Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Bubble Blower Version 3.0

So as it turns out we own not one, not two but three Sailor Moon Bubble Makers. Our first bubble Maker (which we detailed here) is basically a can of air that blows bubbles for you (though it's super effective it makes an absolute profusion of bubbles). Our Second was a Sailor Moon World Bubble Pipe situation (which we detailed here) that we haven't taken out of the package. Today's seem to be a bubble foam gun. Just take a look:

Sailor Moon Stars Bubble Foam Gun

So stylistically this bubble maker isn't really like either of our other ones. First off it's shaped like a very femme retro alien ray gun (which is a pretty good ~*~A E S T H E T I C ~*~  IMO). It also apparently doesn't shoot a bunch of big beautiful iridescent soap bubbles, like the other two, it shoots out a bath foam type of thing, that you're supposed to draw foam pictures with. One thing that seems to be important when making a Sailor Moon Bubble blower is a figure of some sort, as all three of the bubble makers we have include one. This one is a cute SD Eternal Moon and I'm not entirely certain that it's not the same figure that's on the Shabondamagic Blower, but hey it's still cute.

Moving on here's the back of the box which should contain a wealth of information:

I know very little Japanese, basically if it's not something you need to know while buying animation cels or it's something comes up often in the Utena Sega Saturn game I have no ideas. So a lot of what the box is telling me is a mystery to me. But I can look at illustration and make wild guesses! So it seems to me you unscrew the tank at the bottom, you shake something around inside it (presumably bubble solution or bubble bath and water) and then you pull the trigger for foam. It also has my favorite thing about every Japanese toy from this era I own, the warning label animation which in my estimation seems to be telling us:

Do not become Pac Man while using this item
Do not become Fry Guy while using this item.
This item will make children and adults happy.

I mean that all sounds pretty reasonable to me, I have yet to spontaneously become either Pac-Man or Fry Guy and I am an adult child so I think this is perfect for me.

We haven't taken this out of the box so we sadly don't know how well it works. That being said even without knowing how well you can draw foam flowers on the bathroom wall this is a  great item. It looks great,  in addition to the general fun ray gun shape,  the eternal moon logo on the side is super cute and should have really been used on all sorts of merch. Conceptually it's fun and probably would have be very exciting for Sailor Moon loving kids, (I absolutely would have wanted like a Rainbow Brite or My Little Pony  bubble foam writer for bath time). Overall this is definitely a weird and wonderful item we're happy to have in our collection and now that we have THREE bubble makers it makes us wonder just how many there are. You can all rest assured though, that if we find another one we'll certainly buy it and detail it (eventually).

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Doll Pizza Scooter

At the height of it's popularity in the mid 1990's, Sailor Moon had a ton of merchandise released in Japan. We Sailor Moon collectors might think we're drowning in merch now (which TBH we are), but it was nothing compared to the mid-ninties. Out of this glut came a lot of weird stuff that really had little or nothing to do with the show itself. Many moon fans think Irwin pretty much cornered that "what the hell is this thing" market (the moon cycle comes to mind) But there were plenty of weird things released as well.  In that vein in Japan there was an entire set of Sailor Moon Pizza parlor items including outfits, the pizza parlor itself and this beauty, the official Sailor Moon pizza Scooter.

Pretty sure Chibusa is violating Japan's child labor laws

We have the pizza parlor as well (sadly we've not photographed it) but that seems like a more reasonable accessory. The girls do go on outings when the're not fighting for love and justice, a pizza parlor is a reasonable place for teenage magical girls to hang out in their off time. The pizza scooter on the other hand makes some weird assumptions. For example that somehow Usagi and Chibiusa somehow have time for a part time jobs presumably after school but before transforming into pretty soldiers in the evening, not to mention the fact the Chibiusa appears vastly underaged for normal work (we know she's 900 but the local labor board would probably be tough to convince).  Perhaps most alarmingly though it implies that Usagi would be competent at making pizzas without buring them and driving the scooter around to deliver them without crashing. My many years of familiarity with Usagi's character make that the an entirely unbelievable claim. Here it is out of the box:

Years of turmoil have left the Moon Kingdom in need of repairs so Princess Serenity takes on a part time job to help out

(Posed it with the Bandai Princess Serenity because it amused us). It comes with a helmet because safety is very important when you're as clumsy as Usagi is. This apparently works with the IR RPG toys but we don't really collect the old RPG toys so we haven't tested it out but it rolls along with manual power as well.  It's a pretty fun design though we especially like the crisis compact design on the front. What better way to blend in to populace as regular High School student/Pizza delivery girl than by plastering your current magical transformation item on the front of your scooter? Also notable the heart shaped sticker on the back with Suai and Chibiusa in it, is that the pizza parlor's official logo? If so does the Tsukino family own it?  If so when did this happen, who paid for this, and who wrote out the business plan? The mind, it boggles. So many unanswered questions with these old crazy sailor moon items. Otherwise the decorations are generic cute ribbons and stars, pretty standard for the sailor moon doll playset. Also the trunk opens for easy pizza storage, or maybe a magic wand or two in case the girls are attacked while on the job.

Overall this is a weird wonderful thing with no real reason to exist, so of course we love owning it and sharing it. Also if anyone want to sell us those pizza outfits (preferably NOT MIP)  let us know,  we'd love to complete our set.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Russian Sailor Moon Paper Doll Bootleg

It's been awhile since I've done and oddities post, it's not that we have any shortage of weird crap in our vast collection, its just that I've been devoting my time to other pursuits. However this has been sitting on my desktop for months gently reminding me that we have a little gem to share with the world. So today I bring you a Russian Bootleg Sailor Moon Paper Doll.

The stained glass dolphin gives it a special touch.

Here's the front cover which is also the front of the doll, which notably has no perforations or even thick lines for guidance you just have to be really good with a scissors. There's also some Russian text here but we have no idea what it says, my BFF's husband is Russian and I could have asked him to translate, but I unfortunately have a healthy sense of shame and didn't want to ask him to look at and translate this ridiculous thing. So for the time being it's a wonderful mystery and we can just pretend it says anything we want until someone corrects us. I'm content to think it says Katarina: Moon Sailor. So naturally the artist took some creative liberties with the Sailor Moon character design, shortening up her hair, giving her a blow up doll mouth and breaking the fingers in her right hand. I'd complain about her body proportions being seriously questionable, but I love Naoko Takeuchi's manga art and none of it would past and anatomy test so, I'll give that a pass as it's in the spirit of the original. Also as I noted in the caption there's a stained glass dolphin on it for no reason, I suppose it could the company logo, though if I made this item I'm pretty sure I'd take great pains NOT to brand it in any way, but to each their own.

Moving on, here's the back.

The visible hand lets us know she's a closet Trekkie who wants us to live long and prosper.

Unlike just about every other paper doll I've seen the back of the doll is on a totally separate sheet front he front of the doll. It also has no perforations or helpful outlines so you have to hope you manage to cut both parts out perfectly so you can stick them together. In addition to the back of the doll there are the strips used to stand her up which the maker has thankfully included some dotted fold lines on them and a little diagram. So even if you mangle the doll itself trying to cut her out, you know how to make her dismembered body stand up straight. There's also a lot of Russian text back here which we're guessing is mostly assembly instructions and looks to be some company contact information just in case you want to order more poorly executed paper dolls for friends and loved ones.

Naturally you don't want Katarina the Moon Sailor standing around in her bra and panties all day so she comes with several pages of outfits we didn't take pictures of them all just 2 pages worth.

First up some generic  everyday outfits:

Mangled fingers are always in fashion.

This is the standard sort of casual wear this book of paper dolls provides you with, right on the cutting edge of fashion forward looks for dowdy middle aged Russian moon sailors. More so than the lovely clothes themselves, the problem with these is the drop shadow around them. So now there are no perforations and no guidelines and there's a drop shadow around the clothes further confusing the cutting process. Do you leave in the drop shadows or do you cut them off? This paper doll forces you to make hard choices, they kind there's no going back on. More than simple fashion fun this doll set is teaching tough life lessons. If you can bring yourself and your scissors to make a decision on what to do about those oh so helpful drop shadows you can move on to another set of outfits.

It wouldn't be a Moon Sailor doll without the classic Sailor Moon outfit. This is the one thing the doll actually does well, with the exception of her gloves, it's a fairly accurate representation of Sailor Moon's classic fuku. The School fuku has some accuracy issues but would pass as Usagi's 5th season High School fuku.  The maker apparently put all their time and energy into making a decent looking Sailor fuku that would be nearly impossible to carefully cut out and use with the doll, bless them, truly.

So in conclusion this thing is pretty awful and unusable, what I didn't point out above is that it's all on flimsy paper not cardstock, and not even the thickness of most office paper, so even if you happen to be one of those people who do really beautiful and delicate cut work your doll isn't going to stand up under it's own weight and will likely blow away if someone walks by it. However like all of the crszy pieces in our lovingly curated collection we like it for all of it's insane imperfections. When you spend thousands of dollars on your collection sometimes it's nice to throw a few dollars at something that's not so serious and just makes you laugh at the sheer absurdity of it.

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Collection Oddities: Vintage Mario Brothers Egg Cup

It's not a stretch to say I'll buy almost any vintage item with Mario on it (we have a similar problem with Sailor Moon).  So when I first saw one of these little beauties I knew I had to get one for my collection. A few months later I was lucky enough to find one at a price I could tolerate, thus I present you with the Mario egg cup.

Perfect for holding your scale model Yoshi eggs.

I have never in my life used an egg cup and I don't know anyone who has. They seem like one of those little relics of a bygone era like berry spoons or salt cellars, that I associate with Victorian literature and illustrations in fairy tales. Obviously though Mario doesn't fit that aesthetic and in fact I've seen several 80s icons on egg cups like Garfield and the Ninja Turtles. After a little research I discovered that it's apparently just us Americans who've relegated the egg cup to dishware of days gone by as they're still quite popular in Europe, Which shouldn't have been totally surprising to me as this is a British item. I did note few US retailers do still carry egg cups, so maybe it's just me and egg cups are normal items and I'm weirdo for having never used one.

Questions about the weirdness of an egg cup aside, there are certainly some design choice to call into question here, First off why isn't Mario with Birdo? (this was before Mario and Yoshi were BFFs so I'll give that a pass) Birdo flinging an egg at Mario would have been a perfect motif here, certainly a missed opportunity for the maker. Also "1 egg please" isn't very Mario-y, I'm not sure what would be better, but hey it's not my job to design egg cups, but if it was I'd think up something more entertaining and get paid for it.

Regardless of all of the above, it's a fun little item we enjoy having in our collection.

~Stephanie


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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Silk Necktie

We have a pretty healthy collection of nerdy ties, because Jen loves stylish menswear and will rock a cool tie with an outfit whenever she can. Most of our collection of ties is Mario themed, but recently we had the opportunity to add one from Jen's favorite fandom, Sailor Moon.

 

This is an oddity for a variety of reasons. First, we've never seen another one in our 13 years of actively collecting Sailor Moon oddities. Second, it's a crazy pattern, I mean given the color palette it's most assuredly a bootleg/custom job but it seems a random mix of items even for a bootleg item. Third, it's really odd to have a Sailor Moon item that primarily appeals to men (not that there aren't plenty of ladies who look hot in neckties). We've known a wide variety of proud moonie men in our day, but it's no stretch to say that the Sailor Moon fandom is largely of the female persuasion. So it's kind of mystery as to who thought it was a good idea to make this. Was it one guy who commissioned a custom to show his moonie pride at business lunches and long meeting? If so why this is insane pattern? Was it a mass produced bootleg? If so why haven't we seen any others and why choose to make a bootleg of something so random? As we mentioned before there are male moonies, and there are girls who wear ties, but they're a tiny slice of the market. Also, the tie label notes it as 100% silk why waste a silk on a bootleg? Regardless of  it's murky history though, we're happy to have it and it manages still look surpsingly dressy:

Totally the perfect companion during boring business meetings and networking events.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Curry Mix

With a show as popular are Sailor Moon there is going to merchandise all over the board including quite a range of food items from candy to canned pasta and a lot of things in between (like the selection of Japanese rice seasoning packets we have in the shop) but this is something a little rarer:

If you can't read Japanese and the picture isn't helpful enough, it's a curry mix.  This is the outerbox and inner pouch containing the actual mixture. This hasn't been used so the pouch is still full of liquid, we're nervous that it'll spring a leak if we feel it up too much so we're not sure if it's just sauce or a full on curry. As it's around 15 years old now we obviously had no intentions of actually trying it, but we do wonder what exactly makes it's sailor moon curry? Is it made of pure hearts and moon dust? Young girl's dreams and Pink Sugar? Rose petals and crushed spell scrolls? I could probably continue making ridiculous guesses but we'll probably never really know what makes it full of moonie goodness. What I can say though is that the art on the packet is super cute, the simplicity of the monochromatic line art is really appealing.

We've only seen this once so it's likely the there aren't still a lot of them floating around intact. So this is rarity as well as an oddity and we're happy to have it (until it explodes one day and covers everything in magical moon curry mix)

~Stephanie


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Collection Oddities: Vintage Mario Birthday Flag Pin

Throughout the years Nintendo has been there for you if you want to let Mario celebrate your birthday with you.  In our personal collection we have centerpieces, party horns, party hats, a cake pan and a gaggle of cards.

Recently we added this pin:

Right now it looks like a typical late eighties early nineties Mario item, but if you're sharp eyed you'll notice that Mario isn't just playing his own strange game of backwards foot hockey with that black puck, it is in fact a button. Pressing the button  is where the birthday part and some confusion comes in.

Pressing the button causes a a tiny "Happy Birthday" flag to pop up. If this was a stationary item, this would make a little more sense. You give it to your Mario loving friend they push the button and delight in their birthday wishes from everyone's favorite plumber. However this is meant to be worn. So do you buy the pin and wear on your friend's birthdays and invite them to push the button? Do you wear it on your birthday and communicate "happy birthday" to the world at large, because it's your birthday and you're gonna make sure it's happy for everyone you see? Or do you wear and push the button whenever you feel like you could use some upside down birthday greetings (assuming you're wearing it right side up on your torso in some fashion).

Clearly trying to wear this is only going to lead to  fashion confusion and heartache.  Luckily for us we keep it display in our collection, making it once again a stationary item and removing all those pesky "how the heck am I supposed to wear this questions."  Implementation issues aside,  it's a pretty fun item and fun way to add even more Mario to your birthdays.

~Stephanie


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Collection Oddities: Dr. Mario Witch Doctor Commercial Animation Cel

Almost our entire cel collection could be a collection oddity as they're one of a kind and while others might have similar cels, rarely will there be an exact copy. This cel though is rarer than most as it's from a commercial which by nature are short and even when fully animated don't have a lot of artwork available and it's from a commercial that's mostly live action. The animation section where this cel comes from  is on screen for less than a full second!

So here it is in all it's glory:

We don't want to know what Mario's plans for that thermometer are.

This is from the most well remembered of the 3 US Dr. Mario commercials, the Witchdoctor. Which I seem to remember also being a print ad. This is a really well composed shot considering that Mario spends part of his half second screen time squinting his eyes shut while stomping and we had previously bought a very rough sketch from that part of the sequence a year prior to getting this cel. We also have this cel and it's matching animator's sketch available for viewing in our cel gallery.  To check out Mario's brief appearance you can watch the commercial:

For obvious reasons we wouldn't have expected to get any art from such a short sequence let alone 2 sketches and a cel. We're incredibly happy to own such a unqiue piece of Video Game and Commercial History.

If you're interesting in owning your own piece of video game commercial history we currently have several sketches and even a cel from the original 1983 Donkey Kong Cereal Commercial available for sale in our shop.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Uranus Mask

 A  few months ago we  talked about  getting the first piece of horrifying Sailor Moon Mask collection, Sailor Pluto. We've recently gotten the opportunity to add another. This time is the Beautiful Sailor Soldier of the Sky, Sailor Uranus.

Uranus fares much better than Pluto, her hair is the right color and cut. In some ways this mask is a disagrace to our collection of creepy character masks because she actually looks rather cute. She's still got soulless empty eye socket but she's also got a cute shy blush on her cheeks, perfectly painted lips (thanks liprod!) and pretty accurate details. She like our Pluto mask is also too small to fit on an adult face which is why we don't have an action shot.

2 Senshi down and 8 more to go... maybe. We're actually not sure how many masks there are as they don't seem to pop up in collections too often, presumably because they're a little too creepy for most people. We like weird though so we'll keep on picking up these odd things as long as we find them and have space for them.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Italian Sailor Moon Sailor Beauty Set

 Sailor Moon was mass merchandized  pretty much as soon as it came out and has continued to be merchandized worldwide. Meaning there is literally a world of Sailor products out there. Which of course means that  there are lots of weird and not so weird official products that aren't often found in collections. While we normally focus on rare and weird (if not completely insane in some cases), we occasionally bring you something that's just seen infrequently, but not too crazy. That's the case with the Italian Sailor Beauty Set:

This honestly is a little girl sized toy vanity packaged with a Sailor Moon doll. The vanity seems to have nothing to do with Sailor moon at all. The hearts and bows are sort of senshi-ish if you squint, and you have something in your eye, AND you look at it with all the hopefulness you can muster. At worst it's lazy half integration at best it's still way better than when they try to make something Sailor Moon related like the North American Vanity. It's also worth noting that the earrings have nothing to do with Sailor Moon either.  No character I'm aware of wears anything that even looks remotely similar. Once again, lazy integration. The only part of this set that is related to Sailor Moon is the Sailor Moon doll and she looks pretty much like your standard Giochi Preziosi issue Sailor Moon Doll. Admittedly though we haven't actually taken it out of the box(a rare move for us) to inspect it so it could have some weird variation we're presently unaware of, but it seems unlikely.

We honestly probably wouldn't have a bought this for the collection if we realized at the time it was a girl sized vanity rather than a doll sized one. The doll one would have been a lot more fun as our little photoshoot proves, but  regardless, we've got it now and enjoy it for it's randomness. Overall it's not a crazy item considering the target market. It probably could have done with better integration, how much cuter would a vanity with little Luna heads or Comic Hearts instead of generic hearts be? But it's an a passable item certainly not the worst item we've come across or own. It's very uncommon and we haven't seen another in collection though we saw one listed on ebay without earrings so it was probably issued at least twice. It may have been popular in Italy, but it seem pretty rare in the rest of the world.

Like so many other items in our collection we're not sure exactly sure why Sailor Moon got stuck endorsing a little girl's pink and blue vanity but we're glad she did so we can enjoy it.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Mario Brothers Christmas Window Clings

 In 1989 Nintendo seemed committed to slapping the Nintendo seal of quality on every insane product they possibly could, including a surprising amount of home decor, so long as you count plastic and cardboard as decor. In that vein we bring you  these lovely Mario Christmas Window Clings:

We've seen a good number of Nintendo seasonal decorations and these actually pretty tame compared to some of the others.  There are a few points of interest here, it has 2 flurries from Mario Brothers 2, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything else with them on it which is pretty cool. Also, I never knew Mario was competitive skier in 1989, I mean sure he's an Olympian these days, but apparently he started training 20 years in advance. The most important thing to note though, why does Santa Mario have breasts? Seriously there's not another way to see that, what was the artist thinking? Regardless of Mario's out of place "endowments", this set is pretty cool and has a place of pride with our collection room decor.

If you're looking for a set of these to make your holiday decor extra special we have a set in our shop right now too.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Sailor Vacation

 Today's crazy Sailor Moon item is straight from Japan, once again proving that it wasn't just Irwin or Chinese bootleggers who had insane ideas about what items do and do not make reasonable Sailor Moon toys and collectibles. With that in mind we present you Sailor Vacation:

All the fun of visiting the Moon Kingdom in one convenient box!

It's kind of confusing as to what exactly Sailor vaction is for, is it for taking on vacation with you? (it's not visible in our pictures but there is a litte plastic handle on top). Is it what the scouts would take on vacation with them? Is it supposed to give you the feeling of going on a a "Sailor vacation" without leaving your room? Honesty we have no idea, and the box doesn't seem that helpful.Admittedly as usual we have very limited grasp of Japanese, so we don't have any idea what the box says, but it looks like generic warnings and a parts list mostly. All we can really tell is that it's a box of stuff with eternal Sailor Moon and chibimoon getting a lot of face time.

Opening the box and examining the parts actually just confuses things further.

For your vacation you need a plastic tray with plastic coins and some Sailor bank tickets, which is just more fake money but in a paper pad form this time. These are the items that  actually make sense you would need money on vacation. What's less sensible is why you would need 4 different memo pads, a cardboard "pouch" (which is just a cardboard box with a flap and plastic handle) and an (unpictured) plastic whistle. I suppose there could be some sort of game using these items, but it;s pretty unclear and there isn't really a whole lot of items with text on them in the box leading me to believe that if it is a game you've got to make up your own rules.
 Also unclear is why poor Sailor Jupiter was excluded from the Memo pads even though the other inner senshi are accounted for. Perhaps she decided to skip the Sailor Vacation and went someplace more fun?

Quirky, unclear usage, questionable design motives and plastered with Sailor Moon characters, just the sort of thing we love adding to our collection.

~Stephanie


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Collection Oddities: Vintage Mario Halloween Mask

 One of our most infamous posts was our Legend of Zelda Link Halloween Mask. It's October again, so we thought it high time we horrify with some more Nintendo Insanity from 1989.  In addition to making our little green hatted hero of Hyrule, they also made everyone's favorite mustachioed plumber for children of the 80's to horrify their friends and loved ones on Halloween or any other occasion.

It'sa YOU! MARIO!

Like Link this is an official product tagged Nintendo of America 1989, has large souless holes for eyes and is a made of the same breathable plastic. It's a little better than Link though as it actually resembles 80's era Mario rather than a demented Leprechaun, and looks a little less horrifying on a human being.

Link still edges out Mario as being our favorite creepy plastic mask, but Mario is still a pretty fun and still creeps out our friends. However given the brittleness of the vintage plastic and the general uncomfortableness of an 80's plastic mask it's probably better left as decorative item than an actual usable mask.

We display our proudly next to our Link mask and someday we hope to add any more of these monstrosities Nintendo may have made. (we know in addition to Mario and Link ,there's Yoshi, but who knows what else might be out there)


~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Japanese Sailor Pluto Mask

We have a thing about Horrifying masks, a thing where we like them and put them in our home to horrify friends and loved ones.  This is the first one we've been able to add to our Sailor Moon collection though:

There is a set of Sailor Moon Masks, but we so far only have Pluto. For some reason, she's traded her long luscious deep green tresses for a short black bob, which would normally make you wonder if this was supposed to be a mars mask instead, but luckily she has her trademark ridiculous earrings to clear it up for you. (Seriously Naoko, what were you thinking when you drew giant chevrons on her ears?)

This is a child's mask, a young child's mask, so it unfortunately ends above the mouth of an adult (or  at least on both of us at any rate). So you sadly you can't wear it to horrify people in the same way as you can with our Nintendo masks. (apparently American children have much bigger heads since we can wear those) So it'll just have to sit on our wall, watching with it's empty soulless eye sockets, waiting until we steal it's key to fly off and attack us  for other senshi to join it.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Crayons

 These Crayons are North American releases and are actually pretty rare, we'd seen them once back in 2000, didn't buy them then and regretted it a bit. It took us 9 years or so to track down another set for our collection:

There giant piles of Sailor Moon desk supplies available, pencil, marker sets, stationery, notebooks folders, etc. So strictly speaking sailor moon crayons aren't that odd. However, while we neglected to photograph it, these are really really lazy integration. They are really generic crayons, you know the ones that say "crayons" on the side, no makers mark or anything else. Additionally the box says 48 crayons, but only contains 12 or so colors.  So in a nutshell the sort of crayons they really aren't good for anything.

Basically the box art with Sailor Moon is the only thing that makes them Sailor Moon Crayons. In fact this would probably be better  referred to as the Sailor Moon Crayon box. Admittedly if we'd known it was just a lazily marketed crayon box, we might not have spent so much time looking for one, but we've got it now and holds a place of pride along with the rest of our insane Sailor Moon items.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Pop-up Fan Keychain

 Don't you hate it when you're overheated and try to use your keys as a fan with less than stellar results? Well like so many things in life, Sailor Moon has you covered.

In the name of the moon I shall fan you!

This is a Keychain fan with a Chibi Usagi topper and says Sailor moon S across the actual fan part. As though having a fan at your finger tips at any moment isn't exciting enough this one also pops open with a quick release button. When heat strikes, hit the little button in the handle and BAM! instant fan cooling power. When the heat wave subsides, you just pop it back into the handle and it clicks into closed position, sleeping once again, awaiting it's time to be the heat avenger once more...

On a more serious note this is a cute item, and we do legitimately like it, but one does have to wonder who exactly needs a keychain fan with a quick action button as a functional item?

~Stephanie


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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Toothbrush Set

 This item really isn't that strange. There are a lot of character branded toothbrushes and have been for years (at least from the 70's that I've personally seen) so it makes sense that a popular kid's show like Sailor Moon would get them. Unlike some of the other North American items from this period they don't even look that bad.

 OK, so they don't look great either, but cute in their own way. It is a weird thing to collect though which is why these are in the oddities collection. Ours is almost a full set of  the senshi that were made, but they did make a tuxedo mask as well which we're missing. It seems likely most moon collectors have no idea that they could be brushing their teeth with the sailor senshi on a regular basis. Though honestly these are at least 16 years old, putting them in ones mouth is a horrifying prospect.

We've rarely seen these in other collections so they're, unique, if not rare.  We're happy to have them.

~Stephanie


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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Bath Salt Set

 There are a lot of Sailor Moon toiletries, toothbrushes, bubble bath, hairbrushes and more. In that illustrious tradition we bring you the Sailor Moon Bath Salts Set:

There are actually several sets of Japanese bath salts sets, but this one is our favorite since it has individual packets in their own box and each packet has unique images on the front and the back . The best one by far is Tuxedo Mask who takes his top hat and mask into the tub with him. Though the weird fish in with Luna is also an eyebrow raiser. On the subject of Luna, she must sort of fail at being a cat if she needs bath salts and a bath instead of just grooming herself normally.

We don't read much Japanese so we sadly don't know what scents these are, but we're pretty sure if we were to use these 20 year old bath salts, which we aren't because we don't want to be zombies, but we feel confident we'd end up Sailor fresh and ready to take on evil.

~Stephanie

PS We have this same set available in our store right now. If you buy them and decide to open them please let us know what they smell like.  :)

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon Princess Chibiusa Flu Mask

 This is one of those things that's odd in it's practically. It's a completely utilitarian useful item made crazy with weird branding. So here is the official Sailor Moon Chibiusa Flu Mask:

 This is an officially licensed item from Korea, but seems like it ought to be a bootleg. We have a LOT of crazy Sailor Moon stuff, but this is one of the strangest. Flu Masks are pretty ubiquitous all over Asia during cold and flu season,  but they're usually the white variety or occasionally have a little pattern on them. This one lets you have all the Princess Chibiusa in the middle of your face which is a little weird. It's a child sized mask, a very small child sized mask, so we can't just put it on and show you how strange looking it is.

On the upside it's got a princess Chibiusa on it and there aren't many items which feature her. It's pretty unique too, we've only seen 3 of these. It's probably a good thing though a sea of these things would be creepy.

~Stephanie

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Collection Oddities: Sailor Moon North American Travel Kit

This is another one of those items that is really at it's core a sensible item. It's the Sailor Moon branding that makes it weird. This is a North American Travel Kit:

Sailor Moon Says: Cleanliness is next to Scoutliness

This includes everything you might need for a short overnight, all branded with the Sailor Moon logo. Runny nose? Don't worry these Sailor Moon facial tissues will banish them like a Negaverse* creep! (*this is a North American release might as well use the dub terms). Snarls in your hair? You've got your choice of a cheap plastic brush or cheap plastic comb to punish them in the name of the moon!  Or, perhaps my favorite part though is the official Sailor Moon travel soap which comes with it's own Sailor Moon soap holder. It's still sealed so we didn't open it to check if the soap itself is also emblazoned with the logo, but I feel like it probably is.

I mean I get I guess if I was at the store and had to buy a child's travel kit I might have picked the cartoon branded one to try to encourage them to clean. But if that's the motivation, shouldn't it maybe have included a colorful recognizable character or two instead of just the logo everywhere. Logos are recognizable, but not fun or particularly interesting to most children. It seems like this was mostly more of the extremely lazy branding that plagued 80% of the North American merchandise brought out for Sailor Moon. On the other hand, Sailor Moon Soap. It's hard to argue with that.


 ~Stephanie

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