New Info Re: 2009 RB Dolls!

[Chibi Rachy]

I've heard "twinkie" used with sexual meaning, but not "Twink".

Okay so Hardman, the boss from megaman games who is made of hard steel should be banned from toys because of his name. Not! obviously I was being sarcastic and I think whoever would want to ban it should get their mind out of the gutter - and see it for what it ACTUALLY is - NOT with a sexual meaning.

Exactly. Everything for kids today must be just so. It must be made so that children will not misconstrue or find out the alternate meanings of words.

[Sarah]

Hooray! That's such wonderful news!! I'm so excited!


I just hope that the new Rainbow Brite line doesn't loose it's rainbowness.



Maybe they'll introduce more characters as time goes on.



Thanks for the info Katy : D

[Rainbow Brite]

Google it. On the first results page, only one result has anything to do with World of Warcraft. The rest are re: young, gay men and most are specifically about porn. It's not simply one of many meanings anymore...it's the main meaning. It would be irresponsible to possibly subject kids to that subject matter. Google doesn't care if you capitalize it or not.

[Rainbow Brite]

I just hope that the new Rainbow Brite line doesn't loose it's rainbowness.

From what I've seen of the concept pictures, there will be plenty of rainbows to go around

Maybe they'll introduce more characters as time goes on.

That would be cool. Breathe some new life into the franchise...hehe

Thanks for the info Katy : D

No problem!

[Chibi Rachy]

Google it. On the first results page, only one result has anything to do with World of Warcraft. The rest are re: young, gay men and most are specifically about porn. It's not simply one of many meanings anymore...it's the main meaning. It would be irresponsible to possibly subject kids to that subject matter. Google doesn't care if you capitalize it or not.

I know what the Google results say; I did google it before replying. The meaning we're trying to shield children from has always been around. The only thing that's different these days is that the Internet makes it easier to discover these meanings. Children grow up digital natives. Only thing is, they can find the bad stuff easier than the educational stuff. Yeah, it's bad to subject kids to things they shouldn't see, but so many things these days are watered down because of society trying to hide and protect children...trouble is, they seem to find it anyway. We get rid of any negativity because we don't think parents can do their job. Or we fear lawsuits.

We were told about a month ago at school about this thing and touching children. Don't touch them in any sense to avoid lawsuit. No hugs, nothing. Tell the kid to suck it up and stop crying for if you give them a hug, you'll find yourself begging for a lawsuit.

We try so hard to protect the children, but are we really thinking of them, or just ourselves?

[Dialga-Brite]

We were told about a month ago at school about this thing and touching children. Don't touch them in any sense to avoid lawsuit. No hugs, nothing. Tell the kid to suck it up and stop crying for if you give them a hug, you'll find yourself begging for a lawsuit.

Just wanted to say that is a VERY good point, I see a lot of wisdom in pointing out what you just pointed out. It would be no different if Twink was banned because of an alternate meaning.

[Rainbow Brite]

The meaning we're trying to shield children from has always been around.

I rather doubt that. Rainbows weren't gay symbols until the 70's. I can't imagine that twink became a popular gay term until the gay movement of the 70's/80's. And even if it was a term used in 1983, it would not have been widely known.

The only thing that's different these days is that the Internet makes it easier to discover these meanings.

Exactly. So these days you have to be extra careful when inventing character names, especially children's characters. I think we are agreeing...just talking about it from different angles

[FanChan]

I dunno. I think there's no harm in acknowledging that words change. There are all sorts of words that people used just twenty years ago that would be either frowned upon today or would confuse people because of their newer meanings. People made a fuss about the purple tellatubby. Imagine the bad PR the line would get if people started assuming Twink was gay; and as Rainbow mentioned, there are already the host of rainbows to deal with. I'd never heard that meaning of the word before, admittedly, as I make it a point not to keep up with those sorts of terms, but now that I know, I can appreciate the change. It's not such a big deal.

[Rainbow Brite]

It would be no different if Twink was banned because of an alternate meaning.

Huh? Who said anything about banning Twink? The 80's version of the character will always be known as Twink. This is just a new iteration.

[Chibi Rachy]

I rather doubt that. Rainbows weren't gay symbols until the 70's. I can't imagine that twink became a popular gay term until the gay movement of the 70's/80's. And even if it was a term used in 1983, it would not have been widely known.

Being called a twink has nothing to do with the rainbow. I can't remember when it came about... I know my books talk about the history and the terms. I briefly checked one of my books that goes into the history in L.A. and terms similar to twink were around as early as the 40's. Twinkies (the food item it is believed to be derived from) were invented in the 30's. Can't find anything that says when it was used in another manner.

Exactly. So these days you have to be extra careful when inventing character names, especially children's characters. I think we are agreeing...just talking about it from different angles

Western society tends to be too careful about many things in my opinion... when you see other countries not taking such care with the exact same things. And yes, we are agreeing in different angles. To older fans, the name change isn't going to matter because he'll be Twink no matter what. To younger fans, they won't know the difference, especially if they aren't going to release the old show again.