Duplo People Colors

[Clone OPatra]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone out there can point me to a resource that lists the actual colours LEGO used to use for Duplo people's skin tones. I'm talking about the various figures that came in 9171 for instance. Bricklink doesn't list the colours used for these figures' heads besides sometimes "brown", though it looks like a darker brown than LEGO's regular old brown.

Does anyone know where I can find details about these colours, and if they match other parts from the same time or were only used for Duplo figures?

Thanks!

[Aanchir]

I don't know any comprehensive resource on this topic, but I can tell you that the skin tones in 9171 include 18 Nougat, 38 Dark Orange, and 25 Earth Orange (classic brown). These were the extent of the "real-world" skin tones appearing in Duplo sets of the 90s.

• 18 Nougat had been in use for years, although it was not used for standard minifigures or basic System bricks until many years later. Some of its earliest appearances were for the skin of Duplo and Fabuland pigs beginning in 1979. Duplo sets first began using it as a skin tone for human characters in 1983, and it was subsequently also used as a skin tone in themes like Belville and Scala.
   
• 25 Earth Orange (classic brown) had of course been in use for System and Duplo hair and accessories long before either category began using it as a skin tone.
   
• 38 Dark Orange was first introduced around 1994 as a Duplo hair color and a fur color for Duplo and Belville animals. It began appearing as a Duplo skin color in 1995.
   
• Although the introduction of these darker Duplo skin tones in the 90s was a big step forward from a diversity standpoint, they unfortunately weren't really used as such in "standard" Duplo/Explore sets until the early 2000s — instead, they were mostly limited to figure packs sold through LEGO Shop at Home and LEGO Education.

Current Duplo figure skin tones (i.e. appearing in 2021 and 2022 sets) include 283 Light Nougat, 18 Nougat, 312 Medium Nougat, 38 Dark Orange, 370 Medium Brown, and 192 Reddish Brown.

• 192 Reddish Brown replaced 25 Earth Orange in 2004 as part of the wave of color changes around that time, but otherwise the skin tones of the new "LEGO Ville" style Duplo figures remained the same as their 90s predecessors. There were also non-standard Duplo figures in the Dora the Explorer theme that year, but I'm not really sure what skin tones they used.
   
• 283 Light Nougat, which was introduced for licensed System minifigures in 2004, did not appear as a Duplo skin tone until 2012. Even then, Duplo only used it for licensed Disney, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics characters until 2020, when it joined the palette of non-licensed Duplo figure skin tones.
   
• 312 Medium Nougat likewise first appeared as a Duplo skin tone in the 2015–2016 Doc McStuffins sets, and did not appear as a skin tone for non-licensed Duplo figures until 2019.
   
• As such, 2022 is the first year that a new color — 370 Medium Brown — has debuted for Duplo figures, System minifigures, and System mini-dolls alike.

Hope this helps!

[Clone OPatra]

15 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Hope this helps!

Thanks Aanchir, this helps a lot - in fact, it covers everything!

It's a shame the LEGO resources out there like Bricklink and Brickset don't have this information, but I'm grateful you could provide it here with your breadth of LEGO colour knowledge.