JEM: THE ANNUAL 1988
1988 was the second and last Jem annual - and, logically, it was also the Glitter and Gold annual, featuring Jem in full regalia on the front cover. There were several characters and actually issued items featured in this year's annual - read on to discover more :D

The Holograms
Video and Danse, riding dolphins during a Holograms performance (don't ask, please, don't ask!) as taken from the 1988 annual. Both dolls are depicted in almost one hundred percent accurate outfits here. Danse's sash is shown as more orangey than gold, but aside from that there's little in the way of diversity. Further proof that the illustrators of the annual were given pics of the dolls (or actual dolls themselves) to draw from instead of the versions on the cartoon series.
Danse is also shown in the annual wearing a dark pink bikini top instead of her orange halter neck. I think that was just a momentary blip, mind you ^_^. When Video is shown with her camera, it matches almost exactly the one she was sold with and not the grey one she uses on the show. I include these as Holograms because the annual does - they appear on stage with the group and everything. (I wonder what kind of tune Video gets out of her camera...)

The Holograms en mass - what a scary sight! In this one you can see Video's camera, and also the Holograms themselves are all wearing their first edition outfits and playing their first edition instruments (well, all bar Raya, who's in general Raya gear with drums and sticks).
The Holograms also appear in second edition costume too - but the accuracy there is not quite so good. Shana is the one which is most
accurate, in all truth.


Her hairbow, jacket, and bodysuit are all right as far as colours go, though her guitar seems a bit dark. Kimber...well, there are two options here. She's definitely wearing Electric Chords' trousers. Because it's a scribbled drawing, it's hard to be sure, but I think Kimber is wearing Electric Chords and not her 2nd edition outfit at all. It's hard to tell because the jacket in the pic is so dark and the style of her keyboard is that she was sold with, but I'm gonna stick my neck out and say it's EC anyway. Of course, it proves that the Music Is Magic fashions were sold in the UK (Makes sense. The loose parts I have to Electric Chords came from a seller in the UK). Kimber wears it more than once in the annual. Aja is wearing her second edition skirt, shoes, belt and top but her tights are the wrong colour (I believe I have seen a prototype pic of her somewhere with that colour tights) and she has no headband. Its easy to see though that they are meant to be second edition dolls, not first edition ones.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE MANY FACES OF JEM (plus RIO)
Jem (or Jerrica) appear in the book wearing many of their original outfits, but the ones that appear most are the Glitter and Gold and Flash and Sizzle outfits. These too seem fairly accurate to me.
Jem as 'Flash and Sizzle' Jem. The outfit matches the Hasbro produced one, right down to the whiteish tights and yellow shoes. You can even see the irridescent part of the skirt and the frill around the top. The only thing I can spot is that her shoes are not as neon yellow in colour as they should be, and are not scalloped. Far as I can tell, she even has her mic! Flash and Sizzle 'Jerrica' also appears fairly often in the annual...here's a charming pic of her with Rio, who just happens to be dressed in his first edition outfit. He appears quite often throughout the book dressed in that - you'd think he'd manage to change his clothes once in a while! Ironic too, since he doesnt wear this at any point during the first annual!





One of the odd things to note is that there is never a Glitter and Gold Jerrica form shown anywhere in the annual. I don't know a lot about G&G Jem, but I was led to believe that she does have a Jerrica form. However, Flash and Sizzle Jerrica in the annual generally 'morphs' into Glitter and Gold Jem - see below
. This is also one of Synergy's only two appearances in the annual. One key reason I think she wasn't sold here is because her outfit is roughly based on that of the TV show Synergy and not the doll. And also, she's drawn so hideous! Glitter and Gold's outfit is fairly accurate also in the book and appears fairly often, including on the
front cover.


 



Flash and Sizzle Jerrica also seems to morph into Rock and Curl Jem. Rock and Curl Jem appears once in the annual - perhaps twice. The outfit is fairly accurate, and she WAS sold here :)
 




And of course, what annual would be complete without the good old original first edition Jem, to remind kids what they asked Mum and Dad for for Christmas last year :) Though she only appears in a couple of places in either first edition outfit, I think it's fairly obvious that the first edition of Jem was sold in the UK the year before (1987 itself, in fact). I know that many first edition Jem dolls have been found in the UK, also :) Though Jerrica's belt has something on it which the real belt doesn't have, both depictions seem fairly accurate to me. Jerrica is even wearing the right shoes!
 



And just in case you were wondering, yes, Glitter and Gold Rio does make an appearance in this book, too. Not quite as liberally as his femme fatale, but he's there a fair bit. This is a touching scene taken from one of the cartoon strip stories where Rio uses a jet pack (!!!) to save Jem from a blimp and Jem distracts a bunch of display planes with a holographic UFO. Nice to see that they haven't lost their grip on reality, then!
 
 
 
 


 
 

THE MISFITS
The Misfits are an ugly bunch in the annual, it has to be said. Stormer becomes positively evil!  There is only one vaguely attractive shot of her throughout the whole book. Only Clash looks halfway decent. Of course, mustn't forget that Jetta plays absolutely NO part in this book WHATSOEVER.
Here's a nice cosy shot of the Misfits with Eric Raymond. Stormer's hair is drawn as extremely curly, which is another reason I think that the tiny curled version was the one sold in the UK. The outfits are pretty accurate too. Clash has her headset and tights and bracelets (no cymbals) and dress and jacket, though the dress is shown as black. Though you can't see it in this pic, she is also shown later with her distortion modulator (in fact in one story she uses it!)  and her belt- see second picture.  Stormer's top seems to have grown claws at the back, which is a bit odd, but forgiveable ^_^. Roxy's trousers - noone can draw Roxy's trousers, but it isnt a bad shot at it. Pizzazz's outfit is exact and Roxy's belt is close, only her stickers are in the wrong place.
Less said about Eric the better.
Oh, you wanna know about the dog? <grins> Eric is remembering at this point a time when the Misfits did a dog food commercial, and the dog howled through their song...and Pizzazz is reminding Eric that the food tasted awful, and that the director should know since she made him eat a whole can. Gotta love the Misfits :)




JEM WEAR

I have only found a few examples of actual Jem/Misfit wear in the books I have that isn't clothing sold on the dolls themselves. First is Jem, who wears the jacket to Sophisticated Lady (there isn't enough of the rest of her to see if she's wearing the whole outfit, but I assume she must be) and then there is Pizzazz, who wears Just Misbehavin'. However, though Jem's jacket matches the one I have for that outfit, I'm kinda concerned about Pizzazz's outfit. Somehow the jacket and skirt have gone rather purple, as opposed to black, and she doesn't seem to have any tights, either. Still, the outfit is recognisable. I'd guess both outfits were almost definitely part of the UK line. Of course there is also the Kimber=Electric Chords thing, see above. 




  . 
This however is where things get weird. There have been no indications in my research that second year flips came out here. However, here we have a nice picture of arguably the rarest of all the Flipsides - complete in both parts bar Jerrica's shades. This is Runnin' Like The Wind, and it's inclusion in the annual makes me really wonder about second year flips and the UK.
Does anyone have any info they can share with me on this??
  



 


And for a bit of fun...who do you suppose this is?
Give up?
It's Zipper!
Yes, really.
Obviously noone gave the illustrators a proper pic of him to work from :P
But wait, maybe I can explain it...according to the story he claims his mother was a great white shark and his father was an electric eel. Interesting ideas these books can throw up!