Mercury Star Henshin Turnaround

Originally I had planned on only making the models of Sailor Moon's scepters, but then I started thinking about all the senshi-their weapons and their henshin sticks. So I thought since I made Sailor Moon's second scepter, it only seemed fair to make the Inner Senshi's henshin sticks. I had quite a time building this sucker too! While the wand itself isn't complication, that damn little gold piece that sits over the little heart shape at the base of the star was a bitch to make. I can not tell you the horror it was to punch the holes into that thing and then to sit there and have to re-tyopologize! I spent the majority of my time of that freakin' piece! But I finally got it! I took some liberties with the materials since their isn't really an official prop for the henshin sticks. I decided to use the same metallic finish for the wand's base that I gave the Cutie Rod and then gave the inner heart shape a lighter tone and increased the reflectivity so it would have a glossy shine to it versus a metallic shine. I opted to make the gold finish less yellow and more beige to help make the colors of the wands pop-I had to keep in mind that I could not make the gold finish too yellow or orange because of Venus' colors. I really, really wanted to make the little spheres hanging along the star the color of the heart shape, but ultimately decided to stick to the original renderings of the wands.

I had a bit of trouble getting the depth and overall shape of the upper part of wand; I had to use a comparison between the manga, fanart renderings of the manga styled wands, the official turnaround for SMC wands, and even went back periodically to watch the original animation sequences of the inner senshi to judge the depth of the pieces on the wand. I ended up having to give the star shape at the top a thicker depth in order to preserve the shape (the little heart piece's rounded top was obstructing the view of the star).

Despite the run-around this project gave me I rather enjoyed making it and feel very proud that I was able to make them! Onto the next project!


Time: 2 Days
Tools: Maya 2015, Photoshop CS4, and Sailor Mars Henshin Stick Toy


References:
Sailor Moon Crystal Star Power Turnaround:
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/s…

FluffyBlueSheep's Fanart:
www.deviantart.com/art/Transfo…

Original Anime Star Wand Design:
31.media.tumblr.com/aaca51ca57…

Sailor Mercury Henshin Stick Toy:
www.toysonfire.ca/i/42998_2029…

SM Cutie Rod Turnaround: fav.me/db58cen
Mars Star Henshin Turnaround: fav.me/db7tivv
Jupiter Star Henshin Turnaround: fav.me/db7tonx
Venus Star Henshin Turnaround: fav.me/db7tpdx