Moon Collection - An in-depth look into the merchandise of Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon RPG toy mass + new cosplay photos + Boston comic shop hosting Sailor Moon manga release party

2011-08-26T20:00:00.001-07:00

I recently got a Kaleidomoon Scope, new SHMR and a SuperS Chibimoon locket in a trade. Now I have all of Sailor Moon's wands! Besides, you know, the Eternal Tier extenders.. and that SMW version crescent moon wand.. well, I definitely have all of Chibimoon's lockets now, lol. I also finally have enough RPG toys at my apartment to do some of those pictures where you throw all the RPG toys together.

Sadly, a few days after taking this I decided to sell my extra SHMR and Luna Pen. I need the money, and I want to get a Luna Pen in the box eventually anyway. I also have a NQS tiara on the way, but I don't know when I'll get it out of SMJ storage. I'm so happy to be building up my RPG toy collection again ^_^ I love my new RPG toys!

Since I'm out of college, I think it's time to move the rest of my collectibles, or at least start. I really can't wait. In retrospect, I don't have much more, but a lot of the items are really special to me. They're the first pieces in my collection.

I'm thinking of making some cosplay items to sell on etsy and eBay. I already made some heart-shaped inner senshi resin brooches and I'm working on Super Sailor Moon earrings, hairclips, R and classic brooches, and maybe odango shields and Eternal senshi earrings. Are there any items you guys would like to see me sell?

Speaking of cosplay, I went to Otakuthon a couple weeks ago and had a blast. It was my first time in Canada. I only cosplayed briefly, but did a shoot with Kevin of stillvisions.net and was happy to see them posted rather quickly.

I loved this door and another really ornate door we shot by, because they remind of the door of time in the way that everything reminds me of Sailor Moon (applying to work in a jewelry store? It's just like in Sailor Moon! Looking up at the night sky? Omg! Sailor Moon! I'm sure you can relate...). Maybe next year I'll cosplay Sailor Pluto. I was also in this video! I think I'm going to make a Sailor Venus cosplay next.

Finally, there's a comic shop in Boston that's holding a Sailor Moon manga pre-release party! You can find out more about it on sailormoonfans. They have a reservation list apparently, so don't forget that. I'm hoping to go with Dan of smuncensored. Are any of you planning on going? I'll probably cosplay either Usagi or Minako (probably Usagi) and I hope to see you there!

Otakon & My Eternal Sailor Moon Cosplay

2011-07-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Who's going to Otakon? I am! I can't wait but it's going to be really hectic the next few days with last minute cosplay prep. I'm still not really sure to bring, even this late. I want to wear my newer version of classic Sailor Moon I've been working on the past couple of weeks, but I also have a school uniform and Super Sailor Moon I want to wear. But I don't know if I can finish fixing up everything in time! I want to relax and have fun, but I also want to do my best.

I decided not to bring Eternal Sailor Moon to Otakon, but I want to post pictures of it here because I never did and it's going to be awhile before I can wear it again :/ Pictures are from foto.fong on flickr.

Enough about me; are you guys going? What are you cosplaying as? Are you planning on going to the Funi panel, or any other kind of Sailor Moon meetup? I hope to see you all there!

New Sailor Moon Hot Topic T-Shirt!! UPDATED with more new shirts!

2011-07-20T09:47:00.001-07:00

Guess what guys! A NEW Sailor Moon shirt just showed up online at Hot Topic! Although GE released previews of new items first, this is the first new piece of NA merch that's actually available to buy. I just plunked down $28 shipped for it.

It shows the Italian logo and if you look at the tag, you can see the same logo (thanks Ochiba for pointing this out!) The description reads:
"This fitted white tee features a front screen of Sailor Moon posing with her cosmic crescent wand."
Hmm.. uh-oh. I wonder where they got that from? Ah well...

Apparently, it's an "online exclusive" item. I know a bunch of Moonies have already bought it; hopefully we can show them we mean business!

Thanks to Sakky for posting this on Facebook!

UPDATE: THREE more shirts have been released!

It seems like people who didn't like the first shirt much have found a shirt among these they really like. I hope there's something for everybody! Personally, I really love the first shirt. I already got notification it was shipped too - I'll get it within one week. It's all happening so fast! *swoons*
Of note: the website calls them the "Sailor Senshi." Hmmm, no Scouts or Guardians? On the other hand, we got "Cosmic Crescent Wand" earlier and I can't see them using that name this time. Maybe I'm reading way too much into this.

What shirt do you like the most? BTW, since there's been some confusion about sizes - you can find a sizing chart for Hot Topic here.

Latest Italian Merchandise/Luna Pens, Luna Pens Everywhere! (Updated with pricing!)

2011-07-13T12:54:00.001-07:00

I'm really behind on this one, but I'll post about it anyway because I'm really excited about it. As most of you already know, Italy is coming out with even more new merchandise in the next few months!

The sad fact is I just haven't bought much Italian merchandise. It's not that I don't like it; I bought that Luna Pen, but I've just wanted to put my money elsewhere. When this stuff comes out though, I want to put in a big order to Muscara. I'd like to catch up on all the Sailor Moon magazines, since I thought it was surprisingly enjoyable to look through and I like the small gifts. I also want to get the new Crescent Moon Wand, as well as some of the exercise books and other cute school supplies. Anyway, here's the stuff I'm excited about. All images are from http://www.sailormoonworld.it/.

Okay, this is pretty significant IMO. Why? We haven't seen a real Luna Pen since the first run of Sailor Moon in Japan and Europe. It didn't come out in in the 2001 SMWorld line and we never got it in America. But here it is, a brand new one! I guess I shouldn't be surprised after they released the magazine version, but I am. This looks like it's pretty much a copy of the older Luna Pen, except that the gold is more subdued rather than shiny. These are just prototypes, though, so that could change.

A cute new watch! I definitely want this. It's just so.. cute.

And a Super Sailor Moon doll! Though I passed on the other new Italian dolls, I might pick up this one. I like Super Sailor Moon and I like their take on her fuku here.

According to sailormoonworld.it, they think this stuff is coming out in September. Why I don't know, but if that is indeed true, September is pretty much going to be Moonie Month between this stuff and the manga finally coming back to America.

I can't wait to buy this stuff and support the revival, and see what else Italy comes up with. I gotta say, the packaging is really growing on me. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites. I wonder if the new NA packaging is going to look like this (at this point I'm clearly just assuming we're going to get toys like this - like I said before I think it's very likely). What do you think of the new stuff?

EDIT: Shortly after posting this, SMW.it added some new information about the merchandise, including ads. They also list a store where you can preorder the new toys, but add that these will be available "by the end of the year." The linked site, toysmania.it, estimates "end of November to 15 December," not September, as was originally speculated. Trying to cash in on some sweet Christmas gift money, I suppose. For some better news, toysmania.it has prices listed and they're not bad! The Luna Pen is the cheapest, at about $12, not including shipping. The watch is slightly more expensive, and the Super Sailor Moon doll is a little over $30. I paid about $60 for an out-of-box 1992 Luna Pen so I'm pretty happy about this. I suppose these are pretty typical kids toy prices, but we're so used to paying hundreds for old toys that this seems really cheap.

EDIT2x: Commenter SailorSuited tried to preorder the Luna Pen from Toysmania.it, only to discover shipping was fairly reasonable.. if you actually live on the moon. Cost of shipping one Luna Pen to New Jersey is $75 through their site! For those of you wanting a Luna Pen, I recommend either 1. Waiting for them to pop up on eBay or 2. Buying from Muscara.com. When I got my Luna Pen/magazine set from them, shipping was around $15 USD from Italy. You can read my review of them here. It's where I plan on buying my Sailor Moon Italian merchandise!

I noticed that their estimated weight of the Luna Pen is 2kgs.. yeah, right. So that might be why. Other items on their site have similarly ridiculous shipping costs, with a Crescent Moon Wand supposedly weighing 7 lbs. Weird.

NEW AMERICAN MERCHANDISE

2011-07-11T11:00:00.001-07:00

Even though I don't keep up with my blog/tumblr/twitter/livejournal/life very well, I do keep up with Sailor Moon merchandise. So I was just as excited as anybody to find out there's new AMERICAN merchandise on the way. Yes, you read that right. American, as in America. As in they will be selling it to Americans in America, in stores in America. (Not to exclude other North Americans - I hope you can understand my excitement though ^^;)

The company making the stuff is Great Eastern Entertainment. You've probably see their stuff if you've ever been to an anime store or convention, and I think even typical mall stores like FYE carry their stuff. On one hand, a lot of their products are pretty mediocre quality. On the other hand, they do have some interesting stuff. Like for Gurren Lagann, they actually offer decent cosplay supplies - hoodies and accessories modelled after the show, rather than just merch with stock pictures from the anime slapped on them like is so common. So I'm pretty excited and hoping they'll sell some clever stuff. And what we've been given previews of is fantastic! Anyway, enough of my blathering, let's look at the merch itself...

Cards! I'm gonna buy these and use them for poker.

Gorgeous new wallscroll! This is probably the only thing I might pass on - I'm really picky with posters and I don't currently own any wallscrolls. But if I found it on sale, I would buy it, of course. I'm really impressed with the aesthetic they're using - it's such a change from the old NA art.

Group notebook. I also really like the notebooks they're coming out with in Italy. Whenever I order from Muscara next I plan on buying a few ^^;;

Aaaaand a new folder. So cute! I LOVE that they are using art of the items! This is a must have. I can't wait to buy all this cute new school stuff, and then never use it since I graduated from college.

Link to GEE's website

No idea when this stuff is going to come out. It just says "coming soon" on the website. A lot of people are wondering what this means - will we get an anime announcement soon? Honestly, I would be so much more surprised if we didn't. Sailor Moon is a huge franchise they've been trying to bring back for years. We have the manga and even new merchandise already. The only thing, to me, that is really up in the air is how big the comeback is going to be - we'll get new merch in some stores, but are we ever going to see wands, lockets and dolls on the shelves of every toy store again? We'll get new DVDs, but are we going to be able to tune into Cartoon Network and watch the dub? I think that's all very likely too, but we'll just have to see.

What do you think about the new merchandise? How big do you think the revival will be in North America?

Italian Luna Pen

2011-04-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

I got my Italian Luna Pen today! I ordered it on the 26th of March, and it actually arrived Saturday the 9th, but it was a signed delivery and I was unavailable, so I had to pick it up myself. Considering it came from Italy to upstate New York, I didn't find the shipping time too unreasonable. Anyway, I thought I'd post a little review of the Luna (or "Lunar") Pen and the magazine it came with! You can click on any of the photos for a larger version. Here's how the package arrived:

The pen itself cost 15.00 EUR and the shipping cost was 10 EUR, so the total was about $36 USD. This is competitive with, and mostly cheaper than, what I've seen listed on eBay.

Front & back of the pen & magazine. I really like that the plastic blister packaging on the pen slips off so you don't have to damage the packaging at all!

The gem on the end of the pen is actually a somewhat translucent plastic. It's a nice touch that doesn't show up very well in the photos I've seen.

Like the Japanese Luna Pen, this pen breaks open in the middle and only the bottom part can be used as a pen. This always disappointed me; it would look much cooler if it were a clicky pen, or if the bottom half was the cap instead. Ah well. All in all, it's definitely cheaper in every way when compared to the Japanese Luna Pen, but is still a fun toy and it's nice to see a new design. Hopefully later I will make some comparison pics; I stupidly left my Japanese pen at my apartment even though I probably need it at Anime Boston in two weeks.

Next, here are some pictures from the magazine! I was sort of thinking of just selling it but it's actually really fun to look through. The artwork and presentation is very nice. Disclaimer: I can't read any of this, not even a little bit.

The beginning of the magazine has a few pages dedicated to Ami. I don't have the first magazine, but I'm going to venture a guess that each once will have a few pages dedicated to a certain senshi at the beginning. However, they all have a little section in the magazine, including Tuxedo Mask/Milord and the cats. Here are a few samples:

Girl Power! Section.

Mercury planetary facts

Rei's fashion section

Makoto's cooking tidbits

Minako's manicure advice

Artemis recycling tips (I found this amusing for some reason)

My favorite section! The clip art of the items is soo nice.

All in all, Muscara.com had great service, the Pen was pretty much what I expected, and the magazine was a nice surprise. I can't wait to see more stuff from Italy!

EDIT: I didn't notice it when I was making this post, but it was brought to my attention in the comments. The gem on top of the Luna Pen actually has lip gloss in it! What a cute surprise!

Korean merchandise!

2011-04-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have noticed, a couple of eBay sellers started posting rare, sought-after Korean merchandise in large groups at very reasonable prices a few weeks ago. Some people worried that it was a scam, since nobody had seen some of these plush on eBay in - well, years, even - and all of a sudden somebody was posting ten at a time. I guess the general consensus is someone found an old box of Korean stuff. Anyway, I got my items this week and other people have gotten their things too, so these sellers are definitely legit!

Although I wanted the satin cat plush, the excellent figure, the 11" doll and.. well, everything from Sonokong really, I decided to hang on to some of my money for Anime Boston and just buy the fuzzy plush and a rare cat item I'd never seen before. Besides, since so many are being posted now, it means there's a lot more on the English market and (hopefully) prices will stay low in the future. Anyway, here's what I got. You can click on any of the photos to view a larger size.

First up: the fuzzy cats! One quirk on the cat boxes is that Artemis is shaded in grey, like Diana. When I first saw pictures of the Korean cat plush I thought that it was just lighting, but it's actually pretty consistent on all the box art.

My question is why did they go to the trouble? All the Artemis merchandise is white and I know I've seen these particular images before and Artemis was white in them, too. Weird. Another thing that a friend pointed out - Moon is transformed, but Minako is in casual wear. Overall, though, I think the Korean packaging is very cute. The boxes themselves aren't in the best condition, even though they were packaged for shipping very well, which lends to the "someone found an old discarded box of Korean merch" theory.

The plush! First thing I noticed was that these are a bit larger than the Japanese Luna & Artemis. Luna is dark blue - I like how her color varies from blue to grey to black on all the various merchandise. Her eyes are blue too. Apparently another user in serasell got a fuzzy Luna plush with brown eyes, so I guess there were a couple of different productions of this plush. I wonder if there's a grey Artemis somewhere. LOL.

This next item was the most exciting to me. It's a cute Luna backpack! I had never, ever seen it before. Isn't it weird how after like 15 years, "new" merchandise is still popping up? Korean merchandise in particular has always been pretty rare and mysterious. I didn't even know about the Korean excellent figure until last year. I wonder what else is hiding in Korea.

Weirdly, the front shows Sailor Moon wearing the Artemis backpack instead of the Luna one. Also, Artemis is white! But the clip art on the back shows him grey again.. hmm.

Anyway, this is a really cute, soft, and pretty well made backpack. It has a side zipper pocket, and the top opens and closes with a drawstring. The top flap with Luna's face on it snaps shut with a gold magnetic enclosure. Though it looks small, it actually has a decent amount of room in it - both the Korean cats fit!

Along with this Luna backpack, a similar Sailor Moon backpack was posted. The colors are cute, but I think it's weird that Sailor Moon has a side ponytail. So I didn't buy it. More interestingly, there's also indication on the backpack box art that an Artemis backpack was made! Sadly, I haven't seen it posted amongst the other Korean merchandise. The only hint I've ever seen of its existence is on the packaging for the Luna backpack, so I think this is extremely rare. I would love to find it some day.

New accessories, where to buy from Italy, re-reading the manga, and Super Sailor Moon cosplay (again)

2011-02-26T05:16:00.000-08:00

I seem to have some trouble updating this.. to be honest, I haven't bought much in the way of Sailor Moon in a few weeks. I've mostly been building up a modest Gothic Lolita wardrobe. I did make a Sailor Moon-esque coordinate though, which I'll probably post when I get some decent pictures.

I'm honestly not too excited about the new Italy toys, though I'll probably buy the Crescent Moon Wand, definitely the Luna Pen, and perhaps a couple of dolls. For those of you who are wondering where to buy the new toys, Ochibawolf posted with information that Muscara is selling some of them! It looks like they have the dolls and trading figures. Muscara has been selling Italian Sailor Moon toys for a loooooong time now, so I would check them out.

So, I was also at Katsucon last weekend! However, I mostly cosplayed Nia from Gurren Lagann. I did wear school uniform Sailor Moon for a brief spell, but don't have any pictures :/ However, I did get a brand new set of manga Sailor Moon accessories, thanks to this lovely cosplayer, who's still one of the best Sailor Moons I have ever seen! Even if she doesn't cosplay it anymore :'( Here's my new brooch:

I also recently got in a big shipment of feathers for my Eternal Sailor Moon cosplay! My cat is OBSESSED.

On the way to Katsucon, I brought my Kindle, full of Sailor Moon scanlations from Miss Dream. Along with the new accessories, it makes me really want to cosplay manga Sailor Moon again and make a new, manga-styled school uniform Usagi! She has so many cute, subtle little accessories that go along with her school uniform, even if they only show up once or twice.

-Communicator bracelet she uses with Ami.
-She has a really cute random bunny tote bag. Also, a bento with.. clovers?
-The lace slip she wears is pretty specific; it has pink ribbons running through the hem
-A handkerchief that Tuxedo Kamen swipes with her name embroidered on it. Probably a detail I can bear to skip, but cute nonetheless.
-I can't find the picture, but I'm quite sure I saw somewhere that her school bag has a keychain of one of her signature bunnies on it.
-Of course, the manga Luna Pen! It's a little different than the anime one and is more like a pen and less like a.. well, I'm sure we've all thought it.

I love re-reading the manga. I have to admit, it's been awhile. I highly recommend Miss Dream - it's a lot of fun reading chapters weekly, and you can put them on your Kindle so you don't have to worry about damaging the fragile Mixx manga! Plus, their translations are better than the original Mixx, too.

BTW probably most of you have seen this, but here's a shot of my manga Super Sailor Moon from NYCC that I really love:

Sailor Moon in Times Square by ~mnemosyneforgot on deviant ART

HIATUS

2010-10-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

So it's my senior year at university, which means I have an undergraduate thesis to write. It's due in, oh, about a month..

Not to mention I have a lot of other work to do ;__;

So I've decided it's best for me to take a break from EVERYTHING I usually do online and just focus on my studies. So I won't be updating, probably won't be tweeting, or commenting/reading other blogs, etc. (although I will probably keep up with my sales posts in serasell)

I should be back in about a month, and no more than two ^__^ wish me luck!

NEW ITALIAN SAILOR MOON DOLLS AND WANDS!!!

2010-10-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

An Italian Sailor Moon fan posted this exciting news on the LJ smcollectors community this evening: black and white pictures of brand new Italian Sailor Moon dolls, figures, and even a crescent moon wand!

http://community.livejournal.com/smcollector/494125.html

This comes not too long after a new clothing line was introduced. I'm so anxious to see color pictures of the new dolls and wand!

I'm not sure how I feel about the new dolls yet; the packaging is so new and different! The wand itself looks to be a copy of the older Japan/Europe crescent moon wand, with the three different rings. I honestly don't expect them to make new toys of any items that were never released in Europe in the first place - so probably no Eternal locket or Twinkle Yell. I wonder if there will be a new Star Locket? I'll be pretty happy with whatever we get!

What do you think of this new merchandise? What, if anything, do you plan on buying? I'm not too keen on the dolls, but seeing more pictures could sway me. I'll most likely pick up whatever RPG toys they release - hopefully there will be a lot of them! Sailor Moon is apparently doing really well in Italy, so let's keep our fingers crossed (and our money saved) for a massive influx of new merchandise!

UPDATE: Color pictures of the dolls are here!

UPDATE X2: Color pictures of the figurines, including Beryl and Serenity! Also, trading cards and some cute little Sailor rings!

Catzia's Contest + NYCC cosplay video!

2010-10-16T09:09:00.001-07:00

First of all, I would be so so appreciative if you guys would vote for me in Catzia's cosplay contest! I have always wanted to enter this, but never had a Sailor Moon costume until this year. I'm cosplayer #11, and my boyfriend is #16 if you have a vote to spare for him too ^^ you can vote for 3 people and you need a secret code on the sales page to make your vote count. Right now the secret code is "Goober" but it might change. It would really mean a lot to me.

Second! I had an AMAZING time at NYCC/NYAF! I'll post about it more later, but for now, check out this great cosplay music video. My boyfriend and I are in it from about 1:10 to 1:40, but the whole video is really good!

Refurbishing a boxed doll: Henshin Super Chibimoon

2010-10-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

I really like fixing up beat up old Sailor Moon items. Not only is it a frugal way to add good looking items to your collection, but it adds an extra element of creativity to the hobby. I recently found a rare Henshin Super Sailor Chibimoon doll for a great deal. It came in a condition similar to this:

The former owner stated she had wanted to fix up the doll, but didn't have time for it, so I decided to take the task up and restore it. I prefer the aesthetic of boxed items, and while I could just let her wear her accessories and let the extra stuff sit in the bottom of the box, Chibimoon looked kind of lonely in that big old box by herself. So I decided to try and replace what was missing.

First, I fixed up her hair. This time, I just boiled her hair (dunk the doll's hair in boiling water for about five seconds, then take it out and brush it) to make it smooth and straight, and then tied it into pigtails with new elastics like these. You can get these in the hair accessory section of any drugstore or Wal-Mart for fairly cheap. I use them on all my Sailor Moon dolls. The older rubber bands the dolls come with tend to dry up and sometimes leave gummy residue on the dolls' hair, so I usually get rid of them.

Next, I googled some MIB Henshin Chibimoons to check out what the set originally looked like. It looks like this. So obviously, I'm missing a few pieces: the bows and flowers, a heart decal for the henshin dress, the twinkle bell, the gold headband (how come I can NEVER find these? Even gloves don't get lost as often!) and the pink shoes, which I don't actually see included in the pictures I've found so I'll ignore them. Another detail I'm ignoring: her shoulder pad thingys need to be replaced.

I decided to start by bagging up the accessories I did have. I used baggies from craft store items like beads and gems, which are pretty much the same bags that hold Sailor Moon dolls' accessories. She had her gloves and choker, so I bagged those up and put them in the box. I thought Henshin Chibimoon needed a crystal carillon and gold headband more than my other dolls, what with that big, empty box. I have a couple of loose ESM dolls around, and one kindly donated her headband (which I put in a smaller baggie after taking this picture); then, I took the Crystal Carillon from my Bandai Asia Super Chibimoon, since you can't really see it in the box anyway. I also found some tie wraps and plastic to hold the doll in place in the box.

Next, I took a trip to the craft store. I bought a square of felt and cut out a heart shape to fix up the casual dress. I also got red ribbon with gold trim from the Christmas isle to sort of match the bows that are supposed to come with the dress. I even put some velcro on the back. The flower accessories I figure I will never find and I don't want to wait until I come across a perfect alternative, so I just got something I thought was kind of close. I have no idea how I would get a plastic blister like what the doll is actually supposed to come with, so I found a piece of plastic, cut it, then glued some velcro on so the bows and flowers can be removed.

And that's pretty much it! If you're doing something similar and are stuck on where to get accessories, I would try asking around the Livejournal community serasell (link in the sidebar, must join to post) and see if anyone has something. I sell doll accessories there sometimes too. Here's the finished result:

Other notes: I think it's kind of strange that they bothered to make to bodice out of a special material and add velcro to her henshin accessories when she has a full dress that goes over it anyway. In comparison, the Henshin Super Sailor Moon has a skirt that goes over the bodice and casual accessories that attach to it, but it's still part of the casual outfit. The bodice and shoulder wings on these fukus are made out of pretty crappy material tbh. I'm glad they got their act together for the Beauty Change dolls. Of course, overall, I really love this doll, and I'd love to add a boxed Henshin Super Sailor Moon doll to my shelf someday too!

Biweekly eBay report + New York Anime Fest plans!

2010-09-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I'm three days behind on the eBay report. I guess it's easier to forget when it's not a weekly occurance...

Items are listed in descending order by price. After some point, usually around $120, I stop listing every auction, so there might be something interesting I miss!

-Complete English manga sets: As usual, there were a few: $450, $200 for ONLY 1-11, and, weirdly, some winner of an auction (the others were BINs) snagged the entire set for about $170. However, the seller had no pictures of the manga set and claimed lots of pages were falling out, so who knows?

-A seemingly pantyless Sailor Mars hand painted garage kit sold for $400+$35 shipping.

-Korean star locket, new in box, sold for $350,

-Stallion Reves continue to be out of my budget: Here's one for $305 + $25 shipping.

-Of course, just as I think it might be time to replace my SuperS boxset a friend borrowed years ago, they skyrocket in price. ($300 for the thinpack set)

-Inner senshi IRS star henshin wand sold for $250.

-A Rainbow Moon Chalice fetched $200 + $50 shipping.

-An auction containing both the Materials Collection and Artbook V sold for around $240. This is a good deal, considering I've seen either one fetch $200+ by itself.

-And right away, an example: Materials Collection sells for $220 BIN.

-Really rare Neptune lip rod sells for $200 BIN, with no box.

-A set of all the dub DVDs goes for $175.

-S box set sells for $164.

-"Sailor Moon S anime film book" set sells for $140+$30 shipping. (..I don't really know what this is...)

-Rare Henshin Super Sailor Moon sells for $150!

-Crystal Carillon for $160

-Season One English boxset sold for $150 (A BIN, I think), another for $120

-An inner senshi star wand sold without box for $150 (boxes are worth $100 extra apparently)

-Pegasus message orb thingy for $135 (I kind of want this)

-Sailormoon World version Spiral Heart Moon Rod with a little wear sells for $125

-Super Sailormoon's crisis locket for $132

-Season 2 uncut box set for $135

-IRWIN Spiral Heart Moon Rod sold for $122, only a little less than its SMW counterpart. Come to think of it, they do seem to be less abundant..

-Irwin Sailor Saturn for $125

-A set of the 6 6" Irwin ugly face dolls goes for $135 (is that really what they're worth now?)

-BIG lot of Sera Myu program guides sold for $122!

-Starlights brooch for $130

-SMS Chibimoon doll in the pink box sold for $110.

-Bandai Japan Kaleido Moon Scope for $100

In other news, I'm going to NYAF after all! I thought I wouldn't be able to until this weekend, when I found out I got accepted to model in the Never-Ending Closet fashion show as well as (possibly) the Hangry & Angry fashion show. I get a free pass to the con so I convinced my boyfriend to come with me! I haven't decided which costume I want to wear yet, but I know this: I'll be wielding a Spiral Heart Moon Rod XD

Are any of you going to NYAF? Have some amazing Sailor Moon cosplay planned?

My top ten most wanted items

2010-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

I have a bigger wishlist here, but these are my most wanted items right now, that I haven't bought for whatever reason (mostly because they're some combination of hard to find and expensive and I'll usually only pay a certain, ridiculously low price no matter how much I want the item).

1. Stallion Reve

Come on, who DOESN'T want this item? Considering how Chibiusa hate used to be pretty popular, along with the fact that SuperS is most people's least favorite season, it's kind of surprising how sought out and expensive this is. Unlike the Star Locket, which is a really nostalgic toy, I assume everyone else just wants this toy for the same reason I do: Soooo. Pretty.

2. Luna Pen

The sad thing is, compared to most RPG toys, this isn't all that pricey. But I have this weird notion that I can get it for like $70 and I won't settle for anything more. I almost did recently, but alas, the search continues...

3. Chibiusa's Time Key

I have the Nakayoshi version, the Sailor Moon World version.. I just need this one! I think the last time I saw it, it was about 32,000 yen ($) on Yahoo Japan. I don't even remember the last time it showed up on eBay. As a bonus, it's a small item, and I'm trying to scale down since I move so often and don't want a ton of stuff anyway.

4. Nakayoshi Super Chibimoon Babydoll

It's the only one I need. So pretty! I would also like to have a MIB regular Chibimoon babydoll with her Luna-P and all.

5. R Communicator Watch

Not sure why I like this so much. Probably a combination of "it's rare" and "it's small." One sold as a BIN on ebay not too long ago for $100.. I haven't seen it in an actual eBay auction for awhile, but I imagine it would go for much more.

6. Sera Myu gashapon figurine

I'm generally not a figurine person, although there are a few exceptions, including this.

7. Sailor Moon World Crescent Wand

For cosplay purposes. (I use "cosplay purposes" to justify buying pretty things) Thinking about making one with a regular crescent moon wand and a pretty crystal.

8. Pink sugar heart rod (Bandai Japan version)

Adorable, with all the functionality of the original.

9. Chibimoon & Pegasus Italian doll set

I love this set, and can never seem to find it! How cool is this custom version with Super Chibimoon?

10. Venus 10th Anniversary plush (both small & DX)

I am so in love with the DX plush series! Sadly, I'm not a huge fan of the inner senshi. While I'd like to own all of them eventually regardless, right now I'd really love to have Sailor Venus, since she's my favorite out of the inners after Moon & Chibimoon. I missed out on the small Sailor Venus 10th Anniversary plush recently for $12 + shipping, and of course now I regret it.

What's on your top ten list? Is it mostly RPG toys, dolls? Things that are impossible to find, or just what you haven't gone after yet? Leave a comment!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Shot Glasses + New Dollies!

2010-09-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

...Okay, so they're not really shot glasses. They're just child size glasses. But I did buy them with the idea of serving up drinks in them, but I don't really drink much, so they mostly just sit in my cabinet, looking pretty. Not that that's a problem!

The problem with Sailor Moon glassware is that I'm always nervous about breaking it. What if it gets knocked out of the cabinet when I'm reaching for something? What if a heavy pot slides and crushes it while it's on the dish drying rack? Gah!

This month has been a dolls month. I ended up getting 4 new rare boxed dolls, mostly of Chibimoon. Even though Chibimoon isn't one of my favorite characters, I inevitably end up with lots of Chibimoon items because they're so pretty. I got really lucky, and was able to buy all four of these dolls for a total of $155 shipped! I got them everywhere from eBay to DeviantArt.

Sailormoon World Chibiusa: I already had a loose Time Key, so I was pretty happy to find this doll completely intact but missing her Time Key. It's ~destiny~

Henshin Super Sailor Chibimoon: I'm planning to refurbish this doll somewhat . She's missing a lot of pieces, so I've been trying to find/recreate what she's missing and put everything back together in the box correctly. I actually think it's a lot of fun fixing up dolls like this; even if I had a bunch of extra money and could hypothetically buy all the MIB dolls I wanted, I think I'd still want some of these dolls to fix up as side projects.

Bandai Asia Super Chibimoon: This was a steal on eBay, but a few hours before the auction ended the seller messaged me stating it had been damaged, hence the crack on the bottom right. I decided to take it anyway, and now I'm making this into another fixer-upper. I'm mostly trying to track down the insert card that's supposed to come with the doll. For some reason, in addition to her Crystal Carillon, she came with a tiny Pink Sugar Heart Wand o_O

Irwin Super Sailor Moon: I'm trying to collect about half of the Irwin pretty face dolls in the yellow boxes, and this is my second addition. She's mint in box, and the seller asked me very nicely to not post pictures where she'd see them if I de-boxed her! Luckily, even though I don't mind if my items are MIB or not, I just don't have the heart to de-box items that come intact. The packaging is a big part of the aesthetic appeal anyway.

I also just wanted to remind everyone to follow me on Twitter! I update fairly regularly with chatter about Sailor Moon items.

The New (bi)Weekly eBay Report

2010-09-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

I used to do this as a rough way to keep track of ebay prices and note interesting items that had been for sale each week. Since eBay seems to delete completed listing search information after two weeks, it makes sense to update every couple of weeks, so I don't have to keep checking dates on each auction to make sure they'd ended in the past week (which kind of made me not want to do this before, haha). I'll also tag posts so if you're looking for a specific item, you can find all posts about it and when it's been on sale (rare and expensive items mostly), although apparently there is a strict tag limit sooo I'm not sure how to deal with that yet.. Anyway, here's this weeks' roundup, August 25 - September 9th. Most are Buy it Nows, I will notate better which is which in the future.

-Infinity Artbook - sold for $700!

-Manga sets - Ignoring shipping, there were several complete sets of all 18 English manga, which sold for: $510, $500, $470, $275 (a BIN)

-Materials Collection - Sold for $300 plus $30 shipping. A different one sold for a buy-it-now of $129.

-A lot of 6 "Nega Moon dolls" (Irwin ugly-face villains) sold for $200 with $40 shipping. Seems kind of high..

-Sailor Moon Excellent figure for $178 and $50 shipping

-Loose Sailor Neptune Lip Rod sold for $215! It was a Buy it Now so whoever got it got a good deal.

-SuperS DVD Box Set for $200. It had 10 bidders. This seemed unusual for SuperS. A separate set of all 7 SuperS DVDs (not the box set) sold for $177.

-One Sailor Moon S boxset sold for a similar price. Another sold for $162, another for $142.

-Deboxed Nakayoshi Sailor Moon baby doll for $185.

-Loose Crystal Carillon for $130 and $34 shipping.

-Italian Heartful Harmony for $150

-Complete set of Toru Toru festival dolls for $130 and $28 shipping

-An Italian Beauty Change doll sold for $150 (a Buy it Now). A Japanese one sold for about half that much at auction.

-Loose SMW R Compact for $140. (I also sold one this week for $100 BIN)

-6 MIB 6" Ugly Face Irwin dolls sold for $145

-A whole set of those little senshi palace playsets went for $100 and $45 shipping

-SMW Mini Collection inner scouts sold for around $140. A different one sold for $120, so not a big price difference.

-Pink Sugar Heart Wand sold for $110 and $34 shipping.

-Irwin Sailor Saturn sold for $132. A Super Sailor Moon sold for $120. I was lucky to buy an Irwin Super Moon off eBay for $50 + $15 ship earlier this week ^^

-Mint NRFB Irwin Cutie Moon Rod for $100 + $20 shipping (even given its condition, this is unusual)

-BIN loose Cosmic Heart Locket for $125 (another of mine)

-SMW Spiral Heart Moon Rod auctioned for $114. These have really gone down in price :/ I have two and have been wanting to sell one off and on for awhile, but I don't even know if it's worth it.

-Artbook 3 sold for $100 with shipping.

Causing nightmares by moonlight: Igel Sailor Chibimoon babydoll (plus black-haired PGSM Usagi doll)

2010-09-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

I always thought the Igel Chibimoon babydoll looked incredibly creepy. It always seemed to lurk ominously in the background of other people's collections, arms outstretched, soulless eyes staring right at you.. but I want to collect all of the Sailor Moon babydolls, so I couldn't pass up buying it when I found one for cheap. Thankfully, it's less creepy in real life. Here are some pictures that may or may not haunt your dreams.

As you can see, it's quite a bit smaller than the Nakayoshi babydolls.

Another item I got somewhat recently is the black-haired PGSM Usagi doll. I picked this up in a lot of loose 6" dolls, so I didn't get the playset (which I don't really care about anyway), but she came with all her accessories, including the adorable tiny Luna!

I haven't seen many pictures of this doll online, so I didn't know much about it. For example, I thought her hair was just in pigtails, but she actually has tiny odangos! She probably has the most accurate hairstyle out of all the Usagi/Moon dolls; I was never really impressed with the Korean Sailor Moon doll's "odangos". Overall, this doll is very detailed and looks great.

Decorating with Sailor Moon, part 2: using small spaces

2010-09-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

All last school year, I had the tiniest room. Knowing my landlords, it was probably below the legal limit. A lofted bed, strategically positioned to block out as much sunlight from the window as possible, was so low that if I wore heels I'd smack my head against it. And the worst of it was that I paid a couple hundred dollars more than I do now for this privilege (and my CLOSET now is comparable to the size of my old room!). Protip: If you're a student looking for housing, and you see housing advertised as being for students, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. "Student housing" is just code for dirty, run-down and overpriced. However, I did become a master of using small spaces.

Honestly, if you have a small room, the best thing you can do is sell some stuff to clear up space and save your money for a better place. But since that's not always an option, here are some tips for decorating and displaying your Sailor Moon collection in a tiny space:

-Go vertical. Use wall/ceiling space instead of floor space. For example, don't keep plush toys on a shelf when they have nifty little hangers so that you can put them anywhere. Chibichibiusa's room, which I mentioned in my last post, is a good demonstration of this. For storing little items, what I liked to do was save small paper bags from stores I liked (Sanrio, Juicy etc) and hang them on the wall by the closet. Then I'd keep things like gashapon figures or cosplay items in them. You could also put plushies in these. Also, get one of those above-the-door purse hangers if you don't have one already. Alongside my other purses, I would keep my Sailor Moon bags and some plush hanging up on the door. Finally, I saw someone who was using a spice rack to store loose dolls on DeviantArt the other day, which I thought was creative.

-Use TALL shelves! This is sort of an extension of the "use wall space" tip. Tall shelves give off a cozy library nook vibe. Ceiling shelves work really well, too. You may not be able to see your things as well, but they are a little less claustrophobic.

-This is a good time to invest in some of the smaller, rare items you've been wanting. Instead of getting a bulky Stallion Reve, save up for Chibiusa's Time Key. You can buy 11.5" Irwin dolls any time - get a set of SMWorld 6" dolls instead. Buy the small set of 10th Anniversary plush instead of the larger ones (and hang them on the wall!). Start collecting cards or cels. These save space and are just as interesting to have as many more common items.

-Sometimes, you just have to keep things in storage. You can rotate items out, but if you find that you don't miss certain things at all, maybe it's time to sell them? You can use the extra money to buy smaller items on your wishlist.

-Stack items. I don't prefer to do this, but it works if you don't have tall shelves. Stack doll boxes on top of each other, then put loose items on the top boxes.

-Display creatively. TuxedoBunny, whose room I linked to in the last post as well, made stands for all her loose Sailor Moon wands so they can be displayed vertically, which takes up less room than just laying them on a shelf, plus you can see them better. I put all my loose dolls on doll stands, which not only look nicer (imo) but take up less space than if they were sitting. Doll stands can be found in several different sizes for around $1 at most hobby stores. I even found that my Chibimoon babydoll fits on one. (I guess doll stands aren't really "creative", but they seemed to fit into this tip)

Even though my room is bigger now, I still have a bit of a storage problem at my new place. Anybody else have a problem with room in their house? How do you deal with it?

Decorating your room with Sailor Moon, part 1

2010-08-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Since I've moved to a new place and have more room to display my things, I've been thinking a lot about how I want to decorate my room and show off my Sailor Moon collection. Because I already have so many Sailor Moon things, it makes sense to have a Sailor Moon themed room, right? Decorating with a theme like this is really tricky, however. It can easily end up looking cluttered, or too much like a kid's room, which many people don't mind, but I'd like to avoid. I've been looking for rooms that I think are similar to what I want for inspiration. Specifically, I've been looking at lolita and Hello Kitty themed rooms, since they have a similar aesthetic to what I like and are more common than Sailor Moon themes. Here are some I've been using for inspiration:

(not really "kawaii" like the rest, but I think this guy did a great job. Very neat)

(Mentally replace all the lolita trinkets with SM items, the dressform with a great Sailor Moon costume, and the purses and hats with plushies)

Hello Kitty rooms are a good source of inspiration since they're fairly common, and Hello Kitty collectors have a lot of similar items to display (plush, toys). However, the big difference is, obviously, you can get Hello Kitty EVERYTHING - you could make your entire house Hello kitty themed, inside and out, if you wanted to. Plus they market some more well-made Hello Kitty things to adults. Here's a little kids Sailor Moon room that is pretty nice - I like the bedding print better than the NA set and the framed artbook picture on the wall is sorta classy.

Here are a couple of other Sailor Moon rooms I really like. The big difference between these and other collections is that they carry the theme throughout their room, rather than having one big display cabinet/area or a whole other room for their things (like sailormoontoys.com!)

TuxedoBunny's Sailor Moon clubhouse - TuxedoBunny spent all summer revamping her basement into a Sailor Moon clubhouse. Go through the whole album to get a good idea of what it all looks like.

ChibiChibiUsa's room - I've linked to this before, but it still amazes me. I still think it is a little too crowded for my tastes, but she does a pretty good job with the space she has.

What are some good ways to keep your room Sailor Moon themed without just putting lots of shelves with items on them around it? I have a few ideas:

-Framed artbook pictures/posters

-Framing keychains and small items - I keep my Time Key in a thick frame now. It looks a lot nicer than when I just hung it up wherever was convenient, and if your favorite items are small this will give them a more prominent place in your collection.

-Sailor Moon cushions - Sailor Moon fabric is expensive, but would make for some really cute pillows and cushions. You could even make curtains if you found enough of it.

-Dressform - I see a lot of lolitas that have a dressform in their room, and keep one of their favorite dresses on display on it. When I get a dressform, I'd like to display cosplay costumes on it when I'm not using it.

-Bunnies, Moons & Stars - there's not a lot of Sailor Moon decor, but plenty of moon, star, and bunny themed stuff. I had these great star and crescent moon string lights. Sadly, I lost them :( I also have some cute bunny & moon Japanese trays a friend gave me that I keep little items, like jewelry and trinkets, on.

If your favorite character isn't Sailor Moon, you might want to pick a different focus: an aquatic theme for Sailor Mercury, heart shaped things for Sailor Venus, or lots of gothic looking lamps for Sailor Saturn.

Right now, I'm looking in to getting some new display shelves. Then I'll organize my collection and use some of these ideas to carry the theme throughout my room.

Do you have a Sailor Moon room? How do you decorate it?

Luna, taste the rainbow

2010-08-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

For some reason, eBay bootleggers are now making Luna (or is it Artemis?) plush in a variety of bold colors. They've been making weird pink and brown ones for awhile, but I seriously laughed out loud when I saw the lime green.

They're almost color-coordinated to match the inner senshi, except there's no blue. Fail. I still have a strange inclination to buy all of them and have a shelf full of candy colored Lunas though D:

Also, is anybody else using MyFigureCollection? I am, and it's a neat little site to keep track of your anime stuff. They have quite a few Sailor Moon items listed; mostly figures (obviously) but also dolls and plush.

Otakon 2010, my manga Super Sailor Moon cosplay, and Sailor Moon cookies with Miss Dream

2010-08-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

So, I went to Otakon! It was my first year there and I had a great time. Sadly I didn't score any sweet merchandise - everything I found was really overpriced. Which isn't surprising, but I actually saw the Infinity artbook priced at $1000. LOL, are you kidding me? First of all, it's rare but it's not THAT rare. And who walks around a crowded anime convention with $1000 in their pocket?

I know I saw the same dealers with the exact same merchandise at Anime Boston too, and I swear some of the merchandise was at Anime Boston 2009 as well. If you haven't sold it in a year, take a hint!

Anyway, I saw some awesome Sailor Moon cosplay, but missed even more. Apparently there was a Sailor Cosmos, an entire S villain group, and supposedly somebody was cosplaying a Cosmic Heart Locket, haha.

I cosplayed too! I actually made a couple of Sailor Moon costumes this time. On Saturday, I wore manga style Super Sailor Moon. I didn't have time to do everything I wanted because dying skirts evidently takes a lot of time, so I'm hoping to rewear it at whatever con I get to go to next. But anyway, here's a picture of my cosplay taken by Droo at the Super Kawaii Magazine booth:

I really regret that my locket was falling off in the picture, but that's the gist of it. Everything was made by me, except for the wand (obviously) and the odango shields. Btw, I'm selling Sailor Moon's pearl hair clips again, they're just like the ones I wear.

I also made a school uniform Usagi cosplay! I didn't get many pictures of it since it was only worn Friday night but it's kind of crappy/inaccurate anyway. I also had a Sode no Shirayuki cosplay, for those of you that like Bleach. You can find that and some other con pics on my DeviantArt or my Cosplay.com profile (I'm also starting to blog on DA now, if this kind of thing i.e. endless cosplay chatter interests you). I'm maybe/probably going to be going to New York Anime Fest and AAC, and will possibly have a brand new Sailor Moon costume ~_^ we'll see. I'm also hoping to make a Nia Teppelin (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) costume.

And, I promised a post about Sailor Moon cookies. A few weeks ago, the Miss Dream team, Dan from Sailormoon Uncensored and I got together and made Sailor Moon brooch cookies, Luna pops and senshi symbol cupcakes! Good times were had by all. Here's some of what we made:

Sailor Moon and sweet lolita

2010-08-17T19:28:00.001-07:00

Last time, I posted about a Sailor Moon jewelry set that I thought looked very himegyaru. Then, yesterday, I came across this picture:

I've seen girls wearing Sailor Moon lockets with decora/FRUiTS type outfits, but sweet lolita and Sailor Moon.. who knew? She even has a bunny ring and "pegasus" bag to tie the whole theme together. Very cute!

This isn't the first time I've noticed lolita and Sailor Moon getting along. I've always wanted to cosplay this outfit, which isn't really lolita, but reminds me of it since the first time I came across the fashion I saw the classical style. And what about this Chibiusa resin figure?

On a side note, I have to say I'm really impressed how many people read this blog considering I never update. It kind of weirds me out to see pictures I've taken show up on google images when I'm searching for something else Sailor Moon related. Especially ones from the coffee mug post, wtf. Anyway, I have a BIG update on the way about Otakon, so keep reading!

Cute Sailor Moon World jewelry set with himegyaru pearl necklace!

2010-06-29T21:23:00.001-07:00

This just popped up on eBay, and even though it's a kids' dress-up set, I think the necklace is REALLY cute! It reminds me of those himegyaru chokers with crowns or other princess-y charms in the middle, like this one from Vivienne Westwood. Too bad they didn't make real Sailor Moon jewelry like this! I'm tempted now to make my own himegyaru necklace with better faux pearls and a Sailor Moon locket charm in the middle. What do you think?

In other news, I'm heading to OTAKON in a month and have been super busy working on a new costume! It's Sailor Moon, and it's complicated.. for me anyway. I also have a post coming soon that involves Sailor Moon pastries :D

Manga Sailor Moon cosplay!

2010-04-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been around much. I have been really busy with school, and.. working on my first Sailor Moon cosplay!

I know it's not really related to this blog, but cosplaying Sailor Moon has been a dream of mine for a long time and I was so excited to finally be able to cosplay at a convention. I wore this to Anime Boston, and met a lot of amazing people there. It was really a great experience. I also got an Irwin Sailor Moon doll for a great price, hehe. Most of the costume and accessories were made by me, except for the Odango covers, the boots and the bodice. I plan on remaking the brooch and hairclips.

I'm already working on my next costume. See you all at Otakon~

Can you still get Sailor Moon merchandise at anime conventions?

2010-02-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

I stopped by a local anime con on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to see many of the vendors had Sailor Moon merchandise! In past years, the ONLY Moon-related things I could ever find were custom items like pins. I even got something I've been wanting for awhile!

At least half of the vendors were selling these at various prices. I also saw keychains (Irwin and bootleg), a 6" Sailor Venus doll, a bootleg plush, collectors cards as well as some other small items. So what's in the box?

A Sailor Moon mug!

I've had a DBZ mug for ages and use it all the time, but somehow never got a Sailor Moon one. So I was happy to find this.

Last time I went to an anime convention, it was Anime Boston and they had more than a few Sailor Moon items, even some rarer dolls.. BUT they were all pretty overpriced. Seeing an influx of things at my local con made me pretty happy. Do you all ever find good Sailor Moon items at anime conventions? Do you buy things there, or is it too overpriced?