Welcome to the next episode of "Stuff I Bought in Vancouver". Tonight, I bring you something that is, as always exotic, but more importantly, something that again, I probably wouldn't have run into while in Toronto. The subject of tonights review is the S.H. Figuarts Sailor Moon figure, First Edition.

 

So, Sailor Moon. The Figuarts releases I've picked up two of them up to this point - Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Venus, so clearly they exist here in Toronto. I had gotten lucky so far with regards to pricing thus far, finding the right person at the right time who was willing to make a deal just to get rid of it. It was a similar situation for this particular figure, which I ended up paying $60 CAD for, making it the most expensive figure I purchased during my time out West. For those paying attention, that's pretty much MSRP - why did I do that??? Well, the answer lies in the second part of the title - First Edition. First Edition releases of Sailor Moon came with two additional face plates that were not available later on, and to be honest they're ones that should have been standard, but I digress. The point is, if one were to take into account the First Edition perks, and the fact the figure had never been opened, $60 CAD ends up being a pretty good buy.

 

Sailor Moon is, of course, the titular character from the Sailor Moon series. The superhero guise of Usagi Tsukino (Serena in the US dub), Sailor Moon starts off, like all many other anime heroes, kind of clumsy, childlike, but eventually matures into a competent leader of her fellow Sailor Senshi in their battle against the forces of evil and enemies of the Moon Kingdom, from whence she originated from. In superhero form, Usagi maintains her trademark twin pigtails, gets a few more pieces of jewelery, and is generally decked out in the now legendary ensemble of high school girl outfit combined with some bows and a kickass pair of boots. Being Sailor Moon, however, her outfit has a few extra bells and whistles not present on the other Sailor Senshi, like the moon on her choker, a jewel encrusted pendant on her chest ribbon, moons on her boots, and jewels in the buns of her hair.

 

Sailor Moon comes with the most accessories I've seen in a Sailor Moon Figuarts thus far (I admittedly haven't seen that many). There's the figure, of course, with five additional faces (winking and crying faces being the exclusives... FINALLY, a winking face), Moon Crescent Wand, Moon Crescent Wand with the Imperium Silver Crystal installed, seven additional hands with one dedicated for holding her wand, two for her trademark pose, and additional hand/effect piece for her Moon Tiara Action, a mini Luna, and a stand. To the surprise of nobody, it appears that Luna and Artemis are effectively repaints of one another, though I found that Luna stood very easily, whereas Artemis was required some futzing to get him to pose for photos. Points of articulation on Luna are her head and tail, both on ball joints.

 

The figure of course, looks very faithful to the the animation model. General silhouette is there, and compared to Sailor Venus, slightly more accurate body proportions, mostly with the legs, which seem to have a shorter lower leg as compared to the statuesque Sailor Venus. Otherwise, you have the same general slender high school girl physique. Sailor Moon, to me, has a more accurate facial structure as well.. in fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say they adapted Sailor Moons base face plates for use on Venus. Both are, IMO, a bit too narrow and could stand to be a bit wider at the temples. Sailor Moon fares much better at actually being able to use the included stand properly, as she does not have a giant mound of hair getting in the way of the dynamic arm of the stand. Speaking of hair, good recreation of the hair on the character, with the added "bonus" of being made from translucent plastic that is painted yellow so she has the shimmering effect on her head. The down side is tolerances, as evidences by the fact her right pigtail keeps popping out of the socket. Otherwise, you get some good sculpting in terms of detailing of the outfit and hair, both of which has been pretty consistent in terms of quality across the three characters that I have.

 

As mentioned above, this First Edition release comes with two additional face plates that are very much essential to Sailor Moon as a character. I can sort of get the crying face as an exclusive, as its usage is relatively limited (unless you're willing to be a bit creative, like me) but for magical girl figures to not come with winking faces ought to be made a crime punishable by public ridicule. The other faces are your typical smiling, neutral, attacking, and one face with no tiara painted on it with the intent of use with the Moon Tiara Action hand effect.

 

Articulation.. boy, is it nice coming back to something that is not maddening to make use. Points of articulation, again, are consistent with the other Sailor Senshi - ankles, single jointed knees, hips with pull down action to improve range of motion, waist, upper torso swivel, shoulders with some chest collapse, single jointed eblows, wirsts, and head. As stated above, there is one point of articulation on each of the pigtails to allow for some dynamic posing of the pigtails, though it mainly allows for side to side displays of hair rather than dashing forward displays. I found that perhaps due to a more pliable rubber (or maybe I just tried harder), Sailor Moon, while unable to kick high, was able to at least maintain a proper seated position. Hands come off the wrist pegs easily.. perhaps a bit TOO easily. I've read that subsequent releases of the figure (most notable being the anime coloured edition), the wrist pegs have been changed such that they have balls on the end of them to improve the grip.

 

Paintwork is again that lovely combination of good and meh that is present on Venus and Chibi moon. One again, the outfit itself is painted with pearl based paints on the whites, which makes for a lovely shimmering effect, if a bit thick in terms of application. Coloured sections of the outfit, along with various metal pieces are painted with metallic paints. These metallic paint apps can get a bit messy, especially on detailed areas like the small lines on her hair bun jewels, her pendant on the chest, the tiaras on her foreheads, and her earrings. The hair appears be partially solid plastic with some translucent plastics (bangs, pigtails), all of which is painted, which does make for an effective glowing effect at the cost of some less than stellar tolerances. Paint work on the hair itself is surprisingly smooth, with no splotches of colour that not only would look bad, but would also interfere with the translucent quality of the hair. Fleshy bits appear to be the base plastic colours, which are slightly different from Sailor Venus (more tan). In terms of paint masking, some weakness was observed at most transition points, with the most notable being between her outfit and her blue skirt.

 

Decals are applied well, with no bubbles observed, and no misalignment issues to report. In general, fit and tolerances are pretty good, with the only real issue I can mention is the one with that one pigtail that likes to fall out. Otherwise, there aren't any issues with tolerances or poorly mating parts to report. Some improvements on the parts finish side would have been nice, as mould lines and various seams were more prevalent on Sailor Moon than Venus or Chibi Moon. It's not like the latter two were perfect, and neither is Sailor Moon the worst figure ever made, it's just that by comparison to the other two, Sailor Moon does exhibit significantly weaker traits from this perspective, so I know a better product is technically possible. Build quality is the typical Figuarts level of excellence, with tight joints and a generally solid toy that can withstand some typical handling by a collector.

 

This is undeniably a great Sailor Moon figure, though one that is for... reasons, worse off from a parts finish perspective than her peers that I own. The base figure doesn't really offer anything that the other Sailor Senshi don't have (other than perhaps a slightly more appropriate face), but that's no surprise (or an issue) when they're all based off a pretty decent platform, though keep in mind I was able to get her seated when I couldn't get Sailor Venus or Chibi Moon to do so. While the base accessory set is pretty good (considering all the main Senshi cost the same), the First Edition faces truly make this figure shine. So while the figure is clearly a recommend for fans of the series, I'm going to do something I normally don't do, and recommend that you hunt down a First Edition version. While you may not benefit from the improved wrist pegs, the crying and winking expressions are a HUGE part of the character, and are worth going the extra mile for. If you're gonna hunt this figure down, I'd strongly recommend finding a First Edition and hassling the seller until a price that is agreeable to you can be reached.