Before Miku was released, Vocaloid was not much more than an obscure program. Nico Nico Douga played a fundamental role in the recognition and popularity of the software today. Soon after its release, users of Nico Nico Douga started posting videos with songs created by the software. According to Crypton, a popular video with a comically-altered Miku holding a spring/Welsh onion, singing levan Polkka, presented multifarious possibilities of applying the software in multimedia content creation. As recognition and popularity grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborate content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would generate illustrations, animation in 2D and 3D, and remixes by other users. Other creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas.
The initial sales of Hatsune Miku were so high that Crypton could not keep up with the demand. In the first 12 days of sale, nearly 3,000 sales reservations were made. This was around one sale in 250 in the music software industry, quoted as "an impossible number" by Wataru Sasaki—the person in charge of the planning and production company 'surprise'. Amazon.co.jp stated on September 12, 2007 that they had sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,001 yen, making her the number one selling software of that time.[6] Later reports came that she had sold 60,000+ copies of her software, normally selling 1,000 copies of a synthesizing software was considered good business.[7]
On October 18, 2007, an Internet BBS website reported that she was suspected to be victim of censorship by Google and Yahoo!, since images of Miku did not show up on the image searches. Google and Yahoo denied any censorship on their part, blaming the missing images on a bug that does not only affect "Hatsune Miku" and related keywords but other search keywords as well. Both companies expressed a willingness to fix the problem as soon as possible. Images of Hatsune Miku were re-listed on Yahoo on October 19.
Miku's popularity has led to numerous figurines based on her image. Many are inspired by PVs made by fans and Vocaloid users.
For Miku's Append, a standard figurine was produced but both Figma and Nendoroid figurines have also been produced since.
A special version of Miku "Snow Miku" has also seen a number of figurines. This started out as a special seasonal Nendoroid but has seen been updated to add joints and become a Pullip doll alongside Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len. After the Earthquake in Japan in 2011, both a figure and Nendoroid version "support" version of Miku were made with donations going to the Japanese Red Cross for every sale. Due to the popularity of the Lucky Star Kagami cosplay both a nendoroid and a figma version of the character dressed as Hatsune Miku were produced. A figurine from the "Soul of Chogokin" series of figurines made by Bandai was also produced as a special release. As a cross over, a figurine of Miku based on Fei-Yen from “Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Operation Moongate” a game made by SEGA, was also released. The release was came because SEGA owned the rights to produce games based on the Crypton Future Media Vocaloids and had also previously produced other models based on Miku as part of promotions for the game "Project Diva".
Many of the figurines have been made based on the Crypton fanbase in put with a standard and DX "Love is war" figurines being released in 2011. Other releases include VN02, a figurine based on the MMD "Lat" model and "The World is Mine" to name but a few examples.
The Good Smile racing company have also produced figurines every year since the 2009. These have been special releases not set for overseas shipping and can only be bought with a season ticket.
Unfortantely, her popularity has led to a number of bootleg goods being produced, particularly towards Nendoroid and Figma models.
source: GOOGLE, WIKIPEDIA, VOCALOIDWIKIA.COM
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