Similar Dolls

When a new toy line becomes successful, there are usually a bunch of cheaper copies created to look like the originals, and to sell like originals. This was no exception for the Jem dolls. Jem was Hasbro's flagship, and there were all kinds of knock-offs and cheap imitations. Some are obvious bootlegs and are mostly done by smaller companies, while the bigger ones tries to hide their attempts by making their own and a little different version of the original idea without stepping on any copyrights and trademarks. Then of course there are those dolls that just happen to be lookalikes, and sometimes it's hard to tell which ones are what.

Too much competition is believed to be one of the reasons that eventually caused the Jem doll line to be discontinued, since it prevented the sales of the Jem dolls. But Jem obviously made it's mark and lasting impression in the history of doll lines, and even today you can find new dolls that are clearly inspired by Jem dolls.

Here are some dolls that have some thing in common with the Jem dolls in one way or another, either they are direct bootlegs, just rockstars, have punk hair colors, were made by the same company, were made in the 80's, or have some characteristics that reminds of Jem.

Barbie dolls

Barbie and the Rockers, 1985 by Mattel

In 1985, Mattel learned that Hasbro was releasing the Jem dolls. Barbie was Mattel's biggest brand, and Mattel apparently felt that the Jem dolls, even with the differences in size and theme, and even before they were released, posed a big threat. This was going to be the biggest competition that Mattel had faced for their worldknown doll line Barbie. Mattel was terrified of the competition and decided to give Barbie a rockband too, "Barbie and the Rockers", or "Barbie and the Rockstars" as in Europe. This was a completely new direction of the Barbie doll which had been pretty harmless in her previous releases, usually as a princess or a ballerina or such.

The first set of Barbie and the Rockers dolls to arrive were Barbie, Diva, Dana, Dee Dee and Derek. The dolls came with a fashion, a microphone, socks, shoes, a sheet of cardboard prints, iron-on decal, and the females also had a hairpiece, ring, bracelet, extra t-shirt and a hairbrush. Everyone came with a cassette which all included the same songs "The Rockers Theme", "Dressin' Up", "Born With A Mike", and "Stretchin' It", only two of which were included in the cartoon.

The second edition of the doll band was called "Real Dancing Action" for the females, and "Hot Rockin' Fun" for the males. Now there was one more male added to the group: Ken of course. This edition of dolls would kinda move their arms when you turned their body, they had new fashions but included no cassette.

The third set of dolls included the four female dolls: Barbie, Diva, Dana, Dee Dee, as "Barbie and the Sensations" and had a 50's look to them. They resembled what Barbie and the Rockers looked like when they went back in time in the cartoon.

There were two sets of fashions released: Barbie and the Rockers fashions included 12 different fashions, two of which were for the male dolls. The second set of fashions included 6 fashions, one of which was for the male dolls, and was called "Concert Tour Fashions" or "Tour Fashions" in Europe.

There was a playset of a stage called "Hot Rockin' Stage", a pool called "Rockin' Pool Party", extra instruments set called "Live Concert Instruments" and "Rock Concert", and other playsets like "Vanity Set", "Dance Cafe", "Recording Studio", "Hot Rockin' Van" and a remote controlled "Rockin' Cycle".

As mentioned, there was even a Barbie and the Rockers cartoon made, in two parts, called "Out of this World" and "Rockin' Back to Earth", which featured all the characters, and several of the outfits and playsets. In the cartoon, Barbie and the Rockers were the only band around and loved by everyone in the whole world. There was certainly no competition from a band like the Misfits. Alot of the cartoon was about being friends and having a good time. At their worst, the Barbie and the Rockers characters were tired or disappointed for second, then it was time to sing and dance again. They even went into space to perform.

Similarities to Jem, other than colorful rockstar dolls, were that the Barbie and the Rockers dolls had an edition of the leadsinger with star earrings, there was a male doll with combable hair, the group had one black and one asian member, the dolls came with a cassette with songs, and there was a Stage playset and a car. While the Jem dolls had more realistic and more bendable bodies, Barbie and the Rockers had their "Real Dancing Action" edition of dolls. Both of the cartoons had music videos that were blended with the action. The cartoon included some similar storylines as in the Jem cartoon, including stories with time traveling and fifties style theme.

With all the similarities, Barbie and the Rockers were still apparantly of lower quality, as could be expected since they were made in a hurry and rushed out. Half of the about 10 songs sang by Barbie and the Rockers in the cartoon were covers of old songs, some by the Beatles. While the Jem cartoon contained over a hundred songs, with no covers.

Mattel didn't seem to care at all about Barbie and the Rockers once they managed to silence Jem. Today however there is no question about which of these 80's rockstar cartoons and dolls are more remembered and popular. Try to search for a better site about Barbie and the Rockers than this one for example. And take a look at the auction site eBay, Barbie and the Rockers dolls are barely selling. While Jem dolls are selling better than ever. This is probably also how the sales would look today if Jem made a comeback into the toystores, even if Barbie and the Rockers made a copy-comeback (infact Mattel re-released an anniversary issue of Barbie from Barbie and the Rockers in 2008). Especially since the only thing that speaks in Barbie's advantage is that it's a wellknown brand and that Barbie has set the standard of doll fashion sizes, so that they won't fit dolls in bigger sizes like the Jem dolls. But those are easy fixes for Hasbro.

Offsite link: More info about Barbie and the Rockers on this page.

Foam 'n Color Barbie, by Mattel

Barbie with pink or blue hair streaks.

Mermaid Barbie, 1994 by Mattel

When the rights to Disney's "Little Mermaid" went to Tyco, Mattel did the same thing as always, their own version, but with pink hair? This might have been the very first time Barbie actually appeared in completely pink hair. It only goes to confirm how much Mattel really feared Jem back in the 80's and wish they had made her, now they're halfway.

Beyond Pink Barbie, 1998 by Mattel

Ever since Barbie and the Rockers time, Mattel has continued to use the ideas and looks of Jem, on several more Barbie dolls. In the early 90's there was an edition of rocker dolls called Barbie and the Beat, which consisted of Barbie, Midge and Christie, had glow in the dark outfits and came with a cassette with songs. Then in the late 90's when girls groups was the big thing and some of the girlgroups were released as dolls, Mattel did it again, they responded with a rockband for Barbie, named "Beyond Pink". Beyond Pink consists of Barbie and her friends Teresa and Christie. Mattel seemed to have learned from Jem, and also this time included a music cassette tape, with the song "Think Pink", and on the other side an instrumental version. This time the dolls even had parts of their hair in punk hair colors, and Barbie's dress even resembles Jem's.

Happenin' Hair Barbie, 1998 by Mattel

If you dip this Barbie's styling tools in cold water, you can stamp or stencil pink and purple hair tattoos. As usual there's a Teresa and Christie version also with punk hair colors.

Hula Hair Teresa, 1998 by Mattel

Barbie got pink hair once more. There's also Barbie and Christie, both with the haircolors pink, orange and yellow. But Teresa was the most interesting of them. Teresa has light brown hair, plus the "hula hair" with the three punk colors, red, blue and purple. The same three colors as the Holograms dolls, Kimber (red), Aja (blue), Shana (purple).

Hasbro dolls

After the Jem doll line was discontinued, Hasbro continued to use accessories from the Jem dolls, like bracelets and necklaces, on their other and new doll lines. It's possible there are even more similarities of Jem and other Hasbro dolls. These dolls are the closest other dolls can truly come to the Jem dolls, since they're made by the same company.

Space Fantasy Sindy, 1985 by Pedigree

An older version of Sindy, with the bigger head. From before Hasbro bought the rights to Sindy from Pedigree. It's supposed to be a space doll, with the pink hair, silver top, a silver/pink cummerband, pink skirt and sandals. There were also a couple of Sindy dolls called "Starlight".

Off-site link: Sindy Collectables.

Superstar Sindy, 1988 by Hasbro

Now Hasbro had taken over the line and changed the mold, made it a little smaller, but not as small as it was going to be. This doll, although it was made by the same company as Jem, seems to have been inspired by Jem, and it does share the same mold and color of earrings as the Raya doll has. Came with a microphone.

Maxie Dance 'n Romance, 1989 by Hasbro

It seemed that Hasbro thought a rockstar doll like Jem was too hard for little girls to identify with. And instead of changing Jem, Hasbro threw Jem away and started over. Still, Maxie inherited several things from the Jem dolls, as Hasbro re-used some molds for dolls and accessories, and used some of the ideas that were supposed to be used on the Jem dolls before the line was discontinued.

Maxie also had her own 32 episodes long cartoon called Maxie's World, which included some music, in which she was a blonde high school girl with her own tv show. The dolls were more similar to Barbie in size. The line only lasted three years though, and before it ended Maxie was even planned to get her own rockband, much like Jem.

Off-site link: The Sunny Surfin' World of Maxie.

Sindy Paint-a-Picture, by Hasbro

This is an example of the newest version of Sindy's head, which was more in size of Barbie's head. These dolls provided Barbie with a lot of competition in Europe. This particular doll is interesting because it came with three bracelets, a pink, a yellow, and a black which have the exact same shape as the armrings that came with the Clash doll from the Jem doll line.

Other dolls

Lace, by Creata

This doll is from the late 80's, right after the Jem dolls were released, and is an obvious copycat of Jem and the Holograms. The box says "The Celebrity Rock Star with Fashion & Fame", which is partly the same as in the Jem theme song. Other versions are a black doll with black hair and blonde bangs, and a blonde doll. It even had a line of fashions.

Off-site link: Creata's Lace Celebrity RockStar.

Popstyle Riviera, 1987 by Gig Vanity

This is one of atleast four dolls called "Popstar/Popstyle styling heads". This is the most interesting of the dolls, it very much resembles Stormer. The flower in the blue curly hair, and that make up. The other three have white hair and are called "Princess" or "Rock Star".

Sailor Mercury, 1999 by IGEL

A blue haired sailor girl from the anime show, Sailor Moon. It seems that many fans of Sailor Moon are also fans of Jem. But are the shows really that alike, other than that both the main characters has a secret identity?

Off-site link: Sailormoontoys.com.


Other similar dolls include Spectra by Mattel, the Spice Girls by Galoob, Moon Dreamers by Hasbro, Golden Girl by Galoob, Princess of Power: She-Ra by Mattel, Lady Lovely Locks, Bratz, Moxie Girlz, and Monster High by Mattel.


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