Venus Star Power, Make Up

This is the second of the change-phrases Minako Aino speaks to take on her Sailor Venus form, and it appears in the printed story, the 90s broadcast, and the Crystal series alike. Where the debut call leaned on a Transformation Pen, this one draws its power from the Star Power Stick. Its earliest showings land in the seventeenth chapter of the comic, the episode built around the Minako and Makoto rivalry, and the fifteenth installment of Crystal. From here it is later upgraded, becoming Venus Planet Power, Make Up in the manga and Crystal and Venus Crystal Power, Make Up in the anime.

The comic keeps the moment brief. Minako lifts the Star Power Stick into the air and the Sailor Venus form arrives at once, with no drawn-out staging.

The 90s animation gives it far more flourish. She extends a hand, a stream of yellow stars whirls around it and settles onto her fingernails, tinting them gold or a yellow-orange. The Star Power Stick then materializes and spins, and as she closes her grip on it the Venus emblem set inside the star starts to rotate. Holding the stick aloft, she releases long banners of golden stars that wrap her body into a spiral, sink into the ground, and rush back up to cover her completely before she settles into her finishing pose.

The Crystal version reuses the earlier Venus Power, Make Up staging almost exactly, the one difference being that Minako channels it through the Star Power Stick rather than her pen.

Only Minako Aino, as Sailor Venus, performs this transformation. The DiC English dub of the R season stitched in footage lifted from the earlier Venus Power, Make Up sequence, and in the CWi dub of episode 92 the line was voiced as Venus Crystal Power rather than Venus Star Power.