In 1996, Jem and the Holograms threw their final concert after almost a decade of being together. Jem, better know as Jerrica Benton, was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend Rio Pacheco and decided to settle down before their child was born. Jerrica and Rio decided that, though their relationship couldn't work out, they'd have dual custody of the baby.
16 years later in 2012, Pilar Jacqui Benton-Pacheco is the rebellious teenage daughter of Jerrica and Rio. After being expelled from school, Pilar is sent to live with her father in California for a year.
Starlight Is For Always
is a Jem fanfic by Kidcomix. It takes place years post-series and stars Jerrica's daughter.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: After the band disbanded, Pizzazz left Stormer and Roxy out on the streets. In canon, Pizzazz is a brat but it's shown deep down she does care for her bandmates.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the cartoon everyone has naturally technicolor hair, but here they don't. For example, Stormer's natural colour is brown, while Roxy was coerced into bleaching her brown hair platinum blonde by her record company.
- Camp Gay: Destiny "Dee" Vishu Ashe is first seen wearing baby blue pants, a rainbow V-neck tee, and a pink scarf. Pilar instantly pins him as gay.
- Dead Guy Junior: Pilar's middle name "Jacqui" comes from her maternal grandmother.
- Faking the Dead: Jerrica faked Jem's death by claiming she died in an airplane crash in 1996.
- Fan-Created Offspring: The fic stars various children of Jem characters: Rio and Jerrica's daughter Pilar, Riot and Stormer's son Jagger, Eric and Pizzazz's daughter Desire, Riot and Rapture's son Destiny, etc.
- Fictional Counterpart
- Rio is in charge of a technology company called MicroApple.
- Sean produced such film greats as the Space Trek Wars franchise.
- Former Teen Rebel:
- Stormer was always the most even-tempered Misfit, but her edge has all but dissipated within the past sixteen years.
- Pizzazz married Eric, became a born again Christian, and leads a conservative religious group called "Paradise Ministries".
- Roxy went back to school to get her diploma and then went to college. She's now a psychologist and family therapist.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: The well-mannered Jerrica has a rebellious daughter.
- The Fundamentalist: Pizzazz has turned into a conservative Christian since the 80s. She's very loud about her beliefs.
- Funetik Aksent: Jetta's Cockney accent is depicted with a thick version of this. She uses a lot of "w"s.
- Gender-Blender Name: "Destiny" is usually used for girls, but Dee's mother Rapture named him because she had a vision that her child would be destined for greatness.
- Generation Xerox: Pilar just so happens to get sent to a high school full of the children of her parent's former friends and foes. They all happen to be musically talented as well. This is lampshaded:Pilar: "This is a weird coincidence! The Stingers! The Misfits! The Holograms! It's like we're all related!"
- Goth: Pilar goes through a moody goth phase for much of the fanfic. She eventually changes her style.
- Junkie Parent: Riot died of an overdose when his kids were only a few months old.
- The Mafia: It's mentioned that Clash got involved with the mob and ended up killed by them.
- Named by the Adaptation: Techrat is given the name "Joe Sandusky".
- New Age: Since Minx and Riot's deaths, Rapture has genuinely become a fan of New Age. She's specifically a New Age psychic.
- Old Shame:
- An in-universe example. Roxy doesn't think kindly of her past as a Misfit. She sees it as an immature, angry phase in her life where she was going nowhere.
- Jerrica regretted her "Jem" persona so much that she literally killed her off.
- Promoted to Love Interest:
- Stormer's ex-husband is Riot.
- Pizzazz married Eric.
- Rapture had a child with Riot.
- Purple Prose: There's much usage of descriptors. Dee is frequently referred to as "the gay teen" (as in "The gay teen said...").
- Rags to Riches: This is Jem's cover-up story. The Holograms found a homeless Jem singing on the streets one day and asked her to join their band.
- Sinister Minister: Eric Raymond may be a minister, but he's still as corrupt as he was back when he was a businessman.
- Two-Person Love Triangle: Deconstructed. Ten years on, Jerrica and Rio are still in love but Jerrica doesn't feel they can make their relationship work. Jerrica would prefer a man that isn't so easily swayed, while Jerrica knows Rio would prefer a woman who won't deceive him for years on end.
- Technology Marches On: Synergy needs upgrading after being in use for a decade. A lot has changed since her creation.
- Weight Woe:
- Pia is secretly bulimic.
- Desiree is unhappy with her weight.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue features on a cynical one where, amongst other things, Eric is comatose, Pizzazz and Jetta are both institutionalized, and Techrat was murdered in jail for his crimes.
