Jem Doll Body Variations

Jem Body Types - Holograms & Misfits.

So far, I've come across five distinct Jem body types among the Hologram/Misfit bodies, shown below. The first three are found in Canada, the US, most of Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Europe tended to get the ball-wrist style dolls (Aja in photo below) and Canada/US got more of the smooth wristed/triangular pelvis dolls in the first year packaging. I'm afraid I don't know much about which dolls were more common in Australia and New Zealand!
The two on the right were made in Spain and Mexico. The Spanish dolls are very difficult to find outside of Spain - and possibly within Spain for that matter! From what I've heard from various collectors around the world, the Mexican dolls seem to be fairly prevalent in the UK, as well as Mexico and South America. I'm including the Jem/Jerrica here as I don't have a Hologram/Misfit Made in Spain doll to compare with the others.

Left To Right:, click on links to jump further down the page for more information about the doll body style.
Aja - Thick Pelvis, knobby wrists. This specific doll is a Super Stars doll, with no location marked on her back.
Kimber - Triangular Pelvis, smooth wrists. This specific doll is marked Hong Kong (wide font), from a 1st Year Kimber/H44 box.
Clash - Skinny Pelvis, smooth wrists. This specific doll is marked China, from an H22 box.
Jem - Made in Spain. Go the the Spanish Jem/Jerrica page for more information on her.
Pizzazz - No markings at all, shiny, Mexican-made body. More info on Mexican dolls soon!

Back Stamps
China, Hong Kong & No Location dolls
Outside of the Mexican & Spanish dolls, Jem dolls were made in either China or Hong Kong and are marked as such. There are some that have no place of manufacture stamped on the dolls, which we call "No Location" dolls; however I know at least one doll that had no location marks that was sold in a box that said she was made in Hong Kong, so I am going to wager that the no location dolls are actually Hong Kong dolls -or even some could be China-made dolls too- that were simply not marked with a location, for whatever purpose. Some of my listings below mention "removal marks" - which is a term for some sort of marking on or around the location that look almost as though the marks were removed, or replaced by new lettering. Why these marks are there, I can only guess at this point but it seems worth mentioning. Since the marks are so uniform, it must be on the copy master of the torso used to make that specific batch of dolls.

I have catalogued several different back stamps, and I'm sure there are more I still haven't seen. The differences between many of the stamps are very slight and probably of no actual interest to the casual Jem fan, but for those who are curious my findings can be seen below.

Back Stamps listings Holograms, Misfits and Rock N' Curl Jem:

Dolls I've seen with these markings	Marking (Back)	Marking
Jetta Roxy 2nd Ed Canadian		© 1985 HASBRO INC. CHINA (lower back) compressed font, has period.
Clash Danse Jetta Pizzazz Roxy 1st ed US Roxy 2nd Ed US Stormer		© 1985 HASBRO INC. CHINA (upper back) compressed font, has period, no removal marks.
Raya Synergy		© 1985 HASBRO INC. CHINA (upper Back) compressed font (top row) bottom row a bit wider w/faint rectangular "border", has period, "8" is equal size on top and bottom, "1" is a solid line.
1st Ed Kimber		© 1985 HASBRO INC CHINA (upper Back) wide font, no period, no removal marks.
2nd Edition Aja 2nd Edition Kimber 2nd Edition Shana Rock N' Curl Jem Video		© 1985 HASBRO INC CHINA (upper Back) wide font, no period, oval-shaped mark
Rock N' Curl Jem Danse		© 1985 HASBRO INC CHINA (upper Back) wide font, no period, faint removal marks (not really oval)
1st Edition Aja 1st Edition Kimber Roxy Stormer		© 1985 HASBRO INC. (Upper Back) compressed font, has period, no removal marks.
1st Edition Aja 1st Edition Shana 1st Edition Kimber 1st ED MIB Dutch Pizzazz Stormer Super Stars Aja		© 1985 HASBRO INC. (Upper Back) compressed font, has period, has rectangular removal marks.
Pizzazz 1st Edition Kimber 1st Edition Aja (Italian NRFB) 1st Edition Shana Stormer Roxy		© 1985 HASBRO INC. MADE IN HONG KONG (Upper Back) compressed font, has period, no removal marks.
1st Edition Aja US 1st Edition Kimber 1st Edition Shana US NRFB		© 1985 HASBRO INC HONG KONG (upper back) wide font, no period, no removal marks.

Pelvis
The most obvious difference between the three main Hong Kong/China doll types is the pelvis - and her bum too actually! But since most dolls in auctions, etc are viewed from the front I'm focusing on this side ;)


Thick (Ball-wrist) Legs are prone to turning yellow. Bodies are slightly shorter when standing next to other Jem dolls. The holes in the bottoms of the feet are smaller. More intense make up, slightly darker complexions and spikier hair for Roxy, Kimber, Pizzazz and tighter curls for Stormer and Shana. So far I've seen this pelvis on Super Stars dolls 1st Edition Aja 1st Edition Kimber 1st Edition Shana Pizzazz (1st edition, possibly 2nd but not likely) Roxy (probably 1st edition, don't know) Stormer (probably 1st edition, don't know) Raya Synergy Dolls with this style pelvis are marked Made in Hong Kong or blank (no location specified)- with the exception of Raya and Synergy, both of whom are marked Made in China. H-32 marked boxes seem to only have this style doll in them. Synergy and Raya are the only thick-pelvis dolls to come in an H-44 box.	Skinny (smooth-wrist) The holes in the bottoms of the feet are smaller. So far I've seen this pelvis on Clash Jetta 1st Edition Jem (China, small battery cover) Glitter N' Gold Jem Pizzazz (2nd Edition) Pizzazz (1st Edition) Stormer (1st Edition for sure, probably 2nds as well) Roxy (2nd Edition) Roxy (1st Edition) So far, I've only seen China-marked dolls with this style of pelvis/body. H-22-marked boxes (as far as I have seen) seem to contain these dolls exclusively.	Triangular (smooth-wrist) To me, the most attractive pelvis of the bunch, the China-made ones in particular often have very smooth torsos, but sadly are very prone to shoulder chips. The holes in the bottoms of the feet are larger. Faces tends to be paler, have softer make up and smoother hair. Aja (2nd Edition) Aja (1st Edition, Hong Kong) Kimber (2nd Edition) Kimber (1st Edition China) Kimber (1st Edition, Hong Kong) Danse 1st Edition Jem (China, large battery cover) 1st Edition Jem (Hong Kong) Rock N' Curl Jem Shana (2nd Edition) Shana (1st Edition, China) Video Flash N' Sizzle Jem This style comes on both Hong Kong and China-marked dolls. With the exception of Raya and Synergy, it looks like H-44 marked boxes will contain this style of doll.

Wrists

The ball-jointed wrist is also sometimes referred to as a "Super Star" or "Euro" body. These names aren't totally accurate though, as there are European-market dolls with smooth wrists, and regularly packaged US dolls can have the ball-jointed wrist too; not to mention both Raya and Synergy come with this style wrist. The peg holding the wrist into the arm is different - the ball-jointed ones are much longer than the others, so if you're attempting some hand switcheroos, you have to use smooth wrists as universal donors, or ball-joint to ball-joint only.

Head Stamps
Listing of different head stamps I've seen on Hologram/Misfit dolls. Some stamps were also used on some of the Jem/Jerrica dolls.

Doll	Marking	Marking
1st Edition Jem/Jerrica (Large cover Hong Kong) 1st Edition Aja (wide Hong Kong) 2nd Edition Aja 1st Edition Kimber 2nd Edition Kimber 2nd Edition Shana Synergy Video		HASBRO INC. Embossed text on embossed rectangle.
Pizzazz Roxy Stormer		HASBRO 1985 (engraved)
K- (pictured) 1st Edition Kimber Roxy A- Aja - Super Stars Doll 1st Edition Aja: Italian (Made in Hong Kong comp) 1st Ed. Aja (no Location) P- Pizzazz 1st ED MIB Dutch S- 1st Edition Shana Stormer		K HASBRO INC (engraved) Top letter can be K, A, P or S, depending on the head mold.

Hair and Make Up
Ultimately, to me the most interesting part that comes with the body types, is noticing the hair and make up differences. Here are a couple of examples of the differences between the Hong Kong and China-made dolls.

	Shown here are two Stormer dolls, the one on the left is a knobby-wristed doll, the right is a Made in China doll. Notice the difference in complexion, as well as the wider eyes on the China-made doll. It's not very obvious here but the hair on the Hong Kong doll is very tightly curled and much shinier than the softer, duller waves of the China doll.
	The China-made doll is on the left, the Hong Kong on the right. The Hong Kong dolls (Kimber and Pizzazz too) can even have flat bangs right against the forehead, or bangs that stick straight up. China bangs tend to be slightly curled, up off the face. Again notice the pale skin on the China doll and make up differences.

Thanks to Corey Bedford, Summer, Taffeta, and many others who helped contribute to this section.

More:
1st Edition Jem/Jerrica -China, Hong Kong, "No Location"
Jem/Jerrica Made in Spain, and Mexican (shiny bodies/no markings)
Rio Bodies
Glitter N' Gold Jem Variants