A few days ago, a blogger named Seaside Tears was wandering around Sofmap (a Japanese electronics store), and noticed that there was a small exhibition devoted to the upcoming Tamashii Nations S.H. Figuarts Sailor Moon figure featuring flyers, figures, and a large display playing the commercial over and over again. And surprisingly, there was also an unpainted Sailor Mercury prototype on display. The post got picked up by Tomopop, and later Crunchyroll, and then the news got to me via staff member BlueSwim. While the figure has not been officially announced, it is unknown if it ever will be either. This may be a test from Bandai to gauge public reception towards the figure. Many of our older fans may remember that Irwin did this once a very long time ago with the Amazoness Quartet. But unfortunately, they never got made due to Irwin dropping the line (and later facing bankruptcy). If fans are interested in seeing a Sailor Mercury figure produced, feel free to leave comments here or on our Facebook page, as well as on Bluefin Tamashii Nations’ Facebook Page, or on Tamashii Nations Japan’s Facebook Page if you can write in Japanese. For those of you looking to pre-order the Sailor Moon figure, please check our previous post for a comprehensive list of places you can pre-order the figure from. The exhibition is traveling around to different Sofmap stores around Japan until the end of the month (check here for a schedule). For now though, here are some images (credit to Seaside Tears) of the exhibition!

Hey Moonies! This is a quick post to let you know I just received a email from Bluefin Tamashii Nations which contained a sales sheet along with some product descriptions on upcoming figures (I don’t know what other properties you fans may be interested in, so comment below if there are other figures you might like to know about). The new Sailor Moon figure will be released in cartons containing 24 figures each with an MSRP of $42.99 USD. The figure will have the following UPC Code of 4543112644909 and SKU of BAN64490, for those of you who are looking to purchase this and want to make sure you are getting a legitimate figure and not a knockoff. The figure will be released in September 2013. The description of the figure on this sales sheet reads:

S.H.Figuarts – Sailor Moon

Appropriately timed with the 20th anniversary of the insanely popular Sailor Moon anime, everyone’s favorite princess joins the S.H.Figuarts series in beautiful fighting form with a full array of option parts. Sculpted with elegant proportion S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon stands on its own as a gorgeous display piece. Meticulous attention to detail has enabled a faithful portrayal, and part of the hair has been rendered with clear parts for enhanced realism. In addition to high-detail and stunning proportion this figure set features advanced articulation for recreation of your favorite Sailor Moon Action scenes. And to top it all off- a wealth of accessories are included! Two types of Moon Sticks (with/without Silver Crystal), effect parts for “Moon Tiara Action”, and 8 interchangeable hand parts (3 left, 5 right) will expand the playability of S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon’s feline partner, Luna will be included too with neck and tail articulation. Aiming for a superbly expressive Sailor Soldier, in addition to three interchangeable face parts, two added face parts will be included as limited first production issue bonus parts!

As for where you can purchase this, if you fans spot it anywhere, please let us know and we will post it on the blog (please via email at moonchasers@nospamplzkthxgmail.com), it is hard to keep up with the facebook posts). The only place I know of at this moment is Gundam Planet, which did have a pre-order deal of 10% off the cost if you order now, I am not sure why fans can’t pre-order at the moment.
And for those of you who are Daft Punk fans, unfortunately those gorgeous figures are not on this sale sheet yet. I’m waiting too, and am eagerly awaiting those as well! Special thanks to Bluefin for passing this along to us (it was great chatting with you on Monday)!

EDIT:
Here is where you can order this figure so far (but some have just a listing and are not open for pre-orders just yet, keep an eye out on these pages). The links we have posted are from reputable sites, but this is by no means a complete list. Please let us know if you know of others!
Amazon
Amazon.ca (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Anime Island
Big Bad Toy Store
Fantastic Plastic Toys
GG Infinite
Gundam Planet
Hastings (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Just Action Figures (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Man of Action Figures
Power Anime
Robot4Less (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Things From Another World (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Toys Logic
Toy Tards (in Canada)
Toy Wiz
TSI Inc. (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Urban Collector (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)

And one last link: there is a store locator here for those who want to try to find it locally.

EDIT: Here’s a whole gallery of official promotional images!

I have some great news to report regarding the recent re-release of the Manga by Kodansha Comics – the first volume was recently honoured at the 2011 Diamond Comic Distributers Gem Awards. Sailor Moon Volume 1 received one of the highest honours from the comic book industry, as it was awarded the 2011 Manga Trade Paperback Of The Year award. The award results are primarily based off of overall sales figures for the 2011 calendar year, and are also voted on by the major comic book retail outlets. We are so proud of the success of Sailor Moon, and we would like to congratulate Kodansha Comics USA on the win. It is truly astounding to see the continued positive reception being directed towards the manga reissue campaign, and the staff at Moon Chase would like to applaud the fans that have supported the release!

Great news out of France today from both a French manga news site, as well as a release! Moonies in France, mark your calendars for July 2012 – the renewal editions of Sailor Moon and Codename: Sailor V will be published by Pika Édition (as we predicted back in July).  It looks like their release schedule will mimic what we have seen in North America and other countries around the world, with the two titles being published simultaneously.  In about a week or so one of our staff members will contact Pika Édition’s distribution arm in Quebec to double check if the releases will be hitting Québécois Moonies (which they likely will, but we just want to make sure).

Sorry Moonies there weren’t any updates over the holidays. Not much has been going on and we’ve been busy preparing things we need to get going throughout this month.  More soon! Happy New Year – and 2012 WILL be a good year for Sailor Moon!

PGSM fans, mark your calendars! On September 22nd, a boxset of the entire PGSM series is set to be released in Japan. For those fans who are unaware, PGSM stands for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and is the live action version of Sailor Moon which aired on Japanese television from 2003-2004. An article at Animate.tv has a couple reasons for why they think this boxset is being released. The first is that many of the stars (most notably Keiko Kitagawa who played Sailor Mars) have gone on to bigger and better things in their acting careers. The second, is that some of the new generation of fans have never seen a live action version of Sailor Moon on TV. The timing of this release is perfect given the anime’s revival which is happening around the world. The boxset will include all 49 episodes, the two specials (Special Act and Act Zero), and Kirari Super Live – a live event in almost the same vein as the Sera Myu musicals, starring the cast of PGSM. All other extras included on the initial release will also be included. No word as of this writing if Super Dance Lesson will also be included. This dance lesson was part of a special offer, and fans had to fill out an application included with only certain magazines many years ago to get a copy. The boxset is currently on preorder at Amazon.jp and will cost ￥23,210 before shipping (roughly $290 USD).