Figure Maniacs Manga Sailor Moon

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By Bandai and Ascii Media Works

This review was originally posted on MFC 10/10/2013

The manga version of Sailor Moon is incredibly rare in figure form. There are figures that resemble the chibi versions of the characters as drawn by Naoko, but they’re still primarily based on the anime. This Sailor Moon, as made by Ascii Media Works and released under the Figure Maniacs magazine, is the only Sailor Moon figure directly based on manga art down to the style she is sculpted in. She stands approximately 5″ tall, which is just slightly taller than the average standing Sailor Moon gashapon, but she fits in a display just fine with them without looking out of place.

Sailor Moon was released in 2005 for 2,700 yen. When I purchased mine on Ebay in 2011 I purchased her for $80 with $20 flat rate shipping. This was pretty much the standard when you found these figures on Ebay for a very long time. No matter what the price, she + shipping would equal $100. Now-a-days (Oct. 2013) She tends to run for about $120 with shipping, sometimes more.

Is she worth $100 more than retail price? Lets find out!

The pictures above (click to view larger) show the small book that the figure comes with. It covers various series including all of the Sailor Moon gashapon, and various other series of Sailor Moon figures advertised throughout.

The box has virtually the same cover as the book, and is very strong. It’s made out of a thick cardboard, and I honestly wouldn’t even be worried about the figure being shipped in that alone.

Packaging is sturdy and beautiful. It’s just as nice to display the box with the figure as it is alone, although normally mine displays alone, while the box sits on a shelf.

Assembly and Fit

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There are no fit issues with this figure. Everything holds together nicely, although you may have to adjust her on her base once every few months. While there are no leaning or warping issues in the plastic she may pull forward slowly over time.

Sculpting & Pose

If they were to pick any pose for manga Sailor Moon to stand in this HAD to be it. It’s iconic to both the anime and the manga, but the leg positions are almost manga specific, and recognizable for fans.

The sculpt is great. Besides a few hardly noticeable seam lines around her neck and legs the only real issue with the sculpt is the massive size of her hands. While it’s not particularly noticeable on display, once it’s pointed out or noticed it’s hard to stop seeing it (I’m so sorry). Don’t let it detract from the figure though. Her hands are still well sculpted, and the rest of her is still beautiful, especially for her tiny size.

Painting

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A minor paint flaw at a seam line in her boot.

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Some small flaws on her skirt at the waist trim.

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A beautiful paint job on her face. It really gives her character.

Her collar could have been cleaner, but it’s not terribly noticeable.

Beautiful paint transitions in her hair from blonde to white.

Base

The base is fine in general. It’s basic and cute, but the leg support DOES leave some dents in the plastic. Thankfully it hasn’t removed any paint. These marks are NOT noticeable to the regular viewer. You have to remove her from the base and view her in good light to see the ones on mine. I do recommend avoiding adjustments as much as possible if you can.

Identify Bootlegs

There are no bootlegs for this figure as of October 2013! Please contact me if you think you’ve identified a bootleg.

Over all

Personally this figure was a benchmark in my collection. She was a grail piece despite her common status several years ago mostly because of the price tag. As a collector she is one of my favourite pieces ever released and regularly holds a featured spot in my displays.

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

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.