Item War

A heated discussion or argument concerning items to be wielded by a character is commonly called an "Item War." (持ち物戦争, Mochimono Sensou)

Why Give Items?
Items are given by fans as a method of aiding in creating songs, the item also becomes part of the personality building of the Vocaloid. Fans often make videos featuring the item. Items may change due to opinions over time so nothing may be set in stone although Miku, Kaito and Gakupo's items are the most universally accepted items amongst Vocaloid fans. For the Crypton Vocaloids at the very least, character items have been used as a selling point, and a number of figures of Miku come with spring onions as an additional item, or as part of the figurine itself.

Originally, it was a item of food due to part of Kaito and Miku's item origins, however when items were applied to English Vocaloids, a number of English fans distressed the dislike for the items always being food. So therefore, while Japanese vocaloids often acquire food based items, English Vocaloids acquire more materialistic items instead. The exceptions to this rule is Prima and Tonio, whose singing style is lined to the upper class lifestyle so therefore Wine and a Martini, both considered or linked to the upper class lifestyle, are better suited to act as their items.

Each character may go through a process of arguments wherein items are proposed until one or more is agreed on. During the process, other surprising results may occur such as seen with both Luka Megurine and Big Al, who received animal additions as part of this process. However, as time has gone by, the item war has become less serious and more of a joke and the process is on a decline. The reason for this is mostly because, originally most were conceived via internet memes.

List of Character Items
Please note; due to the nature of the fandom, this is subject to change depending on current opinions.


 * Leon
 * Because of the promotional video, "The Farthest End" (Saihate), Leon is often depicted with tulips which eventually became his character item.


 * Lola
 * Frying pan, reason unknown.


 * Miriam
 * Upon entering Miriam Stockley's webpage, a tube of lipstick would pop up on the screen which then writes out Miriam's name. For this reason, her character item is thought to be a lipstick.


 * Meiko
 * One Cup Ozeki (a sake widely available through vending machines) often serves as her character item in some videos.


 * Kaito
 * Ultimately, Kaito is a prime example why items are applied to Vocaloids. Before this, Kaito had fared poorly in sales, his character item helped boost sales and remove his "failure" status. His character item is ice cream.


 * Sweet Ann
 * Fried chicken, a dig at her "demonic" looking boxart.


 * Miku Hatsune
 * Spring onion (negi) accurately. Its origin comes from the Loituma Girl "Ievan Polkka" meme.


 * Len/Rin Kagamine
 * The first big dispute about character items happened at the time of release of Kagamine's. This dispute produced the unexpected item "road roller" that is to be wielded both by Rin and Len. After Kagamine Rin was announced (Len's existence was not announced at first), in each place it was talked about what she should have. The plans such as an orange, an onion, a banana etc were given, but no plan reached a clincher. All was ordinary and has no strong impact.


 * Meanwhile, this video was uploaded to NicoNicoDouga suddenly. (Dec.01.2007 by loadorigin)


 * "「すいません・・・、鏡音リンを予約したいのですが・・・」"


 * ("Excuse me, but I want to make a reservation of Kagamine Rin...")


 * This was a kind of the "fishing" video, but everyone was surprised at the unlikelihood of this idea very much. This video became a big hit in a moment (it got more than 700,000 view counts so far), and many "road roller" videos produced by many producers were uploaded to NicoNicoDouga. So that the road roller of Rin was firmly established.


 * It was a totally novel idea to have become the decisive factor.


 * A number of items have also been argued, and currently, Orange for Rin and Banana for Len are the proposed character items. The reason for Len having a banana has a character item seems to come from the shape of his hair, which resembles a bunch of bananas. The reason for Rin could be because both Kagamine's wear a shade of orange on their belts or because before Len's design, her shorts were originally a yellow-orange color, or that her bow resembles the leaves of an orange. Another reason could be that in the Vegetable Juice (popipo) video Len is seen dressed as a banana. However Rin is dressed as a lemon, not as an orange.


 * Prima
 * Wine, due to the culture of the opera. But because some fans depict her with a yandere personality, weapons also serve from time to time as her items.


 * Gakupo
 * Eggplant, due to his purple hair.


 * Luka Megurine
 * The discussion about the character item of Luka was very intense. This "Item War" of Luka ended by the appearance of Tako Luka. Though eventually tuna became her item, it was proven to be one of the most important moments in the item war history.


 * Gumi
 * Carrot, this is due to her green hair and orange outfit and as a homage to Ranka Lee's song "Ninjin Loves you Yeah!" as Ranka and Gumi share the same voice source.


 * Sonika
 * Similar to Gumi, Sonika was given pineapple due to her teal hair and its original style and her yellow outfit. However, the english fandom also argued for a ring due to her name being similar to Sonic the hedgehog and a bell due to her demo song "ring my bell". To date, there is no definite confirmed item. There were attempts to combine all three objects, one of the results was a pineapple grenade.


 * SF-A2 miki
 * Cherry, due to her hair colour (red).


 * Yuki Kaai
 * Apples, due to her height and weight being done by height and weight of apples. This also possibly came from the tradition of kindergarten students presenting apples to their teachers, which originated from western cultures.


 * Kiyoteru Hiyama
 * Not decided, though one or two videos have suggested iced coffee. Some may suggest the black folder he wields, presumably a class record.


 * Big Al
 * Lengthy discussions in his pre-release topics produced a race car due to his attire being described as looking like a racing driver, although the Japanese fandom thought it made him resemble a Mecha pilot instead. Also, a pocket watch was proposed due to his lateness. Ultimately, the only definite thing that has stood as being linked to him is penguins due to the video "Born Again". This is because of his hair and attire resemble several species of crested penguins (although officially, its the Western Rockhopper Penguin that's named specifically as the species due to the fact it has already a number of links in music).


 * Tonio
 * Martini is already proposed for his item. Sonika has also stated on her twitter that Tonio is suspicious of any liquid that is not at least partly martini based.


 * Lily
 * Lemon and Honey Wand is proposed. She is also seen regularly with chicken chicks. So far the only item that has stood out as definite is a level crossing sign. This is due to an early joke version of Ievan Polkka where she was seen waving a railroad level crossing sign up and down like Miku waves a leek up and down in the original version Miku version. Not unlike Tako Luka, Lily is also associated with a bee named Harii.


 * VY1
 * Since they are the only items of identification given to the Vocaloid, the fan and hair pin on Mizki's boxart are regarded as the items of identification.


 * Gachapoid
 * No item has been declared his item yet.


 * Iroha Nekomura
 * The Hello Kitty Franchise.


 * Piko Utatane
 * No declared item yet.