The WEIRD Evolution of Rainbow High
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Check out my Patreon here!
/ darlingdollz
This video is intended for adult, and young adult, collectors- NOT children!
Follow me on twitter!
/ sweetdreamzkumi
Follow me on instagram!
/ darlingdollzofficial
Do I own a rainbow high doll? No. Do I collect dolls? No. But will I sit through this video to listen to Darling Dollz's opinion? Yes, absolutely.
SAME
Same!!
Same!
Same! I don't collect dolls but regularly watch Darling Dollz and Joey videos!
I’ve introduced this channel to many friends. We love him.
We never even got to *SEE* Bella go to Pacific Coast!
She just imagined herself there in a music video and then next ep came back from it and was like "omg it was so fun going to Pacific Coast"
That's actually hilarious because I just realized that. The whole Pacific High episodes was formatted like a dated reality show but with no Bella which is something considering all the build up LEADING to her winning.
the pacific coast and costume ball episodes were an insult.
Hi guys! Clearing up a few things real quick:
- I did legitimately forget about the existence of the "budget" dolls that were released to certain retailers. Yeah, that's embarrassing. It's still correct to say that the swimsuit dolls from this year are the first "true" budget line from RH as the previous ones were toned down versions of dolls that had already been released and aren't slotted in as new releases. It was, however, incorrect to say that the swimsuit dolls were the first to have only the standard articulation. That's my bad, haha.
- I know Blu Brooks is a standard height RH body. I only meant to say that she's shorter than Pinkly and Lilac, but I guess that didn't come off quite right. Also my bad.
That's all!
I only got back into dolls last year and RH was a big reason why. I’m usually so critical of modern doll lines for a lot of the same reasons the reboot frustrates. I especially fell in love with Shadow High for how different and truly artsy they were. It really breaks my heart that they would take everything that made them different and special and try to erase that.
@@KingOfGaymes Sorry to be honest, but what keeps these companies running are sales to children, the percentage that adults offer to these companies is minimal, almost non-existent
@@alessa8742technically, all of their sales are from adults, it’s just the difference of trying to appeal to adults who don’t have kids versus adults who do have kids.
@@teggyber I'm referring to adult collectors, I'm sure you understand.
@@teggyber Not really true. Kids have their own money (allowance, birthday, etc) to spend on dolls and do so. Not just rely on adults to buy them for them.
@@amygirl5678 where do they get said allowance and birthday money from? fellow kids?
They also had some budget rainbow high series 3 dolls that had basic five points of articulation for like $17.99 I believe. Along with less articulation, they had a simplified version of one of their outfits that the regular dolls had, and they had a solid hair color without the highlights or streaks of lighter/ darker colors.
Yes I have the Daria and Daphne I love them so much.I got them both on sale at Ross.
They were available at Family Dollar too for $18 which is also way too high but yet I had to buy Georgia and Sheryl since they're my faves😂 but $40 for 2 budget dolls is as much as I'm going to spend... imagine getting all 6 for over $100💀
From the first time I watched an RH unboxing video I knew what the future of the line would be like until it was discontinued. It is economically impossible for a company to make a profit selling such an elaborate product for that initial price. They were smart and maintained that initial appeal to try to cultivate a loyal adult audience and once that audience was conquered, reduce the number of items included and thus be able to make a profit proportional to what they offered. Later they even tried to create “limited edition” dolls with a high price (and compatible with what was invested by the company) to maintain the quality and quantity of items included and thus obtain a fair profit, but this adult audience was already used to low and unrealistic prices and obviously these dolls did not have the expected number of sales. What pays the bills for these companies are sales aimed at children, the profit that adult collectors offer these large companies is minimal, almost non-existent. I don't understand the surprise of some at the company's change of direction and the quality of the line's products as it was completely predictable and consistent with reality. But even with this new children's appeal, I think it will only be a matter of two years at most for RH to be definitively discontinued, along with the LOL OMG line.
I agree with you about the price for the amount of details and creativity of some of the dolls. Some of the SH dolls look like collector dolls to me. I find it crazy in a way to find them in supermarkets sold as playline dolls. It is even more shocking when they are discounted to the price of a Barbie Fashionista. We really were lucky as adult collectors to have dolls like this sold as playline.
I hope RH dolls will survive the reboot. I also hope it is not be the end of lol omgs. They are also amazing and one of my favourite current doll line.
This is what I have felt. Especially with the rainbow vision dolls. In todays economy 40 dollars was a pretty fair price for what you were getting with those dolls. Maybe too fair. No other line does what rainbow high does for a reason. But the market to buy all of them doesn't exist. Parents will not want to spend that much on something their child will break. (my niece who was 10 broke one of the diva's vanities in 10 minutes worth of play.) Adult collectors are a small market and also have bills to pay. they can't buy all of these expensive premium dolls. Maybe they would if there was only 3. not 9. or 15 if you include costume ball. I got all of the rainbowvision dolls for 25 dollars last spring after they had been on clearance for months. it was at that point I was certain that this nice quality wasn't going to last much longer.
The original Rainbow High dolls were $26.99 when they first came out. The only reason I remember is because I bought mine from Target and recorded a review for my channel that same day, and I looked at the receipt and went over the price in the video
I was about to say this, and the Costume Ball dolls were $37.88 at release
In Canada the pricing of each series was $39, special editions like winter/rockstar/slumber party were $79, and pacific coast was $50 (and still hasn't come down). This is why I don't have them all lol.
rainbow high was what got me back into doll collecting - and while ive started focusing on a lot of other brands its still such a shame to see it go in this fashion
as a "goth" irl, when shadow high S1 happened I was SO excited for a line of high quality dolls with alternative fashion cus there's so many alt subcultures they could have played with, and then they immediately went to just being rainbow high but with fantasy skin colour and it was so disappointing. they literally made shadow high MORE colourful that Rainbow High.
That bothered me SOOO much, like they are meant to be ANTI rainbow high, black and white and gray which was super cool.. then they made more and they were colorful, completely defeating the entire purpose of being “anti rainbow” 💀
Like they couldn’t even be consistent for two lines of shadow high, just immediately threw out the whole concept..
SH series 1 did not sell as well as MGA was expecting with kids who are the main demographic that’s why color is was added. It sucks that they lost the shadow but they couldn’t survive on adult collector sales alone.
@@DefyReality-ll2cg They came out with way too many dolls at once IMHO, not just RH but OMG as well. MGA created such a glut in the market that I suspect they shot themselves in the foot quite honestly.
Some of them are so bright I was thinking to myself "These look more like aliens than anything I would think as goth/punk." and I mean 'alien' as best as I can because they ARE cute but still...it's now really 'shadow'.
I somewhat agree but I also love the fantasy skin tones. Zooey, Monique, and Lavender are my favorites because of how beautiful their fantasy skin tones are and how beautiful their faces are. However, I would have liked them far more if they actually used alternative fashion influence. The alternative fashion influences peaked with the Neon Shadow band girlies and they are colorful. The fashion is what failed series 2 and 3 overall for me not the color.
The biggest tragedy of this reboot is that we most likely won’t have new Shadow High dolls in a while.
Those dolls are what got me into Rainbow High in the first place. Like, I saw the RH dolls couple of times and thought they’re cute. However, when Shadow High hit the shelves, that’s when I started collecting them. The alternative, artsy, and unique look to the SH dolls appeal to my tastes.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll come back. However, I ain’t living for the new direction of RH. 😕
The shadow high trademark has been dropped so new sh dolls are looking less and less likely
I saw two at the 99cent store, and they were half off.
Me too!! I hope Storywood will be good.
I liked RH but very moderately and not that much at first. I fell for SH very badly. They appeal to my taste completely. RH also grew massively on me because of SH. Even if SH dolls are discontinued, I am glad amazing dolls like this were easily avalaible and for a so great price. Some of the SH dolls look like collector dolls to me and I find it crazy that these dolls were sold in supermarkets as playline dolls.
So, I paused the video at your mention of MGA being devoted to being diverse and you brought up Bratz as an example. They might be more committed to it today, but when the creator Carter Bryant first pitched the Bratz dolls to them, they only wanted the white blonde one, Chloe. Bryant said they have to take all or none and he would go to a different company, so they took all, which of course ended up being what we know today.
Yeah I think MGA is honestly, like most major brands, ethics-washing their history and current brand. They absolutely lightened the character art of Sasha and Dylan in box art/promos; in fact, I work for a tee company that that has them as a partner and they gave us original illustrator files (metadated 2002) and retroactively asked us to darken the skintones of their girls of color AFTER approving some tees as is. Which is wild to me to make a partner do it and not do it in house before giving it to a partner. It's also I am pretty sure factual data that less units of Sasha and Felicia were made (Felicia most notably for how much og's of her go for now, partially due to those lower numbers) and Sasha was not included in the original Japanese distribution of the line. They do what they think makes money first and foremost; you might say they are counter correcting that some but that's because that's what makes money now if they do. I also feel like they only feature people with certain looks on their socials, so that also doesn't feel inclusive to me.
It was actually the Walmart buyer who just wanted cloe. Isaac was the one insisting they get all or none. Through out the year tho I guess Isaac couldn't keep insisting as demand for yasmin and cloe grew
@novembercrust I mean MGA cannot produce same amount of sasha and Felicias if there isn't much demand for them. Yall gotta be real, racism exists and affects dolls like sasha and Felicia. So many international retailers don't want black dolls plus in America they only get distributed to areas retailers know have a bigger black population
It's good to mention these things. Many people seem to delude themselves into thinking we have progressed more as a society than we actually have.
There's also the sad fact that if anything- and I mean ANYTHING- comes out diverse-heavy from the start, an enormous amount of people will see this as not being for them and their family and look elsewhere. The population is what it is (wherever these companies are based), and it may be even odd for those of us to whom diversity is the norm to realize it isn't in many, many places.
@@DoIIyMama Oh for sure, that's the root of what my comment was trying to get at. It's an interesting position I think we're in now where, as @moonbeamfaerie, things aren't as progressed as much as we think - I do think customers like the adult collectors are asking for more diversity, but I think when it comes to the numbers not much has changed. At the end of the day, MGA is a company catering to the bottom line. Therefore, I think some attempts at diversity in any given corporation can involve genuine want to make things better by the employees, but much of the final decisions comes down to higher ups maintaining a public image and profits. See, for ex, Target pulling pride merch last summer.
I'll be honest, I mostly collect Monster High but I kept on eyeing the Rainbow High stuff. I could always tell they were high quality but something about the eyes always put me off and I never liked them as much as I knew I should. I also got annoyed at how they were at a creative school and everyone was fashion or make up. Scarlett was the first (techincally second, but the other was a speciality line) to do anything with creative writing and I did actually like her look so I snagged her and was INCREDIBLY impressed with the quality. She keeps me company at work/when writing now. I got my second Shadow high recently and debating on a few of the other rainbow. But like... the eyes have to work, and honestly I'm waiting for a sale. I don't have a lot of room to display dolls but I appreciate them a lot.
... also I'm genuinely trying to keep form going full collector because I do want to appreciate all the dolls I have and I don't have enough room. I'm already trying to figure out where to put the new SH doll but I was worried with the rebranding removing articulation so I wanted to get one from before.
The same thing happened to me. When I first saw RH, I didn't think much about it. Then I saw some of the later series and fell in love. Unfortunately, I got into collecting just as the reboot was coming around. Trying to find Series 4 and earlier is so hard to do.
@crowqueenamps there's a handful left on mga's shop! Not on sale, which is ridiculous, but it's worth a look if you haven't been there already.
Rainbow High was the most fashion doll line to ever fashion doll line. Their makeup was crazy, acrylics having different molds and tiny paint details was next level plus the high quality of clothing ON top of the fact the dolls were heftier than others yet still had articulation and inset eyes. So many people just looked at piece count to determine whether a RH doll was worth it or not when their higher priced dolls had tiny details whether on the clothes or something like acrylic nails (costume ball having the most intricate nails). Unfortunately for RH, they didn't have any nostalgia to offer for people to appreciate them.
My start to RH was Meena Fleur (orange doll in series 4), as someone of indian descent she meant and still means the WORLD to me. 🧡helps that my fav color is orange too haha! but I was seriously blown away with the considerations taken into this doll, her clothes, her henna tattoos, her jewelry, all of it was at a quality I had never seen before in any doll brand, and that's when I started collecting! I have 30 or so dolls in my collection but the core 6 from series 4 are to date still the most diverse dolls, in terms of ethnicities, skin conditions, and fashions, in the entire series! it truly was the line's peak, and I'm afraid it's all gone downhill from here 😓
Meena is truly beautiful. There was so much thought and consideration put into her.
I really wish they hadn't released so many, so quickly in 2021 & 2022. I never felt like I could keep up. I bought 40 in the last 3 years and that feels like a lot! I got my favorites and I'm so glad for what we did get from RH/SH but if everything had come out a little slower I would have been able to get more. I might still be able to get some but I'm at the mercy of reseller prices now so I don't feel optimistic about getting very many more.
There are so many I wish I bought now. But Im in Australia and they aren't cheap. So I try to only buy dolls I really love.
I wish I got Jewel, Meena, Lila and Sheryl now. And I need to get Lily before she gets more expensive.
as a kid i love monster high/eah, etc but didnt have that much money to get them. now as a 17 y/o with a part-time job, in summer 2023 i found your channel and discovered rainbow high, but wasnt interested in buying any dolls. then i saw michelle in person, just had to get her. fast forward now i have 8 rainbow high dolls (that i keep on display, sorry cheer sunny/jade) and a few mh g3 & OMGs. im so so frustrated because as an international collector & being late to the bulk of releases (sabrina, carmen, etc) i know i'll probably not be able to get dolls as beautiful and as high quality as past releases again or in the future...
It's so fascinating to watch you discuss American pricing at an Australian who was a completionist collector (dropping off around SH2 and RH5). The rockstars line (Lyric, Vanessa, Carmen) were released on sale exclusively at Big W for 49AUD, rrp 59AUD, whilst you mentioned the American pricing was 50USD (approx. 76 AUD). Which was an absolute steal at the time because the standard doll price for the main series' was 49AUD and the quality was significantly higher and more detailed than standard RH releases. I became super skeptical (yet still completionist) around PCH because their rrp was 59AUD (approx. 38USD) and 32USD (as you mentioned) and only came with one outfit, and the leg mechanic. It was fascinating to watch the rising prices in America - especially for PCH - as it introduced the possibility of RH moving towards it's one outfit and raised price trend. Caveat: I did these conversions on Google with current conversion rates, the accuracy is questionable, yet being a collector and part of the fandom meant that there was often comparisons/price conversions occurring within Aussie collector spaces.
I got Carmen at Myer for $60 on sale. She was $79 full price. But that was when Myer got stock late last year. I wasn't collecting them when Rock Stars originally released at Big W, etc
RH was always ridiculously expensive in my country, like, every doll was around the 80 dollar mark or higher. Fashion dolls in general tend to be expensive thanks to import tax but RH was ridiculous. You can get a Barbie for like 20-50 bucks, as well as the Disney dolls andddddd that’s actually kinda it for fashion dolls here after Bratz left, but still. The contrast is massive so I doubt a single child in my country owns one, they’re just so ridiculously expensive.
Where?
I remember working at Target when Rainbow High first came out in 2020 and i was in love with them. idk why i didn’t get any of series 1 or 2, but i got Daphne Minton from series 3 because my name is Daphne and now I also have Coco Vanderbalt, Delilah Fields, Victoria Whitman, and Olivia Woods. it genuinely makes me so sad that Rainbow High decided to shift towards a younger demographic. i’m gonna miss collecting them 😭
I also can't help notice how in the new lines all the dolls have these transparent plastic or plastic metallic shine clothing pieces which look cheap. If we are using plastic I want a nice polyester or faux leather. I find these obviously plastic pieces of clothing to be the most discouraging part of the reboot actually.
Sheryl was actually the very first Rainbow High doll I ever bought. But to be fair, I only own two. The other being Shanelle Onyx from Shadow High. I do hope to buy one of the fantastic fashions runway dolls before the old RH is completely replaced by the slime surprise gimmick dolls.
I wish that they did this rebrand with jr high. It makes a lot more sense to keep their audiences seperate in these already distinct lines. Also, I believe that in the UK there is a budget release of Georgia Bloom and a few other characters, with less articulation and only one outfit.
I really love the quality that came out with these dolls. But I feel like MGA has his bad habit of making too many too fast. Also making spin-offs like junior's. They could've just kept to shadow high and rainbow high and that would've been perfect.
i started collecting dolls again around when rh series 1 dropped, and have been closely following the line ever since. i LOVE colorful and fun dolls that bring a lot to the table, and rh described that perfectly for a good portion of it's run up until recently. was extremely hype about shadow high, and while i fully understand and respect the complaints about it basically turning into rh but fantasy skintones, i still really enjoyed most of the more colorful releases from them, *because* of the fantasy skintones. when i realized sh was most likely dying in some way, i rushed to buy my favorites from the final release. i'm still waiting on scarlett rose to arrive, and i'm tempted buy lavender lynn though i think i'll pass on her (no matter the appeal of a doll sized camera). seeing them make what felt like a sudden switch flip back to being slime toys for young kids was absolutely a disappointing shock. all my friends and my siblings know the new violet willow as "the one with the fugly sequins." i have hope they'll eventually continue to release the quality and style of doll we expect from them, but i'll likely not be buying any of the new slime surprise pet dolls, or whatever the buzzwords are.
A 40 minute Darling Dollz video as soon as I get home from Uni? Yes please👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You forgot that they actually did make a budget budget line of the wave 3 girls
I was very excited about the rainbow surprise dolls back in the day. I actually have mine still. I was also extremely excited to see them turn into actual fashion dolls, so it's sad to just see them die off now
Shadow high is such a beautiful doll line. I love the fantasy skin colors & the tones & darkness!
I love Scarlett and Rosie. They're so cute and their accessories are very nice.
The problem with scarlett is the hideous pants and the problem with rosie is the fact they went for a makeup artist vibe with the accessories. It doesn't fit in with the doll. She's gorgeous, but the accessories went in a ziplock bag in my closet.
oh, series 4 was definitely the peak. SO mad i wasn't able to get my hands on a Delilah(and now its just resellers online for more and more money), but the whole set was really well designed, AND came with the second outfit...
Delilah? That was the series 4 doll I wanted to buy! She's very pretty.
First, "Paige Pinkley" is sitting right there I feel the namer is intentionally taunting us.
Second, it's so bizarre with how MANY dolls there have been in just three years. Mostly, because I unpacked basically every line to SH:G2!! And yes, it was intense, corp had us shelving 3-4 different dolls in the same shelf space. I remember distinctly giving up in frustration trying to squeeze the cheerleaders in; between all the other alts. I also totally saw the sleepover set at my T-rg-t lol I didn't know it was exclusive!
But RH was my entry back into collecting contemporary dolls. I was eyeing for cheap dolls to mod and these caught my eye because of the joints!! They were the first time I saw a jointed fashion doll outside of Yoga Barbie; I'm a BJD nerd so $30/doll with that many joints seemed fair; but too expensive to mod. The second outfits and accessories were frequently shoplifted, too. I slept on SH even though I liked every single one, top tier, A level. I think I have almost all of G2 Shadow. I like the Jr High dolls, too, so there. But G1 RH at launch was like such a revolution of dolls+fashion it only gets more disappointing looking at the latest ones. The relaunch feels so drably 2015~17 "Teen Doll". Maybe they'll price more reasonably for modding.
dolls are so cheap in the US 😭 even accounting for the $ exchange they’re so much more expensive here
In my country they're so expensive! I just check them in stores LOL
Peak Rainbow High imo was series 3 and 4 and the first series of Shadow High. I was one of the few people who really liked Pacific Coast, but I can understand why they didn’t take off
Going to miss SH so much if it goes away. SH S1 and S2 are so perfect w their edgy style and real brand references. Also think it was so ambitious to make all greyscale dolls like we will not get such a vision again from any brand. Feel grateful we even got them at all. The sophistication and quality rly dropped off at SH S3. But MGA quality during its peak was just on a whole other level I actually rly respect them for releasing such out of this world lines for so many releases even if it’s become unsustainable. It got me back into collecting after a long hiatus bc I could tell these lines were so special and this was, as you mentioned in a past video, a “doll renaissance” we were having.
I am intensely disappointed with the RH Rebrand. Shadow High is a comfort doll line for me, with the Storm Twins being personal comfort characters for me. I am not normally a completionist, but I did feel inspired to complete my SH collection and to make a custom doll car of the Storm Twins' Jeep. I literally own a complete SH collection with 40 dolls, including 5 sets of Storm Twins, and 22 RH dolls. SH and RH are very special to me, and I intensely love them. While I do understand the logic behind the Rebrand, it does hurt to watch, and it's definitely depressing to see it happen to my favorite doll line like that.🖤💜
You missed Ainsley that came out the same time as the storm twins and series 4
Absolutely loved this video. The prices and quality fluctuated so much. These last 2 releases are sooo disappointing and sad. I really hope we see more of the different body types
i ended up joining in on rainbow high, and doll collecting as a whole, right as it had truly started to peak. my friend is a massive doll collector, shes in college rn for visual art and one of her dreams is to become a fashion doll designer, and it was seeing his collection of dolls that inspired me to try. my first doll was luna, i liked her one piece and thought she had a sorta spacey look to her, and i ended up loving her. i very quickly began collecting more n more, n now the shelf next to my room and covered mostly in rainbow high, with some spots here n there for monster high, lol omg, and various other figures n dolls i have. i joined at a very exciting time, i remember my friend telling me it was seeing pacific coast and shadow high that spurred him into collecting them, she even texted others about it he was so excited to see fashion dolls of this caliber on the market
seeing rainbow highs decline has been.... unfortunate. like you said, this rebrand seems incredibly last minute, they wouldnt put so much money into everything they have just last year only to go back to slime dolls. while i think the faces look amazing for most sans the glitter (the only one i dislike in any way is jades, and thats just because she looks way too soft for a character who was initially inspired by billie eilish and is a makeup major whos said to like experimenting), the sudden drop in articulation, the peddleback on the dolls theme, the whole ass removal of an entire character (poppy ill never forget you my autistic queen)... its strange. they still have parts that maintain their previous quality, lord knows ive already seen people replace their original core dolls heads with the budget dolls because of how pretty they are, but in the same breath take away very basic things
overall, it seems like mga bit off more than they could chew in a short period of time with rainbow high, and began taking costumer exhaustion with constant releases as something to change over. that, mixed with the sudden turn to market to a much younger audience than i think even their original series one dolls did. my predictions for the line moving forward is that these new dolls are gonna massively underperform compared to previous releases, both due to collectors being largely uninterested and because the slime gimmick isnt even 'in' with the kids anymore, and one of two things will happen- either they essentially undo the soft reboot and start releasing new dolls again, likely starting with those shadow high girlies we saw in the webisodes, or the brand dies out altogether if they refuse to undo the rebrand. i really, really hope for the former, i do really love this doll line and how its opened me up to a hobby i never indulged in before, but i worry about mga being stubborn, especially when we can see some of these changes bleed into things like the new omg tweens now having no wrist articulation. i love stuff that takes risks, thats what made that era of rainbow high with shadow high so successful, thats how monster high found its niche and its why novi stars are so sought after today when they were previously shoved off. if they can take a step back and let themselves return to being wholly into the creative flow of things with more time between releases, i think rainbow high can sustain itself for longer. right now, that starts with putting the damn slime away and getting that damn tinsel outta sunnys hair for the love of god NO ONE WANTS TO STYLE THAT MGA
(also gonna add real quick just as a note, i use she/her and he/him pronouns for my friend because he goes by both! the flip flopping around isnt me randomly misgendering her or anything, sorry if it reads like that ekfbeknfsk hes just a bimbo guyfail who loves washing her dollies hair in the bathtub like a plastic woman cauldron)
i am mainly a monster high girlie, but i do own one rainbow high, well, shadow high doll, zooey. i love her space theme and i do really appreciate her quality, but she is the only one i have right now bc i often cannot justify the price of those dolls. i simply admire the girlies from afar.
Zooey was my first SH dolls and got me into collecting them. I thought I was going to just have Zooey but I got sucked in, she is iconic🙃
I just Love the way you do doll reviews!!
Love the video (and what I think is a Serial Experiments Lain reference)! Just wanted to clear up a couple misconceptions though:
1. Blu is not on a shorter body, she’s the same height as all the other RH dolls, just curvier. Pinkly is curvy as well, but is also a half inch taller.
2. The Swim and Style dolls are not the first budget line for Rainbow High; the Series 3 girls all got in-store exclusive unarticulated budget doll releases. These new budget dolls are the first “named” or “official” budget like for RH though, so you weren’t far off
These releases all came too fast. I couldn't afford to buy all of them in such a small space of time. Im regretting not getting some of the past dolls now, like Jewel, Sheryl, Meena and Lila.
But I haven't even got all the ones I really love yet. Like Sunny Luna twin pack, CB Lola, CB Eliza, Lily and the SH3 dolls. Most of those are really expensive which is why I haven't been able to get them yet even though they've been on my wish list for ages.
I always loved dolls, always. They've always been my jam [excluding when i was a teen, because i thought dolls were for babies], and i loved so much about them!! When i started working, it was around the time Monster High G3 was coming out, and I was so happy i could actually BUY these dolls because, as a kid.. you can really only ask for them on birthdays or Christmas. But then my hyperfixation came in, and I found Rainbow High..... Wow. At first i thought they were over the top, like there was so much to learn and see that it overwhelmed me. I was pretty late in the game and I was nervous! I started off just collecting the ones that were "pretty" and had no intention of collecting the whole thing. Like that would be ridiculous, right? WRONG. After about a year of collecting, i am so obsessed, and loooove putting my dolls in color specific areas to make beautiful displays.. i just love how colorful they are!!! I do hate the new release, tho, but i feel like it just isn't meant for adult collectors. And that's totally fine! But they just aren't my thing...... Sorry for the rant, i just really like dolls too
There was a 5 point articulation budget line earlier in the line, rose/ice-blue/Cheryl with simplified versions of their signature outfits iirc but I only ever saw them at budget stores way later and rarely
I only started doll collecting towards the end of 2022 and I am so sad to have missed some of these earlier releases 😭
shadow high series 2 was perfection! sad to see the fashion go!
Yass I absolutely love when you break your video's down like this you explained everything so well and professionally but your personality is shining and just glowing Rainbow High is my favorite im excited for whatever Rainbow we get longs as its good quality I really love them for customs.
RH really got me back into the doll scene after a long long "your too old for dolls" break thanks to my ex step mother, their outfits and aesthetics really caught my eye and it was like seeing Monster High and Ever After High again for the first time. I wished I got more of the 2nd and 3rd series of dolls because I do own Mila but they all caught my eye in various ways and I still want some of the Pacific Coast dolls! I have 4 dolls atm (Mila, Sheryl, Olivia and Michelle) but I hope I can get the dolls I want that are still available on the shelves here before G2 comes in at full force. Something about them rekindled my love for fashion dolls I grew up with like Bratz, G1 Monster High, Ever After High, Project MC2, etc and I dont know that spark can happen again (not including g3 Monster High and the new Bratz dolls)
I remember being so excited for the rainbow high dolls. Unfortunately I only ever bought OG sunny. Her head didn’t pivot and I was so disappointed with her hair quality.
I still love the looks of most I’ve them (not so much the crystal pets) but I dont own any of the others
i’ve been so out the know of any newer doll lines (anything outside of barbie, bratz, monster high etc) but i’m so invested in this channel
what's with all the "twins" theming. can't they just be a siblings two pack without twins being treated as a gimmick? 🙄
i get where you’re coming from but i think it’s because kids just really like twins yk?
Thank you for a very comprehensive history. Looking forward to the next video!
This is the first time im learning the cheer line was supposed to be budget though im from canada so those dolls were almost $50 CAD purchase after tax
As a crafter I love the molds of Rainbow High dolls but never could justify the price just so I could customize one. Hopefully I'll see them on clearance soon?
Rainbow High got me back into collecting dolls in the summer of 2021. I hadn’t been in the doll aisle at target in years and I was curious what kids were playing with these days so I took a quick look and saw the series one and two dolls and was intrigued by the color theme and their big anime-esque eyes. After going home and doing a little research I decided to get series 2 Bella for myself and I became an avid collector not long after.
I don’t hate the soft reboot slime dolls, I think Sunny in particular looks very pretty, but if they keep going in this direction I’ll probably stop collecting…which honestly would be good for me because MGA has already taken so much of my money. 😮💨
Seeing a shadow high doll irl got me back into collecting. I was absolutely amazed and I knew I had to have it.
This new look of RH breaks my heart :c
I saw a review for winter break Poppy and fell in love with her! I can vividly remember seeing that review, now I have every Poppy and I am happy to have all the Poppy’s.
love your top!! the rainbow collar is adorable
Loved the video. Shanelle Onyx got me into RH dolls. The really important thing I need to know is where did you get that shirt or what brand is it?
I don’t own any dolls but for some reason i looooove your videos. They’re so well done, straight forward and comprehensive and your voice is so soothing.
I got my first Rainbow High doll this past weekend bc my birthday is this week and i wasnt planning on it (i was looking for the new Venus McFlytrap hehe) but I found Victoria Whitman in my local target and just. The freckles? The hair? I had never been into Rainbow High because i'd only seen the photos of them online and ive never seen a doll line done so dirty by their marketing photos. These dolls are so beautiful its insane. I'm planning on getting another this week just because im so enamored with the line now, and im sad that theyve changed gears to the gimmick thing again.
Hello! I’ve never left a comment on a YT video before but I love your channel and want to get involved. I cannot speak from any insider knowledge however where you mentioned Avery and Amaya’s first dolls not doing well given they didn’t do anymore ‘gimmick’ lines - I live in the U.K. and since 2020 when they were released, I can still purchase both Avery and Amaya in one of our leading toy stores, Smyths Toys. This is not because they haven’t sold, it’s because they were and still are very popular here. I know you are in the US and they might not be as easily available for you but here, they have stayed for sale from RH S1 to present! Maybe some other U.K. fans can chime into this as well but I would suggest that Amaya and Avery actually sell better here in the U.K. than any other RH or SH doll! Anyway, loved this video! Looking forward to part 2 ❤
I've been collecting toys 🧸 since 1998.. and Rainbow/shadow high re-charged by hobbyist spirit. I really hope it thrives.. they are very detailed and gorgeous ❤. Take care
I’m so sad we’ll probably never get Shadow High New Friends. The cartoon was clearly setting up the three SH models as the counterparts to Lilac, Blu and Pinkly, and they looked like they would use the new body molds too. Beautiful designs, such a waste that we’ll probably never see them.
Rainbow High got me into collecting dolls 2 years ago. I was going through a rough time mentally as I always do in winter. My mom got me Gabriella Icy for Christmas to cheer me up. I was surprised because she was very much of the stance that an at the time 16 year old was too old for dolls. Now I got quite a collection of 16 dolls and I often go with mom to toy stores to look through what they got.
Thanks for this video - really enjoyed your look through this doll line I’ve loved collecting since it’s beginning.
I never liked dolls before, not even growing up, i despised them for being so girly and feminine which was something i really had trouble with. But the shadow high series one caught my attention one day walking around through the toy isle near children's day, it was precisely because they were all grey/monochrome that they stood out among the others. And they were so pretty, so well made, so unique and something like i've never seen before that they made me see what was so appealing about having dolls. I suddenly wanted one so much that it became my obsession. They just hit the sweet spot. Not too pink like Barbie, not with such a particular type of culture like Bratz, fantastical but not Novii Stars levels of extravagant, not too anime. Idk, they are just well. I don't like all of the dolls and i'm not interested on the slimes and things like that but i'm just curious to where will it go now. Of course one thing i wish it was better is the price. outside of the US the standard price is around $57... so yeah, I understand that is because of the shipping taxes but my god... I'm leaving my kidneys there.
I'm not thrilled with the rebrand but I get it. The adult collector market is really such a small part of the pie and the child market is a more reliable sector. I really appreciate the product they have us. The quality at the original price point was such a treat. RH reignited my love for collecting so it's sad to see the end of an era.
Actually there was a release of budget unarticulated series 3 dolls prior to the swim & style dolls!
2022, despite the releases being a little overwhelming, was just peak rainbow high to me, the rainbow vision dolls and series 4 were just unparalleled
thank you for making such a detailed and comprehensive video on the history of these dolls! it's really wild to hear and see some of these things because these dolls were always priced pretty high (I think they started at about 35€ with the first line and the budget cheerleader line was at about 25€) and there are a lot of lines that I've seen or heard of for the very first time in this video (arguably I don't keep up with the dolls, I only see them in toy stores and I guess eastern Europe just doesn't carry more than the signature lines). the change and jumps in price are especially strange to me since they've always been at a pretty fixed price point in here and wow, there are so many lines that never made it to local toy stores, which is honestly disappointing. I recently talked to an American friend of mine about the new Shadow High releases and they were surprised that I was so excited to see new face molds
R.i.p OG Rh
It will be missed 😔💔
have watched this multiple times before and am only now picking up on that lain reference
There were also chapter books based on the web series that came out at a simular time to the fantastic fashions doll release--wonder if that had anything to do with the throwback
Was staring at the back right shelf for like ten minutes trying to figure out why that trio of dolls in the middle shelf looks so familiar - then it hit me!! Powerpuff Girl Z dolls!!!!! I've never met another western fan!!! 🎉💖🙏
Looking back I regret not getting Delilah. I got most of the ones I wanted. But the dolls coming and going so fast caused me to miss out on some I was on the fence about.
I remember seeing the prototype dolls and being so unimpressed with them (I remember some of their heads not being put all the way down on their bodies in the photos that were first leaked).
Fast forward to their actual release to store shelves, I thought I was maaaaaybe only going to get Sunny (as I thought they were a bit too steep for me; I didn’t collect any OMG dolls at the time for the same reason - I had mainly been a Monster High collector and those had ran about 15-20 bucks each for most single dolls).
I saw happened to see Skyler, Sunny, and Violet all on the shelf and I spent 30 MINUTES trying to decide WHICH ONE I wanted -I hastily put back some Barbie Fashion Packs and Fashionistas I had set in my cart.
I purchased Sunny, then went back the next day for the other two (thank you payday).
I finally got Ruby when I she got to our local Walmart, and it took a LOT of searching in neighboring towns to find Poppy.
Then I thought I was all good and didn’t need anymore….
Then I saw Bella…and Bella HAD to have her girlfriend Jade (who took FOREVER to find -she was even sold out online as Wave 2 had already hit store shelves).
And I was hooked!
I didn’t buy the Cheer Line, nor the two overpriced Christmas and Day of the Dead releases (maybe if I find them for cheaper prices), but otherwise I ended up buying 99% of the releases.
I have miss out on the Fashion Runway Line so far (I have been waiting on sales because collecting them IS VERY expensive). Hopefully I’ll finish my RH/SH line out with the Runway Line, the three different body types, and the three color and create dolls….maybe the fashion packs too.
Otherwise I think I’m done with line and will work on finishing up some older doll lines I’ve been wanting.
I didn’t buy a Rainbow High doll until Shadow High came out. I still have very few RH. I literally squealed in the Target aisle when I saw Karla Choupette. I got the name AND styling references instantly. I realize now, it was so meaningful to an adult collector like me, with one eye on IRL fashion and one eye on the toy section. Immediately bought an opened one off Mercari to play with. I’ve bought most of the SH dolls since.
(I purchased most opened online because I HATE unboxing dolls these days. The hair gel is bad but the waste of packaging just makes me ill. And I always end up injuring myself on the sharp plastic edges.)
Rosie Rosewood, though, has become one of my favorite dolls since her release. Her coloring is stunning and her coat is to die for. (I literally want my own!) Her name doesn’t bother me because she seems to be Snow White/Rose Red/ Evil Queen inspired. Rosie Thornton is her new name for me.
While I will check new releases out of curiosity, I’ll just continue to curate my collection from the used one on eBay and mercari.
i love Shadow High too. Im so sad its cancelled
I totally understand the unboxing nightmare! I prefer to buy my dolls second hand already unboxed too. I thrif a lot too. I enjoy thifting massively.
I adore SH. They are amazing. I don't think we will see dolls like this very often in the future.
@@darklight4251 I'm afraid you're right. 😭
I don't know why I love your videos so much when I'm not even a doll collector, but I do!
The right price for Rainbow High dolls:
- Rainbow High Series 1 - $25
- Rainbow High Cheer - $18
- Rainbow High Series 2 - $25
- Rainbow High Series 3 - $28
- Rainbow High Pacific Coast - $35
- Rainbow High Slumber Party - $35
- Rainbow High Rockstars - $35
- Rainbow High Junior High Series 1 and 2 - $18
- Shadow High Series 1 and 2 - $25
- Rainbow High Series 4 - $28
- Kia Heart - $35
- Lily Cheng - $75
- Jett Dawson - $45
- Maria Garcia - $75
- Roxie Bland - $50
- Paris Hilton - $75
- Rainbow Vision (Rainbow Divas, Neon Shadow, etc) - $40
- Shadow High Series 3 - $22
- Rainbow High Series 5 - $25
- The New Slime Dolls - $1 LMAO
- The Runway Fashion Dolls - $35
- Color and Create - $20
- New Friends Dolls - $25
- Series 3 Basic Dolls and Basic Swim Dolls - $15
- Junior High Slumber Party - $20
i have ONE singular rainbow high doll (cheryl) and at some point i was interested in getting more but at some point it just felt like it wasn't worth it
I remember seeing series one in store a long time ago and I didnt really like them, but i was super impressed with how pretty and detailed they were as someone who grew up with monster high. I really like sunny and jade from series one but other than that I still don’t love it, but in 2022 I saw how far they came and they won me over! I ended up getting Lila and harley and I love them both so much, I still have hope for them as a brand and I don’t hate the new dolls even if they are obviously less quality:’)
Great recap of the history of Rainbow HIgh. I jumped in with the fashion gowns and have bought a few others I found of sale. I'm not hating the new line (slime) but am missing Poppy.
I miss Poppy, she's lovely.
Another sign of them trying to target a younger audience to note, starting with Junior High series 3 and the Sunny Luna 2 pack, the packaging for the dolls says 4+ instead of 6+. And the rebranded dolls make it very clear they're 4+. Even with the monster high G2 reboot, the packaging still said 6+ like G1 dolls
I don’t collect dolls myself but I remember seeing the monochrome Shadow High dolls in the toy aisle and finding them so striking and cool
I forgot how intense the 2022 release schedule was lol. I think MGA was trying to get as much new product on shelves before the Monster High relaunch started taking up space
I love Rainbow high for it's ability to change according to customer's wants. I don't collect dolls per se, but this was certainly the line that got me interested in them beyond just being a peripheral "this might be interesting" thing, and they were the first dolls I bought as a teenager/young adult. I will say however that they've always lacked an overarching identity. Because of that, I don't know that they were ever able to create effective spin offs.
I can't really say what makes rainbow high and shadow high different from one another for example. Their color palettes are different at least for a short amount of time sure, but they don't have any real defining features outside of that. Any shadow high doll could have just as easily been a rainbow high doll and vice versa. Also some of the fantasy skin tones were just horrendous.
I liked the quality of the dolls, and a good few of the designs. Seeing them rebrand makes me sad, but a fresh start could help them come into their own a bit more. At least I hope that it does anyway.
I‘m more of the Shadow High Type, like Fantasy/ Goth ~ish/ Alt. Fashion? I‘m in.
I came late to the party so I think all of the „old standard“ releases were out and I had the full range to choose. I‘m the kind of collector who loves to find new doll lines and to pick the ones from them that speak to me in a way. But yeah, they‘re already more than I thought haha
I remember when I got my first Shadow High Dolls (The Storm Twins) how stunned I was by the Quality and all the beautiful details when I got them out of their box. The only Rainbow High I own is Violet Willow Costume Ball and maybe it’s a coincidence but I was in fact less impressed than from Shadow High, still I just love the outfit and overall style. My favourites so far are the Shadow High Costume Ball Dolls and Veronica. I still need Lola and might get some of the Shadow High Basic Line . The ones I have in mind are Diamante, Zooey, Karla, Natasha and shanelle. But at the moment here in switzerland the available ones are mostly highly priced and the shipping from US is just something. So it’s more of a maybe list, besides Lola, I need her.
And I‘m actually looking forward to the moonbows and hope they‘ll do the gimmik a little better than Novi Stars back then.
Oh and today my Eliza arrived and she’s standing besides me and I‘m dying a little about how beautiful she is in person.
I’ll be sticking with my season one girlies!
I never even liked rainbow high besides a couple dolls, but I’m grieving with you all somehow.
Yaaas This. Im behind trying to catch up. Such an excellent video...💓
Maria Garcia and Lila Yamamoto had so many issues related to the cultures they were representing
Honestly I’m truly worried about the future of MGA as far as their fashion dolls go. I love collecting RH and OMG- they get a lot of criticism from the concerned mom crowd but as an adult collector I’m not really worried that my dolls are “too sexy”. There’s a lot of talk about RH rebranding and OMG possibly not going forward and it makes me super sad. I LOVE the face sculpts on these lines with their giant eyes, caricatured features and intricate fashions, and I’ll be sad to see them stop releasing or remove my favorite aspects. Hopefully it’s speculation on the OMG front but the writing is on the wall I think. When I ordered some older collectors dolls directly from MGA recently (Jukebox BB and NYE Queen) they both came with box damage. Box damage from the MANUFACTURER?! Not really a sign of a company who is overly concerned about what collectors think about their line in the future.
Lucky for me I’m not an in box collector so it made me feel better about opening them up. 😂
Anyway thanks as always for the great video!!! Love the shirt collar!!!
I have some of the collector dolls, and literally tbe only reason i have them is because i got them pretty discounted- i wouldve never bought them if they were their original prices
Very fun video. I started through the roller coaster when they were on top. I didn't think I'd ever collect these dolls, till I saw series 3, & SH. And same story for many other new collectors. But wow, I fell in love & hard. I still have 3 dolls coming that I've wanted. There's a couple hard to find grails I'll keep my eye out for, but otherwise I think I've got what I want. 36 dolls from a line I didn't think I'd collect. 😅
"I'm gonna save this for the next video" Well, girl
Another excellent video! The timeline an price breakdown are great to see; I sure was lost among all of the releases and price changes. My thoughts on Rainbow High would be as long as your video (longer perhaps, but I am sure you cut out a lot in favor of continuity and watchability). These dolls are soooo high quality and so are their fashions, am still in awe; MGA regularly blows Mattel out of the water in this are. The prices are WHACK! I certainly bought what dolls I could on discount. From my perspective. I cannot comprehend that this excellent line of dolls came out during a global pandemic - did it do better because older kids and collectors were having limited interaction in meat space? could be. I worked from home the whole time of it's release, so my grasp on time is weak (lol-sob), but it sure seemed like every time I turned my head, a new release was happening, and often a large one. There was no way my budget or display space could keep up. At least with the rebranding, I am having a chance to get the previous releases i had to pass on.
Im devastated they would rebrand. They used to be sooo cool. I never got one but always wanted them so bad
I actually started looking into these dolls thanks to your videos and got Natasha and Shanelle on SALE for only 12 dollars each at Walmart which is insane now looking back. I SHOULD have gotten Dahlia but missed her but to get back into the subject, living in Indianapolis one of the Walmarts had a massive wall of these but not in the toy aisle and not in the clearance aisle either but for some reason in the STATIONARY aisle which is where they were being sold for the lower prices and that always was odd to me. Right now, maybe it just the people at the store but at the Target I frequent the Rainbow High dolls are kept in TERRIBLE condition. The shelves are disorganized, half empty and at worst a lot of the bubble packaging has been cracked in places or sometime even pried open. I know this is more on the store than MGA but it's really sad that this is allowed to happen and it DOES play into a factor if a kid would want to play with the doll or someone would want to collect because NEITHER would approach if the dolls are so beat up looking.
And as for the dolls themselves, yeah it started getting weird that Shadow High was getting more colorful than Rainbow High considering I thought the whole point of Shadow High was to contrast of the bright *RAINBOWS* of...Rainbow High and give us more of the black, grey and white gradient looks but then they started bringing out more, to use a term, macaroon colors (essentially pastel) and it lost it's SHADOW aspect. And I don't mind the imaginary skin tones because for Shadow High they actually made it look fire as hell but you want to know why that worked? Because they stuck to black, white and grey as their limited palette choices and it felt like that was actually a real test for them to see what they could make with just those three basic colors and guess what? It worked. The Twins having the oil-slick look to them with the DARKER rainbow worked to help them stand out but they were still black and white at their base and the oil-slick colors worked in terms of being the only 'rainbow' colors given how dark and punk rock it looked. But then we have a doll with mint green skin...even though we already have a RH student who IS mint themed and does it better because of her design being the pastel green hair on the rosy pink skin and freckles. It's cute.....but that doll with the cherry blossom jacket? I WANT THAT JACKET. That jacket is freakin' FIRE and THAT'S why I liked about the clothes; when they get experimental, unique and aren't just aping the same luxury brands BECAUSE they're luxury.
I sort of feel the problems isn't just the price tag or not giving enough extra items. I do think your comment on how they *MAY* be competing with Monster High has credience which is sort of sad because RH doesn't need to 'compete' with MH the way they're trying. I...actually don't like the MH reboot. It's way too 'soft' and took away a lot of the darker but fun edge to it that lent it's way to it's theme. One big advantage RH had over MH was that outside the color/art school theme, they could be as experimental as they wanted with fashions while still keeping the girls relatively human looking. Shadow High was the biggest jump but in terms of the 'regular' dolls, RH could do and be anything and looking into it now, I don't think they're really appreciating that. I also didn't like the non-art school dolls and felt a lot of them were sort of superfluous and came off as just existing to grab those extra sales and to follow trends that came off as kind of annoying. Rainbow and Shadow High make sense because they're both rival art schools but what exactly IS Pacific High? It was just a beach set that could have easily been filled in with a 'summer' theme without making up an entirely different random school and the same goes for the KPop characters. They exist because right now Kpop is popular, not so much because it lends itself to the theme of the Rainbow High series at all and even if they wanted to do a Kpop theme, they could have done a lot better to incorporate HOW their colors work first, especially when you look and realize that there are Kpop and Jpop bands that DO have set themes to them to make them stand out but for RH they felt so random and non-essential to the series as a whole other than to remind us that in the year of 202-something, everyone was crazy for Kpop.
And this will be the last gripe but I have to let it out....the boy designs for RH....kinda suck. This is where I give the OMG line a lot of praise because even if the boy dolls are limited (for sale reasons) each one is so UNIQUELY different like the girl dolls yet Rainbow High boy dolls ARE just the same molds over and over and over again. This is especially noticable in the show where they only have one male render but the same one is recolored for EACH male character and it's the same in physical form. The girls also usually share the same molds but their hair styles, eyes, brows and even face shapes have so much diversity in them that you can see something and someone different even if it's the same assets used over and over. Like right now, the only boy dolls I like are Rexx and Oliver because they at least feel a lot more unique to their designs and Oliver is finally a boy doll that doesn't have that short side cut with Rexx' textured hair being so cool in how it's applied. The series is Rainbow High but even with the boys they do have, they dress them in the lamest looking colors and give nearly give them the same boring hair (not including Rexx and Oliver as mentioned).
And I was WONDRING why I saw the season 1 runway outfits JUST LAST WEEK at Walmart! They ONLY NOW just got to releasing them? I thought they released back when that 'arc' happened and I just missed it because WOW. That was some massive de ja vu for me in the store and I was wondering if they had just been there for years. Jade's outfit is best though. But yeah, the new line is....kinda lame. I know first and foremost these dolls ARE for kids and they are and often SHOULD BE the first demo you think of. Collectors as a whole SHOULD be a secondary market because over thinking and depending on them can lead to a shelf flood of dolls that only a niche audience buys and no child actually wants which is where the 'collector market' often fails itself with. Regardless of that, the new line of dolls feel way too simple and are going for pastel colors rather than allowing for darker, bolder colors which the original dolls DID have. They weren't just pink pink pink pastel pink but you had darker shades that weren't even from Shadow High and experimenting with lighter tones without making everything macaroon pastel colors which was one of the things I hated about the MH reboot.
AND WHERE IS POPPY? Boi, don't tell me they're rebranding and they don't even have the basic colors there. The fu-?
I started collecting in 2022 and have over 60 Rainbow High dolls now. They just take up so much space when I also collect lots of Monster High, Ever After High, and various other doll lines. I am one of the few collectors who likes the Junior High dolls, though.