First Generation: Mattel For the first Rainbow Brite generation (1984–1987),
Mattel produced the dolls and many of the toys. Other Rainbow Brite licensed merchandise was produced by various companies. This included many story and activity books published by
Western Publishing (
Little Golden Books), a number of puzzles, a line of costume jewelry, banks and suitcases by Kat's Meow, clothes, toys, games, doll and child furniture, radios, child cosmetics, linen, towels, personal care items, lamps, figurines, VHS videocassettes, audio cassettes, vinyl records, bicycles, bedding, curtains and other merchandise sold in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The rest of Europe saw a smaller variety of merchandise, though this varied from country to country. Televised commercials for Mattel's Rainbow Brite dolls frequently featured the song, "
Over the Rainbow," from
The Wizard of Oz, often with altered lyrics or arrangements. Child actors
Tracey Gold,
Kellie Martin and
Heather O'Rourke, famous for their roles in 1980s television and film, also appeared.
Second Generation: Up, Up and Away The second Rainbow Brite generation (1996–1997) greatly differed from any generation before or since. It used the Rainbow Brite name but not the same characters or backstory. The master license was held by Up, Up and Away, a company which is no longer in business. Rainbow Brite no longer had anything do with making colors and was now in charge of diversity. Although this version did have rainbow-colored hair, the characters resembled real-world children more than their previous animated and doll counterparts. In the second generation's story, Rainbow Brite had four friends, called the Color Crew, which included Amber (Latina), Cerise (Asian), Ebony (African-American) and Indigo (Middle Eastern, the only character name borrowed from the original Color Kids). The Canadian importer was Irvine, a company which is currently still in business, and their product packaging was printed in both French and English texts.
Ideal Toy Company was the importer for most of
Western Europe, though Euro Play imported the line for Germany. The large doll was also distributed in Italy by GiG with only Italian text on the box. There were no other toys or accessories for the second generation dolls other than additional pots of Color-Glo Paint, which were sold in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. There was also a version of at least the large doll in a box with Spanish-only text. Another 15" Rainbow Brite doll with a Color Glo Bear and paint set was prototyped, as was a black version, which was produced in very small numbers. But only the black version was ever produced and then in very limited numbers. There was a Gen 2B which had simplified packaging and outfits as an effort to keep the line going by cutting costs. The second generation had nowhere near the success the first generation had at retail and was discontinued after less than two years on the market.
Third Generation: Toy Play The third Rainbow Brite generation (2003–2005) was also the 20th Anniversary Release. The master toy licensee was Toy Play, a defunct subsidiary of The Betesh Group. The parent company is still in business.
Nick Jr. was the
television network that advertised the line.
Hot Topic was the lead merchandiser with a unique Rainbow Brite doll not manufactured by Toy Play and many items of women's clothing, accessories and stationery. Without being an exact copy of the originals, this generation returned to the look and feel of the Mattel line. Toy Play followed the first generation's character roll out, producing Rainbow Brite, Red Butler, Canary Yellow, and Patty O'Green characters, but no more Color Kids followed. Starlite, Puppy Brite and the Sprites were also represented in various merchandise. Toy Play was the first (and so far only) merchandiser to produce a Color Castle playset, the Light Up Musical Castle, which included small articulated figurines of Rainbow Brite, Red Butler, Twink and Puppy Brite. The playset's box showed pictures of forthcoming product (a Rainbow Brite and Friends Sprites' village playset, an in-scale Starlite with brushable mane, as well as figurine 2-packs to include Rainbow Brite and Twink, Red Butler and Romeo, Patty O'Green and Lucky, Canary Yellow and Spark, and Murky Dismal and Lurky) though these were never produced. There was also a wide range of other merchandise, mostly clothing, that was available during Gen 3.
Fourth Generation: Playmates Toys The fourth Rainbow Brite generation (2009–2010) was the 25th anniversary release and was accompanied by a series of web-episodes produced by
Animax Entertainment that were available to stream on www.RainbowBrite.com., which no longer exists. The master toy license belonged to
Playmates Toys and their line of Rainbow Brite toys was expected to be in stores in the fall of 2009. Production delays saw the line actually debut in stores on December 24 of that year, which of course missed the 2009
holiday shopping season.
Feeln A three-part animated
miniseries was launched on November 6, 2014 by Video On Demand site
Feeln. The reboot showcased updated character designs for the cast, and starred
Emily Osment as the voice of Rainbow Brite and
Molly Ringwald as the voice of Dark Princess. The second episode was shown on November 13, 2014 and the series concluded on November 20, 2014.
Fifth Generation: Hallmark Toys Hallmark introduced the fifth generation of Rainbow Brite toys, along with clothing and other merchandise in July 2015. A limited edition line of Rainbow Brite Itty Bittys featuring Rainbow Brite, Twink, Champ, O.J., Lucky and I.Q. arrived first, each produced in limited quantities of 500 units. The demand led to Hallmark reissuing the Itty Bittys with slightly revised designs in much greater numbers along with the first Rainbow Brite Itty Bittys boxed set featuring Red Butler, Romeo, Indigo and Hammy. These items were followed by an 8" Twink plush and 11" Starlite plush in September 2015, as well as a 16" Rainbow Brite doll that November. A
Rainbow Brite comic was published by
Dynamite Entertainment for five issues from October 2018 to February 2019.
Upcoming Sixth Generation On October 14, 2024, it was announced a CGI-animated series and theatrical film were in development. The film will be produced by Hallmark,
Crayola Studios and
Original Film with
Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher on board, while the series will be produced by
Cake Entertainment. Crayola will also handle the licensing and merchandising for the new series. ==Notes==