itabag yapping
i recently went to japan for sideM's 9th live concert and saw many sideM itabags in real life. i'll talk more about the concert itself later, but the topic here is essentially "why repeat itabags aren't bad actually (but why i don't want to bother making one anyway)".
the state of itabagging
repeat bags are king in japan. there was really no competition. aside from myself, i think i only saw 2 or 3 bags that weren't repeat bags. i've seen repeat bags in western circles online before, but it's not something i come across often at conventions IRL, so it was really a surprise to find out that even the men exclusively did repeat bags. the bags weren't necessarily repeats of only one piece of merch or artwork or even character, but nearly every bag featured at least five pieces of the same merch in the spotlight.
i've written about it previously, but basically trading merch is the norm in japan, so it's much easier to get the pieces you want to make repeat bags. of course, buying bulk badges and selling leftovers is much easier there as well. still, in a place where you can so easily access different types of merchandise, it was kinda crazy to see that everyone did repeats.
i also didn't see a single backpack-style bag aside from my own. those are less common in the west than they used to be, but i still see them being posted in the itabag central discord server pretty often.
fashion over flaunting
even as someone who collects a lot of merch, i dislike the idea that "spending more money on your favorite characters' merch = you love them more". there are plenty of people who like van zieks and genbu more than me and i'm just lucky to be in a position where i can buy the pieces i really want. i think a lot of people feel the same way, so repeat itabags often get the short end of the stick where people assume that the bag owners follow the mentality of "more money = more love".
to some extent this can be true, because in live service games like sideM, "winning" is essentially "how much money can you pour into ranking". and in former live service games like sideM, pouring as much money into it as possible is the only way fans can hope to keep it alive.
but repeat bags aren't necessarily expensive compared to non-repeat bags. a 330 yen badge is going to cost the same whether it's artwork A or artwork B. as mentioned before, japanese fans also have easy access to trading and reselling that makes making repeat bags a fairly affordable affair (of course, i'm speaking as a genbuP and not a van zieks fan here...) plus, many repeat bags feature bromides rather than badges, which are usually even cheaper to collect.
i find it amusing that many repeat bags feature laminated printed cutouts, which are so cheap and DIY and unofficial compared to what a show of extravagance repeat bags appear to otherwise be. but i think this affordable design element really showcases how repeat bags are just a fashion accessory for japanese fans rather than a show of money as love.
the normalization of itabags
i'm always used to being the only new zealander with a sideM itabag at conventions. in recent years i don't even bother bringing it around because i know that no one's going to recognize it, not even other idolmaster fans. this is a common experience for most international sideM fans, so seeing so many itabags at 9th was a massive shock.
it's not like this is an everyday affair for japanese fans, but the sheer prevalence of it in tokyo makes the experience so normal that seeing an itabag of your favorite series isn't really exciting. in this way, it also changes the function of an itabag from what i'm used to in the west.
that is to say that while my itabag is just a place to store and display my merchandise, it also serves as an opening for any sideM or idolmaster fan to talk to me about our shared love of the series (no one in the west knows what sideM is so this has only happened once in 2019 with a literal japanese exchange student from japan).
but that mentality doesn't exactly exist in tokyo, or at least at the sideM live concert, because it was so common to see people who had bags of your faves. so again, my impression was that the bags primarily functioned as a fashion accessory to go with a cute outfit in the same way people like to dress up as their favorite taylor album for the eras tour.
why i won't make a repeat bag
i just personally think repeat bags are boring and a waste of money as a westerner who can't access trading so i don't want to bother making one. like seriously i live in fucking new zealand i am not gonna drop money on merchandise that would be impossible to sell off after.
i'm also really selective with what merchandise i buy to the point of keeping a spreadsheet documenting everything i own and how i acquired it. buying 20 pieces of the same merch is would totally fuck that up.
that being said, i still want to update my itabag after five years. i didn't take a photo this time, but it looked something like the third image but neater.
honestly, a backpack-styled bag was just too conspicuous for my liking. they're also inconvenient to carry around since i needed to take it off every time i wanted to access something. i spent most of the time just keeping it inside a tote bag.
what i'll do instead
since 10th is another summer live, i'd like to do a bag featuring my favorite shinsoku event, traditional japanese craft-making team. i think i already have the four pieces of merchandise released for it (square badges and pin-clips), so now i'm just deciding on how to organize them in an elegant way.
my main inspiration is the the hibiki bag from the 2017 goods-republic itabag contest. it was also a repeat bag in a way, but it's my favorite itabag ever! i also love the hxj bag from the same contest, so i really want to make a bag that uses less merch and more taste.
i've never done it in the past because i've never had a reason to change my itabag, but with a tote-style bag i should have more room to be creative with it. i'm thinking of sewing little yukata for my shinsoku papecha, making a backing that resembles an old edo town, adding paper string lantern lights... i also have a black wooden carved turtle laying around somewhere, so that would be neat to incorporate as well. i'm really excited to work on a new itabag for once!