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Rainbow Brite[a] is a media franchise by Hallmark Cards, introduced in 1984.[2][3] The animated Rainbow Brite television series first aired in 1984,[4] the same year Hallmark licensed Rainbow Brite to Mattel for a range of dolls and other merchandise. A theatrical feature-length film, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, was released by Warner Bros. in 1985. The franchise was rebooted in 2014 with a three part mini-series released on Hallmark's online streaming video service, Feeln.[5] A line of new merchandise by Hallmark online and in its shops debuted in 2015.[6]
Rainbow Brite made her animated debut in the syndicated prime-time television special, "Peril in the Pits," which was first aired on June 27, 1984. Later, a pair of two-part specials were produced: "The Mighty Monstromurk Menace" and "The Beginning of Rainbowland."[7]
A theatrical feature-length film, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, was released by Warner Bros. in 1985.[8] The specials became part of DIC's weekly syndicated Kideo TV block of programming starting in April 1986, which were followed up with eight more episodes for a total of thirteen, which is one season in American television,[9] and were rerun until the end of March 1987, after which the show was replaced on the Kideo TV schedule by Lady Lovely Locks & the Pixietails.[10] All were published on VHS videotapes in the United States and other countries, along with two live-action programs. One of these was a program intended for use at kids' birthday parties ("It's Your Birthday Party"); the other was made on location at the San Diego Zoo ("San Diego Zoo Adventure").
In Gen 1 continuity, and most of the franchise's backstory, a young girl named Wisp is brought to a gray, desolate land with the mission to bring color to this fictional world by locating the Sphere of Light. Along the way, she befriends a furry creature (called a sprite) named Twink and a magnificent horse named Starlite and finds a mysterious baby who turns out to be the key to her mission. With the help of her new friends, Wisp locates the legendary Color Belt and rescues the seven Color Kids, who had been trapped by the King of Shadows. Using the Color Belt, Wisp and the Sphere of Light defeat the King of Shadows, liberate the sprites, and bring color and beauty to the land, henceforth called Rainbow Land. Wisp is renamed Rainbow Brite in honor of her new role as leader of the Color Kids, who are together in charge of all the colors in the universe.
The Color Kids spread color across the universe from the Color Console inside the Color Castle. Each Color Kid is in charge of their respective color, has a personal sprite and manages a number of like-colored sprites that mine Color Crystals from the nearby Color Caves. These crystals are processed into Star Sprinkles which are the essential components to brightening and coloring any object or place. The Star Sprinkles also power Rainbow Brite's Color Belt, which manifests a powerful multicolored energy force she uses to fight evil and help Starlight travel on. Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids' mission is often complicated by the likes of Murky Dismal, his sidekick Lurky, and other villains. Brian, a boy from Earth, sometimes assisted Rainbow Brite in her adventures.
In the movie, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, the setting expands to include the diamond planet, Spectra. All the light in the universe must pass through Spectra before coming to Earth. However, Earth soon falls into a wintry darkness when the diamond-obsessed Dark Princess decides to steal Spectra for her own. Rainbow Brite and her horse, Starlite, must team with Spectra's boy warrior, Krys, and his robotic horse, On-X, to defeat the powers of darkness and save Spectra, Earth, and the universe.
Gen 2 continuity took a radical departure from any other generation's story, focusing as much on ethnic diversity as the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow Brite had an entirely new and smaller group of friends called the Color Crew. Despite distribution and marketing in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, the toy line never reached the success of its predecessor and ended after little more than a year.
Gen 3 was basically a relaunch of Gen 1 in 2003, with the same story, but a smaller range of characters produced. The dolls from Toy Play were similar to but not exact copies of the Gen 1 versions. There was also a sizable amount of Rainbow Brite merchandise from various other manufacturers just as in Gen 1.
Gen 4A celebrated the 25th anniversary of Rainbow Brite in 2009 with continuity returning the setting again to Rainbow Land, which looked nothing like the original version. This time, Rainbow Brite and her friends' mission was to bring hope and happiness to the far corners of the universe, making hearts lighter and worlds a little more colorful along the way. The story focuses on Rainbow Brite, Tickled Pink, and Moonglow, each representing one of Rainbow Land's Sky Powers, which determine the cycles of the days and seasons. Gen 4 continuity makes Rainbow Brite a girl originally from Earth (Return to Rainbow Land). Rainbow Brite's absence from the world is explained in a story that sees Rainbow return to her home on Earth for a brief visit with her family after many adventures spreading color throughout Rainbow Land and the universe. But when the Dark Princess erases Rainbow Land from Rainbow Brite's memory while on Earth, she never returns to her duties in Rainbow Land. Rainbow Brite eventually returns to Rainbow Land with the help of Starlite and Puppy Brite. These dolls had a more mature fashion doll-like design, which was totally unlike all of the previous dolls in the series. The three girl dolls were wearing training bras and panties under their clothes. The line suffered a delay, which caused the toys to not be available until after the holiday season that year. It saw scarce distribution as retailers were not impressed with it and was canceled after just seven months and before the first release was completed.
Feeln's (part of Hallmark) Gen 4B animated reboot retained most Gen 1 story elements and recognizable but not identical character designs. It introduced a few new story elements, one being the Sentinels of Light, which included Rainbow Brite as a guardian of light and color and Krys as the protector of light unseen. Stormy also played a more prominent role. After a falling out with her pal, Rainbow Brite, Stormy joined the forces of darkness and became a formidable frenemy. As the Dark Princess's manipulations became more transparent, Stormy started questioning where her true loyalties lay and returned to Rainbow Land as Rainbow Brite's friend. Gen 4B consisted solely of web content from Hallmark and only resulted in a minuscule amount of give-away merchandise. None of the items were available for purchase.
Gen 5 began in 2015 with dolls and toys very similar to those of Gens 1 and 3. Hallmark worked on the design, storylines, distribution and sales which have, so far, been limited to Hallmark shops in the United States and Canada, and the Hallmark website. The line began with a limited production of Hallmark's Itty Bittys plush miniatures before expanding to larger Twink & Starlite plushes, a 16" Rainbow Brite doll, a series of hard cover story books, women's clothing, and an expansion of the Itty Bittys line. In the fall of 2016, Hallmark released a Stormy doll with her own horse.
Books, comic books, sticker albums and audio tapes were the best selling licensed items outside the United Kingdom, but other items did exist in different countries. In Germany alone there were no less than thirty-one story cassettes and forty-six comic books. Germany also had an exclusive version of the Dress Up Rainbow Brite doll that included a story cassette. This cassette was not sold separately but was produced by Europa, producer of the other 30 story cassettes. It is unknown if the cassettes were sent to the Asian factory that made the dolls or were put into the dolls' boxes in Germany. A line of five 3D erasers in the form of various Rainbow Brite characters was sold in Europe with Mattel branding, while the same line was also sold in Australia under the name of Harveston Super Action figures with the addition of an additional character (Lurky) not sold in Europe. A number of Gen 1B (the second release of the first generation) dolls made for the American and Mexican markets ended up being sold in Germany because of strong demand there. These dolls had their English or Spanish names covered by a sticker with the German name or sometimes nothing at all. Two Rainbow Brite dolls plus Twink and Starlite were also produced in Brazil by Estrella. These were not exported anywhere and came in their own unique white packaging with all writing less the Rainbow Brite name in the Brazilian version of Portuguese. Because of Rainbow Brite's extreme popularity soon after she was launched, a number of other companies not related to Mattel produced many unlicensed lookalike (fake or bootleg) items that were sold in North America and Europe.
The Mattel line of toys and dolls was quite large. There were three large dolls, five medium dolls (Emotions) 12 small dolls, nine animals, 50 sprites (including those that came with the small dolls), four large boxed toys, ten boxed wallhangings and doll carriers, and 27 small carded toys for a total of 111 different items and this does not include generational (some dolls were sold in two different boxes over time in some markets) and international packaging variations. These toys were expensive for their time and Mattel responded by producing a lower priced line of toys sold loose with tags called the 'Emotions' line. The Emotions line included five dolls including a 15" Buddy Blue doll that was sold only in Canada. The extra sprite in the line happened to be Champ. Also included were five Sprites, Starlite the horse and Lurky. Oddly enough, the Emotions dolls were larger than the small dolls in the regular line, but the Emotions horse was smaller than the normal version. As such the Emotions dolls were neither in scale with the Emotions horse or the regular Mattel version. And of course the Emotions dolls were too big to sit on the Emotions horse or the normal one. Not all toys were sold in all markets, and the Emotions line was never sold outside the United States and Canada.
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