5/16/2018 Updated 9/27/2026
After such a terrible Jem Movie the Jem Franchise is in disarray, but we still love the show in our hearts. Here are a couple of thoughts about Jem and the Misfits.
I have not read the Jem Bible, but I felt that everything in the original cartoon counted as cannon to the series and not just what Christy Marx created. Christy Marx’s episodes were the best episodes, but I accepted everything. Updated: I have read the Jem Bible and it has the profiles of the character and the rules for Jem’s Universe.
I felt the Stingers were not a good idea. They looked too much like the Master Race. They reduced the screen time of the Misfits. I have always understood the parents did not like the Misfits, and that is why we got the Stingers. How would the parents feel about the Master Race Concept? Is this a better role model for the children? Did parents really go up in arms about the Misfits or was this an excuse they came up with to create the Stingers due to lacking sales? My take was the price of the dolls was more of an issue then the characters of the Misfits.
The Stingers third season episodes were not as compelling or interesting as the prior three seasons. I liked the idea of Pizzazz changing from wanted to steal Rio from Jem to wanting to be with Riot, but they never did very much with the idea, as the Misfits were basically out for most of the last season. They brought the Misfits back for a brief farewell. I saw the Stingers as the coffin nails to the Jem program. I did not care about role models. I was the same age as Jem would have been at the time of the series.
Were the dolls even needed at all? They could have just focused on creating a successful cartoon show without any dolls. Why should the fate of show be based on doll sales? The dolls were there, but I resisted buying them until the show was cancelled and the dolls went on sale for only $7.99. This got me started collecting dolls.
Now, that the line of Integrity Jem Dolls is finished since 2017 we can consider them in their entirety. Integrity did a great job, and went above and beyond to fix all the issues that were wrong with the Hasbro line of Jem dolls. The Hasbro Dolls were based on a line of Dolls called Darci, that was not great looking to begin with. They should have created a more unique doll. Darci is too fat, and her head was too big. But, one can get used to the heavier look, but Jem also appears flat chested compared to Barbie. The Hasbro Jem’s have a round moon face. It takes some getting used to in order to accept the way in which Jem looked so different from Barbie. It takes time to accept the way a new line of dolls look, so they don’t look strange anymore.
Hasbro Jem’s had two toned pink and blonde hair. Hasbro stole this idea from a doll called Tuesday Taylor. Tuesday was a Barbie sized doll and Tiffany Taylor was a larger than Barbie sized doll with two toned hair, that one was supposed to pull to the front to create both brown and blonde hair. It is almost impossible to arrange the hair properly to get the desired effect. Hasbro needed to create a separate doll for the Jerrica Character with blonde hair, and the Jem Dolls needed all pink hair to be correct. Therefore, all of the Hasbro Jem dolls do not look like Jem at all. They have both pink and blonde hair at the same time.
Integrity Dolls made Jem’s Hair the correct shade of all pink. But, what I find to be the worst issue with the Integrity Dolls is too many of them have teeth showing. Adult collects have proven that we don’t like teeth showing. Barbies with the Steffi Face mold are more popular then teeth showing dolls.
I never bought a Rio Doll. I don’t think I would bought the Stingers Dolls. They did not look that good. Minx and Rapture were the same girl with different hair and makeup. I never bought the Synergy Doll, because I did not like her look or her character.
The Jem Star earrings were not the correct on the Hasbro Dolls, and often the look of the dolls did not match up with the cartoon. This was in part because they were developing the show, and the dolls at the same time. They could not correctly connect to have the dolls and the show match. I have most of the Hasbro line of Jem dolls. I never played with them as if they were the characters from the show. I only dressed them, as if they were Barbie or any other fashion doll.
Integrity Stormers hair looked too flat. The Hasbro Stormers hair was too curly. Stormers hair has a wave, and is not super curly, but the flat look of her hair, made me not want the doll. All the Integrity Stormers had the same flat hair. They could have made some of them with more curly hair. The makeup on Integrity Stormers is a not as neon bright as on the Hasbro Jems. This can be pro or a con depending on what one is expecting in the makeup. Shana has great looking curly hair, and she is one of most correct looking of the dolls. Integrity Danse has colored hair, but about 50 percent of her hair is blonde. Hasbro Danse is a hard doll to dress, because any color one put on her could clash with one of the other colors in her hair. The Jetta Doll looks very good and quite actuate. The Hasbro Glitter and Gold Jem was a terrible looking. Her blush was too red, and her mouth had too many teeth. They wanted to make her look more like the smiling Barbie, and it was creepy. I like the closed month Jem better. The Integrity Jems started with a closed mouth, but the changed to showing some teeth. The Integrity Misfits and Holograms in the first wave have earrings that are not correct to the characters. The earrings look like they are are made of metal, but I hope they are plastic to avoid damage. They look like earrings for humans, that someone bought and stuck on the sides of the dolls head. Why would Integrity be so correct in all details only to fail with the earrings? The character Pizzazz had triangle style hoop earrings on the cartoon show. If they are removable, one can remove them, however it may be hard to find correct hoop earrings in the shape of triangles.
IDC could do a comic book series about the characters 20 years later. My idea was that Jem has married Rio, but then Riot is still trying to win her over. But the comic book did was Jem in the modern era. It was widely disliked by the fans and was terminated.
The best dolls in the Integrity line were Star Stuck Guitar Jem, and Bad Kimber with the orange haired head. Hollywood Jem looked pretty good, and so did the Roxie Dolls.
Updated: I bought the prototype head Integrity for the Pizzazz doll, then I bought a body to mount her on. The skin tone is grey, which made it hard to find a body in the correct skin tone. The body I got was a little less grey then the head tone. But, it is not really noticeable. One only notices the grey skin if they mount the grey head on a body that is pink toned or peach toned. Compared to Hasbro Jem, is much better. The first thing you will notice is Integrity Jem is very easy to dress. Hasbro Jem is hard to dress because the limbs are made of soft vinyl with metal joints inside them. The metal inside creates spots similar to the issues found on Topper Dawn Dolls. The vinyl limbs makes Hasbro Jem very hard to dress especially in tights.
The Hasbro Jem outfit line was filled with many tights and jumpsuits. I have no idea how they expected children to be able to dress Hasbro Jem. This is a doll that will have kids asking Mom to dress the doll for them. The pushing and pulling process of dressing a Hasbro Jem is not only difficult and time consuming but can cause damage to the outfit. Rips will occur and clothes will be stretched out of shape. I have Hasbro Shana which I did not remove the outfits until 2010, because it was difficult to redress the doll. The plastic in the outfit began to decay and created pock marks all over the doll. The Shana Doll was ruined. Plastic clothes and metal jewelry cause staining and decay in plastic dolls.
Updated: I bought the Bad Kimber Doll, and she is a great doll, but her jeans left a mark on her torso. The mark came out with nail polish remover. I don’t like the quick switch head. The head keeps falling off, and the extra head does not really fit very well. I sold the extra head. Removable heads are a great idea, but until the bugs are worked out, I would rather have one body and one head per doll.
