Bley or Gray?

[Norro]

Sure, there were people who noticed it anyway and posted about it, but I highly doubt that the majority would have cared so much if TLG had kept quiet about it.

So many people noticed (amongst AFOLs) that Lego felt they had to explain. The more modern colour shifts were not as heavily criticized because of the colours involved. The greys are a staple base for castle, space, and town. A lot of people noticed, a lot cared. I still ignore bley in piece counts when deciding if a new set is value for money...

God Bless,

Nathan

[Tohst]

I know I noticed. I had just put together the mini-star destroyer and it looked, well, wrong.

And then I put it next to the full sized UCS set and my first thought was 'well, someone made a bad batch of grey'.

Now that I've had a few years to think about the change...I really don't like it. It could've been handled so much better.

The difference in light grey is so slight to me as to be barely noticable. But as such, why do it at all? How can you say kids (or anyone) like the new color better if the majority of people can't tell the difference? But when you do notice it in a creation with mixed pieces, the effect is usually detrimental.

And dark grey. I really really wished they had just added 'gun metal' grey and left old dirty 'stone grey' alone. I don't feel the new color works well for stone or anything earthy. But for metal, its great. Sure, a lot of us at this point would be complaining how hard it is to get pieces in just the right color if they had kept both colors but I, personally, would be happier. And thats what counts, isn't it?

-Tohst

[CP5670]

We have long term testing underway still... (over 8 months now)

Thus far from our testes there has been NO obviously decernable colour change affect on any of the new dbg, lbg, rb, & white (2x4, 1x4 sample bricks & plates of each) (old bricks of representitive colours are also taking part in the same test)

Thanks for posting about this. As you said, it's too early to say anything conclusive (the old whites can last for at least 20-30 years if some precautions are taken), but if the new colors actually provide some benefit like this, I would have much higher opinion of the color change.

So many people noticed (amongst AFOLs) that Lego felt they had to explain. The more modern colour shifts were not as heavily criticized because of the colours involved. The greys are a staple base for castle, space, and town. A lot of people noticed, a lot cared. I still ignore bley in piece counts when deciding if a new set is value for money...

I don't see how gray is more important than white, yellow and red combined, even though I am a Technic builder. The difference is often glaring enough for the new ones to look like clone brand bricks. Here is an example. I think TLG would have been a lot more proactive about correcting this if the AFOLs had actually noticed.

The grays put me off from buying much for a long time, but just as I was starting to get back into it, all these other colors changed as well, and I have again bought very few sets as a result. In fact, I think this situation is worse than the grays because the modified colors are not identified properly on Bricklink or Peeron (probably due to the several intermediate shades involved). As a result, it is often impossible to tell what exactly you are getting when you buy anything in these colors.

Among the original 7 or 8 "major" colors, black and blue are the only ones that have not changed over the last five years, and even with black there are several types of recent pieces with a substantial difference in their reflectivity and gripping strength.

[brickzone]

Ah - I had noticed the changes to bricks of other colours, but I assumed it was just the new plastic rather than colour change per se. The recent bricks (and even recent sets can have some "old" bricks still) look "shinier" and glossy. They are also more flexible. When you compare to a brand new "old" brick, I do not think the colour is perceptably different - just the glossiness and feel of the pieces (plus some other indicators, such as the Lego branding being a bit lighter on the studs).

I haven't found it too hard to distinguish but it is a lot of bother, e.g. if I get an incomplete set off ebay that needs a piece or two from my collection - I have to grab a handful of the relevant pieces and pick out a similar vintage of brick (hollow pillars or not, new plastic or not, clip type on 1x1 clips, grey vs. bley).

I like the way the primary colours are brighter with the new plastic, and black is shinier.

[Peppermint_M]

I don't really mind. I use all the different shades of grey/bley to create decorative masonry, after all, real castles have a variation in colour, why not Lego ones?

As for the browns, I love it, forests are no longer one uniform colour brown

[MillerTime]

It took me about a year on my own to find out that the bleys were different....I just figured my old grays were faded when I compared them. Eventually, I figured out that they were indeed different and after that I (like many others here) stopped buying a lot of sets. I'm not going to just start over and replace my whole collection for no reason.

Edited January 19, 2009 by MillerTime

[CP5670]

Ah - I had noticed the changes to bricks of other colours, but I assumed it was just the new plastic rather than colour change per se.

You're right in that sense, but the end result has been the same.

It is essentially the opacity that has changed, so the color varies with the angle you look at it from and the lighting conditions. You can especially tell the difference on the bottom of bricks, like in the picture I posted.

I like the way the primary colours are brighter with the new plastic, and black is shinier.

The old black is actually more shiny, if we're talking about the same parts. I have in mind 2x2, 2x6 and 2x8 plates in particular. Many of them have had a more dull finish in the last two years. They are also very slightly rounded along the edges and have lower clasping power.

[Svelte]

We have long term testing underway still... (over 8 months now)

....

We'll report back in April...

That is fascinating reading, Deepwoods. Please keep us all posted. It's hard to know how much exposure it is safe to allow a model, especially when you live in a country like Australia that has some of the strongest UV rays in the world (inhabited countries at least). If sunlight is not a factor that would certainly make a difference in how I display creations.

Colour is still all over the place. CP5670, you may remember from my 7685 Dozer review that I thought yellow looked compared much more consistent compared to 2007. However, when I came to build 7633 Construction Site, dark bleys were all over the shop (pun intended) - there were really obvious differences between bricks and panels and probably 3 separate shades of that colour alone. Very offputting! Red was also affected with the tiles - there was a great difference between the 1x2 tiles and 1x6 tiles.

Last year red-brown seemed to be problematic with the Castle sets, but it does seem better in 10193, although there are a few inconsistencies. It's hard to keep up!

[Norro]

I don't see how gray is more important than white, yellow and red combined, even though I am a Technic builder.

I think it is due to those most concerned all ready buying less new lego. Personally red, white, and yellow. Are probably the three lego colours I use least of all the main contenders. So I wasn't too concerned until I started a recent MOC which involved a lot of white bricks...

On a related note I think the shift is also down to the temperature these bricks are being cast at. The new factories aren't emulating the danish conditions.

God Bless,

Nathan

[SuvieD]

I don't care about the color change for the grays or brown. I prfer the older colors because they are warmer but I am not bothered much by them.

I absolutely hate flesh tones of any kind though. The stupid NBA sets changed everything and now every licensed set has to include them. Other than the sale/clearance StarWars, Batman, and Indy sets I bought to part out and sell, I have not purchased one set containing flesh figures. I do not want any flesh colored figures. Ever!

So, now I only buy sets with yellow figures and the occasional set on sale with the intent to sell the evil fleshies and keep the parts I like.

I love the new dark brown and I am glad that the brown color was changed so that we could have a light and dark version of brown. Now if we could just get more parts in the dark colors I would be set.

[Darth_Legois]

IMO I like Bley better [light bley too] Compared to the old grey the new one looks...shiney, better ect.. So im not complaining.

[MillerTime]

IMO I like Bley better [light bley too] Compared to the old grey the new one looks...shiney, better ect.. So im not complaining.

The issue isn't about which color is better; it's about the fact they changed their main colors after 45 years....what does Lego want everyone to do with the old colors? By this time most people have just bought their way out of the issue and restarted their collections but there are some of us who just don't want to do that.

[xenologer]

The change occured in my darkage and most of my new collection is therefore consistent with the new setup.

I'll occasionally buy old sets for rare parts though, the color clash doesn't generally bother me much since I build in Space.

What really really worries me though is the differece in plastic quality.

The old bricks are tougher and hold stronger; while the new plastic easily scratches with a fingernail.

It makes me scared to mix them because I'm afraid the old bricks will wear down the new ones so they clutch even looser...

[CP5670]

I think it is due to those most concerned all ready buying less new lego. Personally red, white, and yellow. Are probably the three lego colours I use least of all the main contenders. So I wasn't too concerned until I started a recent MOC which involved a lot of white bricks...

On a related note I think the shift is also down to the temperature these bricks are being cast at. The new factories aren't emulating the danish conditions.

You have a point there. I know that a lot of people scaled back on the hobby in general after the gray change. I would think that they should have still seen the change in Bricklink orders though, which is how I originally noticed it. I haven't bought that many (newer) sets since then but have continued to build MOCs. Black is probably my most used color but I often use the others as trim colors.

It's hard to pinpoint why exactly it happened. TLG switched from pre-colored ABS pellets to clear ones towards the end of 2006, and only a few months later they outsourced a lot of production to Flextronics in the Czech Republic. TLG bought out the Czech factory themselves last year, saying that they were not satisfied with Flextronics' handling of some things, but it has certainly taken them a long time to improve anything.

Colour is still all over the place. CP5670, you may remember from my 7685 Dozer review that I thought yellow looked compared much more consistent compared to 2007. However, when I came to build 7633 Construction Site, dark bleys were all over the shop (pun intended) - there were really obvious differences between bricks and panels and probably 3 separate shades of that colour alone. Very offputting! Red was also affected with the tiles - there was a great difference between the 1x2 tiles and 1x6 tiles.

Yes, I recall you saying that. Yellow was actually the color that TLG themselves said is fixed, so it was only a matter of waiting long enough for it to appear in sets. The only pity is that a lot of good yellow sets from the last few years will never appear in the high quality colors.

The gray issue doesn't sound good though. There have been a number of bad quality reports concerning both of the blays lately, and these colors never had problems before.

Edited January 20, 2009 by CP5670

[legotrainfan]

I can remember having heard about the colour change, but I didn't own a set with the new colours. So I thought, "It can't be so bad. They're exaggerating!" Then I bought a set of switches (4531) for my 9V trains and it happened to be bley switches. I thought, "Oh no! It's really so bad!" But I've become used to the new colours, but I think I'll never ever forgive TLC for selling old gray and bley tracks in the same boxes. I just don't want to have rails in different colours. The switches (plus the two curves that came with them) are the only 9V railway tracks I have that are bley. I prefer buying the old track boxes. With those I can be sure that the tracks are in old gray.

Anyway, bley is fine for me, and I think that especially light bley is a good addition to tan. With light bley and tan you can build many good buildings.

[posades]

Like others, the switch in color came during my dark age; when I finally did buy a new set, I noticed the change in gray and dark gray, but assumed it was due to my old sets fading over time (since my white figs and bricks were turning an ugly yellow color). After a while I did realize they had changed colors, but it didn't bother me much. Now all I do when organizing by color is have a bin for old gray and a bin for blay, treating them as two different colors. Comparing the two now, it seems the old gray's have a dirty look to them; I've grown accustomed to the new shades and I don't think I could go back now (I only use the old shades when making Castle MOCs that require several different hues).

[Deepwoods]

...

I love the new dark brown and I am glad that the brown color was changed so that we could have a light and dark version of brown. Now if we could just get more parts in the dark colors I would be set.

Agree whole heartedly! The new dark brown is soo "chocolaty" (if that's a word ) it quickly became a favourite as did the dark green & red.

... not so much the dark orange, yuck!

[Eilif]

Interesting to see this topic revived again after we've had a little more time to let it sink in.

The color change came just before my darker ages ended, so when I got my old bricks and started adding new sets the difference was immidately apparent. I have to say that I still prefer the old grey and old dark grey, but that I recently reached a point where my collection of new grey has surpassed my colleciton of old grey, and there are quite a nubmer of newer pieces, like lions heads, that are only or mostly avialable in new grey.

Also, the proilferation of more LEGO stores and pick-a-bricks have enabled me to amass larger collections of the new browns and greys than I ever could with the old colors. Thus, while I may prefer the old colors, I tend to build more with the new ones. Over the last few years I've come almost enjoy having the different colors. I've accepted that I will largely have to segregate the old and new greys and browns to different MOCs, or combine them carefully for specific effects. And I'm ok with the fact that asside from resale acquisitions, my collection of old colors will remain stagnant while my collection of new colors will continue to grow.

I'm playing with toys and loving it. I'm not going to let some colors, or lack thereof, change that.

[KimT]

I'm playing with toys and loving it. I'm not going to let some colors, or lack thereof, change that.

Well said.

I used to like the older colours better, but now I actually prefer the new ones.

The old ones look 'dirty' as mentioned earlier and my collection has also grown to a size where the old colours are outnumbered. Right now I am rebuilding my SW collection and old castle sets.

When that's done, I guess I'll sort the old colours out and pack them away.

New bley rocks and it has been here so long, that it's been there longer than the old colours - since my coming out of the dark ages.

[Capt. Kirk]

Duck little dude. I have a feeling there may be some rocks being hurled your way.

LOL... but I also still wish it were just old grey.

So TLC please make gray instead of bley... this isn't really a colour.

[CP5670]

Interesting to see this topic revived again after we've had a little more time to let it sink in.

I think the recent topic on this was merged with an earlier one. The posting order seems to have gotten a little messed up though.

I'm playing with toys and loving it. I'm not going to let some colors, or lack thereof, change that.

That's basically what it comes down to for me as well. I don't like the changes, but I will continue to build with Lego as long as the fun outweighs the annoyances (which it certainly does).

On a side note, who is hinckley39?

Edited January 21, 2009 by CP5670