Mercury Vs. Neptune

[PowerPC]

I am new here and I wanted to express something that most people never point out about Mercury. HER STRENGTH! As I cruise the web trying to find an accurate representation of the Senshi of Ice I find nothing more then people making compensations for her so called lack of power especially in the wake of Neptune. I am writing this to dispell that myth and point out just how powerful Mercury really is. Most people never focus on the fact that Mercury other then Saturn seems to be the only senshi who holds back her power until fully needed. Mercury is the champion of knowledge it is her asset as a result she uses her powers wisely and keeps their full potential hidden almost like a surprise element. Yes even her bubbles are very powerful. Most of the time when Mercury uses Shabon Spray she creates a cold and blinding fog effectively stopping her enemies in their tracks dazed and confused allowing Sailor Moon to destroy them with one direct blast but that isn't even the full potential of Shabon Spray as seen in the SailorMoon S movie Mercury can use the bubbles to stop the progression of her enemies and hold them back as she did just in time to save Makato when she stopped the snow demon things and held them in place using only Shabon Spray. I know her bubbles can freeze but that is an entirely seperate power. Now most people get confused when the think of Mercury because her powers are water based so naturally they assume she is the guardian senshi of Water which is simply untrue Mercury only has one attack that really only revolves around water and that is Mercury Aqua Mirage all others are freezing attacks which makes sense because Mercury is and always has been the Senshi of Ice hence the ice blue hair eyes and suit. Neptune is the Senshi of Water that is why her power drowns people or melts them. Shine Aqua Illusion is an extremely powerful attack which freezes Mercury's enemies in a solid block of ice and even then she kept that a secret. The other Senshi were completely flabbergasted when Mercury who was on her way to Germany came back in the nick of time and froze everything in sight saving the other senshi from certain doom. They had always assumed Mercury was weak which is the exact persona she gives off so that she can surprise people when she needs to. We all know when push comes to shove Mercury can really save the lot of them. The Aqua Harp is a powered up version of Shine Aqua illusion and can freeze with great strength. Mercury fits her role perfectly and demonstrates just how valuable the ice senshi can be with her multitude of powers. As for Sailor Neptune she is powerful in her own right she controls the element of water and is a great asset to the team. I would say that if Mercury were to fight Neptune it would be a draw. They already demonstrated that figuratively with the small swimming contest they had in which Mercury and Neptune swam with equal strength. Mercury's offensize attack is Aqua Mirage in which she shoots hundreds of streams of water at her enemy which once they come in contact with them turns the enemy into water and then explodes in a massive wave of water. Neptune's offensive attack is Deep Submerge where she takes water from the sea and transforms it in a huge ball of water energy. I submit that were Neptune to blast this ball of water at Mercury, Mercury could use Aqua Mirage to counteract Deep Submerge because once all those streams of water hit that ball the streams would explode and so would the ball and even though it would create a massive exposion of water like none ever seen on both sides neither of the two senshi would be harmed. I suppose if Mercury was older and a bit more into her powers abilities she could also probably use the Aqua Harp to freeze the ball in it's tracks. I think instead of putting Neptune against Mercury and saying she is the better senshi of water they should look at things for what they are realize Mercury is the senshi of ice and recognize her for just how powerful she really is in her own niche just like Neptune is the powerful senshi of water Mercury is the powerful senshi of ice. I think if Neptune teamed up with Mercury they could use their powers to cause significant damage imagine Neptune blasting someone with deep submerge surrounding them with water and then Mercury freezing it solid. It would be spectacular teamwork. After all think if Mercury can freeze a huge monster with a small drop and the ripple effect it causes think of what she can do with more. Remember Mercury only collects a small amount of water but that amount usually quadruples in size if not more when it surrounds her enemies and then causes them to freeze in an iceberg of Mercury's doing. So I think people should stop compensating for Mercury she needs none she is just as powerful as the rest of them in her own powers and she has saved the group on more then one occasion from total defeat!

[Sailor Venus]

PowerPC I like the way you think but may I suggest breaking apart your post into paragraphs? Reading one huge clump is hard...and if I lose my place for a second I can't find where I am again XD.

As I cruise the web trying to find an accurate representation of the Senshi of Ice

Sailor Mercury is the senshi of Water (stated in PGSM). Sailor Neptune would be more...the senshi of the Sea/Deep Water. "Mizuno" is a pun for "of water". And Kaioh means Sea King. Sailor Mercury's domain is like water in general, (even though...yes a lot of her attacks are ice but officially she's water) and Neptune is more "sea-ish". You get it after being a Sailor Moon fan for a while XD.

What I think:
Sailor Mercury=Blue Water
Sailor Neptune=Green Water
That's totallyyy wrong but hahas. That's how I remember it.

I am writing this to dispell that myth and point out just how powerful Mercury really is.

Even though you like Mercury a lot...Neptune is always going to be stronger...because its stated. Neptune in part of the Outer Senshi and was granted stronger powers than the Inner Senshi. Its all there...stated.

Most people never focus on the fact that Mercury other then Saturn seems to be the only senshi who holds back her power until fully needed.

Huh wha? Huh? When did Saturn hold back her power? XD

The other Senshi were completely flabbergasted when Mercury who was on her way to Germany came back in the nick of time and froze everything in sight saving the other senshi from certain doom. They had always assumed Mercury was weak which is the exact persona she gives off so that she can surprise people when she needs to.

Uh...I don't think the other senshi think that Sailor Mercury is weak...I think they were just suprised because I mean everyone thought she was going to Germany and...then she appeared. So yea XD.

I would say that if Mercury were to fight Neptune it would be a draw. They already demonstrated that figuratively with the small swimming contest they had in which Mercury and Neptune swam with equal strength. Mercury's offensize attack is Aqua Mirage in which she shoots hundreds of streams of water at her enemy which once they come in contact with them turns the enemy into water and then explodes in a massive wave of water. Neptune's offensive attack is Deep Submerge where she takes water from the sea and transforms it in a huge ball of water energy. I submit that were Neptune to blast this ball of water at Mercury, Mercury could use Aqua Mirage to counteract Deep Submerge because once all those streams of water hit that ball the streams would explode and so would the ball and even though it would create a massive exposion of water like none ever seen on both sides neither of the two senshi would be harmed. I suppose if Mercury was older and a bit more into her powers abilities she could also probably use the Aqua Harp to freeze the ball in it's tracks. I think instead of putting Neptune against Mercury and saying she is the better senshi of water they should look at things for what they are realize Mercury is the senshi of ice and recognize her for just how powerful she really is in her own niche just like Neptune is the powerful senshi of water Mercury is the powerful senshi of ice.

That's interesting. Mercury WOULD be able to freeze that darn Deep Submerge. I don't know though because what if her freezing powers backfire? Like it only freezes the front part of the wave, and then the back part still has momentum and sends BOTH ice and water crashing towards Sailor Mercury? (Deep Submerge is more of a tidal wave then a ball...in the manga it is...). Anyway, Neptune is stronger than Mercury because she was granted stronger powers as an Outer Senshi.

But if you factor in intelligence, luck...who knows?

So I think people should stop compensating for Mercury she needs none she is just as powerful as the rest of them in her own powers and she has saved the group on more then one occasion from total defeat!

All the senshi are powerful ^^ (Venus is the best though...ok I'm sorry lol). But Neptune still is stronger than Mercury because she's an Outer Senshi.

The Aqua Harp is a powered up version of Shine Aqua illusion and can freeze with great strength.

Stars=Episode 171 (172 is Venus ^^) When Aqua Rhapsody was blasted back at Mercury you saw she was attacked with sparkling water...not ice. Mercury didn't get frozen so Aqua Rhapsody and Aqua Mirage are water attacks.

[PowerPC]

Yeah sorry I have a habit of writing one big clump.

I see what you are saying about Mercury (By the way I have never seen PGSM so I wouldn't have that knowledge to work with), I can understand your point in general Water because it does seem to be that Mercury has the ability to control Water in all of it's states whther it is a solid liquid or Gas.

My point with the Aqua Harp is that even though Mercury is shot with water I suspect she could change it's state to her liking because in the same episode Uranus was knocked over by World Shaking but we know that is not it's real effect so rather Mercury may have chosen to leave the stream in it's first state as it hit her. My grounds for that is Ami can leave Shine Aqua Illusion as a blast of just icy cold water if needed.Such as in the movie hearts in ice when Mercury simple used Aqua Illusion as a water attack that was icy cold. All her attacks start off small and just seem to become much bigger as the finale occurs. In the movie when Mercury used Aqua Illusion to freeze the spider monster (sorry name eludes me) She left it as a simple stream of cold water then it surrounded the monster and tripled in size them formed a huge column of water that left the monster an ice berg.

My real original point is the fact that Mercury due to Neptune is somehow degraded, perhaps I was bad at communicating, it was late and I had like no time. Mercury seems to have the ability to take a small amount of water and at the final phase of her attack make it just exponentially increase take aqua mirage she starts out with a small ball of water and then next thing you know there is an explosion and a wave of water not unlike Deep Submerge in size although to be fair Mercury's water seems to be fresh water and not salt water.

I think it is sad that with the creation of Neptune everyone looks down on Mercury when in fact she really is powerful as heck. Consider this, yes Neptune's main attack is stronger on a single scale then Mercury's, however, as with all the inner senshi she has many more powers then Neptune. The outers are stronger but limited the inners are weaker but aren't as limited. Neptunes attacks are less then that of Mercury's even if you count the Manga attack of Violin Tide. Mercury still comes out with two or three more attacks. With Mercury's superior intellect and the fact that she could easily combine her different attacks for one common outcome she is just as strong a warrior as Neptune. Neptune has Deep Submerge and her weaker attack Submarine Reflection which is basically an attack to show the general area of weakness on an opponent Mercury can calculate it to a precise coordinate.

I would like to see what would happen if Mercury and Neptune were on a frozen planet where no sea existed. I think Mercury would have the upper hand because she can control water in all three of it's states. Whereas Neptune must have it in liquid form. So I could accept that Mercury is the controller of water and that Neptune is infact the controller of the sea. However certain characteristics nullify the fact that Neptune is indeed more powerful. To have just power is not always a good thing :-D. Especially considering there seems to be a lack of cooperation on the outer part. All the inners seem to be great friends and always stick together the outers don't exhibit this all the time. Yes they can combine their powers a little but not as well as the inner senshi. The inner senshi can combine their powers for loads of effects.

So I accept the designation that Mercury is the senshi of Water but Mercury seems to be very fond of her icy abilities. Especially considering that even in the RPG she is associated with ice and snow. Maybe the real distinction is that Mercury is fresh water and Neptune is salt water.

[Suigin]

gah, too much reading!! I actually read somewhere(don't know where..) that Mercury's attacks are more of a cold water type of thing. Kinda like their at such a low temperture that when they hit the enemy it automatically freezes. In truth Mercury's attacks are meant more defensive than offensive. To change that I think the water would actually have to be frozen like icicles(thus stabbing the enemy, which , depending on the size of the icicle, could cause massive amounts of damage.) While her attacks are okay offensive, they are meant to be defensive. So, technically, Neptune beats her offensivly, but defensivly Mercury would win easily.
Oh yeah, On the Saturn thing, her attacks are also defensive, except for that one she tried to use against Nehelainia, which is really friggin powerful, but in the process kills her, which is why she doesn't use it.
(woah, now I feel like a SM fanatic..)

[yatenkou]

Mercury is more of a defensive character. Anyone who's played Another Story has probably realized that even in the anime and manga Mercury's attacks are mainly for defensive purposes.

Neptune is definately an offensive/support "magic" (though i hate to use that word) character.

I completely agree with Sailor Venus in saying, no matter how much one may love Mercury she will never be as powerful as Neptune because Neptune is an outer senshi.

It's my belief that Mercury's strength does not lie in the "power" aspect but in the defensive aspect.

[Creshosk]

Yaten said:

Mercury is more of a defensive character. Anyone who's played Another Story has probably realized that even in the anime and manga Mercury's attacks are mainly for defensive purposes.

Neptune is definately an offensive/support "magic" (though i hate to use that word) character.

I completely agree with Sailor Venus in saying, no matter how much one may love Mercury she will never be as powerful as Neptune because Neptune is an outer senshi.

It's my belief that Mercury's strength does not lie in the "power" aspect but in the defensive aspect.

Yup. Sailor Mercuries most powerful weapon is her brain.

Adding on to what Silor Venus, Suigen, and Yaten Kou said:

I don't know where all this ICE business comes from. Mercury is the senshi of water, all forms of water, be it ice, water or a vapor form of mist.

She is tied to the planet Mercury, which is suisei which means "water star".

Neptune is tied to the planet Neptune which is Kaiousei in japanese or "Sea king star"

You can plainly see that Mercury is water, and Neptune is the sea.

There are two types of fans, those that put the thing they are a fan of up on a pedistal and make them out to be greater than they really are.

And others that recognize the weaknesses of what they are a fan of and this helps them to understand the thing they are a fan of even better than the first type.

Mercury is not the strongest, but I woudln't have it any other way.

[yatenkou]

Creshosk said:

Mercury is not the strongest, but I woudln't have it any other way.

Agreed. Mercury's lack of strength allows for her impressive brainpower. Having a character that is the SMARTEST, the MOST POWERFULEST, the PRETTIEST, and the BESTEST does not make for a very interesting character.

You see Naoko tried characters with hardly any faults in the manga with the Sailor StarLights and really they turned out bland. (I mean Yaten wasn't nearly as mean in the manga as he was in the series - he's mean because it makes him more interesting). OF COURSE this is not saying that she was getting overwhelmed by the amount of characters she had produced and just simply didn't have the output left for the StarLights.

Anyway enough ranting, Mercury is not strong for a reason - she's the smart one. StarMaker is incredibly passive, somewhat apathetic, and according to some people, incredibly boring - he's a smart one too.

You have to make trade offs with characters otherwise it's just not fun.

[wiltedflower]

My thoughts are that you need a good defense to have a tactful offense. That's just how I think of it, I remember when they were airing the English verisions on television Mercury's powerful attacks most because you only saw them a few times. I don't really recall the others. She has it in her, but choses to use her brain and solve problems other ways -- still by no means is the strongest, which is why there were groups and why the entire saga was set up the way it was.

[mishu18]

I read most of the messages and like to say that you are forgeting mercury's attack "Mercury Aqua Mirage!" from SuperS special: Ami-chan no Hatsukoi (Amy's First Love) i've never seen it because in Romania there were not broadcasted the specials , but i've found out about it form the net
From what i've read she only uses this attack only in this special episode.

[mishu18]

I think this is her most powerful attack, but i don't understand why didn't she used it later when she was battleing Sailor Galaxia (not that it could make a very big diference, but still...)

[mishu18]

And one more thing in a battle with Neptune it's a medim chance that Mercury will lose, because her attacks, being defensive, they can't last for long and i think that Neptune has more energy than Mercury. And when Mercury's energy runs out Neptune will still be able to attack her and knock her down.

[xyie]

I love Mercury nd she's my fave. But im with the others as much as ilove Mercury, Neptune is really way stronger than her esp when it comes to power. SailorMercury actually uses her brain and analyzes things first before attacking.

[PowerPC]

I really appreciate everyone's input on the subject matter. I would also like to say that I most definitely agree with everyone, I understand Mercury is More defense than offense I am not disputing that fact.

However I don't think anyone got what I was truly trying to say. My original point which still stands is that there is no need for Mercury to stand in the shadow of Neptune.

Mercury's power's of Water control are first of all more complex than Neptune's. Mercury can create water whereas Neptune manipulates the sea which is an already standing body of water.

The Outer Senshi's attacks are indeed more powerful on an individual basis. However Mercury's intellect is far superior then all the other's including Neptune's. Using her analyzing skills she definitely could combine her attacks to beat anyone.

Imagine her in a battle with anyone. The first thing Mercury would do is turn on her visor and then use Shabon Spray. This would create no visibility for her opponent.

She has a number of options at this point. She could calculate her opponent's weak point and attack with Aqua Rhapsody, Aqua Mirage, Aqua Illusion, Snow Illusion. She definitely has the power to manipulate water in all of it's states, be that a solid, liquid or gas.

Your Mercury's opponent, you can't see where you are standing and you are now totally confused and disoriented. Suddenly Mercury attacks with Shine Snow Illusion You are now blinded and if not frozen literally you are certainly finding it hard to move around from the cold.

Mercury then uses Aqua Mirage and you explode in a ball of water you are now dead. OR Mercury attacks with the Aqua Harp and you are thrown back by the pressurized stream of water you hit concrete or a wall and are either knocked unconscious or you cracked your head open.

My argument is for Mercury's potential which everyone seems to overlook especially next to Neptune. All of Mercury's attacks require great intellect and skill to execute effectively which is why Mercury's brain is her strongest asset. I do not think it is fitting to say Mercury is a weak senshi of Water and Neptune is a strong senshi of Water. Attack power does not translate into actual strength. I am not saying Mercury has more power than Neptune I am saying that she has great potential and nobody gives her credit out in the internet for her actual strength. Instead choosing to call her the weakest senshi all because of how the anime portrayed her. After all and Ami should know this since she is so into science everything on this Earth is only as strong as it's weakest point and Mercury has the intelligence to exploit that.

[Pila Flammae, Vola]

It's very late here (00:10) and I apologise for posting it in a two year old thread but I feel inclined to write this post:

On why everyone seems to think that because Michiru has more attack strength than Ami and thus have the advantage, see below:

"In warfare, first lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle; if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured."

The Art of War, part four, tactical dispositions. Sun Tzu

In short: Brute strength applied without careful planning is doomed to fail. A meticulously planned pinprick on the other hand may alter the course of anything.

Which is what Mercury does all the time (as far as I have gone through youtube-videos). Usually, an outer senshi attack starts immediately and seemingly thoughtlessly launches their "energy" balls (I know thats only the anime, but I haven't got access to the manga). Mercury starts off with blinding the foe, plan the attack and then destroy it (or so is my impression, correct me if wrong).

Thus, pure brute attack strength is not everything.

Pila

[margalicious]

I'm getting lost reading a clamp! For me, Mercury is more powerful because her character is defensive. But I'm not pointing out that Venus is weak.