Snow Miku
Snow Miku (雪ミク) is Crypton's annual winter-themed festival for Hatsune Miku. It usually takes place during the Sapporo Snow Festival, and obviously it is indoors because its cold out. They create snow sculptures related to the theme each year. There is also a design contest the year before that you need to use a template for. Whichever design gets the most votes by the public and Vocaloid experts wins and gets to be the next Snow Miku while all the other entries will never get to be one in their entire lives. Some artists end up getting picked twice (or more than that) but never end up winning, similar to Leonardo DiCaprio and his Oscars.
The winner also gets to go to the annual event for free, have their design be a Nendroid (which are Funko Pops but better) and possibly get to draw official artworks for Crypton. Although the losing artists also get to do the latter as well.
2010s[edit | edit source]
2010[edit | edit source]
The first ever Snow Miku. It is literally a winter version of Miku's outfit. It is just really boring. But you gotta start small somehow. They decided to reuse her outfit and put accessories on her in the next year.
2011[edit | edit source]
The second Snow Miku. This is the Snow Miku that most people are familiar with. It is the same thing as 2010's except she wears mittens and a scarf. But that is not saying much. The next Snow Mikus differentiate between the first two.
2012[edit | edit source]
The first Snow Miku to be decided by a contest. There were four options. Whichever option wins also gets their lights colored depending on the number being chosen. The numbers represent each member of the Crypton Family, as 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent aqua, orange, yellow and pink respectively. The third option won, thus the yellow lights were lit up. Anyways, the theme of 2012 was supposed to be a "gemstone that represents snow or ice". It foreshadowed 2025's Snow Miku 13 years later.
2013[edit | edit source]
The theme of 2013 was "sweets showing the imagery of winter". The third option won again, so the yellow lights were lit up for the first ever back-to-back champion. People think that this design was scary if you add a random mask onto it. In reality, the design does not have a mask. This is also notable for being the first and only design to cover the twintails.
2014[edit | edit source]
This design basically changed everything. First, it was the first appearance of Rabbit Yukine, but we'll get to it more later. Second, it had a theme song, which was the first of its kind since 2010-2013 didn't have one. Finally, it was the first to get more than four finalists, although two of the lights would later come back in 2017. The theme for this year was "magical girl". The final entry looked more like a snow witch, but whatever. Crypton also asked artists to draw a mascot, in which Rabbit Yukine won and later became the secondary mascot. The eighth entry won, however, since there were six Crypton Family members, they decided to ask Internet to use their Vocaloids, which they accepted. Purple and lime green lights lit up for the winning designs as a result.
2015[edit | edit source]
The lights were reduced to 4, although the entries for Rabbit Yukine have double the points. Eventually Crypton decided so that artists have to draw a design for both Rabbit Yukine and Snow Miku 3 years later. The theme for that year was "plants of winter". The fourth and third entries won in the Snow Miku and Rabbit Yukine categories respectively, as this was the first year that the fourth entry won. The lights were pink and yellow as a result. Two of the finalists' designs have to do with lily-of-the-valley flowers, but the fourth entry was apparently better.
2016[edit | edit source]
Ironically, this year's theme, "fun winter sport", was held on the same year as a Summer Olympics year. This is the first year that the second and first choices won, thus orange and aqua lights would be lit up. This is so far the only year that the first choice has won, and is holding the record for having the longest win drought since none of the first choices of the next several years won. This Snow Miku has to do with snowboarding, which was the only clear indicator of the theme.
2017[edit | edit source]
The final year that the Rabbit Yukine design contest was separate before Crypton decided that cheating isn't fun. It reintroduces the blue and red lights from 2014 but not everyone else. It has been customary for all Snow Miku design contests to have 6 choices. The theme was "stars/constellations of winter", and the fourth and fifth choices won, thus the pink and blue lights were lit up. This would also be the final time that more than one color of lights were lit up. Otherwise, most of the designs submitted had to do with stargazing.
2018[edit | edit source]
From this point on, the design contest would have 6 choices and that you need to design both Snow Miku and Rabbit Yukine. The theme of the design contests were much straightforward. The theme was "animal with the image of winter and snow". Two of the finalists' designs had to do with cranes. This marked the first time the sixth choice won, as red lights were lit up once it happened.
2019[edit | edit source]
The tenth anniversary of Snow Miku. This year arguably had the most easiest theme ever, which was "princess showing the imagery of winter". Because of how easy the theme was, this contest ended up getting more entries than usual. The orange lights went out when the second choice won. It was a really close vote.
2020s[edit | edit source]
2020[edit | edit source]
Crypton realized that they didn't do a music-themed Snow Miku, so they decided to do a theme for "musical instrument". Unlike all the other Snow Mikus, this is unique as each finalist had a 39-second snippet of an original song composed by others. Whichever Snow Miku won also meant that the original song would be released in full. The yellow lights lit up again. This also meant that the Snow Miku with the French horn won, along with the song getting released.
2021[edit | edit source]
Due to COVID-19 regulations, Cryton decided to show a picture of the winning color instead. The theme was "illumination", fittingly enough. They decided to show a picture of the color red when the sixth option won, and it's literally based on a clock tower. It wasn't that complicated to make it a Nendroid, ironically. The Nendroid is even its own clock and glows in the dark.
2022[edit | edit source]
Crypton decided to change the rules once again. They said that you needed to use a template from this point on. That means no more messing around with layouts. The theme of the design contest was "sea/ocean". The orange lights lit up this time around, since whoever's in charge of the Snow Miku contests decided to come back once the COVID regulations relaxed. Two of the finalists' entries had to do with captains, except the crab captain won. Due to how simple the theme is, this ended up getting even more entries, except the vote wasn't that close at all.
2023[edit | edit source]
The theme was "weather/condition of the sky showing the imagery of winter". Half of the finalists' entries had to do with art, as they featured their Mikus with paintbrushes. The red lights lit up, and it ended up being the most popular Snow Miku of the 2020s decade so far. Even its theme song ended up in Fortnite of all places. It simply was working.
2024[edit | edit source]
The theme was "feast showing the imagery of winter". How many times do we have to say "showing the imagery of winter"? Probably enough times. There was a Snow Miku based on shrimp, but that didn't make it in, but it gained popularity amongst the western Vocaloid fandom. There was however, a Snow Miku that had a shrimp in her design, even though it was minor, so that unsurprisingly won. For the first time in 7 years, the fifth choice won, and blue lights were lit up. This Snow Miku has the shortest theme song of all Snow Mikus, at two minutes and thirty seconds.
2025[edit | edit source]
The theme was "glittering snow material", and it could vary from anything like Christmas lights, snowglobes and anything sparkly. The winning entry was the fifth one again. Thus the blue lights lit up for the second year in a row, the first ever back-to-back victory since 2012 and 2013. If 2012's theme had to do with gemstones and this entry made it in, that would've also won instantly. This is the closest thing to 2012 as possible.
2026[edit | edit source]
The theme was "pâtisserie of happiness". This is the third time that Crypton did a food-related theme. This time, instead of focusing on Japanese sweets like in 2013, they decided to focus on Western sweets 13 years later. Yet again, the fifth entry won, and the blue lights lit up for the 3rd time in a row. This marks the first threepeat in Snow Miku history. The fifth entry basically had everything from all the other finalists' entries.
2027[edit | edit source]
The theme is "Secret ★ Metamorphosis", and the first ever theme to have a symbol in its name. This is going to be close to 2014's. Expect Sailor Moon-like outfits or some shit.