SAILOR MOON WANDS CAN GASHAPON SET REVIEW

Finally completed the Bandai Sailor Moon Wands Can Gashapon set so here is my review! I bought them from Ebay in sets of 4 over several months.

They came in opaque pink plastic bags without the cans. These wands are also repackaged in boxes sold individually in the US. I'm pretty sure they are the exact same thing.

I paid about US$26 to $29 per set, including shipping. They originally retail for 500yen each in the machines.

These are miniatures, not life-sized. They are made of lightweight plastic and are inexpensive display toys which require simple assembly and come with a transparent stand each. They contain small parts.

Set 1 includes Sailor Mars & Mercury's Transformation Wands, Sailor Moon's Moon Stick and the Cutie Moon Rod. They were released in Nov 2014.

Closeup of Mars and Mercury. The bottles are just sitting in the holders and will certainly fall out if you decide to do some twirling! They may also slip out when tilted.

The bottles are filled with coloured water and glitter. The caps do not open and are glued shut, the glitter tends to stick to the walls of the bottle. The stars slide over the caps with a C-shaped fastener. These are not tight and will remove easily.

Back view. They don't look as nice as the fronts and are no frills.

The stands are a nice addition for displaying the wands, however they are quite flimsy! Most of the wands tend to fall off the stands when wobbled or held, as they are not tightly secured or heavy enough. This may seem trivial, but I've toppled the wands many times which is very annoying to say the least.

The Moonstick is my fave. However, the lousy stand came loose again and the stick fell onto my floor and badly nicked the crescent's gold. The gold does not hold up well and is very thinly applied. These are just gachapon standards so keep in mind they are like children's toys grade; kitschy, and for fun only!

The faceted globe on the top has an iridescent coat. It looks to be glass. Good thing I didn't crack it!

The goldtone plating on the crescent was not perfect when I received it initially. The surface was scuffed and dull on some areas, and a gold-polishing cloth did not buff it off. It could be from shipping or the packaging process so that is another thing you should expect, unless they were in the boxed form.

Back view.

The nicks on my moonstick... sigh. Keep them in a cabinet and don't ever touch them again and they'll be alright.

For some reason the gold started wearing down at that corner (left side) of the Cutie Moon Rod, revealing white!

I really don't know how that happened, so that's another piece ruined!! You can't see the flaws before unpacking as they are in opaque bags. Maybe you will have better luck!

Set 2 includes Sailor Jupiter and Venus' Transformation Wands, Sailor Moon's Heart Moon Rod and Moon Kaleidoscope. They were released in Feb 2015.

Venus and Jupiter's wands are similarly made to Mars and Mercury's except the bottles are filled with coloured sand.

Again, the caps are glued shut. I noticed the goldtone on the symbols tend to scuff and are a bit patchy.

These are cute.

Back view.

Heart Moon Rod (Spiral Heart Moon Rod).

A size comparison.

The translucent pink wings can be moved a little bit manually. The 'buttons' don't actually press.

The kaleidoscope effect part is made of prism stickers sealed behind the plastic.

Set 3 includes Sailor Neptune, Uranus and Pluto's Lip Rods and Sailor Chibimoon's Pink Moon Stick. They were released in April 2015.

I prefer they include Saturn! Apologies to Chibiusa's fans but yeah give me Saturn anytime.

Obviously this set would appear more coordinated if it was all the outer senshis, but I guess Chibiusa is more popular than Saturn? Or Saturn's lip rod is just too obscure it doesn't deserve a release?
So will there be a Saturn wand after all, since the set is incomplete?

Back view.

I like the planets they are nice, fat and shiny. Sorry I separated Neptune and Uranus lol. Pluto's wand is the silver one. Some fan-made cosplay Pluto wands are painted purple or gray, possibly due to the anime.

This set has no major problems except for this FINGERPRINT on the glaze! Someone at the factory didn't wear gloves hmm?

The lipstick is made entirely of plastic. It retracts, but is a bit stiff and wobbly.

Chibimoon's Pink Moon Stick is okay, but pales in comparison to Sailor Moon's.

 

Very tempted to get the compacts now! I do not have space for the entire wands set so I only put the Sailor Moon ones up.

In conclusion, the pros are: they are affordable and cute, and for someone who wants a wand set in a good display size. The cons are: the quality is lacking, and a serious collector may not like the cheap plastic material and accents.

Q POSKET SAILOR MOON BY BANPRESTO

This Q Posket Sailor Moon released by Banpresto is really too cute! She resembles a miniature Pullip with her oversized head, large eyes and thin lips. She also comes with a yellow transparent stand to support her head because this figure weighs pretty heavy for its size (14cm height). She has the classic Sailor Moon pose.

Purchased this for SGD$30.00 at TOG (Toys or Games) - I think formerly known as Comics Connection (r-i-p). Like my previous post about Banpresto's Girls Memories Sailor Moon line, the box has no window but the picture on the packaging is pretty accurate, and maybe a bit more adorable in person!

Sailor Moon comes with a separate head and body. I had a difficult time placing the body into the holes of the stand, because her legs were spaced too close when out of the package and it was maybe 0.5cm off from the holes! Trying my best not to break the hips whilst using some strength to pull her stiff plastic legs apart, and then hearing a sort of crack sound after doing that (!) I wondered if it was a defective piece. Anyhow I decided to let my bf try it. He got it in 2 seconds somehow.... 'You need to use some force' he said.

After assembling her, she is adorable! Her hair isn't flapping in the wind nor her skirt so the atmosphere appears static, giving it an even more Pullip/Blythe doll vibe. This figurine looks dimensional in person. I like the heavy bottom curls that fits the chibi style. The bangs are slightly separate from the headband which was nice.

Some seams on the sides, and the white paint on the boots are a little unsteady. The red transparent circles on her buns are a good design idea, rather than the usual painted red types. It gives the hair accessories the proper reflection and depth like in the comics.

Her skin is peachy-beige with a peach blush, not quite the pale eggshell you see from the photos, I do like the tone of it.

Her hair is a pearlscent deep yellow. You can't quite see it from the photos but it has a slight shimmer when light hits it.

Her eyes are glossy, don't think they are glass, maybe a decal? It does give an impression that the eyes are separate pieces from the face. She has one white printed reflection and the other one is reflection from my window! Her irises have a green to dark blue gradient.

Can't wait for the rest of the line to be released!

GIRLS MEMORIES SAILOR MOON & PLUTO (BANPRESTO)

Recently purchased these beautiful Sailor Scouts figurines of the "Girls Memories Figure" line by Banpresto! Sailor Moon was released in 2014 and Sailor Pluto in 2015. These are my favourite two senshi so I got them first, and I am definitely looking forward to Sailor Saturn when she comes out. I'd love a Luna in human form too please. Excuse my messy table.

The boxes, it doesn't have a window for you to check out the actual toy if you buy it in person, but the package image is accurate and I knew it was going to be nicely sculpted! I purchased them from Le Tendo at Funan mall at SGD$26.00 for Pluto and S$28.00 for Sailor Moon. These were meant to be UFO machine prizes.

Classic Sailor Moon pose. Her hair ponytails and the plastic stand had to be assembled. The hair buns were a little tricky to do as you had to add some careful force to it. One thing good about this is if you ever do bump her by accident, she won't break that easily because she is made of pvc & abs for some weight and stiffness.

I like how they made her hair and back collar flap as though they are in the wind.

No wand or other extra accessories, but cute enough for my table! The white plastic stand is soft and ordinary, the design is printed on top.

Sailor Pluto is very pretty. Her body comes in two pieces, her upper torso and the skirt + legs. Her staff also came in two pieces. I slotted the bottom part of the staff into her flexible palms and fitted the top part, again it was a little tricky to make it hold.

Her hair has a gradient and is dark green, it is also blowing nicely in the wind. Her skin colour is lighter than what you would expect normally from Sailor Pluto but I do not mind it.

Her pose is elegant like she is, and her expression is the usual half-smile. She is also about a half a head taller than Sailor Moon.

HOW TO FIX LICCA DOLL'S HAIR

If you ever had a Takara Licca or Jenny doll with bad hair or in a frizzy tangled mess you might like to try out these quick steps to tame it. Note this may not work as well on hair that is very curly. It would be better if you don't mind the hair being straightened out after the treatment.

This pretty Licca doll wasn't in that bad of a state but I didn't like how her hair ends were all over the place and well, it looks used and combed to death. The first thing I did was to wash her hair with shampoo and condition it, no special products used.

Avoid scrubbing or massaging her hair or it'll just end up more tangled, swipe the shampoo lengthwise. Rinse well, skip the hairdryer and let it air dry after drying with a towel or paper towels. While the hair was drying,  I used some detangler in it. I don't recommend the one I used (Victoria Secret's one) although it is effective at removing tangles; there is an overwhelmingly strong scent in it and I didn't like it on my dolls.

On a side note, if you wanted to know how to take Licca's head off on the non-tilting neck type, all you do is remove earrings first, squeeze her head like a pancake and pluck her head off like pinch it off to the side, try to slip it past the locking mechanism. If you are afraid that you'll break her neck by using too much strength, you can use hot water to expand the latex first then try prying it out. More details below.

I popped her head back. Remove clothing and earrings.

Even after fiddling with her hair for some time, it was still messy looking. If you inspect closely you would notice the filaments are 'crumpled' and not synchronising in their perm, thus giving the frizzy appearance. To recalibrate the fibres you can use some boiling water to soften and straightened it out.

Boil the water in a kettle, lay Licca's hair on a plate, and pour the boiling water into the plate. It doesn't matter if it touches her hair while you are pouring it but watch your hands! Do not use a direct fire close to her hair or you will end up with a bald Licca with balls of hard plastic stubs as hair lol.

As you can see her hair automatically finds its way. Also the original waves are not straightened out, which is fine by me, I wanted to keep it anyway. You can smell a plasticky smell when doing this treatment, at this time you can make use of the hot water to remove her head if you want to. If you don't want to wet her hair you can use a plastic bag over her head and pour it over the face to soften the latex. Watch your hands though! I let her hair air dry standing up. Did not run in cold water after the hot water.

This is the next afternoon when the hair has fully dried. The crimped waves are neater and the ends are more defined. It tends to revert after some combing so you might like to do it a second time. Also the detangler I added before remained on the hair so it is quite soft.

She looks happier now and ready to go!