The first on the list of many things is personally my favorite and that's plushies. When I was a kid I used to collect stuffed animals and I never would have thought that being an anime fan would bring me back to those days. In terms of anime or even video games there really isn't many series I can think of that don't have a plushie of some kind for the series, but when looking at these loveable collectables there are a few things that may run through your head. If you are a pure collector, this may actually not really bother you, but more often than not cuteness is a factor in the plush. Sailor Moon is probably the best example of this as the earlier plushies looked rather odd with their long limbs and rather expressionless faces. For me, as much as I am a fan of Sailor Moon, I wouldn't actually want these dolls. I would much rather have a happy, cute, chibi than something that I feel creeps me out a little bit lol.
But even with the simple request of "cute", you might not always get what you're looking for. Let's take a closer look;
The picture on the left is my PGSM Artemis. To my knowledge, you can't get this plush outside of Japan (for direct importing) and there have been no bootlegs made. The accuracy of this doll is just amazing, but a little steep on the price tag (I paid $128 via Ebay auction). The picture to the right is the Irwin Toy USA release from back in the 90s. Not as detailed or accurate as the Japanese PGSM doll, but still cute and you can tell it's Artemis; save for his noes being yellow and no I do not know why it is yellow. I don't believe I have ever seen one without a yellow nose to be honest. But the price for him can range anywhere from $8-$30+. That said, this is an Artemis plushie picture I found online from China;
it's not to say that this plush isn't cute, but it's too girly to be Artemis and for the make of the doll; even if you use the chibi excuse, the head is way too big for his body. However, the price for this plush can range from $0.1 (when auctioned on Ebay) - $19.99. It's all in the matter of what you are looking for and how much you want to spend.When I went to Anime Boston last year, I was shocked to see they actually had some Sailor Moon merchendise; the first one I bought/saw being a towel. When I was having lunch in a small sandwich shop I saw someone with a Luna plushie and immediately assumed they had gotten it in the dealers room, so once I finished eatting I went in to look. When I found the booth I found the Luna plush and right next to her was an adorable Sailor Moon too. This is Luna;
to be honest I don't think it looks too bad, however her face is a lot more kitten like than I remember Luna having and the color of her is off as Luna is a blackish blue. That said if she was more a purple-ish gray with this face I would say it passes more for Diana than Luna. Now I'm gonna break this down a little, so you all can understand my feelings a little on this;
This is the Irwin Toy Sailor Moon plush released in the USA. She's small and cute, but also for her size is rather accurate with what detailing she has on her. Her broach may be just a plain yellow button, but it gives the illusion it's supposed to; the bows both front and back are full and sturdy and her boots have the white top with the cresent moons on them. This is the doll I bought at the convention;
her face is what really caught my eye and because of a high of being able to buy so much swag I was overlly excited to buy an imported Sailor Moon doll. The skirt and collar of the fuku have a rather odd feeling since it's a different fabric than the rest of the plush, but that's nothing compared to the rest. Those who are fans of Sailor Moon know that her broach changes within each season; her tag here is labeled as Sailor Moon S, so this would mean that her broach should be in the shape of a red heart. Even with the little fabric piece they chose, they could have made it into the correct shape, but instead we have a flower.... She not once had a flower shaped broach; closest thing was in the Sailor Moon R movie when the Silver Crystal became shaped like a flower, but that's a stretch. Her boots are disappointing as they dont even have the white top and just look like socks. Then there's the bows.... I'm not too thrilled that they are just simple pieces of ribbon, but what irks me more now is that the back bow isn't even in the propper place. I mention Luna and Sailor Moon as I was rather shocked to find out that these are from China, not Japan; since I had bought them at a convention. Not once have I seen these listed from a Japanese seller anywhere online.
It is hard to tell sometimes whether something is from Japan, China or the US; though more often than not the US make is the easiest to pick out. So let's play a game; here are 3 different plushies of Ciel Phantomhive, one from the US, one from China and one from Japan. Can you tell which is from where?
The answers might actually surprise you as the order of these plushies are as followed; China, US, Japan.
Here are some other shots of items within my collection;
**Note that Ciel's rings were custom made for me by Blackash over on DeviantArt**
I am actually unsure whether some of my items are from Japan or China to be quite honest as I got them off of Ebay from a US seller, but in my opinion as long as the objuect does what you want it to do it really shouldn't matter where it's from. (Though I am 100% sure my Sailor Moon figure is the Japanese version)
This last medium of items I will show you is CDs. I actually wasn't aware of this fact until only a few years ago, but there is a way to tell when a CD is a "Chinese knock-off", so here are two examples;
Now from what I have been told; the GW CD is the bootleg as it has the words going around it. Now it is also entirely possible that the Sailor Moon one is as well, but I haven't heard anything about a simple logo of the company on the CD meaning it is a fake. However, I do own two other soundtracks (not pictured of course) that I know are 100% from Japan and do not have anything but the title of the series it is from. I have also heard the other way you can tell that the CD is a bootleg is by the sound quality, however I once again can not confirm this as I haven't ever exerpienced a low quality in the sound. But again; as long as the object does what you want it to do than it shouldn't matter to you as a fan if it's a bootleg or not.
Well there you have it; I hope I have been able to shed some light on this matter and help you in your buying/collecting needs. See you all next time! ^^/
