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In the 1980s, girls—in the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper—just wanted to have fun. Hasbro, which had successfully revived its male counterpart to Barbie, G.I. Joe, still wanted a piece of the fashion-doll market that Mattel’s Barbie dominated....
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In the 1980s, girls—in the immortal words of Cyndi Lauper—just wanted to have fun. Hasbro, which had successfully revived its male counterpart to Barbie, G.I. Joe, still wanted a piece of the fashion-doll market that Mattel’s Barbie dominated. Thanks to the popularity of MTV, which played nothing but song-length music videos, Lauper and Madonna made a milder version of punk-rock rebellion accessible, with catchy pop tunes and a girlie spin on punk style. Thus, the “truly outrageous” rocker doll Jem and her all-girl band the Holograms was born. According to Hasbro, in the early '80s, designer Bill Sanders came up with a line of fashion dolls to appeal to these girls who loved dolls and pink, but also wanted to be MTV stars. His answer was a 12.5-inch-tall vinyl doll with big hair, edgy wardrobes, and glittery glam-rock makeup. Sanders’ prototypes included a car and dolls for two all-girl bands, a boyfriend figure, and Synergy, the female representation of an artificially intelligent supercomputer. Thanks to the success Hasbro had marketing toys through cartoons like “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” and “The Transformers” in the early 1980s, the company naturally decided to commission another animated series from Marvel Productions and Sundbow Productions, a subsidiary of the New York advertising agency Griffin-Bacal. “G.I. Joe” writer Christy Marx was hired to give the new dolls their story. The Japaneses studio Toei Doga animated the cartoon. In Marx’s story, Jem is the secret rock-star alias of Jerrica Benton, who inherits half of the Starlight Music label from her father when he dies. Unfortunately, her father’s corrupt associate, Eric Raymond, has been willed the other half of the company. Starlight Music supports the Starlight Foundation, which funds a foster home for girls called Starlight House. Right away, Eric attempts to shut Jerrica out of the business and close down the charity. However, Jerrica is contacted by Synergy, a supercomputer her...
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