Philippine VTubers Collaborate for a Huge Merch Drop
The increasing interest in VTubers helped fan artists create more fan merch. This was further put to the test at CONQuest Festival, where around 40 local VTubers collaborated with a local game for a huge merch drop.
Virtual YouTubers in the Philippines are gaining interest, with some of them having their own set of communities. One of the most popular local VTubers, Kaheru Orange, has a Discord audience of more than 6,000; Live2D model artist Pan the VTuber has around 5,000. This is aside from a huge number of fans following mainstream VTubers hailing from the English branches of Hololive and Nijisanji.
The increasing interest in VTubers helped fan artists create more fan merch. The recently-held Cosplay Carnival event in Pasay City, miles away from the nation's capital, proved that there's a growing enthusiasm for such items.
This was further put to the test at CONQuest Festival, held at the same venue: Around 40 local VTubers collaborated with a local bullet hell game called Good Knight for a huge merch drop.
Over 300 types of merch such as keychains, acrylic standees, posters of various sizes, even some food and drink items, filled Good Knight's booth, leaving the game's space to occupy just one side.
How Did It Come to This?
Released September 2021 on Steam, Good Knight is a one-button puzzle bullet hell game featuring bits of Philippine history and mythology. The game's uniqueness doesn't stop with the lack of buttons to use and its banger metal soundtrack—it also uses different camera angles.
One VTuber after another played the game on stream, and it led to a huge following—more than 60 VTubers shared their reactions online, compiled in one supercut:
VTuber Standees Auctioned
Aside from the huge merch drop, standees of some VTubers have been auctioned on Day 2. A standee of Pan was sold for Php5,500 (US$99.28 based in the current exchange rate of US$1 = Php55.40). Pinyapple Pie, who recently debuted this year, had her standee sold for Php5,000 (US$90.26). Shiori_p0n, VTuber who is also an actual surgeon, had her standee sold at Php6,000 (US$108.31)
In his post-event reflection, Alex Valdez from the Good Knight team said the booth "became a home to everybody," that despite the hard decisions and sacrifices they had to take, they met one community after another. Imagine meeting the cosplay and VTuber communities altogether.
Concluding this piece, we congratulate Good Knight for the successful merch collab, which shows how local VTubers can band together and make history.