Hotaru Tomoe is one of my Xmas for 2014 presents and yes, it took me this long to get her reviewed for reasons that should be obvious by now! So, despite the lateness, what do I have to say about S.H. Figuart's rendition of the Soldier of Silence? It's all good things let me tell you!
Box! Pretty! Indeed! Love it. Of course taking her out of the box is what makes the review, NOT the box itself so here we are!
Just to tangent off about Sailor Moon S and Sailor Saturn for a bit here before I jump into the figure itself! Bear with me! So Sailor Moon S stood out for me for a few reasons: the introduction of the Outer Senshis and the story arc of the Messiah of Silence, Mistress 9. The details are lost so I might not be 100% accurate but, the body of Sailor Saturn was possessed by Mistress 9 who was going to bring Pharaoh 90 into the world and bring chaos. So Uranus and Neptune didn't want that to happen so they did everything and almost anything to make sure that doesn't happen. Of course their more drastic ways didn't sit well with the Inner Senshis so... conflict. To make a long story short, we Mistress 9 did come out, but Sailor Saturn's will overtook her and so BLAM! But not before the damage was done and Pharaoh 90(a big giant black blob) was already into our world. Oh, Sailor Moon got her "S" form in this season too. Here's another fact: Sailor Saturn did not get her spotlight in this season; in fact, her cool looking costume got about 5 min of love before forever disappearing until we get into Stars(which gives her the lame default "super" costume all Senshis have).
Despite all of that, Saturn did gain a following and for those who managed to gain this toy in homage to her S appearance, well, it's something to praise for! The details as always with S.H. Figuarts are amazing! Sailor Saturn looks like Sailor Saturn. Every details I remember from her Senshi uniform is intact from the shoulder pads, the crystal like brooch, the knee high lace boots, and then of course the ominous purple and burgundy color scheme remains. That's me saying that the paint job is amazing by the way. All the faces that are included in this figure are all well done! As always, they are consistent on making it look like Hotaru Tomoe! No real use of going overboard with the figure's details because the pictures can speak for it self. Let's talk about what she comes with.
Ten pair of hands, four variant faces, the Figuarts stand trademark(Figma still has the better stands in my opinion), and of course her glaive. On a side note, I didn't use the 'twhipping' pair hands because... I'm not quite sure when Sailor Saturn ever did those hand motions. Oh, and her signature weapon looks pretty dead on like the anime counter part.
Four faces that consists of 'happy', 'concentrating eyes closed', 'serious', and 'angry I am yelling at you'. Again the likeness remains consistent as I have already mentioned. One thing that perhaps imports really needs to start getting into are the hair articulation or perhaps the hair variants. Since Hotaru's hair is really 'blocky' at times, she should have some variants to give her a dynamic look to her said hair.
The articulation is amazing and she is able to perform the majority of things I wanted her to do. The shoulder pads hinder a few movements when posing her arms upwards, but no major issue to ruin the overall figure.
Though admittedly, I don't remember Sailor Saturn's 'signature' technique and truthfully, I don't really think she has a flashy one, but some affects would do some major points on making this figure that much more amazing(something I'm finding to be a terrible flaw in both imports and domestic toys).
Couldn't find it in me to pose her without her glaive.
Next to Sailor Moon, Sailor Saturn does fall slightly short, and no, that's not me saying that this figure is bad. Sailor Moon (as she should) comes with more things in terms of accessories and the likes so if one goes from Moon to Saturn, there is a short supply of perks. I would imagine the other Senshis don't exactly fall in the category of having an abundance of accessories either though. Still, side to side, these figures are amazing.
All in all, I love this figure! Great addition to my already cramped and dominantly Asuka shelf of 'anime'! Wow, I'll need to be more creative in consolidating my game room!
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