New Periodic Table of LEGO Elements launched
Posted by Huw,
WLWYB has produced a new edition of its popular periodic table of LEGO colours. Version 4 features a revised layout and includes recently released colours.
Furthermore, Brickset readers can enjoy a 10% discount on the retail price of €49.99 when using the code Brickset at checkout when purchasing at wlwyb.com.
It's been five years since the product was first launched, so this version celebrates that with a '5 years anniversary edition' graphic.
We reviewed version 2 in 2021 and version 3 in 2023. The number of colours included has been reduced from 75 to 66, with many obsolete colours removed, such as Maersk blue and trans neon yellow and orange.
The new colour reddish orange makes its first appearance, as do some transparent satin ones, but not the recently introduced sienna and medium browns, which have not been made in 1x1 pieces yet.
Each colour, which has been given a 2- or 3- letter abbreviation like chemical elements, is glued in place within an information box showing when it was introduced, the BrickLink and LEGO colour names and numbers, and information pertinent to its rarity.
Like the previous versions, it's printed on a 300x400mm thick plastic card. This one has a printed -- rather than hand-written -- unique serial number in the bottom corner.
A variety of 1x1 elements have been used, including tiles, flowers, clips, cheese slopes and bricks. They tend to vary between each edition, depending on the availability of suitable parts, I guess.
Overall it's both an attractive poster and a useful reference guide, particularly if you don't know your bright light blue from your medium blue.
It's available now from wlwyb.com and is priced at €49.99, but Brickset readers can enjoy a 10% discount by using the code Brickset at checkout.
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40 comments on this article
This is an expensive biyearly purchase. Maybe once every few years would be more appropriate
I love the idea, but the "5 years anniversary branding" hurts me. If I were to buy this for a long-term reference, I wouldn't want something dated that quickly.
@JavaBrix said:
"
I love the idea, but the "5 years anniversary branding" hurts me. If I were to buy this for a long-term reference, I wouldn't want something dated that quickly."
The problem with 'long term reference' is that it gets outdated every year, unless your long term reference is historical based
@KyloBen1012 said:
"This is an expensive biyearly purchase. Maybe once every few years would be more appropriate"
ask less questions and consume more
@NissanZ32 said:
" @KyloBen1012 said:
"This is an expensive biyearly purchase. Maybe once every few years would be more appropriate"
ask less questions and consume more"
I'd be more inclined to use these versions and simply improve on it - If you remove the cardboard back and use a lego baseplate then you can make your own and update it yourself accordingly
In fact that's what I'm gonna do! I'll draft up some ideas in stud.io and devise an 'updateable periodic table'
Already have mine from last time and I prefer the old colour scheme to this one.
But it's a lovely display item... just need to find a frame for it.
The background image isn't really visually appealing to me.
If you like Lego Periodic Tables consider supporting this Lego Ideas Periodic Table project
SUPPORT here (it's free)
https://ideas.lego.com/s/p:7ea5c8589d0c4de0970e6b487beb4107
@labrat said:
"If you like Lego Periodic Tables consider supporting this Lego Ideas Periodic Table project
SUPPORT here (it's free)
https://ideas.lego.com/s/p:7ea5c8589d0c4de0970e6b487beb4107"
Oh wow that's a lot of 1x1 round tiles
I do like this as a novelty, but I think it's rather ruined by having '5 Years Anniversary Edition' as the main title when it should have, at most, been a minor sub-title.
It would be just as silly to have '5 Years Anniversary Edition' as the headline title of the article!
Yikes, sorry but why include all the weird graphics? Who is supposed to care about the 5 year anniversary except the one making these?
Interesting product. There is too much different Lego colors ! I miss Classic Space era, when I could build something big and nice from all the parts of my sets.
Since coming out of my dark age I bought a lot of sets (hundreds) and the long-term plan was to use all of them for the parts, for different projects. I'm realizing it won't work, unless I accept to have 5 different varieties of blue, etc. in the same creation. I started selling the sets, mostly unopened boxes. I will build on a software and/or use bricklink instead.
BTW: about TRANS-NEON: I once bought an used set. Trans-yellow parts were replaced by trans-neon ones. And I heard USA will ban sets with trans colors ;)
@Brickeric said:
"... And I heard USA will ban sets with trans colors ;)"
Any colours that aren't white might be in trouble, too. This said, 21050 might be the whitest set ever
(it's a little trans, at least).
Should just make it outta lego and make upgrade kits each year. Issue solved.
@KyloBen1012 said:
" @labrat said:
"If you like Lego Periodic Tables consider supporting this Lego Ideas Periodic Table project
SUPPORT here (it's free)
https://ideas.lego.com/s/p:7ea5c8589d0c4de0970e6b487beb4107"
Oh wow that's a lot of 1x1 round tiles
Most of them can be found in the world map set"
This would work so much better as a book, and would mean it could include historical and rare colours. but I suspect it would be difficult to justify releasing a new book every other year.
Also copyright! I get money (or Lego) if someone makes this now!
EDIT: It may already exist. There goes my life of luxury.
@bulbathor said:
"This would work so much better as a book, and would mean it could include historical and rare colours. but I suspect it would be difficult to justify releasing a new book every other year.
Also copyright! I get money (or Lego) if someone makes this now!
EDIT: It may already exist. There goes my life of luxury."
Copyright “SIX year anniversary of the periodic table of Lego colours” and you might be quids in. Although I’m sure the recurring promotion of this is just a Brickset in-joke.
Why not put "Periodic Table of the LEGO Colors" at the top of the poster as the main title? Right now it looks like the table is titled "5 YEARS ANNIVERSARY EDITION" and it takes some searching to see what the heck the thing actually is. Makes it useless as a display piece or conversation piece in my opinion. I would be interested in buying this if not for the design.
For something like this, I'd rather they go all out and get every color lego has ever made (at least for a 1x1 piece) because it is missing many colors. For an actual color reference, this would not cut it. For a novelty item, it is too expensive. It's already $50, may as well go all out make it $100 to include every lego color.
@Ridgeheart said:
"These people would have us canonise if not celebrate the removal of trans-neon, and then spend money on the celebration OF the removal of the trans-neon colours? Never! Rebel! Punch a space-cop! Steal his helmet, then paint it black and add a trans-neon green visor! TRANS-NEON FOREVER, TRANS-BRIGHT NEVER!"
I agree. I feel like going to an Ice Planet, borrowing a chainsaw, and using it on these people.
I don't love the large graphic, but I don't own any of the copies so 5 year anniversary doesn't affect me.
I like the idea and I understand LEGO changes colors over time, but as stated in the article it still doesn't have all of the new colors yet because of the limit on 1x1 requirement. So it is a never-ending incomplete expensive novelty.
More power to them. It's a fun idea, just impractical.
And I'm the type of person who would prefer to see every piece the same, which I know LEGO doesn't necessarily have a 1x1 brick or tile or plate or whatever of every single color. But there is something unappealing to me about the varied pieces. But hey, I'm not the target for this since I can tell the difference between LEGO colors.
@KyloBen1012 said:
"If you remove the cardboard back and use a lego baseplate then you can make your own and update it yourself accordingly. "
That's exactly how I made my own version. A large baseplate and pieces affixed to it. That way I can also reuse the pieces and don't have to glue anything, especially with the rarer colours.
I don't get the point of adding the arbitrary Bricklink color codes... If it were the LDraw color codes it would have at least a practical meaning.
@bulbathor said:
"This would work so much better as a book, and would mean it could include historical and rare colours. but I suspect it would be difficult to justify releasing a new book every other year.
Also copyright! I get money (or Lego) if someone makes this now!
EDIT: It may already exist. There goes my life of luxury."
Doc_Brick did this as a Lego Ideas Project, two years ago. It received 10k supporters, but wasn't approved.
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/749b6854-2215-41c4-b8ee-d67b369db110
@bulbathor said:
"This would work so much better as a book, and would mean it could include historical and rare colours. but I suspect it would be difficult to justify releasing a new book every other year."
Or maybe the best idea, release a nice ring biding folder book, where one can add individual, removable and reorganizable pages for each colour. And each time a new colour is added, just add a new page.
I definitely think a modular table would be the ideal solution in the long term. Custom print on a tile, put it on a Technic frame, add a brick of a color. The person could either sell complete modules, modules without samples, or just the tiles. It'll be a state coin collector album with the format of 41839.
A lot of them can be found in the Lego world map
@ypedro said:
"Why not put "Periodic Table of the LEGO Colors" at the top of the poster as the main title? Right now it looks like the table is titled "5 YEARS ANNIVERSARY EDITION" and it takes some searching to see what the heck the thing actually is. Makes it useless as a display piece or conversation piece in my opinion. I would be interested in buying this if not for the design."
Agree completely, it looks like the main & sub title where switched.
It's like writing an essay and putting "2025 edition" as the title at the top of the first page, and then in a small font "My favourite LEGO sets" below it.
This "periodic table" is absolutely the worst one yet. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I would ever order this while it has a giant "5TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION" yelling me at the top. It's not like it says "Periodic Table of Elements" with "5th Anniversary Edition" beneath it. No. The anniversary edition text has been given TOP priority.
I went back and looked at my comments on the previous version...and they remain accurate. With v2 and v3, I was not happy that some incorrect information was there AND it was missing colors. I could deal with it not being accurate after I bought it...but the errors and omissions to Lego history will constantly bug me.
Even if those older pieces aren't easily available and the table needs to not include physical representations of those colors, it would be nice to have the space on the table so that we could add the missing and hard-to-obtain pieces on our own...and they at least wouldn't be ignored.
Again, I feel that WLWYB *really* needs to ask people to double-check their work to make sure the table is accurate and presentable...but it still apparently has yet to happen. So many people here have some clear and valid criticisms that could have been avoided had there been a review period among a small test group before this was released. It's like WLWYB is doing this intentionally because they DON'T want to sell a lot of these by getting it right.
I wonder how useful this is if it omits "obsolete colours." Or perhaps I'm missing the point of the product -- I thought it was meant to represent all Lego colours.
I need to map out what is new and just add it to my current one, Could see a market for a twice a year small card update for new colors.
Still flawed at the very core ... There is no periodicy in colors, colors are either linear or a complex space of wavelength (hue), intensity (brightness) and relative mix with other wavelength's intensity (saturation).
Sorting bricks in a table with no structural evidence and call it periodic (which is inherent in how atoms are working) is absurd.
Not even being as consistent and exact as possible within that non-frame is sloppy.
Titling this great conceptional fail "5th anniversary" is ignorant.
If people want these then great, but personally I find a hole punch and a baseplate to be cheap, effective, and also updatable.
Am I mistaken, or did the previous versions include useful things like the old greys? This version looks like only colours that are current, in which case it would cost pennies to obtain them from Lego direct.
@Zabeth said:
"I wonder how useful this is if it omits "obsolete colours." Or perhaps I'm missing the point of the product -- I thought it was meant to represent all Lego colours."
The periodic table is very flawed - you're not missing the point
@KyloBen1012 said:
" @Zabeth said:
"I wonder how useful this is if it omits "obsolete colours." Or perhaps I'm missing the point of the product -- I thought it was meant to represent all Lego colours."
The periodic table is very flawed - you're not missing the point
"
Agreed, it's like rewriting history and that's never a good thing.
Yikes, this one is a SIGNIFICANT step backwards, and a disappointment after the high of the previous version.
I bought v2 because I'd never seen anything like it before, and was then thrilled by the improvements for v3 (many more colours and a much more pleasing black background). The minor inaccuracies (e.g. years not being quite right, and lack of chemical periodicity) make no difference to my life; it's primarily a novelty and a nice way of displaying the vast majority of the LEGO colour spectrum.
...so this v4 is particularly unpleasant: far fewer colours and a pointlessly distracting background.
More silliness: although this may be the "five year anniversary", there are only four versions in total; if you had all four, and displayed them together, an observer would, not unreasonably, assume you were missing one from your collection.
LEGO colours don't fit into the periodic table very well as they are not periodic. A far better solution is the most simple that many BL sellers and collectors have, a baseplate with 2x4s or 1x2s or some other parts. Relatively cheap. No ugly branding. And easy to update too.
Still not doing their research. Wonderful.
I like the backboard colour scheme
BUT…
I really don’t like the huge 5 years branding.
And…
DISLIKE EVEN. MORE THAT WE HAVE LOST COLOURS !
I own version 4 and have no incentive to get this one
As someone said, perhaps it would be better to make your own LEGO colour table, and update it every few years... That sounds great! But I'd need the individual squares to put the pieces on with their respective info.