New Sailor Moon Italian Trading Figures Review
We don't normally do reviews for things that aren't completely oddball, but we've seen precious little about these new Italian toys on English sites other than a smattering of pictures. So we thought we'd show off this collection cute little figures.
First up the box:
It came slightly less cute looking, but we set up as a display box, just how it would look if we were lucky enough to live near a store that sold them. The box comes with 24 blind figures sealed in individual bags so everyone you get is a surprise. each bag contains a figure, a puzzle card and a sheet showing the full line of figures.
The puzzle cards aren't really cards as such, they're printed on glossy card stock but they're about half the width of a normal trading card and have wavy edges. each card correspond to the figure they're packed with and one side has information about the character along with a small picture (all the info is in Italian so we have no idea what they say). The Back side of the card has part of a larger image on it and when you assemble them all correctly they look like this:
It's not the most exciting Sailor Moon image I've ever seen, but it's cute.
The figures themselves are like Japanese Gashapons. Most come in separate parts and require assembly. There are 12 figures in all (13 if you count luna and artemis as separate though they come together). Here they are in no particular order see them all after the jump:
Queen Beryl: It's always nice to see Beryl merchandise. I think like most people who started off with the first season of Sailor Moon, Beryl holds a special place in my heart. She was the first big baddie, the original arch nemesis. It's honestly a shame Beryl isn't better represented in moon merchandise. This figure could be cuter (but she's Beryl how cute should she be) but the details on her dress are nice. Her staff being bent seems a production problem, but we prefer to think she's using it as some sort of diving rod.
Princess Serenity: Usagi as Serenity is always a fan favorite. She's pretty she's sophisticated and she wears a great dress. For this figure she they gave her a very light purple dress instead of the standard white. Given that it's often depicted giving off a bit of color, we think it was a good choice, if an unconventional one. The proportions on this figure are a little weird, her arms seem a little too thin and her head a little too big, still she's a nice figure.
Tuxedo Mask: Tuxie is called Milord in Italy, that has no bearing on the figure but it's always amusing to think of calling him Milord. They decided to give him a mysterious pose, holding is trademark rose. We're not sure how we feel about it, but Tuxedo mask ends up looking not so great in most of his merch so this is certainly an improvement.
Luna & Artemis: Where would the senshi be without their guardian cats? You get both cats, no assembly required, both with adorable facial details. They come seprately but their two tails intertwine. In our opinion this the cutest figure of the twelve.
Usagi in School outfit: Usagi or Bunny as she's called in Italy, is in her School fuku with her bag. This is one of the cutest figures of the girls themselves,she has a really great expression. It's too bad they didn't do any of the other girls in their school clothes.
Sailor Moon with Wand: Moon showing off her crescent wand. She has a crystal stand to help hold her up because her legs are in a not so sturdy position. Outfit is detailed and pretty. Her face is detailed, but her eyes are a bit bigger than normal.
Sailor Moon Pose A: This is moon in her "In the name of the Moon I will punish you." Pose. Well detailed and really iconic recognizable pose. Her face is appropriate angry, but less cute than it could be.
Sailor Moon Pose B: This is another iconic moon pose, but this figure isn't as dynamic as the punishment pose. This one has a cuter face than the other though, the happy face figures seem to look better. You can move the right arm of the figure to slightly change where her hand sits either across her eyes, or across her chest, unfortunately both fall short of the top of the head where it should be.
Sailor Mars: Sailor Mars is holding one of her attack spell scrolls. Unfortunately the scroll is blank instead of having characters on it which is kind of a letdown. Her determined face looks little silly considering she has such large eyes, seems sort of a design flaw. Not a bad figure, but certainly one of the least good looking in this set.
Sailor Mercury: Mercury is standing with hands clasped in front of her and looking upwards with a cute expression. both her facial details and her fuku are well designed. One of the cutest senshi in this set.
Sailor Venus: Venus has a super cute face, but her position is sort of weird. I'm not sure why she both seems to have a pain in her arm and is pointing downward for no particular reason.(upon further inspection it looks like we might have just put her arm on wrong) Strange pose aside though she looks good.
Sailor Jupiter: Jupiter is also suffering from a a strange pose, she kind of looks like she's giving us all the finger. Aside from her vulgar hand gesture she's super cute, she'd got her head cocked to the side looking quite inquisitive.
As a whole this is a nice set though there are some things that are less than stellar. We're not big fans of the bigger rounder eyes, the smaller thinner bodies and bigger heads that more consistent with the newer girls dolls and figures (IE the same sort of path the new rainbow brite and strawberry shortcake dolls have had). However there are a lot of nice things about them, their parts go together well, The plastic is high quality (not quite as nice as Japanese figures), they're well detailed and the crystal stands are a nice upgrade from the ugly white stands the Japanese gashapons have. However, it is worth noting that while the crystal stands look much cuter they don't hold very tightly on most of the figures. Overall, the Japanese figures are still nicer, but these are still lovely and will look great in any moon collection..
We have a full set of extra figures available in our shop if you're interested they're here.
