A little backstory for this...or more like, a little saga. Back in the summer of 2014, Bandai Tamashii Nations announced they would be starting production on the Outer Senshi's S.H. Figuarts action figures. Pre-orders were opened up in the U.S. for Uranus and Neptune, who were going to be web exclusives on the Japanese Bandai Tamashii e-store. Pluto, most of us figured, couldn't be too far behind. So we waited. And waited. Then Uranus was released but no news. Then Neptune was released but no news. Then we finally got confirmation that she was coming! But no release window or anything. Then they released a whole bunch of other stuff (two more versions of Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask, and Chibi-Moon), but still no Pluto news. Then we finally get a release window for Japan! And we get pre-orders opened up for NA! And then Bluefin (the NA distributor for Bandai) and Amazon have a falling-out and Amazon cancels all pre-orders and essentially refuses to carry anything new from Bluefin for months. There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth as everyone who had ordered from Amazon floods every other retailer that will import her. Pre-order slots sell out in hours, and still more people can't even place an order. Yours truly gets lucky during a random check of Big Bad Toy Store and successfully places a pre-order; the window closes shortly after and all the pre-order slots sell out. And Scarlett can finally breathe, knowing order has been restored to the universe. (The epilogue: BBTS eventually restocked and is now selling more Pluto figures, and Amazon and Bluefin kissed and made up and now the former is selling Pluto figurines for $15 less than what Scarlett paid for it. The moral of the story: life isn't fair, especially for a figure collector.)
So without further ado, let's get to that review, which is waiting after the jump.
Quick note here: I got Pluto shipped to my workplace after some more frustration with the local postal service. I was so excited that I just started taking pictures during my break, so if you're wondering why there are cubicles in these shots....yeah. So anyway, I got her from Big Bad Toy Store for $45; shipping via UPS took about 3 days, not bad.
The box isn't totally black, but a mix of grays, and purples as well. It has a more serious, mysterious feel to it. I do like that the Garnet Rod is displayed right next to her. No brown (the color of her bows) anywhere, which is a little odd, but I guess Bandai felt this color scheme would work better. I'm guessing that the garnet red of her gem and accessories was left out so the box wouldn't look too much like Tuxedo Mask.
She's performing her Dead Scream attack on the back! Plus, you can see her displaying one of her specialty hand pieces in the bottom corner of the box. Bandai again stayed with the slim box, which I fully approve of!
Reading the instructions has mildly terrified me. (I like how they put the scary parts of the instructions in English, but leave you to figure everything else out from pictures.) So apparently the paint from her uniform and hair and Garnet Rod might rub off and are you kidding me? Oh, and the Garnet Rod is delicate and breakable and will probably snap in half if I look at it cross-eyed.
ANYWAY. Just bask for a moment. Go ahead, I won't judge.
I am labeling the hands, from top to bottom: jazz hands, boring hands, fisticuffs, holding hands, and Special Orb Hand.
Her hair is one massive sheet. I thought it would have parts that pulled away, like Venus, but nope! It moves from side to side like Tuxedo's cape, but I can't really move it back or anything. It's a deep forest green but has gradations that even look black at some points. Her hair is essentially a massive ponytail, and is controlled by the high bun on top of her head. Please note that the bun does not come out!
Lord only knows why, but her neck is set at a super weird position, forcing her head downwards, making it look like her chin is affixed to her neck. I'll work on this for a bit, but let's look at the next picture!
The plastic that was slipped onto her arms to prevent scratching look like water wings, lol. Her fuku is surprisingly matte, so I guess it isn't possible to make metallic black and brown paint? Her bow jewel is a beautiful rich garnet red, which is picked up in her earrings, tiara jewel, and necklace. Girl's accessorizing is on point.
Pretty good paint job, overall. Her joints are pretty stiff, but that could be due to being freshly out of the box. Her hip joints were a bit wobbly, and her legs were a little lopsided at first, but I managed to shift them into place easily enough.
Ah, the Garnet Orb and Rod. I'm pleased with how much detail went into this. It does feel rather thin and delicate, so I didn't play around with it much. But it comes apart on a few places, and you can remove the Garnet Orb from the top of the Rod.
Included are three faces (serious, yelling/angry, and quiet/closed eyes), plus the aforementioned plethora of hands!
The stand: same as always, just black color scheme this time. Nothing new to report here.
Great face sculpt! My only nitpick is that Pluto is usually depicted as being somewhat tan; the exact shade varies between adaptations (and sometimes from episode to episode!). It would have been nice to have her skin a shade or two darker for more accuracy.
Of course I had to show you guys at least the special hand piece. It comes out of the Rod easily enough. Protip: attach the hand piece first, then attach the Orb. It will make your life easier, I promise.
Unf. Can we call her Sailor BAMF?
FINALLY. It took me until the end of the review, but I finally got it. Given that she's new, her joints are really stiff, so I had to sort of work her head a little bit loose. Once that was accomplished, I could move her head up into the proper position.
I'm not sure what the initial wait was for (could her hair sculpt have been that hard to do and implement properly?), but it was totally worth it. The Outer Sailor figures have been fairly well done (excepting feet joints, which are surprisingly okay here), and have a more sophisticated vibe...then again, Bandai saved these for last, so they've had a lot of time to learn from their mistakes and improve on the process. She's one of my favorites, and I'm so happy that I both finally have her and finally got a Figuarts that was pretty much great right from the get-go.
Now, all I have left is Mars and Mercury...gonna try to get Mars this fall, but I'm not gonna make any promises to myself, because I know how those go.
Miss Scarlett suggests: Sailor Moon figure fans, this is a worthy addition to your collection!
