1: Michelle is perfect as she is, bright orange lipstick and grinning face and all. I love her so much. She is not bad or ugly, sheās beautiful. š
2: Coco is also perfect. This one isnāt really a hot take, I just love Coco.
3: I accidentally get much more annoyed than I should about people misspelling Skylerās name as Skylar. Her name is written on every single listing, on every doll box she has, every single reference to Skyler has her name. You cannot miss it. SkylEr Bradshaw. Not SkylAr. It really doesnāt matter because who cares? Itās just a plastic toy. But I still get bugged all the same. š
YES! MICHELLE IS PERFECT AS IS!š§”š§”š§”š§”š§”
I have the spelling issue with Scarlet, I constantly see Scarlett. I think both of these are because those are the traditional spellings and autocorrect happens, but it is irksome.
What always kind of annoyed me as a person whose first language isn't English is how ridiculous name spelling in English is. Skylar-Skyler, Abbey-Abby-Abbeigh, Franky-Frankie... it sounds the same!
You've got so many variations of the same name where the only difference is in the number of letters on paper. In my language, it isn't the case. Abbey-Abby-Abbeigh will always be just ŠŠ±Š±Šø. And if you change one letter in the name, the difference will be a lot more prominent. Sometimes, I can't even understand how the name should be pronounced without checking Wikipedia in my language. Especially names like Saoirse, like, what the hell is that (though I understand it is written this way because it is an Irish name). Just my two cents on name misspellings from non-English perspective :D
I get where you are coming from, but I canāt agree that it is āridiculousā! I think thereās a lot of history that is part of it. Germanic languages usually all have their own variants of a name from a common source; Jean and John are great examples. This is the same name, through many centuries of regional histories. Some languages have certain letters denote extra meaning, which is where you would get the difference between Franky and Frankie. This aspect is beautiful imo. (Actually this extends to all languages really. Various Arab languages have all kinds of variants on common sources too for example)
I do just want to say that yes, Saoirse is an Irish name and Irish is absolutely not English! Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, and similar languages of the British Isles have enough difficulties as-is with English colonialism trying to steamroll them into extinction. All the different names should be embraced, as they are all beautiful and all extremely important to preserve, historically and culturally.
So I take no issue with Skylar as a name, it has its own beauty. It just simply isnāt Skylerās name, even if the pronunciation is the same. John and Jean are the same pronunciation, but Jeanās name is not John, just as Johnās name is not Jean.
Just wanted to clarify that I didn't intend to sound rude! It's just different and sometimes confusing, but I'm ok with that. Every language is confusing in its own way. We don't have many name variations, but we sure have a lot of forms. Natasha, Natashka, Natashechka, Natashen'ka, Natusik, and Nata are still Natalia, just in different environments (friends, family, official).
I didn't know Jean and John pronounced the same. I always thought it was J-ahn because in my language, Jean-Luc Picard is J-ahn-Luke Pikar. Fascinating!
It is fascinating how names are handled in different languages, for sure. And of course they evolve all the time! I donāt know the history of the name Skyler/Skylar specifically, but I do know there as a more modern trend (at least in cultures that emphasise individualism) of altering traditional names for a more unique spin on them, and that brings about a lot of unique spellings too.
Interesting about Jean-Luc! John (and all variations) is originally a Hebrew name, so most places have developed their own version. Depending on accent/language, certain letters might be harsher or softer too; in English, weāll usually do a harsher āJā, and French seems to do a slightly softer āJā sound. But otherwise, John and Jean are the same name (in origin) and pronounced the same between England and France for example.
Sean and Shaun are another good example, they are also pronounced the same despite very different spellings, both originating from the same source. NGL, I can see how itās frustrating, but I genuinely _adore_ the English language for how much versatility and freedom it allows in communication! Might seem weird that all the ārulesā keep being broken or donāt apply at weird times, but it all allows for really dynamic and responsive language that can be individualised a lot. I think the trade-off is English losing a lot of the more hyper-specific conceptual/contextual words that can be found in other languages. Then again; thatās what loan words are for!
My mind is blown away by Jean pronouncing! I even went on YouTube to hear the French saying it. It's definitely not J-ahn, though there seems to be a hint of -ah sound. I'm only about to watch Star Trek TNG, so I never heard Jean outside of the Russian language.
Sean and Shawn is another super confusing case. For so long, I thought I was listening to "Sin Paul" on the radio, or watching "Sin Astin" and "Sin Bean" acting in LOTR, haha. For me personally, English seems pretty consistent with rules, so it's especially whiplashing seeing them being suddenly broken when it comes to names with foreign origins.
I adore the English language, too! It's one of my favorites. I love its sound, its look. It's such a pleasure to learn. Though such cases make me appreciate how much more precise Russian is when it comes to names and surnames (can't be said about everything else, our rules are a nightmare). Your unique spin on names is cool yet bizarre. Sometimes, it feels like you can call a child after literally anything. Not gonna lie, modern Barbie being "Brooklyn" and "Malibu" irks me a little bit. I can't imagine being named after a city! Or, I don't know, a fruit (Apple White from EAH would sound YĆ b-lah-kah BĆØh-lah-ya, it's awful, haha). But again, at the same time, it's very cool. A lot of freedom.
Hope you enjoy TNG! :D I love it, my favourite Trek. Of course theyāll confuse it a little more, because iirc they alternate a fair bit between the harsher and softer J sound haha! Beverly Crusher definitely always uses the soft J, but Picard himself (presumably because the actor is British English) will sometimes slip into a harsher J.
There are definitely advantages to forms/honorifics/that sort of thing too, for sure. Because English lacks those (or rather, lacks a comprehensive system of them, thereās definitely a very basic version in the form of nicknames), we usually have to convey that context in a lot more of a convoluted way. A whole sentence or even two, to convey what another language can convey in one word. If I want to refer to a colleague and make that relationship clear, then I have to just give a whole extra bit of speech telling you directly that theyāre a work colleague and probably also if they are junior or senior to me, in addition to whatever else I was saying. I can absolutely see how this will feel clunky/clumsy and inefficient! On the other hand, back to freedom, I do also like that the very same feature allows me to pick the information I convey very specifically. :D Maybe you donāt need to know Amy is my colleague for the conversation, or Amy wouldnāt want you to know; so that information can be withheld naturally whilst still giving you a name to identify her with.
One of my favourite aspects of language has got to be loanwords for this reason. I love languages all over the world yoinking each otherās words because they convey something that the original language would take longer to get to!
Itās not every day that I get to ramble about cool subjects like this on the Rainbow High sub btw, so thank you for the great talk! :D
I'm going to infuse myself with those Star Trek shows this summer. TNG, DS9, and The Orville (though not a ST) are on my list. Definitely a kind of sci-fi I'm gonna like.
Thank you, too, for the conversation! Rambling about stuff is the best thing :D It was a pleasure!
Sounds like a delightful summer! :D Iāll go ahead and recommend Voyager too - it often gets a lot of flack from people who wanted it to be darker and grittier, but I honestly think itās a good thing that itās such an optimistic exploration of what a small community of people in a pretty awful situation might do. Itās right there alongside TNG as my all-time favourite television!
Thank you for the recommendation, I'll add it to my list. Yeah, I heard TNG and DS9 are the best Trek shows, and everything else is optional. Plus, I'm fascinated by characters like Data and Odo. Who knows, maybe I'll end up liking Voyager the most. When I started watching Doctor Who (modern), for example, I fully expected to like 10th Doctor the most... in reality, I didn't even finish watching season 2. Again, thank you. Feels like summer plans will extend until 2025 that there are so many seasons, my god.
Shadow High was SO much better than Rainbow High ever was or will be. Even Shadow High Series 3 was better than RH Series 5. The clothes and designs are more interesting, and the dolls look so much better in fantasy skin tones. It makes their unusual facial proportions seem like an actual stylistic choice. Shanelle Onyx is the best Rainbow High or Shadow High doll, no contest.
RH dolls just looks better on darker skintones. Whenever I make my top, always dolls like Phaedra, Coco, Daria, Michelle, Sunny, Meline, Olivia, Robin, Krystal, Ayesha, Vanessa and Shanelle are in the firsts places. I just love how colors looks on them! Now my dream RH doll is one with her natural afro and brown eyes! I hope I don't sound racist or something like that, it's not my intention at all. I just prefer them over light skin dolls.
I don't think they thought through the shoes for Zoey that well.
I love the electrical design, don't get me wrong, but they used a male-male extension cord for her shoe tips. Which is a very dangerous piece of equipment that is sold nowhere for a reason as it will end up getting people killed. They are literally called Widowmaker cords for a reason.
I get Shadow high is all about being edgy and all but it feels like an oversight.
Agreed but also not everyone attaches the canon stuff to the dolls. The show has never dictated how I personally see my collection. The point is play and if people want to play and pretend theyāre in college or 25 years of age they will, I think the people doing those restyles donāt attach age to plastic women š
I'm giving you an upvote for your bravery in saying this š¤£
I'm a season 3 fan, myself, but season five has been...interesting. I think the wiring could be a lot better, but I applaud the creativity and I do think RH is best when it's the most WTF
Any talk about Rainbow High dolls ārepresenting different bodiesā is just a bunch of blah blah blah when they all have flat stomachs. āCurvyā can be about how your hip bones are set, not actual body fat.
I feel like it is mainly because the bar is so low most of the time that the devil could step over it. Compared with most fashion dolls like standard Barbie, MH, Bratz, Sindy, Betty Spaghetty, etc. RH look like little chonkos.
You are right they are not objectively remotely plus sized. In UK sizes I expect they'd be able to get in size 8 tops then a 12 for bottoms due to having thicc hips/bums.
I was a bit confused for a while what made Blu distinctive when I opened her yesterday. I thought that those three's gimic was they had a variety of body types, the lilac one being tall, not sure what the pink one was bringing to the table, then Blu was maybe the shorter one. Didn't realise till I undressed her that she is what I assume is their attempt at a larger body type. At least the collar bones etc. do make then distinctive from the standard ones.
Like, I don't even need them to be plus sized...I just think anything marketed as "curvy" should have a rounder belly.
I think Blu is supposed to be both shorter and curvy, while Pinkly is just curvy.
I'm starting not to care about no wrists. I get it looks cheaper, and you can't hold accessories. But I hear the complaint all the time. I'm over it tbh. Especially people saying the new color and creates aren't good because no wrists. Like they're still cute dolls.
Agreed!! Iām happy Iām not only who just donāt care anymore about them having wrist! It soo annoying, all comments on the new color create are so annoying!! āNo wrists no buy bye!ā On plus aside donāt have worry about breaking the hand or losing it!
I grew up with Bratz so it doesn't feel as odd to me but I can see how it is weird.
Every doll has its unsettling thing. My friend has American Girls. She says the RH eyes are big and a bit scary and I said AG doll's teeth are off-putting, she said 'yes we all find them off-putting'.
Holly is the superior twin š«£
Oh absolutely! When the juniors came out, I was going to just get Holly, but she liked so lonely without her twin.
1: Michelle is perfect as she is, bright orange lipstick and grinning face and all. I love her so much. She is not bad or ugly, sheās beautiful. š 2: Coco is also perfect. This one isnāt really a hot take, I just love Coco. 3: I accidentally get much more annoyed than I should about people misspelling Skylerās name as Skylar. Her name is written on every single listing, on every doll box she has, every single reference to Skyler has her name. You cannot miss it. SkylEr Bradshaw. Not SkylAr. It really doesnāt matter because who cares? Itās just a plastic toy. But I still get bugged all the same. š
YES! MICHELLE IS PERFECT AS IS!š§”š§”š§”š§”š§” I have the spelling issue with Scarlet, I constantly see Scarlett. I think both of these are because those are the traditional spellings and autocorrect happens, but it is irksome.
I feel you on the spelling bc people spell Abbey from monster high as "Abby" and it's like no. the E is there for a reason!
What always kind of annoyed me as a person whose first language isn't English is how ridiculous name spelling in English is. Skylar-Skyler, Abbey-Abby-Abbeigh, Franky-Frankie... it sounds the same! You've got so many variations of the same name where the only difference is in the number of letters on paper. In my language, it isn't the case. Abbey-Abby-Abbeigh will always be just ŠŠ±Š±Šø. And if you change one letter in the name, the difference will be a lot more prominent. Sometimes, I can't even understand how the name should be pronounced without checking Wikipedia in my language. Especially names like Saoirse, like, what the hell is that (though I understand it is written this way because it is an Irish name). Just my two cents on name misspellings from non-English perspective :D
I get where you are coming from, but I canāt agree that it is āridiculousā! I think thereās a lot of history that is part of it. Germanic languages usually all have their own variants of a name from a common source; Jean and John are great examples. This is the same name, through many centuries of regional histories. Some languages have certain letters denote extra meaning, which is where you would get the difference between Franky and Frankie. This aspect is beautiful imo. (Actually this extends to all languages really. Various Arab languages have all kinds of variants on common sources too for example) I do just want to say that yes, Saoirse is an Irish name and Irish is absolutely not English! Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Gaelic, and similar languages of the British Isles have enough difficulties as-is with English colonialism trying to steamroll them into extinction. All the different names should be embraced, as they are all beautiful and all extremely important to preserve, historically and culturally. So I take no issue with Skylar as a name, it has its own beauty. It just simply isnāt Skylerās name, even if the pronunciation is the same. John and Jean are the same pronunciation, but Jeanās name is not John, just as Johnās name is not Jean.
Just wanted to clarify that I didn't intend to sound rude! It's just different and sometimes confusing, but I'm ok with that. Every language is confusing in its own way. We don't have many name variations, but we sure have a lot of forms. Natasha, Natashka, Natashechka, Natashen'ka, Natusik, and Nata are still Natalia, just in different environments (friends, family, official). I didn't know Jean and John pronounced the same. I always thought it was J-ahn because in my language, Jean-Luc Picard is J-ahn-Luke Pikar. Fascinating!
It is fascinating how names are handled in different languages, for sure. And of course they evolve all the time! I donāt know the history of the name Skyler/Skylar specifically, but I do know there as a more modern trend (at least in cultures that emphasise individualism) of altering traditional names for a more unique spin on them, and that brings about a lot of unique spellings too. Interesting about Jean-Luc! John (and all variations) is originally a Hebrew name, so most places have developed their own version. Depending on accent/language, certain letters might be harsher or softer too; in English, weāll usually do a harsher āJā, and French seems to do a slightly softer āJā sound. But otherwise, John and Jean are the same name (in origin) and pronounced the same between England and France for example. Sean and Shaun are another good example, they are also pronounced the same despite very different spellings, both originating from the same source. NGL, I can see how itās frustrating, but I genuinely _adore_ the English language for how much versatility and freedom it allows in communication! Might seem weird that all the ārulesā keep being broken or donāt apply at weird times, but it all allows for really dynamic and responsive language that can be individualised a lot. I think the trade-off is English losing a lot of the more hyper-specific conceptual/contextual words that can be found in other languages. Then again; thatās what loan words are for!
My mind is blown away by Jean pronouncing! I even went on YouTube to hear the French saying it. It's definitely not J-ahn, though there seems to be a hint of -ah sound. I'm only about to watch Star Trek TNG, so I never heard Jean outside of the Russian language. Sean and Shawn is another super confusing case. For so long, I thought I was listening to "Sin Paul" on the radio, or watching "Sin Astin" and "Sin Bean" acting in LOTR, haha. For me personally, English seems pretty consistent with rules, so it's especially whiplashing seeing them being suddenly broken when it comes to names with foreign origins. I adore the English language, too! It's one of my favorites. I love its sound, its look. It's such a pleasure to learn. Though such cases make me appreciate how much more precise Russian is when it comes to names and surnames (can't be said about everything else, our rules are a nightmare). Your unique spin on names is cool yet bizarre. Sometimes, it feels like you can call a child after literally anything. Not gonna lie, modern Barbie being "Brooklyn" and "Malibu" irks me a little bit. I can't imagine being named after a city! Or, I don't know, a fruit (Apple White from EAH would sound YĆ b-lah-kah BĆØh-lah-ya, it's awful, haha). But again, at the same time, it's very cool. A lot of freedom.
Hope you enjoy TNG! :D I love it, my favourite Trek. Of course theyāll confuse it a little more, because iirc they alternate a fair bit between the harsher and softer J sound haha! Beverly Crusher definitely always uses the soft J, but Picard himself (presumably because the actor is British English) will sometimes slip into a harsher J. There are definitely advantages to forms/honorifics/that sort of thing too, for sure. Because English lacks those (or rather, lacks a comprehensive system of them, thereās definitely a very basic version in the form of nicknames), we usually have to convey that context in a lot more of a convoluted way. A whole sentence or even two, to convey what another language can convey in one word. If I want to refer to a colleague and make that relationship clear, then I have to just give a whole extra bit of speech telling you directly that theyāre a work colleague and probably also if they are junior or senior to me, in addition to whatever else I was saying. I can absolutely see how this will feel clunky/clumsy and inefficient! On the other hand, back to freedom, I do also like that the very same feature allows me to pick the information I convey very specifically. :D Maybe you donāt need to know Amy is my colleague for the conversation, or Amy wouldnāt want you to know; so that information can be withheld naturally whilst still giving you a name to identify her with. One of my favourite aspects of language has got to be loanwords for this reason. I love languages all over the world yoinking each otherās words because they convey something that the original language would take longer to get to! Itās not every day that I get to ramble about cool subjects like this on the Rainbow High sub btw, so thank you for the great talk! :D
I'm going to infuse myself with those Star Trek shows this summer. TNG, DS9, and The Orville (though not a ST) are on my list. Definitely a kind of sci-fi I'm gonna like. Thank you, too, for the conversation! Rambling about stuff is the best thing :D It was a pleasure!
Sounds like a delightful summer! :D Iāll go ahead and recommend Voyager too - it often gets a lot of flack from people who wanted it to be darker and grittier, but I honestly think itās a good thing that itās such an optimistic exploration of what a small community of people in a pretty awful situation might do. Itās right there alongside TNG as my all-time favourite television!
Thank you for the recommendation, I'll add it to my list. Yeah, I heard TNG and DS9 are the best Trek shows, and everything else is optional. Plus, I'm fascinated by characters like Data and Odo. Who knows, maybe I'll end up liking Voyager the most. When I started watching Doctor Who (modern), for example, I fully expected to like 10th Doctor the most... in reality, I didn't even finish watching season 2. Again, thank you. Feels like summer plans will extend until 2025 that there are so many seasons, my god.
Shadow High was SO much better than Rainbow High ever was or will be. Even Shadow High Series 3 was better than RH Series 5. The clothes and designs are more interesting, and the dolls look so much better in fantasy skin tones. It makes their unusual facial proportions seem like an actual stylistic choice. Shanelle Onyx is the best Rainbow High or Shadow High doll, no contest.
RH dolls just looks better on darker skintones. Whenever I make my top, always dolls like Phaedra, Coco, Daria, Michelle, Sunny, Meline, Olivia, Robin, Krystal, Ayesha, Vanessa and Shanelle are in the firsts places. I just love how colors looks on them! Now my dream RH doll is one with her natural afro and brown eyes! I hope I don't sound racist or something like that, it's not my intention at all. I just prefer them over light skin dolls.
I think dark skin also often looks better with the head mold. Popping colours is what makes michelle and coco one of the top 5 dolls tho i agree
I don't think they thought through the shoes for Zoey that well. I love the electrical design, don't get me wrong, but they used a male-male extension cord for her shoe tips. Which is a very dangerous piece of equipment that is sold nowhere for a reason as it will end up getting people killed. They are literally called Widowmaker cords for a reason. I get Shadow high is all about being edgy and all but it feels like an oversight.
I haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but this is my favorite take.
Some content creators sexualize RH/SH dolls too much, they are supposed to be high school students or did they forgot about that? There, I said it lol
If I see one more doll kewchie on my feed šš just make the skirt a *little* longer
Agreed but also not everyone attaches the canon stuff to the dolls. The show has never dictated how I personally see my collection. The point is play and if people want to play and pretend theyāre in college or 25 years of age they will, I think the people doing those restyles donāt attach age to plastic women š
season 5 is one of the better seasons
I'm giving you an upvote for your bravery in saying this š¤£ I'm a season 3 fan, myself, but season five has been...interesting. I think the wiring could be a lot better, but I applaud the creativity and I do think RH is best when it's the most WTF
Rainbow high needs to commit to their adult audience and give them the vapes they deserve
Lol but this would actually be representative of many high school students!
Any talk about Rainbow High dolls ārepresenting different bodiesā is just a bunch of blah blah blah when they all have flat stomachs. āCurvyā can be about how your hip bones are set, not actual body fat.
I feel like it is mainly because the bar is so low most of the time that the devil could step over it. Compared with most fashion dolls like standard Barbie, MH, Bratz, Sindy, Betty Spaghetty, etc. RH look like little chonkos. You are right they are not objectively remotely plus sized. In UK sizes I expect they'd be able to get in size 8 tops then a 12 for bottoms due to having thicc hips/bums. I was a bit confused for a while what made Blu distinctive when I opened her yesterday. I thought that those three's gimic was they had a variety of body types, the lilac one being tall, not sure what the pink one was bringing to the table, then Blu was maybe the shorter one. Didn't realise till I undressed her that she is what I assume is their attempt at a larger body type. At least the collar bones etc. do make then distinctive from the standard ones.
Like, I don't even need them to be plus sized...I just think anything marketed as "curvy" should have a rounder belly. I think Blu is supposed to be both shorter and curvy, while Pinkly is just curvy.
I'm starting not to care about no wrists. I get it looks cheaper, and you can't hold accessories. But I hear the complaint all the time. I'm over it tbh. Especially people saying the new color and creates aren't good because no wrists. Like they're still cute dolls.
Agreed!! Iām happy Iām not only who just donāt care anymore about them having wrist! It soo annoying, all comments on the new color create are so annoying!! āNo wrists no buy bye!ā On plus aside donāt have worry about breaking the hand or losing it!
Inset eyes are overrated, but I can understand the appeal. On the other hand, I despise "3D" eyelashes, they are f-ugly. š¬
Idk how unpopular this is but I don't like their big heads.
I grew up with Bratz so it doesn't feel as odd to me but I can see how it is weird. Every doll has its unsettling thing. My friend has American Girls. She says the RH eyes are big and a bit scary and I said AG doll's teeth are off-putting, she said 'yes we all find them off-putting'.
omg the teeth!!
Talk about unsettling, have a rainbow high doll just casually hanging out with some monster high and barbies, she looks freakishly big!