Mainframe Studios

Background: Rainmaker Animation (also known as Rainmaker Entertainment) is a Canadian computer animation and design company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Mainframe Vancouver) and Los Angeles, California, USA (Mainframe USA), which was formerly known as Mainframe Entertainment prior to January 31, 2007. It produces computer-animated TV series and movies. They were best known for producing the first ever half-hour CGI animated series ReBoot, as well as the acclaimed Transformers spin-off Beast Wars. In recent years, they have also become known for producing most of the Barbie film series for Mattel. On September 16, 2003, Digital Program Solutions (DPS), a division of IDT Media, acquired a stake in Mainframe Entertainment. It was completed on December 2, 2003. On August 31, 2006, IDT Corp. sold IDT Entertainment to Liberty Media and it was renamed to Starz Media (now Starz Distribution). On July 31, 2006, RNK Capital Limited Partnership, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rainmaker Income Fund, acquired 62% of Mainframe from Starz with Rainmaker acquiring 38%. On August 29, 2006, RNK and Rainmaker Income Fund announced a merger, with RNK acquiring 38% of Mainframe, and by January 31, 2007 they were renamed to their current name. The Mainframe label was later revived in 2014 as Rainmaker's television division. In 2016, Rainmaker acquired animation studio Frederator Studios, with both companies becoming part of their new holding company, known as WOW! Unlimited Media Inc.

Mainframe Entertainment

1st Logo (September 16, 1996-March 13, 1998) Mainframe Entertainment Nickname: "The Cursive M"

Logo: On a black background, with a yellow ball of light at the top-right corner, we see a brown board and a silver plate (which was faced at the right) turns clockwise to face us. When it begins to turn, the light ball swoops down from the top-right corner, carving the board with a cursive black "M", while the letters "M", "A", "I", "N", "F", "R", "A", "M", and "E" in a bold silver font, softly lands on the brown board, followed by the small words "ENTERTAINMENT INC." also in a bold silver font, slowly zooms in from the board. It says, "MAINFRAME ENTERTAINMENT INC.", with "MAIN" and "FRAME" forming a 90 degree angle right with each other, and "ENTERTAINMENT INC." below it. There is also a silver copyright symbol next to it. The light ball swoops to the right, causing the logo to shine slowly.

Variant: Sometimes, there is a still version.

FX/SFX: All CGI which was really ahead of it's time and still holds up today.

Music/Sounds: An intense synth percussion tune composed by Robert "Bob" Buckley, which is accompanied by whooshes.

Availability: Rare. Seen on the first two seasons of Beast Wars: Transformers and season 3 of Reboot on Teletoon Retro and on DVD.

Editor's Note: Since this logo lasts for around 4 seconds, the whole thing looks like it was done using Softimage in 30 minutes despite having really great effects.

2nd Logo (September 16, 1998-May 9, 2006)

Nickname: "Mainframe in Space"

Logo: On a space background, we see the words "MAINFRAME ENTERTAINMENT". Mainframe Logo 2001 Bylines: 2003-2006: "An IDT Entertainment Company" 1998-2003, 2006: Bylineless. This was also used under the Starz Media era for a short time.

Variants: On Scary Godmother, ghosts swipe in to form the title of the film. Sometimes, there is no text at all. An opening variant exists where the words "A MAINFRAME ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION" are seen in the background. This variant appears at the beginning of Mainframe's movies. Sometimes, the website address (www.mainframe.com) is seen below the text. A longer version also exists. We start off with a white screen fading in, which quickly fades to the logo, with a translucent shadow of the name zooming out. A medium-length variant also exists where we start off with the name's shadow zooming out as we fade to the logo. Sometimes, the background is just plain black. This variant can be found on season 2 episodes of Beast Wars.

FX/SFX: The background panning.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening/closing theme.

Availability: Seen on the two Scary Godmother TV movies, Shadow Raiders, Weird-Oh's, season 4 of ReBoot, season 2 of Max Steel, Action Man, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Hot Wheels World Race, the final season of Beast Wars, and some of the Barbie films.

3rd Logo (September 1, 2015-) Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. (2015)Mainframe Entertainment (2015)

Logo: On a white background, we see the word "MAINFRAME" in a similar font to the previous logo in black. Under that, we see "A DIVISION OF RAINMAKER ENTERTAINMENT INC." in the same color.

Variant: Sometimes, the logo is in-credit.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Can be found on the 2015 series of Bob the Builder for Season 1 and Season 2.

4th Logo (March 30, 2018-) Mainframe Studios (2018)

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Brand new. Debuted on ReBoot: The Guardian Code, and will most likely be seen on future shows from Mainframe.

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Rainmaker Animation

1st LogoRainmaker Animation (2013) (March 13, 2007-)

Nicknames: "Swirly", "Swirly Hand"

Logo: On a black background, a shining gold swirl is drawn by itself before zooming out. As it does, a border is formed in the same color, revealing it to be an outline of a hand. Then a huge flash occurs, causing the swirl to change into teal and the hand into white, while also creating a background at the bottom of the hand in the same color as the swirl. "RAinmAkER" appears below in the hand's color. After the flash ceases, the byline "WHERE WORLDS ARE CREATED" flashes in matching the color of the swirl and background.

Variant: On some Barbie films, the logo is in-credit, still, and sometimes a different color. The word "WHERE WORLDS ARE CREATED" is also sometimes absent.

FX/SFX: The swirl and hand forming, the zooming out, the full logo flashing in, and the byline appearing.

Music/Sounds: A synth the swirl makes when being formed, a flute piece accompanied with sticks, a quiet flash, and a drum piece when the byline appears.

Availability: Seen on post-2007 DVD releases from Rainmaker, such as ReBoot. The in-credit version appears on a good majority of Barbie movies.

2nd Logo (February 15, 2013-) Rainmaker (2013)

Nicknames: "Swirly II", "Swirly Hand II", "Ting"

Logo: On a space background, there is a twinkling star that starts to fly, which turns out that the star is actually Ting (the main mascot of the company), who projects the glowing logo from his body. He then pops out behind the logo, waves and flies away to the left.

Variant: On Barbie and the Secret Door, the logo is still.

FX/SFX: Really nice CGI animation done in-house.

Music/Sounds: Some twinkling and buzzing sounds.

Availability: Seen on newer Rainmaker films, such as Escape from Planet Earth, Ratchet & Clank, and Barbie and the Secret Door.

3rd Logo (September 18, 2017-) Rainmaker Animation (2017)

Nicknames: "Swirly III", Swirly Hand III"

Logo: On a white floor, we orbit as the 3-D symbols and text (along with Studios below "Rainmaker") shapes push up releasing their shadows. After moving up with everything right-side up, we zoom away from it.

FX/SFX: A 3D pushup from the white background with a little bit of green on the bottom of the screen shading at the end.

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Brand new. Seen on Barbie: Dolphin Magic.