SP 1

Sailor Moon owes a lot of its success to the way the franchise blended earnest drama and self-knowing comedy, plus its generous injection of action into the magical girl formula, but a large part of its appeal also comes from its strong ensemble cast. Because of this, it was a little puzzling that this year merchandiser Bandai has released high-quality pens for its entire group of heroines except Sailor Moon’s first four companions.

So while Bandai had you covered if you were a fan of the titular character herself, if you instead respected Sailor Mercury’s intelligence, Sailor Mars’ fiery determination, Sailor Venus’ air of sophistication, or just had the well-developed taste to realize what an all-round great gal Sailor Jupiter was, you were out of luck. Until now, that is, as Bandai has thankfully filled this hole in its product lineup with a new set of pens that fully represents the Inner Sailor Senshi.

It’s actually a little strange that Sailor Moon’s original partners are the last to get their own pens. Way back in the TV series first season in 1992, the Inner Senshi each had their own transformation pen which they used to change into their short-skirted combat outfits.

SP 3

Those same transformation pens served as inspiration for the new set, and while their dimensions have been subtly tweaked to provide a more comfortable grip, they’re still excellent matches to their anime incarnations.

SP 4

SP 6

While it would have been kind of cool if each pen wrote in the image color of its associated Senshi, this would put Sailor Venus in kind of a jam, since we imagine golden text and white paper would make for a very hard to read combo. Instead, all of the ballpoint pens come filled with black ink.

The value of friendship and importance of teamwork are recurring themes in Sailor Moon, and while it might be giving Bandai too much credit to say that’s the reason why, the pens can’t be bought separately. They’re only available in a set bundled with Sailor Moon’s disguise pen.

SP 5

While that means fans will need to make a lump payment of 6,480 yen (US$64.15), the set does come in a package that Bandai says will feature holographic artwork.

SP 7

Orders can be placed here on the Premium Bandai website from now until September 8, with the sets scheduled to ship in early November. Speaking of the order page, looking at the fine print reveals two details to be aware of.

First, although the pens do indeed have clips attached to their caps, apparently the molding isn’t very flexible and they’re only for decoration, as Bandai cautions against using them to actually clip the pens to anything.

Second, and perhaps most important of all, is this disclaimer:

“Please be aware that Bandai accepts no responsibility in the unlikely event that the pens fail to actually transform you into a Sailor Senshi.”

We always knew Bandai’s marketing theme was good at its job, but we had no idea their lawyers were this thorough, too.

Source, images: Premium Bandai