Kimber

Kimber Benton

Character Analysis
Kimber is the youngest member of Jem and the Holograms and arguably the member with the most musical talent. The immediate impression that you get from Kimber is a young girl full of enthusiasm and excitement, but without much streetwise experience. She is a passionate and imaginative musician with multiple instrumental capabilities (in Talent Search it's alluded to that she plays drums, in The Beginning, Scandal and Father's Day you see her playing accoustic guitar and of course for the Holograms she plays keyboard, as well as, at one point, teaching Krissie to play piano (I think in the Take The Time video). However, what her compositional contribution is to the Holograms' music is largely debatable. Though it's clear she can write songs (as indicated in Scandal and Kimber's Rebellion) where the Hologram songs are concerned Kimber only ever seems to produce lyrics. Even when she teams up with Stormer in Bands Break Up, the reference is to Kimber writing 'strong, hard, driving' lyrics, while Stormer copes with the musical side. This leads me to believe that the Holograms write music as a team, or perhaps Kimber writes music in tandem with another member of the group. She sees herself as a writer on the make, and says herself in Bands Break Up 'I need some help to polish my music', suggesting the input of the other Holograms on her music is important to her and vital to the band itself.
Kimber is probably the Hologram who is most like a Misfit. She is prone to temper tantrums, particularly aimed at Jerrica when she's having a moment of petulant childishness or is simply frustrated by all the attention Jem is getting from the press. In Scandal she actually asks Synergy to alter her appearance to make her look 'hard and mean, someone who can never be hurt', indicating she perhaps has secret wishes to be a more rebellious character than she's able to be within the Holograms. She's loyal for the most part to the group she's affiliated with, but her friendship with Stormer indicates that she is not afraid to cross the borders that have grown up between the groups. She is also a very genuine and simplistic person with her affections - it seems the most natural thing in the world to her to hug Stormer after they perform together, and she is the one who makes the offer of 'friends?' to the Misfit (as if she's realised there and then that she has to actually point out to Stormer that they are now friends). She's not the most perceptive of characters, she doesn't always see the deeper side of issues (She immediately assumes the worst when Stormer defects back to the Misfits), but she's bubbly and friendly and it's hard not to like her.
Kimber is also something of a flirt. She has liasons with many male characters on the show : Jeff Wright (Starbright 1-3, Hollywood Jem, Glitter and Gold), Shawn Harrison (World Hunger Shindig, Hollywood Jem, Scandal), Steve (Hot Time In Hawaii), Matt Connolly (Glitter and Gold) and often has more than one guy on the go at a time (something Rio is highly critical of<!>). However I don't think she means to hurt them, she's just flaky and can't make up her mind what she wants. She also makes highly flirtatious remarks about the Ski instructor in Last Resorts and Nick Mann in Starbright...basically she's a girl who wants to have fun, so long as it's on that simple, innocent level that Kimber never seems to get below. When she and Stormer sign the contract with Dave Daniels in Bands Break Up she doesn't question the setup she's signing herself into - again she's not thinking of the implications of her actions. The term "Truly Outrageous" is actually a Kimber term, for she's always saying "Ooh, Outrageous!" at the least excuse!
 

Friendships/Roles
Kimber's bonds with other characters on the show are very telling. Although she is Jerrica's sister, and occasionally has a burst of sisterly loyalty, I think that Jerrica's way of playing the mother figure rankles on Kimber's nerves and causes something of a rift between them, just beneath the surface. Kimber treats Aja far more like a big sister figure and I've come to believe that it is Aja she is closest to of all of them. Aja too seems to reciprocate the bond - in 'Culture Clash' it's Aja who corrects Kimber's atlantic/pacific mistake, in Island of Deception they are sitting together in the lifeboat and there are many times when Aja and Kimber team up, particularly in later episodes. I think that, though they clearly have their disagreements (Dear Diary video, start of Bands Break Up) there is a good relationship between them.
I don't think that Kimber is particularly fond of Video - she pays little attention to her when she is there, and is sulky towards her whole father's day video idea - perhaps resentful at the idea even being brought up, since it's clear her father meant a lot to her and the wound is still fresh. This is another example of Jerrica's lack of comprehension where Kimber is concerned. However Kimber has a good heart, for she goes to comfort Jerrica straight away in 'Out Of The Past', when Jerrica is remembering their mother's death.
Kimber's relationship with Shana and Raya is pretty amiable. She is clearly friendly with both girls - she and Raya gossip about Shawn in Scandal and Kimber is upset to the point of tears when Shana leaves the band in Talent Search.
Where the Misfits are concerned, aside from Stormer, Kimber has little love for them, though I do wonder sometimes if she's secretly envious of all that they do. Since she's under Jerrica's thumb sometimes I wonder if maybe she'd like to be a Misfit for a day just to be able to get her own way and act out without being suppressed. Again, though, her perception of the Misfits is generally two-dimensional and only at surface level, she doesn't want to dig deeper.  She has an ongoing rivalry with Pizzazz over men - this starts with Shawn Harrison in The World Hunger Shindig, but continues with Steve in Hot Time In Hawaii, Shawn again in Scandal and in the video for Top of the Charts Pizzazz alludes to Kimber always getting the breaks. However, despite this rivalry Kimber proves once again that despite it all she's a softie at heart by wanting to help Mr Gabor make up with his daughter and understanding all too well (for once) the problems of Pizzazz's childhood. In a way it was a shame this wasn't expanded upon, since maybe Kimber could have done some real good for Pizzazz that way. Headstrong and impulsive she may be, but you always get the feeling that Kimber would be only too glad to stick around if anyone should happen to need a hug :)