in any kind of history, no matter how many ups, downs and twists there are, there'll always be a single and only starting point⭕
using this to conclude the iceberg, I hope these facts continue to be learned by ppl, and we can keep appreciating MEIKO, who is such an origin!

Tier 10 (cont'd, last one for MEIKO Iceberg V.1)
107. MEIKO is the Origin - of course there were more vocal synths before her, but for Japanese Vocaloids at least, the origin ("Genten") will always be MEIKO.

more abt the factors behind such harsh criticisms and remarks: could be due to the majority of the userbase at that time being more experienced DTM musicians, who took things more seriously
and that Vocaloid hadn't really turned into a kind of otaku culture yet

Tier 10 (cont'd)
106. thorny paths - "amateurish", having an "unserious packaging", a "lame name" and "cheap" in general... all of these were comments during her dawn era (e.g. seen in the 2ch discussions), despite sales going well
the trailblazer really walked the thorny paths🚩

P.S. this 2ch comment reads as below (reply no.25)
"・NHK 「ニュース10」でVOCALOID紹介される！
2004年4月27日（火）　22:00～22:55の
NHK「ニュース10」の特集で、合成された歌声と実際の歌手の歌声の聴き比べや、ボーカロイドとは何か、その仕組み等が紹介されました"
kako.5ch.net/test/read.cg...

Tier 10 (cont'd)
105. NHK News 10 - both Miku Wiki and some old 2ch comments mentioned that MEIKO was introduced on NHK News 10 on 27 Apr 2004
however I put this on the bottom of the iceberg cuz this is so obscure and I couldn't find any more info abt it😢
w.atwiki.jp/hmiku/pages/...

Tier 10 (cont'd)
104. "Oppai desu ne" - during the MEIKO10th event Elegant Night, Haigou stated that the most difficult thing abt being MEIKO's VP is, well, her b00bs lol (I'm sorry)
anyway, it's just a lighthearted thing and I really love her humor😆
www.itmedia.co.jp/news/article...

Tier 10 (cont'd)
103. May 2004 release - another date that was once planned for MEIKO (and MIRIAM's) release
from this early promotional material from Crypton, it was written on the back that the two vocals were planned for a May release
web.archive.org/web/20051227...

Tier 10 (cont'd)
102. V1 of 18 yr old image - I have yet to find a more official source abt this, but from several sources I've read, including Nanameue-P, it seems that MEIKO's V1 avatar was designed with the "image of a 18 yr old girl" in mind
x.com/NanameueP/st...

Tier 10
101. April 2004 release - in the Apr 2004 issue of the Sound & Recording Magazine, there's a page for a Crypton Media Phage ad (the pic I use for tier 10)
it showed MEIKO that didn't yet have a boxart, and April 2004 was once a planned release date
w.atwiki.jp/hmiku/pages/...

Tier 9 (cont'd)
100. Crypton's top selling software podiumer - MEIKO's glory of once reaching the podium of the software rank in Crypton's top selling CD products
achieving this in only a month, while also amidst many other products is just cool!🥳
x.com/merrycherryH...

Tier 9 (cont'd)
99. sonarsound tokyo 2004 - a music festival held from Oct 9 to Oct 10 in Tokyo
they had a "Technology Showcase" section to exhibit various music techs, and MEIKO's one of them
so... MEIKO was exhibited BEFORE her release!
www.dtmstation.com/archives/691...

Tier 9 (cont'd)
98. singing in 2007 lives - on top of Susumu Hirasawa's usage of MEIKO in his songs (see no.91), he also included her vocals in some of the live renditions of them
that means in a way, MEIKO already "made appearances" in concerts in 2007!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=be0n...

Tier 9 (cont'd)
97. music magazines - for MEIKO V1, some Japanese music magazines wrote reviews and demos about her, including the DTM Magazine (see no.78 above) and Keyboard Magazine (link below), serving as the only main way of marketing her back then
www.rittor-music.co.jp/magazine/det...

P.S. despite there being some quite aggressive and critical comments towards MEIKO/Vocaloid in general due to many discussants being experienced DTM users and Vocaloid not yet an otaku fandom, reading these really gives us an idea of what the very early Vocaloid era was like!