Today is a rather important day here at Tomopop; it's our birthday as a site, and more importantly, it's our five year anniversary of the day we popped into existence on the Internet.

In Internet time, five years is like a decade or two. Or at least sometimes it feels like that, especially when I think about starting as a writer when I was still just a kid in college. Heck, five years ago, we were just getting the first Nendoroid Hatsune Miku, which was only the 33rd different one ever made; now there's almost 250 regular-sized Nendoroids in total and more than a dozen different Nendo Mikus out there. The day before we made our first posts on Tomopop, Max Factory had released the first figma, the SP-001 Suzumiya Haruhi that came bundled with a PS2 game; figma Nagato Yuki came soon after, and we're now into the 170s, not to mention all the limited edition releases that also have shown up. Kidrobot's Dunnys and Munnys were among a handful of options for those in the DIY vinyl scene; now, you can't seem to throw a blind box around without hitting a blank figure or three, and resin DIY figures are almost as popular as their plastic counterparts. And that's just a few things of note, because if I went ahead and mentioned everything that's changed, we'd be here all day and night.

So what's coming this year? It's hard to really say because I don't have a flux capacitor and a DeLorean sitting around, and I don't want to give some silly response like "great things" that depends on how to define "great" or even "things." But what I can tell you is that first and foremost, Tomopop is dedicated to continue being the place where everyone can come together in the collecting world. Whether you like PVC figures based on your favorite anime series, large-scale statues featuring famous movie characters, the latest customs from the artists of the designer world, or even a little plush or papercraft, we'll do our best to keep bringing you the best and most interesting of what's out there.

We're also planning to bring some more of what makes Tomopop unique: its features, interviews, and in-depth reviews as well as plenty of event coverage. Perhaps, if we're lucky, even a bit of on-the-ground coverage from events like Wonder Festival 2013 Summer. We'll be letting you know what events in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere around the world Tomopop will be at, so stay tuned for updates.

There is one important thing I've saved for the end, though: a deep thank you for anyone and everyone who's read Tomopop over the past five years, and a thank you to all of you who are readers now or will be in the future. Suffice to say, without you all, none of this would have really been possible. It means more than the world to us that you're all here, and I hope you'll stick around, because even though it's been five years so far, there's a lot more fun still to be had!

[Adorable image via pixiv]