So I am on a payment plan to buy two more protos- want a hint?

So these are the 2 very last prototypes that this designer had in the RBB line)-Apparently 2 versions were made- a purple and a black version- I am buying both, even though I have to be on a payment plan to afford them, lol

They are so pretty- You can check out the pix of them on my wix site (online pics of my collection)- just scroll to the end of the prototype album...
http://www.wix.com/galacticatt/rainbow

I also got some cool info about why they decided to make Stormy and Skydancer in the first place- I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that it was always about selling more toys I think most of us know by now that cartoons in the 1980s (and probably today) are, for the most part, commercials.

When Rainbow Brite was first introduced in 1983, her horse Starlight was the introduced with her as a plush toy. The horse was costly to produce and the design director was fully never satisfied with the look they were able to achieve in production. For 1986, it was decided to try a molded version of Starlight using existing Barbie horse tooling, but give it a flocked body and yarn mane/tail to match the dolls. The 1986 Mattel catalog shows Starlight and Sunriser (a pink horse for Tickled Pink).

At the same time, the sales of the villains, Lurky and Murky Dismal, were flat so a female villain was designed named Stormy. Her colors were originally black, purple and silver. A horse was also designed for her to fit with the new designs of Starlight and Sunriser. Two versions of Stormy's horse were tried - a black one and a purple one but neither were shown in the dealer catalogs. There were possibly 2 prototypes made of each version.

The molded horses did not ship to stores as the line was dropped due to too much product still sitting on retails shelves.

The black horse uses a horse tool that was later deemed unreliable in testing as the ears would break in the drop tests so it was not used in the 80's or later

So the designer was under the impression that none of the molded/flocked horses shipped. However, we do occassionally see the hard starlite (although it is rare) and Sunriser too. But I guess that still makes sense, because I know that with current toy lines, when a line gets dropped, the company might have already received the first shippment- and will just throw the lot away away/give it away/or sell the items to a discount market. (I purchased some toys like this directly from a toy company once)

Were any of you around a few years ago when that person online had a whole slew of MIB Tickled Pinks, Dress-up Rainbows, Kitty Brite's and Sunrisers? Before him- the hard Sunriser was as rare as the hard Starlite. I bugged and bugged him about where he had found them, and he finally admitted that he had purchased an entire werehouse of Mattel toys (he-man, ect.) for just pennies a piece- he said the werehouse was not in the US. Anyways- I bet that's most of the Sunrisers came from. I don't know about the Starlites- but I guess the fact that they never shipped to stores explains why they are so very rare. Just speculation on my part of course. If anyone has any information to add, please do :D

Pure AWESOMENESS!!!!!

Very neat! I am so excited that you have been able to purchase these prototype items. If you hadn't come along, they probably would have never been seen by the public.

Any further word on if he will sell you a Stormy prototype?

This particular designer never worked on Stormy so he doesn't have a Stormy doll-

My "toy guy" is searching- but so far no leads. CRY *** still, if anyone can find her, he can.

I read an earlier post of mine and recall that he did think he had a lead- but it doesn't look like that panned out. I'm sure he would tell me if he found one-

I am guessing based on the original color scheme for Stormy as well as the prototype Skydancers, that there were probably 2 prototype dolls made of a black-scheme Stormy as well as a purple-scheme. SOMEONE has to have them... If the designer of the Stormy doll is anything like this designer, he was probably proud of the designs, but not terribly motivated to sell them - these guys worked on a LOT of different lines- Rainbow Brite was definitely not the most popular...

I am trying to be grateful for what I have- but of course I always want more even if they seem to cost just a bit more every time- hehe

Congratulations again Sarah ! ^^
I think a lot of collectors are quite envious !

I think it s very interesting what you spot about RB-protos !
Always enjoy reading your posts ! ^^

Congrats! I am one of the collector's that are VERY ENVIOUS!!!! LoL! But I am glad that if I can't have them, you can, lol. Thank you so much for sharing them with us!!!!!

Very happy to share- I have never really understood the collectors who hide their super neat stuff- the more exciting it is, the more I want to share it :D

I hope if someone finds Stormy, they will post pictures here too...

I don't understand those people either, lol. And I hope so too!!

Another super-interesting find!

He mentions the Skydancer horse failing the drop test. Does that horse use a different mold than the "Dallas" mold Starlight and Sunriser used?

Babydoll, I actually have no idea- I am not in direct contact with him as he prefers to sell stuff through a third party- I was just quoting word for word. I do notice though that one of the Skydancers has the body mold like Sunriser, and the other one (the black one) has a body mold like Starlite's. I don't really know what is meant by a "tool" - probably some designer term...