"Have the big shots returned?"
"Please, hurry up and post pictures, we're all eagerly waiting!"
On the Tieba forum for Da Ban Models, a large number of users were continuously posting replies under a specific thread. This was because two influential members, residing in the capital, had been the first to announce they were going to photograph the Bird's Nest billboard.
Consequently, almost all forum members were closely following this thread, eager to see if Da Ban Models' name would appear on the billboard.
According to the plan set by the two influential members, they were supposed to leave their homes at 9:00 AM and post the photos they took on Tieba before 10:00 AM.
However, by around 10:30 AM, there was still no reply from these influential members. Just as everyone was wondering if something had happened to them, one of them finally responded in text on Tieba, saying, "The billboard has been photographed, but I don't know if we should post it."
"Yes, please do!"
"Come on, don't keep us in suspense!"
"If you don't post it, you won't have any..." The forum members immediately erupted in a flurry of posts below, expressing their indignation. At the same time, the other influential member who went with him posted, "Brothers, it's not that we don't want to post, but this photo is too shocking. I'm afraid it will shatter all your perceptions of reality!"
Well, saying that only made the forum members even more agitated. In less than twenty seconds, hundreds of posts were made, with many already resorting to direct insults towards the female relatives of these influential members.
Of course, these insults weren't considered too excessive, as the influential members' teasing behavior was clearly intended to provoke more engagement. Finally, after about ten minutes of this, the original influential member replied, "I'll show you the billboard photo first. Don't blame me if you're shocked!"
Upon seeing this reply, the forum members immediately began refreshing frantically. A few seconds later, an image appeared on post #2832.
It was indeed a photo of a large public notice board. The markings for "China National Stadium" could also be seen on the border of the notice board.
However, the photo didn't capture the entire notice board. It only showed a colored poster attached to it, with the title "National Stadium December Project Arrangement Announcement."
And below this title, only one name was conspicuously displayed: "Jiangnan Da Ban Models Industrial Development Co., Ltd."
"Damn, Da Ban actually rented out the entire Bird's Nest!" The thread was instantly flooded with over a dozen replies, all expressing shock. Clearly, this announcement poster had proven that Da Ban hadn't been lying; they had indeed rented the Bird's Nest to hold a new product launch event.
However, after the initial shock, more forum members began posting their dissatisfaction: "So what if Da Ban really rented the Bird's Nest venue? This just proves that Da Ban has been acquired by a wealthy company, which was expected. How could I possibly be shocked by something like this?"
"Exactly, the influential members are truly wicked, they're just playing with us!"
"Perhaps the influential members felt that Da Ban being the only company name on the entire notice board was quite astonishing."
"You guys don't understand. This kind of situation, with only one or two names on a notice board, happens quite often at the Bird's Nest. It's because only one or two companies are renting the Bird's Nest for events in a particular month."
"The Bird's Nest is famous, but how can it only host one or two company events per month?"
"The Bird's Nest is famous, but it's also expensive! Do you know how much it cost to build the Bird's Nest? If an event is held there, the daily maintenance costs alone are 500,000 yuan. Even without an event, the maintenance costs are around 100,000 yuan."
"And if you want to rent the Bird's Nest for an event, the price is 3 million yuan per day. Not just any company can afford this. Unless it's a truly special event, people are reluctant to rent the Bird's Nest."
"Take singers, for example. Except for a few singers like Jay Chou, who have the ability to hold concerts at the Bird's Nest and turn a profit, other singers hosting concerts there are purely at a loss."
"The 'Jiangnan Cup' World Electronic Sports Competition is quite popular, right? Nearly a hundred million people worldwide watch the live broadcast every year. This year, they held it at the Bird's Nest, renting it for a month and a half. However, after calculating the finances, the ticket revenue wasn't even enough to cover half the rent for the Bird's Nest. If they hadn't made a fortune from merchandise and limited edition in-game skins, the competition would have been unprofitable!"
"Although it's indeed rare for only one company to hold an event in a month, it does happen one or two months a year. There's nothing to be surprised about!" This forum member provided a detailed explanation on the forum, and others nodded in agreement, posting thanks to the influential member for the科普.
Just as everyone was praising the influential member for their explanation, someone suddenly disrupted the flow by posting an image in the middle of the thread.
Seeing this image that disrupted the order, the forum members were about to angrily scold the user, but then they realized that this image was posted by the original poster, and it was the same image of the announcement poster as before.
On the large poster, only the name Da Ban Models was displayed.
Just as the forum members were about to furiously criticize the original poster for reposting the same image, the original poster suddenly added a sentence: "The image is not a repeat, look at the month on this image!"
Upon seeing this prompt, the forum members shifted their focus to the month indicated on the poster, and then they noticed that it was actually the usage announcement for January 2015.
Wait, wasn't this new product launch event supposed to be held in December 2014? Why had it all shifted to 2015?
Before their confusion could be resolved, the original poster quickly posted another photo. It was still a solitary announcement poster, still displaying only Da Ban Models' name, but the date on this announcement poster was February 2015.
"What does this mean? I don't quite understand," asked a cute-looking forum member cautiously.
"Maybe the Bird's Nest management made a mistake when printing it!" replied another cute-looking forum member.
"……!" Only the influential member who had explained earlier uttered this unintelligible string of text.
Just as the forum members were discussing what kind of mistake might have occurred, the original poster continued, "Don't guess. The management department didn't make any mistakes. It's just that the entire Bird's Nest has been booked by Da Ban Models for the next three months."
The thread that had previously received replies within seconds was now instantly silent. All the forum members were performing a simple calculation.
That is, if the daily cost is 3 million yuan, how much would it cost to book the Bird's Nest for three months?
Of course, this mathematical calculation was very simple, and with a quick tally, the total cost came out to a staggering 270 million yuan. At this point, the forum members felt their worldviews shattering.
"Influential member, is this true or false? Have you confirmed it?" After nearly a minute, a forum member asked tentatively.
"We didn't believe it at first either and thought the announcement poster was printed incorrectly. So, we specifically went to the Bird's Nest office to ask. After visiting several offices, we got the answer."
"This is absolutely true. Da Ban Models has already secured the usage rights for the Bird's Nest for the next three months. It was precisely to confirm this news that we delayed posting for over half an hour."
Following this, the original poster very readily uploaded a short video they had taken into the forum, serving as proof of the announcement board's authenticity.
"And brothers, what's most shocking isn't this. The most shocking thing is the Bird's Nest itself!" the original poster suddenly said. Amidst the various pleas from the forum members, the original poster released a new short video.
This was a video clearly filmed from a few hundred meters outside the Bird's Nest using a terminal device.
And in this video, one could see that inside the Bird's Nest, a massive metal enclosure had been erected, protruding about 10 meters or more in height.
Keep in mind that the Bird's Nest itself is 69 meters tall, and this metal enclosure extended over 10 meters higher than the Bird's Nest. This meant that the height of the metal enclosure from the ground was at least 80 meters!
What on earth was inside that needed to be shielded by a metal enclosure over 80 meters high!
Could it be hiding a Granddad Gundam or a Golden Unicorn?
At this moment, all the plastic model enthusiasts felt a surge of excitement. They felt that they might be witnessing an unprecedented major event.
The news about Da Ban Models had indeed caused a stir throughout the plastic model community, with everyone in the community discussing what kind of big news Da Ban Models was planning to unveil.
For example, what exactly was hidden inside the 80-meter-high metal enclosure? Was it a 1:1 scale Gundam model?
Of course, everyone knew that was impossible. Unless Da Ban had been acquired by Bandai, if Da Ban were to modify a life-sized Gundam, Bandai would likely smash Da Ban's head.
They estimated that what was hidden inside was probably a 1:1 statue of Da Ban's new model that they were preparing to release.
While speculation ran wild within the plastic model community, no significant waves were made across China. After all, since the Olympics, not many people paid much attention to the Bird's Nest anymore. Therefore, even though a massive metal enclosure appeared inside the Bird's Nest, and tens of thousands of people passing by the capital saw it every day, they assumed it was just for internal renovations of the Bird's Nest and harbored no suspicions.
It wasn't until December 12th that almost all medium and large media outlets across the country received invitations from Da Ban Models to attend Da Ban Models' new product launch event.
However, the majority of media outlets simply discarded these invitations. What kind of toy manufacturer was so brazen as to directly invite them for an interview? Did they think they were the Jiangnan Group?