AJA
Set: HOLOGRAMS
Year: 1986-7
Sold: UK, Mexico
We KNOW mexican AJA came with the following:
~Blueish purple pleather top
~black skirt
~silver sparkly tights
~sequin belt
~purple guitar
~shoes
~Cassette featuring songs "Tema De Jem", "Como Un Sueño" and "Tiene El Poder"
~pink stand
~comb
HYBRID mexican Aja came additionally with:
Green earrings
LESS certain is the validity of whether she really had the following:
~black mesh hairtie
~variant black skirt
Existing Variations:
Both a hybrid and a pure version of Aja exist. It is not known whether there are any other variations on the Mexican doll theme.
Comments: This is the head of my loose Mexican Aja (pure variety) She's rather strikingly different from her hybrid or hong kong/china counterparts, largely because she has an extremely pale complexion. This aja also has the classic dreamy look, bigger eyes and paler makeup. Her head is not stamped anywhere and her hair is more roughly threaded and styled and it is a slightly paler colour than the regular version and her hybrid cousin. Both my MIB and loose Mexican Pure Aja have these same features :)
Comments: This is the back of pure Mexican Aja. As you
can clearly see, she has no stamping on her head or between her shoulderblades.
Also, her body is nice and shiny :) Mexican dolls have a few tell
tale signs and this Aja has them all. Apart from the obvious shiny (ceramic
looking, but it is NOT ceramic) body, the lines where the arms and legs' moulds
were sealed are far more defined, the hands are longer, thinner and marked
in the palm quite often with a number or letter. Mexican hands break off
VERY easily, for some reason, and are also prone to a white speckly deterioration.
Both of these things are clues to a Mexican doll. Finally the doll has greater
proportions to a normal doll - she will stand a touch taller than your average
Aja of the Holograms! This is true for BOTH Hybrid and Pure dolls.
Comments: This is HYBRID Mexican Aja. It's fairly obvious from the image that she is wearing a Mexican top, but otherwise from the above image she could be mistaken for a Second Edition doll.
Don't be fooled.
Aja has her ears pierced and the green earrings of a Second Edition doll but she does not have the plug remains or the holes for them that would indicate a Second Edition hairtie. This is further indication that the outfit sold with a Mexican doll was based on the First Edition Aja outfit, even though the Hybrid does have earrings.
Her head is stamped Hasbro in the same way as all the other Second Edition Aja dolls I have had/seen and she also has identical hair colour and the earrings do not differ from my Second Edition Aja doll's..
Conclusion is therefore that this is an intentionally placed Second Edition Aja head on a Mexican body :)
Comments: This is the proof that the Aja above isn't
a Second Edition doll but a Hybrid Mexican doll. This photograph clearly
shows the shiny nature of her Mexican body, and the lack of stamp between
the shoulder blades.Mexican dolls have a few tell tale signs and this Aja has them all. Apart from the obvious shiny (ceramic looking, but it is NOT ceramic) body, the lines where the arms and legs' moulds were sealed are far more defined, the hands are longer, thinner and marked in the palm quite often with a number or letter. Mexican hands break off VERY easily, for some reason, and are also prone to a white speckly deterioration. Both of these things are clues to a Mexican doll. Finally the doll has greater proportions to a normal doll - she will stand a touch taller than your average Aja of the Holograms! This is true for BOTH Hybrid and Pure dolls.
Comments: For anyone who has seen Mexican dolls before, or has been browsing the rest of my page, this is almost a given. Aja's top is made out of that classic Mexican doll pleathery fabric, which is reminscent of the bodice of the Encore dress, only less delicate. The top seems almost oversized in some ways - she looks, to be honest, rather like an American Footballer in it!
The top fastens at the back with velcro.
Mexican dolls, as you will see, like velcro. :)
The top is a paler colour than First Edition Aja's normal top, and the pleather is prone to crease wear when loose. (If you glance down at the picture below for the skirt, you can see the bottom of a MIB top and see how smooth it SHOULD look!)
Comments: Well, I have to admit I'm a touch confused by this whole skirt thing. I've had two or three Mexican Aja dolls loose, all with the same skirt...but this skirt pictured is from my Mint in Box Aja doll and so therefore is guaranteed to be correct :) It is black, NOT snakeprint, though roughly in the same style. It is the same thick pleathery fabric that the top is, and is hemmed with slightly clumsy black stitches. I do not know how it fastens because I have not removed Aja, but I suspect velcro at work ;)
See HERE for a possible skirt variation for Mexican Aja...
Comments: This is a REALLY bad picture, but it's really hard to get a good picture of these tights, so you're gonna have to go by my description. They are at first glance the same as proper Aja's tights, however they are not identical. They are of a thinner weave fabric, making them both more delicate to the touch and more whiteish in hue. They are threaded with tinsel in the same way and elasticated at the waist - and very very prone to damage. When inside out I noticed they have a bluish tinge. I have never yet had a perfect loose pair - my only perfect pair are on my MIB doll.
Comments: Based on your average first edition belt, but with some striking differences. This has two distinct rows of sequins which - unlike the usual belt - are not crisscrossed or stitched together except at each end, making a kind of 'loop' effect. They are threaded with white thread and the belt fastens with - you got it. Velcro. The sequins look to be a slightly lighter colour, too.
Comments: Perhaps one of the easiest to spot Mexican accessories for Aja - her distinctly PURPLE guitar. Though it is MOST like the second edition doll's guitar, it is a totally different colour from any normal Aja issue, and actually matches Mexican Roxy and Mexican Shana's guitars in colour. It's proportions are slightly smaller, it has a very easily damaged silver strap and it has specks of gold glitter throughout.
Comments: Aja's shoes are pink!! Mexican shoes tend to have more curled edges and are less well made than normal shoes. Aja's are a nice vibrant pink rather than bubblegum pink from the first edition - indeed, they are closer to the second edition doll, but not scalloped and distinctly Mexican.
Comments: Mexican Hybrid Aja has a second edition doll head, therefore she also has the second edition doll's earrings. I have noticed no differences between her earrings and those of my loose second edition Aja doll.
Comments: Well, online the song "Like a Dream" in the Mexican version is generally known as Para Ti (Because of You). In my own lyric files you'll find it called this (and not to confuse the issue, I am not gonna change it.)
But since I got my MIB Aja I realised that despite the song lyric, Juguetes Con Vida DID try and keep the Mexican song names as close to the real ones. The cassette includes the songs "Tema De Jem" (Jem Theme), "Como Un Sueño" (Like a Dream) and "Tiene El Poder" (She's Got The Power.)On the B side are instrumentals WITHOUT an instrument playing the vocal line, far more like second year instrumentals, but for the first year issue songs! Mexican dolls are unique in that they are the only foreign packaged dolls to come with a specific language tape. Aja's tape is also different in another way. It has no label stuck on it and the text - in dark blue and not pink - is printed directly onto the cassette itself.
Comments: Mexican Jem doll stands are distinguishable quite easily
- there are two types, Hologram and Misfits and of course, that means pink
and yellow. All of the Hologram dolls had this stand - pink, clouded like
the second year dolls, but with no TM beside the M of Jem (or anywhere else
on the stand!) This is the easiest way to tell a Mexican stand from a normal
second edition stand! (The inset shows the missing TM, that picture has
been edited in art software to make the contrast show up better and the
image clearer)
Comments: Aja's comb is also pink, about the same colour as normal Danse's or maybe Jetta's, I think. It is also distinguishable as a Mexican comb because it has no TM after the M of Jem, either.
Comments: This is my Mexican Aja Mint in Box (who I got from my friend Sel, who found her at a local steam fair!) Her box is fairly classic - she has Es Fabulosa beneath the Jem logo, giving it away that she is Mexican, and she is named as "Aja De Las Holograms" (Yeps, spanish text!). The Es Fabulosa is important though. Spanish dolls have Verdaderamente Fantastica instead!!
The artwork and box style is the same as a normal first edition Aja box, though of course it says "Hecho In Mexico" and has the Juguetes Con Vida logo as well as the Hasbro copyright. Mexican dolls were made under licence from Hasbro by Juguetes Con Vida :)
The text beneath the cassette picture says "Incluye un cassette con los exitos "Tema De Jem", "Como Un Sueño" y "Tiene El Poder". (Includes a cassette with the hit songs Jem Theme, Like A Dream and She's Got The Power."
Yep, fairly standard.
PICTURE
AVAILABLE
Comments: I have no picture to prove it, but as far as I can ascertain all hybrid dolls were sold in exactly the same packaging as the pure dolls. That is based on the two hybrids I HAVE seen mint in box (Shana, Pizzazz), but I have no MIB hybrids of my own to be sure, and have never seen Aja.
