If you happen to made it via that headline and also you’re confused, don’t fear — I used to be, too, at first. Hatsune Miku is an web fandom factor. She’s not an actual particular person, and she or he didn’t get her begin in some obscure anime — she’s a Vocaloid, which is an artificial voice that may be fed melodies and music lyrics to output as vocal performances, and she puts on concerts. Right here’s a succinct abstract from my colleague Jess Weatherbed:
Okay, a fast crash course is that Miku is the mascot and most recognizable character for Vocaloid voice synthesizer software program. Every Vocaloid “character” has a selected, distinctive voice that’s resulted in a few of them gaining fan followings like actual human performers.
404 Media called Miku a “bonafide digital pop idol with a big, world following” that always “performs” within the type of a hologram, like that weird 2Pac one from 2012’s Coachella or the avatar-based ABBA exhibits which have been going gangbusters in London.
Right here’s Miku singing a music made for a Sega smartphone sport referred to as Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage!
Miku is very well-liked, as Vocaloids go — to the purpose that she’s been on David Letterman, frequently tours the world, and has even been married (sort of). Polygon editor-in-chief Chris Plante even created a video explaining her years in the past.
However folks going to a present referred to as Miku Expo 2024 in Vancouver’s Thunderbird Enviornment final Thursday didn’t get that — as an alternative, they acquired Miku on an enormous ol’ TV, and a few of them had been fairly grumpy about it on social media, though, as 404 Media factors out, that doesn’t actually come via within the movies:
However the disappointment of some folks is comprehensible. Tickets to those exhibits could be expensive. The upcoming Phoenix, Arizona, show, as an example, ranges from $55 for a budget seats to $150 earlier than charges for the final admission flooring. The present seems to be near promoting out, with just a few seats left within the stands and an unknown variety of common admission tickets. One fan mentioned they spent practically $200 for the Vancouver present:
One other fan wrote on X (machine translated from Spanish), “Like once you’ve already paid in your aircraft tickets, your lodge lodging, you purchased your ticket to the Miku Expo and also you spent all of your financial savings, however they find yourself getting an enormous TV.”
YouTuber Blake the Nerd mentioned he was upset as a result of the present was promoted as a hologram efficiency:
404 Media shared different movies of followers posting about how straightforward it’s to make a DIY hologram:
Miku Expo 2024’s organizers apparently made some tweaks for the San Jose, California, present final evening, scooting the display again a bit:
Followers appeared to understand the change:
I could not perceive Miku’s attraction solely, however I might slightly these of us have a superb time at their present. And once you’re going to see a fictional performer, you need the present that can assist you droop somewhat disbelief, proper? As a child, I desperately needed to go to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Coming Out of Their Shells Tour, which had precise folks carrying precise Ninja Turtles fits singing into precise microphones!
Okay, possibly that’s not higher than the enormous display at Miku Expo. But when I had paid cash to go to a type of Ninja Turtles live shows, I’d have been very disillusioned if I’d gotten a pretaped present on a Jumbotron or projected onto a display.
Then once more, numerous the enjoyable of a present is simply getting along with different followers — as Taylor Swift followers confirmed after they fueled the Eras Tour’s record-breaking theatrical run. Perhaps the ticket costs are price it simply to be round individuals who like what you want.