Sailor Mars

Identifying S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon Series Bootlegs

| MoonFigures

THIS GUIDE APPLIES TO ALL BOOTLEG S.H.FIGUARTS SAILOR MOON LINE FIGURES,
but specifically uses Sailor Moon as a baseline.

Price Tags & Listings

If an S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon figure is a bootleg chances are you’ll see her priced very low ($17.99 seems to be the magic price as of December 12, 2013). The seller may also state that the figure is the CHINESE VERSION instead of the Japanese version. “Chinese version” is a huge red flag, as there’s no such thing in this line. There are international releases, but those are signified with an alternate TOEI sticker, and no change to the box or figure. There is no specific Chinese release.

Be sure that if the seller uses official photos that they note whether the manufacturer is Bandai, or if they’ve left out that detail entirely

Box Identifiers

Boxes
Left: Official First Release; Right: Bootleg (Pic. Credit)

It’s harder to tell online because photo editing, and picture taking conditions can vary, but try to identify if the box colour differs from an official box. Note how in the photos above the bootleg has a red tone.

Physically the only box difference other than the colour is the international Sailor Moon logo that appears on the bootleg box, but not the official box pictured. THIS IS ACTUALLY OK! This logo DOES appear on some boxes, and appears to be something signifying international release vs Japanese release. They’re all manufactured by the same people, in the same place, and distributed from Japan, but the international release has it’s own release date outside of Japan.

On the window of the box for the First Edition release of Sailor Moon specifically should be a sticker that reads:

FIRST EDITION BONUS
2 Interchangeable Face Parts-
Winking and Crying
Expressions
Included

The second press of this figure DOES NOT have this sticker, or the bonus parts, but the bootleg of the first press figure neglects to recreate this sticker, and therefore it is missing. If you have no sticker in the window, but bonus parts your figure could be bootleg.

The bootleg is also missing the TOEI sticker outlined in red on the bottom portion of the box. This sticker is normally located in the same location pictured, or above the 20th Anniversary logo between Sailor Moons legs.

Parts

Bootleg joints on this figure are skin tone. They should be WHITE or the appropriate colour of that joint, but ALL of the bootlegs are skin tone.

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Check the paint colours in both her eyes and mouth on the faceplates. The official versions appear slightly darker, and it appears more obvious in the mouth. The official face plates also have thicker and darker tiaras. The bootlegs are faded looking, and the eyebrows are the wrong colour.

The Crescent Moon Wands seem to be the give away here though. One of the more impressive features of this official figure is how well the wands are moulded and painted. The bootlegs look horrible. Their sculpting and paint jobs are VERY messy.

Body Sculpt & Paint Job

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This image gives a clear look at not just the skin tone arm joints, but how poorly painted she is as well. Take note of her skirt, choker, and Odango covers. It also appears that her bangs try to make use of the transparent plastic, but it appears a little dirty. This COULD be caused by the black background though.

In most of the photographs found for this bootleg ((mfc link)) it appears that her joints are pulled out to make her appear longer. You can see her joints sticking out under her skirt and at her arms. Her head also appears pulled forward too far, or up too far.

Also note the seam lines along her body side, shoulder pads, and the prominent neck joint. These details are trimmed or avoided on an official piece.

Assembly

Though I have no pictures to offer one of the biggest complaints from people who have been stuck with a bootleg version of Sailor Moon is how easily she falls apart at the waist and arms. THIS SHOULDN’T BE AN ISSUE**. While some factory defects escape inspection your figure shouldn’t easily fall apart.

** This has since changed. A common problem with the S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon is that her torso detaches from her bust and needs to be popped back in.

If you have any questions, or tips for spotting a bootleg S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon figure please comment below!

PURCHASE OFFICIAL

Purchase her on CDJapan

Purchase her on Entertainment Earth

Purchase her on HLJ

S.H.Figuarts Sailor Mars

| MoonFigures
Header

Japanese release date: December 14, 2013
International release date: February 2014
Website: http://sailormoon.tamashii.jp/

Sailor Mars, also known as Rei Hino, is the unexpected best friend of Sailor Moon, and a sort of center for the group outside of Usagi. Throughout the entire series Usagi and Rei bicker to the point of making the viewer wonder why they’re even friends to begin with? Their friendship starts with a strong hit to the face with an Ofuda as Rei mistakingly believes Usagi is some sort of evil entity.

Their true friendship is proven when Rei is trusted with the Crescent Moon Wand as they mock fight for leadership in order to trick the enemy. There are also various scenes and episodes where Rei is attacked or dies where, while Usagi is clearly distraught over other characters as well, she runs to Rei.

Rei is a Miko at Hikawa Shrine, owned by her Grandfather, and her specialty is in the paranormal and with fire. She is often found meditating and consulting spirits for the missing piece of the puzzle.

Packaging & Advertising

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Oddly enough Sailor Mars has been given a strange colour theme on her box. Purple, green and yellow. Fans have seemingly accepted the purple as alright (although many question why not red?), but the green corner has everyone confused. On both Moon and Mercury’s boxes this corner was yellow.

Personally, I think it’s ugly, but I bought the figure for the figure, not the box.

For Sailor Mars her TOEI sticker is usually located above the 20th anniversary logo. For the international release it might be located beside or above the International logo.

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Despite pictures, everything came sealed. My Mars was opened for pictures previous to my review *gasp* So the base should be wrapped in a plastic bag.

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Of course, like Mercury and Moon, Mars has a casing for the faces and hands. This casing unfortunately doesn’t include the hand that holds her Ofuda though.

As with Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars did not get much advertisement. Photos were posted on the Tamashii site, and an AmiAmi review got her lots of wonderful photographs, but there were no advertisements or commercials. She did (and probably will) see lots of events from a display case though!

Parts, Assembly, & Fit

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Sailor Mars comes with 21 pieces, so far the least of the 3 Senshi released. Her special parts include a hand piece that fits both arms for Fire Soul, as well as an Ofuda and hand to hold it.

Mars joints seem to hold together well. She also has 2 jointed hair pieces for effect that seem to roll smothly. Despite no issues with mine, I’ve read some complaints about loose leg joints, as well as a case of the leg snapping off at the knee upon opening and posing the figure. These should not be common issues, but contacting Bandai Japan for replacement parts would be a good first step, instead of purchasing an entirely new figure.

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Mars comes with 4 different face plates that ultimately suit the character, but don’t offer much variety as 3/4 faces are angry attack faces. I guess they watched all of the episodes where she was frustrated with Usagi while picking expressions.

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I edited this picture as darkly as possible to show the paint choices. 5 of her hands appear to have a pink base to them, while the other 6 are pearl white. Some of these are attack hands, so it’s possible they thought it would suit her fire attacks? Her body matches the pearl white hands, but it’s not particularly noticeable in the photos whether I’m using a pink hand or a pearl white hand.

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The peg for her hand is similar to Sailor Mercury’s so it’s possible their hands will be compatible with each other.

Sculpting & Posing

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After Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury there really isn’t much to be said about the sculpting. Like the last two Sailor Mars’ head leans forward just a little too much, but posing her and playing with her position allows you to find good spots where her head doesn’t look awkward.

Because of the flexibility in how the feet may be posed her joints aren’t hidden slightly in the legs, but are mostly exposed. In regards to the usual Figuarts/jointed figure design there isn’t really much they can do to hide this piece, especially on a character with bare legs and ankles. But for Mars in particular it stands out as distracting.

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Unfortunately for Sailor Mars, posing her is difficult. Because Sailor Mars has long hair it is extremely difficult to pose her using the base and arm she comes with. Her hair gets in the way of the arm, and the only way to use it properly is to turn her head sideways (seen above) or lift her hair, which in turn makes her look down. To make it all the more difficult she is nearly impossible to pose standing without her base because her hair is so heavy.

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Her hair is very detailed, and there are two pieces on ball joints that move. If positioned correctly they are great assets for a good pose.

Painting

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The usual bad spot on these figures is the brooch. Sailor Mars is perfect! It’s super clean, the bow looks nice, the collar looks lovely, so does her choker, arms, and skirt.

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The skirt isn’t all around that bad either. Where the skirt meets the white piece around the waist it’s not quite smooth, but it’s about as clean as it will get at such a small scale.

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This is where my concern begins for the paint. There are 3 smudge marks on her back, as well as a mark on the collar that I am unsure about. I’ve contacted Bandai, but I haven’t heard back from them yet.

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The paint on her feet feel a little messy. Visually I think the camera picks up more issues than you can see with the naked eye, but it does appear

Base

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The base for Sailor Mars resembles Sailor Mercury’s, and does not have the flexibility of Sailor Moons base arm. The claw also appears to be the same as Sailor Mercury’s.

As mentioned previously, the base is really annoying to use with Sailor Mars as her hair gets in the way of the arm and claw. Most likely you’ll have to turn her head left or right to make it work. This can be REALLY annoying when you have a display in mind, and it makes it impossible to use.

I have managed to pose Mars, and prop her up on the base with the arm instead of clamping it around her waist.

As Sailor Venus will have very similar hair, I expect this to be an issue with her as well.

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Identify Bootlegs

Overall

I feel like from a distance and on display Sailor Mars is perfect, but playing with her might be an issue. You’ll always see more criticism than praise, but I feel like I’ve read a lot of complaints or issues ranging from the box, to actual figure defects. Issues like defective parts and paint spots will never really disappear completely as no company in their right mind will QC proof every single figure.

For the set I highly recommend Sailor Mars, but I also recommend cracking open the box and checking her for defects. The chances of getting a defected piece should be very small. Most of the complaints I’ve heard have been on MFC, but not on Tumblr, or from friends who collect. So in a place that complaints would generally be posted.


Purchase her on CDJapan

Purchase her on Entertainment Earth

Purchase her on HLJ

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