My Mini Korean Haul! August 2019 Edition and Nam Woohyun 식목일2 (Arbor Day 2) Eco Bag Review

On August 24th, our maknae on top Golden Child's birthday, I received a special package from a friend currently in Korea! Here are fansite goods from cafe events, banners, and the eco bag from Infinite Woohyun's 식목일2 (Arbor Day 2) concert which was held on August 10th and 11th.

I'm really grateful for my friend - having these goodies is the next best thing to being there to receive these in person. Here is a Rocket Punch banner from their Pink Punch promotions, a Lovelyz Jisoo banner, along with the Golden Child fansite goods from cafe events (including Sweet Plot for Bomin, and Golden DoShine who organized events for Tag, and for Y and Joochan). The flat cup sleeve for Tag is pretty cool, because it comes with 2 stickers that are meant to decorate the cup sleeve. I'm really happy that this is truly a Woollim package, with goodies from each Woollim group!

And now onto the eco bag from Woohyun's concert. The bag cost 38,000₩, which seemed a bit costly for a tote, but seeing it in person I see why it's so worth it!

The bag came in a resealable plastic bag with the product info on the backside.

The bag is made of canvas. There are long, tight pockets lining the outside of the bag; 3 on the front, 1 on each side, and 3 on the back. There is also an adjustable shoulder strap along with the handles. The Arbor Day strap is attached from the inside of the backside and goes around to the front and through the brown strap.

Here is the backside of the bag. You can easily put the shoulder strap inside the bag to convert it into a tote.

The bag is so roomy! It's so much larger than I had imagined, and it has structure. There is also a small pocket on the inside (similar to Woollim's other totes). Excluding the straps, the bag dimensions are about 14.5" by 13.5" by 5".

Here is a closer look at the details. The hardware on the bag is matte black while the ones on the straps are more gloss black. The Arbor Day strap is stitched inside. And the brown strap on the front has a branch motif matching the concert theme.

Without adjusting the length of the shoulder strap, here is how the bag looks. It's quite large, perfect as a messenger bag.

And here it is like a tote bag.

Overall, the quality, appearance, and size of the eco bag are definitely top notch and I'm so happy to have this! It'll definitely come in handy for events (like conventions) where you just keep collecting more stuff you need to quickly store. And the many exterior pockets are also very practical and look simplistic yet complete the design well.

Lovelyz: Lovelinus 4th Generation Official Fanclub Membership Review

The fourth generation of Lovelyz' official fanclub membership has commenced! Woollim provided the ticketing link here on June 7, 2019. Recruitment was on Melon (global link here) from June 11, 2019 2PM KST to June 19, 2019 11:59PM KST. The regular membership is 30,000₩ with EMS shipping to the US an extra 47,500₩. There is an option to buy the regular membership along with the lightstick for an additional 30,000₩ (the description says that this is "Limited Edition"!). For fun, I looked at the price of EMS for the lightstick package, and it is also 47,500₩. To get the best value of shipping, and because I don't know what "Limited Edition" entails, I decided to order the lightstick package as well.

I recommend ordering earlier rather than later! I used the same international credit card that I had used for my Goldenness membership back in August on Melon, however this time Melon asked for the credit card to be verified for secure authentication. You can also edit your shipping information after completing your purchase (but perhaps before registration period ends) and you can cancel your order before registration period ends.

On June 21st at 2PM KST Lovelyz' official Twitter account tweeted that additional recruitment starts now until the end of June 25th KST. The Korean site also states that membership is valid from June 20, 2019 to June 20, 2020 while the international site only states the membership is valid for one year from the end of recruitment, which is vague due to the extended recruitment period.

I never received an email confirming shipment, but my fanclub kit arrived via USPS EMS on August 17th and required a signature.  I just checked my order page on Melon and they did update it with a tracking number. Looking at the tracking, my package was shipped on August 14th. The box arrived in poor condition, with a puncture on the top and the edges of the flaps exposed.

Inside there was a thin layer of bubblewrap lining the inside of the box, with the membership goods on the bottom and lightstick on top. Yes, this is the original lightstick (the model number is the same), and I was fooled by Woollim yet again. I apologize for all my negativity; I'd usually be really excited blogging about something as special as a fanclub membership, but the latest news from Woollim really hit hard.

The membership goods came in a clear plastic ziplock style bag with "Lovelinus" printed in the center. This clear bag is about 9.5" by 12". While the exterior packaging was lacking, I am happy that all of the contents, especially the membership card, are zipped away inside the clear bag to guarentee that nothing could fall out (unlike Goldenness 1st gen where all goods were loosely placed in the box with a chance for the membership card to fall out).

Here is the backside of the clear bag.

Here are all of the contents: a tote, a membership card, a thank you card, a photocard set, a postcard set, and a booklet. The membership card, photocard set, and postcard set all come in their own clear resealable bags.

The tote is made of canvas and is rather plain, a royal blue with "lovelinus" in yellow. It is about 15" by 16.5" excluding the straps. The straps are quite short, so this tote is more intended to be held in your hand or around your arm rather than around your shoulder.

The inside of the tote has a small pocket.

The membership card is made of hard plastic like a credit card and has "lovelinus" and "LOVELYZ 4TH OFFICIAL FANCLUB CARD" in metallic. The ID number (which is the same as the ticket number on the Melon order page) and name are printed at the top.

The backside has the official Woollim authentication sticker, along with a place to sign your name. Oddly enough there are two bubbled up spots to the right of the signature block.

The thank you card has a pretty gingham design matching the picnic theme. It is a square card about 4.375".

The inside has the girls' printed messages and a group photo.

There are 8 glossy photocards with dimensions and roundness as the cards from the 2019 season's greetings.

The backsides have each member's messages; it seems like it's their thoughts and lists for planning a picnic!

The postcard set format is really similar to the set from the 2019 season's greetings. There is a glossy paper sleeve, the card is about 4" by 5.875", the front is glossy, and the back is matte.

There are 20 postcards, 2 per each member.

The backside of the postcards look like fine graph paper.

The booklet is about 6.75" by 9.5" and contains 4 pages per member (in age order from Soul to Yein 4 times).

There is 1 photo per page, and thankfully the photos take up majority of the page and are high quality.

There are 2 little hearts on Jin's cheek, it's so cute!

This is such a gorgeous photo of Sujeong; she looks like a model for outdoor furniture.

I love that some of the members have straw hats to complete the picnic vibe!

Overall, I was disappointed about the "limited edition" lightstick, lack of email communication in regards to shipping, and packaging. Furthermore for how light the goods were, shipping was definitely overpriced. Also it would've been nice if more usable goods were included in this year's membership kit (like a wallet or ID card case), but regardless I'm satisfied with the included paper goods. Now if only I can use my official Lovelinus membership!

Rocket Punch: Pink Punch 1st Mini Album Review

On July 22nd, Woollim announced a new launch with the "Rocket Punch Logo Motion" and official SNS links. It was soon revealed that Woollim is debuting a new girl group called Rocket Punch with 6 members on August 7th, 2019. This all came as a sudden shock to me, especially when Woollim really teased out Golden Child's pre-debut period with W Project and Woollimpick. But as I know Woollim never disappoints in regards to their artists' music releases, I knew I would love this new group, and its name, right away.

The name "Rocket Punch" means they'll bring fresh energy into the boring world, which seems like the girl-equivalent of Golden Child's youthful energetic image. I was surprised at the name at first, since Infinite, Lovelyz, and Golden Child all have that "perfection" meaning in their name, but nonetheless I love the name.

Rocket Punch debuted with the release of their first mini album, entitled "Pink Punch". The digital release was on August 7th at 6PM KST while the physical album released on the following day.

I preordered on Choice Music from about $20 USD shipped, it shipped on August 10th, and arrived on August 14th in a cardboard box and 1.5 layers of bubblewrap. They ended up folding the top part of the pouch, but overall the album came in perfect condition!

The packaging of this album is a clear plastic resealable pouch. This style and vibrant colors are like those children's toys at Daiso!

The backside of the pouch has the tracklist and authentication sticker.

Woollim has a thing for making us physically tear through their packaging, from Sunggyu's Another Me to Woohyun's Write.. to this. I thought more carefully how to best preserve the packaging, and decided to cut a slit through the top of the pouch rather than tearing it open.

And here is the album! The vivid artwork matches the girls' fiery name and strong concept. The album dimensions are 7" by 7.125" by 0.375".

The photobook contains 80 pages. Here is the tracklist, which has a comic book style.

There are 2 pages per song, and these are spread throughout the photobook. I love how these have their own artwork that depict the song titles through the fun graphics.

There are a total of 3 photoshoots, with the first being the pink shoot. Majority of the photos in this photobook are individual member shots. Some of these pages also have that comic book style.

There is 1 group photo from the pink photoshoot.

The graphic for "Love Is Over" is just so fitting!

The next photoshoot is the denim shoot, all with individual member photos.

The last photoshoot is one with the girls in their own Rocket Punch branded tees.

There is one group photo from this shoot.

All other photos from this shoot are like a magazine collage, creatively edited to merge multiple photos together to look like one.

Next are additional individual member shots from the pink shoot.

This is followed by additional individual member shots from the denim shoot.

And lastly there are a few more individual member photos from the pink shoot.

The following 4 pages contain the group and individual Thanks To messages.

The last page contains the album credits.

The inclusions are placed in the very back of the album.

Each album comes with a pop-up card. Here is the backside.

The design is really cute! There are even two whales in the water that you can break the perforation so that they stick up. Also I love that the girls are in their logo outfits.

One sticker sheet is also included, with designs of the girls' names and motifs found throughout the album.

The album also comes with 1 random member photocard out of 6. I got Suyun! The photocard has a glossy finish.

Here is Suyun's printed messaged and sign on the back. Her autograph is so cute!

The CD is slipped inside the very back of the album. The design has the album's motifs, the group's logo, and a pink to green sheen.

This mini album includes the following tracks:

1. PINK PUNCH - is the intro instrumental track to the title.
2. 빔밤붐 (BIM BAM BUM) - is the title with a name that is reminiscent of Golden Child's debut "Damdadi" and also has a fun, energetic feel that fits the group's image.
3. Love Is Over - has a strong meaning that you don't need love. It is the track that Rocket Punch is currently promoting along with the title.
4. Lucid Dream - is such a beautiful ballad! All the members have really beautiful voices. I can't wait to hear future ballads from Rocket Punch as well.
5. Favorite (특이점) - Rhapbet's Razer who co-created many Woollim artist's tracks has also participated in this track! 
6. 선을 넘어 (Do something) - is such a fun B-side! 

Overall, I absolutely love Rocket Punch, their concept, and their debut album! The tracks show a range of genres that the group pulls off so well. I'm so excited to see these girls grow as they're beginning their journey as Rocket Punch.