Pics of the new Tickled Pink, Moonglow, Sunriser and Sprites

[Rainbow Brite]

I see very little chance of the Color Kids making a return. We may see a few of them turned into Elemental kids, but we won't see all 7 of them.

Since you really have no idea what you're talking about and this is all speculation, perhaps you should give them a chance before writing them off.

First of all, Moonglo has already been purple-ized to make her easy to distinguish from Pink. This tells us that Hallmark is scared of confusing the audience by having more than one character with a particular color scheme.

Or that blue and purple are more in line with NIGHTTIME than pink is. There is no reason to think that she is replacing any of the Color Kids.

Even if we all accepted the change in style, design, and attitude as being BETTER than the original RB, this is still going to be a downgrade. Less characters, less detail, less plot (if there's a story at all), less of... pretty much everything.

I don't think any of us have said this is BETTER than the original or that we expect any revamp to be "better." The original will always be the best to old school fans. But WE are not the target audience for this revamp and it would do us all well to remember that. I am sure we are being considered, but we are not going to be the main buyers, so obviously they're going to cater to what will sell. That's business.

I also went to the Hallmark store right by the Walmart to see if they had anything, or knew of anything coming soon. "No" to both answers. So it looks like Hallmark hasn't informed their stores of any upcoming RB stuff.

Obviously you've never worked retail to be surprised by this. I doubt even the managers are informed of what merchandise is coming down the line.

I 'guess' the big wave will come for Christmas? If it ever comes...

As we've told ya'll from the beginning, the dolls are coming out this fall.

[Starvoyager]

I see very little chance of the Color Kids making a return. We may see a few of them turned into Elemental kids, but we won't see all 7 of them.

Since you really have no idea what you're talking about and this is all speculation, perhaps you should give them a chance before writing them off.

If you know as much about business as you claim to, then this would make perfect sense.

Or that blue and purple are more in line with NIGHTTIME than pink is. There is no reason to think that she is replacing any of the Color Kids.

There isn't? How often do we see multiple characters of the same color in modern kid-fare? The word: "Balance" has been used a dozen times in this thread already. If someone has the same colors as ANYONE else, that so-called balance would be gone.

I don't think any of us have said this is BETTER than the original or that we expect any revamp to be "better." The original will always be the best to old school fans. But WE are not the target audience for this revamp and it would do us all well to remember that. I am sure we are being considered, but we are not going to be the main buyers, so obviously they're going to cater to what will sell. That's business.

Some reading comprehension would do a lot of good here. I said even if we all AGREED this was better... it's still technically a downgrade, regardless of personal feelings.

Obviously you've never worked retail to be surprised by this. I doubt even the managers are informed of what merchandise is coming down the line.

Gee, that's fascinating, so a retail store run as a franchise which gets to pick what merchandise they will or won't carry, isn't informed by manufacturers of what merchandise is going to be available next quarter? "That's Business" as you so eloquntly put it a moment ago... business is 95% marketing and 5% product. Marketing includes retail stores. I seem to remember this being mentiond as an excuse not long ago about the real reason for the redesign: it isn't to get kids (modern kids don't know that RB's previous incarnations flopped) to buy them off the shelves... it's to get stores (the people who work these stores are old enough to remember that the franchise has failed to sell in the past) to buy them so they can put them on the shelves. That isn't going to happen if the stores don't know they're available, does it?

[FanChan]

This is starting to get hostile. Might I suggest we close this particular debate until a later time, when new information comes to light?

[SunSpire]

Gee, that's fascinating, so a retail store run as a franchise which gets to pick what merchandise they will or won't carry, isn't informed by manufacturers of what merchandise is going to be available next quarter?

If we were talking about a top-selling range StarVoyager then I'd agree with you, it'd be announced in marketing bulletins and discussed in company memos and briefings way ahead of its release. BUT this isn't going to be a top-selling product and the "stores" can be happy if they will be informed a week or so in advance before that stuff shows up on store deliveries. I've been working in a retail toy store for 4 years and we NEVER knew what's going to be on next delivery until it got through our doors. It's all being managed by company's head office and only THEM know what's going on. Asking an employee within a store will get you nowhere.

Just my 2 cents .. Keep up the discussion guys, don't fight tho!

"SunSpire"

[Chibi Rachy]

In agreement with Sunspire here. Let's keep the discussion going, but let's not ruin the entire fun that speculation can be. The whole point is to think of all sorts of things, whether or not they end up being true in the end. It's just to have fun with.

[Rainbow Brite]

This is starting to get hostile. Might I suggest we close this particular debate until a later time, when new information comes to light?

Why bother? The next thread will be full of the same whining this one is full of. I'm frankly getting tired of obtaining and sharing information here, only to have it constantly slapped down and criticized. Do ya'll really think Playmates is going to have any desire to please us when all "we" can do is say how horrible their ideas are? Especially when we haven't even SEEN the dolls yet??

You want RB to stay as she was and never change? Fine. Ignore the new line and stick with the old RB. But there's no point in ruining it for the rest of us.

[TheWendybird]

This is starting to get hostile. Might I suggest we close this particular debate until a later time, when new information comes to light?

Why bother? The next thread will be full of the same whining this one is full of. I'm frankly getting tired of obtaining and sharing information here, only to have it constantly slapped down and criticized. Do ya'll really think Playmates is going to have any desire to please us when all "we" can do is say how horrible their ideas are? Especially when we haven't even SEEN the dolls yet??

You want RB to stay as she was and never change? Fine. Ignore the new line and stick with the old RB. But there's no point in ruining it for the rest of us.

I think everyone is taking this a little too personally. I can only speak for me and Starvoyager here but...we were not at all fond of what we saw before (as I'm sure it's obvious from things he's posted especially)...but we were a little bit more hopeful from the stickers we bought. And I, myself, have posted that I am waiting to see how the dolls look before I get really annoyed with hallmark. But...and this IS coming from an unbiased place...i'm not taking sides with him just cause i'm with him...but a lot of what he said is true....we will both be very shocked if the color kids come back.....it IS how marketing of this stuff works now. Everything is "dumbed down"...he's right about having more than one character with the same colors....people just don't do that anymore. The new line up screams the sort of stuff my 12 year old cousin has been into over the years...I, personally am still holding out hope. But we honestly wonder if Rainbowland will even still exist or if they still just be girls on earth.



Have you ever gone to a movie where they say it's based off of a novel and there is very little in the movie that's like the novel at all? Let me be the first to say..I'm obsessed with the Phantom of the Opera and I've read the original Gaston Leroux novel and let me tell you...NO VERSION comes close to how the book really is. Especially in the movies. The silent movie of 1925 is prably the closest and even then they took MAJOR liberties with the ending.



This is kinda how I'm seeing this new Rainbow Brite line...it just seems like..yeah it's still her technically....but she's going to be changed so much it will be practically unrecognizable. ..like a lot of the Phantom movies as opposed to the novel.



I know in this case it's hallmark doing it.....and my example of the phantom might not be totally suiting as the different movies are done by different companies and directors with different visions of someone elses creation. I know Rainbow Brite is the creation of Hallmark (supposedly but i wont go there...) at least in terms of being a franchise....so they have more right to do with it what they please I suppose and fans not complain about it....unlike in my example...but why dumb it down? Why is everything over simplified for kids today? I will be blunt....in some ways society has gotten smarter with it's technology and what not but (and I know Starvoyager will agree as we've talked about this)...in a lot of ways our society is getting REALLY BLOODY STUPID! I mean with everyday stuff. Most of the kids shows today with a few good exceptions are junk! And I'm not saying if they make a new Rainbow Brite show it will be junk just that we're prepared that it very well ...in all possibility will be dumbed down. There may be no more Rainbowland, no spectra, no color kids...maybe even no Murky or Lurky or Dark Princess....we just don't know yet. I am holding out hope personally but it's a pretty small glimmer of hope I will say that. And judging by how we know people market things and the way childrens products are now I think people are justified to be fearful of it. Hopeful but fearful.

[SunSpire]

As this is 10 full pages long now, I'm going to close the thread but feel free to start another one, quoting the last few posters from this one.

I agree, this is getting kinda personal and people need to chill .. all we got so far are THREE pictures of the new design and a few stickers, that's it. It's too early to make final conclusions about the true merchandise that will come out this fall. Ever thought of the possibility that they put the stickers out in stores to TEST how well they're being received? Constructive criticism is the only thing that could possibly make them want to reconsider their design, and maybe modify them a little bit to please more fans ... IF it isn't too late for that by now anyway cos fall isn't far away.

"SunSpire"