Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

REI'S GRANDFATHER (aka Rei No Oji-San)
Dub Name: Raye's Grandpa
Role: The Perverted Old Guy, The Sensei, Shrunken Senior Citizen
Hair Colour: White
PL 8 (52)
STRENGTH 0/2 STAMINA 2/5 AGILITY 2/5
FIGHTING 4/8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+4/+7)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+6/+10)
Deception 2 (+2)
Expertise (Arcane Lore) 5 (+5)
Expertise (Shinto Priest) 8 (+8)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 4 (+4)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 3 (+3)
Perception 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment 2 (Hikawa Shrine), Follow-Up Strike, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Minions 2 (2 Crows, Phobos & Deimos), Power Attack, Takedown 2

Powers:
"Old Man Chi"
Enhanced Strength 2 (Flaws: Tiring) [2]
Enhanced Stamina 3 (Flaws: Tiring) [3]
Enhanced Agility 3 (Flaws: Tiring) [3]
Enhanced Fighting 4 (Flaws: Tiring) [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Chi +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +2 (+5 Chi)

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (+7 Chi, DC 14-17), Parry +6 (+10 Chi, DC 16-20), Toughness +2 (+5 Chi), Fortitude +3 (+6 Chi), Will +8

Complications (Early):
Relationship (Rei Hino, aka Sailor Mars)- Though the two argue frequently, Rei is the primary focus of her grandfather's life.
Reputation (Pervert)- Like all old men in anime, Rei's Grandpa is a giant, panty-loving pervert.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 15 / Powers: 12 / Defenses: 9 (52)

-Haha, Rei's Grandpa was a funny little character. Playing on the Japanese trademark that all old people are both wise and incredibly perverted, he ran the Hikawa Shrine, and was a constant pain in his granddaughter's ass, as despite being her primary caregiver, he was irresponsible and constantly flirting with the teenage girls who came to the Shrine. This appears on paper warnings posted around the Shrine, much to Rei's embarrassment. Grandpa takes on a travelling hobo Yuuichiro as an apprentice, and seems nonplussed at the notion of Yuuichiro chasing after Rei, but later appears delighted at the notion of making MAMORU his heir upon the "nice young man" coming to the Shrine when Usagi wrecks his apartment. Interestingly, they ramp up his irresponsibility over time, as the "Rei cares for her Grandpa" scenes go away and he stops being victimized by the villains, and instead he's acting as Yuuichiro's "Dark Angel" trying to get him to chase after multiple girls ("Looking at only one woman is pathetic!").

-Though he was a regularly-occurring character in the anime, he's actually an "Anime Only" character- the grandfather seen at the shrine in the manga is a mustached older man who in no way resembles this one, and shows no perverted traits. So the showrunners more or less made up a character from whole cloth, probably because the Shrine was the gang's main hangout for a long time, and they REALLY needed another family member to be there, or it'd look incredibly weird. His appearances diminish as the show goes on, typically with only one appearance a season by the end, and he doesn't appear in Sailor Stars at all. This is a bit curious, given how much they liked "Victims of the Week" by the end- his only turn is in the first season.

-Rei's Grandpa was a classic case of the Wise Old Master though, because if provoked, he was capable of fighting off Zoisite by withstanding his assault from the Black Crystal through sheer Chi Mastery, sending the villain scurrying away. In another instance, he was faced with over twenty mind-controlled females that he'd been training in aerobics, and he responded by just diving into melee, sending out a rapid-fire burst of martial arts strikes, then calmly clapping his hands, causing EVERYONE to fall down on cue. So despite being reliant on his Chi to meet his caps, Grandpa's a bad-ass, and certainly the strongest character without magical powers.

[Jabroniville]

Lucky SON OF A BITCH.

YUUICHIROU KAMADA
Dub Name: Chad Holdenford
Role: The Dumb Surfer-Dude, The Potential Love Interest
Hair Colour: Brown
PL 3 (32), PL 4 (32) Defenses
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Intimidation 2 (+2)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+2)
Expertise (Guitar) 3 (+3)
Expertise (Skier) 3 (+5) -- Uses Agility

Advantages:
Interpose

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +3

Complications (Early):
Relationship (Rei Hino, aka Sailor Mars)- It was love at first site for the poor buffoon, as the Goddess of Sexiness, aka Sailor Mars, was the first site he saw when he awoke at her Shinto Shrine. Desperately in love with Rei, Yuuichiro is overly-protective, to the point where he will risk his life to save hers, even though he knows she "doesn't think of him that way". He nonetheless becomes extremely jealous when he sees her with other males, though he will get angry on her behalf if he thinks Rei is being cheated on or disrespected.
Responsibility (Wealthy)- The son of wealthy parents, Yuuichiro is embarrassed by their status, and kind of avoids that lifestyle. He is at the Hikawa Shrine in order to better himself. And because he loves Rei.

Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 7 (32)

-Poor "Chad" (his Original Dub Name). Introduced as a kid who was bumming around Japan (though it later turned out that he was from a wealthy family), he fell in love with Rei at first sight (well really- who wouldn't? LOOK AT HER!), and moved into the Hikawa Shrine immediately. Grandpa took him on as an apprentice/stooge, and pretty much bullied him and bossed him around non-stop, but he did it all just for Rei. Future episodes show that he was growing on her (he was attractive, and surprisingly deep, once they realized he was actually rich and was slumming it to find himself), but they never moved on past the first season (where she openly mourned that she never kissed him before they left on their fatal adventure). A really cool Sailor Moon R episode featured him diving into the path of Koan's "Dark Fire" attack (that's where Interpose comes from) to protect Rei, and she reciprocated later- Koan is shocked, since Mars showed him nothing but contempt earlier, but Mars admitted that while she does not care for him romantically, she wishes to honor his sincerity and kindness by sacrificing for him as he would for her. When I met Katie Griffin, the original English VA for Rei, she told me she said "I'm SO SAD Raye didn't end up with Chad!"

-He continued on as a bit of a sad-sack as the series continued- an Anime-only character, he had no real place in the main story. In Sailor Moon S, he mistook the boyish Sailor Uranus for a male who was dating Rei, and began stalking "him" jealously- when he uncovered her on a date with Michiru (Sailor Neptune, her lesbian lover), he freaked out for "cheating on Rei!" and defended her honor by challenging the cad to a duel!
Here, he is embarrassed by the clearly superior fighter, and decides to move away from the Shrine, breaking Rei's heart in a peculiar scene (she didn't LOVE him, but seemed to have grown accustomed to him, I guess). When the truth comes out, Rei takes care of Yuichiro's injuries with the same ribbon he gave her earlier, but teases him for the cheap gift, teases him AGAIN for "picking a fight with a fragile young lady!", then calls him a scatterbrain and a dummy, while demanding he lean on her when he walks. UGH THAT GIRL AND HER PERFECTION.

-His final appearance (he REALLY stopped showing up after a point) was in Sailor Moon SuperS, where he becomes jealous of Mamoru, who is now staying at the Hikawa Shrine while his apartment is being cleaned. It's an infamously silly episode, but of course, the silliness is made up for by the interactions between the characters. Rei is uncharacteristically reserved around Mamo (one of the few people she respects). Her Grandpa, instead of being suspicious, is IN LOVE with the idea of her winning Mamo's heart because he looks like "a nice young man", which of course embarrasses Rei when he points it out in mixed company. This was the FINAL APPEARANCE of Yuuichiro! Poor Yuuichiro laughs off the Rei/Mamoru pairing, but is secretly madly jealous ("My master has never once asked me to become Rei's husband!"). His growing outrage, complete with close-ups of his face in a different style (open-mouthed rage, showing all his teeth, with way more detail than normal), is pretty great.

-The most famous scene of this is the ever-predictable "Accidental Nudity", in a GREAT bit, where Rei walks in on Mamoru about to step into the bath, complete with ass-shot of our boy. Her horrified reaction, intense blushing, and running off with her face in her hands, is just terrific and makes the whole thing. We NEVER get this side of Rei! She attacks Yuichiro for not telling her the "bath order" (Serious Business in Japan), he gets passive-aggressive with Mamo ("Enjoying you bath... CHIBA?"), and then Usagi, dresses as a PINK NINJA, confronts Rei. And then goes "You didn't PEEK, did you?" And the best part- Rei CAN'T EVEN SAY NO, as she just blushes and says "I didn't see it because I wanted to!" Then of course they fight.

-Menacing Yuichiro is pretty great- instead of being a cartoonish dolt, he's all glowering, face in shadows, with Sinister Anime Eyebrows and everything. His master points out that separating himself from worldly desires is the first step in his TRUE training, and they do this big dramatic thing, complete with Japanese drums and flutes in the background... and then it turns out he just has Yuuichiro trying to pick up random chicks in an ill-fitting suit because "looking at only one woman" is "pathetic". Rei's Grandpa is the BEST. Yuichiro is shocked... but soon sees that all these girls ARE, in fact, pretty, and starts clumsily hitting on them, too. In the final bits of the episode (where Rei herself was the target of the villains), Yuuichiro begs forgiveness from Rei for giving in "to the Devil's temptation", while she has no idea what he's going on about, then gets distracted by a handsome waiter. Haha, JESUS- the poor Butt-Monkey gets straight-up ignored in his very last episode. Kind of sad overall that we never got any kind of finality with him, but it was clear even by Sailor Moon R that Rei had no feelings for Yuuichiro.

-So yeah, he essentially disappears, his character altering a bit in order to make him a goof who just gets jealous or stalks Rei's "boyfriends".

-Yuuichiro is training under a master martial artist, but appears to have little fighting ability himself. He is athletic and knows how to avoid harm, however- he spends a lot of time running from Rei's Grandpa's assaults. However, against a real adversary he's hooped- he usually gets smashed up by avalanches or has his Pure Heart Crystal removed or something.

[sirjolt]

Wow. Going back to non-anime style cartoons that I watched in the 70's through the mid 80's, there were a bunch. Many didn't last long and I can barely remember some of them. Scooby Doo and the Superfriends were huge. He-Man/She-Ra and the Thundercats were big. Anything Hanna Barbera - Herculoids was by far my favorite. Thundarr was another favorite. GI Joe was really big. Tarzan and the Super 7. Panadmonium. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. Flash Gordon. Defenders of the Earth. Blackstar. Galtar and the Golden Lance. Gobots/Transformers. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. Godzilla. Spider-Man (and his Amazing Friends) and Spider -Woman. Star Trek was then as well though I only caught a couple of episodes at the time. Centurions. I seem to recall a Lone Ranger and Zorro cartoon but I don't remember much about it. There was a Rambo cartoon and two different Ghostbusters cartoons (one based off the movies, the other not). Sectaurs. TMNT came late. I vaguely remember some show where one of the heroes could turn into a comet. I wasn't very picky. If it was action, I'd watch it.

[Batgirl III]

I vaguely remember some show where one of the heroes could turn into a comet.

You’re probably thinking of Kid Comet, from Teen Force, one of Hanna-Barbera’s many space-adventure-superhero shows of the Late Seventies / Early Eighties. It was part of their Space Stars show along with Space Ghost, Herculoids, and what have you.

I remember liking it as a kid, but like most shows from the era, it hasn’t aged well.

[Jabroniville]

Art by Brainnchi & Marco Alberno.

SAILOR PHOBOS & SAILOR DEIMOS
Role: Assist Characters, Animals-Turned-Humans
Main Fuku Colour: Purple (Phobos), Red (Deimos)
Hair Colour: Black

-One bizarre thing that kind of got glossed over in the early Sailor Moon Fandom was rarities like these. Phobos & Deimos (named for the moons of Mars) are the names of the crows that live at Hikawa Shrine alongside Rei and her Grandfather- they even appear in the manga. They attack Jadeite when he invades the place and steals away buses full of people to drain of energy, but otherwise are just some random background creatures. Then suddenly, in Act 41, they are given human forms, giving Sailor Mars the Mars Crystal, allowing her to upgrade into "Super Sailor Mars". Here, they are Sailor Phobos & Sailor Deimos, wearing Rei's colors (Phobos purple; Deimos red). Later, in the "Stars" arc, they are revealed to hail from the planet Coronis, where their Sailor Guardian was killed and replaced by Sailor Lead Crow. Confronted by Lead Crow, they are killed and their Star Seeds are taken. Naturally, in the anime, they do not appear as Sailors.

-Phobos & Deimos are impossible to stat, as neither ever engages in an attack, and they are easily killed by Sailor Lead Crow.

[Davies]

I'd pretty much give them whatever you give Luna or Artemis' human forms, but maybe have them as Minions rather than full characters.

[Jabroniville]

Cosplay by Katssby.

THE SAILOR STARLIGHTS:
-Most iconic, and most controversial, to the final season of Sailor Moon are the Sailor STARLIGHTS- a trio of new Sailors who come from outside the solar system. They break up the naming conventions of the Sailors (not named after specific celestial bodies), avoid the iconic sailor "fuku" the others wear, and they have a peculiar gimmick. In both the manga & anime, they appear on Earth disguised as males, acting as the pop idol group, "The Three Lights", who have a massive following of screaming schoolgirls (including our heroines). However, the anime infamously makes this transformation a BIOLOGICAL one, the Starlights actually becoming males for the purposes of their disguise- when they go "Make Up!" their bodies actually shift in form! While this is a pretty great disguise (despite them, much like the other Sailors, having the SAME HAIR between forms), it was hated by Naoko Takeuchi, who was quite emphatic that only women could become Sailor Senshi.

-The Starlights/Three Lights are Sailor Star Fighter- Seiya Kou, Sailor Star Healer- Taiki Kou, and Sailor Star Maker- Yaten Kou. Seiya is charming, friendly and a bit of a f*ck-up. Yaten is tiny, grouchy and hostile to everyone. Taiki is extremely tall, has the world's most massive forehead, and is cold and aloof to the point of rudeness. The relationship between the three is somewhat interesting, as the latter two are serious and obsessed with "Finding The Princess"- they are missing someone we don't learn about until later. They keep humans at an arm's length, and dislike and distrust ALL of them. Seiya is kinder towards them, partially because he develops an early crush on Usagi- this leads to a lot of conflict, as the other two find Seiya not taking things seriously enough, and are disgusted when he/she refers to Usagi as being "like our Princess".

Stage ON!- The Starlights as Spotlight Hogs:
-The Starlights are also notorious to the fandom for what happened to the show once they arrived. See, as is common with the show by this point, when new Sailors show up... the writers have a tendency to just fall in love with them, giving them episode after episode of focus, detailing all of their thoughts and ambitions. This is perhaps inevitable when you give writers and artists new toys to play with, but it can be especially egregious on a show that's become bad for not giving its supporting heroines as much to do. And so you get things like... Sailor Mercury gets two episodes of focus, detailing her relationship with an idealistic teacher and the gang meeting a sick child in need of surgery... and Taiki sibling is there, sharing the episodes and hogging the spotlight from her. We have to deal with TAIKI's response to the human condition, and Mercury (since there's a Victim of the Week, a Monster of the Week, a fight scene, plus Usagi since it's HER show, after all) is left picking up only a tiny bit here and there. Jupiter appears on a TV cooking show... but Taiki's also there.

-In short: every single episode also has at least one of the Three Lights (usually Seiya) hogging the spotlight as well. For twenty-plus episodes. And that's just the INNER Sailors getting shafted- Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and especially SATURN? They get NOTHING. Episode after episode and they barely ever appear- Uranus & Neptune are immediately distrustful of the Starlights and actually attack them, saying they're here to "Protect from threats outside the solar system". This drives the wedge (which had shown signs of being healed) further between the Inners & Starlights, and proves to be very unhelpful in the future. But more importantly, the show's fantastic cast could be gathered together into a massive group, and it just doesn't happen.

-Another unfortunate thing is their "Idol" thing proves to be a big study on "Idol Worship" in Japanese culture. And while I can imagine much of the gang being into this (especially Minako & Rei- who would pretend NOT to be), instead it's all four of the Inners, practically drooling and sighing with every move. EVEN AMI!! The sight of these powerful heroines (and the serious Ami) reduced to simps before the Lights is tough to watch at times- I know they're teenage girls and this is pretty normal and expected (hell, a third-season episode has an idol casually mention to Minako how they'll all grow out of this and forget about the Idols), but it turns them all into one-note worshippers for a while. It only staves off a bit once they get to know the Lights as people, and find their flaws. This humanizes them and makes the relationships more casual and friendly for the most part. Ami helps Taiki be more thoughtful, Luna discovers Yaten's softness towards animals, and more.

The Fate of the Starlights:
-In the final battle with Galaxia, the Inner Sailors protect the injured Starlights from Galaxia's "Star Seed Extractors", the energy blasts removing their OWN Star Seeds. Dying, the Sailors confess it was because they adore the Starlights as well as their own Princess, and tell them to watch over her. When Uranus & Neptune turn on their allies and slaughter them to curry favor with Galaxia, the Starlights are HORRIFIED and lash out at them, completely enraged. They're left as the last line of defense when Uranus & Neptune fail in their attempt to turn on Galaxia and wipe her out, and are the last observers of the final battle... in which they do nothing, because Usagi goes "Princess Serenity" and it's a One-On-One Battle/Forgiveness Struggle at the end.

-Finally, with the other Sailors and Princess Kakyu restored, the Starlights take their leave, hoping to rebuild their new world. The fanbase was... iffy on them. Some research by asking other Moonies has revealed that though there was a Seiya/Mamoru Shipping rivalry (I remember this one wayyyyyyyy back in the day), fan reaction hasn't been great once the fandom actually watched those episodes (when I first got into the show, Sailor Stars was REALLY hard to find and only the most hardcore had seen it). The thing I find most bizarre about their appearance is their GIGANTIC suits- this was I guess in style at points (the Backstreet Boys are seen in this look at least once), but these scrawny boys wearing these massive colorful suits is pretty hilarious.

The Starlights As a Whole:
-Truth be told, the Starlights aren't bad characters. Taiki & Yaten defrosting actually comes off well- you see their motivations, feel their desperation to find their Princess, and more. We discover that they are the last survivors of their homeworld- one of the last ones destroyed by Sailor Galaxia. Princess Kakyu fled to Earth, and they transformed into a boy band in order to sing songs to flush her out- their fame is all a smokescreen to ensure that she can hear their song. A few intuitive people pick up on it- a sick child sees the image of Kakyu when she listens to their songs, drawing it (thus shocking Taiki out of his aloofness), and a respected composer says he can feel them "reaching out to someone". And eventually, right before the end, the Starlights finally see their Princess awakened! Aaaaaaaaaaaand she ded. Yes, Kakyu sacrifices herself to save her protectors, and has her Star Seed taken away by Galaxia. The horrified Starlights are thus forced to spend the rest of their time as spectators.

-Fun Fact: They were apparently supposed to have short hair, but Naoko's editors insisted their hair be made long. Hence their "short hair, but extremely long ponytails arbitrarily stuck onto the bottom" looks.

[Batgirl III]

Normally, one of the major strengths of manga compared to western comics is that a single creator (or a single established team, like CLAMP) is solely responsible for all the content and the stories have a fixed endpoint. So you get consistent characterization and a clear prologue-rising action-climax-epilogue structure...

But every now and again, there is a manga or anime that creates a world and/or a cast of characters that seems like it really would benefit from the American comics multiple creators in a shared universe style. Sailor Moon is one of them. Like... I want to know more about the Black Moon’s rebellion against Neo-Queen Serenity during the Silver Millennium. I want to know what life was like during the original Moon Kingdom. I want to see the Starlight’s home planet. I want to see Ami finally land a real date with “Greg.”

There’s 24,601 recurring characters and I want to see more from all of them!

[Jabroniville]

Normally, one of the major strengths of manga compared to western comics is that a single creator (or a single established team, like CLAMP) is solely responsible for all the content and the stories have a fixed endpoint. So you get consistent characterization and a clear prologue-rising action-climax-epilogue structure...

But every now and again, there is a manga or anime that creates a world and/or a cast of characters that seems like it really would benefit from the American comics multiple creators in a shared universe style. Sailor Moon is one of them. Like... I want to know more about the Black Moon’s rebellion against Neo-Queen Serenity during the Silver Millennium. I want to know what life was like during the original Moon Kingdom. I want to see the Starlight’s home planet. I want to see Ami finally land a real date with “Greg.”

There’s 24,601 recurring characters and I want to see more from all of them!

This is definitely one of those things where letting the story BREATHE would have been so, SO preferable. Or doing the anime shortly after the manga so they had more planning time and could maybe expand on things with Naoko's involvement. The way they wrote it back then was that both ran concurrently, from its very origins.

There is so much crazy stuff in the backstory that gets glossed over. An entire planet of evil people and we only see like 8 of them. They namedrop stuff like the Starlights' planet and they never show its civilization AT ALL. Nine main Sailor Senshi and the only three with parents are Moon, Mercury & Saturn, and Mercury's go unseen.

And it will always bug me that we see almost nothing of the Moon Kingdom. There is SLIGHTLY more in the manga- you see more shots of how it was back in the day. But it's so under-realized that we have no idea like... where the other Princesses lived back then. Like did they actually live ON Mars, Venus & Mercury, etc., or did they have other stuff? Also, we are aware there was a Sailor Saturn, etc., back then, but what were Haruka & Michiru like back then? Or, well, ANYONE but Usagi/Serenity?

The anime could never elaborate on this because Naoko hadn't and there was too much danger in overexplaining things and breaking continuity if she came up with it herself. But Naoko was doing "Seat of the pants" writing the entire way because mangaka have INSANE deadlines, even worse than American comic book artists. And a constant need to have each episode have some action or plot relevance, too, so you couldn't do "quiet ones" as often.

So yeah, I agree- look at how much the early Sailor Moon FanFic world had stories elaborating upon Greg & Ken (Jupiter's "platonic male friend" shown and mentioned in one episode only). There was VOLUMES of stuff that could be written on some of these people, yet I only now realize the gang engaged in life-changing moments with over a hundred unique people and we never saw 99% of them ever again.

[Batgirl III]

The “suddenly introduced life-long friend who will never be mentioned after this episode and was never mentioned before this episode” is a common part of western television shows too. Macgyver ran into like two of them a week! So I can accept that as just being part and parcel of the genre. But Naoko created this elaborate, multilayered, interesting interplanetary society... and it just used as an excuse to draw pretty castles in the background of dramatic shots.

[Davies]

Back in the day, there were those (me among 'em) who associated Star Maker, Star Healer and Star Fighter with Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, of what we all assumed we knew about the Vedic gods. I don't know whether that was the intention of the author; certainly weirder stuff about India has come out of Japan in the last decade ...

[Jabroniville]

Art by Dark-Elfa, cosplay by Hesoka Angel.

SAILOR STAR FIGHTER (Seiya Kou)
Role: Smarmy Sex Creep, The Genial One
Main Fuku Colour: Black & White
Hair Colour: Black
PL 10 (148)
STRENGTH 2/3 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+8, +10)
Athletics 8 (+10, +11)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+11)
Deception 3 (+7, +9 Attractive)
Expertise (Singing) 8 (+12)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+6, +8 Attractive)
Ranged Combat (Star Serious Laser) 3 (+10)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Evasion, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Aim, Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up, Taunt, Teamwork

Powers:
"Sailor Strength"
Enhanced Strength 1 [2]
Strength-Damage +2 [2]
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]
Movement 1 (Safe Fall) [2]
Morph 1 (Male Form- Attractive to Females) [5]

"Star Serious Laser!" Blast 10 (Feats: Improved Critical 2) [22]

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Unarmed Senshi +11 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Star Serious Laser +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +5, Fortitude +6, Will +8

Complications (Early):
Power Loss (All Powers)- Sailor Senshi must be able to gesture and speak freely to use their powers. If they are Bound or Snared, they cannot use their attacks easily.
Normal Identity (Seiya Kou- Without Power... Head Mic?)
Responsibility (Sailor Senshi)- The Starlights are forced to fight evil.
Responsibility (Schooling)
Secret (Identity)- The Starlights must not reveal their identities to the world at large, nor their villains.
Enemy (Sailor Galaxia)- Galaxia exiled their Princess and destroyed their world.
Relationship (Princess Kakyu)- The Starlights are devoted agents of their Princess, and would do anything for her. When she dies, they are shattered.
Relationship (The Starlights)- Seiya finds her allies somewhat tiresome and boring at times, and is annoyed by their disregard towards humans.
Relationship (Usagi)- Seiya falls for Usagi at first sight, finding her "Like our Princess". Seiya spends most of their time on Earth hitting on Usagi, trying to convince her to dump her faraway boyfriend, tricking her into dates, and bothering her.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 19 / Powers: 35 / Defenses: 16 (148)

-Sailor Star Fighter is the signature and main character of the three Sailor Starlights, being of average height and build between the giant and shrimp. While the other two dislike people and keep their distance, Seiya is friendly, outgoing and charming. Immediately besotted with Usagi, Seiya engages in relentless flirting with her over and over again, even when she's clearly annoyed by is. Then the true push of the writers to make Usagi/Seiya a thing happens, as Iron Mouse turns out the lights at the club, and Seiya holds Usagi close- "A warmth just like Mamo's- but a different scent". Yeah, they disliked Mamo THAT MUCH that we now get a big Seiya "shipping" push, lol. Usagi goes against many Sailors' wishes to see the Lights off for their concert, Seiya ultimately confessing he'd fallen for her and wanted to make sure he said it before he left... which is kinda narcissistic given how Usagi's clearly still in love with Mamoru and he knows that. But he's all "I hope you see your boyfriend soon" so oh no I guess he's nice anyways *shrug*. But to be honest, this looks worse and worse with time- Seiya just comes off as a "Sex Creep", just relentlessly hitting on someone who never shows an outward interest- as if a thousand "no"s might when day become a "yes". Don't be like Seiya.

-Seiya even gets the most generic "No, see, he's really a nice guy deep down!" when Star Fighter jumps in front of an energy blast meant for Usagi. Granted, this is a pretty common tactic in this show- Heroic Sacrifices are practically currency here- but still. Seiya gets the same way at the Lights' hideout, and when Taiki & Yaten are like "Hey, we can use the Sailors' war with Galaxia to our advantage, because it distracts Galaxia from us", Seiya's all "SHUT UP!". He points out how those girls put their lives on the line for their galaxy, and "how DARE you take advantage of them! You should be ashamed of yourselves!", but Yaten quickly recovers with "Oh, I see. This is about that girl".

-One particularly funny episode sees an increasingly-large number of people enter Usagi's home- when a number of breakins occur in Usagi's neighborhood, Seiya convinces her to let him stay in her home when she's otherwise alone. This naturally leads to a misunderstanding when Seiya's clothes get messed up and he's forced to take a shower, at which point Ami, Rei, Mako & Minako arrive and spot him traipsing about in a microtowel. Ami passive-aggressively getting angry about it is pretty hilarious... and then things dogpile as the other Sailors all arrive, then a TV crew and villains show up.

-What's funny is Seiya became somewhat popular even in the old fandom for being the alternative to Mamoru, who'd gotten pretty boring as the writers couldn't figure out how to write a relationship in seasons three and four- so Seiya/Mamoru wars were a common thing back in the day. I also distinctly remember Seiya's love of American Football being this huge thing, with Seiya all doing a football stance before the hike- this is particularly funny because that's like... the THIRD EPISODE of the season, and it never once comes up again. So you can tell people kind of just read recaps and saw that one thing good & early, so they focused on it for their "Character Shrines" and stuff like that (God I'm old, I remember Character Shrines). Though it was pretty funny how Seiya embarrasses the whole football team with his evasive skills, then gets DRILLED by their best player. A furious Usagi chides him for being "a big bully", but instead Seiya just pops up like "Hey, nice going!" and the guy congratulates Seiya for evading the rest of his team, and they agree to let him join the squad. Usagi is confused as the two bond over this ass-kickery- a good "Guy Moment" that girls just didn't get.

-Sailor Star Fighter and the other Starlights are PL 10 fighters- each seems to be about equal to the Inner Sailors, and not up to snuff against the Outers. They're good "assist" characters, but never appear to be better than anyone else, unlike the Outers (who are explicitly said to be more powerful). Star Serious Laser is a basic generic laser blast (having two different sets of animation over the course of the show), though has good accuracy (it breaks a spiked microphone being held by a Phage at one point- Improved Smash at its best).

[Batgirl III]

I’m an unrepentant fangirl of the Starlights. Just about everything that their detractors hate about them is actually something that I like about them. There seems to be no middle ground, everyone in the Sailor Moon fandom either hates them or loves them.

I liked the idea of Seiya being a foil to Mamoru. Yes, her aggressiveness towards Usagi was off-putting, but I figured it was supposed to be. She was a smug, self-confident “rock star” figure who just assumed she could have any girl she wanted... Which is a pretty well-established character archetype. Seiya was the “bad boy” romantic lead contrasting Mamoru’s “good guy” steadfast true romance... I think they should have played it up more than they did. The Usagi-Mamoru relationship needed something more to test it than just his annual kidnapping-and-brainwashing weekend.

[Davies]

I’m an unrepentant fangirl of the Starlights. Just about everything that their detractors hate about them is actually something that I like about them. There seems to be no middle ground, everyone in the Sailor Moon fandom either hates them or loves them.=

Not true. I'm indifferent to the characters. The season in which they appeared bored me, mostly, but the characters had good moments.

[sirjolt]

I vaguely remember some show where one of the heroes could turn into a comet.
You’re probably thinking of Kid Comet, from Teen Force, one of Hanna-Barbera’s many space-adventure-superhero shows of the Late Seventies / Early Eighties. It was part of their Space Stars show along with Space Ghost, Herculoids, and what have you.

I remember liking it as a kid, but like most shows from the era, it hasn’t aged well.

Yes! That was it! That's been driving me crazy for a long time now. I had forgotten about that show and that they did crossovers.