- For other uses, see Kimber (disambiguation).
| “ | Outrageous! | „ |
| ~ Kimber's catchphrase |
Kimber Benton is one of the main protagonists in the Jem animated series. She is Jerrica's younger sister and co-owns Starlight Music along with her. She is the keyboardist and main songwriter for Jem and The Holograms.
She was voiced by Cathianne Blore and her singing voice was provided by Florence Warner in the episode The Bands Break Up.
History
When Kimber was growing up, she was upset because she was the youngest child and felt that she was sometimes left out. It wasn't until Lela arrived at the Starlight House when that feeling went away, as Lela was younger. When Kimber was nine, her mother, Jacqui, died in a plane crash, leaving her, Jerrica, and her foster sisters in the care of her father. After he died, she, Aja, Shana and Jerrica found clothes, musical instruments, a supercomputer and even a car that their father left for them. She, Jerrica and her foster sisters then formed The Holograms, where she's the keyboard player, sings backup vocals and is the main songwriter.
When Kimber briefly left the band, she went into a nightclub to ease her mind and there she met Stormer, who had also departed from her own band, The Misfits, that very same day. The owner insisted they performed together; seeing how they didn't have other option, they set aside their differences and performed the song "I'm Okay" with the Limp Lizards playing the rest of the instruments and providing backup vocals. Both girls then became best friends and even recorded an album called Back to Back, which was a success and went double platinum. When Stormer went back to The Misfits and Kimber returned to The Holograms, they maintained their strong friendship.
Appearance
Kimber has blue eyes and red hair (which in some episodes may look pink). She wears many different outfits throughout the series, but her most common is a white jacket with a red, ruffled shirt, blue slacks and pink heels.
Personality
Kimber is the youngest of The Holograms. She tends to be a bit immature and lets her emotions control her actions. She has run away and rebelled several times during the course of the series and sometimes still acts very much like a child, even though she's only three years younger than Jerrica. She is a hopeless romantic and always has guys falling for her. Kimber has had at least five boyfriends throughout the series, including Sean, Jeff, Max and Steve. However, she wasn't very committed in her relationships and tended to have unrealistic expectations and far-out ideals.
Relationships
Jerrica
She and Jerrica share a very strong bond and are very close, although Jerrica sometimes tends to look down on her and act more like a mother.
Aja
Kimber didn't like Aja when she was adopted by Emmett, but she grew on her over time. She thinks Aja can be cold at times, as revealed in the episode Scandal, although they really do care for each other.
Shana
It seems they care for each other, but she thinks Shana can be really annoying when she shows insecurity about her talents. However, she was very upset when Shana departed from the band in the episode The Talent Search (Part 1).
Rio
They haven't interacted much with each other throughout the series, although they do tend to pop off at each other in the episodes Kimber's Rebellion, Glitter and Gold and Hollywood Jem (Part 1). They do express their friendship for each other and she wouldn't have imagined not inviting him to her wedding. They have worked together in some occasions and are friendly to each other.
Stormer
Kimber used to dislike Stormer, as she was one of The Misfits, but when both girls quit their respective groups, they formed a friendship over their passion for music and formed their own group in The Bands Break Up. When they returned to their own respective bands, they remained friends during the rest of the series, as seen in Britrock and Journey to Shangri-La.
Eric Raymond
Kimber and Eric interact many times throughout the series. Eric occasionally shows interest in her, possibly in a seductive way, since he always compliments her and tries to pit her against Jem.[4] There are other moments when Eric offers her to ally with him, usually with the hidden intent to regain control of Starlight Music. In general, Kimber despises Eric.
Jeff Wright
In Hollywood Jem (Part 2), Kimber almost marries Jeff, but she changes her mind at the last moment and cancels the wedding, with both remaining just as friends afterward.
Songs sung by Kimber
Gallery
- Main article: Kimber/Gallery
Trivia
- According to Christy Marx, the surname Benton was chosen as reference to Stephen A. Benton, inventor of the "rainbow hologram" (Benton hologram) and a pioneer in medical imaging and fine arts holography.
- Kimber is the third Hologram to appear in the first episode.
- According to the Jem Bible, Kimber is three years younger than her sister, Jerrica.
- Kimber was very close to her father, and when he died, she grieved over him more than over her mother. Although this could be because she was very young when her mother died.
- In her early concept, she was named "Aja" and Aja's original name was "Jade".
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- Due to the coloring of the original episodes, Kimber's hair had a notably pink tint. This has been corrected in newer releases of the series (mainly, the remastered version), where her hair looks appropriately red.
- Kimber can write a complete song in one day.
- Kimber can also compose music.
- Despite Kimber working at the Starlight Music's building and having her own office, Jerrica is implied to be the one who takes care of all the company's business related affairs, leaving to ambiguity if Kimber knows anything about business.
- Kimber was the first Hologram to become friends with one of The Misfits.
- Kimber is fond of animals and also has talent for swimming and diving.
- In The Rock Fashion Book, it is revealed that Kimber likes dolphins and that she is afraid of heights.
- Kimber has a doppelganger, Princess Adriana, seen in episode 19, The Princess and the Singer.
- In the episode Old Meets New, Kimber has shown interest in law to save a historical building from being torn down.
- Kimber is known to have broken the fourth wall a few times in the series. Examples include blinking in confidence to the audience at the end of The Princess and the Singer, and interrupting the episode's intro song in The Day the Music Died to inform the audience about their current situation.
- Kimber had at least five boyfriends throughout the series, including Sean Harrison, Jeff Wright, Max Conley and Steve.
- Kimber broke her keyboard four times during the series.
- Kimber's catchphrase, "Outrageous!", stems from the Jem and The Holograms' song, "Truly Outrageous". The phrase "Truly Outrageous" became the main slogan for all Jem products during the eighties (toyline, comic books and other related merchandise), and a remixed version with alternate lyrics was even used for the opening theme of the first season of the animated series.
- Kimber's catchphrase, "Outrageous!", was repeated a total of 32 times during the series.
- Kimber, Aja and Ashley shared the same voice actress, Cathianne Blore.
- Kimber is Britta Phillips' favorite Hologram.[5]
- A Kimber lookalike appears in The Transformers cartoon episode B.O.T. (season 2, episode 49), also by Sunbow Entertainment. The only differences being that her hair is dark-red and she wears a red top, purple pants and yellow shoes. A Jerrica lookalike also appears near her.
- In the animated series, Kimber plays the keyboard; however, the doll line portrayed her playing the keytar instead.
- The end of her keytar has an "M"-shaped handle, referencing to the fact that Jem's name was originally going to be "M".
- Kimber can apparently also play the drums. When Shana wished to play her bass guitar instead of drumming, she asked Kimber to play the drums instead.[6] Kimber declined, however, as she was needed on keyboard.
References
- ↑ Original name by Hasbro for development of the animated series.
- ↑ Temporarily and only in the episode The Day the Music Died.
- ↑ Florence Warner provided Kimber's singing voice for the song "I'm Okay" in the episode The Bands Break Up.
- ↑ As seen in the episode Starbright (Part 1): Falling Star.
- ↑ Private reply by Britta Phillips to a fan when asked who was her favorite Hologram on X.
- ↑ The Talent Search (Part 1)