Finally, the Winner

by Crazy Ivan

If you recall correctly, when I first announced the Myachigon Tribute contest I told everyone to use whatever medium they preferred.  At first I considered making it strictly a poetry contest, but eventually I decided to widen it.

I said in the introduction to the contest that your tribute "...could be a drawing, a poem, a photoshop, a true story, a fictional story, a collage, a sculpture... whatever you want".

Despite that, virtually all the entries were stories or poems, but one creative contestant decided to sum up the Myachigon in a photograph.  Two photographs, actually.  Given that the key to winning the contest was, as I stated in the original post, creativity, it seemed quite appropriate that this one would be the winner.

So a quick thanks to everyone who got involved.  It was really touching to read through everyone's entries and remind myself that the Myachigon meant as much to many of you as it did to me and the other Myachi Masters.  I really appreciate these entries, perhaps more than any other contest we've ever done on this blog.  Everyone deserved a prize but unfortunately I only had one to give away.  I'm sure you'll all agree that it is well deserved.

In the end, there was much debate at the House of Skills over the various entries, but the winner was eventually chosen unanimously.  It comes to us from our good friend and veteran Myachi Maniac, Kickstand (aka Coreyster):

I'm sure you've already figured it out, but that's the Myachigon, recreated with Myachis, tubes and a Bill Buckle.

And one more pic from the top:

One of the few times a Myachi Maniac ever said, "I wish
I had a few more long-boards..."

So thanks again for all the entries and congratulations to Kickstand!

We'll be announcing another new contest on Monday so if you didn't win (ie you're not Kickstand), don't worry, you're never too far away from the next contest.

Last One Before We Announce the Winner

Here's another touching memory of the Myachigon.  The next entry we announce will be at 6 O'clock and that will be our Grand Prize (Black Beard) winner.  Note that there are still some other entries that I did not publish today.  I'll keep those on file and likely post them over the next few days or weeks.

But before we announce the winner, here's another awesome runner-up:

One day I went with my Dad to FAO. I went to the Myachi section and took a huge long look at the beautiful treasured Gon! I heard there were Black Beards in the Gon in places nobody even looks!

I was jamming with Monk and Noodles until suddenly out popped Mantis, after that came Final Cut. We were making trades for Mantis’ black belt until he chose my offer! I was so happy! I jammed with it a little then took the tape off and realized there were no holes!

Then I took it to play Mantis in MYACH and all I can say was it was a pretty good game, even though I still got owned. I lost by 3 letters (I think). Then I started teaching people how to play Myachi and they ended up leaving pretty awesome! Then Noodles and Mantis played MYACH. I can only remember noodles getting 1 or 2 letters off Mantis. Then Final Cut and I played and the score was MYACH-0. I won.

Then I bought an FAO g’dundie from FAO and it turned out awesome! It is almost one of my favorite jammers and I love it so much! In 2 days it got SUMPOYIFIED! So that was my awesome day at The Myachigon that I will never forget!

-Gold

Myachigon Getting More Love

I will never forget the first time I went to Myachigon. To say it was amazing just wouldn't do it justice, so I figured it would be best just to tell the story.

It was the summer after my senior year. My last family vacation was approaching and it was my turn to choose where we would go. A year ago I had decided I wanted to learn to water ski. I wanted to ride the waves and ski my way through the summer, but my introduction to Myachi changed everything. After a year of learning tricks, jamming and collecting a total of 48 myachis, I knew where I would go, New York.

The trip to New York was slow. Tooooo slow. I felt like a little kid and wanted to ask, "Are we there yet?"... but I couldn't. My Mom sat beside me, and already slightly irritated that our vacation was determined by a "new version of a hackysack," it was best not to embarrass her. I sat in my seat like a good little boy and we finally landed.

Our first stop was the hotel, probably one of the nicest hotels I have been in, but I didn't notice. My mind was on one thing: myachi, myachi, myachi. As soon as I stepped out of the hotel, after throwing my bags on the floor, pushing my mom into the room, making her throw her bags down and sprinting to the elevator, I saw another kid jamming down the street and asked him where to find Myachigon. Little did I know, I was just 5 blocks away.

As I approached the VERY easy to find Myachigon, my heart raced with excitement. There were Maverick and Bones, both jamming. Maverick has been my idol since I first saw his jam in Washington Square, and meeting him was a dream come true. After he threw me a sack and I caught it, he said, "Not new to the game I see!" I laughed and replied, "Nah, I've been jamming for about a year now. It’s awesome to meet you." It was amazing to see how humble he was.

I looked at all the sacks they had, from the simple of simple to the rares of the rares. I offered to trade, but for not having a myachi shop around, I wasn't much to trade with. Little did that matter, I was so glad to be there. I bought 4 sacks on the spot and asked Maverick and Bones to sign my silver bullet. 

That day inspired me to train and train and train until I could become a Master. Myachigon not only changed my vacation, but inspired me to focus on Myachi. Myachigon was a place where I met tons of jammers, two masters and even got to show off a bit. Myachigon gave me pride, hope and a dream to cling to, and it was the place I spent the majority of my vacation at.

All good things must come to an end. And Myachigon is no exception to that statement. There is no doubt Myachigon was a good thing. It inspired thousands of people to join the best game in the world. It was a place to mingle, a place to trade and a place to learn. It will be greatly missed and never forgotten.

-Myachi Shogun

Yet Another Gon Tribute

Another poetic lamentation about the greatest toy display in human history.  This one comes to us from Myachi Maniac For Life, who regrets having never seen the Gon in person:

Like they say, only the good die young
At least those few years were filled with happiness and fun
You really don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
Farewell, beloved Myachigon

I remember the day when news broke out
Filled with excitement, I wanted to shout
Pictures posted, stories shared
A Myachi mecca built with love and care

The JamCams, the TV’s, the shirts and the sacks
There was nothing that the Myachigon lacked
Standing in F.A.O. tall and proud
She was always home to a wonderful crowd

Sadly, all good things must come to an end
A bittersweet parting with a dear old friend
The pages will turn, ending this chapter of life
But the sorrow and pain hurt like a knife

Hopefully one day she’ll rise again
To be a home to a new group of friends
Standing tall and proud, just like before
Taking center stage in another store

Until that day, she will live on

In memories and stories of the beloved Myachigon

Always, with love, we'll remember the past

Hoping those good times won't be the last.

And here's another awesome tribute to our beloved Myachigon...

Myachigon Creative Story

I’ve only been ‘Myaching’ for a month or so now, and what can I say I’m more addicted to it then Oxygen. It’s just something that has become a part of me, like another hand, foot or eye and without it I feel like there’s something missing with me. Myachi and the people that play it have formed a close nit community and friendships from all over the globe from America to Australia. Where they can meet up, either in person or online and jam for hours on end.

Which leads me to my main point, the thing that hits hard is, because I live in Australia I will never, ever (unless you guys decide to rebuild it) be able to experience the Myachigon and the fun and memories you guys have built up over the last 3 years, the good, the bad, the occasional slip over the back of your head whilst pulling a mad combo which then lands behind an object causing you to find a small child to climb behind said object to grab it before his mother comes back... ok that last one might not of happened but you get the picture.

Anyways back to my point, many of you in the thousands will have many memories of Myachigon so cherish them heck even tell your grandkids one day because many other jammers, from Australia and other parts of the world won’t be able to see and know the ‘epicness’ of the Myachigon, but when I rock up to the Myachi store in Times Square in December tell me a couple of stories, I’d be glad to hear.

STWAKOJ

-Dave aka Gobet

Myachigon Tribute #1

The contest ended Wednesday Night and yesterday we all looked over the entries and chose the winner.  The winner will be announced at 6 pm, but between now and then I'll be sharing a number of the entries with you.  Many of them were too touching not to publish and I wish after reading them that I had a dozen Black Beards to give out.

I should note that I'm not presenting these in any order.  This isn't worst to best or best to worst.  I'm just going to publish several of them today in no particular order.  Hopefully the subject matter won't get too depressing today...

A Myachi Poem
by Gecko

This was the place maniacs where born,
And now that it’s gone many will mourn.

The gon was a symbol of what we are,
A place of joy for those near and far.

A place of acceptance for good or bad,
Nobody left feeling at all sad.

It was an icon for the game,
And the place where some grew to fame.

But now it is gone hidden away,
But at FAO Schwartz the movement will stay.

Tucked in a corner like an old toy,
But it will still bring many children joy.

The Myachi mobile was a similar story,
They both where icons filled with glory.

We should remember the 'gon' as it was,
As a place to hang out just because.

Not just as a big metal stage,
But a place to go and act without age.

Sure it will be missed as all loved things should,
Being fun, amusing and just flat out good.

Now I say good bye to the tangible space,
The thing that nothing will ever replace.

Good Bye Myachigon.

A Sad, Sad Sight

by Crazy Ivan

I should admit that since we got word that the Myachigon was coming down, this blog has taken a decidedly depressing turn and way too many of my entries over the last few days have been lamentations about the greatest sales display that ever was.  It's been a common thread through so many entries now that I hesitate to bring it up again, lest I just turn the whole tone of this blog.

But I had to share these pics.

Today was the first day that I've been back in the office since we broke the Gon down Monday night.  I had not properly prepared myself for the shock of walking in and seeing her lying around in bits all over the HQ.

I knew it was going to be here and I was actually kind of excited to see it.  Had it not been for an awkward automotive situation yesterday, I would have done the brawl last night with the pieces of the Myachigon sitting around in the background.  I even considered using it for the background on my trick of the day video, though after seeing how depressing it all looks, I'm having second thoughts.

There's also the issue of room.  It turns out that the Myachigon takes up a lot more room when it's not set up.  With all the constituent parts lying around the office it takes up almost twice as much room as the actual assembled Gon.

Piles of steel trussing stand in your way as you move toward the supply closet, giant diamond plated half walls block you as you try to restock the Coke cooler.  And forget about playing any ping pong today...

But, of course, not everything here is bad news.  All this stuff will look really cool once we get it set up around HQ.  Looks like we've got more than enough Myachi-related awesomeness to polish the look of the whole place.  And if nothing else, we've also got these hanging around:

Probably took you a second because you're looking at the backs and they still have the braces attached, but yeah... those are the six big screen TVs that were hanging around the Gon.  Like I said... it's not all bad news.

Prize Announcement

by Crazy Ivan

When I announced the Myachigon Tribute Contest, I left the question of the prize for it pretty wide open.  I was hoping that we would find a treasure trove of lost and forgotten Myachis in the legs of the gon but as it turned out, remarkably few were found.  In fact, to my knowledge we only found one; my beloved Black Beard.

Now, I have 4 possible theories regarding why we didn't uncover a lot more Myachis when we did the break down:

1. There was only one Myachi down there to begin with: A lot of people told me that they'd lost Myachis down in the legs of the gon, but there was only one that I actually saw drop down there with my own eyes and that was the one Black Beard that we found.  It's possible that some of the other ones we expected to find were either stolen (hey dude, I just dropped your Myachi down there... now there's no way to get it back!) or lost in another way (when I did my Flying Clipper, it went over this way and now I can't find it... must have gone down in the legs).
2. There were some sticky fingers at the break down: I doubt this very much, but it's possible that between all the Myachi Masters and Maniacs who were there somebody just found a yummy sack and didn't know where it came from.  If somebody pocketed a groovy Myachi because of the break down, they certainly earned it (it was hard work) so I won't begrudge them that.  That being said, I really don't think this is what happened at all.
3. Time Travellers: It's possible that in the distant future, people need Myachis for some reason.  They have to come back to the present to get them but they can't just go swiping Myachis that would be missed, otherwise they could create a butterfly-effect style timequake.  So they use their high tech gadgetry to extract the Myachis that were down there without leaving any sign.  They don't take the Black Beard, of course, since it would be missed.
4. Smurfs stole them: Some of you might not know this, but during our time at FAO, they filmed a portion of the upcoming live action smurf movie.  They did the majority of the filming overnight so they wouldn't interrupt the flow of the store's traffic, which means that for several nights there were smurfs hanging out in that store and they were likely largely unsupervised.  They could easily fit down into the legs and crawl down the scaffolding to nab a wayward Myachi or two.

Anyway, it seems that I'm getting distracted from the actual purpose of this blogpost; namely, telling you what we're using as the prize.

This was a tough call to make.  I really dig Black Beards and it's so cool that I got this one back after years of missing it.  But eventually it would just become another sack in my collection.  The story of that Myachi is way better if in the end it goes to the person who presents the best tribute to the Gon.

So winner gets a pretty yummy 3.1 Black Beard (which is redundant since the Black Beard was only offered in the 3.1 series) that spent a couple of years chilling at the bottom of the pillars of the Gon.  It's a Myachi with a storied history and one I'd hope any Myachi Maniac would be proud to add to their collection.

Dismantling the Gon

by Crazy Ivan

I think we all knew it would be hard.

I likened it to retiring Big Momma.  The Myachi Mobile was the single most visible and recognizable symbol of Myachi Mania in the world.  It was one of my first impressions of the game and it seemed to exemplify everything that the game, the company and the movement was all about.  The RV was unique, cool, hard to look away from and, just like Myachi, it started slow and took a while to get up to speed, but once she was going it was a chore to stop her.

When we retired the Myachi Mobile, I was heart broken.  It had been my ride, my home, my office and my refuge for years by then.  It had come to symbolize the nomadic lifestyle of the Myachi Master and it was hard to imagine that the company could carry on without her.  It really hit me on an emotional level when I knew I'd never take another trip in Big Momma's Brick House.

And last night I felt that same thing.

Bones was working that day so he was the first one there, but I arrived second.  Two Maniacs were hanging out to see the Myachigon off (and big shout out to Slimjim and Smooth for all their help last night).  When I got there I took a long look at the Gon, taking in every line and every angle as I approached.  It was such a familiar scene that it was hard to believe that it was ever going to change.

But it did.  The very first thing I did was disconnect the jamcams.  I figured if it was heartbreaking for me to watch it was probably best not to broadcast it online.  I went to work disconnecting the bazillion cords and cables that controlled out TVs, the cams, the computers, the router, the wireless mics, the DVD player and the Bluray.

While I was doing that, Myachi Man and Kid showed up and got to work with Bones, Smooth and Slimjim pulling the product off the shelves and boxing it to go to our new spot upstairs.  Before I knew it, I glanced up and Animal, Monk and Mav were there as well.  We all acknowledged each other, but we weren't talking much.  The task was a bit too dismal for chatter.

Once the product was down and the wires were disconnected it was time to take down the 6 big screen TVs.  That was actually much easier than I expected, but the difficulty of wrapping the 14 miles of cables that were running through that steel trussing was tough enough to make up for it.  Once we got that taken care of, we took her hat off.  Myachi Man, Kid, Monk and Animal each got on one pillar, we pulled a bunch of pins and then took the whole top of the Myachigon off completely.

In all, it took us about 3 and a half hours to deconstruct the Myachigon.  The only real highlight of the night for me was that I did actually get one of my Black Beards back.  I also got whacked in the knee, funny bone, head, hand, finger and shin at various points in the night, but that's to be expected when you've got so many people all working so close together.

We took the last piece out to the truck, one of the sections of the rear computer cabinet, and hefted it on to the liftgate of Kid's rented Penske.  I wandered back inside to wash my hands and grab my jacket and as I did, I walked the same route I'd walked when I first arrived.  I cam upstairs from the basement and instead of seeing the Myachigon as I had for the last 3 years, instead I saw a big empty space with Myachi Man standing in the middle looking disheveled and forlorn.

And I thought of the Myachi Mobile.  When we retired her it seemed like the end of an era and I wondered if the movement could even carry on.  I feared that it was a sign of the Myachi-pocalypse.  It seemed back then that the Myachi Mobile was too big a part of the company for us to carry on without her.

Of course, we did carry on.  Not only did we carry on, but we thrived.  We've had the best 3 year run in the company's history and last year we smashed all our worldwide sales records.  We're in five times as many countries as we were the day the Myachi Mobile retired.  Half of the Myachis ever made were made after the Myachi Mobile retired.  Most of the people who've ever played the game learned it after the Myachi Mobile retired.

Make no mistake, the end of the Gon is the end of an era, but it is not the end of Myachi.  Not by a long shot.  As hard as it seems now, we'll carry on and we'll get stronger and stronger.  The store felt so bad about us having to take down the Gon that they're compensating us with a much cooler spot over at Toys R Us Timesquare so odds are that in the end we'll actually do better now than we did before in those stores.

I will miss the Myachigon.  I will look upon the old video of the Myachigon with fond memories, the same as I look at footage of the old Myachi Mobile.  And I wonder, now that the Gon is gone, what will come to symbolize us next?

The Last Days of the Myachigon

by Crazy Ivan
When we first opened the Myachigon back in 2008, it was supposed to be a one year thing.  Fao Shwarz liked to rotate out the "pole position" in their store and since Myachi was their top seller it seemed only natural that it was time for us to rotate in.  We opened late in the year so that we would be front and center through Christmas.  At the time they said they might swap something a bit more "summery" into that location in March, but we were pretty confident that we would do so good that they would let us stay there for the whole year.

We did not expect was that they would leave us there for two and a half years.  I guess we kind of hoped they would but considering what they told us at the beginning, we didn't expect that would be a possibility.

But of course, like all good things, the Myachigon must come to an end.  We've managed to maintain the most coveted toy-retail location in the world for far longer than any other toy in history so we're not exactly going to hang our heads now that the run is over.

But I will miss the Myachigon.

We're breaking it down Monday night.  I feel less like a Myachi Master and more like a pall bearer.  We've rented a massive truck to take all the legs and big screen TVs away.  They've set us up with two locations in the store to continue to rock it out so we'll be moving all the product to those spots.  Myachi Man, Kid, Monk, Animal, Mav, Bones, Noodles and I will give the old girl the send off that she deserves.

That means, of course, that if you want to visit the Myachigon one last time, you have a very short time to do it.  It'll be open today and all day tomorrow, but if you come into FAO on Tuesday it will be but a memory.

I'll admit that it feels like the end of an era in a sense, but ultimately there's a lot of good news that goes with it.  Not the least of which is the fact that I can finally get those two Black Beards I dropped into the pillars back in 2008.