Remember, these toys are for display only, and are not for sale
Still with me? Wow. I guess you're really into Sailor Moon. Well, I'm glad I've managed to keep your interest. Anyhoo, we've finally reached the fifth and final season of the anime, in which Naoko Takeuchi wound the storyline to a bittersweet close for both the comic and the TV series. Apparently, the effects of syndicated reruns and over saturation are the same in Japan as they are here! ;) Four new major characters entered the show this season, three of which, the Sailor Starlights, were prominently featured in the toy lines. We were also introduced to the mysterious Chibi-chibi this year, but she didn't appear in toy form very often. 1996 was another strong year for merchandising, with two new series of dolls hitting Japan's toy shelves. And once again, that's where we'll start...
The 11" Sailor Stars series employed a feature that had been tried the previous year with the SuperS "henshin" Moon and Chibimoon dolls. Each doll came with an extra dress with Velcro fasteners on the shoulder and a drawstring with a ring attached. This allowed you to pull off the extra "civilian" dress quickly in the case of a dire emergency, like say, your cat is wrestling with your Tuxedo Mask doll. Great idea for a super-powered doll line such as Sailormoon, don't you think? To facilitate the extra dress, the large bows on the costumes were made of felt, so that they would lie flat underneath. The only trouble with this great feature is that the extra dresses are not too fashionable. Actually, they're pretty ugly! Other than that, I like the paint jobs on this particular series. Like the SuperS series, the faces are quite individualized. The Uranus and Pluto dolls, listed below, are both good examples of this. The Beauty Change series also happens to be the largest of all the Barbie-sized doll lines, consisting of the Inner Senshi, the Outer Senshi (including Saturn) and adding the three newest characters, the Sailor Starlights.
In my opinion, the crowning jewel of the Beauty Change series is the Eternal Sailor Moon. The costume comes complete with her newly added wings, and she looks great. The Beauty Change series dolls retailed for ¥2980 each.
The Sailor
Starlights - A subset of the Beauty Change series, the differences are: the
boxes are dark blue rather than pink and have a picture of the doll trio rather than the
individual doll "changing" clothes. The extra outfits are all long dress coats
that match the character's hair color. (Try and block out the fact that these characters
are portrayed in the anime as men in their civilian lives who wear suits or sport jackets.)
In addition to the dress, each comes with gloves, a choker, bracelets, a communicator that
affixes to her ear and a headband. Although they don't show up in the scans, these dolls
all have long ponytails that extends down to their thighs. There is another extremely
important difference with the Starlights dolls that separates them from the rest of the
series. These three have wires in their arms in legs that allow you to pose them like you
see in the picture. The other Beauty Change Dolls have hollow arms and legs.
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Produced independently, this offshoot from the Sailor Stars collection is worlds apart from the regular Beauty Change Moon. In fact, the only similarity may be the quick-change feature, which is employed here again. Excellent pose Moon is slightly taller than Beauty Change Moon and the body is a completely different sculpt. The pronounced bust line is an obvious giveaway, as are the longer hands and fingers. The face is longer and thinner and the eyes are painted wider, giver her a distinctly older look than any of the previous dolls. She's still a teen, but an older teen this time. The Excellent Pose Moon features the same wire-filled arms and legs as the Starlight dolls, which allow Moon to move into all sorts of poses that the Beauty Change Dolls can only dream of. Comes with a trading card, gloves, a choker and a red polka dot quick-change dress. | |
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The only talking doll this year was this Eternal Moon, which looks like a cross between the Beauty Change and the Excellent Pose Moon. She has the rounder face and more youthful body of the BC Moon, but the face paint has the wider eyes and the darker lips like the EP Moon. The costume is the most elaborate one yet. Like the SuperS talking dolls, she says 3 phrases. Comes with her headband, wand, gloves, two trading cards and a doll stand. Sold for ¥3300. Click to see a scan.
The last series of Sailor Moon dolls is a collection of 6" dolls called Dream Pocket Dolls. Each figure comes with a pouch that can be affixed to a belt loop, allowing you to carry your favorite little warrior wherever you go. The range of characters matches that of the full sized Sailor Stars Beauty Change set, containing the Inner Senshi, the Outer Senshi (including Saturn) plus the Starlights. A friend of mine feels that the Dream Pockets are the best series of Sailor Moon dolls ever produced and its hard to argue. They're very nice. The faces are cute and the bodies are more poseable than the full sized dolls. You can judge for yourself. The Dream Pocket series retailed for ¥1680 each.
| Eternal Moon | Sailor Jupiter | Sailor Mars | Sailor Mercury |
| Sailor Venus | Sailor Pluto | Sailor Uranus | Sailor Neptune |
| Sailor Saturn | Sailorstar Healer | Sailorstar Fighter | Sailorstar Maker |
Sold as limited edition pre-assembled and pre-painted model kits, these colorful soft vinyl figures look fantastic. The only available characters are Eternal Sailor Moon and the three Sailor Starlights. (Each sold separately, of course.) Standing 11.5 inches (29 cm) tall, the Eternal Sailor Moon figure is a personal favorite. The Sailor Star figures (similarly sized) are also very well done. They look far too skinny and their outfits would never be allowed on US television, but that's exactly the way they appear in the series so all is as it should be. These figures come with their own display stands ( you'll need 'em )and a trading card that has the limited edition number.
Eternal Moon
used a sceptre that could change into a staff, so Bandai created three toys that could be
used seperately, or combined to create the large staff. The standard size sceptre, shown
at left, plays music and lights up, and retailed for ¥2980. The Chalice/Holy Grail also lights up and plays music,
and cost ¥3200. The third piece
was a wand with a crescent moon and a small superdeformed Eternal Moon figure on top. ¥3800
yen. To see how the pieces fit together, click here.
In addition to the wands, there was:
Yep, they made another series of these 2" babies this season. In fact, this might just be my favorite series of hangers. These come in plastic capsules and are found in vending machines in Japanese toy stores. Each has a metal loop at the top of the head and a small chain. You can use them as keychains or attach them to bookbags, clothes, whatever. Included in this set are the three Sailor Stars (Healer, Maker & Fighter), Chibi-Chibi, Sailor Uranus, Eternal Sailormoon and Sailor Neptune. Note: Chibi-chibi is only about 1" tall.
( click to enlarge )
Sailormoon - Toys from Japan, North America, Korea & Italy.
Sailormoon R - The first appearance of a full line of dolls.
Sailormoon S - The first Outer Senshi toys and lots more.
SuperS - What a year! The Amazoness Quartet, Sailor Saturn & Pegasus join in on the fun!
Sailor Stars - The final season. Over two dozen dolls were released. And here come The Starlights!
Spotlight on Sailor Mercury - The All Mercury Page!
The Kanegon.com UFO Catcher Toy Site - There are at least 75 Sailor Moon plush toys on display here, plus hundreds more from other anime series' as well.
Link Page - Other Anime-Related Sites and Recommended Online Stores. (Out of date)
