figurines

Sailor Moon Petit Deluxe

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Japanese release date: September 29, 2015
International release date:
Website: http://sailormoon-Official.com
MFC

The Petit Deluxe series seems to be a new series to replace Bandai’s Chibi-Arts. Following a similar, but larger design to their Petit Chara Land and Petit Chara figures, it’s still allows for interchangeable alternate pieces, and face plates! Sailor Moon, the first (and currently ONLY) piece in the series also includes a base that doubles as storage.

Packaging

IMG_0082I imagine this is how most of the boxes from this line will look. Open window in the front, character, name, info, and special details on the box as typical. The design is actually PERFECT for Sailor Moon. The lace is reminiscent of Naoko’s earlier manga art where she included lace and doily patterns EVERYWHERE she could. I am a little disappointed in the vectored bow. It’s missing a lot of the iconic shape of the Sailor Moon bow despite it being featured elsewhere properly on the box.

The window of the box nicely features the figure, and her accessories without creating a messy display showing all of the extra parts. While it’s visually appealing it IS a little empty, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of options.

IMG_0084The side window allows a neat look at the profile view of Sailor Moon.

IMG_0088Back of the box gives a good, cleanly organized look at what you can expect from the parts, including the stand/storage box.

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I did have one minor issue with my box aside from some slight corner damage. The plastic window wasn’t actually glued to the bottom left side of the box. There’s no residue, or sign that it had ever been sealed in at all. Fortunately I know how to fix it, but it was a bit disappointing.

Parts, and Fit

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Sailor Moon comes with 19 pieces:

2 Face Plates
1 Neck Joint
1 Body (including legs)
7 Arm Pieces
1 Back head Piece
1 Fringe (Bangs)
2 Pig Tails
1 Luna
1 Cutie Moon Rod
1 Base
1 Base Arm Attachment

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So far the fit of everything feels nice and tight. I’m not concerned about anything falling off… except for maybe her bangs. They’re a little loose, but the only issues I had with her during the photo shoot was when I was reassembling everything after the picture above.

Nendoroid Compatibility

Some people have questioned whether her face plates are compatible with Nendoroids. I’m going to leave it at “It depends”. I’ve seen people try certain face plates that worked just fine, but I’ve also seen people say theirs didn’t fit. What SHOULD work is attaching an entire head from the neck joint onto the alternate body.

Sculpting and Posing

Sailor Moon’s sculpt definitely follows the Petit Chara and Petit Chara Land line of figures.

groupIt’s kind of funny, because these figures are in order of release, and you can see a clear improvement between the Petit Chara and Petit Chara Land figures, but the Deluxe figure looks like a strange mix between the two. She’s definitely the most rigid of the three, but I think it’s  partly because without her posed arms she reminds me of this:

117503…which isn’t so good given that this Miku is based on a mascot costume. The figure isn’t all that likable due to the proportions, and the lack of neck. The collector community often complains about the figures based on those costumes.

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In action Sailor Moon is not that unpleasant though. She’s VERY cute and very fun to play with with her multiple arms for different poses. Her skirt could use some life, but gives us the ability to move her legs. Though they aren’t interchangeable they DO have joints at her hips.

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The back is nicely sculpted, though probably not going to be viewed often due to the nature of her stand. There are some small seam lines on her arms, but they’re not visible during display.

Painting

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The paint is actually really well done. I had concerns after so many issues with the S.H.Figuarts figures, but the only anomalies are ones I completely expected due to the size of the details.

The messy details are her boot tops, and tiara charm (below). Her hair, clothing, and the moons on her boots are really nicely done. I LOVE how clean her brooch is despite its size, and the amount of detail both sculpted and painted.

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I expected a clean print in Sailor Moons eyes, which as kind of made me feel uneasy about them, but aesthetically I LOVE them. They’re so cute and detailed, and the pixelated/stipple look compliments her chibi proportions.

Base

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Her base is actually quite awesome. Most bases for articulated/interchangeable figures are just flat, made to take up as little space as possible, or balance the figure as well as possible. Sailor Moon’s base acts not only as a pretty stand for balance, but also as a riser, and a storage box! The height lifts it off of the surface of wherever it is displayed so that things can be displayed in front of it, but that height also provides a nice container for all of Sailor Moons extra pieces. Don’t worry. If that looks too messy for you the base will operate just fine without the extra weight of the parts inside of it to weigh it down.

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Just a reference picture for the assembly of the base, because I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out why the peg for Sailor Moons back didn’t fit… lol. This end goes into the BASE! Not Sailor Moon.

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The part of the base that Sailor Moon sits on is actually the Silver Crystal, and the inside of the Crystal Star Locket. It’s a nice touch, given that Sailor Moon is wearing the Crystal Star Brooch instead of her first season Classic Transformation Brooch.

Identify Bootlegs

As of November 3, 2015 there are no bootlegs for this series. If you believe that you’ve found a bootleg please comment below with a link to the listing, or photos of your figure and I’ll update this post!

Overall

I’m really looking forward to the potential continuation of this series and acquiring Sailor Mercury. At $45 CAD it was a little steep in comparison to the Nendoroid line in quality and accessories vs cost, but the odd Nendo also comes with a lack of accessories for a high price tag, so I’m hoping who ever is next in the series does a little better.

While at a super close inspection her paint IS a little suspect she’s the first in a new line of figures, and given the paint quality of Bandai’s other figure lines it really doesn’t surprise me that most of the small details fall a little short.

In the end I think she’s definitely a must for casual and hard core collectors, but I recommend grabbing her at the best price you see her at. I feel like she’ll drop in price as the S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon line has on the secondary market.

A Taste of Animethon and the mail

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So I haven’t updated in ages (again), but I’ve added and edited plenty of things on the website. One day I should begin taking photos of my Disney stuff before I have waaay to much of it. Oh right, too late XD

With the Italian revival of Sailor Moon I’ve bought some items from a seller on Livejournal who has been kind enough to send them to people looking. What I’m really hoping for is to find some of these dolls at conventions. Probably not much of a chance of that though. Not with the shipping cost.

Anyways, here’s my haul from the last week.

This has been a lot of fun. Last Saturday was A Taste of Animethon. While there I picked up the Mokona plush ($15), and the key chain set ($20). Then on Monday (Valentines day!) I got the large Sailor Saturn kit in the mail. This is her fully painted, but I’ve yet to finish her base or glaive… so it’s a sneak peek for you. Picked her up from E2046.com for $35. Then I got the Venus pin, El key chain, Mercury and Venus plush plus 2 key chain plush (not pictured) for $25 including shipping from Fairyland on Ebay. They had a sale I caught the end of. The Small Saturn gashapon was bought from a user on deviantArt.com and I got her for a steal! She was only $25 (saying only for a figurine that size is painful lol). The manga was advertised as Sailor Moon #1, but it’s actually Sailor Moon S #1… and yes there is a difference for you non Moonies. Thankfully I didn’t have it and it was only $5, despite going on Ebay for $45 right now ❤ The Tangled folder in the back contains lithographs that you get from the Disney Store when you pre-order the DVD there. We also preordered the special edition doll.

I’m SO excited!!!

Along with all of this I have two Italian posters on the way and I’m waiting to be able to pay for a set of Italian dolls. Their international shipping is killing me. It costs more to ship than the actual dolls cost.

I’m going to end this with some updated collection photos for you 😉 Click for bigger shots.

Overhaul

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So I’m doing some overhauling!

If you haven’t noticed, I go through a LOT of different templates. Thing is, you might NOT notice because the template is usally laid out the same way. The big difference is normally in the header, menu, and width of the page. Some of these might change size, shape, or font. At this moment, I THINK this template will stick. It’s wide, the menu buttons are accessible and don’t hide at the bottom of your browser anymore.

The overhaul will be more obvious at the main Sailor Moon page, where I’ve included some old collection shots, as well as some info about my collection.

If you look at the Plushies page you’ll see that I’ve begun adding content to the “inbetween pages”. There is something similar on previous pages, but I’m not at all happy with it.

I added a meeting and autograph session with Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke a couple months ago, but never posted it here.

Added a Sailor Moon PC Engine game tonight. Edited the Classic SM Uncut DVD review, as well as the SM R Uncut DVD review. And probably a lot of plushie stuff that wasn’t there before.

OH, and I’ve seriously updated my Disney DVD list because I’ve been buying them at a stupidly fast rate. Silly Walmart sales…

OH and by the way…

I found these beauties somewhere between the East Meets West Festival in Edmonton, a game shop, HMV, Walmart, Value Village, and a flea market on 111 avenue here in Ed.

Bootleg figures (better paint and need the stands) – $15
Luna Rock CD – $8 ❤
Korean? Puzzle – $2
Video Game (linked above) – $20
Cards – Free from exchange
Jessie doll – $7.50
Mercury transformation pose – $7.50
Puplip – $5
Pokemon 200 – $5
Cinderella 2 – $20
Lilo and Stitch 2 – $10
Tarzan 2 – $10
Astro Boy – $10
Fruits Basket  Complete Collection – $20
Pokemon Legends Movie Collection – $20

I also got 2 more North American puzzles with the Korean one, but I already had them. Oops D= Oh well, they were a dollar each lol.

Animethon 17 Con Haul

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Merch from Athon 17

So Animethon 17 ended a week ago, but due to my incredible ability to be lazy… I’m updating now =D

Regardless of the photograph, Animethon wasn’t packed with Sailor Moon goodness this year. In fact,  I believe I’ve cleaned out their merchandise. Anime Hypercubed had a full set of Japanese manga for sale for $100, but I’m not sure I’d pay that, nor was it any good to me considering I can’t read Japanese.  It was a strange weekend for merch though. No one was carrying the new bootleg plushies that turned up at Otafest, nor were they carrying the cat hats, or cat plushies. I at least expected to find the new Artemis bootleg plush.

Anyways! My haul this year!

-Set of Shugo Chara figurines (2x Utau, 2x Ikuto, 1x Amu, 1x Yaya). Heads are interchangeable, as are arms. Paid $25 😀 That was amazing. These things are stupid expensive.
-Utau key chain as  Seraphic Charm. Paid $5

-Shugo Chara metal key chain $5
-Shugo Chara coin purses. Paid $12 each (Amu, Ran, Miki, Su, Dai)
-Sailor Moon Stickers $1/sheet
-Dark Lady Plush + LunaP Paid: Print trade with Zephyr.
-Sailor Moon plushie, Paid $30 (this is actually from AE last year. A friend of mine FINALLY dropped it off D=)
-Mars plushie came with Moon. Not sure if she’s mine yet lol.
-Rozen Maiden plush – gift from Fiancee ❤
-L33t Str33t boys CD + other autographs are fiancees and I have no idea lol.

The makeup in the picture came from Pomme Minerals. She’s a friend of mine, and a brilliant creator of make-up. In fact, her product is all I’ve worn since she sent me samples.

The Sailor Mercury key chain is from Sidewayslogic, who has also made several of the buttons I purchased in previous years.

And of course, none of this is updated yet because I’m STILL going through Animethon pictures that I promised a week ago.

Otafest, Garage Sales, and Swap Meets, oh my!

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I love my Fiancee. In fact, he’s probably the reason I’m collecting anime and Sailor Moon merchandise the way that I am right now. When we first met and began dating I was still a huge fan of Sailor Moon, but I wasn’t really into spending money on merchandise. Sure, a few key chains here and there at conventions, but NEVER shopping online and purposely searching for it the way I do now.

In the way of Sailor Moon merch. Otafest was a bust. We were expecting to meet up with a friend and buy his collection from him, but it turns out the rest of his collection was back in Edmonton… where the three of us are from anyways. So we’re going to meet up at some point and buy the stuff… if I can afford to even breath after the last 2 weeks.

Let me start this off by telling you that the lack of new updates hasn’t been because I’ve been busy or lazy. Oh no. You see, pre, during, and after Otafest both my fiancee and I were mildly sick with a small cold. He had it worse before, but was getting over it, I was fighting it off quite well with syrup and lots of meds. This didn’t work. Not only did I get REALLY sick when I got back to Edmonton after Otafest, but it turned into what the doctors called an Acute Sinus Infection. Trust me when I say acute is NOT the right word. My face swelled up, I was in so much pain that I began shaking violently. Finally the sinus infection seemed to go away, but the swelling in my face didn’t. A return to the doctors confirmed that it was Shingles.

AVOID SHINGLES. I’m telling you now. There is NOTHING that will take the pain away.

Anyways, here is my Otafest update as well as other events that have happened since.
Sailor Moon-wise, this was all I found. A single bootleg plushie ($20), which also happens to be the newest bootleg. I also got a Sailor Moon World poster ($3)(which is also probably a bootleg) and it’s absolutely beautiful.

Also pictured are 2 Shugo Chara art books (official?)($45 each), Red Shugo Chara Dumpty Key($10), various character Shugo Chara key chain($10), a Humpty Lock watch (front opens)($15), 2 fan buttons($3), Chobits 7 manga($8), entire first half of Magic Knight Rayearth manga($14). There is also a Rozen Maiden pencil board that isn’t pictured (actually it is, it’s just hiding in one of the art books *face palm*)

The Chobits art book isn’t new. I got it autographed by the Michelle Ruff, the english voice actress of Chii.

My fiancee also found Amu, Ran, Miki, and Suu plushies($25 each), as well as 2 Shugo Chara posters($3 each). We won xxholic season 1 autographed by a voice actor, as well as another anime by him that involves a frog lol. There’s also an official Otafest back pack autographed by the same voice actor. This is apparently all my fiancees though </3 No sharing lol. Of course, we also managed to pick up the entire Kare Kano manga series in the charity auction for $35. The autographed stuff in this paragraph was also for the charity auction.

This is some of the stuff I got from a friend of mine. We actually still aren’t done. I purchased a broach off of her as well, but both of us forgot about it when I went to pick up the stuff pictured above lol.

So 3 North American puzzles, and the Web of the Negaverse board game, which is also Canadian. This particular game tends to be rare, but sells for rather cheap. I owned it when Sailor Moon was still rather popular for my generation, but sold it in a garage sale. I got the games for $5 each, the game for $20, and the clock for either $5 or free? lol I’m not sure. I also got a LOAD of North American trading cards for $5.

Does anyone know if the clock is legit? I believe it may be bootleg, but the printing quality is pretty good. It appears to be yellowed, but the plastic cover over the puzzle actually has a yellow tint. I’m going to try and see if it needs cleaning or if it’s just yellow. It appeared to just be yellow though.

Some of the people at Anime-Alberta hosted a swap meet at the University of Alberta this past Saturday. It was rather… sad in terms of the turn out, but there were LOTS of vendors lol. Thank you to Blix @ Anime-Alberta who was amazing and brought lots of Sailor Moon things for me to drool over.

Pictured are the 5 house sets for each of the inner senshi (did they make them for the outers?). She was selling them for $20 for the entire set, but I thought all day that it was $20 each and that I couldn’t afford them. At the end of the day she gave me all 5 for $15 dollars!! That’s a total of $3 dollars each. YES I NEARLY PEED MY PANTS. I was SO happy and I can’t wait to assemble/set up everything so that I can photograph it. Most of the items are already taken apart and sticker’d, but it’ll still be fun.

I also got a Tuxedo Mask pencil board, Pluto key chain (official? $1), Prince Darien figurine ($1), Tuxedo Mask key chain (official? $1), Sailor Neptune pin ($1) and Tuxedo Mask pin ($1). She also sold me the Luna Pen for $3 and said she’ll send me a message if she finds the box! Then there’s also a card board Mercury card which she gave me for free, and 2 sticker sets that I paid $1 each for.

NOT pictured are 2 Card Captor Sakura official figurines that I got for $2 from another vendor.

And so it is once again proven that I can find Sailor Moon anywhere XD My poor, poor fiancee.