1986- Unreleased and Limited Release Rainbow Brite Dolls

Dress-up series

This guide was designed ONLY to discuss the limited-release and unproduced 1986 dolls- For a full review and checklist of the dolls that WERE released in the Rainbow Brite series, check here: http://reviews.ebay.com/Stormy-apos-s-Secrets-The-Ultimate-Rainbow-Brite-Checklist_W0QQugidZ10000000003812605?ssPageName

In addition to Tickled Pink and Dress-up Rainbow Brite, Mattel planned the following items for 1986 release:

1. Moonglow, (was released in Germany as a test-market doll only)

2. The Dress-Up Horses (hard body Starlite & Sunriser) who were released in the US, but only in VERY limited quantities.

3. STORMY (was never released) and - but see prototype below! and

4. Newborn Star (was never released)

5. Dress-Up Doll Fashions (were never released)

Most people know about the Stormy prototype from looking in the Dress-up catalogs, and from looking at scans of the back of the Dress-up doll boxes- where Stormy and Moonglow are pictured in the background. 

(US collectors did not even know Moonglow existed until our German friends started putting her up on ebay.de in the mid 2000s- before that, she was as much of a legend as Stormy)

  - photo of the back of a Tickled Pink Box.

The dress-up outfits pictured on the back of the dress-up boxes, and in the catalogs that came with the dolls.

  (blue background is from the box- the white is the dress-up catalog).

Toy Fair Preview!

The February 1986 Toy Fair in NY was the very last convention that Mattel presented the Rainbow Brite line. The dolls were discontinued not long after. (Toy Fair is a toy-industry convention that takes place yearly in NY, but is not open to the public.  It remains the largest toy-industry event in the western hemisphere.)  

At Toy Fair, Mattel showcased the new line- including prototypes of all of the new Dress-up dolls.A glimpse of these new dolls and outfits can be found in the difficult to find 1985 Toy Fair catalog.  There are some beautiful large scans of the catalog and the unproduced dolls at totallyjem.jemmagic.com - (all of the following scans are from that site- which you should for SURE check out for even more beautiful pics of the 1986 toy fair catalog)

What is interesting about the Toy Fair catalog, is that in addition to Stormy, the catalog also pictures a doll that hardly anyone has ever heard of, called "Newborn Star."  Newborn  Star appears to be the same size as a Baby Brite doll- but with multi-colored hair, and removable clothing (like a dress-up doll of Baby Brite).  However, because Newborn Star never even made it into the catalogs picturing the other dress-up dolls such as Stormy, it is uncertain whether Mattel ever planned to develop this doll.

 dress-up outfits           Newborn Star

  dress-up dolls

Please- if you have ANY additional information regarding the unproduced dolls or if you have a picture of any of the actual prototypes from the Rainbow Brite series- I would be VERY grateful if you would share this information with me :) (you can contact me through ebay- but I will be happy to chat thereafter through email).