Colors

This post will mostly be a rant about the different color names that sites use and Lego discontinued colors. I have mentioned some sites all ready that are great Lego resources. The biggest downfall to all these sites is that they name the colors of elements different names. Naming is not the only thing that gets thrown out the window, but the value of these colors change amongst the sites and programs such as LDraw.

I get most of my Lego information from peeron.com and bricklink.com is where I buy all my missing parts. Lets say that I have set 7628 and I need to replace the blueish 1 x 2 brick. Peeron names the color as "NavyBlue". I go to Bricklink to add the part to my wanted list and find that the color "NavyBlue" is not an option. Bricklink's "NavyBlue" is actually named "DkBlue". To make it even worse, Lego now offers "Pick a Brick" on their online shop. You can go there to buy bulk pieces of most of the parts that are currently in production. But, Lego doesn't have a "DkBlue" or a "NavyBlue", their color name is "EarthBlue". Three different color names for the same color. WTF, are you serious? I can see why Peeron and Bricklink might not have the same name as Lego due to copyright or something, but why can't they have the same name between them?

How does one keep track of all this? Peeron has a great color chart that lists each color and the name given by all three sites. There is also a program that sorts it out, but it's outdated and crashes if you try to do any updating.

MdStone = LtBlueGray = MdStone

In 2003 Lego decided that it's time to change some colors that it has been using. Biggest of these changes was that the grays changed from a warm gray to a cool gray. There are numerous interviews and articles with Lego spokesman on this change and they say that esthetically a cool gray makes every other color "pop" more. The new gray got a rather unflattering name by the Lego user community, "Bley". The community has since embraced then new gray. I, for one, don't mind the new color but find it more of an annoyance then anything. The grays are named "MdStone" and "DkStone" by Lego and Peeron, but Bricklink decided to go with "LtBlueGray" and "DkBlueGray". The only place now to buy parts in the older gray is Bicklink, named "LtGray". One last thing, Peeron and Bricklink spell gray with an "a" while Lego spells it with an "e" (grey).

As fun as Lego can be, finding the right color name is not.