Aluminium Christmas Trees: While the idea of a star/planet made out of diamond may have been absurd in 1985, astronomers nowadays have discovered several planets that are most likely made of carbon/diamond, 55 Cancri e being the best known example.
Complete Monster: From Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer comes the titular Star Stealer, the Dark Princess is the pettiest and vilest enemy that Rainbow Brite ever encountered. Motivated solely by greed, the Dark Princess enslaved innocent races to tow the diamond planet Spectra out of its foundation to her castle. Despite having been informed that this may cause entire universe to be starved of light and freeze, ensuring trillions of deaths, the Dark Princess still continues with her plan. When she was foiled, she attempts to ram her ship into Spectra and shatter it out of spite.
Crossover Ship: Many have taken to shipping Rainbow Brite with Strawberry Shortcake, on account of their mutual rivalry between each other, as well as their only known by their title names. Likewise, they have similar personalities as little girls who are big leaders.
Critical Dissonance: Critics and animation historians have had mixed feelings about the movie Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, but fans love it just the same as the series.
Cult Classic: Not one of the most prolific girls' cartoons in the 80s, with only a handful of specials, one movie, and a 13 episode series.note Which the five specials aired as part of. Only 8 new episodes had been produced. Nonetheless, it has a small but devoted fandom whose dedication and creativity are truly something to behold.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Tickled Pink, Stormy, Moonglow, Krys, Lurky, Skydancer and the Dark Princess practically have fanbases of their owns. They're even more fondly remembered than some of the color kids.
Moonglow and Tickled Pink are outstanding examples, as they appear out of nowhere and, except for one episode where Moonglow is made to be the damsel, they don't really have any major appearances within canon. Despite this, they tend to have the highest prices for merchandise on the secondary market, to the point where an original Moonglow doll from Germany was sold at upwards $1000.
Besides the origins of Tickled Pink, Stormy and Moonglow being very popular among the community, plots revolving around the origins of Rainbow Land and Rainbow Brite's travels around the world as mentioned in the side stories and audio tapes are popular.
Fan children of fan preferred couples also tend to steal the spotlight, as mixing colors / finding colors in between is generally believed to create new color kids, such as Indigo being a mixture of blue and purple.
Exactly who Tickled Pink is, why she wasn't in the first few episodes, why she isn't counted among the seven Colour Kids, etc. A scene where she uses yellow star sprinkles, despite this likely being an animation error, was latched upon by fans who decided that she was the Colour Kid of pastel shades, despite there not being much evidence for this. note In the original canon, she's a human just like Wisp was, and her job upon settling in Rainbow Land was running the labs which process color crystal into star sprinkles. Unfortunately, the series never got around to showing her do this. One of the reboots established she was in charge of sunrise and sunset colors.
The series itself is full of this, mostly due to being a Short-Runner and The Beginning of Rainbow Land not explaining everything.
Fashion-Victim Villain: The Dark Princess wears a black skin-tight suit with diamonds everywhere, a cape and bright blue pumps with far too many rings and bracelets.
With Sonic, if you can believe it. Probably because of their shared animation studio, Dic.
A more common fandom ally would be He-Man and She-Ra, as the fans tend to do a lot of crossover art for both franchises. Not to mention they're both 80's cartoons, so it's understandable that a fan could watch both / all three.
The fandom gets along well with those for Care Bears and The Get Along Gang (for the latter, it helps that Rainbow Brite and Dotty Dog are voiced by the same actress).
Another fandom ally are those for Jem, Transformers and G.I. Joe, which is natural, given that Jem and Rainbow Brite are both 80s cartoons aimed towards girls and all four are, again, 80s cartoons.
God Never Said That: The idea that Lurky is a mutated or deformed Sprite is more or less fanon, but every now and again you'll see this thought credited to Cheryl Cozad, who was the head of the group of artists assigned to Rainbow Brite. However, there's no proof of her saying this when discussing designing the sprites. That is until that Wordof God confirmed in an interview with a superfan that Murky Dismal actually created him and brought him to life, a la Frankenstein.
Heartwarming Moments: This Podcast celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the franchise. Hearing about two fans in their thirties still cherishing their beloved show and still going into fannish squees about Rainbow is a testament to the power of fans to keep what they love alive.
Jossed: (or Shrug of God, depending on who you are) The idea that Tickled Pink was a (slightly more) grown up baby brite or that they had a more personal connection than that of the regular color kids ended up being not true, as no books cover their specific relationship and Baby Brite is explained as a manifestation of the adult, Godlike woman white light. However, this doesn't stop some fans from coming up with a more intricate relationship between the pair.
Periphery Demographic: In the 2010s the series has gained a following amongst teens and 20-something year olds due to its bright colors. People who are into retro 80s stuff, pastel colors, and "kidcore" aesthetics are often fond of the series (or at least its character designs).
Few have taken well to the 2009 reboot, which bombed.
The 2014 series received flack from fans even before it aired. Being hosted on Feelnnote which has since relaunched as Hallmark Movies Now, an obscure, unpopular streaming site, probably didn't help.
Toy Ship: Rainbow Brite and either the muggle Brian or Krys from The Movie, the former also in the 2014 reboot.
The Woobie: Despite never being treated poorly in the show, books, movie, merchandise or even audio tapes, many fans see Tickled Pink as this because of how poorly she is represented among the other color kids. From not being seen as one despite being a 'real' color, to having her official role be somewhat of a hand wave by the creators, Tickled Pink just isn't as seen as the other color kids, which has given her somewhat of a following in her own right.
Some also feel this way about Moonglow, as her personality is noticeably muted when compared to the other characters, which comes off as more depressed rather than tired. Not to mention in her only episode focused on her, she is being tormented by her kidnapper, Murky, and she mentions not getting to spend time with the color kids, as her job requires her to sleep during the day. Poor kid just can't catch a break.
The comic series
Cult Classic: The comic book was praised for its artwork and care paid to the brand, but only 5 issues were made.
Slow-Paced Beginning: Arguably the biggest issue with the series. The comic took its time setting up the world and Rainbow Brite, and by the time it had done so, the sales were so low that the series was canceled.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Fans of the 80s cartoon disliked the series for the changes in Wisp's personality, taking too long to become Rainbow Brite, and the revamp of the Color Kids' names, personalities, and powers.
Too Good to Last: The comic got positive reviews overall, but was canceled after only 5 issues.
being the best known example.