Tan vs. "Brick Yellow"

drdavewatford

I thought that some of you might be interested in the snippet of trivia below which was shared with Ambassadors by one of the CEE guys. The CEE team had the opportunity to attend a presentation by colleagues in Materials and R&D and the question of why LEGO refer to tan as brick yellow was asked. Here's the answer:

"The name Brick yellow comes as a direct translation of the Danish name for the color: “Tegl Gul” – tegl meaning Brick (or mursten – not sure of other English words for it). Back then all colors were named in Danish and then later translated. The color Brick Yellow was implemented back when Modulex was a part of the moulding at LEGO and at the same time the color 004 Brick Red (Tegl Rød) was also available. As I also mentioned yesterday the original use was for brick walls for houses – so to imitate red or yellow houses.”

snowhitie

That is an interesting tidbit! thank you for letting us know.

Fauch

so red masonry bricks are brick red and not new dark red?

that's confusing that bricklink and brickset use different names for color. and then LDD, has even different names as well if I'm not mistaken.

Kevin_Hyatt

Nice bit of trivia there Dave, thanks.

Aanchir

Fauch said:

so red masonry bricks are brick red and not new dark red?

that's confusing that bricklink and brickset use different names for color. and then LDD, has even different names as well if I'm not mistaken.

No. "Brick Red" has been discontinued for years, maybe decades. Brick Red is Fabuland Brown. Brick Red's Material ID is 4

New Dark Red is New Dark Red and didn't coexist with Brick Red at any point as far as I'm aware. New Dark Red's Material ID is 152.

DadsAFOL

Aanchir said:

New Dark Red is New Dark Red and didn't coexist with Brick Red at any point as far as I'm aware. New Dark Red's Material ID is 152.

Not to be confused with original Dark Red, which was replaced by New Dark Red, although the change was subtle, and even BrickLink doesn't recognize it as a separate color.

Aanchir

DadsAFOL said:

Aanchir said:

New Dark Red is New Dark Red and didn't coexist with Brick Red at any point as far as I'm aware. New Dark Red's Material ID is 152.

Not to be confused with original Dark Red, which was replaced by New Dark Red, although the change was subtle, and even BrickLink doesn't recognize it as a separate color.

Technically, neither does LEGO Customer Service. :P All Dark Red parts they have are listed as New Dark Red no matter when they came out. It's kind of odd that they went so far as to change the name but not the ID number. I don't know any other colors they've done that with. Perhaps because they changed the formulation but the target color remained the same?

davee123

According to my wife (who is an authority on the subject), the hobbyist name "Tan" originates from the Auczilla auctions in the late 1990s, and she frequently regrets naming it "Tan", since in normal color palettes, tan is much darker-- more like the LEGO color that we call "Dark Tan".

DaveE

CCC

So who is up for renaming it fawn or just plain beige?

VorpalRyu

Just plain beige, a little long winded, but I could get used to it... :)

CCC

I meant "beige". But "just plain beige" would be better!

TechnicNick

JPB looks nice on an LBG base...

Bobflip

I think 'fawn or just plain beige' should be the new official colour name.

prevere

I'm going to tell Yuengling they need to change Black & Tan, to Black & Brick Yellow.

TigerMoth

Considering the offence that name causes to part of their target market, it's a wonder they've got away with using it as long as they have. Ben and Jerry's and, more recently, Nike didn't.

KingAlanI

For those who don't get it: Black and Tan is a mixture of light and dark beers. Yuengling sells it premade. The Black and Tans were an English force that did horrible things during the Irish War of Independence. So it's a good drink, but many Irish call it a half and half.

KingAlanI

davee123 said:

According to my wife (who is an authority on the subject), the hobbyist name "Tan" originates from the Auczilla auctions in the late 1990s, and she frequently regrets naming it "Tan", since in normal color palettes, tan is much darker-- more like the LEGO color that we call "Dark Tan".

DaveE

Reminds me of bley, and Reddish Brown - the new color being a more appropriate shade of the general color?

Came64

Sand red should be renamed to "Blaaargh"

Atleast that's the only Name I could come up with when I saw it first.

LandmarksWorld

I was wondering what's the difference between dark red and new dark red...maybe cafe corner's slopes, which are sort of transparent at the edges, are dark red, while fire brigade's bricks are new dark red, and their colour is more homogeneous...just supposing

bobabricks

@LandmarksWorld the older dark red definitely had a thinner and more translucent look. Since ~2010 dark red has looked more rich and full

Aanchir

bobabricks said:

@LandmarksWorld the older dark red definitely had a thinner and more translucent look. Since ~2010 dark red has looked more rich and full

I think they may have the same "target color" (i.e. they're both intended to be the same shade, but the new one has a different formulation to make it more accurate/consistent.

It's worth noting that the two colors have the same Material ID (154), so unlike other discontinued colors and their replacements over the years (like 2 Grey and 194 Medium Stone Grey, or 3 Light Yellow and 226 Cool Yellow), Dark Red and New Dark Red are effectively considered the same from a logistical standpoint. Hence why all Dark Red parts (not just those from after the change) are labeled as New Dark Red on LEGO Customer Service. Also perhaps why there wasn't any obvious, immediate shift in the color like there was with other colors — when New Dark Red was introduced, it probably began appearing in sets together with older Dark Red parts, so any change might have just be chalked up to random variability.

Cyberdragon

Also keep in mind that certain colors can vary a tiny bit between indevidual pieces of certain colors just due to manufaturing of the plastic. A famous example of this are the technic yellow pieces. I don't know if any of that applies to old vs. new colors but someone should be able to elabarate on color variations in lego parts.

DadsAFOL

The bump on the thread reminded me that one of our local AFOLs commented the other day that we now have a "Brick Yellow Brick brick".  :)

Gman

Follow the brick yellow brick brick road.

prettybigguy

Here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many of the older buildings were built with a locally produced, yellow-colored brick known as Cream City brick. I can't help but think of that when I hear the term "Brick Yellow"

Fauch

That's tan

eMJeeNL

Was at the Utrecht (NL) Lego Store last week. First time since COVID hit, so the PaB-wall was manned. So I said to the dude manning it "I'll take a scoop of the Brick Yellow plates please"; he looked at me like I said something stupid. Finally I pointed at the Tan plates... "That's Tan sir!"...

scottdd2

eMJeeNL said:

Was at the Utrecht (NL) Lego Store last week. First time since COVID hit, so the PaB-wall was manned. So I said to the dude manning it "I'll take a scoop of the Brick Yellow plates please"; he looked at me like I said something stupid. Finally I pointed at the Tan plates... "That's Tan sir!"...

That just reminds me of the line in the Blues Brothers movie..."wrong glass..sir"
Just a hint of contempt. That's how I heard it in my head anyway.

Cassy0110

my husband will be interested to find out this :)