I started watching BSSM before the series was aired in North America. I didn't actually watch the entire thing; just random episodes. I was more concerned with hanging out with friends and stuff. So anyway, those episodes I watched really intrigued me. You see, I grew up watching a different kind of cartoon -- a kind that was more oriented toward boys. Let's see... Astroboy, Transformers (I had a crush on Optimus Prime when I was little ^^;), Voltron, Voltes V, and Thundercats were among my favourites. (Btw, I wasn't entirely a tomboy when I was a kid. I liked watching Jem and the Holograms, Rainbow Brite, and Care Bears too.) So anyway, when I first saw Bunny transform into Sailor Moon and fight a monster, I knew I was hooked. As far as I knew, there weren't many kickass heroines in cartoons (I still didn't know the *difference* between cartoon and anime at the time. So sue me. On second thought...) that I'd seen. I knew She-ra was one, of course. Other than that...

When my family moved to Canada, I thought for sure that I wasn't going to see that cool cartoon anymore. Imagine my surprise when in the summer of '95, channel 25 began airing Sailor Moon. I was, like, "Hurrah!" My two cousins started watching it too. And when it became so popular that stores started selling its merchandise, we made sure that we got whatever we could find and afford. We bought stickers, posters, those bubble-thingies... mostly bootlegs/fake stuff that you'd find in Chinatown. (My Mom's friend did give me four DIC videos -- the first eight episodes -- and a bunch of stamps/stickers that had the TOEI logo on them. Unfortunately, I ripped the logos away. Had I known that the stickers were authentic SM stuff, I wouldn't have done that ^^;) Oh yeah, my Aunt also gave each of us a 17 inch Sailor Moon doll. So even though I was a teenager, I felt like a little kid all over again.

So anyway, I wanted to find out more about Sailor Moon. In grades 9 and 10, I was able to, thanks to the internet. My cousin and I printed a lot of pretty SM pictures (most were in black and white) from one of the computer labs at school. We even printed those YKYWTMSMWs and, as you know, there were a lot. Of course, we had to print all those pages after our keyboarding class because if we hadn't, we would've gotten into a lot of trouble. (We weren't supposed to waste the ink.) But we weren't really worried. Not when there were other girls in the room who were printing non-academic (mostly Sanrio) stuff too.

As you can see, I still adore Sailor Moon, the show and the character. I don't care if I'm too old for anime. (Hey, I'm not THAT old, anyway.) I don't think anything will ever change that. But just because I adore Moon doesn't mean I'm obsessed or anything. I mean, so what if my collection has expanded over the years. No biggie. Right?

I bet you're thinking, 'Okay. You like Sailor Moon, the show. I can understand that. But why also the character? Of all the senshi, why her? What's so special about her?'

Simple. Think of Usagi as an onion... or a cake! (Remember Shrek?) She had many layers. She wasn't just a bubblehead who somehow managed to save the world time and time again. She was more than that. She was an extraordinary girl who led an extraordinary life. She was, to put it simply, awesome!

Besides, I tend to like the lead or main characters of practically any show anyway. Don't ask me why. I guess it's just one of my quirks ^^6

Here are some of what I've collected so far: