Funko has announced some of their 80s and 90s themed Pop! Vinyl exclusives for New York Comic Con and they include Sailor Venus’s alter ego Sailor V! The convention will take place in Manhattan at the Javits Center the weekend of October 5th to the 8th. This is great news for those that have done the full physical, psych evaluation and DNA testing required to get the NYCC Fan Verification™®© status required to attend the event.

So what’s involved in getting an exclusive Funko Pop! Vinyl at New York Comic Con? You just walk up to a booth and buy one, right? In past years Funko has run a lottery ahead of the convention for time slots where attendees can buy things from their booth. It seems that this is the case this year as well. The Funko Twitter account pointed fans to the NYCC Lottery page where they can go into lotteries for certain events. I don’t have a Fan Verified™®© account but it seems like the Sailor V Funko Pop! Vinyl should be showing up there.

Funko made a video showcasing their 80s and 90s themed Pop! Vinyls including Sailor V. Check it out below.

Funko Pop! Vinyls are an overly simple cheap and fairly ugly line of nearly identical looking figures covering pretty much every franchise to ever exist in the history of time. Their business model seems to be to make toys based on as many brands as possible and it’s going quite well for them. They can be found at pretty much every booth at every comic, anime, gaming or pop culture convention as well as on most of the shelf space at GameStop, a novelty toy store that used to sell video games. All said I sure would like to get my hands on one of these figures but unfortunately I have no plans to attend New York Comic Con. Will any of you be lucky enough to be attending?

Keep reading for more images of this figure and the box.

Viz held an official Sailor Moon panel earlier today at New York Comic Con. This panel mostly presented news that we already new about Viz’s work on Sailor Moon Crystal and the original Sailor Moon anime. Sailor Moon S part 1 will be released on video November 15th. You can preorder it using the Amazon links below. They announced that there would be a Moonlight Party on November 11th. Nothing specific about episodes was announced however every previous Moonlight Party has coincided with the release of dubbed episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime or Sailor Moon Crystal on Hulu. With Sailor Moon S coming out only a few days after this Moonlight Party it seems only logical that this may include the release of a few dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon S to get fans excited about the upcoming video release. These events often include trivia contests and voice actors, though again no specifics have been announced.

It’s important to note that Hulu has changed their service, restricting content to paid users. Viz’s complete Sailor Moon library is now available to stream for free on Yahoo! View. We might expect to see any new dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon S on that service as well. Sailor Moon episodes remain free to watch on Viz’s streaming service Neon Alley. This really applies to Americans. Canadians won’t be able to view any of these services and we’re not bitter about it at all!

Keep in mind that this is all speculation on my part. We may be getting the lamest Moonlight Party to date and not having any episodes released! This would be completely uncharacteristic of other releases which is why I’m choosing to jump to the conclusions I am. Viz did state that this Moonlight Party would be “a little different” so this might mean “a little terrible” so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt. I’m not one to post unfounded rumours which is why I’m presenting you with all of the information and allowing you to draw your own conclusions. We will almost certain receive more specifics about this event prior to November 11th. One way or another I’ll shared those specifics on the site as we learn them.

Source: Moonsisters.org, Miss Dream, Viz’s Sailor Moon Twitter account link 1 & link 2

Image Source: Miss Dream Subs

This past weekend Viz Media held their Sailor Moon Panel at New York Comic Con. We got a lot of news about Sailor Moon Crystal. First and most importantly, the dub of Sailor Moon Crystal will be coming to Hulu and Viz.com next month, some time in November. We previously learned that the dub cast would be the same cast which was used for Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime.

We have also learned, via a flyer of their upcoming releases, that Sailor Moon Crystal would be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2016. The first release is “Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1: The Dark Kingdom Arc” and will include Sailor Moon Crystal Acts 1 to 13. This Blu-Ray set will no doubt include the original Japanese and English dubbed versions of Sailor Moon Crystal, including optional subtitles. We’ve previously learned that Viz’s version of Sailor Moon Crystal will be the updated version used for the Japanese Blu-Ray releases, which had minor changes to the animation from the original streaming version.

In casting news we have also learned the voice actors who will be playing the Witches 5, who are 6 of the new villains from the upcoming dub of Sailor Moon S. Now that the Infinity story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal has been announced in Japan, it stands to reason that this same cast will be around to voice these characters once those episodes are dubbed into English. The new cast includes some returning actors who have done other voices in the series. Erin Fitzgerald will voice Eudial. Kira Buckland will voice Mimete. Laura Post, who previously voiced a kindergarden teacher in Sailor Moon R episode 52 and the monster Amaderasu in episode 53, will voice Tellu. Cricket Brown, who previously voiced Usagi’s teacher Haruna, will play Viluy. Johanna Luis, who previously voiced An the Alien also known as Natsumi in Sailor Moon R, will play both Cyprine and Ptilol who somehow count as one of the Witches 5.

Source: @TheMatthewPaul on Twitter, @sailor_moon_na on Twitter.

This weekend is New York Comic Con where there was a Kodansha Comics panel to discuss many things, including the current state of the Sailor Moon manga, art books and the new Sailor Moon anime we’re all excited to see. A lot of what we already knew was repeated at this panel. We had already heard that the new Sailor Moon anime would air in the winter. This is repeated as being “around January 2014″. The method of distribution was once again confirmed to be Niconico, a Japanese online streaming video site, and it was added that the show will be subtitled in 10 different languages! This would obviously include English, though we can only speculate as to what the other languages may be.

Kodansha Comics USA also gave out some items at their booth including a Sailor Moon 2014 calendar, similar to the one they released last year.

Source: Go Robo Now and Kodansha Comics

A Sailor Moon fan has recorded a part of the Kodansha Comics USA panel from last weekend’s New York Comic Con which includes the portions relevant to Sailor Moon. The video embedded below has been cued up to when the Sailor Moon discussion begins.

This panel began with the announcmeent of a new Sailor Moon art book for 2013 that we previously discussed on the site. This art book is being put together in Japan and the details are sparse. The Sailor Moon manga box set was then mentioned. These are not new versions of the books, though typos and errors are corrected with reprints so some minor issues may be corrected in these. This followed with a reading of a letter from Naoko Takeuchi to American fans.

Thanks to Senshi_chan for recording the video.

Today was the Kodansha Comics USA panel at New York Comic Con. The big announcement they had was that there would be a new Sailor Moon art book released in the US as well as in six other countries in 2013. This will not be a translation of any of the existing art books but rather a compilation taking art from all of the existing books that will also include some previously unpublished material. There were originally seven Sailor Moon art books in Japan which collected art from the manga. This includes volumes I through V, the materials collection and the Infinity art book. None of the existing art books have ever been published in North America.

The panel also included a message from Naoko Takeuchi herself. She confirmed that the box set of the new versions of the Sailor Moon manga will be released for Thanksgiving, November 20th. This message as well as the art book press release can be found below along with pictures of some of the Kodansha booth swag.

Here’s the press release from Kodansha Comics USA pertaining to the new art books:

KODANSHA ANNOUNCES 2013 WORLDWIDE RELEASE OF SAILOR MOON ART BOOK

NEW YORK, October 13, 2012 – Continuing the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Naoko Takeuchi’s manga masterpiece, SAILOR MOON, Kodansha is pleased to announce that The Sailor Moon Art Book will be released simultaneously throughout the world next year.

The Sailor Moon Art Book joins previous announcements about the future of Sailor Moon that include a new anime series, currently planned to debut next year. This new art book will feature Takeuchi’s most popular work selected from five Sailor Moon art books which had been previously published in Japan. It will also include several unpublished original drawings!

The Sailor Moon Art Book will be released in The United States, Japan, and five other countries simultaneously. Each country’s edition will be a trade paperback with dust jacket, in full color, and will have original, special bonus material. The trim size and page count will be identical for all seven releases.

Sailor Moon fans around the world can look forward to this amazing art book next year! Don’t miss it!

Naoko Takeuchi’s message can been seen in the following two images:

Here’s a transcription of the message:

Hello, American Sailor Moon fans. It’s Naoko Takeuchi.

I truly thank you for all the support you’ve given Sailor Moon!

It makes me very happy to hear that so many people are caring for my precious baby, Sailor Moon, after she has crossed the sea to America. I’ve seen pictures of American fans cosplaying as Sailor Moon characters and heard that all of you are collecting lots of manga and merchandise, and it makes me happy and moves me deeply that Sailor Moon and I have received so much love even in another country.

This is the 20th Anniversary of Sailor Moon, and there are lots of plans I’m sure you will enjoy.

First, for the Thanksgiving Day season on Nov 20, 2012, there will be a Sailor Moon box set, and also an art book will be released simultaneously worldwide in 2013! I’m sure they will both be wonderful. I know we’ll continue to come up with even more fun things in the future. Please look forward to them!

Naoko Takeuchi

P.S. I’ve heard that you can get an original Sailor Moon calendar, pin and poster at the Kodansha USA Publishing booth, so please be sure to visit! If you don’t show up, then “in the name of the moon, I will punish you!”

Here’s a picture of a Sailor Moon bag featuring the manga volume 6 cover image of Sailor Chibi Moon:

Here’s the Sailor Moon calendar they also gave away:

Image credits:
sailor moon manga – tumblr
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Unknown tumblr
dekablue25 at the Sailor Moon forums