Whew. Mars has been a long time coming. Basically, even with my new job, I can't buy everything that I want (sadder but truer words were never spoken), so I am trying to balance buying things that have been on my wishlist for a long time with pre-ordering newer items. Given how popular the Sailor Moon Figuarts are (or at least the first five), I haven't been too worried about picking them up, and instead focused on ordering the new figures that seemed to have supply issues.
Well, I finally was able to clear room in my budget to get her! And I am stoked. It's also kind of a load off my shoulders, mentally speaking; the thought of having an incomplete set just bothers me in some strange way. (Given, my set is still lacking Mercury, so it's still incomplete.)
I'll give you all the pics and pertinent info after the cut!
First things first, I picked up Mars off of Big Bad Toy Store for about $43. That's not the only place you can get her; you can also find her at Barnes and Noble and Amazon, albeit for somewhat cheaper. After being burned so many times from Amazon, I've decided to pick BBTS, who I've had better experiences with, and therefore pay a bit more, but that's just me. They offer shipping through UPS and FedEx that's about $7 for a 3-5 day turnaround (although you can choose a cheaper/slower USPS or a much faster/more expensive USPS Priority rate if you desire).
Here she is~~ Her box is just bursting with red, yellow, and orange, like the fire she uses. The purple is a nice cool accent, picking up the purple of her bow. She's posed on the front with the ofuda talisman that she uses to ward off evil. ...we'll talk more about that in a sec.
The back of the box depicts the various poses she can be placed in, as well as the face plates that you can switch out. ...we'll also talk about that in a sec.
(Yes, I'm doing this at work. I'm that weirdo.) The box is very easy to open. Mars' box is bigger (as are the earlier Sailor Moon Figuarts), which provides enough space to easily fit the stand in the back. The plastic casing is a little oversized, but not too hard to open. We've got Mars herself, three additional faces (eyes closed and concentrating, shouting, and determined), four hand sets (one of which is to specifically do her Fire Soul attack, which is pretty cool), and an ofuda and a specialty hand to hold said ofuda.
The assembly instructions are sandwiched between the box and the sheet of colored cardboard that serves as the backdrop. Pretty standard stuff, nothing new here.
This picture was taken after approximately 18,239 attempts to pick up the darn thing. It is light and flimsy and goes flying at the slightest provocation. Open the plastic to get the stuff out? Goes flying. Try to prop it into Mars' hand? Goes flying. Breathe on it? Goes flying. I'm not going to even bother trying to pose her with it, because I have lost all patience to once again go crawling on my hands and knees trying to find where it landed in the carpet again. They really would have done better to make it either bigger or to maybe magnetize it so it sticks to the hand piece.
But whatever. Here she is in all her glory. Her default face is very cheerful and I feel like immediately switching it out to an angry one so I can pose her berating Sailor Moon. (But then again, I am that weirdo.)
Her hair is something else. It's been plastic-bagged, and a small plastic "cushion" has been inserted between Mars' back and her hair. They are very serious about preventing color bleeding or scratching, I'll admit. (Just not serious about not sending out defective figures. I'm not bitter.)
Her hair is weird, though. You have the main chunk of hair has one sheet that can be maneuvered around, but there are two large chunks on either side of her head that can be swiveled around. Please see above. I guess this is done so that it looks more impressive, like the wind is really blowing her hair or something? I find it slightly odd, but once you loosen up the joints, it's not too hard to move them around.
Mars' primary color is a bright cardinal red, with a deep eggplant-purple bow. Overall, the paint job is decent, but there's a bit of sloppiness here where her skirt meets her leotard, and again where her bow touches the decorative jewel. The seams on her gloves are a bit more noticeable than I would have liked, as well, but the detail work overall is good.
She's got the typical range of motion that her friends have, although thankfully with less wobbly hips.
The paint job on her collar is nice and crisp, and the bow is nicely painted as well.
Thank goodness her feet joints are not messed up like some of the Figuarts I've had before. I've never noticed this before, but they use the same foot mold for all the figures. So the ones who wear high heeled shoes end up having thick-looking feet, because those molds also produce the feet for the others, who wear boots. Poor Mars.
Getting this open was a nightmare. I recommend opening it over a bowl or container of some sort so that when you finally manage to pry it open, the parts will at least fall into one area and not spray everywhere no matter how gentle you are. I should note that I was not able to switch the faces out because Mars' default face is stuck on there but good. The bang piece came off easily enough, but I simply couldn't get anything else pried off--maybe because it's new? Or been on there for so long? Hopefully I can get to change the faces out, but that won't be today.
Her stand is par for the course, but with everything in a bright red. Nothing new or different here. Still pretty easy to assemble.
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! A few frustrations aside, this is a pretty solid figure. Some of my primary complaints could be easily addressed--the face plates will more than likely loosen up with time and wear, and I can always glue the ofuda to the hand piece....please don't kill me!--although I'm stuck with the paint imperfections. She has a good amount of hands and faces like the other girls, although I'm not crazy about the minimal accessories. But all in all, a good entry to this series, and one worth checking out!
Miss Scarlett, signing out!
