Rainbow Brite

[Wardah]

It was said they were looking for new licensees in this post:
viewtopic.php?p=14829#p14829

Honestly it sounded to me like they had a whole new fleshed out universe for Rainbow Brite. Even though not much had been revealed who knows what Hallmark has planned. They did hint at Stormy and/or a villain and the Color Wave Kids. Playmates pretty much failed with Strawberry Shortcake but yet Hasbro still took her on. If toy companies never took a look at a line that failed to live up to expectations then there would be no Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the stores right now. We really don't know much about why Playmates is not doing the dolls anymore. Hallmark could have been displeased with the lack of support they gave the dolls and pulled the license from them. The dolls themselves were cute and could have done very well if they were released at the right time and had the proper advertising. And advertising the dolls is the job of the toy company not Hallmark. I am sure a toy company looking at taking on the line would know the concept behind the line is good and be smart enough to figure out what went wrong and how to make the line successful. And a smart retailer would judge each manufacturer's incarnation on its own.

I really still hope to see what the new take on the Color Kids will look like. Maybe they would be like the original Color Kids in style but more diverse like the G2 dolls. That was one thing that was disappointing about the original Color Kids. Seven kids and all of them were Caucasian except one who was Indian? At least Strawberry Shortcake had a lot of different nationalities.

Maybe I am too optimistic but I don't believe the show is over until the curtain falls. Hallmark has not said this generation is dead yet and so I will continue to have hope until they say she is no more.

[Blondine Arc-En-Ciel]

It was said they were looking for new licensees in this post:
viewtopic.php?p=14829#p14829

Honestly it sounded to me like they had a whole new fleshed out universe for Rainbow Brite. Even though not much had been revealed who knows what Hallmark has planned. They did hint at Stormy and/or a villain and the Color Wave Kids. Playmates pretty much failed with Strawberry Shortcake but yet Hasbro still took her on. If toy companies never took a look at a line that failed to live up to expectations then there would be no Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the stores right now. We really don't know much about why Playmates is not doing the dolls anymore. Hallmark could have been displeased with the lack of support they gave the dolls and pulled the license from them. The dolls themselves were cute and could have done very well if they were released at the right time and had the proper advertising. And advertising the dolls is the job of the toy company not Hallmark. I am sure a toy company looking at taking on the line would know the concept behind the line is good and be smart enough to figure out what went wrong and how to make the line successful. And a smart retailer would judge each manufacturer's incarnation on its own.

I really still hope to see what the new take on the Color Kids will look like. Maybe they would be like the original Color Kids in style but more diverse like the G2 dolls. That was one thing that was disappointing about the original Color Kids. Seven kids and all of them were Caucasian except one who was Indian? At least Strawberry Shortcake had a lot of different nationalities.

Maybe I am too optimistic but I don't believe the show is over until the curtain falls. Hallmark has not said this generation is dead yet and so I will continue to have hope until they say she is no more.

I agree there was a new universe planned to go with the Gen 4 dolls but it never materialized. Not having it was one of the reasons the line failed. Three dolls later followed by three horses doesn't give you much to play with. The four Sky Powers and their horses should have been available at the launch. Also, an opponent needed to be there for the Sky Powers to have something to do other than water the flowers around the Color Castle all day. It didn't happen. Had that been done, the rest could have followed in due course. The Color Wave Kids (and perhaps a Color Castle playset) could have been launched this fall had the ground been prepared for them and that would have been a major new addition that could have boosted sales during the holiday season. I also agree with you that the new Kids could be more diverse, like the Gen 2 dolls were. The main problem with Gen 2 (other than no resemblance to Gen 1) was they had no mission in life other than being diverse.

Unlike Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake has been more or less continuously produced since the 80's. That's why finding another company to take on the line wasn't difficult. Understand the difference between SSC failing and Playmates failing. They are not the same thing because SSC has been around for such a long time. Playmates could fail and it really wouldn't hurt SSC that much. On the other hand, RB has only been back for a few months and when Playmates failed, they took the current incarnation of RB down with them. Given two recent major failures with classic toy lines, I really wonder how much longer Playmates will be around. I doubt that anyone like United Media will have the confidence in them to trust them to market anything else.

I doubt that Hallmark is looking for another toy distributor for the Gen 4 dolls. I hope when the time comes they will start all over again from scratch and don't try to build on the broken Gen 4 concept and story. That's just asking for a second failure for the line. I mentioned several times that one of the reasons Gen 4 failed was a lack of money. I don't think that Playmates had anywhere near enough to launch the line and be able to sustain the losses that would have been incurred during the first two to three years before it became profitable. Also, I really do not think the Gen 4 dolls were cute or attractive in any way (on the other hand, I'm not a nine year old girl in this day and age). They were made like large Polly Pocket dolls and were just as cuddly. The 1950's hair style on the large RB doll looks very out of place today, especially since Gen 4 was to be an updated RB for today's kids. Today's kids don't wear their hair like that. Worse yet if you saw the current Moonglow doll today by herself, you'd have a very difficult time guessing that she had anything to do with Rainbow Brite. It's almost the same for the current Tickled Pink. Only Rainbow's outfit gives the game away for her. It's different from the original but you can certainly see where it came from. I hate to think what they'd have done with Stormy.

As far as your last paragraph goes, I doubt that Hallmark will ever come out and say the current line is dead. That would be a public admission of failure right on the heels of their 100th anniversary. Not good for public relations or future confidence. If Hallmark is really smart, they'll soon start working with Mattel on the Gen 5 dolls to be released in 2014. I've already gone into that in more detail elsewhere in this topic so go have a look.
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[Wardah]

But Gen 4 itself is not a broken concept. The line did not fail on the merits of the dolls or the concept behind them. I still believe if Playmates had launched them on the proper time and advertised them properly they would have sold well enough to ensure the continued success of the line. They were good dolls. It was a good concept. But hardly anybody knew about them at all.

On an unrelated note Gen 1 ended around the same time as the original Strawberry Shortcake did. During that time fashion and rock stars, glitz and glamor were coming into vogue. Rainbow Brite was none of those things. Even My Little Pony which continued past that time had taken a drastically different direction in style.

[Blondine Arc-En-Ciel]

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Is the Gen 4 concept still valid? Maybe, but I doubt it. Even if it is, I don't think that any toy company is going to risk building on a broken foundation. I personally would not invest a single centime into the idea if I were running a toy company.

Gen 1 was the only incarnation of Rainbow Brite that actually worked. It was popular around the world because the ideas behind it were timeless. If Hallmark were smart, they would again team up with Mattel (if Mattel will have them) for Gen 5 for release in 2014. Gen 4 was a false start that's best forgotten. As big as my personal Rainbow Brite collection is, the only Gen 4 dolls will be the two MIB versions of Rainbow Brite herself. The rest of the line is meaningless to me. I don't have that much Gen 3 in my collection and what I have is limited to just MIB Rainbow Brite herself, the books and a few odds and ends. I do have the entire Gen 2 line MIB (not as easy as it sounds) and nearly all of the Gen 1 line MIB plus a lot of non-Mattel Gen 1 merchandise.

Rainbow Brite is the only girl's toy line that I have any interest in. SSC, MLP and others are not my concern. The only other toy line I collect is Majorette model vehicles (like Hot Wheels) from France from the 70's and 80's and I've got around 800 of them. As far as glitz and glamour go, do preschoolers really need any of that? I doubt it.
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[Wardah]

Why should they have to wait for an anniversary to revive it anyways? Strawberry Shortcake didn't wait for an anniversary to be revived (I know I compare Rainbow Brite to Strawberry Shortcake a lot of times but Strawberry Shortcake was Rainbow Brite's chief rival). I know there will not be anything this fall but maybe by next fall there could be something. Tho if a different toy company takes on the line and uses the current character designs but the toys are different is it still Gen 4 or is it Gen 5? I mean Gen 3 pretty much used the original Gen's character designs but they are still considered a different Gen.

Of course preschoolers did not really need glitz and glamor but that's what had become big at that time. Remember Jem and "Barbie and the Rockers" and Little Miss Makeup? And Rainbow Brite was not targeted at a preschool audience anyway but an elementary school audience which had changed.

[Blondine Arc-En-Ciel]

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Gen 2 was the 12th anniversary but wasn't marketed as such.

Gen 3 was the 20th anniversary.

Gen 4 was the 25th anniversary.

So Gen 5 would fall on the 30th anniversary.


A revival (heaven forbid) of Gen 4 would be Gen 4B while the existing line would then become Gen 4A. I've also used the A and B with Gen 1 to show the difference between the original release of RB, Red, Canary, Patty, Indigo, Starlight, most large boy sprites, Murky and Lurky from the rest that came later. Gen 1B would include Buddy, La La and Shy plus some odds and ends of stuff released about the same time. Actually, Gen 1C could be used for the rest of the sprites and dolls plus various toys and wallhangings. Gen 1D could be used for the Dress Up dolls and their horses and with whatever else came near the end such as the poseable figures and 3D erasers sold in Europe.

Gen 3 was considered a different generation because of the time it came out and the fact that the dolls and toys resembled the originals but were not copies of them.

I have no idea of who Jem, Barbie and the Rockers and Little Miss Makeup are. And I have no desire to find out. My girl's toy collection only consists of Rainbow Brite.

The original RB was targeted at preschoolers and young grade schoolers. The target age seemed to be from about 3 to 7 or 8.
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[Wardah]

Ah but the 12th anniversary isn't a very significant date. 2009 was the 20th anniversary. Not fall 2010 which is when the dolls would have come out if Playmates warehoused them until the holiday shopping season. Even if Hallmark waits until next fall it will be the 27th anniversary. The 27th is about as special as the 12th. Anyways 4 years is a long time to wait and at least if they have a line already out by the time the next big anniversary rolls around it will be easier to focus on the anniversary instead of trying to launch a new toy line at the same time.

I really don't collect Jem or those other "fashion" lines either. I just know about toy trends from things I have read.

[Tom-sprite]

I personally hope they finally let RB rest in peace.
If RB really does not fit into these modern days with her 80s look/charisma and age how a lot of people think she should better just remain as a wonderful childhood memory.
Only my personal feeling ! ;-)

[Blondine Arc-En-Ciel]

Ah but the 12th anniversary isn't a very significant date. 2009 was the 20th anniversary. Not fall 2010 which is when the dolls would have come out if Playmates warehoused them until the holiday shopping season. Even if Hallmark waits until next fall it will be the 27th anniversary. The 27th is about as special as the 12th. Anyways 4 years is a long time to wait and at least if they have a line already out by the time the next big anniversary rolls around it will be easier to focus on the anniversary instead of trying to launch a new toy line at the same time.

I really don't collect Jem or those other "fashion" lines either. I just know about toy trends from things I have read.

I did in fact mention that Gen 2 was NOT marketed as the 12th anniversary. I have all the Gen 2 dolls MIB and there is nothing on any of them anywhere in any language that mentioned that fact.

2009 was the 20th anniversary of what, exactly? It certainly wasn't the 20th anniversary of Rainbow Brite. Rainbow Brite was launched in 1984, not 1989. Gen 1 was over and done with by 1989. I think your calendar is in the wrong time zone or something.

I'm getting the impression that you're trolling and from this point on I am no longer responding to any of your posts.
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[Blondine Arc-En-Ciel]

I personally hope they finally let RB rest in peace.
If RB really does not fit into these modern days with her 80s look/charisma and age how a lot of people think she should better just remain as a wonderful childhood memory.
Only my personal feeling ! ;-)

Tom, I want the Gen 4 of Rainbow to rest. Permanently. It was the wrong thing at the wrong time and had a lot of other problems that went with it. I'm in no way surprised that it expired so quickly.

Now, if Hallmark could get Mattel or someone else to do a Gen 5 that was strongly based on Gen 1, I'd be very happy to see that come out for the 30th anniversary in 2014 if it were properly done, financed, and backed with the right supporting material such as TV cartoons, books, movies, toys and all the rest that went with Gen 1 at the outset.
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