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The doll line by Hasbro is where it all started for Jem, and is what the cartoon was based
on. Hasbro's colorful and glittery, fully articulated 12˝ inch rockstar dolls shocked
the doll market with their musical theme, punk hair
colors, and a poseable heads, arms, wrists, waist, legs, and bendable elbows and knees.
Jem was far beyond what had previously been known as the typical fashion doll.
Along with the dolls there was also a line of doll fashions and also as much as ten playsets, most of which had a special feature like real built in musical functions like a cassette tape player (which was really cool when cassette tapes were around) and much more. On these pages you will find reviews and large and colorful pictures of all released products from the doll line, and even pictures of every single item that came with the dolls, and some from the fashions and playsets aswell. Plus a little info about the cassettes, doll variations, international releases/availability, and a cartoon comparance. It's not a complete guide to every single piece of the entire doll line, but it will give you a pretty nice overview.
Variations:
There are some more or less noticable variations of the dolls, when it comes to
hairstyles, make-up, bodyshapes (torso, hands,
feet...), fashion fabrics, accessories (stands),
and even the boxes, which is partly because the dolls were made in several different countries
like China, Hong Kong, Spain and Mexico, but also because some improvements were made even after the first
shipments were made to the stores. When variations are mentioned on this page, it
concentrates on the differences that appeared in the US.
In the cartoon:
The cartoon characters were based on the look of the dolls, or rather the prototypes of the dolls,
so here's a comparance of how alike they are. Some of the cartoon characters were later changed to
resemble the dolls more in temrs of hair, makeup, and outfit.
International:
Where the dolls were made, is not the same thing as what country they were
made to be released in. This will mention what country the dolls were made to be
released in, and even if dolls weren't specifically made for a certain country, this will
mention if a doll was available there and what version. Some of these dolls had further
variations, especially the Mexican dolls.
Here is some general info from some countries, but more info will follow listed for each doll.
In Italy, all the first edition dolls and some second editions were released at the same
time in 1987, before the cartoon. the dolls said "delle Holograms" and next to
"Truly Outrageous" it said "Rock 'n Shock".
In 1987, two different Jem doll commercials were shown on the TV channel Italia 1.
In the first commercial two young girls play with the Jem's dolls, and the second included a
short version of the Jem theme song, without the Misfits.
In Sweden the dolls were released in 1987, and were available only in some stores.
There were dolls from first and second year released at once, fashions from Glitter 'n Gold
and Music Is Magic collections, and playsets like the Star Stage and Rock Backstager. All dolls
released (except for Glitter 'n Gold Rio) were made in China.
In Mexico the dolls were made by another company, owned by Hasbro, called Iga - Juguetes
Con Vida. All female dolls from the first year was available. Instead of "Truly Outrageous!",
Jem was "Es Fabulosa!" which it said on the posters aswell as the doll boxes. The boxes also
said "de las Holograms". The dolls are easy to tell apart from Jem dolls made anywhere else,
because they have no markings, and the plastic have a different look, color and feel. The makeup
looks a bit different. The fashions, or atleast the lamé parts, were made of a more fragile and
less metallic looking material.
In Germany probably all of the first edition dolls, fashions and playsets were
available. Here the boxes said "von den Holograms". In the doll boxes was a tape with
stories in german mixed with songs in English.
In Spain the doll boxes said "Verdaderamente Fantastica" instead of
"Truly outrageous!", the boxes also said "de las Holograms" like in Mexico.
In Holland the doll boxes said "van de Holograms", and underneath "Truly Outrageous!" it
said "Vraiment Extravagante!". "Glitter 'n Gold" Jem and Rio were called "Rock 'n Gold",
and "Flash 'n Sizzle Jem" was called "Rock 'n Flash Jem".
In France the boxes said "Elle est fantastique!" instead of "Truly Outrageous!", and
"du groupe Holograms" or "des Holograms".
In the United Kingdom atleast the first edition dolls were released.
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The dolls came with a bunch of accessories, like a hairpick, poster, and a stand.
On top of that, the main character Jem came with flashing
earrings and an extra outfit to change into Jerrica, while most of the other dolls
instead came with an instrument aswell as a real cassette tape with extended versions of the
songs from the cartoon, and instrumental versions on side B to sing karaoke to. Even the colorful boxes
themselves were made to draw attention at first glance, with fantastic artwork interpretations
of the dolls.
