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GI Joe Real American Hero voice actor panel at Long Beach Comic Con. L-r Arthur Berghardt (Destro), Zack Hoffman (Zartan), Hank Garrett (Dial Tone), Michael Bell (Duke), Morgan Lofting (Baroness).

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GI Joe Panel at Long Beach Comic Con

At the GI Joe voice actor panel, Michael Bell said he did a guest role for the new Voltron cartoon. The original Lance meets the new Lance! Glad the original voice actors aren't being forgotten by the Voltron Legendary Defender crew.

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The Blame It On Rio outline is in my collection. It's more of a rejected episode than something they didn't get to. It's a bit of an odd episode, I get why they didn't do it but it would have been a whole lot better than some of the real 'kiddie' episodes they did.

I've been meaning to do something w the outline. It'd be cool to do something creative like turn it into a fan comic or something.

whats the current jem meta like what could have been in show

Hmmm, from what I know and researched:

Rio’s lost episode

A script that was never animated for the cartoon, showed up on ebay, probably early january 2011, called “Blame it on Rio”. Apparently sold by one of the Jem writers, Roger Slifer. What is it about and was it meant to be part of the cartoon?

Like many rare Jem items, this script is hidden inside a private collection by an unknown person, who has shared none of the content with Jem fans online. Until this person is willing to share this part of Jem’s history, or sell it to someone who will in the future, the following is all we know:

It’s about Jerrica and Rio arguing, because Rio wants to know more about the stage effects Jerrica is keeping secret for him, because of Synergy. We learn about Pudge, who works as a roadie for Rio. And there is even a song called “Striving”. This might not have been a planned episode, but rather a script that was never picked up.

[rockjem mysteries]

Pizzazz’s mom was meant to return.

Minx and Techrat were meant to get together.

The Mongrels, tho I’m not sure if they would of carried over from the movie into the show.

Graphix and all her stuff

Probably more Regine and Astral since they were meant to be dolls.

More doll fashion for Jem and Pizzazz + new dolls.

I don’t think I know any more specific stuff, feel free to add Jemlings ~

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Jem fans were never the target market. Universal spent far more on marketing than Jem fans think they did. Gen Xers hating on the movie would have been drowned out if the legion of teenie bopper Justin Bieber fans had bought into it. They weren't interested in the movie. The real failure was the failure to make a movie the younger crowd wanted to see.

I totally agree with this article. Except the reasoning for why it bombed. Which had nothing to do with being a teen girl movie. The reason it bombed… Marketing.

The marketing for the movie was HORRIBLE! The first trailer was shit. The second one was better with Synergy jammed into it. BUT that trailer took forever to be released. It was shown ahead of “Minions” for a month before it was finally put online. But by that point the damage from the first trailer was already done. Even glimpses of Kesha as Pizzazz in later clips didn’t help much. Especially since we were told The Misfits wouldn’t show up and now it seemed like Jon Chu was slipping them in to save face. 

Aside from the trailer… and posters, they did very little of anything else! I dont remember seeing a billboard for the movie. Hell I don’t remember seeing a poster in public till a WEEK before the movie came out. Yeah.. they had the I Heart Radio event, and they released those performances, but what about the interviews they did with the cast and Jon Chu? Why weren’t those in rotation online? 

It was unfortunate that while working Rhode Island Comic Con we got a bunch of people saying they couldn’t wait to see, asking when it came out. Only to be bummed to find out that it was already out and being pulled from theaters. and these were Jem fans! and if they didn’t know the movie out already, then how did Universal expect ANYONE to see the movie?

I know I can’t talk about the movie bombing with out acknowledging the movies biggest mistake with the marketing. The Youtube auditions. *sigh* That was a mistake from the get go and they should have been more upfront with what they were doing. Jon Chu even said in an interview he wished they could have been more upfront. Which makes me think that his hands were tied. but whatever. 

The damage is done. While it bombed in theaters, it wasn’t a financial disaster, giving just a little bit of hope that Hasbro might still move forward with a sequel.  Although at this point, I doubt we’ll get a sequel. It’ll probably be determined on the DVD sales. And even then, will the cast want to return to it if it even happens?

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Hasbro's investor information did not say anything about funds being used to develop new Jem dolls. It was pretty clear there were no plans for Hasbro Jem dolls in 2015.

It's possible the prototype head Aubrey Peeples was referring to was something Integrity Toys was developing. Whether it was Hasbro or Integrity, the feature flopping would have ended any movie connected toys.

Wait–weren’t there supposed to be Jemthemovie dolls?  Like, people in the  movie saw the prototypes and were excited about them?  And toys usually come out way before the movie, so I guess Hasbro was lying to everyone about that.

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I wonder if Universal will keep much of the box office gross considering what kind of a loss the theaters took on their movie.

“Jem” came in 15th place its opening week in theaters, taking in $1.37 million on 2,413 screens. That’s $570 per screen.

Things didn’t get any better for the movie its following week. In 2,417 screens, “Jem” took in $387,925. That’s only $160 per screen. To compare, the new “Steve Jobs” film, even when it was performing poorly in wide release, was making $1,080 per screen.

But taking the movie out of theaters instead of scaling it down was a shock to box-office vets who thought they’d seen everything.

“Theater chains are contractually obligated to hold a film for two weeks after booking it. However, in all my days as an analyst, I’ve never seen a studio actually stop reporting after two weeks,” Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, told Business Insider Monday. “This is unprecedented, and shows just how badly this film flopped. Not only is it the lowest-grossing debut for a studio film this year, but it’s the worst all-time — by a considerable margin — for any film released in 2,000-plus theaters.”

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Jem? Dark? No. Sorry, there's enough darkness in the world. Jem should always be bright.

designs for our ‘Dark Jem’ storyline! @1979semifinalist @shouri @idwcomics

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What about sheet music from the original Jem cartoon?? That would be awesome!!

Do you dream of being a star? Check out our free exclusive #sheetmusic for #Youngblood from the upcoming #JemAndTheHolograms movie! Dont forget to cut a video on #Chromatik #stage for a change to be featured! Get started using the link in our bio and check out @jemthemovie for a sneak peek of the movie coming out October 23 🎶 #playmoremusic #15secondcover #music #musician

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The billing block is so incorrect it's really bizarre why Jemthemovie reblogged this.

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How many high schoolers are interested in a PG movie based on a Hasbro doll and cult 80's cartoon?

IMO, Universal is barking up the wrong tree marketing this like Pitch Perfect. Ads on Nick and Disney Channel are more appropriate than the MTV VMAs.

My 17-year-old daughter pointed out to me today that her school’s Homecoming game and dance are the exact same weekend as the live-action Jem movie’s opening weekend. If other schools have Homecoming the same weekend, it could affect turnout from this target demographic, because they’re going to be more concerned about the game and the dance than with films opening that weekend.

Honestly, October probably wasn’t a good month to schedule a film that’s targeting this demographic, since October seems to be Homecoming season for a lot of high schools.

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Jem! Of course.

What’s your favorite song to rock out to?

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It's a different shade of green than the wig in the background of the picture Juliette Lewis posted.

KE$HA=PIZZAZZ?

Well, after doing some web research, I’ve found on her instagram page, that Kesha dyed her hair in neon green. She posted this pic of her 11 weeks ago with a special makeup with the fetish color of Pizzazz.

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In some regards, this is like Pixels with the studio trying to attract this younger audience with 80’s nostalgia characters they know nothing about. The movie and marketing campaign is so focused on this younger target demographic that they turn off the older audience who might want to see it.

If Blum thinks Jem fans will like this then go screen it for the older fans and get some honest reviews. After tickets are purchased, opinions are meaningless. The whole point of movie marketing is getting people to buy tickets, partially on the first weekend, or even opening day. Jem could be even more front loaded than most films.

In this interview, Blum still insists that people shouldn’t judge the movie by the promotional material. Relevant part of the interview below:

For people who are still nervous about Jem, what would you say to reassure them?

BLUM: I would say try to hold back your judgement until you get to see the movie. If you still don’t like it, I will accept all of your angry tweets and comments online. But, try not to judge a book by its cover.

Are you surprised that people have been so vocal about it, every time any little bit comes out?

BLUM: No, I know people are really, really passionate about it. Everyone has their own relationship to it and their own feeling about what it should be. I knew we were dipping our toe into treacherous waters, but I do think the majority of Jem fans are going to be really, really happy to the movie. I’ve said that before. I’ll continue to say it. I really do believe that. I can understand it, though. People have an emotional attachment to something, and if it’s not how they think it should be, they get upset. I totally get that. But they’re looking at 90 seconds, or 120 seconds. I would just say to hold on for a couple more months. After that, if people feel disappointed about it, I want to be the first one to hear about it. It’s hard to address someone’s disappointment about marketing materials. The marketing materials aren’t directed specifically at the fans. The marking materials are directed at a much broader audience. There’s no bigger Jem fan than Jon Chu, and he will not disappoint.

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Where are you getting the information that anyone is blocking the official release? Don't put this fake tribute album on Kinder & Bryant. Hasbro has made it clear the are interested in the new fans not the Legacy fans.

So I haven’t heard any of ti yet, but apparently on the Jem tribute album, the only song to retain the original lyrics is the song they released, “Truly Outrageous.”  The rest are completely new songs. 

I’m not sure who I should be mad at if this is true. On one hand, Hasbro shouldn’t have released a tribute album if they couldn’t use the original songs. But at the same time, if the person who claims ownership of the music would stop blocking every attempt at a official release, it wouldn’t have been an issue to begin with.

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Good to know about Barry Harman, the brilliant songwriter who wrote the lyrics to all the Jem songs.

Barry Harman, who wrote all of the songs for Jem, mentions putting “pro-social themes” into the lyrics in this interview. I believe what he means by “pro-social,” I’ve seen a lot of lately. 

Episode twelve features the song “It Depends on the Mood I’m In”:

I wear heels if that’s how it feels

Or else I wear my blue suede shoes

Unlike Makeover, “Mood I’m In” endorses being yourself without being down on wanting to doll yourself up, as long as it’s for your own satisfaction. 

This empowered attitude on beauty continues in the next episode with “She Makes an Impression,” a salute to well-dressed women that manages to denounce materialism(!):

Her outfit is chosen with the greatest of care […]

It’s not the store or the designer’s name

It’s not the price, she won’t play that game

She makes an impression, wherever she goes

She makes an impression, it’s more than her clothes

Even the Misfits, the “villains” of Jem, have something uplifting to share with their song “Designing Woman,” in which lead singer Pizzazz distinguishes herself from women who wait for men to do everything for them:

Other girls play helpless and coy 

Mooning over this or that boy

Other girls feel helpless and trapped

But me, I’ve learned to adapt

I have never seen a cartoon like this. It’s great!

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Will you be showing Trailer #2?

Who’s coming to VidCon this weekend? We’re hosting the prom Saturday night. See you there!

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Coming soon instead of a date? Interesting...

#jemthemovie