Mikudayo-

About

Mikudayo- (Japanese:ミクダヨー, Mikudayō) is a nickname given to the human-size mascot/full-body costume of Nendoroid^[1]Hatsune Miku by Good Smile Company (GSC), which was made in 2011. She has gained a cult following from fans as the overbearing creature separated from Miku. Her persona was established by photo collages in Futaba Channel (2chan), and now it’s feedbacked to the official Hatune Miku product lines.

Origin

This costume was first appeared in a video game convention Tokyo Game Show 2011^[2] as a promoting mascot for SEGA’s Vocaloid video game for Nintendo3DS Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai.^[3] Because this video game featured Nendoroid-style vocaloid characters, this costume was produced in super-deformed style. However, its awkward body shape always leaning forward, thin bunches (Twin Tails) hairstyle like plywood and iris-less eyes, hardly resembled to the original Nendorid. Everyone felt the costume didn’t quite feel like the real Miku.

At the beginning, this costume was called as Kigurumiku (着ぐるミク), a pun for Kigurumi (着ぐるみ, full-body costume) and Miku (ミク), and its poor quality was mocked in the Japanese internet communities. In particular, Futaba users deeply favored it and made many of its parody photo collages.

Then, similar to HOME Haruka and Nonowa, this costume had gained an overbearing personality of her own throughout their works. And around February 2012, she eventually became to be called as a nickname “Mikudayo-” (ミクダヨー) in that imageboard site, which came from Japanese “I am Miku” (ミクだよ, Miku dayo). The reason why it is written as “ミクダヨー” in Katakana character is writing words by Katakana characters explains dubious impression in the Japanese text representation.

Hey, May I start killing from this dude?

Not a few Futaba users call her as Mikudayo-san (ミクダヨーさん) in awe.

Spread

The popularity of Mikudayo- outside Futaba began to be increased quickly in the next March by many affiliate blogs reprinting her photo collages.^[4][5][6] As a result of this, a manager in SEGA’s Hatsune miku project team noticed and tweeted about this on 28th of that month.^[7]

ﾐｸﾀﾞﾖｰって何じゃ？と思ってgoogle先生に聞いてみた。とても申し訳ない気持ちで一杯になった。

— 中の人（１号） (@nakanohito_1go) March 27, 2012

Transcript:

I asked Google “WHAT is Mikudayo-?”. My mind is filled with a sort of apology.

Though this could be seen as a sad tweet, other staffs didn’t think so. When several staffs in GSC and SEGA attended at a Nico Nico Live program broadcasted on April 8th, 2012, they called their mascot as “Mikudayo-”.^[8] Besides, even in online news media reports for events where the mascot attended at, it became to be written as “Mikudayo-”.^[9][10]

At that moment, Mikudayo- already spread widely and it was considered as the half-official name of her on the Japanese web.

Feedback to the Official

On July 29th, 2012, it made a headline on the Japanese web that GSC, the production maker of Nendoroid series, announced the release of Nendoroid Mikudayo- in the next winter at Wonder Festival 2012 Summer.^[11] Moreover, at the launching of the official product page of Nendoroid Mikudayo- on November 5th^[12], it was also announced that Mikudayo- would appears on the package of Fujiya’s Pop Candy from next December as a collaborating campaign with Japanese confectionery maker Fujiya.^[13]

Meanwhile, on October 22nd, it was revealed that SEGA, GSC and Crypton Future Media, Inc. applied for an application for trademark registration of “Mikudayo-” in union on September 24th.^[14] This companies’ decision was basically recieved favourably among internet users though some of them expressed discomfort with a commercial use of Mikudayo-, which might inhibit users free creations.

Photo Collage by the official on Hatsune Miku Facebook Page^[15]

As of the end of November 2012, any continued announcements hasn’t come yet, but their attitude tells that they attempt to franchise “Mikudayo-” products in more various markets.

Mikudayo-2

In August 2012, SEGA prepared a new full-body costume of Hatsune Miku as a promoting mascot for a video game for PlayStation Vita Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F.^[16] Its official codename was “Hatsune Miku Costume No.2” (初音ミクの着ぐるみ2号), but it was usually called as Mikudayo-2 (ミクダヨー2号, Mikudayō Nigou) among fans and media because it gave people the same impression they felt to the first Mikudayo- even though it was a quite different shape from the first one.

She was also known as well as Mikudayo-, but wasn’t utilized in parodies so much.

Notable Examples

Photo Collages

Ahh, I didn’t hear anything. Say that again.
Squirts, Don’t lose your head!!
I WANTSUPREMESUSHISONLY!!
You’re a funny guy. I like you.
That’s why I’ll kill you last.
(Commando Parody)
WHO’S NEXT!?

Compilation

【ニコニコ動画】ﾐｸﾀﾞﾖｰさん

Videos

On Nico Nico Douga (NND), there are many Mikudayo- parody videos mostly utilizing Miku Miku Dance models for her.^[17] Compared to Futaba’s photo collages, NND videos render Mikudayo- as more creepy/scarly monster.

<!-- For more videos, check out the <a href=“#videos”>videos</a> section in this entry. -->

【ニコニコ動画】[実写合成]ミクLOVESセブンキャンペーンCM[フィクション]Hatune Miku & FamilyMart Collaborating Campaign Parody【ニコニコ動画】【MMD】スリラー・Thriller【ミクダヨー】
Michael Jackson’s Thriller【ニコニコ動画】【MMD】ｺﾛｶﾞﾙﾖｰ【ローリンガール】
Rolling Series【ニコニコ動画】【MMDホラー】ミクダヨーが迫ってくるだけ【夏なので】
Horror Movie Style

Illustrations

Many illustrations of Mikudayo- are posted to the Japanese illustrators community pixiv^[18] and Nico Nico Seiga, an image uploader section in niconico.^[19]

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Futaba relating websites basically prohibit people from introducing their URLs in the external. Do not write the URLs in articles or comments. Please use search engines.