Mike's Toybox

Despite my plans to only collect the Misfits, I ended up running out of space to store my impressive collection of Holograms.

The Holograms use a lot of warm, harmonious colors versus the wild, clashing patterns of the Misfits, owing to their personalities as what is essentially the Get-Along Gang with face paint. As I’ve said before, the epidemic of moral pariah protagonists in 80s cartoons made the heroes we grew up with pretty unmemorable outside of their outward designs.

Despite this, these dolls are gorgeous. It’s hard to pick a favorite Hologram as far as aesthetic goes.

Jem lacks her cool original dress in favor of the silver jumpsuit I find much cooler and sexier for some reason. Her earrings still light up after all these years. She’s a version 1 Jem as well: later versions used a Barbie-esque smiling head sculpt that looks downright creepy, and I could never stand looking at it. Like the protagonist should be, Jem is the center of attention wherever I arrange her on the shelf.

Her sister Kimber is no slouch, though, especially since I replaced her Prince outfit with this hot pink and orange getup. She’s downright adorable, unlike her obnoxious animated counterpart.

Kimber unfortunately has the distinction of being the only complex personality on the show: she’s the only one who isn’t just there to spout her lines and get into trouble. Jem does the moral posturing, Aja drives the car and makes snide comments, Shana…designs clothes? Kimber throws tantrums, has mood swings, bungles her way into love triangles that leave everybody hurt, and pines for her late dad in ways that tug at the heart string, to the point where she develops a sweet bond with Pizzazz’s dad on Father’s Day. She even helps save a veteran musician’s home and the musical museum it contains, learning to respect her elders as well as musical history. Kimber gets around and her character runs the gamut of emotions and life outlooks, making her more well-rounded than the rest of the Holograms combined.

It’s a shame she’s such a twat most of the time.

Aja is also hard not to like. She stands out from the warm palette of her bandmates by covering herself in cool blues and purples from head to toe. She has a unique head sculpt with a smile that is quite endearing–the opposite of Jem’s later head sculpt. I think someone took scissors to my Aja’s hair though, since it’s cut unevenly. Or maybe that’s her style. I have no idea. In a nice edgy touch, Aja’s skirt has a snakeskin pattern, suggesting she’s a bit tougher than the other girls.

From what I’ve read, Aja is generally highly sought after because of her excellent overall design. Can’t deny she’s an aesthetically pleasing piece of art.

Shana is arguably the prettiest of them all, from her kinky purple hair to her sweet face to her poofy pink bow. Another work of art from the 1980s toy shelves that more than makes up for her boring counterpart in the cartoon. I imagine a lot of young girls went ga-ga when they saw her on the shelves.

Synergy is basically the holographic ghost of Jem and Kimber’s dead mother. The show kicked things off on a high note, didn’t it? She’s rocking out with her 80s space workout spandex, which normally comes with a headband, but I leave it off since she looks prettier without it. She mostly hangs out in the background, making Jem look cool. I think she’s one of the best-looking pieces in the line.

Video is so cute I just wanna pinch her cheek, although I’d worry about her hair collapsing on me like a condemned building. Her outfit and hair are probably the most outrageous of them all–the detailing on that jacket alone is out of sight.

Video is another lost opportunity on the show. In the Father’s Day episode she gets riled easily and her big mouth makes a bad situation worse in the heat of the moment. They could’ve written a number of episodes or scenarios around Video’s bungling temper being the center of the plot, if not another obstacle. I wish they’d played off of that in other stories–the Holograms are so lacking in character it’s a shame!

Raya is the newest member of the Holograms, a sweet Latina with a fiery temper and a terrible original outfit. I ditched it immediately in favor of Kimber’s Prince getup, which already looks much better on her. Raya is the drummer, and as such came with an extra long stand with a hole for her drums to plug into–as if the stands for these dolls weren’t big enough! Because of her rarity, I don’t have a complete drum set, so that’ll be fun (and expensive) to cobble together. Or I could just leave her a backup singer.

Raya is probably my favorite on the show. She’s a sweetheart. And you also don’t wanna fuck with her. Although I can’t help thinking she would’ve worked as a new Misfit if they’d run with the “angry cholita” thing.

The Holograms shelf is so crowded I had to get creative with her placement.