Things have become really really hectic for me these past weeks, therefore posts will have to slow down a bit, just until I graduate and then decide what will happen with my life after that. I will make great effort to keep the M°Onie Tunes podcast up to date though, no need to worry about that. BTW, If you've been receiving a weird message while trying to listen to MT, it's because our host and streaming service is provided for free but has a limited bandwidth. It resets every new month, so you might be able to listen to it in a few more days. Sorry about that Moonies :/
Anyways. On to today's post.
So, If you've been following the SMObss, you know the SM vs. Real Life section very well! It's where I post pictures of places or situations and compare them to "Moonesque" things. It's one of my personal favorite sections of the blog, and every time I write them, I LAWL at the random things I find to link back to the Sailor Moon world. I hope they fun for you too xD!
In the past, I've provided information and evidence on how Sailor Moon *also* takes place in Mexico. NOW WAIT! Before you get all "hardcore fan" on me or lose you shiz, yes, all the every day action and fighting takes place in Tokyo. We see the streets, Tokyo tower, the Rainbow Bridge, Azabu Juuban and so on. However, there are places in the anime/manga that are other worldly or simply not located in any recognizable space. But I'm here to tell you these places exist, damn it! And they're in Mexico. There is proof right here: This is where Future Crystal Tokyo is (Chihuahua, Mx), or here (Mex City) and also, this is where Elysian –the mysterious place where Helios lives– is (San Luis Potosí, Mx). If all these aren't enough for you, here is another bit of proof:
You know the Sailor Moon S opening sequence, where there's a kind of truncated pyramid and the senshi are standing on top of those weird columns in the middle of nowhere and then they start flying off the pillars into the air? Here, just watch the intro so we're both on the same page.
Here's a promotional image with said truncated pyramid sporting some columns that appear to be supporting nothing, they just stand there, reaching into the night stars....
Well, This place exists.
Yep, yep, yep!! Let me introduce you to Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, located about an hour north of Mexico City. I could explain to you the history and meaning of this sacred place, but this is not what the SMObss is about. If you're curious, Google is your friend. In short, it's a ceremonial palace of sorts. At the top of this short pyramid, the long figures on top are not only columns, some of them are 3 meter high protective statues called GIANTS. Some say they are Gods, some say they are celebrated warriors, but we know the truth: They obviously represent the Sailor Scouts.
What? you don't see the sailor Scouts in these figures?!
Here, let me help you...
LOLOLOLOLLOOLOlololLOlol!!!!!!!!
Alright fine. I let my Moonie imagination fly too high. It's fun though xD!
After a long end-of-year break from 2011, your always trusty (albeit, slightly crazy) trio is back! Also it is the one year anniversary of the MºOnie Tunes podcast! Woot woot!! Celebration all over!!! SKGPOWAJGioajdgiwigohaw! In this New Years Special episode (which should have been up in December xD) we make a retrospective on all the events, merchandise, mangas, re-airings, DVDs and everything else that came out this past year. It was a LOT. A great, great year for the Moondom! We always talk about what we would like to see happen in the future, and we did it again... it is, after all the 20th Anniversary of the anime, so yeah, there's plenty we'd like to see happen. So go get some popcorn, take of your shoes and enjoy our little chat! :D
M°OnieTunes - Episode 8!
Remember that the podcast now has its own Facebook page! We put a lot of effort and passion into each episode, so if you enjoy it or would like to help us spread the word, go ahead and click the "Like" button to show us some Moonie love. I was very resistant to open this page, but Brad was the one who pushed for it and actually created it. Thank you BRAD!! Don't forget to visit his site and "Like" Moonkitty.net too!
Finally, on this blog entry you won't see link to every-single-thing we talked about because I have already liked to them before. You may look at past podcast entries to see more links. ;) Thx for listening Moonies!
Welcome Moonies, to the 20th year anniversary of Sailor Moon! It was in March of 1992 when the pigtailed heroine made her first appearance on Japanese Televisions and thus began a magical adventure that has touched all at some point of our lives. For some of us, the initial impact it had in our lives still lingers in our hearts, we live for any tiny piece of information of the series or collect any new/vintage merch we can get our hands on. It's been a wild ride, but I only hope it will get even better from now on! So here's to the Mooniest year yet! Hopefully we get a bunch of new stuff, and above all, an "official" revival that includes either a new anime, new musicals or new toys. *fingers crossed* :D!
Anyway, on to today's post!
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About a year ago, Sakky opened up her comissions for plushies. She's a super hardcore Moonie and I had been watching her live feed while she drew or sewed for a long time, so I really became fascinated with the dolls she made and decided it was time I had my own Sakky made doll.
Out of all of the Moonieverse, Sailor Moon is my favorite character, but her Princess Serenity form is the most compelling to me. There's something about the way her attitude changes when she converts into her past-self that is not only beautiful, but lets you be sure SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL! Not to mention the pretty dress and sometimes elegant wings. Oooo! I Love. Naturally, I had to have a Serenity Plushie from Sakky, specially since I only have one other toy. I asked for a completely white doll, including her hair. I really like Naoko's original design, so we tried to stick to that as much as possible. In the "Materials" artbook, she is wearing a small, spiky crown which she never uses, but it's so adorable, I wanted one for my plushie as well x3!
After I booked my commission, came the waiting. Oh! The waiting! Sarah is a pretty busy person, she has a tight drawing and sewing schedule to which she sticks to pretty strictly. I had to wait an entire year for her to start on my doll, but they do say: "Good things to those who wait", and wait I did. Sakky started on my doll this last November. Sadly, I was unable to watch her entire process online, but here are some of the screencaps I was able to take. WOOOOOOOOOOOT! :D
Most of you know I'm currently visiting family in Mexico City and I had at hand all the information about where to purchase SM official socks (made a post about it a few months back), so of course, I had to visit this place myself or I couldn't call myself a Moonie!!
The place is located in a kind of nasty neighborhood, but I know how to navigate those streets pretty well, so I made it in and out no probs. This venue is an outlet store, meaning that products come directly from the factory. They sell all kinds of franchises including Betty Boop, Hello Kitty, Dora the Explorer and Naruto. They also have Soccer teams, artists, and superheroes. Quite the interesting little store I might say.
Since I learned Doobalo acquired the Sailor Moon license, I've been looking for an online shop to buy them, but I haven't found one yet. Once I had the chance, I personally went to this store and acquired a bunch! It was fun!!! I learned that I had to have a sharp eye to find the SM models, so many colors all over the place trick the eyes XD. Here are some of the models they had:
The store was surprisingly low on stock. The owners told me Sailor Moon sells out pretty fast, and that Moonies like myself also tended to buy anything Moon related in sight, so that if I wanted more, I'd have to stop by soon. Lawl. We're a funny bunch xD!
I am no longer offering these for sale. They have all found new homes. Anyway, just a cute find and nice pictures of Moonie stuff out there to share with you guys! :D
It's been a long time since our last "Fill in teh Blank" contest! This is the place where you show off your clever wittiness and bring on the lawls for us all!! You guys already know how this works: It's kind of a "Caption This" contest, only that I will give you a small introduction/guide to start your caption with. Images come from The Oracle's amazing gallery. :D!
Contrary to most games on the SMObss which are based on "facts", this game will be very arbitrary. I alone will decide who the winner is. To read more about how I will choose a winner, you can read THIS post.
Fill in the blank according to the image I posted. Your phrase doesn't necessarily have to reflect what is actually going on in the scene, you can even insert characters or situations that aren't related to the image at all. You have up to three or four days to think about it and write it down. If I see that visitors are STILL posting answers, I'll extend the deadline. ANYBODY can win this one!!! Of course, the funniest wins ONE point.
"Mamoru knows he messed up. He totally_______________"
I don't know if these introductions of mine help you guys or just make it harder. You can go ahead and try to caption without my intro too, it will count all the same. Just remember to make it funneh! :D
UPDATE:
Winner : Ochibawolf!
"Mamoru knows he messed up. He totally sold Usagi's and Chibi Usa's brooches on eBay because he knew how much those RPG toys were going for."
HAhahahahahha!!! As collectors, I think most of us are aware how high brooches are these days, the idea of him selling the originals as "collector's items" is hilarious! xDDD I keep LOLing xDD!!!
Runner ups:
Adrianne: "Mamoru knows he messed up. He totally remembered Chibi-Usa's birthday but not Usagi's... one pink cake isn't big enough for two."
Sakky: "Mamoru knows he messed up. He totally got caught with the UsagixSeiya doujin!"
Thank you all for the best Fill in teh Blank EVAH xDDD!!
Hello Moonies! The SMObss has been quiet lately, and I miss writing here, but Tumblr and Twitter have become much more effective ways to find information and share images. The fandom on these sites is so much more active and creative than just me here all alone in my little blog. It's also easier to "re-tweet" interesting links or "re-blog" fan art without having to link and quote sources than writing about them here where they'll most likely be ignored. So be sure to follow the SMObss Twitter and Tumblr if you haven't already, I make a great effort to skim through blogs and tweets to share interesting links and funny finds. It's also a lot of fun! Anyway, that was just an intro, now, on the post!
The biggest news these months is undoubtedly the re-release of the English Sailor Moon manga. Are you all getting your copies? Are you super excited to go through the series and acquire these gorgeous new volumes for you Sailor Moon collections!? (I am!)
The SMObss is not only a place to find news, but also a personal blog. I'd like to write my personal re-discovery of the Sailor Moon manga. I read some of the manga a long time ago, about 15 years ago. It was tremendously difficult to acquire the manga in Mexico back in the day because there wasn't a big publisher putting it out in the market and the many attempts of smaller editorials failed to deliver a quality product and suddenly dropping the series, leaving us with incomplete series. Our best shot was to buy the Spain version. This was extremely expensive for us, there was no real market for it and had to be special ordered. At this time, there was hardly any internet, let alone e-commerce, so there was no way to just click and order them online. Over the lapse of 4 years I went to a special comic store and had to order them at jacked up prices. The last volume I got was volume 8 before the store closed and was left, once again, with an incomplete set. Sad. u.u
Times have changed! There's more access to downloadable content, easier ways of reading online. I could've read the manga anytime the last 12 years, but there was something about HAVING it that made me desist. I didn't want to see it in a screen. I wanted to touch it, turn the page, look at the colored illustrations, and basically OWN IT. News of the re-release couldn't have made me happier! I will now own a complete set of gorgeous prints that glisten so perfectly and can immerse myself into new depths of this fantastical interplanetary tale! However, as I flipped through the pages, it dawned on me that I remember NEXT-TO-NOTHING about these books! It's like this is a whole new adventure, like the first time!
So I now introduce to you: "Sailor Moon Manga Musings"!Just to be clear here, Manga Musings IS NOT a formal review of the content, features of the manga, or quality of translations, Brad has got you covered with that on Moonkitty.net. These are more like short entries of the discoveries and details that I'd forgotten about or hadn't noticed before. This is more of a personal voyage. Some of these might be very obvious to you (so no "OMG,YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THAT?! EVERYBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT!!" comments allowed :p), but like I said, it's a new adventure for me! So excited! If you are going on this ride with me, then I really hope you enjoy these entries and share cool things too!
Sailor Moon Manga Musings. Vol. 1!
Codename Sailor V, Vol. 1
Opening this manga was a discovery in itself. I've never owned it or read it before. I'm so surprised at how fast things start to happen! The SV manga was a kind of experiment for Naoko-hime, so I guess she was in a rush to get the story moving along and get into the good stuff, but there are things I'm left wondering about. For example she mentions how Minako's relationship with her mom isn't that great, but we don't see them really going at it, just the same ol' teenage rebellion phase. Well, I guess we can just take her word for it. Artwork is completely new to me. It's like being an explorer and happening to discover King Tut's tomb: In unimaginable wonder! A treasure. There are a lot of scans out there, but I had never seen all the images before. It's so early Naoko and I love this style! Out of all the art in the manga, this image in particular struck me the most. Minako looks so good here, like a REAL, BAD ASS heroine :'D!
Halfway through the first chapter, we see her castle. HER CASTLE!! I was already pumped at this revelation so-so-so early in! Picture it: You're a 13 year old, ordinary girl who has this revelation from a talking cat. It's like a "Harry, yer a wizard!" moment, (I've been reading HP lately :p) but much to my dismay, not much happened after that. I was expecting some kind of explanation or at least Mina ASKING what this meant, but instead she forgot about it completely. HOW COULD YOU IGNORE the fact that there is an amazing ancestral structure created by ancient Gods floating in space and has YOUR name written all over it!? I think NASA would have plenty of questions, but no, not Minako! She don't care. She just wants to hand that love letter to Higashi, the guy she has a crush on. xD!
Another thing I was new to: Sailor V kicks. She kicks. A LOT. Left and right, monsters and zombies fall easily at her relentless high-heeled thrash. She does it a few times in the SM manga and once or twice in the anime, but in this manga she's completely fierce/fearless. It's odd because we hardly ever see the senshi getting so physical like this (Sailor Jupiter being the exception), they normally engage the enemies with their sparkly, glittering magical powers. I enjoyed the idea though, the fact that she isn't weak or faint-hearted. Sailor V just rolls up her sleeves and does all of the dirty work without thinking twice about it. I approve!!
Here are other little details that caught my attention: This scene involves Artemis yelling at Mina, telling her she needs to go home and study to be a good Champion of Justice, to which Minako responds by yanking him into her arms and warning him that people would "dissect him like sashimi" if they heard a talking cat. The original Japanese sound effect of her pulling Artemis is "mogah" which –I'm guessing– is just the sound of a small yelp stuck at the throat when being pulled from the neck. The translation for that little sound became:
That's right! "MMFLL" is now an official onomatopoeia! How do you even pronounce that? If you're being held by the throat, you're only able to half-mutter vowels. Try it! The weird contortion your tongue has to make between the M, F and L makes no sense and is so unnatural. xD!! FML maybe?
Moving on. I always knew that the crescent Jewel Box was from Sailor V, but it's the first time I've seen it being used in the manga. I was wondering why they had created this toy, because it doesn't make sense in the Sailor Moon anime. Of course now I see they based it off Sailor V's weapon, but I still don't know how it got there, how it got the green-light to be produced. Was one of the toy designers a huge Sailor V fan and then went up to the board and said "LOOK! MOONS!" and they said "COOL! PRODUCE IT!"... I'd love to listen in that meeting.
Another detail about it that I didn't know about the Crscent Compact is that it that is charges with the Moonlight. HOW FRIGGIN' CUTE IS THAT?! It has to load up with the Moon magic to maintain its powers. This is such an adorable connotation. The powers they use are PHYSICALLY linked to the magic of the Moon. But wait... does that mean that the power dies out, like a cellphone? We all know how helpless one feels to go a day without a fully charged phone and suddenly dies on us. What if Mina can't charge it because she fell asleep before placing it under the moonlight? Or what if there is no Moon that night? Does it require a full Moon? Does it only charge-half way on new Moon? How long does a full charge last? What if she moves to the North pole where there is only daylight half a year and only night the other half? Does it store half a year worth of Moonlight and can go uncharged the other half of the year? Oh man! So many questions about this. XD
I still think it's a cute idea. But the cutest part of the manga in my opinion was the few Usagi cameos we get throughout the story and the fact that Mina is getting ready "for that day", the day she will have to face her destiny as a Sailor senshi and defend her princess. She is fully aware of it and prepared.
SQUEEEEEE!! x3
Just for shits n' giggles and because we're on the subject, here is the fan-made Sailor V anime intro by Fabzt10 which still makes my jaw drop to the floor of how well this is edited to make it seem like the real deal.
Okay so, Sailor Moon isn't a COMPLETELY new experience. I do remember some things here and there, so there are less amount of surprises. Still, nice to reconnect.
First thing I noticed is that when Sailor Moon makes her introduction, the is a Symbol right in the middle of the name. it was cute, but is this part of the original manga? I checked out both Japanese reprint AND original prints for the symbol and sure enough, there it was! So I'm glad they kept it, but it's weird. I wonder, why Naoko-hime decided to use it in the first place? This is the symbol for Islam as far as I know. I have nothing against the use of it, I'm just randomly wondering if she was aware of that or just used it 'cause it was cute?.... Oh well. It's purty. xD
A few pages later, Sailor Mercury is given her iconic mini computer, and it has this sort of blinking light that shows where the enemy is. That's cool, we've seen that in the anime; a compass or GPS of sorts that will show the way to the evil lair. But then it does something funny: the light jumps off the screen and moves. At first I was all: "OMG!!! This laser moves on the ground towards the enemy!" This would totally make sense and now we would finally know how they find the bad guys in the strangest places, right?
But then it reminded me of something funnier:
Follow the red dot! FOLLOW IT Sailor LOLCATS! HAHAahahahahha!! That was it, the dot never appeared again. It would have been nice to see it in action. Oh well!
The first edition in the 90's was kind of drafty and dated, which is why the 00's reprint has a lot of drawing corrections (closed lines, colored uniforms), technology updates (Amy was first using a 3.5" floppy diskette for her Crystal Seminar studies and was corrected to be a CD in the re-print), some of the senshi gadgets were added or cleaned up, etc. There were other minor changes here and there, but here is one that was weird for me: The scene is Amy going into Crown Parlor to talk to the Sailor V game because there are a lot of strange occurrences in the city. The computer doesn't speak an understandable language, so it is represented with strange symbols. The re-print had these symbols re-designed, a totally unnecessary thing to do, but okay, it's fine, it's not something that affects the story, but, if you look at them closely, this new dialog are just the inverted planetary symbols. So now the "mysterious" computer language now reads:
"Chiron Uranus Venus Jupiter Saturn Pluto Neptune
Ceres Mercury Saturn Pallas Mars Chiron Neptune..."
THAT ISN'T MYSTERIOUS, THAT IS LAAAAME!! If this were ANY OTHER comic book that didn't rely SO heavily on planetary symbols, it would be ok, but this "correction" doesn't seem to make much sense. Ummm...WTF Naoko-hime? xD
And finally, the Star locket. The everlasting representation of Endymion and Serenity's love for each other. The sweetest thing ever. I remember about the manga version being different from the anime, but I didn't remember it was specifically a watch with the Moon phase calendar. At first I thought: "Hmm, why would anyone need to keep careful track of the phases of the moon with such clock-precision meticulousness?" Fact: Most ancient civilizations always regard the Moon as a female Goddess. From ancient Greece to the Aztecs, it is always is regarded as a representation of womanhood and fertility. The reason is quite simple: The Moon has cycles. 28 DAY CYCLES. Women's period. OMFGGGGG!!!! IS MAMORU KEEPING CAREFUL TRACK OF USAGI'S PERIOD!?!? Well, he doesn't know how to use it very well, you know, knocking her up on the very first night and all. HAHAHAHAHahaha!
ROMANTIC LOVE LOCKET IDEALIZATION = RUINED. MWAHAHAhahahahaah!
I went Googling for an image of an actual Moon phase pocket watch to find one like Mamoru's. This is the closest one I could find, with the moon window covering the upper part. Most are circular except for this one. I dunno, It basically looks very cute and I think I now want one for my SM collection. :3
LONGEST.POST.EVAH! I finally finished this, and now Volume 2 of Sailor Moon and Sailor V are already out. I expect to buy them next week and I hear they're pretty thick volumes, so next Manga Musings might be even longer (dear Lord, I hope not!). 'Till next time Moonies!! Lemme know it you found funny stuff too! :D
