In the Death Busters arc the bad guys were gathering hostes to supply to Pharaoh 90, then in the Stars arc Galaxia is actively collecting star seeds. It seems to me hostes and star seeds have a lot in common, in that they are a person's core, their soul, and have a lot of potential power, especially for senshi. Also, it seems when a hoste or star seed is removed there's usually severe consequences for its owner. Chibi-Usa was medically dead after Mistress 9 ripped away her hoste/crystal, and we know that a sailor crystal is also a star seed. Since Pharaoh 90 is a fragment of Chaos, it's possible then that they were after the same thing, just using different terminology.

What do you guys think?

(I'm stuck in an airport and my flight has been delayed for three hours, so to pass the time my brain started punting this question around...Apologies if this has been discussed in the past.)

Honestly? I think that might actually be correct.  I think there's also a difference in what they wanted them for and why- but yeah, it's about the same. 

I think the way the Death busters secure hostes is different than how they were done during the Star arcs.  It seems actually way more delicate and less invasive than what the Animates did which was way more brute force and brutal.  

And that might have more to do with the leaders of the respective groups than anything else. (off topic but it's an interesting contrast)

 Yeah, I think it's the same thing but different terminology.  Which makes sense. We don't know how well the Death Busters know about Sailor Crystals or Starseeds to being with and if they didn't have the word 'star seed' available to them, they would've found a different word. 

Much like how the term 'star seed' didn't get introduced until the Star arc. The only inkling we have is Usagi talking about Q. Serenity and how she said everyone had a star inside them but not necessarily the word.

Which makes you wonder if Q. Serenity knew the term or had a different word for it as well.