Sailor Cosmos is often regarded as Sailor Moon’s biggest mystery. Who is she really? What situation forced her to travel back in time and attempt what she did? To what kind of battle is she returning? And in most cases, this is intentional. She is supposed to be ambiguous and there is no definitive answer for who she is.
Which is why it’s so irritating when people say “Oh, she’s Usagi’s future self”, as though it’s a simple and clear answer. Could she be Usagi? Sure, it’s possible - just not that probable.

Why do people think she is Usagi’s future self?

Mistranslations, mostly. Misinterpretations of certain sections of the manga that get telephone-game’d down through fansites and forums until everyone just accepts it as canon. It becomes so ingrained in so many fans that they react quite strongly when you hold it up to the light and say, hey, this doesn’t quite make sense.
The biggest culprit is a mistranslation/misinterpretation where people believe Cosmos says “I am the future Sailor Moon” and/or “I am the future you”. In reality, it was much more ambiguous than that. Cosmos’s dialogue took advantage of a lot of the ambiguity of the Japanese language and is largely metaphorical. The only concrete thing she actually said was akin to “I am a future Sailor Moon”. This puts it into a completely different light, especially when you consider that “Sailor Moon” is a title and not just Usagi.

Why is it so unlikely that she is Usagi?

First of all, Cosmos comes from the distant future, a time much, much farther than the 30th Century, and the reign of Neo Queen Serenity. But we know that in the 30th Century, Usagi has lost the power to transform into Sailor Moon, because she no longer has her Star Seed; the magical crystal inside every Sailor Soldier that makes them a Sailor Soldier - in Usagi’s case, that’s the Silver Crystal. Where has it gone? Into Chibi-Usa, of course. Our precocious Small Lady is set to become the next Sailor Moon when her mother’s ready to retire. You really think she’s going to keep calling herself “chibi” forever?
So Usagi can no longer transform into Sailor Moon; which makes any theories that “Sailor Cosmos” is just another powerup like “Eternal Sailor Moon” much more complicated. Why did she suddenly take back her Star Seed? What happened to Chibi-Usa? Did she get another one? From whom? How is she still ‘Sailor Moon’ if she is not using the moon’s Star Seed? At some point, the loopholes you need to leap through to draw the conclusion that Cosmos = Usagi is more trouble than just assuming they are different people.
Second, Usagi has actually met her future self before. In the Black Moon arc, she meets, briefly, with Neo Queen Serenity. Why briefly? Because meeting yourself is kind of a no-no as far as the space-time continuum is concerned. They knew that they couldn’t spend more than a few minutes in the same place before things started to unravel, and even then they were taking a huge risk.
Cosmos spends an entire arc hanging out with Usagi in the disguise of Chibi Chibi. No unraveling. No meltdown of the timeline. It wasn’t even mentioned as a concern. You can make loopholes around the Star Seed problem, but this is much harder to sweep under the rug. The canon has already established that the same person cannot exist twice in the same time, in close proximity, for very long, or else it’s bad news. So how did Chibi Chibi manage to chill out at the Tsukino house for all that time? Disguised as her little sister, even? Kind of makes you think of Chibi-Usa, doesn’t it…?

Really, Cosmos is much more likely to be like Chibi-Usa; a descendent of Usagi (thus “a future Sailor Moon”) who travels back in time and bonds with her ancestor. But even that is just one of countless valid interpretations.

So what do we know?

Not much. As established, Cosmos is an intentionally vague character. There are only two things we know for certain; that she is a future Sailor Moon, and that she is not Usagi’s second child. It is established within the canon that Usagi/NQS can only have one child, and that’s Chibi-Usa.
This is why it is so frustrating to see people dismiss her by saying that she’s nothing more than another powerup to Usagi. Her intrigue is that she could be anybody. Yes, it is possible that she is Usagi, but it’s just as possible that she’s Shingo from the future after he fell into a cursed hot springs.
So when planning out your own personal Cosmos theory, keep in mind that Usagi loses her Star Seed long before Cosmos exists, that hanging out with a past/future form of yourself for extended periods of time is kind of dangerous, and that everyone’s theories are just as valid as your own.

kikannoh-yo:

When it comes to art theft we often point to Tumblr and Zerochan, and I can’t disagree. Art (re)bloggers need to start crediting artists and showing some respect (if you already source then this doesn’t apply to you). And Zerochan? It needs to be closed down, forever. However, there is one site that does all of this but is least talked about. It’s Facebook.

I’ve been in a OP fangroup on Facebook for some time now and I’m just about ready to leave. The reason is because I’m fed up with seeing uncredited fanart and badly traced pictures. I would like to emphasize this: Facebook is a breeding ground for art theft. If you try to criticize them you will be ridiculed and (in some cases) be blocked from the group, yes this has happened to people. There’s a specific group that caught my attention, it’s called One Piece Photos. This group has LITERALLY stolen thousands of fanart from both Pixiv and Deviantart. Some people will use the “sharing is caring” argument. But you know what I say, if you can’t be bothered to credit the artist then you’re proving that you don’t give a crap about them. So how is it “caring” if you don’t even care to source!? On top of this, some artists don’t want their work reproduced AT ALL. It’s stealing, period.

And then there’s the art editers… But honestly, I am for art editing. But ONLY IF it’s done nicely and (most importantly) if it has the owner’s permission. I have had very nice people asking me to use my art for logos, icons, etc. And I’m fine with that. But if someone edited my art without my permission I would hunt them down and try my absolute best to sabotage their reputation. Unfortunatley, this happens a lot. One Piece Fan Arab is only one example, basically they shit all over people art.

It’s because of people like these that artists are deleting their artwork and accounts. As an artist myself I feel paranoid when I see things like this, it’s the reason why I bombard my signature on every little thing I draw. I wouldn’t be surprised if saw my artwork floating around on Facebook, maybe it’s already happened who knows. Nearly all OP-related groups do this, it would be impossible for a single person to put an end to it all. Even reporting them is difficult because Facebook doesn’t have “Stolen Work” as an option. Uggggh this is making me sick.

To these idiotic groups:

Manga scans/edits are fine

Anime screenshots/edits are fine

Official art is fine

Merchandise is fine

Memes are fine

But please, leave the fanartists alone.

And the cosplayers

(I don’t like to tell people to reblog shit from me. But if you love, appreciate and respect artists I encourage you to reblog this or spread this message one way or another. Thank you for reading.)

I think the reason people don’t try as hard with FB is because it tends to be so far removed from other fan groupings. You can be on FB and join a group and not have any other experience with “fandom” at all. So they literally do not know what the problem is, because they have no experience with it. They don’t get why it’s bad, and when there’s a whole group of people who agree with them and tell them “It’s fine, ignore the people telling you you’re wrong”, they tend to completely shut anyone out. It is almost impossible to try and raise the issue of “don’t repost/edit this stuff please” on Facebook because they just don’t even absorb it. It’s a completely foreign concept to them so they brush it off, possibly block you from the group, and then keep doing it. You’re like a bug on a windshield.

Not to mention that, the bigger and more mainstream a website becomes, the lower the “tech-savvy” average is. People can have no idea how to really use a computer or the Internet, but are still likely to be a member of Facebook because it’s become the norm. Practically everyone is on FB now just like practically everyone has a cell phone or an email address. So you compound people basically not knowing any sort of Internet etiquette/manners with the mob mentality that Facebook can provide, and they’re basically ganking stuff off Google Image Search without realising that, you know, there is a source and a website and ultimately an artist behind that picture that they’re taking. So they don’t even have a basic understanding of “sourcing” to begin with, never mind why it’s bad. It enables them to use the Internet without understanding it as anything other than “a mysterious magical force that gives me cool pictures out of nowhere”.

It’s really disheartening to see Facebook groups like this where their albums are 100% content taken from other people, often edited, without any source in sight and some comment like “found this on the internet!”, especially when it has almost nothing to do with the actual purpose of the page. (Sailor Moon the Movie, I love your film and everything you do, but you need to control your FB page. The majority of the posts there are by random members and they’re reposting other people’s fanart or photos without any source.)

Basically the point of this text behemoth is to say that FB is probably worse than all the other big reposters we point to - weheartit, zerochan, 9gag, etc. - but we talk about it less because it’s practically impossible to make a difference. Its massive size makes it possible to become a neverending cycle of deflection - one person tells me what I’m doing is wrong -> a thousand other people here on FB tell me I’m fine -> I believe I’m right -> I will continue to tell others that they are fine.

All we can really do is hope that one day they branch outside of FB and eventually discover the concept of “original artists” and “sourcing”.

shrug.gif

(Also, editing someone’s fanart with their permission is a completely different kettle of fish. If you’re against editing it without their permission you’re essentially against “fanart editing” as it mostly occurs.)

Ok, so, a couple of people have told me that they feel like I’m brushing them off, or others, or that I ignore people, because I didn’t answer their Ask. First off, I don’t mean to make people feel this way! I’m sorry if you’re one of those people who sent in an ask and didn’t get a response. I’m almost certainly not ignoring you or intentionally brushing you off. But it seems I’ve made people feel that way, so I’d like to apologise, and make a list of possible reasons you might not have received a response.

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Look at the big pile of adorable that arrived in my mail today.

Yes, that’s right, Sailor Moon nail polishes. I collect nail polishes and when my friend pointed me to The Lovely Moon Collection, I fell in love. Clockwise from top right, the collection includes “Rei”, “Usagi”, “Minako”, “Ami”, “Makoto” and an extra sixth colour called “Moon Kitty”. Please excuse my terrible photography, but really, nothing comes close to capturing Daily Lacquer’s awesome previews;

They are just as vibrant and sweet in real life and I’m going to ramble about them a lot, because I like nail polish.

These aren’t the first Sailor Moon-themed nail polish blends, but they appealed to me because it’s obvious that a lot of thought has gone into them. They’re not just a generic set of basic primary/secondary colours with maybe some glitter; actual consideration has gone into connecting each one with their character.
All of them, as a start, have star and moon shapes in them, colour-coordinated of course. This is an obvious and adorable link back to Sailor Moon. Mars, Jupiter and Moon are clear with glitter, Venus is a tint, and Mercury & Moon Kitty are opaque jelly polishes.

Mars’s glitters are sharp, with a lot of colour variation that makes me think of fire, and just a hint of purple. They all have stars in them, but the red stars in “Rei” remind me of Sailor Mars’s earrings, too.
The shapes in Jupiter’s are all quite large and chunky compared to the others, adding to its charm - just like Jupiter.
I like that Venus is a tint, because people can never seem to pick if her colour is orange or yellow, and this works well both ways. I’m really attracted to the blue sparkles - the blue in Venus’s design often gets overlooked, but the shade picked is perfect.
Moon? Ok, Moon is like a party popper in a bottle. It’s straight-up confetti on your nails in here. Looking at it makes me think of Usagi wearing a party dress. The mix of colours relate to all of Moon’s outfits, which run a wider variety of colours than the others’.
Mercury and Moon Kitty are my favourites. The colours are very clear and so beautiful; the shades are just so attractive and the jelly finish works perfectly. The smaller, less obtrusive glitters in Mercury’s remind me of mist; the unified colour of the glitter in Moon Kitty and the way the silver moons stand out against the purple reminds me so much of Luna.

Nailpolishes are already linked to the Sailor Soldiers transforming, but the square/pentagonal/hexagonal shapes in these blends are my favourite parts, because they remind me so much of the shapes that are ubiquitous with the Sailor Soldiers’ later transformation sequences;

(Photos are from Daily Lacquer’s listings.)

Basically what I’m trying to say is that a lot of effort, thought and planning clearly went into these polishes, and they’re gorgeous as a result. At $8 a generously-sized bottle they’re very reasonable, and you get a great discount if you buy them as a set.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DailyLacquer

I live in Australia. I waited months for my Shirt Punch shirt to arrive. These got to me within a week, and the packaging was just as cute and thoughtful as the product. If you like nailpolish even as half as much as I do, I heartily recommend these.

Some of you may remember a few posts I made a fair while ago about ideas I would incorporate into a theoretical Sailor Moon live action web serial dubbed “Pretty Soldiers”. I mentioned in an earlier post that the villains would be a combination of the Black Moon Clan and the Death Busters, skipping the Dark Kingdom arc entirely, and using only the Witches 5 covering the roles of the Ayakashi Sisters and Esmeraude covering Kaolinite’s. Here are some specific ideas I had for the Death Busters, if any of you are interested in reading a half-headcanon, half-reinvention of these villains.

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Miscellaneous thoughts on Pluto:

We see in the manga that she’s a child during the Silver Millennium. So she grew up with the other Sailor Soldiers as her role models. Her job was to guard the time gate and that seems like a pretty important thing to keep doing when your kingdom is under attack, so it’s highly likely that she never died and was thus never reborn like the other girls. So she grew up (somehow) and watched those people she looked up to and admired, the soldiers and royalty, be born again as tiny insignificant babies. When she met them next they had no idea what the hell they were doing. I can’t imagine, really, what that would have been like for her.

Then you got Chibi-Usa. Approximately everyone has written about how she feels about Chibi-Usa, but really it’s kind of a parallel to how Pluto might have felt. Surrounded again by these amazing women and role models, feeling pretty intimidated, maybe even having that same first formative child-crush on Endymion. Then Pluto sends her back in time and you know she’s gotta be thinking “Ok, you’re going to meet them but when they were younger, and you’re never going to be able to look at your role models again once you’ve seen them fart in their sleep”.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, basically Pluto is always seen as the oldest and most mature because she’s mysterious and timeless but for a while there, she was the kid.

sailorsomething:

• Why I like them
• Why I don’t
• Favorite episode (scene if movie)
• Favorite season/movie
• Favorite line
• Favorite outfit
• OTP
• Brotp
• Head Canon
• Unpopular opinion
• A wish
• An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen
• 5 words to best describe them
• My nickname for them

Ok, I always promise myself I’m going to indulge my attention-seeking desires and do one of these “Ask me XYZ!!!” things, but I feel bad about them not relating to Sailor Moon. So, here we go, something nice that totally relates to the series if anyone is curious about what I think.

(Source: sickonsecondthought)

She was so classy, civil and loving despite being hurt. She really exhibited the spirit of Sailor Moon then… someone you can REALLY look up to. Anime!Usagi would’ve been horrible to Hina and yelled at her as she did to every other girl that showed interest in Mamoru in the anime.                                                  

Man, I was agreeing right up until the point where they started bashing Anime!Usagi. Like, what? The fundamental difference is that in PGSM, Usagi and Mamoru weren’t a couple, and in the Anime, they were. I mean, look at Rei and Mamoru together. Usagi was jealous but was never mean to Rei about it. She even apologised to Rei for listening to the orgel after Mamoru got brainwashed, because she thought Rei might still have some feelings for him.

Also, “be horrible”? Asserting to someone who has an interest in your boyfriend that he is your boyfriend is horrible? The only examples (not counting people who straight-up brainwashed Mamoru in order to be with him) I can think of are En - who was a total ass to Usagi anyway so their rivalry had less to do with Mamoru and more to do with them disliking each other - and Fisheye, whom Usagi was ridiculously nice to. Like, she had one moment where she went “You’d better not even think that Mamoru would leave me!” … after, you know, welcoming him/her into her house, giving them clean clothes, giving them food, and afterwards basically shooting the breeze with them about how great Mamoru was and she could see why (s)he’d like him. How horrible.

why did I even write so many words about this
oh well.

#the galaxy cauldron creeps me out to this day

Yo, truth. This is creepy as heck and it’s wonderful. I mean, can you imagine being on the precipice of this, looking into it? Bigger than you can almost really comprehend at once, its walls a constantly moving, churning mass of stars and colours that stretch down, down, deeper than you can see, possibly forever. Feeling so tiny and insignificant as you look at the colossal, universal melting-pot that holds the souls of every Soldier who’s died.

IDK, maybe it’s just me. I’ve always been creeped out by really big things. Kinda like how I feel when I look at Blue Holes.