We've all "wished" on a twinkling star, for the glorious return of our beloved Rainbow Brite - something a bit more awe-inspiring than the last few pathetic attempts that have been made to remarket her (anyone remember the color castle playset from a couple years ago? The Color Console was referred to as the Rainbow Pole). At every turn, Hallmark (and whatever partners they had to make the toys) more than proved that they had absolutely no idea what the *bleep* they were doing, and most of the hardcore fans repeatedly whined about not having a wallet thick enough to outright buy RB from Hallmark and give her the red... and orange, and yellow, and blue, and indigo, and violet carpet treatment she deserves. What's that, I missed green? Sorry, I must've used that talking RB doll to remind me what colors are in a rainbow.
Based on the information we currently have about this latest comeback attempt, I think that once this reaches its peak (if it even gets off the ground) we're going to still be whining the same thing about wanting to own the franchise ourselves.
My first exposure to this new 'reborn' Rainbow came from the front page of RB.net, so I'll start with that.
Considering I've thought for many years that Anime would be the best medium for any return of RB, it'd be hard for me to ever be completely satisfied with this. Fortunately it isn't completely slutty like I feared last year when rumors about this first started buzzing. It really wasn't hard to imagine the Pimps of modern corporate America forcing her to wear the stripper outfit of the Bratz formula.
That aside though, what to we have, really? Aside from the sleves of her classic outfit, which have either become gloves or a collection of bangles, and a more stylized version of the Color Belt (if it'll even still be worthy of that name - more on this later), her wardrobe, amazingly has remained pretty much the same.
As for the artistic style... meh. It reminds me a bit too much (particularly her on Starlite) of a lot of generic artwork I've been seeing on toy boxes and stickers in the past few years. Not too much of a big deal though, since a lot of cutesy stuff has been done with this style, except for the fact that I just somehow find this less than cute. At least they managed to keep the "come hither" look out of her face, but it also seems like the innocence has somehow been lost. The child-like joy and laughter of Rainbow is completely lacking behind those makeup-eyes and plucked eyebrows. It just screams, "I'm here to save the world, but only after my makeup looks right." This is something that Rainbow simply wouldn't have cared about. She had far more important things to keep her busy, and her self-confidence was high enough that she wouldn't have worried about it anyhow. Lala Orange might've, but not her. And yeah, I'm pretty sure I know why they did this, which brings me to the other tidbit of info we have: the United Media Licensing Press Release.
I'll include only the guts of what they plan to do here, rather than include the history of RB (as if we didn't know that already) and the corporate profiles.
Empowering a new generation of girls to spread hope and happiness, a new innovative program launch is underway featuring Rainbow and her best friends Tickled Pink and Moonglow. Rainbow Brite marks the third addition to the United Media and Hallmark licensing relationship, which also includes the popular hoops&yoyo and Maxine brands.
Alright. First part of that sentence seems fine enough. Spreading Hope and Happiness? Yep, that sounds like Rainbow to me. I find the mentioning of Pink and Moonglow as being her friends, rather unsettling though. They seem to be implying that this is all we're getting, and that's not really too out of the realm of possibility. I've seen this kind of streamlining done to re-hashings of franchises more than enough times. The Care Bears boasted (well, ok... they don't really boast... ever) a cloud population of 18 when the two feature-films were made - 29 if you include the cousins. Looking on the official Care Bears website now, you will find... 5.
Have all the other characters been removed? Are there Color Kids? Sprites? Villains? Is there even a Rainbowland?
In support of the launch, Playmates Toys has been tapped as the new master toy licensee for Rainbow Brite. Playmates will unveil a complete line of new fashion dolls, plush and role-play toys to retailers in time for holiday 2009, honoring the nostalgic look, indomitable spirit and energy that Rainbow Brite embodies with a trendy tween...
I had to pause here, because right after seeing the words, "trendy tween", I jumped up and peered out the window. I could've sworn I heard someone slamming on their car brakes, followed by the sounds of a massive crash of twisting metal, and one very terrified cat. The view out the window revealed nothing but an empty road illuminated by the florescent streetlights.
I can't fathom how it is even possible to honor anything Rainbow Brite, with a trendy tween redesign. That's like the President of Greenpeace showing up for an Earth Day convention, driving a Hummer. This just goes right back to my fear of them turning Rainbow into a Bratz clone.
...redesign that girls will adore. Playmates Toys and Hallmark will support the Rainbow Brite product launch with character content online and inpack and through the “Share A Rainbow” challenge, an inspiring socially conscious program that taps kids’ desire to “help” and encourages girls to channel their energies into creating a better world.
This sounds interesting, at the very least. What it entails remains to be seen, but it's benevolent - as long as 'better world' is the kind that we're all thinking of. There's another kind of better world that some believe in, the kind that the corporations want. And that means ushering in a new generation of consumers who are even more addicted to shopping than their parents. This is the essence of trendy tween marketing: getting little girls addicted on keeping up with fashion trends, so every month when their clothing falls out of style, they immediately go out and get the brand new thing that Claire's, Hot Topic, or Abercrombie has on their shelf.
The above scenario not being the case, it sounds like a very cool initiative, even if it's a bit more like what Care Bears were about, rather than Rainbow. Not that she wasn't caring of people and the world, and supportive of her friends, but her responsibility to Earth was handled through the application of colors as a metaphor for happiness, rather than going out on the street and handling problems on an individual basis. We learned those things through her interactions with the Color Kids, not her interactions with Earthlings.
Rainbow Brite’s refreshed design shows girls a role model who is socially-aware, inspirational and innovative. In her collection as well as her digital space, Rainbow Brite will help girls develop an inner strength, while focusing on the importance of being confident and caring about the world.
Socially-aware... is a very open-ended phrases going in hand with "better world." These are the kind of things I'd really like to hear specifics on.
Inspiration and innovation certainly sounds like the Rainbow we know and love though.
I'm not sure what they mean by "in her collection." Are they referring to the collection of merchandise, or something else? The digital space sounds a bit confusing. I presume this means that Rainbow is now going to have a blog presence? Direct interaction with humans on Myspace, Live Journal, or Facebook? Well, there goes that rule about keeping hidden from humans (except for Brian of course).
Caring about the world, fine. Inner-strength, great! Confidence, also great. But wait... if someone is trendy, how is that confident? How can anyone say they're truly confident, if they're just rolling with whatever the rest of the crowd is doing? This is another one of those things I'd like to see explained better.
So there we have it. What we've learned about this relaunch creates more questions than it answers.
I'm partly hoping the artwork is simply concept art someone made for the public, rather than the final product. I hope that the original story (and 80% of the characters) hasn't been completely lost in the mad rush of whatever they're trying to do here. I hope that Hallmark is actually being confident, rather than trendy. I hope they believe in Rainbow Brite enough, to think that she can hold her own in the current stampede society is in, without her just running in the same direction that the rest of the toy market is.
Hallmark, don't give us a Sellout. Give us Rainbow.
