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Someone explain this one to me
Part of the fun in picking apart a fandom's inconsistencies is that the plot holes then open up the possibilities for fic, meta, and other assorted goodies. I'd written some pretty long articles for AFSM a while back, and they looked in on the parasitic nature of the Silver Crystal (uh, if you haven't caught on by now, this is a Sailor Moon thang). World of possibilities there.
Expanding on that and somewhat bringing in other elements...
* You can't have two of the exact same Silver Crystal in the same time-space UNLESS the owner has changed (which is the only reason why Cosmos and Usagi can exist in the same space, as well as Chibiusa and Usagi, Chibiusa and Chibichibi, etc.)
Read this article on the Cosmos Engima for more on that. It mentions that when Usagi and NQSerenity occupied the same space (Act 20), Usagi started to disappear. Why Usagi and not NQS? Was it because it was Usagi in "foreign" space and not NQS (they were in the 30th century, after all)? Was it because NQS's powers over the Silver Crystal were stronger?
But... then again, NQS didn't really POSSESS the Silver Crystal anymore- the moment Chibiusa stole it, she gained ownership over it (right?). That might have been the defining moment when NQS had to be put in the crystal "tomb" anyway, because she had no power with which to protect herself.
(Note: It's possible Chibiusa didn't officially gain ownership of the Crystal when she "stole" it and it pretty much went "into" her... but by Act 23, she certainly had the 30th Century Silver Crystal, when she was Black Lady. But again, this raises the question: if she becomes the official holder at THAT moment and not when she was given the crystal by NQS to become Sailor Chibi Moon, what happened to NQS? Was THAT the moment she ceased being able to transform? It wasn't the moment she lost her powers altogether, because she's supposedly ALWAYS had powers, with or without the Silver Crystal. But if she lost the ability to transform at that moment, what about her Sailor Crystal, or her lifespan? If the Silver Crystal is what protected her in the crystal tomb, why didn't that fade the moment Black Lady took possession of the Crystal? After all, the moment it changes ownership, the two Crystals can be used simultaneously, which was NECESSARY for the finale of the Black Moon arc. Further, in the manga, there were THREE Crystals-- NQS's, Usagi/Sailor Moon's, and Chibiusa's/Sailor Chibi Moon's. The moment Chibiusa transformed, NQS awoke!)
BUT as we find out in the final arc, the Silver Crystal is Usagi's Sailor Crystal. If that is taken from her, she dies. Presumably, without it, she also loses the ability to transform. But apparently NQS said by the 30th century, she "almost" lost the ability to transform, and "almost" doesn't mean "completely." Furthermore, it can mean
a) she retains some powers even though the Crystal passes onto Chibiusa
b) the Sailor Crystal is within the Silver Crystal, and whenever the Silver Crystal passes onto Chibiusa, the Sailor Crystal, weakened, remains in NQS. Or perhaps whatever "sustainable" life force goes into her, but the Sailor Crystal + the Silver Crystal and all its powers go to Chibiusa, enabling HER to become a Sailor Senshi in the Infinity arc.
(Note: Somewhere in Act 20 -supposedly, I can't find it at the moment- someone says Chibiusa is 900. She stopped aging at 5 years old "mysteriously", but once she officially became a Sailor Senshi, she started aging again, and by the Dream Arc, in the "Chibiusa Picture Diary Hammer Price Shrine," she says she's 902. Appearance-wise, when she first appeared, she looked closer to 8, and by the Dream Arc, when she was in "3rd year of elementary school," if I've translated right, she'd be about 9-10.)
This also implies that Cosmos is an incarnation of Serenity AFTER the Queen-- not before, implying that she was someone that appeared in the 1000 years when the rest of Earth was asleep. Sheer Lunacy's editor thought that perhaps it's an incarnation of Princess Serenity, NOT Usagi. But note, incarnation is NOT the same as "descendant." Basically, it implies that after Neo-Queen Serenity dies, she reincarnates as Cosmos. Considering the Silver Crystal (the power source/mark of an heir to the Silver Millennium AND the Sailor Crystal of whomever calls herself "Sailor Moon") would have been passed down to Chibiusa, then either Cosmos doesn't have the Silver Crystal in that incarnation, or, like I theorized with NQS, she retains some sort of "distant" power over it, or a fragment of its power was internalized within her.
Time paradoxes are a load of fun. Takeuchi made an effort to "update" PGSM (the manga) after the live action aired, but no one site seems to have documented the changes. I never bought all 18 volumes of the original manga, but I have a chunk of them. I've already been able to spot SOME changes-- little things like the "fuku accessories" being added where they weren't before (these would be Mars' jewel on her waistband, Venus' Love-Me chain, and Jupiter's Coconut Cyclone/Flower Hurricane ball-belt... of note is the fact that while they do appear in the revised versions where they didn't in the original, it seems Naoko INTENTIONALLY left them out in the scene where the future!Senshi meet the past!Senshi. The 30th century Senshi DO NOT have the accessories). Nothing MAJOR yet, though.
But I did remember this-- on Neo-Queen Serenity's "tomb," there are Roman numerals. Specifically: MDCCCLXXXII. That's 1882.
WHY 1882!? It makes no sense whatsoever. Someone please, theorize.
-It's not the year she was born
-It's not the year she became Queen
-It's not how long Earth was in the "Sleep" (an interesting question: was Serenity awake during the Sleep? If so, she must have aged. If not, who says she DID age? It's a different story with Chibiusa,
-It seems IMPROBABLE that it's her lifespan (according to King Endymion, "those descended from Silver Millennium family have a lifespan of approximately 1000 years." Not "approximately 2000," which is what 1882 is closer to.
Expanding on that and somewhat bringing in other elements...
* You can't have two of the exact same Silver Crystal in the same time-space UNLESS the owner has changed (which is the only reason why Cosmos and Usagi can exist in the same space, as well as Chibiusa and Usagi, Chibiusa and Chibichibi, etc.)
Read this article on the Cosmos Engima for more on that. It mentions that when Usagi and NQSerenity occupied the same space (Act 20), Usagi started to disappear. Why Usagi and not NQS? Was it because it was Usagi in "foreign" space and not NQS (they were in the 30th century, after all)? Was it because NQS's powers over the Silver Crystal were stronger?
But... then again, NQS didn't really POSSESS the Silver Crystal anymore- the moment Chibiusa stole it, she gained ownership over it (right?). That might have been the defining moment when NQS had to be put in the crystal "tomb" anyway, because she had no power with which to protect herself.
(Note: It's possible Chibiusa didn't officially gain ownership of the Crystal when she "stole" it and it pretty much went "into" her... but by Act 23, she certainly had the 30th Century Silver Crystal, when she was Black Lady. But again, this raises the question: if she becomes the official holder at THAT moment and not when she was given the crystal by NQS to become Sailor Chibi Moon, what happened to NQS? Was THAT the moment she ceased being able to transform? It wasn't the moment she lost her powers altogether, because she's supposedly ALWAYS had powers, with or without the Silver Crystal. But if she lost the ability to transform at that moment, what about her Sailor Crystal, or her lifespan? If the Silver Crystal is what protected her in the crystal tomb, why didn't that fade the moment Black Lady took possession of the Crystal? After all, the moment it changes ownership, the two Crystals can be used simultaneously, which was NECESSARY for the finale of the Black Moon arc. Further, in the manga, there were THREE Crystals-- NQS's, Usagi/Sailor Moon's, and Chibiusa's/Sailor Chibi Moon's. The moment Chibiusa transformed, NQS awoke!)
BUT as we find out in the final arc, the Silver Crystal is Usagi's Sailor Crystal. If that is taken from her, she dies. Presumably, without it, she also loses the ability to transform. But apparently NQS said by the 30th century, she "almost" lost the ability to transform, and "almost" doesn't mean "completely." Furthermore, it can mean
a) she retains some powers even though the Crystal passes onto Chibiusa
b) the Sailor Crystal is within the Silver Crystal, and whenever the Silver Crystal passes onto Chibiusa, the Sailor Crystal, weakened, remains in NQS. Or perhaps whatever "sustainable" life force goes into her, but the Sailor Crystal + the Silver Crystal and all its powers go to Chibiusa, enabling HER to become a Sailor Senshi in the Infinity arc.
(Note: Somewhere in Act 20 -supposedly, I can't find it at the moment- someone says Chibiusa is 900. She stopped aging at 5 years old "mysteriously", but once she officially became a Sailor Senshi, she started aging again, and by the Dream Arc, in the "Chibiusa Picture Diary Hammer Price Shrine," she says she's 902. Appearance-wise, when she first appeared, she looked closer to 8, and by the Dream Arc, when she was in "3rd year of elementary school," if I've translated right, she'd be about 9-10.)
This also implies that Cosmos is an incarnation of Serenity AFTER the Queen-- not before, implying that she was someone that appeared in the 1000 years when the rest of Earth was asleep. Sheer Lunacy's editor thought that perhaps it's an incarnation of Princess Serenity, NOT Usagi. But note, incarnation is NOT the same as "descendant." Basically, it implies that after Neo-Queen Serenity dies, she reincarnates as Cosmos. Considering the Silver Crystal (the power source/mark of an heir to the Silver Millennium AND the Sailor Crystal of whomever calls herself "Sailor Moon") would have been passed down to Chibiusa, then either Cosmos doesn't have the Silver Crystal in that incarnation, or, like I theorized with NQS, she retains some sort of "distant" power over it, or a fragment of its power was internalized within her.
Time paradoxes are a load of fun. Takeuchi made an effort to "update" PGSM (the manga) after the live action aired, but no one site seems to have documented the changes. I never bought all 18 volumes of the original manga, but I have a chunk of them. I've already been able to spot SOME changes-- little things like the "fuku accessories" being added where they weren't before (these would be Mars' jewel on her waistband, Venus' Love-Me chain, and Jupiter's Coconut Cyclone/Flower Hurricane ball-belt... of note is the fact that while they do appear in the revised versions where they didn't in the original, it seems Naoko INTENTIONALLY left them out in the scene where the future!Senshi meet the past!Senshi. The 30th century Senshi DO NOT have the accessories). Nothing MAJOR yet, though.
But I did remember this-- on Neo-Queen Serenity's "tomb," there are Roman numerals. Specifically: MDCCCLXXXII. That's 1882.
WHY 1882!? It makes no sense whatsoever. Someone please, theorize.
-It's not the year she was born
-It's not the year she became Queen
-It's not how long Earth was in the "Sleep" (an interesting question: was Serenity awake during the Sleep? If so, she must have aged. If not, who says she DID age? It's a different story with Chibiusa,
-It seems IMPROBABLE that it's her lifespan (according to King Endymion, "those descended from Silver Millennium family have a lifespan of approximately 1000 years." Not "approximately 2000," which is what 1882 is closer to.
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Also, even when NQS used her crystal... we must remembers in the Stars Arc, her crystal had changed thus that'd mean that her silver crystal would have nothing to do with her life... The crystal that NQS would have would be the Silver Moon Crystal... though the Silver crystal still existed...
THE SMC is what kept her alive... but since Chibi Usa had stolen the future silver crystal... it would have nothing to do with the present silver crystal of Usagi's.
no subject
If, in Stars, Usagi's Crystal changed, then it would still end up being the same as NQS' in the 30th century. And no matter how you dice it, the Silver Crystal *IS* Usagi's Sailor Crystal (or again, the Sailor Crystal is WITHIN the Silver Crystal; the Silver Crystal is what enables her to be Sailor Moon). She had it in her all along, and when she DIDN'T have it, she was unable to transform or use her powers.
Basically, with Cosmos, Cosmos must either have her own generated power-crystal which differentiates HER from "Sailor Moon/Usagi" the precious incarnation, and either the Sailor Crystal was separated from the Silver Crystal or Cosmos got a new one somehow (possibly from the paradox Usagi created when she jumped into the Cauldron, thereby restarting the Cauldron's life cycle and the birth of stars, including Sailor Crystals). Also, genealogy isn't mentioned much in Sailor Moon, but it's not explained why Chibiusa had her OWN Pink Moon Crystal and her OWN Sailor Crystal, rather than one passed down by NQS (which would make sense, since NQS supposedly loses her abilities as a Sailor Senshi not long after she becomes Queen). It doesn't explain what happens to the 30th Century Crystal *after* NQS dies. Why would Chibiusa need it, if she's got her own? And where does the Sailor Crystal go, or did it "transfer" into Chibiusa and thereby PREVENT Usagi from ever becoming Sailor Moon again? Since it IS shown that by taking away the Silver Crystal/the Sailor Crystal, a Senshi dies, something else must have kept NQS alive past that point. It could have been the Silver Crystal, if the Sailor Crystal was indeed passed on, but again, how does that explain how NQS lived as she did anyway-- why would she have a lifespan at all if the Silver Crystal kept her alive when she "shouldn't have been"? Thus, there must be something more than just the Silver Crystal and/or the Sailor Crystal that has a tie to her lifeline, as something has to happen to that 30th century crystal that still allows her to die, Chibiusa to become the next Sailor Moon, and Chibiusa to continue wielding her own crystal.