It's gonna be a bumpy ride from here on out, gentle readers. Brace... Calming breaths... Ready?
General Evil One: HARLOTRY
When you consider how the Holograms 'happen' to find themselves involved with people that can render service to their cause, it starts to look ugly - or at least meritricious. Let's examine:
Jerrica: Involved with Rio Pacheco, who happens to serve as audio engineer, road manager, bodyguard, gofer, leading man, delivery boy and agent. Just in case he starts to balk, she involves him with 'Jem' and uses his guilt over 'cheating' to keep him on a short leash.
Jem: Involved with Riot after Jerrica decided that he may be more 'receptive' to signing on with Starlight if 'Jem' tried to get him into the family. When that didn't pan out, she serves to distract and generally take him out of his 'A' game by using his desire for her as a weapon.
Kimber: Involved with both Jeff Pierce, stuntman, actor's union rep and Hollywood Insider and Sean Harrison, teen heart-throb, Brit-Pop connection and Hollywood Insider. No pun intended, but that's a lot of Hollywood Insider... Heh.
Shana: Involved with red-hot up-and-coming director Anthony Julian. Read that again. Stop laughing.
Aja: Involved with Craig Phillips, another Brit-Pop connection who just happens to be the big brother of Stormer.
Raya: Pardon the pun, but they pretty much just throw her a bone romance-wise and hook her up with their TOUR GUIDE whilst in South America/Mexico. She's new so she starts small, I suppose... Stop laughing.
Now, all of these men currently accepted as 'steadies' of the girls have shown themselves willing to work towards the goals of the group for FREE. (It was tough, but I resisted using the term Pro Bono... Ooops)
They're not the only ones, as the list attests:
We are of course led to believe that they wish to 'help' Jem because
she's so 'good'...
I suppose that's true, considering all the practice.
Stop laughing.
Now, the rest may disturb you, considering the recent hubbub about these matters... Following this logic, what then would motivate the FEMALE 'help'? It would stand to reason that it is the same thing that motivates the MALE help. Let's examine:
Countess Danielle DuVoison: Already a successful designer, she pitches in from time to time with fashions and similar sponsorship. Aside from hitching her name to a pop-group for some fleeting exposure, the Countess really doesn't gain anything from helping Jem and company - at least nothing that could go on a ledger... I'm expected to believe that this sharp, talented designer and business mogul so often goes so far out of her way to help because it 'feels good'. Then again, maybe that IS true... Heh.
Lin-Z: Already a super-popular VJ, Lin-Z finds herself privy to much 'exclusive' content from the Starlighters, and shares in the success of Jem with as close as an even swap as Jem gives anyone. Lindsey gets her face on everything Jem does. Further, she gets to be a fab reporter and bring the hammer down on anything Jem's competition does, which she's done with the precision of a SNIPER since Starbright was being filmed. And let's consider how her reports with The Misfits go. I admit they're a little coarse, but Pierce paints them as complete CLOWNS with every airing. Conversely, anything that could possibly HARM Jerrica or Jem that she gets, she BURIES. Nice team. It seems that Lindsey is showing a remarkable amount of loyalty to Jem for an objective reporter, which suggests that their relationship may be a little more than business... Considering how she out and out gushes over the latest clips from Jem, and pretty much goes 'blah' on everyone else - especially those in competition with Jem, this could be interpreted as being more than friends as well...
Video: Already a successful filmmaker, Vivian Montgomery hitches her wagon to Jem and the company and films our hapless heroine going through crap during the production of the Jem Movie: Starbright. Shortly after her 'evil cousin' hooks herself up with the 'enemy', Video signs on to Team Starlight for life and serves to use her talent to the benefit of, and generally 'look out for' Jem from time to time - even recruiting others into the fold (no pun intended). Aside from helping her make a fool of her 'insufferable' cousin on occasion, Jem really doesn't give as good as she gets here either. At least not on camera....
Danse: Initially recruited by Video, Danse is hired on as a STAGE DECORATION. Yes, folks, like many other acts of the time, Jem hires a pretty DANCING GIRL to help get some concert tickets sold to the youngsters. The snag here is that most of the acts that did that at the time were MEN (Robert Palmer comes to mind). This never ceases to raise an eyebrow for me, even when we find out that Danse uses the proceeds and exposure to garner support for her OWN charity, Haven House, which takes in teenage runaways. In effect, she's working for free every waking hour... Or is she? Hmm. More on that later...
Astral: A successful stage magician who also donates her earnings to charity (the Old Magician's Fund, or somesuch), she teams up with Jem to debunk the machinations of Rapture who is using her skills to avail herself of the fortune of one Mrs. Farnsworth. Realizing that the more money Farnsworth wastes on the obviously fraudulent Rapture translates to the less money available for their own charities, these two join forces to put a stop to it so the doddering old biddy can go back to supporting 'proper' causes - theirs. The form a fast friendship and vow to be there for each other should the need again arise. Perhaps some magician in the future could be of help and would need 'convincing' to sign on with Team Starlight?
Regine: Another one-shot, but hey, Regine is the protege of Countess DuVoison, and she convinces Jem to give her a chance. Before that happens, though, she is snapped up by the Stingers who convince her to work for them instead. She does, and while she makes a fast name for herself the Stingers quickly tire of her and show her the door. She comes crawling back to Jem, who takes her back in and puts her to work for them... Regine is grateful for this second chance, and I can imagine that she pays for it regularly - probably keeping her in the basement until someone comes along that would be useful to Team Starlight that may like someone 'exotic' on their arm...
Now if that wasn't enough, we're going to examine things a little CLOSER...
Objectively speaking, it seems a bit... odd that the Starlight House only takes in little girls. PRETTY little girls that tend to never leave their care, though almost never get adopted either. Based on their previous doings with their alma matter (Aja and Shana) it can be surmised that the evidence suggests Jerrica is simply planning for the future.
Conversely, the 'evil' Misfits tend to PAY people MONEY for services rendered...