Elspeth has a final two creations for you today where she has used a single LEGO® piece in multiple colours as inspiration for a build. Click/tap any image to view larger.
Colour Recycling Facility
The Colour Recycling Facility is on point with TLG’s current policy of using 100% renewable energy and the ongoing research into alternative, more environmentally friendly options for ABS plastic.
You may notice that all the workers in the facility are wearing a differently coloured Construction Helmet (Element ID 3833). This part first appeared back in 1978 in Red [BL]/Bright Red [TLG] in the Classic Town construction sets and Yellow [BL]/Bright Yellow [TLG] in Train sets released that same year. I am missing Blue [BL]/Bright Blue [TLG] as, despite being a presumably common colour, this only appeared in one set; 6686 Backhoe from 1984. The blue helmet seen here worn by the forklift operator is actually Maersk Blue [BL]/Pastel Blue [TLG] from two Maersk sets, 1651 Maersk Line Container Truck from 1980 and 10219 Maersk Container Train from 2011. You can see the full range of available colours and their current prices on BrickLink.
My colour collections actually started with the humble Trash Can with 2 Cover Holders (Element ID 2439) and the more recent, similar Trash Can with 4 Cover Holders (Element ID 92926). I built a MOC called Taking Out the Trash with a character called Doris and quickly realised that I had more trash cans than I imagined.
The Trash Can with 2 Cover Holders first appeared in Dark Gray [BL]/Dark Grey [TLG] (third from the left in the picture above) back in 1987 while the 4 holder version was not introduced until 2009 in Light Bluish Gray [BL]/Medium Stone Grey [TLG]. There’s a big difference in the price of the Light Bluish Gray version as the 2 holder version is sought after as an element in 10182 Cafe Corner while the 4 holder is supplied with more recent sets and freely available. You can see the full range of available colours and their current prices on BrickLink.
Mark Stafford Killed Teal
The ‘Mark Stafford Killed Teal’ legend is a true story and this MOC is just a bit of a tease to show the colour Dark Turquoise [BL]/ Bright Bluish Green [TLG]/ Teal [LDraw and Peeron]. Having graduated from LEGO fan builder to LEGO designer, Mark’s first set was the Exo-Force set 8115 Dark Panther. According to Mark, he was given four colour choices; red, orange, purple or teal. However this was the era of TLG culling their excessive colour palette and so he was told that if he chose teal, then the colour purple would be deleted, and vice versa. Choosing orange or red would have led to both purple and teal being deleted, so in the end Mark chose purple, despite genuinely loving teal. Years later, Mark described his traumatic decision to fellow LEGO fans on an online forum, but the first reply merely said, “So… you basically killed teal?”
By the way, Mark revealed the unused teal prototype in a 2007 edition of Brick Journal magazine.
And that brings my Colourtastic mini-festival to an end. These builds were not about using complex techniques but just a way to showcase some nice colours and allow lots of colourful conversations during Bricktastic. The issue with starting such collections is that new parts and colours are constantly appearing and so sometimes older, rarer colours of a part will re-appear. So perhaps the lesson is - never invest too heavily in rare parts as TLG might reintroduce the part once more!
READ MORE: Articles about LEGO colour on New Elementary
Nice article (like the others of this series) and interesting story: sad end for teal, I like that color :'(
ReplyDeleteThere is actually a happy ending for teal; it seems to have been used in recent years as an ink colour for printing. Teal rises like a Phoenix from the ashes!
DeleteExactly, I noticed Teal as a highlight colour on the handbags!
DeleteI wonder why lego would let the pssible deletion of a color from their inventory rest on a decision made by one designer for one set.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually up to the Design Directors, for some reason my Design Director, Eric L. decided to base his decision on what colour I wanted to make this set in. I actually thought it looked best in red, but when he told me what would happen I chose to save purple. Turns out a few months later we made the HP Knight Bus so purple would have been saved anyway. I really did kill teal and save nothing!
DeleteI'm glad Teal is back anyway. I hope Lego re-introduce some of the colours that have fallen by the wayside - bright blue violet and medium green are colours I would like to see again and I would love to see some of the newer pieces in medium red and bright red orange (only used in Duplo I think) too.
DeleteAnd I thought I was the only one to use color variants in my MOC's just to showcase them...
ReplyDeleteoooo link to your stuff please :-)
DeleteSomeone get Mark Stafford a medal, immediately!
ReplyDeleteSome fans in the US actually made t-shirts that say 'Mark Stafford killed teal' and sent me one, far easier to wear than a medal!
DeleteI don't really care about the teal. The only thing that matters is saving dark-purple. Although, to be fair, there are two distinct shades of dark-purple from back around the time of the first Knight Bus, and the new Knight Bus comes in a third distinct shade of the same color. So, really, it's almost like the old dark-purple(s) died anyways, and got reincarnated in a much more color-stable version of itself.
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this series, Elspeth. Mini-builds are a much more fun way to look at the color range of a specific part than an inventory list or a jumble of parts in a drawer.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was worried that I would be boring everyone with talk of colours but I'm clearly amongst friends ;-)
DeleteTalking about teal: I can't find the color in BL's color list: (https://www.bricklink.com/catalogColors.asp?utm_content=subnav)
ReplyDeleteWhat parts were made in teal?
As if it isn't confusing enough that TLG and BL have different colour naming systems, there were actually earlier ones as well! LDraw software and the website Peeron called this colour Teal. On BL it is called Dark Turquoise and TLG call it Bright Bluish Green, color ID 107.
DeleteHmmm, "teal" is a very English word, I think words like "turquoise" and "cyan" would be more internationally understood, that could be a reason for the BL naming.
DeleteI remember there was this story about a fan event where a Lego official was to answer questions, and didn't understand what color "teal" referred to.