Subject:
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Re: Nicely now. What do you think of the new colors?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego, lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 15 Jan 2004 07:12:59 GMT
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Viewed:
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13386 times
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First off, has anyone verified the accuracy of the claimed reason for the color
change, i.e. to make the grays more "in line" with the other colors? I know
very little about color theory, but naively, I'd say gray is 1/2 white and 1/2
black, or maybe 1/3 - 2/3 or maybe 1/4 - 3/4; regardless, these new grays
clearly have a bluish tint (compared to the old), so to me, the claim that the
colors are more "linear" with the other colors is suspect. (However, maybe the
old grays were just skewed toward blue's complement (orange?).) I know there's a
chart of the "Pantone" numbers of the official colors. Has anyone done a color
analysis of the new versions?
Anyway, I am very upset by the color change. I see very little reason for it,
and I suspect that it was done as a cost-cutting measure. I saw mentioned in
the following thread http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=43593 that LEGO has a new
recycling process, and the recycled ABS is used to make black and gray. I
suspect that the new grays may somehow be the result of this recycled material.
I sent a letter to TLC in December with my thoughts, and here's a copy of it:
Dear TLG,
I am very disappointed and upset by your decision to replace the colors light
gray, dark gray, and brown. I recently purchased some of the newest 2004 Star
Wars LEGO sets and was surprised to find the colors did not match the original
version. I noticed the color change immediately upon opening the sets. I
initially thought it might be a bad production run, but then I saw Jake McKee’s
posts at LUGNET.com and FBTB.net that the changes were indeed on purpose and
permanent. Although this may sound melodramatic, I honestly feel abandoned by
this poor decision.
To begin, I am 30 years old and emerged from my LEGO “dark age” about two years
ago. In those short two years, I have purchased over $4,500 worth of LEGO
bricks, particularly in the Star Wars theme. In this theme, light and dark gray
are featured prominently. With my purchases of large sets such as the Star
Destroyer, AT-AT, and AT-TE, just to name a few, I probably own more gray bricks
than any other color. And I still have my collection of LEGO bricks from my
youth, where light gray was the predominant color in the Classic Space sets.
I have purchased LEGO bricks over your competitors’ products for one important
reason: quality. Part of that quality is consistency and continuity. The LEGO
bricks of my youth are (were) just as functional today as they were 20 years
ago. However, in my view, that quality has just decreased with the decision to
replace the standard grays (especially light gray). When I reach for a brick, I
can no longer be assured that the color will match the brick I just placed. I
understand TLG’s motivation to brighten the color palette, but I believe this
move will do more harm than good. Looking at people’s creations on the web,
gray seems to be a very popular color, from ships, to planes, to military
vehicles, to buildings, to spaceships. My teenage cousins likewise tend not to
build in the primary-colored bricks red, blue, yellow, etc. but rather tend to
build in the more-true-to-life grays. Light gray has been around for more than
20 years. Many people have large gray collections (or would like to). I have a
large gray collection. I would like to add to that collection, but I no longer
can. I must start from scratch if I want my colors to match.
I think it’s an especially poor decision to replace the gray colors in the
middle of the Star Wars license, where gray is featured so prominantly. I no
longer look forward as much to my future Star Wars LEGO purchases, as I know
that I am not adding to my collection, but instead am in some sense replacing
what I already have. At the very least, please consider delaying until 2007
when the Star Wars license expires to implement the change. Twenty years worth
of kids have bought and played with the current light gray. Don’t abandon us by
abandoning this color.
I understand TLG hopes to make the gray and brown colors more “consistent” with
the other bright primary colors. If this were a NEW color, I would
wholeheartedly agree. But to REPLACE a color “this late in the game” is unwise.
The color changes are not so different that they would somehow lead to
dramatically increased sales. But they will serve to alienate the adult LEGO
enthusiasts. This is an extreme example, but perhaps why not change the aspect
ratio of a LEGO brick so that it is exactly wide as it is tall? And why not
make plates half the height of a brick rather than a third? These suggestions
would be more elegant and aesthetically pleasing than the current
implementation. But you would not, of course, because it would be inconsistent
with the years of previous bricks. Please don’t make the gray and brown bricks
inconsistent with those that existed previously for years. Honor your founder’s
motto “Only the best is good enough” by quality through consistency and
continuity.
Thank you sincerely,
[signed]
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Nicely now. What do you think of the new colors?
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| It's only a couple of weeks in the new year, and it looks like it's going to be an interesting 2004! I have a request, but before I go any further, let me say that personally, I understand the concerns surrounding the color changes. I know many of (...) (20 years ago, 15-Jan-04, to lugnet.lego, lugnet.general, FTX) !!
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