGO decide the color of internal set pieces?
Going for contrast to help you build?
This is probably the primary reason most of the time.
One Eurobricks user once said they asked a set designer about it, and they confirmed they do it to makes ...
- 13.3k
9
votes
Have you ever seen this color of Teddy Bear?
Neither Bricklink nor Brickset knows about such a piece (all teddy bear pieces of this mold with downward arms come in non-transparent colours and are printed), so it must be either a knock-off (very ...
- 15.4k
8
votes
Accepted
What causes certain LEGO parts to yellow over time, and how can this be prevented?
There are many things such as dirt and chemicals that can cause elements to change color. Dirt can easily be washed off, but certain contaminants such as cigarette smoke can stain plastic.
The most ...
- 39.4k
8
votes
How often does LEGO make colour substitutions?
In my experience, this typically means you used the other colored part by accident somewhere else in the model, for example in a place where it is used on its own, and it was difficult to determine ...
- 16.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Why are these hinged plates slightly different colors?
Quorneng's answer is spot on, even bricks that were from the same set might have been made from differing batches of a particular color and slight variances will produce differing colors. Purple is ...
- 761
7
votes
Some of these Blues are not like the other Blues
It looks like these darker are the same bricks in Blue that have simply "yellowed" over time, which changes the shade of the color. Another answer explains the reason behind this process.
- 22.2k
7
votes
Accepted
Red Palisade Brick?
As of this moment, officially - no. The ones available for sale are, most likely, test runs that made their way from LEGO factory since none of them have been included in any of sets. Red is known to ...
- 22.2k
7
votes
Sell bulk by colour or by part or by both
It (obviously) depends on what people want to buy.
If someone wants to build something, and doesn't totally care what colors are used, then they'll want to buy categorized by shape. It's so much ...
- 7,522
6
votes
Accepted
Why do hidden Lego pieces have different colours?
Using different colors on the inside makes the instructions easier to follow. For example, in the case of the Statue of Liberty that you mentioned, if the entire model was sand-green, it would be ...
- 10.2k
6
votes
Accepted
What's this Colour?
The color of the 2x4 plate and 1x2 jumpers in the photo appears to be regular Dark Blue:
The greenish tint you mention is likely discoloration. Here is an example of a discolored regular blue ...
- 3,264
6
votes
Pearl gold vs flat dark gold
There has been a slight change to the Pearl Gold/Warm Gold color recently that might explain the difference in color between those pieces. See this article on Reddit. Perhaps the right two “Flat Dark ...
- 16.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Colors common to multiple parts?
The best way to figure out what colors a set of parts have in common is to use BrickLink’s Stud.io digital design software. I am unable to show screenshots at the moment, but here are the steps:
Open ...
- 16.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Recent change in Pearl Gold colour?
Metallic plastic is always tricky, especially when dealing with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS for short). The granules (small plastic pellets) for the metallics are really sensitive to light ...
- 363
5
votes
Why are these hinged plates slightly different colors?
The colour of virtually all plastics, like paint, is an 'added' pigment so it is difficult to maintain exactly the same colour.
As others have pointed out some pigments are more susceptible to the ...
- 221
5
votes
Why do LEGO bricks yellow at different rates?
There are several reasons for this:
There isn't just one formula for the ABS plastic that is used in
LEGO. There are actually quite a few. Depending on the color,
translucency, and function, the mix ...
- 761
5
votes
Accepted
Colored balls detectable by EV3 color sensor
There is an interesting discussion on this on the lejos.sourceforge.io forum.
the calibration values for the NXT sensor are set in the factory and seem to be different for each sensor (which ...
- 1,168
5
votes
What LEGO brick is available in the most colors?
BrickLink's statistics in Aziraphale's answer give a good answer if you're only asking about parts that were commercially available in sets. But Lego has made a 2x2 tile in every single color, for ...
- 366
5
votes
When was the pink brick released?
There are two shades of light-pink in LEGO's history that were included in official sets. (Please note that there are other, rare shades of pink that never made it into mass production but were used ...
- 10.2k
5
votes
In what colours can I build my whole model?
I could not find a tool with this ability, so I made one using the Rebrickable API. You can find it here:
https://gist.github.com/ali1234/836ba792390c1a5feca9a3dcb35c14af
It parses an LDraw file and ...
- 201
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible