Poorly-Received Vocaloid Designs?

[Bookworm2]

Hey! I'm writing a Vocaloid fic, and for a scene I need examples of Vocaloid designs that people didn't really like. Sadly, I'm not nearly an expert in this topic, so I'm reaching out here! What are some really poorly-received Vocaloid designs? And I don't mean things like Miku V3 English's different art style, I mean like just genuinely-disliked designs for some reason other than art style. Thanks!

 

[Heruru Meruru]

I feel like Sweet Ann's original boxart is the closest thing to a Vocaloid design that was universally reviled, being used as a punchline in the early days of the fandom.

Everything else I can think of was more divisive or just a vocal minority complaining. I recall complaints about the "Miku Formula" for SeeU, for instance, but she ended up being popular anyway.

For other vocal synths outside of Vocaloid Jasper and Topaz get a lot of flak for looking like some kid's edgy OCs with poorly done art.

 

[Palamon]

The gemvox designs were 100% poorly received.

Beyond that, I can't say, I can't recall.

 

[Beananium]

like heruru meruru said, most vocal synth designs and re-designs don't get wide-spread hate.

Most of the hate for character's designs are personal prefrences among people who actually vocalise them or vocal minorities. I know a lot of Kaito fans used to not like his V3 design, or just prefer his V1 design. I saw reasons as silly as "I can't make public nudity jokes with him wearing only a scarf with this design anymore" from 2013, to "It looks like that jacket has no room for him to breathe in and the materials look uncomfortable to have on your body" a friend of mine expressed. And Synth V Teto's outfit has a military motif that some people find uncomfortable, but some find cool or don't let that stop them from making their own teto designs.

And most of the one's people do nearly unanomously dislike often don't really get popular enough to cause a big stink. I had another friend recently show me +s ome other friends the Genbu + VirVox rebrand designs after some internal conflict with the company and the artist I didn't really look into, and they're... pretty rough... most of the chat agreed as well. Though that friend was the only person I knew that even knew about it and showed to the rest of us.

Finally, most of the universal dislike for certain characters designs i can recall have the artstyle play a huge factor as well. Sonika's inital V2 design used a 3d model that made her look like a character from a xbox game with no real art direction other then "WE HAVE TO HAVE REALISIM". and the v5 included vocals have the same jank 3d model problem.

 

[wrong_thyme]

for hated redesigns, tone rion v4 was disliked (even though it's a rather cute design imo) bc it has literally nothing in common with her v3 other than being a cute anime girl with pigtails (not even the colour palette!!)

ci flower was also SUPER hated for being different, giving her blue eyes and a pink gradient in her hair and replacing her alt style with a more minimalist inspired aesthetic (cue jokes of "when you're alt but have to visit your judgemental relatives")

i also saw some people being confused why iroha v4 soft suddenly gained slapped on spherical titties (or maybe it was just me. but seriously, why?)

 

[WacoWacko39]

Recently, the Kagamines NT designs caught some flack: their shoes and Rin's lack of a bow, but these were just minor complaints, from fringe parts. CiFlower was controversial, from design to sound, particularly when people thought it was the"future" of VFlower. Ruby also had a widely hated redesign, that was immediately reversed, and spawned the #SaveRuby drive, that went on until they went back.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I've already been beaten to the punch with some examples, but I'll still paraphrase which boxart dramas I can remember here:

• I agree that Sweet Ann's and Big Al's original boxarts are probably the closest thing the fandom has to a widely reviled, "So Bad, It's Horrible" boxart!
• The Gemvox VBs are another 'worst design ever' contender for looking like poorly drawn concept art, yet being used as final art.
• Some people didn't like Gumi's V2 boxart because of the art style, but people came round to the design once fanart started coming out. A similar thing happened with the ZOLA boys. Some people (including myself) didn't like Gumi's V4 design, however.
• Sonika's V2 boxart was also disliked for being outdated looking CGI, but looking back, if that design was released today, I think some Y2K enthusiasts would have praised it! It was originally released too late for the actual Y2K era, but still far too early for it to become nostalgic yet.
• Bruno and Clara's original designs got so much shit for not being anime in style to the point that people harrassed the original artist and Voctro Labs.
• Ruby had an original design which got some fans to accuse her devs of "whitewashing" because she was drawn as more similar to Pink (the singer) rather than her VP.

 

[carmenxsleepy]

I remember seeing some hate for Miku V3's art... Besides that for me it would likely be ONA (the Catalan alias for MAIKA) or Fukase.... ONA it just seems uncanny and Fukase is just too detailed to ever remember besides the hair

 

[lIlI]

Definitely seconding CiFlower as the most disliked design in recent memory! However, I feel like redesigns are always very divisive, in some ways I find vocal synths whose initial designs were poorly received to be the most interesting.

To my recollection, Tone Rion's first design caught a lot of flack. iirc she was considered a poor imitation of Miku, overly cluttered with a garish colour scheme. This may seem surprising now people look back on her first design fondly - I think this is because of a lot of the affection for her aesthetic comes from the nostalgic charm it has developed over time. She didn't have that advantage during the ancient year of 2011, while those trends were still contemporary.

Rion was infamous for being labelled the least popular Vocaloid3, with the strongest indicator of her design's poor reception obviously being the fact that her company chose to redesign her completely (although this didn't pay off either, as by that point people had grown attached, whoops).

*edit*

Other designs I remember being divisive:
Miku Formula allegations: SeeU, Lapis, Yukari, Tianyi*, Stardust*
Kagamine allegations: Anon and Kanon
Nudity: Miku Append, Lily
Artstyle: Avanna, Bruno and Clara*, Big Al* Sweet Ann, Sonika*, Miku English, Yohioloid - my lord it was basically a Spanish/English curse

*Vocaloids marked with a star were so controversial that a new design was created. Although in Tianyi's case, it's quite possible they intended to do that anyway.

 

[Tortoiseshel]

Bruno & Clara and then Ruby a few years later are the ones I remember the most. Those were some situations.