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Bandai Revamps Sailor Moon's Moon Stick Toy for Grown-ups

Over two decades after the original toy's debut, Bandai has revamped its classic 1992 Moon Stick from the Sailor Moon anime into an 8,800-yen (about US$89) "Proplica Moon Stick" for grown-up fans. The new Moon Stick is the first item in the Proplica ("prop" + "replica") brand from Bandai's Tamashii Nations.

The 26-centimeter-long (about 10-inch-long), "nearly life-size" replica is now more realistic and unlike the original, has a detachable Silver Crystal that lights up in seven colors with LEDs. The stick itself glows with another LED setting and emits at least eight different sounds. Original Sailor Moon voice actress Kotono Mitsuishi supplied voice snippets like "Moon Healing Escalation!"

Bandai will ship the new Proplica Moon Stick with an exclusive display stand in late April of next year, and it plans to offer it worldwide simultaneously. The Tamashii Nations 2013 event will display a prototype in Tokyo from November 1 to November 3. The original 1992 version sold over 400,000 toys, and the new version (and the overall Proplica brand) is targeted at women in their 20s who watched the anime back then.

A new Sailor Moon anime will stream worldwide simultaneously this winter.

Source: Netlab