Korean merchandise!

As some of you may have noticed, a couple of eBay sellers started posting rare, sought-after Korean merchandise in large groups at very reasonable prices a few weeks ago. Some people worried that it was a scam, since nobody had seen some of these plush on eBay in - well, years, even - and all of a sudden somebody was posting ten at a time. I guess the general consensus is someone found an old box of Korean stuff. Anyway, I got my items this week and other people have gotten their things too, so these sellers are definitely legit!

Although I wanted the satin cat plush, the excellent figure, the 11" doll and.. well, everything from Sonokong really, I decided to hang on to some of my money for Anime Boston and just buy the fuzzy plush and a rare cat item I'd never seen before. Besides, since so many are being posted now, it means there's a lot more on the English market and (hopefully) prices will stay low in the future. Anyway, here's what I got. You can click on any of the photos to view a larger size.



First up: the fuzzy cats! One quirk on the cat boxes is that Artemis is shaded in grey, like Diana. When I first saw pictures of the Korean cat plush I thought that it was just lighting, but it's actually pretty consistent on all the box art.





My question is why did they go to the trouble? All the Artemis merchandise is white and I know I've seen these particular images before and Artemis was white in them, too. Weird. Another thing that a friend pointed out - Moon is transformed, but Minako is in casual wear. Overall, though, I think the Korean packaging is very cute. The boxes themselves aren't in the best condition, even though they were packaged for shipping very well, which lends to the "someone found an old discarded box of Korean merch" theory.





The plush! First thing I noticed was that these are a bit larger than the Japanese Luna & Artemis. Luna is dark blue - I like how her color varies from blue to grey to black on all the various merchandise. Her eyes are blue too. Apparently another user in serasell got a fuzzy Luna plush with brown eyes, so I guess there were a couple of different productions of this plush. I wonder if there's a grey Artemis somewhere. LOL.

This next item was the most exciting to me. It's a cute Luna backpack! I had never, ever seen it before. Isn't it weird how after like 15 years, "new" merchandise is still popping up? Korean merchandise in particular has always been pretty rare and mysterious. I didn't even know about the Korean excellent figure until last year. I wonder what else is hiding in Korea.





Weirdly, the front shows Sailor Moon wearing the Artemis backpack instead of the Luna one. Also, Artemis is white! But the clip art on the back shows him grey again.. hmm.



Anyway, this is a really cute, soft, and pretty well made backpack. It has a side zipper pocket, and the top opens and closes with a drawstring. The top flap with Luna's face on it snaps shut with a gold magnetic enclosure. Though it looks small, it actually has a decent amount of room in it - both the Korean cats fit!





Along with this Luna backpack, a similar Sailor Moon backpack was posted. The colors are cute, but I think it's weird that Sailor Moon has a side ponytail. So I didn't buy it. More interestingly, there's also indication on the backpack box art that an Artemis backpack was made! Sadly, I haven't seen it posted amongst the other Korean merchandise. The only hint I've ever seen of its existence is on the packaging for the Luna backpack, so I think this is extremely rare. I would love to find it some day.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011

New accessories, where to buy from Italy, re-reading the manga, and Super Sailor Moon cosplay (again)

I seem to have some trouble updating this.. to be honest, I haven't bought much in the way of Sailor Moon in a few weeks. I've mostly been building up a modest Gothic Lolita wardrobe. I did make a Sailor Moon-esque coordinate though, which I'll probably post when I get some decent pictures.

I'm honestly not too excited about the new Italy toys, though I'll probably buy the Crescent Moon Wand, definitely the Luna Pen, and perhaps a couple of dolls. For those of you who are wondering where to buy the new toys, Ochibawolf posted with information that Muscara is selling some of them! It looks like they have the dolls and trading figures. Muscara has been selling Italian Sailor Moon toys for a loooooong time now, so I would check them out.



So, I was also at Katsucon last weekend! However, I mostly cosplayed Nia from Gurren Lagann. I did wear school uniform Sailor Moon for a brief spell, but don't have any pictures :/ However, I did get a brand new set of manga Sailor Moon accessories, thanks to this lovely cosplayer, who's still one of the best Sailor Moons I have ever seen! Even if she doesn't cosplay it anymore :'( Here's my new brooch:



I also recently got in a big shipment of feathers for my Eternal Sailor Moon cosplay! My cat is OBSESSED.