Hallmark has a new picture of up the prototype dolls that are headed our way.

Starlite unfortunately still looks like a serpent or maybe a goose, Twink still has the same design and I think he looks AWESOME! And then there is Rainbow Brite...

Egads. She looks like a clownish fakie. Is that a new sculpt? This is not a complicated doll- they should have stuck with just getting the original copied as closely as possible.



Maybe she will be better in person ? I am trying to figure out why I dislike her so much- I think it is the hair (seems weird) and mouth (why so red Rainbow?) Her glum expression and why did they sew the skirt on so high ??

She could have been great...

For me, it's absolutely the facial expression that bothers me most:
As my friend Candi said, "She looks very disapproving." That straight-lined mouth and the upturned eyes make her look so judgmental and exasperated. When I look at her, all I can imagine her saying are things like:

"Really!?"
"Did you clean your room like I asked?"
"Are you sure you want to wear THAT?"
"Did I say you could get up from the table?"

Why on earth is she not smiling?? And as my husband says about her eye direction in relation to a clock: Dolls' eyes can point anywhere between 3:00 and 9:00, but not between 9:00 and 3:00, except for noon. Some of the 2003 dolls look directly to the side (like 9:00) and they look fine. This one looks like she's rolling her eyes. But I prefer her looking straight ahead like the original.

I don't have any major complaints about the rest of her. Minor things I think could be improved:

-Lower the skirt so that there's more room above it for the entire Color Belt to fit on. And the rainbow should end at the star - not go beyond it.

-The yarn hair looks dirty. Perhaps it's just the picture, but the color doesn't seem to be the same school bus orange that we're used to. It looks like a dirty yellow.

The rest looks great!

She does look like she is rolling her eyes in exasperation...

I really am not impressed but I might get her on principle. I mean she IS Rainbow Brite. Maybe she won't look as bad in person?

I do think that it is the colored lips that contribute to her disapproving grimace- I am wondering if a little acetone will help her expression or if she will look as glum with no color...

I totally don't get why the hair looks dirty. It does. I am hoping this is a prototype issue and the final will look better. The final might not even have such weird lips- maybe they added them for easier photography ?

It is not often that the post production doll looks better than the prototype, but it does happen so I'm crossing my fingers...

I'll still get one, no matter what. But I'm really tempted to have someone do an eye repaint (as I'm not sure you could paint a smile when her mouth is molded that way). I may even get two so that I can do a head transplant on one. I have a couple extra naked 18" dolls lying around. I think an old head on this new body would look nice

I'm not a fan for the changes made on the Rainbow Brite doll. What they had originally was just fine. I think the facial expression and the messy yarn hair made this doll look poorly made. The clothing looks off, too.

I wonder if they changed it to avoid legal trouble with Mattel. The prototype looks really close to Mattel's design, but apparently, Mattel wasn't responsible for the 2015 doll's look. Then again, Halmark does own Rainbow Brite, so I really don't know about the legality of Halmark using the toy design Mattel used 30 years ago.

I was worried about the book being a disappointment because they could have reused a lot of old art work to make it and the summary made it sound like the story would be similar to Peril of the Pits. The doll, on the other hand, looked like something to look forward too. Strangely enough, the art and the story were entirely new from what I heard and the doll ended up not as well designed as I think most of us hoped.

Amabilis999 wrote:I wonder if they changed it to avoid legal trouble with Mattel. The prototype looks really close to Mattel's design, but apparently, Mattel wasn't responsible for the 2015 doll's look. Then again, Halmark does own Rainbow Brite, so I really don't know about the legality of Halmark using the toy design Mattel used 30 years ago.

I don't think the original doll pictured was a prototype - I think it was an actual vintage doll. I don't know the legality involved with using Mattel's design either, and also wondered if that was the cause for the change. But then this morning I remembered the 20th Anniversary doll from Hot Topic:

http://www.rainbowbrite.net/newrbdoll/
(I apologize for the horrible photos - they were taken back when the doll came out...lol)

It was nearly identical to the vintage doll - especially the head mold - and I don't believe it was manufactured by Mattel. But I'm not certain. It doesn't say on the box, and I'd rather not remove mine from the box again to check its tag...lol. Does anyone else know?

Fan to the rescue!! My friend Megan pulled out her 20th Anniversary doll and took tush tag pictures for us And the tags don't mention any company other than Hallmark - so they must have manufactured her themselves. And she was nearly identical to the 80's doll! If they could do it then, I don't understand why they can't do it again now

LOL PocusPossum!! Exactly :D

This was my first expression