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…and now…fluorescing red and orange?

mfavmfav
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Front and center, a couple minifigs from LEGO store pandemic-prefabbed BAM. All that red plastic looks the same under normal light, but under blacklight some of it glows and some of it doesn't. Yep, that orange toolbox is glowing, too.

Anybody?

Comments

  • 6 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • StellarStellar
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    Hmmm interesting.

    Parting a lot of new sets lets me see a lot of parts, and some have a feel that while they look the same as the other ones in currently in my stock, they feel a bit different, maybe LEGO changed something in production recently? That new plant-based plastic?
  • leopard37leopard37
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    Do you think it's just a difference in the plastic? or is it truly fluorescing? The white glows whereas the colors just seem to reflect differently. Or is that just me?
  • mfavmfav
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    I don't know how you want to qualify or quantify "just a difference in the plastic"…there is obviously *some* difference under UV. The white of the ghost shrouds is glow-in-the-dark white. The hat with pony tail on the left, Santa's hat, and Santa's beard are white and do not "light up" under the UV. Santa's torso and legs and the legs of the figure with toolbox "light up" under the UV. The figure holding the toolbox, that torso does not "light up".

    I know this is pretty much just a description of the picture, but the picture is representative of the appearance of these parts. Two red torsos side-by-side appear the same under normal illumination but different under the UV. Reflecting: it is an issue of light bouncing off some parts and being absorbed by others…if it were a simple issue of the angle of light being bounced into the camera lens, one would expect the torso of the figure with the toolbox to "reflect" similarly to the legs.

    The glowing red and orange under UV is akin to the color in the old blacklight posters from the 60's and 70's.
  • tons_of_brickstons_of_bricks
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    Perhaps it has to do with the new plant-based plastic lego is starting to use? I have no idea though it is interesting.
  • leopard37leopard37
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    I was just curious whether the picture was doing it justice. I agree in the difference, but in the photo white is glowing much more than red and orange but that could be just the photo, your second description makes it seem true. Very cool, I'm sure you are the first to notice. Not many people are checking their pieces under blacklight. I wonder how far back this goes, and whether it is even intentional as firestar246 mentioned, perhaps just an effect of the plant based plastic.
  • mfavmfav
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    Granted, it is not my best ever quality photograph…the ghost whites are blown out among other technical problems. But as far as the glow goes, it is representative insofar as the phone cam can capture it.

    I'm reluctant to believe it is the plastic part of the plant based plastic…the green plant pieces we know are made from plant based plastic don't exhibit this quality. I would guess it has to do with whatever color formulation is put into the plastic, in this case a batch of red and a batch of orange.

    And I came across it completely by chance.
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