HATSUNE MIKU EXPO 2021 Online
- Thread starter cafenurse
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I have to question someone who has gotten to a point in their life where they need a dedicated bag to hold their glowsticks.
I love the idea of that new glowstick--it looks like it's not the usual lightstick, but kind of a cone-shaped handle with a globe on the end, with continents and everything. That's really different from anything we've had before, but it's so cool how it fits with the concert's overall theme.
Do you think the kimono is different from the happis in anything other than the print? They look to be basically the same shape, except the kimono's sleeves are a little thinner.
I wonder why the glowstick cover seems to reference a rabbit, too? The concert's in spring, so it can't be about Yukine. I guess June is still spring, astronomically speaking, until June 21, and in North America, at least, rabbits are associated with spring. Or is there something in Japanese culture relating rabbits to June/early summer?
Do you think the kimono is different from the happis in anything other than the print? They look to be basically the same shape, except the kimono's sleeves are a little thinner.
I wonder why the glowstick cover seems to reference a rabbit, too? The concert's in spring, so it can't be about Yukine. I guess June is still spring, astronomically speaking, until June 21, and in North America, at least, rabbits are associated with spring. Or is there something in Japanese culture relating rabbits to June/early summer?
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I wonder if they are a globe, or it they are flat like one of these.
As near as I can tell, the kimono is longer than the happi.
In Japan rabbits are associated with the moon.
As near as I can tell, the kimono is longer than the happi.
In Japan rabbits are associated with the moon.
The kimono is longer than happis. The Miku event happis are always 80cm in length, the kimono is most likely 120cm, same as the Digital Stars 2020 kimono
The glow"stick" seems to be a globe, just look at the glow"stick" cover, it's spherical
While a globe shaped glow"stick" is an interesting choice, it's not the most practical thing to carry around, and most likely will be dimmer than normal penlights.
Thank you!
Mm, I guess there could be a moon-Earth thing going on.... I have sort of a hunch that the concert will make reference to a rabbit somehow, and maybe the glowstick cover shape will make more sense then.
That's my assessment, too.
True enough. That makes the glowstick bag somewhat more logical. Though honestly, half the impetus behind the concert being online would be due to the pandemic, I'd think, so assuming you're viewing from home, you have no real need to take your glowstick anywhere. Though having looked at all the neat merch, I found myself wishing that I could get together with a number of other fans and enjoy the concert together.... The bag might make a good investment for a future year, if there were future online events and people got together in each others' homes or at smaller meet-ups around the world.
Goods preorders started
Personally not going to buy anything I think. In general I've never been too interested in Miku Expo merch, and the art this time isn't prompting me to buy anything (ryota's main visual is nice, but the costume is a bit silly looking, and I'm not a fan of the other art either), so I'll save my money for something else.
Also damn that penlight is expensive!
Personally not going to buy anything I think. In general I've never been too interested in Miku Expo merch, and the art this time isn't prompting me to buy anything (ryota's main visual is nice, but the costume is a bit silly looking, and I'm not a fan of the other art either), so I'll save my money for something else.
Also damn that penlight is expensive!
Those prices... sure are something.
I won't lie, I'm pretty dissapointed - I had already planned on buying a few things and questioned if I should pick some extras because I LOVE the sub-visuals, even considered on picking up the lightorb but it's... double the amount of a regular one? So, as of now I might not buy anything and just stick with the merch from the kickstarter.
It's ironic that it's made more difficult for international buyers to purchase considering the theme of the Expo, didn't they have US and UK shops? I don't know, maybe it has something to do with their partnership with Hobbystock, but still; only EMS and Fedex shipping from Japan, shipping costs per item instead of order, something about being done through Amazon for Int. buyers? (I haven't looked much into that tbh) It's too much...
It's specially bittersweet considering how much the fandom rose for the project - of course I'm aware that making merch isn't cheap, but it does feel they hiked the price a bit much? I saw people saying they should have let backers have a discount or something, that would have been a nice thought but I guess the merch is something totally different.
Though does this confirm the button badges from the kickstarter will feature Tigera's art? It'd make sense... Though I wish we could have chosen what acrylic stand we wanted. Sadly I do not care about the main visual and I guess that's what we gonna get... Argh, I might give in, need to resist
I don't know, maybe I'm being too negative D:
I won't lie, I'm pretty dissapointed - I had already planned on buying a few things and questioned if I should pick some extras because I LOVE the sub-visuals, even considered on picking up the lightorb but it's... double the amount of a regular one? So, as of now I might not buy anything and just stick with the merch from the kickstarter.
It's ironic that it's made more difficult for international buyers to purchase considering the theme of the Expo, didn't they have US and UK shops? I don't know, maybe it has something to do with their partnership with Hobbystock, but still; only EMS and Fedex shipping from Japan, shipping costs per item instead of order, something about being done through Amazon for Int. buyers? (I haven't looked much into that tbh) It's too much...
It's specially bittersweet considering how much the fandom rose for the project - of course I'm aware that making merch isn't cheap, but it does feel they hiked the price a bit much? I saw people saying they should have let backers have a discount or something, that would have been a nice thought but I guess the merch is something totally different.
Though does this confirm the button badges from the kickstarter will feature Tigera's art? It'd make sense... Though I wish we could have chosen what acrylic stand we wanted. Sadly I do not care about the main visual and I guess that's what we gonna get... Argh, I might give in, need to resist
I don't know, maybe I'm being too negative D:
Everything is being made-to-order, so it is all being done in small batches. It appears that each item is being shipped directly from whichever business manufactured it, rather than all of it getting shipped to the company in Japan and then sent out from there to all the customers.
I assume the globe glowstick is expensive because they're not expecting to sell a couple hundred thousand of them like they do at regular concerts. So the manufacturing cost is spread over fewer items.
Several Japanese companies only ship via FedEx, and I've tried to find information on why. The only thing I've found is that FedEx has better tracking data than alternatives? I don't know, maybe there are reliability issues. Reminds me of how it seems like everything shipped by British Royal Mail looks like it's been thrown off the back of a truck a few times.
I'm ordering the wallscroll. It's hard to go wrong with that. I'm not out of room on my walls yet.
I assume the globe glowstick is expensive because they're not expecting to sell a couple hundred thousand of them like they do at regular concerts. So the manufacturing cost is spread over fewer items.
Several Japanese companies only ship via FedEx, and I've tried to find information on why. The only thing I've found is that FedEx has better tracking data than alternatives? I don't know, maybe there are reliability issues. Reminds me of how it seems like everything shipped by British Royal Mail looks like it's been thrown off the back of a truck a few times.
I'm ordering the wallscroll. It's hard to go wrong with that. I'm not out of room on my walls yet.
So, the merchandise itself isn't particularly expensive (apart from the penglobelight). The prices are in line with other concert merchandise prices like Magical Mirai goods.
The international shipping costs seem weird, amazon wants you to buy everything one by one and charge shipping separately for each item.
Now,I'm just throwing this idea out there, but it might be worth considering using a forwarding service like Tenso, since Hobby Stock only charges a flat 550 yen shipping fee within Japan (free shipping for orders over 10 000 yen). And Hobby Stock's own online shop seems to let you buy multiple items in the same order. Of course you have to pay the international shipping to the forwarding service, but depending on what and how much you order it might be cheaper than from Hobby Stock's Amazon store.
The international shipping costs seem weird, amazon wants you to buy everything one by one and charge shipping separately for each item.
Now,I'm just throwing this idea out there, but it might be worth considering using a forwarding service like Tenso, since Hobby Stock only charges a flat 550 yen shipping fee within Japan (free shipping for orders over 10 000 yen). And Hobby Stock's own online shop seems to let you buy multiple items in the same order. Of course you have to pay the international shipping to the forwarding service, but depending on what and how much you order it might be cheaper than from Hobby Stock's Amazon store.
Hm, this is interesting--apparently the penlights fit the luminescence standards for the usual penlights, so you will be able to bring them to other concerts in the future. Kind of a departure from the norm, since I think they're usually somewhat picky about which lights you can bring, but this does make these new penlights more useful for the future. Kind of a neat merch item, too--you'd be sort of different, having a distinctively "Online Expo" penlight.
Also, there's been some discussion about getting items shipped together from Hobby Stock's page on Amazon JP. Not having tried it, I've no idea if it helps, but it's probably worth reviewing:
Also, there's been some discussion about getting items shipped together from Hobby Stock's page on Amazon JP. Not having tried it, I've no idea if it helps, but it's probably worth reviewing:
Official Miku concert penlights are always ok to bring in regardless of year or shape. The only thing that matters is that they're not too bright.
I doubt many would actually bring these Expo penlights to, say Magical Mirai. They're so large that it's kind of impractical to carry them around. Judging from the merchandise pictures, the penlight carrying bag can only hold one penlight. Having two penlights is a must of you're a seasoned concert goer. Since normal penlights are easy to carry in just about anywhere, the globe penlight will probably be just a one-time only novelty item. It's nice they're trying new things with the official goods though.
I bough this year's Magical Mirai Happi and it was cheaper than these ones - while prices can differ due multiple reasons Magical Mirai did not have a fundraiser behind it, one that made more than 200% of its goal, while also having the shortest setlist so far. I think we are allowed to feel displeased, there's a lot of factors so It's a weird feeling :s
(It also seems like the wall scroll is also double the price of Miku Expo 2020, for example)
Although I didn't mention it I did consider getting a forwarding service but it seems an extra layer of unthoughtfulness to make the International fans to go through the hassle of getting a forwarder/proxy when they happily wave the new, twice as expensive, lightorb in the shape of the earth to show unity orz
Overall it seems it's been poorly thought, I don't know - maybe they'll truly surpise us with what they do with the concert itself, afterall we aren't obligated to buy the merch, but it has been stopping people from buying despite wanting to support them.
(It also seems like the wall scroll is also double the price of Miku Expo 2020, for example)
Although I didn't mention it I did consider getting a forwarding service but it seems an extra layer of unthoughtfulness to make the International fans to go through the hassle of getting a forwarder/proxy when they happily wave the new, twice as expensive, lightorb in the shape of the earth to show unity orz
Overall it seems it's been poorly thought, I don't know - maybe they'll truly surpise us with what they do with the concert itself, afterall we aren't obligated to buy the merch, but it has been stopping people from buying despite wanting to support them.
Well, I did a small comparison of the merchandise prices compared to past events
Magical Mirai happi was 400 yen less than these expo happis, Mirai tapestries were 300 yen cheaper and Mirai muffler towel 150 yen cheaper. T-shirts exactly the same price, and on the flipside, expo cap is 650 yen cheaper than Mirai cap. So all in all they're very much in the same price range. Mirai merch is overall a tiny bit cheaper since they sell in larger quantities than what expo merch is expected to.
If we want a more accurate comparison, Digital Stars 2020 merch was also made by Hobby Stock, and on a quick glance they had pretty much exactly the same prices as expo online merch. Some may consider concert merch to be expensive in general, but these expo goods are nothing out of the ordinary for Miku concert merchandise.
Also good it was now confirmed you can order the official goods to be shipped in package (as the Hobby Stock twitter thread says on mobius017's post). So when ordering multiple items the shipping costs won't be nearly as bad as some feared.
I tested this just now, and indeed I can add multiple items to the order and the shipping costs stay at 2 500 yen (which is very affordable for international delivery).
Quote from Hobby Stock Amazon Store:
Magical Mirai happi was 400 yen less than these expo happis, Mirai tapestries were 300 yen cheaper and Mirai muffler towel 150 yen cheaper. T-shirts exactly the same price, and on the flipside, expo cap is 650 yen cheaper than Mirai cap. So all in all they're very much in the same price range. Mirai merch is overall a tiny bit cheaper since they sell in larger quantities than what expo merch is expected to.
If we want a more accurate comparison, Digital Stars 2020 merch was also made by Hobby Stock, and on a quick glance they had pretty much exactly the same prices as expo online merch. Some may consider concert merch to be expensive in general, but these expo goods are nothing out of the ordinary for Miku concert merchandise.
Also good it was now confirmed you can order the official goods to be shipped in package (as the Hobby Stock twitter thread says on mobius017's post). So when ordering multiple items the shipping costs won't be nearly as bad as some feared.
I tested this just now, and indeed I can add multiple items to the order and the shipping costs stay at 2 500 yen (which is very affordable for international delivery).
Quote from Hobby Stock Amazon Store:
I was just thinking: it could be that Covid affected manufacturing availability. So the manufacturers are in a position to negotiate a price more favorable to them. I'm sure that those still operating have plenty of customers lined up needing orders fulfilled. And what they're willing to pay determines their place in line. I'll bet that CFM is competing with k-pop studios for machine time on the merchandise assembly lines.
It's off-topic, but why is that? I've seen people with two, but I assumed they just wanted to use both hands. Is it to make it easier to switch arms? Or so you have a backup?