DSC_6192
How's everyone's new year going so far?
As teased on a few occasions (mostly cause it took me so damn long to actually sit down and get all these photos done), I present to you the S.H. Figuarts Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, from a local comic book store on New Years Eve 2019. Seeing as these two hang out together on the show consistently, it only made sense to bring them into the horde as a duo.
In the world of Sailor Moon, there are many set relationships (or ships, if you're cool) between characters, but for me next to Darien & Serena, it's always going to be these two - Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Now, I can't exactly recall specifics with regards to their relationship in the 90s US dub, probably because censors figured the concept of a queer relationship would blow our delicate little minds. If we're going by official canon, these two lovebirds are amongst the last of the Outer Senshi to be introduced into the series, and really only show up in the third season of the anime. As I mentioned, my mind is somewhat of a haze when it comes to the show at this point, but I do seem to recall there were a couple of episodes where everyone thought Amara (US 90s Dub Uranus) was male, and where she was perceived to be hitting on Serena, much to the annoyance of Darien. I also seem to remember the pair going to a different high school than the Inner Senshi (original 5).
Rather than butcher the series any further, I'm just gonna move on.
As I've stated in earlier episodes, getting my hands on Sailor Moon Figuarts at an acceptable prices is, and remains, a test of patience and luck. Sometimes, things pan out (like here), sometimes not so much. What makes getting these two particularly annoying is that unbeknownst to me, Uranus and Neptune are actually Bandai online shop exclusives, much like many of their annoying to get Dragonball items. The chaos is of course, less here in North America as opposed to Japan, but this usually translates into a higher than normal MSRP. So given all this, I figure the $60 CAD a piece, taxes in, from a store no less, was pretty good.
Having said all that, upon opening you can at the very least appreciate the reasoning behind the slightly higher price. Each box comes with an absurd number of accessories, especially Uranus. Common to each would be a figure, several additional sculpts (both have four faces in total which range from netural expression to attacking, with Neptune having one dedicated to a serene, closed eye look), their weapon of choice (Space Sword for Uranus, Deep Aqua Mirror for Neptune) and the "gets the job done" stand. The sheer number of hands with each figure is definitely above average and should cover all your posing needs. There's also crossed arm optional parts for both figures, with an additional lovestruck face for Serena included with Uranus, and a hands clasped part for Neptune.
Overall, there are are 13 additional hand related options for each figure, in addition to the two hands that come with the figure itself.
Uranus and Neptune are among the taller of the Senshi, with Uranus reported to be 6', the tallest of them all (who I always figured was Jupiter.. oh well). Naturally the Black Widow figure is from a different series so the scaling there is questionable, but it's good to see amongst the Sailor Senshi that this difference is actually reflected properly, even if not so much in their footwear. To my eyes though, Uranus seems to be way too lanky, with Tamashii Nations only scaling the length of the various limbs and the abdomen of the standard figure, but nothing from a girth perspective. Interestingly, they didn't make the hands any different size as compared to the Inner Senshi, making either Sailor Moon and co having giant hands, or Sailor Uranus and co. having midget hands. Either or works for me from a comedy perspective. I'm pretty sure the Skirt and the chest section are exactly the same size across the board.
Proportions aside, I'd say that the figures again capture the essence of the character. Neptune has always been the more elegant of the the pair and she remains so here, though from a design perspective I've always favoured Jupitor and Saturn. Outfits, faces, hair, and so on all capture the anime aesthetic quite well, with allowances given due to the scale.
Rounding the usual bases, articulation is pretty good for a circa 2013-14 Figuarts, and are the same across the board for all the Sailor Senshi. You have ankles, single jointed knees, hips with pull down to allow for more range of motion, waist, mid torso, shoulders with some chest compress and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, wrist, and head. All your gang sign flashing and Sentai style posing desires should be fulfilled for the most part, though more elegant sitting poses/kneeling poses aren't happening with the restriction of the skirt. Dynamic leaping poses, I'm happy to say, are technically doable, with assistance from the dynamic stand.
Paint is always a mixed bag with these older Figuarts releases. As always, most of the white coloured parts are painted in pearl white over translucent white plastic, giving the figures a slight shimmering effect. The overall paint job is pretty good from afar, but up close you're going to run into masking errors, particularly in areas where there is use of the white paint which has always had one or two less than stellar masking jobs on all five of the Senshi that are in my collection, as well as areas of other colour such as the straps on Neptune's feet. There's some nice shading at the base of Neptune's hair at the back.
Decal work on the eyes is solid, though the paint apps for the mouths are... okay, though fortunately the colouring is just a highlight of the face detailing itself.
Build quality itself is about what you'd expect for a Figuarts - use of plastics that generally don't warp under the slightest touch *cough* HASBRO *cough*. Tolerances on parts are overall good, with the strange exception of Uranus's arms that don't always want to stay in their pegs which can make posing her a bit of a pain - Neptune holds together much better from that regard. Assembly gaps are generally sanded down and covered with some paint, though they are still easily observable. There is a moulding seam running from front to back of Uranus's front hair piece.. not sure if that's just on mine or if that's a running acceptable QC thing.
There you have it - the second most prominent power couple in the Sailor Moon universe, at least in my books. The figures are pretty much what I expected them to be, and while they're not as aged as the original Dragonball figures, it would be interesting to see what improvements a line using the newest Figuarts bodies would be like. Though if Bandai has plans to do this, I'd love to know sooner than later so I can abandon my plans for completing the set.
DSC_6192
How's everyone's new year going so far?
As teased on a few occasions (mostly cause it took me so damn long to actually sit down and get all these photos done), I present to you the S.H. Figuarts Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, from a local comic book store on New Years Eve 2019. Seeing as these two hang out together on the show consistently, it only made sense to bring them into the horde as a duo.
In the world of Sailor Moon, there are many set relationships (or ships, if you're cool) between characters, but for me next to Darien & Serena, it's always going to be these two - Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Now, I can't exactly recall specifics with regards to their relationship in the 90s US dub, probably because censors figured the concept of a queer relationship would blow our delicate little minds. If we're going by official canon, these two lovebirds are amongst the last of the Outer Senshi to be introduced into the series, and really only show up in the third season of the anime. As I mentioned, my mind is somewhat of a haze when it comes to the show at this point, but I do seem to recall there were a couple of episodes where everyone thought Amara (US 90s Dub Uranus) was male, and where she was perceived to be hitting on Serena, much to the annoyance of Darien. I also seem to remember the pair going to a different high school than the Inner Senshi (original 5).
Rather than butcher the series any further, I'm just gonna move on.
As I've stated in earlier episodes, getting my hands on Sailor Moon Figuarts at an acceptable prices is, and remains, a test of patience and luck. Sometimes, things pan out (like here), sometimes not so much. What makes getting these two particularly annoying is that unbeknownst to me, Uranus and Neptune are actually Bandai online shop exclusives, much like many of their annoying to get Dragonball items. The chaos is of course, less here in North America as opposed to Japan, but this usually translates into a higher than normal MSRP. So given all this, I figure the $60 CAD a piece, taxes in, from a store no less, was pretty good.
Having said all that, upon opening you can at the very least appreciate the reasoning behind the slightly higher price. Each box comes with an absurd number of accessories, especially Uranus. Common to each would be a figure, several additional sculpts (both have four faces in total which range from netural expression to attacking, with Neptune having one dedicated to a serene, closed eye look), their weapon of choice (Space Sword for Uranus, Deep Aqua Mirror for Neptune) and the "gets the job done" stand. The sheer number of hands with each figure is definitely above average and should cover all your posing needs. There's also crossed arm optional parts for both figures, with an additional lovestruck face for Serena included with Uranus, and a hands clasped part for Neptune.
Overall, there are are 13 additional hand related options for each figure, in addition to the two hands that come with the figure itself.
Uranus and Neptune are among the taller of the Senshi, with Uranus reported to be 6', the tallest of them all (who I always figured was Jupiter.. oh well). Naturally the Black Widow figure is from a different series so the scaling there is questionable, but it's good to see amongst the Sailor Senshi that this difference is actually reflected properly, even if not so much in their footwear. To my eyes though, Uranus seems to be way too lanky, with Tamashii Nations only scaling the length of the various limbs and the abdomen of the standard figure, but nothing from a girth perspective. Interestingly, they didn't make the hands any different size as compared to the Inner Senshi, making either Sailor Moon and co having giant hands, or Sailor Uranus and co. having midget hands. Either or works for me from a comedy perspective. I'm pretty sure the Skirt and the chest section are exactly the same size across the board.
Proportions aside, I'd say that the figures again capture the essence of the character. Neptune has always been the more elegant of the the pair and she remains so here, though from a design perspective I've always favoured Jupitor and Saturn. Outfits, faces, hair, and so on all capture the anime aesthetic quite well, with allowances given due to the scale.
Rounding the usual bases, articulation is pretty good for a circa 2013-14 Figuarts, and are the same across the board for all the Sailor Senshi. You have ankles, single jointed knees, hips with pull down to allow for more range of motion, waist, mid torso, shoulders with some chest compress and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, wrist, and head. All your gang sign flashing and Sentai style posing desires should be fulfilled for the most part, though more elegant sitting poses/kneeling poses aren't happening with the restriction of the skirt. Dynamic leaping poses, I'm happy to say, are technically doable, with assistance from the dynamic stand.
Paint is always a mixed bag with these older Figuarts releases. As always, most of the white coloured parts are painted in pearl white over translucent white plastic, giving the figures a slight shimmering effect. The overall paint job is pretty good from afar, but up close you're going to run into masking errors, particularly in areas where there is use of the white paint which has always had one or two less than stellar masking jobs on all five of the Senshi that are in my collection, as well as areas of other colour such as the straps on Neptune's feet. There's some nice shading at the base of Neptune's hair at the back.
Decal work on the eyes is solid, though the paint apps for the mouths are... okay, though fortunately the colouring is just a highlight of the face detailing itself.
Build quality itself is about what you'd expect for a Figuarts - use of plastics that generally don't warp under the slightest touch *cough* HASBRO *cough*. Tolerances on parts are overall good, with the strange exception of Uranus's arms that don't always want to stay in their pegs which can make posing her a bit of a pain - Neptune holds together much better from that regard. Assembly gaps are generally sanded down and covered with some paint, though they are still easily observable. There is a moulding seam running from front to back of Uranus's front hair piece.. not sure if that's just on mine or if that's a running acceptable QC thing.
There you have it - the second most prominent power couple in the Sailor Moon universe, at least in my books. The figures are pretty much what I expected them to be, and while they're not as aged as the original Dragonball figures, it would be interesting to see what improvements a line using the newest Figuarts bodies would be like. Though if Bandai has plans to do this, I'd love to know sooner than later so I can abandon my plans for completing the set.