Glow in the Dark

[BubbaFit45531]

What's the Lego history with glow in the dark? Are all Lego element pieces available in glow in the dark? Was there ever a vehicle or structure entirely glow in the dark?

I thought I read somewhere that suggested even transparent pieces are glow in the dark, but I never tested it out yet.

I'm interested in this after seeing the Batman vs. Superman Clash of the Heroes small box has Batman with a glow in the dark head.

[AmperZand]

I think - but could be wrong - that the first glow in the dark pieces were the ghost shroud in 1990 and the wizard's wand in 1993.

No, not all LEGO parts are available in glow in the dark. In fact, it's a fairly rare feature. I don't know the exact percentage of parts that are available in GitD, but it's not huge.

As far as I know, there has never been a set that only used GitD parts. There might be an obscure promo set, but I'm not aware of any. There have been animals that were entirely GitD, e.g. a spider, a skeleton horse and a translucent blue octopus.

Trans GitD parts certainly exist, but only a small proportion of trans parts are GitD.

Hope that helps.

[Aanchir]

In the past three decades LEGO has had been three glow-in-the-dark colors: 50 Phosphorescent White (1990–2005), 294 Phosphorescent Green (2006–2011), and 329 White Glow (2012–present). These are the only glow-in-the-dark colors that actual LEGO bricks come in, but LEGO did have non-brick-based glow-in-the-dark products in the 1950s like the Indre Cross

[AFOLguy1970]

The majority of parts that use this feature are round 1x1 plates and some minifig heads.  There are a few others like spiders, but they are very uncommon.  

[tafkatb]

  On 12/13/2016 at 4:48 AM, BubbaFit45531 said:

I thought I read somewhere that suggested even transparent pieces are glow in the dark, but I never tested it out yet.

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They don't glow in the dark exactly, but a few translucent colors are fluorescent, so they'll glow under a blacklight. Check out this blog post for a detailed look.

[Lyichir]

  On 12/13/2016 at 4:04 PM, Tragic Banjo said:

They don't glow in the dark exactly, but a few translucent colors are fluorescent, so they'll glow under a blacklight. Check out this blog post for a detailed look.

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294 Phosphorescent Green was also slightly translucent (which unfortunately, made parts like the ghost shroud look less impressive IMO). And some Bionicle parts from 2007 blended Phosphorescent Green with Trans. Light Blue to create parts which gave off a faint bluish glow after being exposed to light.

[Bricknblue]

  On 12/13/2016 at 3:26 PM, AFOLguy1970 said:

The majority of parts that use this feature are round 1x1 plates and some minifig heads.  There are a few others like spiders, but they are very uncommon.  

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The first run of mummies in the Monster Fighter theme had glow-in-the-dark paint on a torso.

[MAB]

And there are also glow in the dark stickers in some sets. MF Hearse had both GITD and white versions, depending on the product run.

[BubbaFit45531]

Thanks for the info. I'd rather have glow in the dark than glow in black light.

[fred67]

Bricklink turns out to be a fantastic resource for not just buying bricks, but discovering things like this.  They actually have a color guide that will link to parts of the colors you are interested in.  Glow in the dark parts are listed under the "Milky White" section, and include dark white, dark opaque, and dark trans parts.  The links on that page will take you to parts pages, sets that they are contained in and, of course, sellers of those parts.

 

[Lyichir]

  On 12/16/2016 at 6:25 PM, fred67 said:

Bricklink turns out to be a fantastic resource for not just buying bricks, but discovering things like this.  They actually have a color guide that will link to parts of the colors you are interested in.  Glow in the dark parts are listed under the "Milky White" section, and include dark white, dark opaque, and dark trans parts.  The links on that page will take you to parts pages, sets that they are contained in and, of course, sellers of those parts.

 

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They're decent, but for more obscure colors (or color blends) they can be fairly inconsistent. Their glow-in-the-dark categorization is mostly good, but when you get into things like metallic colors, they have a nasty tendency to lump even wildly different colors together (as discussed here or here). That's part of why I generally prefer Brickset, which uses information directly from Lego's customer service site and as such is generally much more accurate about what colors parts actually come in.

[Robert8]

The S14 Specter has a very unique feature: glow in the dark face, not the entire head. That was the first time ever 

I would like LEGO to try glow in the dark orange

 

The pumpkin head would look amazing

 

 

[VaderFan2187]

  On 12/13/2016 at 4:48 AM, BubbaFit45531 said:

What's the Lego history with glow in the dark? Are all Lego element pieces available in glow in the dark? Was there ever a vehicle or structure entirely glow in the dark?

I thought I read somewhere that suggested even transparent pieces are glow in the dark, but I never tested it out yet.

I'm interested in this after seeing the Batman vs. Superman Clash of the Heroes small box has Batman with a glow in the dark head.

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>> I have GitD 1x1 round plates and a GitD spider. 

>> And I think the first ever GitD element was the ghost.

>> No, not all LEGO elements are available in GitD. 

>> I don't recall a vehicle or structure being entirely GitD. 

>> Normal transparent pieces are not GitD. 

>> Batman does have a GitD head, but do you play with LEGO when it is all dark? Imo it's just a gimmick that looks cool to kids.

[AmperZand]

  On 1/9/2017 at 9:44 AM, VaderFan2187 said:

 

>> Batman does have a GitD head, but do you play with LEGO when it is all dark? Imo it's just a gimmick that looks cool to kids.

 

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I don't 'play' with LEGO in the sense that I don't role-play with it and haven't done since I was a kid a looooong time ago. But I do have a display collection which I keep in a dark space with no natural light. When I'm leaving that space and switch off the lights, the GitD parts stand out in a sea of black. It's pretty cool. So yes, GitD is gimmicky and yes, it's aimed at kids. But it's also appreciated by adults or at least one adult - me!

   

[BubbaFit45531]

Gimmick or not, I would like some glow in the dark pieces or entire minifigure, preferably in multiple glow in the dark colors. Not willing to buy black light bulb though.