#i want to make these into bootleg merch so BAD I think they came out cute.....

[lollipoptiger]

Jimmy Nerdtrons from memory I did on a spread with my partner! How'd I do? 😎

[azure-daybreak]

So I went to Miku Expo 2024 last night (the Vancouver show) and I wanted to talk about it while it's top of mind.

TL;DR I had a lot of fun, while there were some things I wish were different (mostly the screen), it wasn't a bad first Miku concert IMO (But I do wanna see more shows). More under the cut!

First of all, it was super cool to see all the different people there to see Miku and the other Vocaloids. Like, I've been to conventions before and it's always cool to see a horde of people dressed as various anime characters or animals, but to see everyone dressed specifically as Voicaloids and Project Sekai characters was new for me.

About the merch on sale at the concert, I was surprised that they were doing most of it outside and that the inside merch stand had barely anything- at least when I got in. That could just be bad timing on my end. If you're reading this and you wanna buy merch at one of the upcoming shows (especially a glowstick), make sure to get there early. For Vancouver, they did send out an email the day before saying that they were selling merch outside starting at 2pm, but I wasn't able to get there before then.

I did get the VIP package merch but it's kinda.... well it's not bad or anything, and I'm glad to have it but some of it feels a little cheap. For example, the hand fan is cute but feels flimsy, and the tote bag has a really nice design but the heat pressing makes me not wanna use it because I'm worried about cracking the art. On the other hand, I really like the lanyard that came with the package; The art was done by Socky and I liked it so much that I bought the backpack that also has that art.

Onto the show. You may have already heard this but yes, It wasn't the usual hologram, where they have a sheet of glass with the visual projected onto it, it was just a normal screen where they played the visual. It did feel like I was watching one of those hologram-ready videos on my phone but on a giant TV, but it was still cool to see.

Here's also a side-by-side of how the hologram looks vs the display using on the rocks from Magical Mirai 2021 and last night's show. While it's not fair to use a pro-shot vs what looks like a musical theater bootleg sime tutorial to show this, I hope it gets the point across. (Miku Expo 2024 on the left and Magical Mirai 2021 on the right)

I liked the setlist also, it can be found at this link here, but some standouts to me were, Miku by Anamanaguchi, The Vampire, Unknown Mother Goose, Childish War, On the Rocks, Sore ga Anata no Shiawase to Shite mo, Gimmie x Gimmie (Love this song so much), World is Mine (everyone screamed at the first "Sekai de" (including me)), the band introduction, Tell Your World (It's not my favorite or anything, but they shot out confetti at one point and that was cool.), and Intergalactic Bond.

I want to expand a bit on the band introduction and them as a whole, I loved that the band got attention and their names were shown. I watched some Magical Mirai videos and I see that this practice might be from that, so I'm glad that was carried over. They all were stellar and watching them was really exciting, the drummer- Dylan was always so cool to look at, Tobias the keyboardist was dancing near the beginning of Gimmie x Gimmie and that was a vibe, the bassist and guitarist- Leanne and Vixen's Diary respectively were fun to watch when they would get into the song and headbang and bounce around.

Lastly, I was surprised that Luka only got 2 songs (one of them was a duet with Miku). I (very sadly) expect MEIKO and KAITO to get shafted when it comes to songs, but not Luka!

Quick shout-outs to some specific concert goers; Shieonn, who made stickers and was handing them out before the show (Here's her Twitter!),

The person near me who shouted either "I LOVE YOU JERMA!" or "I LOVE YOU DRUMMER!" at the end of one of the songs (I think it was World is Mine), the girl near me who was trying to get pictures and video of the show using her 3DS, and this one person I saw outside the venue entrance as the show was letting out who was dressed up as Sonic Miku, I wanted to say that I loved the fit, but I didn't wanna just walk up to you randomly at almost 10PM and possibly freak you out.

Overall, I'd go again but please for the love of god, don't just have a screen for the Vocaloids!

[ilovedig]

Ideally, for the biopics, we get four unknown Liverpudlians who are fans in the same way we all are.

But, if that's not possible, I'd like Harry Styles as either George or Paul.

He's probably on the shortlist anyway, but, he's a HUGE Beatle fan. And, he wears George merch, including this

Which would give me hope that he'd find a way to make it gay, cause, he's Harry Styles, if they cast him, he would be exec producer too. I trust that someone who wears that shirt might do everything possible to make it as accurately gay.

I also wonder every time I listen to George's Dera Dun if that's where the band name One Direction came from. The song was only out in bootlegs at the time, but it's possible.

The lyric being "One direction takes you years, the other takes you days"

I think, if we HAVE to have a name, and knowing Hollywood, I'd be shocked if we didn't, his is a pretty good choice.

Also, there is one interview that goes around on here all the time where Paul is talking slow and deliberately and every time I do a double-take, cause it really does sound like Harry in interviews. So...if Paul sounds like Harry a few times, maybe Harry has a pretty good chance of doing a decent Paul.

This post will probably be pretty controversial, but let me repeat again, IDEALLY I WANT IT TO BE UNKNOWS WHO ARE FANS AND CAN USE THEIR OWN HAIR.

But if not, Harry isn't a bad option.

[buglaur]

inside the sealed envelope with the application form were a collection of sticky notes and printed photographs. they had scribbled handwriting all over them..

daithí murray for @rainymoodlet​​’s daniel | bio under cut

name: daithí murray

age: 46

traits: lazy | party animal | bro

height: 5′8

applying for role as a contestant

daithí is a single dad living in henford with his teenage daughter felicity. they’ve got a quaint house on a quiet road with an open garden.

things had always been rocky with his long term girlfriend. hoping that things would get better between them when felicity came along, they soon realised that things just weren't going to work. they split up not long after felicity turned four, and daithí decided it was best for her to stay with him because her mother travels for work. nowadays they co-parent with felicity staying with him on the weekdays.

daithí is a veteran daniel stan. he’s been following daniel’s career since before his big popularity boom. he has very proudly collected every single episode of ‘your dad’s garage’ and has them neatly arranged in order of their release date. he bought a very pricey signed poster on e-bay that probably isn’t even legit and he has a little backyard space dedicated to crafting items made on the show. he’s not great but he tries! he doesn’t really watch them for the carpentry tips anyways, there are more interesting things to look at in the show.. 👀 he also made some bootleg merch from a t-shirt printing store that says “#1 daniel fan” 

up until last year daithí worked as a caretaker for the library across the road. he had no problem with the job but decided to give it up to pursue his hobby as a career. he’s always had a passion for drink making, and now runs his own craft beer business from his backyard. he sells it on to local pubs and its been pretty successful!

seeing as he works from his garden and he’s in the house alone on the weekends, he decided to partner up with the nearby vet shelter to take some dogs off their hands. he fosters puppies and tries his best to house train them alongside his own four dogs. the place is usually pretty hectic with dogs doing zoomies throughout the whole house but it’s something he’ll never regret getting himself into.

daithí has absolutely no idea any of this is happening. he doesn’t know what ‘kiss me in komorebi’ is, nor does he understand the concept of a bachelor challenge. felicity’s decided not to tell him about the application unless he secures a place, fearing that he might get his hopes up too much. 

some fun facts:

everyone always asks him what the meaning behind his face tattoo is. he tells them that it’s a very personal and meaningful reason that he’d rather not share, when in reality he just got it on a drunken night out as a teenager.

he’s the calloway twin’s uncle on their mom’s side. cillian thinks he’s cool but cathal is scared of him. he thinks he’s too loud 😭

he has the strongest accent in the family, and it’s really bad. like it’s difficult to understand what he’s even saying if you don’t know him.

felicity really wanted a septum piercing for her birthday one year, but she was too scared to get it done. daithí made a promise to her that he’d get it done with her so she wouldn’t be as nervous. so now they’ve got matching piercings!

if he does get a part in the show, it’s going to be very difficult to get him to do any of the ‘outdoor enthusiast’ challenges that the producers might have in store. he absolutely hates the cold and is very much a comfort zone kinda guy when it comes to danger.

he’s a big grump in the mornings, but a cup of tea will usually fix that.

also dear lovely shan i hope you don’t mind i used your pic for the poster and tshirt! ❤️ but this was so much fun to make. i’m looking forward to kmik even if daithí doesn’t make it!!! it’s gonna be so good i can already feel it. everything abt it is just mmmwah, not to mention daniel.. what a hottie

[cockneydio]

okay you have the full set of the dxf passione figures, right? this is an odd question but i'm at my wits ends bc i cant find any answers and ive wanted to get this set so bad dnladhjshs do u have any idea how to tell if they are bootleg or not? if not it's nooo biggie, thank you anyways!!

from what i've seen everyone but narancia and bruno normally have all the logos on the front of the box, but that illustration on the back is always different and i have no clue what's legit or not

Hello! I acquired an unhealthy amount of knowledge about this particular line in my hunt for it, and yet I'm still missing part of the story because I can't read Japanese, alas. Anyway. There's a great unboxing video on YouTube of this whole line that gives you a look at all the details, right down to the packaging - which I was also cautious about. I'll drop the link in a reply cos I don't trust tumbles to save this post if I pop over to chrome.

But! You're right! Bucci and Narancia and Abbacchio's boxes look a little different than the other three. They were released as crane prizes in 2012, and the boxes have JoJo 25th Anniversary branding on them accordingly. They were probably released as part of that celebration/promotion - I haven't figured out definitively.

The rest of the gang had release dates throughout 2013. The fonting on the top/bottom is a little different; on the first 3, it has their name and "Passione" in gold outlined in black; the rest just have "Passione" in idk what you call it like gold ombré. In fact the 2012 ones have the full char names in English 3 places to my glance, the rest don't have them at all. That's consistent with the whole line, black and color versions.

The lineup on the back of each box changes with the release of the figure. Narancia was Vol. 2, so on the back of his box is listed the release dates of the rest of the line. By the time Vol. 5 Mista came out, there were figures to replace the Araki sketches in the photo, and only Giorno's release date left. Here's Bucciarati and Mista for comparison, and also to subtly push my brumis agenda:

(I want to point out that they stay separating this gang in this one certain way that I won't say for spoiler sake but I'm big fucking mad about it.)

That's all I can really say at the moment about verifying whether the boys in your search are legit, except to say I think (I don't know this for sure, I'm not as deep in merch world as I could be lol) counterfeiters target products that are popular enough to make a buck off. So SAS, gashapons, tomonui plushes, Nendoroids, anything Hot Topic ever distributed, etc. Anything you can determine a high demand for, whether it be by aftermarket sales trends (i.e. the gacha prizes) or pre-sale orders. A lot of these more obscure lines, I don't think counterfeiters bothered to bootleg. Otherwise you'd see a) more for sale and b) a wider fluctuation in pricing to undercut legit merch and trick buyers into thinking they're getting a deal. But it's always good to do your due diligence, and I'm happy to help however I can. I've gotten bootlegged a couple times, sometimes with remedy, sometimes without, so I get it 🖤

[attract-mode-collective]

Scorpion Vs. Elon Musk’s Mom: FIGHT

Yes, that is indeed Elon Musk’s mother up there. And no, I do not have a bigger sized version of the pic. Guess we could always ask captain-price-official if one does exist.

Or perhaps make your own? Here’s Elon’s mum by herself (and in higher res)...

And with that, it’s time to see what else I tweeted during the first half of March! So, sticking with fighting games: which Street Fighter character does lighting better? Ryu, via the animated movie (via settei)...

… Or Bison, via the live action flick (via toghomevideo)...

I absolutely love win quotes from rom hacks (via bison2winquote)...

I have a massive backlog of games, yet Tekken 7 just shot straight to the top of the list, thanks to the knowledge that you can accurately recreate Dynamite Headdy characters (via mysterious0bob)...

This Hatsune Miku X Space Channel 5 figure is v. nice (via nendoroidoftheday)...

A friendly reminder to everyone that A. I'm a massive fan of Seaman & B. my birthday is about a month away (via nutastic)...

This scene at the beach with a Figma of Link, from A Link Between Worlds, feels more like Link's Awakening than anything else (via vyntic)...

Toys and models are no longer just for reenacting memorable in-game moments, they can also reproduce famous IRL events that surrounded the games themselves (via 8bitcentral)...

So what's the going rate for ET for the Atari 2600 that was supposedly dug up in for that so-called documentary, Atari: Game Over? Which I recently re-watched and still can't believe people think is real. At any rate, am assuming the autograph from Howard Scott Warshaw gives it some actual value (via it8bit)...

And what's the going rate for Chinese Famiclone karaoke carts, primarily one with Jackie Chan on the label. Am also wondering if it's cuz his songs are included... you are aware of his successful career in music as well, right? (via ulan-bator)...

Been struggling to come up with a zinger for the past 10 minutes, but ain't nuthin gonna beat "Welcome to the Velvet Room y'all!" (via jatayu)...

To be filed under: it's funny cuz it's true (via doctorbutler)...

So the weather has been awful around these parts, lots of rain & snow, which gets in the way of imagining a giant tetromino in the sky (via uvula.jp)...

When playing Super Mario Galaxy 2, please keep in mind that somewhere out there, despite being out of view, is the ghost of Luigi floating through vast stretches of empty space, with zero destination or purpose (via suppermariobroth)...

Speaking of Luigi, and Supper Mario Broth; they’ve taken the adventures he talks about in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and illustrated them in the form of a comic that closely adheres to the style of the game...

Also a friendly reminder of that rift between Mario & Luigi for a few years (they'd eventually make up & resume doing games together, as everyone knows) after Mario discovered his brother being all friendly with the enemy in Super Mario World (via peazy86)...

Yet another obscure Mario factoid: the move he uses to defeat Bowser in Super Mario 64 originates from an old furikake commercial that predates the game by about a decade (via suppermariobroth)...

Yet another random gif of Mario from the 80s, this one from a video guide from Super Mario Bros; I miss the days in which his look was not yet standardized (via suppermariobroth)...

And here we have a completely unlicensed Dr. Mario, unless Nintendo gave him the OK to brush up on his doctoring skills by assuming an alias at a family clinic in Houston TX (via suppermariobroth)...

It's funny how, when it comes to obscure Mario games, everyone brings up Mario Is Missing or Hotel Mario, but what about Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up? (via kazucrash)...

Mario gets his own breakfast cereal.

Luigi? Booze. (via @carolynmichelle)

A question that I posed on MAR10Day (via retrogamerblog)...

It's not Super Mario Bros, but simply…. Bros (via therubberfruit)...

I've never wanted something "bootleg" to be official as much as as this Dark Souls fan art. And if the actual game somehow looked like this, that would be... gladly welcomed (via gamefreaksnz)

Oh God, Nier is amazing and all, but I would SO be down for a yelling & screaming match with Yoko Taro on this point (via @Avisch_)...

Behold my fave Twitter thread in recent memory: "You see, that was taken from Africa, but it belonged to the Keyblade Masters. Imma take it off your hands for ya."

"Nah, It was taken by British soldiers in Africa but it's actually from Gaia. A sword far heavier than any sword has rights to be, yet a true 1st Class will wield it with ease. Don't trip, I'm gonna take it off your hands for you."

"Nah, It was taken by British soldiers in Africa but it's actually from Hyrule. Originally crafted by the goddess Hylia herself. Only a true hero that is pure of heart and strong of body is capable of wielding the sacred blade. Don't trip, I'm gonna take it off your hands for you."

Naturally the star of Home Alone 1 & Home Alone 2 has both a NES Classic and Famicom Mini, like all Hollywood bigwigs (via @SimonParkin)...

While discussing Ready Player One with a colleague, was reminded of the dude who was so inspired by the book that he turned his apartment into an arcade (and then his fiancé broke up with him; via nydailynews.com)...

Recently there was some kind of event at Sega HQ, I think? Details are basically nonexistent due to the language barrier, but far as I can gather, 16 super fans were invited to come by & party (via @SEGA_OFFICIAL)...

... If you check out #セガ��式アカウントオフ会 you'll see numerous pics from the get-together, though the one thing that stands out is the assortment of Sega hardware (via @KK__Cy)...

... MIA, cuz no variants were on display, is my fave alt ver. of the Mega Drive: the Wondermega. But @yu100s took one of his own… with the ugly ass US Sonic 1 NOT FOR RESALE cart inserted, Jesus fucking Christ...

The Sega logo in katakana looks pretty hawt (via @Exciteless)...

... Yet the Sega logo in Arabic which is official, is even hawter (via boingboing.net)...

Please enjoy your daily recommended dosage of an erotic hospital-management sim (via @topherflorence)...

NCSX makes the fidget spinner comparison, though the fidget cube seems a bit more appropriate; behold the fidget game controller...

Toy Fair recently took place, and naturally I took tons of pictures. You can find all of them on my personal Instagram, though a few are worth re-posting here. Like the latest in NECA's line of classic movie characters, as they appeared in video game adaptations...

Though in the case of their take on the Alien vs. Predator arcade game, they even included Capcom's original characters...

Unpainted, pre-production figures from Reflection's upcoming Ghost 'N Goblins line, sporting the oh-so popular Kenner-eqsue retro look...

Pint-sized arcade cabs, available this fall for $400. They’ll come unassembled, though dead simple to put together; the construction of the assembled mini cab was surprisingly sturdy, plus the screen wasn't bad (contrary to the picture that my iPhone's camera paints). Though the controls were shit; no word on whether the parts can be swapped or not...

Was delighted to not not only see Cuphead merch at Toy Fair, but more than just one instance (though this was the only time I was allowed to take a picture)...

Came across a producer of infant goods that had a selection of Super Mario baby bibs...

I asked the rep if this was their first foray into video games and the answer was "Yes." And when asked who's been mostly buying them, was told "Video game collectors, who don't even have children… it's so bizarre!!!"

Sticking with bibs, here's a set that tied to Dragon Quest (via miki800.com)...

... I asked on Twitter what they said and @alexfkraus was kind enough to provide translations, here and here.

Was so inspired by @MinusWorld listing which characters he'd like to see in the next Super Smash Bros that I decided to cite a few of my own:

- Mona from WarioWare - Nester from Nintendo Power’s Howard & Nester comics - Link from that Japanese A Link To The Past commercial - A deck of Hanafuda cards

... BTW, had no idea Ollie also mentioned a Hanafuda; I only saw his initial four, initially! Anyhow, my second round of choices:

- Ashley from Another Code - The "who are you running from?" guy in the Game Boy Camera - Lucas from The Wizard - The 4WD from Stunt Race FX (since Fighters Megamix with the Daytona USA 2 car clearly ain't ever happening)

I alas forgot to include BoxBoy, much like how I got these Uniqlo shirts when they were on sale last year (via minusworld.co.uk)...

Here we have my fave reaction on Tumblr to the Nintendo Direct with the Smash 5 reveal, if only for the punchline (via mendelpalace)...

And here we have my fave reaction on Twitter (via @redford)...

This one is also great because wrestling (via @SteveYurko)...

Speaking of wrestling, remember that time Tazz, while commentating for Smackdown, was also playing a game of Final Fantasy X-2… or so he thought? (via defjamvendetta)

"hey quick question whoever's developing the wwe games now: what the fuck"

"It helps him eat small fish"

"better question: why isn't this an option in every game ever"

"FAIR POINT" (via snoozlebee)

Whereas most publishers in Japan, during the 80s & 90s, had festivals (or carnivals) centered around shmups, Asmik's was based on women's wrestling (via oldgamemags)...

It's not for a video game, though the illustration is by someone who has been involved in a few; it's by Satoshi Yoshioka, of Snatcher and Policenauts fame (via videogamesdensetsu)...

It's not for a video game that actually exists, but is instead a completely fictional instructional manual, one that makes you wish it was real (via tomeccles)...

Just when you think you've seen every ultra, wacky & obscure video game box art there is to see out there (via @CoolBoxArt)...

I have a serious soft sport for the usage of video game imagery among early 80s musicians (via siryl)...

... What the final product looks like BTW/FYI...

A. so there's a VR version of Fruit Ninja, did not know that, & B. if you like watching people play it (for whatever reason), yet wish you could actually see a person swinging a sword and not just some abstract swiping motions… here ya go (via prostheticknowledge)...

Playing games in VR is so 2017… Handling your collection of games in VR? Now THAT is very 2018 (via mendelpalace)...

Lots of friends are playing the new DBZ fighting game, though I'll give it a shot once it hits the arcades and is also in a cab like this (via @Fotosdecomics)...

I absolutely need to get my hands on this S.H. Figuarts Shinya Arino (via tinycartridge)...

Available right now, some Altered Beast, Bare Knuckles, and Rent-a-Hero resin kits (via miki800.com)...

Cursed? More like blessed amirite (via @Pretzel_Pup)...

I know Yoji Shinkawa is best buds with Hideo Kojima, but would he be open to doing another gig at Konami? Cuz him art directing a reboot of Twin Bee would kinda be the best (via @SESKOU)...

There's money on the table with this Metroid X Pepsi mash-up, am confident of this (via ryangilleece)...

Cuz even someone like Samus Aran needs a good stretch every once in a while (via jon-bliss)...

And this third piece of Metroid fan art in a row is very much related to Metroid 3, aka Super Metroid (even though it technically depicts the ending to Metroid 2; via mmillus)...

Awakening indeed (via brookietf)...

For those who have asked, yes, I have seen the hack that connects the Switch to an itty-bitty black & white TV...

Though I'm only really interested in tiny b&w CRT TVs if I can play Duck Hunt on them (via arcade-crusade)...

I not only dig teeny-tiny displays for light gun games, but also for driving games as well (perhaps some of you might remember the following from this)...

Back to tube displays; seeing Zelda on a CRT also reminded me of how Dark Souls look on a CRT, aka CRT Souls or 480i Souls (which again I'm hoping regular readers of the blog remember, especially since the original post has fallen victim to a Tumblr bug)...

"while playing king's field just now i died in the magic cave of fire and when i warped back there were beautiful graphical glitches everywhere" (via mendelpalace)...

Some landscapes, filled with beauty and mystery and terror, are accidental (see: the graphical glitches from before)… whereas others are completely deliberate, as in the case of Atlantia (via obscurevideogames)...

Once again, I REALLY need to figure out a way to play some PC88 games (via obscurevideogames)...

Here we have a semi-common Space Invaders sighting for the time, in an episode of Battle Fever J, one of the earliest Super Sentai shows (via himitsusentaiblog)...

And here we have a rare Game Gear sighting, in old OVA anime, Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko. Hell, it’s a rare Game Gear in anything sighting; the only other example that comes to mind is Rumble In The Bronx (via @TheOtaking)...

And an equally rare Sonic on the runway sighting (via kotaku.com)...

I normally watch a video in its entirety before making a recommendation. Yet when it came to this overview of Last Bronx's legacy in Japan (and lack thereof in the West), hearing the main theme to Beat Takeshi's Violent Cop near the 3 min mark was all I needed (have since watched the whole thing, and as expected, it's another awesome Kim Justice production)...

And finally, a friend notes: "subzero's right arm is real close to trump's spinal column

just sayin" (via @jbillinson)...

[simayeeet]

Name all the merch you have made or gotten in all your fandoms...or any. I'm curious.

….Oh. Ahhhhhhhhhh…… You want to know about my weeb collection….? Well then, it’s going to be a long read if you want it.

The only fandom I’ve actually made stuff for is DW since there is barely any decent stuff aside from keychains. The rest is official stuff.

DW stuff includes: 

*made it* Custom Xun You figure 

*made it* Small Sima Yi bust (not as great honestly)

*made it* Small Xun Yu bust (slightly better but im bothered by some flaws with it) 

*made it* Slightly larger, but still small Cao Cao bust 

*made it* Tiny Xun Yu figurine 

*made it* a civilian outfit Sima Yi that can only sit on the edge of a flat surface (his face got fucked up and ive been meaning to fix it) 

*unofficial, it was fanmade by someone else* Guo Jia plush *the one time a plush actually is born in China*

*made it* Yuan Shao plush (I had a lot of yellow fabric to get rid of, but Yuan Shao is not that bad as a character, so I liked making him including the dw9 hat is hard but got through it as I didn’t have to make hair Thought I tried to learn how to make a doll at the time too)

*official* really small DW6 Sima Yi, Cao Cao, Lu Bu, and Zhou Yu figures

*official* still pretty small DW4 Sima Yi figure 

SW stuff: 

*official* Motochika acrylic keychain i just got him because he was the only character i liked out of the batch of that were on auction

*official* Ujiyasu and Mitsunari tiny figures, same size as the DW ones

Gintama stuff: (almost all is official, there’s like 3 that are decent bootlegs) 

a disturbingly huge amount (i’ll just name a few i favor more)

Gintoki doing a Kamehameha figure 

Gintoki on a scooter figure

Small Gintoki figure picking his nose

Gintoki plush (plural)

Katsura plush (2)

DBZ stuff: 

Figurarts Piccolo and Vegeta (these are technically better and more expensive action figures)

Large Goku figure that got the paint job to make it look like it came out of the anime (bootleg, been thinking to pawn that off)

Shenron head coin bank  

Piccolo plush 

Piccolo keychain 

Small flying Piccolo figure

Small Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and Perfect Cell figures 

Figure of Goku riding a blue dragon

Misc. stuff:

Revoltech Raiden figure (Metal Gear Rising)

Revoltech Alucard figure (Hellsing) 

Revoltech Vash and Wolfwood figures (Trigun) 

Couple of Crocodile (One Piece) figures 

Alloy plush (Horizon Zero Dawn) 

Dialga, Alakazam, Turtwig, Piplup, Pikachua wearing a Rayquaza hood, Empoleon (All Pokemon plush)

I left out just a few as I didn’t think they were worth mentioning, but this is about all the crap I own

[swmmm]

Morning Musume '17 Live Concert in Hong Kong (2017.06.25)

lots of big & scary changes are happening in H!P right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that i had an absolute BLAST at the mm17 HK concert!!!!!!!!

Preparation

I went in a gradation-style Kaga wota T!!! Something something not Italian red, but that colour basically doesn’t exist in North American print shops unfortunately ._.

Venue

KITEC Star Hall in Kowloon Bay with a max capacity ~3600

It's a multi-purpose exhibition center with a concert venue, shopping places, food places all integrated into one 

There’s a free shuttle bus going from the subway station to this place too, so everything is super convenient

Buying goods

The merch corner opened at 3pm, and I made the big mistake by thinking that it'll be good enough to arrive BY then! The line up was 400+ people long by the time I got there!!

Ended up lining up for 2 hours and the photoset and glowstick were sold out by the time I got to the front!!!! :( I would’ve gotten everything, but ended up with just a towel and tshirt. 

The tshirt/towel design looks like somebody figured out how to rotate text in Microsoft Word for the first time, but I wasn’t gonna leave empty-handed so whatever (・へ・)

While waiting in line, a HK fan came over and handed out to everyone:

plastic fans with drawings of all the girls on it. She let us take both a black and white one :D

a packet of 3 mock Instagram cards with drawings of the girls. It also had a map of Hong Kong landmarks on the back

They intended for you to trade with other fans to get the cards you want, which is really thoughtful -- lots of ppl are shy in striking up a conversation with strangers, but they've given you an ice breaker!!

I started with Chel, Eripon, and Fuku-chan, but I love everyone so I didn't really mind who I got and traded so people got what they wanted. I traded:

Chel for Maria with the Chinese fan in front of me

Eripon for a group card with the Japanese fan behind me

Another HK fan gifted me the above card which says "thanks for coming to Hong Kong". I think she thought I was a Japanese wota though LOL

When I got close to the front of the line, a Chinese fan asked if I could buy some goods for him since they wouldn’t let anyone line up anymore (too close to concert start time). I agreed and basically let him into my spot in the line, which in hindsight I feel kinda bad about since people behind me had been waiting a long time too. He was very very grateful though since he could get a shirt/towel & use it right away for the show. It turned out he's a Kaedii fan too so he might have asked me because of what I was wearing

At some point in the queue, I also bumped into and met @helsic! Pretty crazy considering how small the H!P Tumblr fandom is!!

I wrote a quick message on the fan tapestry outside the concert hall. I assume this was gifted to the girls later (there was a present box that you could drop stuff into) 

Various local HK “”vendors”” (more like bootleg sellers) were trying to sell generic glowsticks around the hall, and since the official ones were sold out, I haggled the crap out of one of them from and scored one for $100 HKD (~$13 USD) which is pretty damn cheap! I already had another glowstick but more for cheap is always nice lol

Getting Seated

When entering the concert hall, the HK fans handed out a piece of hard cardboard paper with instructions (in Chinese and Japanese) on what to do during encore:

(1) Put this mask on after the girls come out after our encore calls to give them a surprise

(2) As the members leave after encore, please change your glowstick colour to orange and start chanting "Haruka" and give her a good memory to look back upon

I skimmed really quickly so I didn’t even notice the words “the mask” until I sat down, noticed that there were two weird holes on the paper, turned it around and found an (eyeless) Harunan staring at me ಠ_ಠ Pretty surreal, I have no idea who OKed this project but it’s the thought that counts lol. 

The words on the paper are lyrics of solo parts - e.g. for Harunan’s, it’s “hora muchuu ni narou” from Happy Daisakusen. 

I preordered my ticket so my seating was pretty damn good -- about 20 rows from the front. I’m not that tall though so at times I had to tiptoe, but I could comfortably make out each girl's face!! 

My seating section was pretty much 50/50 on guys/girls

I’m pretty sure the blonde girl who danced on stage at the presscon sat next to me. She was a Maachan wota. Her friend kept bumping into me cause they were waving their glowsticks so hard lol

The Concert - Songs

The energy level in the venue shot up to a max the moment the intro for BNM started!!! I waved my glowsticks so hard that I was tired out already before BNM ended and had to routinely switch arms

Setlist is fairly standard with only A-sides except for the last encore song (Bravo), which makes sense for a foreign concert -- you wanna do the recognizable stuff

I was surprised they didn’t do Ame no furanai hoshi...., but I guess the “local song” for Hong Kong was One & Only. For various political reasons, it makes more sense to sing an English song over a Mandarin one in Hong Kong...

As a 13ki wota, Utakata Saturday Night was a highlight (・∀・)  -- Kaedii and Yoko rock paper scissors-ed at the end of their duo dance break (Dii won)

Speaking of Kaedii -- I spent most of my time looking at her and her limbs are every bit as long as they appear to be in videos!!! It’s hard to look away! My only grievance is that they didn’t do Oh my wish with Kaga-sama’s dancing

I hadn’t been able to watch the Budokan concert so it was my first time seeing the new Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari -- actually quite impressed with the visuals and it was probably the only time when I stared at the screen over looking at them on stage. Maachan also got to sing her part too!

MAADUU fans. EVERYWHERE. So much screaming whenever they hugged or were shown on the screen together. It probably was amplified to me too because I was surrounded by Maachan wota.

I had a good seat this time, so I was surrounded by people who were willing to shout and scream (e.g. “aisaretai! aisaretai!”) which was REALLY fun

The Concert - MCs

The girls tried their best to speak Cantonese and most of the short phrases are recognizable enough (although Oda forgot how to say “I’m really glad to meet you all” in the very first MC haha)

Kudo mentioned that they did a 拜神儀式 (ceremony of worshipping the gods) before the concert, which involves cutting open a roasted pork and praying for the success of your event. This is a Canton/HK tradition, so it’s the first time ever they’ve done it.

They held raffles to give out 13 gigantic autographed posters!! Lots of funniness with people screaming like they’re gonna die when they found out they won hahaha

A Japanese wota in the VIP section dressed up as a Chinese zombie (jiangshi) and won one of the raffles! I later on read on twitter that he gave away his poster to a local Hong Kong fan instead (!!!!!)

Ayumin asked for girls and boys to cheer (separately) in Cantonese. The first time around, the loudness of the girls’ cheering completely decimated the boys’. Maybe it’s the first time that’s ever happened in a MM concert lol. The members actually had to tell the boys to pick up the slack!

At the end, Fuku-chan read aloud a letter she wrote -- in Cantonese. The simple phrases were understandable at first but became incomprehensible by the end, where we just started being like “...... yeah!!!” and waving our glowsticks to pretend we understood XD. She tried very very hard to keep reading it in Cantonese, but when we didn’t understand, she said it again in Japanese. She insisted on at least trying the Cantonese a few times first though -- what a good girl. She posted the full Cantonese transcript on her blog later that night:

Can everybody understand my Cantonese? Please listen to me! Thanks for coming to watch Morning Musume '17's concert today! When it was decided that we would have a concert and high-five session here, we were really happy! We were really, really happy. This year, it'll be Morning Musume's 20th anniversary. We will continue to treasure and sing our seniors' songs as well as new ones with our current members. Each one of us feels pride in being a Morning Musume member. From now on, we want to continue spreading love throughout the world with our singing! Everyone in Hong Kong, please continue supporting us!

Morning Musume '17 leader  Fukumura Mizuki 

Encore call: the cameras started zooming in to show the audience’s goods, etc. People started messing around with the mask we got by putting glowsticks behind the eyes, which was pretty surreal and funny. LOL. The members were certainly surprised to see all the masks! 

During encore, the girls came out in the tshirts that you could buy as merch today, but the big “Musume” kanji was in their member colours. I feel like the colouring mysteriously made the tshirts much more desirable... but it doesn’t change that fans only got ones with white lettering!!

After the encore songs finished, we started chanting “Haruka”, and she came back out crying, blew a kiss, and exited the stage 

After that, the concert finally ended at 8! 

Watching videos at home is one thing, but actually being there, chatting with fellow fans, watching the girls  sing and dance live is something else. The energy levels were so, so infectious.  Overall, this was a super, super enjoyable experience!!!!

TL;DR i!!!!!!!! love!!!!!!!!! morning musume!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!