You're right Chibi Rachy, it IS stereotyping. But there are prejudiced people out there like my sister, who told me I couldn't buy anything Rainbow Brite, or anything with rainbows, for my niece because rainbows are gay. I'm straight. I guess they're afraid if their daughter has anything Rainbow Brite she'll turn out gay. I didn't, Katy didn't... but my sister is crazy like that.
Patreek... why do you say that they're completely redesigning Moonglow? A horse and shortening Nite Sprite's name to Nite doesn't sound like a terrible redesign... just a minor addition and modification. Unless you have heard news I haven't??
Changing OJ to Mango in 2004, for example, wasn't something I agreed with but it wasn't a big deal, I don't think. I just ignored the change and would still call him OJ. I will probably always refer to Twink as Twink, and Nite Sprite as Nite Sprite. Sometimes they do modifications to remain "politically correct" or to prevent a parental backlash, especially with those parents who aren't familiar with the 1980s RB.
The kind of changes I don't like are pointless, for example, to Strawberry Shortcake's Angel Cake character in the 2003 line. They got rid of Souffle Skunk who was soooo cute, and replaced him with Vanilla Icing lamb. Souffle wasn't offensive at all... they just thought Vanilla Icing would be cuter and sell better. (There is a skunk somewhere in the line called Sourball, proving that they probably could have left Souffle alone.) They made tons of other pointless changes too, like making Pupcake belong to SSC along with Custard. And renaming Lime Chiffon to Lime Light. Are today's parents so stupid they don't know what a Chiffon dessert is and can't teach their kids? I think not! Plenty more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry ... Criticisms
(P.S. There's going to be a fall 2009 relaunch of SSC too.)
And don't get me started on the toddlerized Care Bears or cutting the MLPs down to a "core 7" or however many ponies and simply rereleasing them over and over in different poses, outfits, and playsets.
All that said, I can't wait to see the new RB dolls!! I want more pics! Come on Playmates!