YMMV / Jem and the Holograms (IDW)

• Broken Base:
  • Stormer and Kimber's Adaptational Sexuality. One side loves them as a couple and love that a canon lesbian relationship is in the series. The other side believes that they shouldn't have been made gay and/or accuse the comic of biphobia by not making Kimber bisexual, seeing as she had multiple male lovers in the show. And another side doesn't mind the relationship but feels that it happened and is moving much too quickly.
  • Whether the series should be a part of the Hasbro Comic Universe (as Word of God from the editors of Revolution have said that Jem is a part of the new combined continuity, whereas Jem's editors themselves have apparently said it isn't- leading to be in somewhat of a state of limbo until stated otherwise). While some fans would love GI Joe or Transformers crossovers, others feel that series with such advanced technology taking place in the same universe as Jem would ruin the importance of Synergy.
  • Raya joining Jem and the Holograms. To some it was a Foregone Conclusion however others thought the comic was changing things up. Is it best that they kept that plot thread from the cartoons or would it have been best if they changed the characters dynamics and kept Raya as a Stinger, maybe even a friendly-ish Stinger like Stormer is?
• Cargo Ship: Roxy really likes bagels. She even falls for one in the Valentines' Day episode.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • As always, Stormer. Even in-series she seems to have a fanbase.
  • Fans on Tumblr really like Clash, especially due to her nose.
  • Blaze gets this. Usually fandoms are wary of Canon Foreigners but she's been received remarkably well.
• Epileptic Trees: Given how the series has been retroactively fused into the Hasbro Comic Universe, it brings up questions about whether Synergy is actually an AI, or if she could be linked to the other Hasbro titles- could she be a Cybertronian spark (a Camien?) that somehow got trapped in a computer? A former member of the Solstar Order? A being from Microspace?- especially given how she was an ally of the Micronauts in Hasbro's previous crossover attempt, Unit:E.
• Fridge Brilliance: Some people complain Kimber and Stormer got together too quickly. Looking at the cartoon, Kimber always gets into relationships quickly.
• Fridge Horror: Synergy was shut down and only reactivated due to her server re-booting after a lighting storm. In the cartoon, Jerrica's dad left clear directions to let Jerrica and her sisters find and use Synergy after his death. So why was she shut down in the comics? The answer and the horror comes with the Dark Jem arc, where there is something corrupted in Synergy and it's getting out. Jerrica's Dad most likely had to shut Synergy down to prevent this infection from getting out and spreading, and never had a chance to 'fix' Synergy before his death. So when Jerrica and her sisters started using Synergy they had no idea they activated a time bomb.
• Funny Moments: Has its own page.
• Girl-Show Ghetto: Despite the efforts of those involved, the comic got consistently low sales and was specifically left out of Hasbro's Revolution (2016) crossover due to tonal issues. This despite the cast dealing with villains that weren't too far removed from the likes of Miles Mayhem. Also unlike other Hasbro properties, Jem hasn't seen any attempt at a relaunch after the first series was cancelled.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The reason given why the Jem cast wasn't allowed to interact and have crossovers with the rest of the Hasbro Comic Universe was that their tone was too different, that it would be out of place for young adult music stars to interact with the Transformers or G.I. Joe. Despite this, the Jem comic and its spinoffs would eventually have plots involving the Holograms and the Misfits dealing evil super computers and traveling to a dystopian future. Having giant robots or secret agents attending their concerts wouldn't have been too much of a stretch by then.
• Heartwarming Moments: Has its own page.
• Jerkass Woobie: It's made clear that Pizzazz's temper is incredibly self destructive, and that she is aware of this but is unable to change. It also helps that when she calls up her father, it's clear he's much too preoccupied to give Pizzazz any attention, even though she was recovering from a car accident that sent her to the hospital and injured her vocal cords. His only reaction is to repeatedly offer to send her money before hanging up on his clearly upset daughter.
• Just Here for Godzilla: As with the original, a number of fans tune in just to watch the antics of the Misfits especially now that they've been revamped into more sympathetic characters. Their fans were especially happy that the Band received a spinoff in 2017.
• Les Yay: Blaze and Clash have a lot of this but it's unknown if this is intentional Ship Tease or not. They're certainly close buddies at least.
  • They even kiss in the first issue of Dimensions.
• LGBT Fanbase: Possibly more than the source. With its diverse character designs, several canonically LGBT characters, majority female cast, and campy nature it hit a cord with many LGBT people.
• More Popular Spin Off: Between this and the film version, the comic was pretty much considered the definitive reboot version of the Jem series. While most fans dig it others are likewise bummed that it just regulated to comics while others Hasbro properties (My Little Pony, GI Joe, Littlest Pet Shop, Transformers) at least got televised reboots and Jem was the only one to miss out (The live action film bombing not helping matters). Still the comic did manage a four year run.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: There's a Vocal Minority of Jem fans who complain about various changes. It's not enough to create a Broken Base though:
  • Stormer being made into a Big Beautiful Woman. This got really accented in one issue of a Misfits spin-off series where a TV executive wants Stormer to lose weight as part of an arc for the reality show they're on (promising to help with studio resources) and she flat out refuses to do so.
  • The redesigns in general were scoffed at by many fans at first, though most got over it when the series began.
  • Jerrica being less confident than she is in the cartoon, and a Shrinking Violet songwriter instead of a determined, outspoken person with both a business and a charity to run. Anyone who hoped the comic might be leading her to grow into her fiercer animated attitude was disappointed, both by the initial cancellation and by Jem 20/20 showing her with the same reticence and diffidence.
  • Setting it in The New '10s instead of The '80s, defeating the purpose of the whole Glam Rock angle since that's more of a niche thing these days.
  • When compared to the designs Campbell made a few years prior, some people prefer her older designs (especially The Misfits).
  • Obviously, the fact that there's no music in this format; that just can't be helped, but considering the original show had plenty of tunes that people can sing decades later, it makes the comics a notch less special. What can be helped is that the lyrics for the "songs" we get in this are utterly forgettable and clearly only written as a couple of lines. For a title about music and creativity, not much of the process is shown outside of rehearsals and performances, either.
  • Eric Raymond getting less and less screen time as the comic went on as it was becoming very obvious the writers didn't care about him. This didn't sit well with most fans, since the dynamic between him and the Misfits was one of the signature things fans loved about the show, and were thus disappointed the comic writers couldn't translate that for a new era. (Mostly since in this rendition Jerrica is not an Arch-Enemy rival music executive, although if they'd continued to give Eric even a fraction of his original Big Bad inclinations he could have caused plenty of trouble. Instead it became clear he wasn't supposed to overshadow the Misfits, leaving him with virtually nothing to do.)
  • The Stingers getting virtually no story time as it was obvious the writers didn't care about them, either, or at least ran out of time to give them actual plots. For people who liked the very dynamic and well-characterized Stingers of the animated series, the comics (eventually reducing them to "playing casinos" and one panel in Jem 20/20) are a big disappointment.

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