OVERVIEW: Jem & the Holograms

Jem and the Holograms is my favorite childhood cartoon and possibly my favorite cartoon of all time. I had such love for those characters when I was a kid and that's something I've never lost.

My first experience with the Jem dolls was at my friend Anna's birthday party back when the dolls first came out in 1986. She got Shana and young me was mesmerized by her. None of us had ever seen a fashion doll so big before! And the hair and makeup! The neon packaging! I knew I'd go home and ask my mom for one of these.

I still grin when I see a boxed Jem doll. If I had the money and not nearly as wide a scope of collection as I do, I'd have a boxed Jem collection. The original packaging like Aja's here never fails to take me back.

Aja was my first Jem doll. I loved her character on the show. Jem herself I never liked much, because I understood why she had to keep her secret, but I didn't like that she hid it from Rio and then messed with his head even more by not being able to control herself around him in her Jem form. Like would it really have been that hard? Kimber I didn't care for much in childhood, and Shana was out of the picture. I only ever had one black doll in childhood and that was thanks to some trickery by Mom and myself, but Dad allowed me Asian dolls. Or didn't realize they were Asian. I dunno. There will be more on that when I get to Rose Petal Place and Maxie.

Anyway, Aja was everything I hoped. Except how her shoes never stayed on over her thick stockings, but the stockings were so awesome that I just kept shoving her feet back in the shoes. I loved every bit of her outfit. This photo is 2nd edition Aja from my adult collection, wearing a custom outfit I bought on ebay years ago. I don't have any photos of my 1st edition adult collection Aja that I like as much as this one, so there you go.

My second Jem doll was this Pizzazz. Yep, this is my childhood Pizzazz. She survived! Childhood Aja and Jem/Jerrica did not fare so well, but Pizzazz and Stormer made it. Although both of them have very banged up bodies, because I apparently decided at one point that they were superheroes and they used to get tossed in the air a lot outside. Yeah, I have no idea, but I was eight.

Pizzazz won out over Stormer, who was my childhood fave along with Aja, for one single reason: PANTIES. Childhood me had an obsession with doll panties, because duh, I had panties on all the time, so why didn't my dolls? Tights/stockings were not enough and you definitely still wore them under pants. (I'm looking at you, Kimber and Roxy.) But Pizzazz and Shana both had panties. Shana was a no go, as we've discussed, but Pizzazz? She was cool. So she came home with me one night and then began the regret over not getting Stormer. I still loved Pizzazz, but I realized I sold Stormer out over a pair of chartreuse panties.

Thankfully, my mom got me Stormer for Christmas. I knew ahead of time, because I did a bad thing and not only found Mom's hiding place of Christmas presents, but opened Stormer and played with her. There was punishment, but I got my beloved back on Christmas morning. I still think Stormer is the best-dressed of the Misfits. That black skirt and sexy fishnets may have contributed to my love of the same things as an adult. And that's childhood Stormer in my photo, rocking an outfit handmade by Teahoshi. I have them for all four Misfits. Oh, and Stormer's flower so did not survive childhood. That thing got so lost. But I bought one for my adult collection and my childhood girl proudly wears it.

I once had a set of the 2nd edition Misfits that I kept in their boxes, but they got sold years ago. Maybe someday I'll get them back or at least Jetta.

My fourth childhood doll was Jem/Jerrica. She was pretty, if slightly somber, but all that lying weighs on you. I think she was a gift from Grandma? So of course they went with the tamest doll. She did not get much love.

You would think this girl would have been next, but I never got Jetta in childhood. Or Roxy, but Jetta became my instant favorite the second she appeared on screen with her giant hair, black and white wardrobe and cool accent, so she was a more obvious glaring omission from my collection. Who did I get instead? Ba Nee. Because I was going to get Jetta, but the Starlight Girls had just come out and I was a sucker for Ba Nee and her sad story and adorableness. And jelly shoes. To be honest, it was probably the jelly shoes. Apparently, I sell out my faves easily for one article of clothing that I really love. And that was the end of my childhood collection. I had a few outfits: Award Night (badass silver catsuit), Command Performance (pretty), Twilight in Paris (pretty AND came with panties!), Permanent Wave (the jacket sold me on this) and Outta My Way (maybe because Stormer wore it?).

Jetta and Roxy were the first dolls I hunted down when I learned how to use a computer in undergrad. We never had the money to have a home computer, so I learned a lot from my best friend Bonnie and spent so much time looking up old toy lines that I think I drove her nuts. I got a Dutch Roxy boxed and Jetta was loose, but complete. That's her there. I've never gotten a second one, though someday a boxed one. Someday.

My Dutch Roxy has very poofy hair, but I fell in love with this smooth-haired girl to the right a couple years into my adult collecting. I think she's a second edition. I have a strong memory of being in this old store called Brand Names and there was a 1st edition Roxy doll. It was a few years after Jem had ended and oh, I wanted her. But my dad was with us and I was afraid to ask for her, so I went until 1997 without a Roxy. If I were made to choose a single Jem that I think had the prettiest face, Roxy would win. She's become one of my favorites in adulthood. I love all the Misfits more than any of the Holograms now.

My adult collecting was pretty serious. I bought all the dolls I didn't have, even some to keep boxed as I mentioned, and almost all the outfits I wanted. I never did get She Makes an Impression, but I stopped searching for it years ago. I had the shoes for it, buy some random stroke of luck, and sold them.

Kimber here is my favorite of the good girl dolls. She's gorgeous. This is a 2nd edition Kimber. She's one of the few dolls that's been consistently treated as well as my Misfits. Kimber has become my favorite Hologram over the years. Whatever I didn't like about her as a kid now endears her to me.

I collected Jem for several years in the late 90s and early 2000s. I got just about everything I wanted and then decided to stop. I didn't like how the fandom reacted whenever they saw a doll with pink hair or a band concept, acting like whatever it was was ripping off Jem. There were also a few hoarders who had multiples of everything boxed and frequently rubbed it in others' faces. I don't have the patience for that.

Fast forward to 2012 and Integrity Toys is now making Jem dolls. I was both excited and...not excited. I don't have the best opinion of Integrity, which I think rather lacks what its name implies it has, what with all its super exclusives and high prices that aren't exactly reflected in the products. From the initial line, I pre-ordered Synergy, but ended up selling her, because I couldn't justify the price for something I thought was pretty, but didn't really connect with.

Then came the Holograms and I pre-ordered all three. Aja I think they completely missed the boat on. She doesn't look much like she should and her hair was limp and not cut a bit like the cartoon's or vintage doll's. Shana had this scraggly mess on her head, but with some trimming, she looked a bit more like her show self. The curls popped up and looked great when shorter. But Kimber here, she was the star. Kimber made me believe Integrity might be able to pull this off. Although mine's keytar came to me broken, so I was already seeing the same old problems with Integrity "quality."

The Misfits came next and Integrity knocked them out of the park. The same permabitchfaces that didn't quite work on some of the "good" characters were made for the Misfits. My favorite of the three is actually Pizzazz. She's this perfect combination of vintage doll and animated version. Roxy is a beautiful doll and I love that they went with black for her shirt instead of the vintage doll's purple, but I still don't get the choice of material for her pants. It's weird and it doesn't quite match. Stormer is perfect.

Then began the waiting for something I both wanted and could get. The lovely Glitter 'n' Gold Jem was exclusive to SDCC, where things notoriously get overpriced afterwards. I could easily save up the money for her, but nah. I never have. These cost enough at retail.

The Stingers were up next and I love my Minx and Rapture, but Riot was...no. He was missing all his personality. So I just got the two female Stingers. It was great to see them made, but for those prices, I'm gonna be picky.

2014 brought me who I had been waiting for: JETTA. They nailed Jetta, just like the other Misfits. She's stunning and perfect in every way. Except I don't like her stock earrings, but that's so minor. And her hair could have been a lot more massive, but I never expected they'd try for that.

Clash was an awesome surprise. I was afraid they'd go with the purple hair the vintage doll (and eventually, cartoon character) got stuck with, but they completely surprised me and gave her THREE HEADS. She has the striped hair the character originally had on the show, a head with the purple hair, and a blonde head to represent one of her many disguises. She's absolutely beautiful, too. I think she might be my favorite after Jetta. Don't tell Pizzazz.

I did pick up several others from the line. Video was an improvement. She was always one of the blandest vintage dolls, despite being cool-looking animated. Regine was gorgeous. Raya was a huge improvement over her rather unattractive vintage doll. Why they gave her the Pizzazz head, I'll never understand. Astral was particularly lovely. Danse, one of my favorites, they dropped the ball on though. She's one of the most beautiful animated characters, but the doll lacked a lot of what made her Danse. her hair was a total failure.

Integrity did have one more trick up their sleeve though. They made Techrat, who I adore. The doll isn't wearing his best outfit and for some completely ridiculous reason, he came with a long-haired head. The doll is an exclusive to begin with, which makes it hard to get for Jem fans, but then they add a long-haired head to appeal to non-Jem fans? This is the type of crap that I hate about that company. They also messed up his hair with the prototype, but thankfully listened to fans and the final version's hair is in the right place.

I do give them credit for making him, as much as I dislike a lot of their practices. And I'll always be grateful to the friend that helped me get him.

I recently sold off a lot of my Integrity Jems. The only ones I kept were the four Misfits, Clash, Techrat, Minx, Rapture, and Kimber. They're the best of the bunch for me. The others deserved a better home where they'll get more attention.

That about wraps things up for Jem! The Jem fandom is actually stronger than ever right now, so maybe someday I'll be reporting back with a sequel to this post showcasing dolls based on the amazing comic book. Whether you have experienced 1980s Jem or not, I highly encourage you to check out the comic. It is really easy to get into for anyone, not just old fans of the show and dolls.

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine, except the boxed photo of Aja. That belongs to:
http://www.pranceatron.com/jem/intro.htm
That is the best Jem site of all time. Go there for more info than you can handle.