What the color change in the Green baseplates?

[m0dulo]

No. LEGO's baseplates, unlike their regular plates, have always been like that. They're thinner and not meant for anything else than being... baseplates.

Oops, I read that late that night and wrote my comment incorrectly. It sounded to me like he was saying the green color AND the lack of being able to connect on the bottom were new changes — that the previous baseplate was able to attach pieces to the bottom. I have the previous green and blue baseplates and they are the same way. ;) I understand what he meant now.

Edited March 13, 2015 by m0dulo

[jodawill]

They (finally!) updated the product description. It now states that the baseplate is "Bright Green."

I'm still hoping that they'll go back to the standard color, though. I'm still very frustrated with this change.

[dr_spock]

Hmm, they haven't updated the French Canadian description yet.

Ajoute une autre pièce utile à ta collection LEGO® avec cette plaque de base verte !

Que tu crées un jardin, une forêt ou une construction que tu imagines, cette plaque de base 32x32 de couleur verte est le point de départ parfait pour construire, exposer et jouer avec tes créations LEGO®.

• Mesure 32x32 tenons ou 25 cm par 25 cm
  
• Un formidable complément pour toute collection LEGO® !
  

English has the "bright green" added.

Add another useful piece to your LEGO® collection with this Bright Green Baseplate!

Whether you’re creating a garden, forest, or something of your own imagination, this Bright Green-colored 32x32-stud baseplate is the perfect starting point for building, displaying, and playing with your LEGO® creations.

• This product is Bright Green
  
• Measures 32x32 studs or 10'' (25cm) x 10'' (25cm)
  
• A great supplement to any LEGO® collection!
  

[zux]

I just remembered LEGO Education has "9286 Large LEGO® Building Plates" set. Now I wonder if it is going to have its baseplates changed to Bring Green as well?

[Deathleech]

They (finally!) updated the product description. It now states that the baseplate is "Bright Green."

I'm still hoping that they'll go back to the standard color, though. I'm still very frustrated with this change.

Yup, it seems all those 1 and 2 star reviews finally got Lego to fix the description. They still need to fix the picture to reflect the actual color though. Younger kids probably have no idea the difference between Lego bright green and green and will think they are getting the darker based on the pics.

Personally I find this absurd. A huge price increase, changing the color without notice, AND labeling it wrong on the packaging and on their own site? Seems like a huge blunder by Lego at every turn. About the only good thing coming from these new base plates is they seem to be widely available at stores like Target and TRU, not just through Lego. Now if we could get the old dark green back and a $1 price reduction we would be in business.

[Naijel]

As far as I'm aware LEGO sold their baseplate production machinery when times were tough and they buy the baseplates back from the new makers. Apparently they tried to buy the production equipment back a while ago but the new owner declined to sell. A senior designer lunched with members of my LUG 18 months ago. We asked about this topic. They revealed that there was a lot of effort put into trying to engineer production of 16x16 plates, which was quite difficult, and that there were experiments with large sizes underway. So, I'm wondering if TLG would prefer us all to stop buying baseplates. It would be interesting if the colour change was to make us stop wanting them.

However, I have a feeling they have made a lot of 16x16 plates in bright green for certain themes and are just looking to hook fans of those themes up with a baseplate option. They went with regular green for the 16x16 plates in 2 Elves sets and one City Swamp Police set so far in 2015 while keeping to bright green for 2015 Friends and Creator/Classic sets including the Ferris Wheel.

[Blondie-Wan]

I just bought a couple of the LEGO-licensed "project cases" by Iris - the $10 cases that come with a 32 x 32 baseplate - at Walmart. This is recent stock - this same store clearanced those same cases at $5 and sold out of them last year, and then a few months ago it got a bunch of new stock, back up to the old price of $10 (well... $9.97). Interestingly, not only are these cases still the same price they've been at the last few years, but the included baseplate is still the old green one, not the bright green one now being sold for $8 on its own. You guys missing the original green baseplates might want to look for these things, especially if you need more brick storage anyway.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[Vorkosigan]

Thanks for the tip Blondie-Wan. However I suspect they were restocked out of the back or a Walmart warehouse, according to Iris all their LEGO products have been discontinued: http://www.shopirisusa.com/discontinued-lego

I know I will be keeping an eye out anyway though.

[Blondie-Wan]

Ah, thanks for the info (and blast it, I only just realized I said "Isis" when I meant "Iris").

[Phoxtane]

I just remembered LEGO Education has "9286 Large LEGO® Building Plates" set. Now I wonder if it is going to have its baseplates changed to Bring Green as well?

I'd imagine that the Education branch of Lego has a slower turnover than the standard consumer-facing main branch, so probably not for a while.

Also, it's worth pointing out that the pack from Lego Education is $35 for a large gray plate and three (two green, one blue) 32x32 plates, whereas getting those from Lego SAH individually would run ~$39 (1*14.99+3*7.99) - so there IS a small cost savings!

I'd be looking at this myself except I want exclusively 32x32 plates (for me, the color doesn't really matter), so the Education pack includes a plate that I wouldn't be using much, if at all. Sadly, Lego themselves are the cheapest source of baseplates in quantity, after I've relieve my non-LUG friends of theirs. 42 baseplates isn't going to be cheap no matter which way I slice it.

[CaptainJackBrickster]

The new green is actually useful for something... I used it for my "Lego Mine Craft" layout on my shelf, and i must say i am pleased with the turn out. If i had used the old green it wouldn't have had color of the plates used so frequently in the theme.

[spirogero]

Everything is useful (and everything is not awesome).

Bright green is more oriented to children, while plain green is more AFOL friendly. It's a matter of target groups, for the company.

Anyway, the color does not concern me that much. I can always cover the baseplate with whatever I like, if I ever use it. The price does concern me (but that is another story).

[Cobb]

I recently got a brand new (but very old) red baseplate 24x32 studs. Anybody got some info on this plate I can't find it on bricklink. It doens't have a dot pattern on it.

[zux]

I recently got a brand new (but very old) red baseplate 24x32 studs. Anybody got some info on this plate I can't find it on bricklink. It doens't have a dot pattern on it.

I found there was one in this set. Is this the one?

[davidmull]

Iv bought a few new green baseplate a for my layout. Prob is now I'm looking for 16x32 in green so am i ordering them in bright green to match?

[Electricsteam]

Some people definitely are. There's a whole topic for discussing that here. I'm not too particular one way or the other. Bright Green is an underappreciated color IMO, and while it might be too bright for some layouts, it's no less realistic or aesthetically pleasing as a rule than classic green (Dark Green in the LEGO Group's official nomenclature).

This is far from the first set to use Bright Green as a color for grass. It's a common grass color in Friends, Creator, Minecraft, and Classic (formerly Bricks & More/FreeStyle/). Here are several different examples of previous sets with Bright Green grass.

Of course, I still remember in 2012 when the garbage truck and recycling truck from LEGO City and the Green Lantern buildable figure from LEGO Super Heroes used Bright Green extensively, and a lot of people thought it was an entirely new color! In actuality, it's been around since at least 1994, mostly as baseplates and foliage.

I know the plate has been around for quite a while, but it still a bit of an annoying change, seems the local TRU has already made the switch to sell the brighter green.

Also a shame about the water plate but tan is pretty useful