A couple of weeks ago, Branko took a look at the 42174 Koenigsigg Jesko Absolut, in Dark Grey. He wasn’t overly wrapt with it, although it is certainly a functional car. The same car has been released in White as well. Will this colour his opinion?
The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut will be available in Dark Grey and White! This is another example of a recoloured set, meaning that it is the same as the ‘original’ 42173 Grey Jesko except for the colour.
In this article, we set out to discover how much the colour has really changed between all of LEGO’s recoloured sets, and we will see how this one compares.
In which I try to reconcile a colour that produces a disturbing personal reaction with some of my favorite sets of the year so far! Along the way we take a history lesson, explore the wonderful world of colour wheels, build a Wyvern and hopefully prepare to enjoy some frozen yoghurt…
It’s been a little while since my last post because I have been trying to reconcile something that has been troubling me. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we have just seen the start of spring. A time that the weather starts to turn for the better, we feel the days getting a little longer and the grass starts to grow and trees start to bud. It is of course still jolly cold. My problem comes from trying to reconcile springtime, with its new growth, hope and optimism with the name of Spring Yellowish Green. A light, bright colour whose name shouts optimism, but whose shade, to me, shouts sinister thoughts, nasty infections and recollections of a bad night at work.
Of course, not everyone has the perceives colours in the same way as other people. I personally spent 5 years vigourously debating the colour of some towels with my wife. I eventually conceded defeat and accepted that I was wrong. But not because discretion is the greater part of valour, but because it became apparent that I experience a mild form of colour blindness . The junction of green, grey, blue is not a clear, well discriminated area of my colour perception. Rather, it is a hazy, muddy thing, where some colours stand out, and others blur together with imperceptible difference to myself, but to great embarrassment to my children, or frustration for my wife. Whilst I only experience this lack of colour vision, the rest of my family suffer because of it!
But what does this have to do with LEGO Bricks? LEGO elements have appeared in almost one hundred distinct opaque colours over the years, to say nothing of the transparent, translucent, speckled and glow in the dark colours. Well, distinct for some. For others they just blur together. You can find Rylie Howeter’s most excellent colour chart documenting LEGO colours, and their appearance over time, here. Much of the information regarding appearance dates for colours, as well as hex codes for colour pickers has been derived from this. The current colours in the LEGO Colour palette can be seen here:
Current colours in the LEGO moulding palette. Image sourced from brickiest.com, courtesy of the LEGO Group.
In 2012, we saw elements produced in six new colours, and another was released shortly after: Aqua, Dark Azur, Olive Green, Medium Azur, Medium Lavender, Lavender and Spring Yellowish Green. Olive green is the only one of these opaque colours that has been introduced after the Friends theme was released. Only one of these colours has ever evoked a visceral response in me, just by looking at it. And that is the colour I would like to talk about today. Continue reading →
It’s been a little while since my last post because I have been trying to reconcile something that has been troubling me. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we have just seen the start of spring. A time that the weather starts to turn for the better, we feel the days getting a little longer and the grass starts to grow and trees start to bud. It is of course still jolly cold. My problem comes from trying to reconcile springtime, with its new growth, hope and optimism with the name of Spring Yellowish Green. A light, bright colour whose name shouts optimism, but whose shade, to me, shouts sinister thoughts, nasty infections and recollections of a bad night at work.