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We all knew it was eventually going to happen.

As Hatsune Miku’s popularity grew – eventually landing her a much-lauded place on David Letterman, where her appearance was met with widespread confusion and much self-conscious head bobbing – we were all essentially certain that one day, like all other holographic semi-celebrities, our much beloved Hatsune would one day be immortalized in the form of a transforming donkey.

It is a story as old as time, after all: Fake hologram girl learns to sing and dance, fake hologram girl becomes famous, fake hologram girl becomes a donkey.

While the donkey-shaped, rideable toy Rody is a well-known curio in the West – occupying a not-insignificant percentage of homes with small children – the distinctive, rubbery plaything enjoys a different kind of cultural capital entirely in the toy’s native Japan. Second, perhaps, to Hello Kitty, Rody is known for its liberal licensing, going in for tie-ins with other popular intellectual properties such as the Eagle Talon crew and certain holographic singers.

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Thus, it seems, the Rody Hatsune Miku transformer was born.

Presented jointly by Bandai and Tamashi Nations, the Rody Hatsune Miku toy is manufactured under the “Cho-gokin” label of mega-high-quality toys. The toy line has a prestigious history dating as far back as the die-cast mecha toys of the early 1970s. Now, the line produces any number of toys based on more current IPs, like Yokai Watch.

Transforming Rody Hatsune Miku will set fans back a cool 7,344 yen (about US$65), meaning this one-of-a-kind tie-in is mostly intended for Hatsune Miku and/or the odd adult Rody super fans of the world. Little Hatsune even comes with a replaceable facial expression, an adorable tiny piano and even a handful of her signature leeks.

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As is generally the case with more or less all of the coolest Japanese goods, Rody Hatsune Miku is only available for delivery in Japan, but for the ones of you out there who are diehard Rody and Hatsune Miku fans, currently residing in Japan and primarily consuming your Japan news in the form of an English-language humorous news site, you can find more information here.

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Source and images: Tamashii.jp