History WesternAnimation / Jem

* IntimidatingRevenueService: Roxy once won one million dollars thanks to a Lottery Ticket she found. She lost half to the IRS.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: '''Eric Raymond'''.

* DownerEnding: Video Wars; Clash has a chance at a new life when she pretends to be a different person in order to make an embarrassing tour video of Jem, in hopes of getting made a full-on member of the Misfits. The plot fails and the Misfits reject her. Despite being pissed off at her, Jem offers to give Clash a second chance by pointing out how the Misfits don't care about her and only let her hang around them so she can do their dirty work. Clash rejects Jem's olive branch and denounces Jem/proclaims that the Misfits ARE her friends. Only to find the Misfits are in their van and driving away, with Pizzazz outright telling her to get lost when she begs her to stop so that she can leave with them. Add to the fact that this is the last (speaking) appearance of Clash in the series, creates a mega downer ending for the character (basically rejected by her idols and having purposely re-burnt her bridges with Jem after Jem stuck her neck out and forgave her).
** ''Father's Day'' and ''A Change of Heart'' are also depressing episodes, especially when you consider that Pizzazz and Minx are both screwed over by the Holograms and their ([[{{YMMV}} according to some viewers]]) self-righteousness and, whether deserved or not, it's pretty sad.
* DramaticIrony: Regarding Video and Clash. Video has mentioned that maintaining her career as a filmmaker is difficult work, and that she has to make each film top the other. Clash refuses to believe the Misfits don't care about her and performed a HeelFaceDoorSlam of her own doing in ''Video Wars''. The one person Video has to outdo is herself, and Clash is her own worst enemy. Despite they're bickering, they're NotSoDifferent.

* RecycledSoundtrack: By the time the second (technically third[[note]]Despite the Wikipedia and Shout! Factory DVD listings, the FivePartPilot makes up the entirety of the first season, while everything after that up to "Glitter and Gold" is the second season.[[/note]]) season starts, the show starts reusing songs with new music videos, to the point where there are entire episodes without a single new song.

* RecycledSoundtrack: By the time the second season starts, the show starts reusing songs with new music videos, to the point where there are entire episodes without a single new song.

* BrotherChuck: In the initial few episodes, there was shown to be an older woman who seemed to maintain the Starlight house for Jerrica. But almost immediately she vanishes completely without mention and the Holograms are shown to be running the place completely alone.

* CrossingTheBurntBridge: Jem and the Holograms had too much of Eric's abuse while working on a movie they quit. Then they learn one of the foster girls at Starlight Foundation needed an expensive surgery to avoid becoming blind so they had no choice but to come back. Eric got Jerrica to agree to becoming his assistant as a condition to let Jem and the Holograms back.

** ''Father's Day'' and ''A Change of Heart'' are also depressing episodes, especially when you consider that Pizzazz and Minx are both screwed over by the Holograms and their self-righteousness and, whether deserved or not, it's pretty sad.

[[MerchandiseDriven Originally, the series was created for a line of dolls made by Hasbro]]. The series combined music, adventure, fashion, and SoapOpera-esque drama which gave the show its own appeal.

--'''Jerrica 'Jem' Benton'''

Jerrica learns that shortly before her father's death, he created a computer system called "Synergy," which has the power to create {{Hologram}}s and other illusions. Jerrica uses Synergy and a pair of [[AppliedPhlebotinum hologram projecting earrings]] to turn into Jem. The only other people who know Jerrica and Jem are the same person are the members of her band, the Holograms, which consists of her younger sister, Kimber (keyboards), and their two adopted sisters Aja (lead guitar) and Shana (originally drums, then bass guitar). Later, the band gains a new member, Raya, who took over for Shana on drums.

Most of the trouble the group faces comes in the form of Eric Raymond, a power-hungry CorruptCorporateExecutive who was Mr. Benton's former partner in the record company. His "discovery," a band called the Misfits (not to be confused with the real band) consisting of Pizzazz (guitar/vocals), Roxy (bass) and Stormer (keytar), is a group of self-described "bad girls from the wrong side of the tracks," who are constantly causing trouble to get attention and/or trying to ruin Jem. Reacting to the publicity that the Holograms get from adding Raya, they also pick up a new member, Jetta (saxophone). (Ironically, the Misfits were better received by RealLife critics than the Holograms.)

[[MerchandiseDriven Originally, the series was created for a line of dolls made by Hasbro.]] The series combined music, adventure, fashion, and SoapOpera-esque drama which gave the show its own appeal.

* EightiesHair: Pretty much everyone. Most of the main characters have hair larger than their own heads. Notably the Misfits, Jem, and most of the Holograms.

* CassandraTruth: In "The Princess and the Singer," Jem attempts to reveal Regent Lexa's kidnapping plot by exposing her in public. The Regent simply laughs at her and nobody believes her.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Eric Raymond usually comes up with nefarious schemes that puts Jem and the Holograms' lives in danger. But in ''The Princess and the Singer'', when he finds out the plot to assassinate Princess Adriana (with Jem and the Holograms being collateral damage) he ''rushes to the scene'' to try and stop it.

* FiveManBand: The Holograms

-->'''Pizzazz''': Well, well. If it isn't little miss pink-hair and the singalongs!

* VillainessesWantHeroes: Inverted with Riot trying to seduce Jem.

** Danse has multicoloured hair. Or possibly she grows ribbons out of her head. It's not clear.

* BrotherChuck: In the initial few episodes, there was shown to be an older woman who seemed to maintain the Starlight house for Jerrica. But almost immediately she vanishes completely without mention and the holograms are shown to be running the place completely alone.

* IntimidatingRevenueService: Roxy once won one million dollars thanks to a LotteryTicket she found. She lost half to the IRS.

* WhileYouWereInDiapers: One episode invokes this trope with Bobby Bailey's criticism of Jem and the Holograms' version of a song he did back in the TheFifties.

* ItGotWorse: After Jem, the Holograms, and most of the production staff quit the "Starbright" movie because of Eric Raymond and the Misfits. The Misfits decide to have the entire movie redone so it's all about them, while the Holograms start filming the original "Starbright" script. Then MORE staff members quit due to Pizzazz's whining and constant demands, until numerous union heads have the production shut down because of Eric's multiple violations. The Misfits decide to stop anyway, tired of all the work, and claim that "they have enough scenes". When the movie is released it's, naturally, a total bomb, while "Starbright" is a smash hit.

** This is somewhat justified. When Jem first started airing in the USA Network it was a girl's show playing in between two cartoons geared towards boys. So to test the waters of the cartoon to see if it could pass in such a timeslot, the first few episodes of Jem were actually bits and pieces of ten-minute segments they would air at the end of cartoons. The cliffhanger's would happen because that was technically the end of the segment, and it was a way to bring kids back to want to see what happened next. They'd also initially tried to appeal Jem to both boys and girls to broaden their target audience. But when they realized only girls were interested in Jem they focused on their female audience.

* HouseFire: In the pilot episode from its days on ''SuperSunday'', the segment "Disaster" sees one of Eric's henchmen break into the Starlight House; the fire starts after the Holograms confront him. Everyone evacuates safely, but the house burns to the ground.