Toy Discoveries from the Recently Released “Saban Moon” Video

For years, many Sailor Moon superfans were stumped on how and why certain early Sailor Moon toys were designed differently than their anime counterparts. Here's what the "Saban Moon" pilot teaches us about some of those (probable) choices.

For context, first we have to talk about the internet-dubbed “Saban Moon”.

As a disclaimer, some toys have been released in Japan prior to their North American release and rebranded using North American-specific marketing, packaging, and titles. The “Saban Moon” pilot may or may not have been an influence on these decisions. It is also possible that existing toy choices helped influence elements of the unaired live-action pilot. This is all speculation.

An old Sailor Moon TV show pilot that was created in the 1990s, but later discarded for the original series, has finally gone public thanks to Former Bandai America president Frank Ward. The pilot episode was dubbed "Saban Moon," after famed Power Rangers producer Haim Saban. There wasn't much else to name the pilot after, as for decades, fans only had a glimpse of the pilot episode. Cuts from the pilot were shown and debuted at Anime Expo, and taped by an audience member with a video camera, and then published online. This is the first time we've been able to watch the entire episode.

In 1996, Irwin Toy Limited released a North American Sailor Moon toy line. These toys ranged from deluxe and adventure dolls to playsets. However, the design choices for a few of these toys have left die-hard Sailor Moon collectors confused. The names on the packaging, the style of the toys, and even the outright manufacturing of some of the products may possibly have links to decisions that were also shown in the unaired pilot episode. Here are some of the toys that, if the choices shown in the unaired pilot had any influence, could make a little more sense now that “Saban Moon” has been found.

Moon Cycle: For decades, the infamous Moon Cycle stood out like a sore thumb amongst the other Sailor Moon toys. A crescent moon-shaped vehicle in the perfect size for your Sailor Moon Adventure Doll to ride around in. What was a moon cycle? Why was it a moon cycle? Who uses a moon cycle? Now, thanks to the “Saban Moon” pilot, we have a better idea.

In the pilot, Sailor Moon and her princess friends all have different vehicles for riding around space in. These vehicles have various crescent moon-shaped wind sails to them, and are meant to fly around like A Kite attached to surfboards with laser beam attachments. They are called “sky flyers.” We got a short look at them in the leaked footage over the past several dozen years, but a substantial view of the sky flyers in the newly-released pilot confirmed some similarities between the Moon Cycle and Sailor Moon's (attempted) signature rides.

Sailor Moon's Sailor Locket: This is probably one of the most interesting revelations in the pilot. We see, clear as day, Sailor Moon's trademark transformation broach, but turned pink and is referred to as a locket. This description of Sailor Moon's (originally titled) transformation brooch could have made it all the way down to the packaging and marketing for the toy, keeping the name as “Sailor Moon's Sailor Locket.” In the pilot, they are referred to as “the most powerful pendants in the universe.” There are so many things that factor into the naming process, this could possible lead fans to wonder how the naming of this toy was reflected in both the live-action as well as the choices for the North American “Sailor Moon's Sailor Locket” packaging.

Cosmic Crescent Jewel Box: Die-hard fans of the Sailor Moon franchise will tell you that the Crescent Compact has actually belonged to Sailor Venus since her Codename: Sailor V days. However, marketing for the Cosmic Crescent Jewel Box boasted a lot of Sailor Moon-specific involvement with the item, specifically an Empyrean Jewel Ring and a Sailor Moon necklace. In the western pilot episode, we see Sailor Moon receive a star pendant from her betrothed, Tuxedo Mask, except here it is a star-shaped pendant instead. Several times throughout the pilot episode, a small pink gem is seen, and placed in the magical compact/locket in place of Sailor Moon's “maboroshi no Ginzuishou” or “Silver Crystal”. The Silver Crystal is, of course, silver, so we can speculate that this new pink, differently-shaped gem, is the Empyrean Jewel. We can also see Tuxedo Mask's rose “fading” from Sailor Moon's locket/compact after she uses her tiara attack.

Some of these Sailor Moon toys had a previous release in Japan, prior to and unrelated to the “Saban Moon” pilot, however, decisions on things like the name of the pink gem accessory and the necklace were part of the mystery.

Cosmic Crescent Wand: Everything that is true of the Cosmic Crescent Jewel Box with its Empyrean Jewel would also be true of the Cosmic Crescent Wand with its pink jewel-adorned top centerpiece. The Empyrean Jewel Ring seems to detach from the Crescent Wand, alluding that it functions the same way the (alluded) Empyrean detaches and reattaches to Sailor Moon's “Sailor Locket.”