Piyo-Chan Gomu Miniature Mascot Strap - Import Preorder

«©NCSX» NCS received the GA-KO Alarm Clock last year and it basically changed the way we looked at ducks. Once relegated in our envisioning to dull birds with bills that floated on water, GA-KO showed us that ducks and proper branding could capture the hearts of millions. Well, make that 2000 GA-KO-limited-edition-loving hearts.

The diminutive Piyo-Chan isn't as edgy or active as GA-KO but he doesn't have to be. Piyo can just sit/stand there and stare out into the world with beady eyes and still capture a few hearts. The latest rendition of Piyo-Chan is the Piyo-Chan Gomu Miniature Mascot Strap from Eikoh which ships this summer. Five styles are on offer and all of them have little white angel wings on the back. Four of the Pi-Chan mascots measure roughly 3.0cm (1.18") tall while a larger variant clocks in at 4.50cm (1.77") tall. Preorders for the complete set of all five mascot straps are welcome to ship in Aug 2009.

Search Engine Observation

Just an observation regarding the "duck clock" and Google's efficacy... since we have time to spare with the main shop down.

Last Friday at about 12:00PM EST, we threw up a product description and preorder for the GA-KO Alarm Clock. About an hour later, Google had already indexed the page. By Friday evening, typing in the search term of "GA-KO Alarm Clock" in Google brought up our preorder shop's product listing as the first search result. As of this morning it's third under IGN.

Searching Yahoo for the same search terms on Friday evening brought up our original posting from this website (www.ncsx.com) for the first result. However, querying Microsoft's Live search engine for the GA-KO Alarm Clock only brought up a brief mention from our www.ncsxshop.com site that we made on Friday. It was only on Sunday afternoon that Live picked up the blog post we made on Wordpress and positioned it first in the search results.

GA-KO Alarm Clock - Preorder, Ships on July 31

In the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 game, there's a scene where Naomi Hunter and Sunny Gurlukovich cook three sunny-side up eggs on a frying pan. The tender sequence is punctuated by a cooking timer in the shape of a no-nonsense duck. To get the cooking time for the eggs proper, Sunny sets the GA-KO Timer so that it'll shake and sing out "Dah-Dah" when the eggs are ready.

Konami brings the GA-KO Timer home this summer but the company transitions the product into a more useful GA-KO Alarm Clock which tells time and gets you out of your slumber with insistent "singing" sounds. Note that the duck's wings are on its hips which means you better get up when the alarm sounds off.

The product measurements are H:160mm x W:102mm x D:107mm and the clock runs on two AAA batteries. The clock is constructed of ABS but the timepiece face cover is polycarbonate. The distributor's solicitation notes that only 2000 units will be produced and preorders are welcome today.

Piyo-chan Mezamashi Tokei - Preorder

In Japanese pop culture, animals are invariably round and devoid of jagged edges. The eyes must also be beady and appendages are nearly non-existent. The Piyo-chan duckling character from Sanrio fits the animal template guideline perfectly. Piyo-chan is basically a golden-colored puff with a beak.

For fans of Piyo-chan, Eikoh presents an alarm clock in two styles which features an old-school bell mechanism on top. Say you set the alarm to ring at 6:30AM because... those donuts aren't going to make themselves. When the clock strikes 6:30AM, a little metal hammer on top will strike both bells for a piercing wake-up experience. Preorders are welcome to ship in late September 2008 at US$15.90 each.

Piyo-Chan Mini Mini Clear Mascot - Preorder

In America, the rubber ducky toy accompanies bathers in their daily ritual. In Japan, the duckling toy of choice is Piyo-Chan which is a rounded animal designed to be sweet, adorable, and non-threatening. Eikoh's new Piyo-Chan Mini Mini Clear Mascot toys capitalize on the good graces of Piyo Chan by being all three descriptors listed above.

Each mascot toy measures 3cm or in 1.18" height and they'll fit comfortably in the palm of your hand. Five varieties of Piyo Chan are featured in the Mini Clear Mascot set and NCS will gather them together in complete sets of five for US$10.90. Preorders ship in late July 2008.