We entered the convention and got into the temporary Golden Child hi-touch line at 2:08PM. A few minutes later the staff moved the temporary lines to the permanent lines right next to the appropriate hall. My Goldenness friend and I were about 15th in line, however we weren't sure how many people in Diamond/Platinum were in front of us, as they wait in a separate line and get to enter the hi-touch area before us.
The Dynamic Duo + Crush artist engagement began at 2PM, so we were able to hear a bit of what was going on inside. I could hear MC Danny leading the engagement, and was so happy to hear his familiar voice as he was a rockstar at Golden Child's artist engagement in NY. This artist engagement lasted about 45 minutes, as expected based on Golden Child's engagement in NY. As the fans were leaving Dynamic Duo + Crush's artist engagement, I asked them if fans were chosen to go up on stage. One guy said that the artist chose one girl with a Crush sign, and another fan who was cheering very loudly. They played some sort of physical activity game (something like balancing some objects on a table).
My Goldenness friend also had two friends in line for Golden Child's hi-touch, and we decided to take turns saving our spots while the others go out and explore the convention. I made sure those waiting in line behind me were fine with this, which they were.
Before entering the actual convention hall with all the booths, we stumbled upon Toyota's claw machine booth. This booth had a TV that was running Toyota's series "Surprise Ride and Drive with Golden Child." They had a sign advertising the opportunity to meet Golden Child on Saturday. We inquired about this, and the Toyota workers said that the first 20 fans to attend the Toyota Ride and Drive booth on Saturday would win a meet and greet with Golden Child at the Toyota Booth inside the convention hall. The workers also said that the booth was outside, and that we should probably get there before the convention opens at 10AM to guarantee being one of the first 20 in line. Lastly, they indicated that no pre-registration was required. With all that being said, we were ready to camp out to win this opportunity!
Next I went to the KCON merchandise booth inside the convention hall to inquire about the Star Square guest appearances, and in particular, Golden Child's appearance on Saturday at 2:30PM. The staff member told me that I had to be one of the first on Saturday to buy $60 worth of merchandise including the $8 fan letter kit, then I'd get a voucher to take a group picture with Golden Child at Star Square. The staff member also handed me the KCON merchandise sheet to mark off my order prior to getting in line for merchandise.
Next to the KCON merchandise booth was Star Square.
One of the sections of Star Square had a mailbox for each artist where you could drop off fan letters using the official KCON fan letter kit. One letter per artist would be chosen to be read out loud at the red carpet.
Another section had a huge black wall with the artists' names in white where you could write your own message to the artists.
We also visited the MWAVE booth. One section had a table of white t-shirts, each dedicated to a Kpop artist (including artists not at KCON). To our surprise, there was no shirt dedicated to Golden Child yet, so the worker went to the back to get a blank shirt and a new name tag. Then my friend and I wrote our own messages on the shirt.
At around 3:45PM we decided to head back to our spot in Golden Child's hi-touch line. By 4:13PM we were lead into the hall. The stage itself was very low to the ground, and the hi-touch barricade was very far from the stage and very long so that many people could be in the first row. This was the best spot we could snag, which is the first row but pretty far to the left. Furthermore, later on those with audience passes in wheelchairs sat directly in front of us against the barricade, so we were unable to hang our signs and banners there for Golden Child to see.
Throughout the process of getting into Golden Child's artist engagement, we had to show our hi-touch voucher several times to different staff. You should make sure to always have it on you in a safe place that's also readily available.
There are two screens on the sides of the stage, which constantly played ads. They only displayed one photo of Golden Child, though we were anticipating them showing the "Let Me" music video so that we could practice the fan chant. Closer to the start of the artist engagement, the MC came on stage. I recognized her as the same woman who translated at Golden Child's Star Live Talk at KCON NY and as one of the NY Red Carpet hosts. She introduced herself as Riley.
At 4:26PM the members entered the stage! The first time I saw Golden Child not on a schedule (at JFK) and on an official schedule (at Star Live Talk during KCON NY) I was so mesmerized and awestruck. For some reason this time I just felt a bit off - I wasn't as excited or I just knew nothing could live up to my experience in NY. Regardless, I was still happy to see Golden Child during their first official event on the west coast.
Despite Golden Child's grueling schedule for today, many members seemed so energetic, smiling and happily waving to fans.
Daeyeol led the group by saying, "Hello everyone, we are..." and the members continued, "Golden Child!" The MC then asked in Korean something about how the members feel being a part of KCON LA. Daeyeol responded in Korean, and the MC translated it as "He's very happy and excited for all the great things he has planned for us." The MC said that the first segment would be Q&A. Then during a pause, Jangjun said in English, "Are you guys single?"
Q1: Golden Child was ranked as one of the top 15 boy groups in July.
Bomin shared his thoughts in Korean, and the MC translated it as "He's super honored to have made it on the list and that they're going to work hard to prove to you that they deserve to be number one."
Q2: How long does Golden Child have to practice everyday for their dancing to be this good?
Daeyeol responded in Korean, and the MC translated it as "Even though they practice all the time, when they need to really get their dancing right, it's just all the time 24/7."
Q3: What dance do the members like the best out of all their choreographs?
Y replied in Korean referring to "Let Me", and the MC translated it as "he says it's the fastest beat so...I don't need to translate, you guys all speak Korean right?"
Q4: Can you please sing a bit of "I'm Falling"? (The MC didn't translate the question in English, but with my limited Korean I think this is what she said).
Joochan sang a few lines from "I'm Falling"! It was so cool to hear even just a bit of this song live, especially when I thought this was the lone Golden Child song left in the dungeon.
Q5: What are some places you want to visit in California? (Again, there was no English translation to the MC's question).
Jaehyun spoke in English, "Actually we want to go to In-N-Out Burger..." and fans were cheering so loudly that everything else Jaehyun said droned out. The MC gave other members a chance to answer, and Tag took the opportunity, reached for Seungmin's mic, and spoke in English (which I'm sorry I couldn't hear due to all the cheering). The MC wished Tag had time to do whatever he had said, and Tag politely replied, "thank you so much."
Q6: Something to do with sexy concept (Lack of translation by the MC...)
Joochan spoke in Korean, and the MC literally said, "No idea what he said, something something sexy something concept" and just giggled at her failed translation. She apologized and slightly bowed to Golden Child, and then Daeyeol reiterated what Joochan said. The MC translated that as "they want to be sexy but still lit about it."
The introduction and Q&A session lasted just over 5.5 minutes. The next segment was Game Time. The first game was to test the group's teamwork where there would be a keyword given, and all the members have to try and create the same pose that represents the keyword. The first word was "heart" and all the members did finger hearts except Y, who did a big heart above his head!
The members looked around to see what everyone else had done, and eventually Y lowered his right arm and not-so-slyly made a finger heart. The members kept saying "why Y" so cutely. Y then explained himself in Korean, and the MC translated it as "his love is bigger, that's why he made a bigger heart." Then Y gave another big heart and sent it our way.
The next keyword was "tennis". Jangjun kept saying "tennis" and making swinging motions. All the members generally made the same pose, and the MC ruled it as a success, to which the members clapped.
The next keyword was "baseball", and Jangjun said "baseball, that's right, like the Dodgers". I love how Jangjun always says random things into the mic, it's very engaging. All the members got into a batting stance and cheered after hearing that they had succeeded.
The following keyword was "driving" and Jangjun again said "driving, driving car". Most members had both arms out on the wheel (at the 3 and 9) whereas Tag just had one arm out.
Then Daeyeol added the extra effect of cutely kicking his right foot forward and onto the pedal. Jangjun looked at the other members, pointed at Tag, and called him out, but the audience let Tag slide.
The next keyword was "cheerleader" and Jangjun repeated the word into this mic. Daeyeol was so cute, hopping in place while kicking his legs up behind him in anticipation for his cheerleader pose.
On cue, Daeyeol jumped up so cutely into his cheerleader pose. All other members also raised their arms above their heads, except for Tag who was delayed in making his pose. Honestly the entire time Tag did seem a bit distracted, and at times it seemed he was so focused on practicing his English lines.
The final keyword was "Golden Child". The members' poses mostly referred to some of their point dances, like Tag and Daeyeol doing "DamDaDi", Donghyun and Y doing Wakanda, Bomin doing the ending pose of "DamDaDi", and Jibeom pointing to himself. Everyone concluded that this was a fail.
The MC then announced that they would choose one member as the "loser" who will take a Polaroid which will be given to someone in the audience. Right away, Jangjun firmly said "Y" as the loser. Y gave the Polaroid camera to Joochan to photograph him, but no film came out of the first try. Joochan took the photo again while the members watched and Jibeom happily waved to the crowd. Jangjun then announced, "There's no film." The staff gave the members a backup Polaroid camera to take the photo. While this is another frustrating mishap by KCON, it's nice that the boys got to be on stage just a little bit longer for us because of this. After Joochan's third attempt, Jangjun commentated, "Coming coming coming, what, oh!" in regards to seeing the photo pop out of the camera.
Then to choose who gets the Polaroid, the MC asked, "Who is wearing a KCON t-shirt?" Eventually the staff found a girl wearing the KCON Golden Child baseball jersey from KCON NY. It's more than upsetting that the winner was someone who spent more money on KCON merchandise whereas I handmade my Golden Child jersey and my friend handmade her Golden Child t-shirt. The members clapped for the winner and Y even deeply bowed.
This first game lasted about 5.5 minutes. The second game Golden Child played was a drawing relay. The MC first explained the game in Korean to the members, then when she explained it to the audience in English, she referred to Tag as "Mr. Blue Hair". Some people were audibly quite upset at this, as if she didn't bother to learn the members' names. I was already pretty fed up at this point, so anything else just added to the fuel.
The MC handed Daeyeol a drawing pad and pen, and then she counted down instructing him to begin drawing. But Daeyeol made this confused face, since he was never given a keyword.
The MC told Daeyeol in Korean to start, so he just went with it. As Daeyeol drew, Jangnjun, Jaehyun, Jibeom, Joochan, and Seungmin looked on eagerly, Y waved at the crowd, and Tag still looked lost in his own world. Eventually Daeyeol handed off the drawing pad and pen to Jangjun, then he took back two mics that the MC was holding and politely slightly bowed to her. Daeyeol is just so well-mannered despite the staff doing them wrong.
Jangjun took just a few seconds to draw his part, then passed it on to Jaehyun. All the members were now eagerly looking at the drawing while Tag was off to the side, looking away. It could be that he wasn't supposed to look at the drawing before it was his turn to guess, but he just seemed so distant.
While Joochan was waiting for his turn, he faced the audience, pointed out someone in the audience to Y, then did the TT gesture and shook his head and hand. Reading the fanaccount of the girl that won the Y Polaroid, I think it's her that's crying of happiness and Joochan telling her not to cry.
As the drawing pad and pen were being passed down, Jangjun took one of Daeyeol's mics and said, "It's too difficult, it's too hard," referring to their drawing. After the members finished drawing, Joochan took the pad and held it up for Tag to see. Now Tag seemed to be like his normal self. He first looked at the drawing, then turned to look at his members, dumbfounded at how he was supposed to guess what their artwork was. Tag confidently said, "What is this? It's so creepy!" He thought for a few seconds, then guessed, "Transformer." Daeyeol said, "Oh!" in amazement, sounding like Tag guessed it correctly. But the MC took it the opposite way, and said, "Oh, it looks like he wants to take a picture for you guys," referring to Tag losing and having to take a Polaroid as punishment. Here are the expressions of all the members at that moment.
The MC then asked the members in Korean if Tag was correct, which Jangjun confirmed. Some of the members weakly clapped in confusion of the entire situation. Joochan then told the MC without the mic that it was Optimus Prime. The MC then said that the members will take a picture with their artwork, and then KCON will be giving it away via their social media. Somehow NY's artist engagement seemed more down-to-earth and for the fans, whereas in LA it was all about promoting KCON. Game Time concluded after the group photo was taken. This second game took about 5.25 minutes.
The final segment was announcing the fan award for Golden Child. KCON had an online event prior to the start of KCON LA where fans could create their own awards specific to the artists. As the MC was explaining this event to the audience, a fan shouted, "Most handsome!" and Jangjun replied, "aah, thank you so much." As the MC was presenting the award, they played congratulatory music and Golden Child started energetically and cutely bouncing up and down in anticipation.
The MC then presented the award first in Korean to the boys, and Seungmin and Y instantly looked surprised and clapped while the other members leaned forward to get a better look at the award.
Joochan held the award, then Jibeom, Y, and Seungmin cutely leaned forward to look at the award again. The award they won was "Next Generation's Legendary Boy Group." Then I think Jangjun kept trying to repeat the entire title, and fans kept aiding him by saying "Legendary."
The members looked more closely at the award, and noted that the person who created the award had the handle with "Joochan" in the name. Joochan spoke in Korean and the MC translated it as "the fan who turned in this award was using his (Joochan's) name so it's like he gave himself this award." Joochan joked in Korean and laughed, then the MC translated it as "he just wanted to give his other members an award. Joochan spoke more about receiving this award, and the MC translated it as "he feels very honored to receive an award like this and that it even goes along with their name Golden Child which means they'll be a part of history for the next 100 years."
Then the MC announced that it was time for hi-touch. As she was explaining what not to do, Jangjun and Daeyeol demonstrated the proper way to hi-five. The members politely slightly bowed to the MC as they handed her their mics. Then staff members brought up two long tables to the stage while the members waved at the audience. The entire time Golden Child was on stage before hi-touch was just over 20 minutes.
Many people had already gotten in line for hi-touch. We had decided that my Goldenness friend and I would pair up and go together while her two friends filmed us, and then we would switch places. The hi-touch order was: Daeyeol - Jangjun - Jaehyun - Jibeom - Bomin - Joochan - Y - Seungmin - Donghyun - Tag. I had a lot of regret last time because I only recalled interacting with three members, but this time I wanted to remember more members and not just blank out. I had planned on telling Jangjun thank you for choosing me at KCON NY, to tell both Jibeom and Bomin that I love them (which I decided I couldn't say to both of them since they're standing next to each other and I didn't want them to think I was just blatantly telling every member I love them), to tell Joochan happy belated birthday, and to tell Y that he has a beautiful voice. Out of all five interactions I had practiced for weeks, I was only successful with one of them, but nonetheless it was all very memorable.
I honestly already blanked out at Daeyeol, probably because I was preparing my message to Jangjun. I told Jangjun "KCON NY
에서 나 선택해줘서 고마워", meaning
thank you for choosing me at KCON NY but I kept awkwardly pausing and Jangjun had already looked on to the next person. I blanked out at Jaehyun. Next was Jibeom, and I definitely couldn't profess my love for him. Instead I was just awkward but he pointed at my jersey and smiled! The members obviously were all looking into people's eyes, but I'm really happy that Jibeom noticed my outfit and hope that he recognized me form NY though I doubt it. I then shamelessly told Bomin "
사랑해" (I love you) but it was really rushed and sounded horrible and hopefully he just didn't hear me. Next were Joochan and Y, so I figured I'd tell them both "
늦지만 생일축하해" (Happy belated birthday) at the same time and I think they nodded in acknowledgment. I blanked out again for Seungmin and Donghyun. For Tag, I remember him looking a bit blank but he still took the time to high-five me. My hi-touch lasted 15 seconds. As I let it all soak in, it was Jibeom that stood out the most to me for noticing my jersey.
After my hi-touch, my Goldenness friend and I secured a spot on the far right in the front. While we probably won't make it into the group photo, this was actually a great spot because the members would be exiting on this side. At the end of the hi-touch session, the staff went down the line filming each member high-fiving the camera.
Then oddly enough one girl still hadn't gone. Daeyeol was happily looking at a sign that a fan had probably left on the table, and was shocked to see another person to high-five. Jibeom gave her a thumbs up as she moved on. She quickly went through the entire line, only high-fiving for 6 seconds. The hi-touch session lasted about 8 minutes.
Afterwards the members stood in front of the table and the MC explained that the last segment would be the group photo that KCON would post on their social media. Jangjun then said, "Take picture together" so cutely. The MC and staff then handed out cute props for the members to hold for the pictures, then the members started holding the props up to their faces. Then Jangjun said, "Actually, I got goosebumps."
The staff handed Daeyeol the selfie stick and he said, "Are you ready?" After the members got into place, they snapped the first picture. Then in between takes, Joochan turned around and told us, "Smile! 1 2 3 yah!" while cutely waving around his prop. They took a few more shots. Then Jangjun said, "Oh what a nice Galaxy." The members then got up and continued waving at the crowd.
The MC then told the members in Korean to give an ending ment. Tag was about to speak, but he let Jaehyun go first. Jaehyun said, "We're so thankful to be here and it's a wonderful time with you guys. Thank you so much, we love you all!" Tag added, "Yah, we love you guys, and thank you for bringing us to LA. And we wish the best to make your day with our music and performance. Thank you so much." Then the members kept saying "Thank you so much" while continuing to wave.
The members then exited the stage on our side. Jangjun took with him a couple banners that fans had left on the table during hi-touch.
Seungmin was so cute prancing around and waving esctatically.
The members were a bit bunched at the beginning, but I'm glad Seungmin, Tag, and Y took their time leaving the stage so that we could seem them just a tad bit longer.
The artist engagement ended at 4:58PM, lasting 32 minutes. All this time, until I actually calculated the logistics to write this post, I thought that we were significantly gypped compared to Golden Child's NY artist engagement. But in actuality, the LA artist engagement wasn't as short as I had originally thought. Golden Child was on stage for 20 minutes in LA versus 23 minutes in NY. The hi-touch lasted 8 minutes in LA versus 11 minutes in NY. The ending stage was 4 minutes long in both venues. In total, the engagement was 32 minutes in LA versus 38 minutes in NY. We were shortened 3 minutes from the stage portion and 3 minutes from the hi-touch portion. Though I can't get over how Dynamic Duo + Crush's artist engagement lasted 45 minutes (assuming it started on time).
Regardless, this was only the beginning of my weekend adventure as a Goldenness. Next is heading to Klub KCON to see Golden Child perform!
There was already at least 50 people ahead in line. By 5:15PM, the line practically doubled behind me. The girl behind me was a Goldenness who also had the Golden Day tote and pins^^ Later on, my Goldenness friend I met at KCON NY who made the black Golden Child jersey joined me in line; I'm so happy that the two Goldenness friends I made in NY are here with me in LA for Golden Child. Even though we had just met less than 2 months ago, I already feel so close with them and am so grateful that this time we can see and fangirl over Golden Child together.
Later on in line, I met two other Goldenness! They had entered in the same "Let Me" dance cover contest that my Goldenness friend (the one with the black jersey) participated in, so they recognized each other. It turns out, they're the ones that made the "National Jibeomgraphic" banner for KCON NY, and this time they made a "Sprite Man" banner! I was so surprised that they recognized me as the girl with the blog; this is the first time someone came up to me in person because of my blog! I had to take a picture to commemorate this magical moment! And when I ran into them the next day while waiting in line for red carpet, we found out that we're all from the same city!
At around 6:35PM they let us into the venue, first going through security check. There was a concession stand at the entrance of the venue, then a huge dance floor. There were already a lot of people surrounding the stage, but my two Goldenness friends and I were able to get front row on the far right side of the stage.
Shortly after 7PM, they introduced the special guests on the screen.
