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Sunday, September 10, 2017

Golden Child: Gol-Cha! 1st Mini Album Review

Woollim has been gearing up all year to debut their latest group, Golden Child, on August 28th, 2017. From the release of the W Project to the variety show WoollimPick to the various V live videos, I have fallen hard for Golden Child and can't wait to begin this exciting new journey stanning them^^ While Infinite dismissed my frugality, Golden Child has pushed me over the edge as I have bought 3 copies of their debut album.

Once again I'll go off-topic to talk about Ktown4u's cancellation policy. I had previously talked about this back in December 2016 here, but it has changed. I had originally pre-ordered 1 copy of this album from Ktown4u with unregistered small packet shipping for $18.04 USD. When you make your order and submit it, they give you a warning saying if you cancel your order on your own terms, you will be refunded in mileage (store credit). I ignored this warning and continued anyways. Somehow I was convinced instead to buy 3 copies in order to support OT11 (and collect more photocards). Because the shipping cost would be different, I figured it'd be better to cancel the original order and reorder, instead of going through customer service. So I used the 1:1 service, sent an order (shipping) inquiry email to cancel my order, and within a few hours got a response saying my order was cancelled. However, I didn't receive any mileage reimbursement, so I submitted another 1:1 service email to them. Within half a day they gave me 20,530 mileage points which equals $18.04 USD. They also said that the exchange rate is 1,137 mileage points equates to $1 USD.

My package shipped in the earlier hours of August 29th (PDT) and arrived on September 8th, taking only 10 days! My albums were packaged in the typical orange waterproof envelope lined with bubble wrap. Inside the envelope, my 3 albums and folded posters were wrapped in several more layers of bubble wrap. All my albums arrived in great condition, with only the corners of the middle album slightly dented.
Golden Child's debut album, titled Gol-Cha!, is a mini album containing 6 tracks. One album comes with 2 of 11 random photocards and 1 of 11 random frame cards. First press also includes 1 of 3 random posters.
I'll talk about the posters first, just so I can identify the 2 different photoshoots which I'll continue to discuss throughout this post. All posters are matte and are the same size as Infinite's and Lovelyz's usual poster dimensions, 77cm by 53cm, or 2.53' by 1.74'. This is the only poster image that is also included in the photobook. I refer to this photoshoot as the colorful/Gucci photoshoot, because the outfits are more colorful than the other one, and a lot of their clothing here is Gucci.
This poster is very similar to the album cover, however it is slightly different and not included in the photobook. I call this photoshoot the pink photoshoot.
This is the third poster, which is also not included in the photobook. I really like this image - it gives off a more mature and serious side than the others. I also really like the angle of the shot. Before Golden Child debuted, my friend noticed that the members are usually standing in this order: Daeyeol - Jangjun - Jibeom - Donghyun - Y - Bomin - Jaehyun - Joochan - Seungmin - Tag - Jaeseok. This was apparent during the group shot from filming the "SEA" music video on Jeju Island, and during their Guerrilla Concert, and now in all 3 of these posters. They were also in this formation during their Music Core fan meeting on September 2nd.
The album is really high quality and sturdy, and the album cover is so beautiful. The dimensions of this album are 6.5" x 6.375" x 0.75".
The back cover is just as beautiful. And I'm happy that Woollim got the members' names and order correctly, unlike with Infinite's debut album.
Opening up the album, the CD is secured on the left in a hard cardboard casing with a foam middle, and the photobook is on the right.

The tracklist is as follows: Gol-Cha!, 담다디 (DamDaDi), 나랑 해 (You and Me), 내 눈을 의심해 (I Suspect My Eyes), 네가 너무 좋아 (I Love You So Much), and SEA. There is no hidden track. All the songs are legit amazing as I've been playing the album on repeat since its release on iTunes.
The photobook contains 118 pages of gorgeous perfection. I really like how artistic this photo is, but sadly there are no other photos similar to this in the photobook.
The first 64 pages are from the colorful/Gucci photoshoot. Most of these photos are individual shots, however there are subgroup photos as well. The song credits and lyrics are also dispersed among this first section.
This photo of Seungmin and Jibeom is really adorable.
Also the way Y and Jaeseok are looking at each other is so adorable.
The remaining pages are from the pink photoshoot. The first photo is a group photo similar to the album cover and poster.
All other photos from the pink photoshoot are individual shots.
And here is a gorgeous photo of Y and such an adorable photo of Donghyun.
6 pages at the end are dedicated to the members' "Thanks To" messages. Each member wrote so much!
The last two pages are the album credits and one last adorable group photo.

Now I'll go one and talk about the frame cards and photocards~
For my first album, I received Jibeom's frame card and Tag's and Jangjun's photocards tucked in page 71.
For my second album, I received Y's frame card and Tag's and Jangjun's photocards again tucked in page 59.
For my third album, I received Jaeseok's frame card and Daeyeol's and Jaehyun's photocards tucked in page 69.
Here are all the cards I received.
As stated before, each album comes with 1 of 11 random frame cards. These cards are really cool - they're made of transparencies and look like you're about to shoot a video of the member. All of the frame card images are from the colorful/Gucci photoshoot.
Here is the backside of the frame cards.
Each album comes with 2 of 11 random photocards. All of the photocards are from the baseball photoshoot. The photocards have a matte finish.
The backside has the member's printed autographs and messages. All of their autographs are really adorable!

I'm so happy that Golden Child has finally debuted and I wish only the best for them as they begin their musical career!

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