Quote:Well, it's not like the creators bothered to create a cohesive system of magical physics--it's all based on Need and Love. Pretty much anything beyond observed effects is fair game for fandom.
I think the objects are more focuses than power supplies, and it's not so much that the upgrades give them more abilities, but that the previous versions could no longer keep up with their users. Certainly there's something special about the girls that make it necessary for them to be the wielders and not just the first J. Random Schoolgirl Luna found who looked like she could fit into the fuku -- there is something that Luna can detect which says "senshi" to her. (Otherwise Naru would've gotten a henshin stick, if only to let her self-medicate that nasty youma infestation she seems cursed with.) It only stands to reason that whatever quality says "senshi" is also the ability to tap and manipulate planetary power. Otherwise there would be false positives -- and false negatives. And to the best of my knowledge, there's never been anything like that in SM.
But what do I know? I'm dreadfully ignorant about anything other than the first season anime.
And, while I agree that Usagi is the only person who could be Serenity, who's to say that the new Senshi had to be the same souls who were the Senshi in the Moon Kingdom? Maybe Luna and Pluto are simply Moon Kingdom elitists--or anti-Earth bigots--and were looking for "the old Senshi", rather than "anyone who could be a Senshi". Granted, the theory kind of falls apart with Saturn's semi-spontaneous awakening, but that can be explained away as Pluto doing...Plutoish things. ("Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.")
Just a thought--even if it's not one I believe.