There is no doubt that there exists such a thing as Superstar dolls. These cast off dolls, as far as I understand, consisted of remaining bits and pieces used for first year Jem dolls among other stuff, and are generally identified out of their (not marked as Hasbro) packages by the style of their wrists. According to popular belief, only two actual issue Jem dolls came with what have been dubbed 'superstar' wrists - Raya and Synergy.
'SUPERSTAR' WRIST Dolls found with this style (not including true superstar dolls) Raya (observed MIB and loose) Synergy First Edition Shana First Edition Aja (observed MIB and loose) First Edition Kimber (observed MIB and loose) First Edition Roxy (observed MIB and loose) First Edition Stormer (observed MIB and loose) First Edition Pizzazz (observed MIB and loose)
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'PROTRUDING WRIST' Dolls found with this style: Second Edition Kimber (pink streaked) Second Edition Kimber (red) Second Edition Shana Second Edition Aja First Edition Aja (Hong Kong) Video (observed MIB and loose) First Edition Kimber First Edition Shana Flash & Sizzle Jem Glitter and Gold Jem Rock & Curl Jem Danse |
'INSERTED WRIST' Dolls found with this style: First Edition Jem Clash (observed MIB and loose) Jetta Pizzazz (edition unknown) First Edition Stormer Roxy (edition unknown)
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So what if Hasbro in Europe had their dolls produced with the 'superstar'
style of wrists? What then? And what if Hasbro Inc and Hasbro Europe both
decided to apply the mould of wrist design to Raya and Synergy for the second
year? What if, like the different head moulds used, and different battery
plates used, there are also different official wrist moulds used?
Pursuing this line of thought further made me examine my dolls more closely,
and particularly their wrist designs. Interestingly enough, some of my other
dolls have an almost crossover style of wrist -the whole of the hand,
joint included protrudes from the wrist but is not ball and socket like
the 'superstar wrist. (Listed dolls are only some of the ones I have
seen and verified with my own eyes, there may be more and there may be dolls
of that edition with alternative wrist styles. It seems to be that 90% of
the "protruding" wrists are seen on Hologram dolls and the later editions
of Jem, whereas 95% of the inserted wrists come from Misfit and First Edition
Jem dolls.)
Though I'm willing to concede that on some dolls the 'inserted' wrist can
be played with so much that it perhaps slips out of joint, it does not explain
the 'display only' and 'mint in package' dolls which follow this pattern.
I'm generally of the opinion that they probably are more or less the same,
only it depends mainly on their manufacture as to how far the joint protrudes
from the socket.
BUT...where does that leave the 'superstar' label now?
ACTUAL superstar dolls, it seems, are something quite different and perhaps
more in the minority than has been assumed. But with more information about
the European side of doll production surfacing all the time, it is only
a matter of time before these variations are more widely noticed.
Since certain quantities of these dolls also appear in America, generally
loose from box, it is my belief that a quantity of them were also sold in
North America (Canada also, since I have it on good authority that at least
Roxy of the ball wristed dolls has been found there boxed). It is also possible,
of course, that the dolls are imports.
Since I have direct evidence to support the fact that ball wristed dolls
were sold as official issue in parts of Europe, I shall refer to them as
European, but they were not necessarily exclusive to this continent.