Golden Child: KCONTACT4U Merchandise Review and MWave Shopping Experience

I've never been too interested in KCON's merchandise, especially when they generally just use official photos from the artists' latest album promotions rather than new content, however with KCON's fourth season of their virtual KCONTACT series set for June 2021, this set of merchandise does appear to have new photos taken at KCON's set. Of course this is a bit of a gamble as the merchandise preview is vague...

The downside is that starting with the third season of KCONTACT, the merchandise is being sold on Everline which is not friendly for international shipping. But luckily, Mwave has also announced their sale of KCONTACT 4 merchandise.

On June 4th at 10AM KST, Mwave tweeted about a Limited Edition Signed MD Package to be sold on mwave.me in the near future. On June 17th at 11:30AM Mwave tweeted that it is "D-2" until this package may be purchased. I checked Mwave.me's shopping page on June 17th just after 2PM KST and all the KCONTACT 4 Limited Edition Signed MD Packages were already listed! The artists with this package are: BTOB, The Boyz, Golden Child, Everglow, Weki Meki, Verivery, Pentagon, Weeekly, Astro, T01, fromis_9, and P1Harmony. As a note, there are 19 artists with merchandise for KCONTACT 4, but only 12 artists have this limited edition signed MD package. Each package is $99 USD excluding shipping, and includes MD1 (AR & Behind Photo Set), MD2 (Film Keyring), and MD3 (Fabric Poster). The pre-order period for all packages is June 19th - July 11th, with shipping beginning on August 18th, however the actual start date for each artist's pre-order depends on the artist's performance date, and always at 6PM KST. So for Golden Child who is performing at KCON on June 25th, their signed MD package will be available for pre-ordering beginning June 25th at 6PM KST. The package is signed by a random member, and the MD package will be signed after the sales period. Each artist's signed MD package is limited to 200 sets, and you can buy up to 5 sets per artist. Some artists also had a "Breaking Live" session a few hours before their KCON performance, where the members signed a box as a preview of how some of these signed packages will look like. Jangjun, Tag, Seungmin, Jaehyun, and Donghyun were present during Golden Child's "Breaking Live" and each signed a box. It would be cool to see the actual boxes they signed in person!

Here is a breakdown of the prices in USD, and shipping to the US, for the KCONTACT 4 merchandise from various sellers. As a note, Everline and Mwave are the official retailers while Kpoptown and Ktown4u are resellers. An additional note is that shipping starts on August 18th from both Everline and Mwave. An additional note is that some of these sellers' USD prices fluctuate or shipping prices may be calculated differently from the time that I checked these prices (on July 5th), so the prices listed here may be slightly different from when you place your order.

	Everline	Mwave	Kpoptown	Ktown4u
Fabric Poster	$25.95	N/A	$31.90	$27.90
Film Keyring	$25.95	N/A	$31.90	$27.90
AR & Behind Photo Set	$38.93	N/A	$46.90	$41.84
LE Signed MD Package	N/A	$99.00	N/A	N/A
EMS/DHL Shipping	$51.47	$38.00	$32.00	$30.89
Total	$142.31	$137.00	$142.70	$128.53

Before Mwave announced their package, I was only considering collecting the keyring and AR set as those appear to be new contents exclusive to KCONTACT 4. But after seeing the details of Mwave's Limited Edition Signed MD Package and how all 3 items along with an autograph were about the same price as buying all 3 products individually from another seller, I easily chose to buy from Mwave.

On August 24th I received an email from Starshipit saying my package has been shipped via DHL along with a tracking number. It wasn't clear what this was for, but a few hours later I received an email from Mwave confirming shipment, and the following day I received notification from DHL. My package arrived on August 26th!

Packaging

My MD package arrived with a layer of bubblewrap inside a cardboard box. Despite the extra abundance of space above the package, it arrived in perfect condition. The MD package was upside down inside the exterior box, building up the suspense of which member's autograph I received!

I received Y's autograph! I'm really grateful for how big he signed (despite it being just 1 letter) and how he avoided the KCONTACT logo, so that his sign is very legible. The box itself is quite large, with dimensions of about 11" by 8.375" by 1.75".

I'm still trying to figure out how to display the box, but for now I have it on a makeshift stand.

The MD package is like a cardboard pizza box. Opening up the flaps reveals the 3 products.

The fabric blanket is folded neatly inside a clear resealable bag, then with a paper liner on top. The keyring comes inside a cardstock box, and the photo set comes in a paper folder inside a clear resealable bag.

The backside of each packaging lists the dimensions and materials, and lists "Everline"...it still boggles my mind how big of a presence Everline is gaining with Woollim.

Fabric Poster

Here is the fabric poster. I was never fond of KCON's fabric poster merch since they always just use an official image from that artist's latest promotion rather than new content. But I was actually really blown away by the quality of this item! It is just like a fansite slogan towel with a soft microfiber feel, and there are 2 loops at the top which make it very convenient to hang without damaging the poster. I was also really surprised by just how big this poster is, with dimensions about 38.75" by 29".

Here is a closeup of the backside of the poster, along with the stitching at the edge and the loop at the top used to hang the poster.

Film Keyring

Here is the packaging for the film keyring. The backside lists "VOICE KEYRING_GOLDEN CHILD" as the product name which is incorrect; the voice keyring was sold during KCONTACT3.

Here is how the keyring looks inside the box.

The keyring is really adorable! It resembles a plastic film cassette, and the top has a metal keychain attached. The film cassette is about 1" in diameter and 1.875" tall.

The other side of the film cassette has Golden Child's original logo. Additionally here is a better view of the metal keychain; there is a D-ring and a longer chain with the KCON logo embossed on both sides of a metal token.

To view the footage, simply pull on the matte camera icon sticking out of the film cassette. Slowly pulling at it unveils the various images of Golden Child on a film strip, hence the glossy translucency.

Here are all of the images. It begins with Golden Child's original logo, followed by a group photo, then 1 photo of each member in age order with the yellow background, and then 1 photo of each member in age order with the stage background.

The film strip is so pretty. I'm not too sure how to display it since it naturally curls up.

The details of the film strip add to its authenticity, with "GOLDEN CHILD" and a number counter at the top of the film strip. To wind back up the film strip, simply turn the top knotch where the keychain is attached.

AR & Behind Photo Set

This photo set comes in a matte, cardstock folder.

Flipping open one flap reveals the AR photo set tucked into the left side. This left flap also has instructions on how to activate the AR feature via the MOING app, outlined in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese.

Flipping the other flap reveals the ticket tucked into the center, and the behind photo set tucked into the right side. I like the little detail of having the original Golden Child logo on the right side flap.

The ticket uses the same YES group photo as the fabric blanket. It also lists the specific date that Golden Child performed at KCONTACT4U. This is made of matte cardstock and is about 6" by 2.375".

The backside of the ticket lists the members.

There is 1 AR postcard per member, for a total of 10 postcards in this set. All the postcards (this set and the behind photo set) are 4" by 6" and have a matte finish. This photoshoot is a bit weird for me since the members are dressed so nicely but holding random props.

The backsides of the AR postcards have the members' printed autographs.

To use the MOING app, first click on that left folder button where you will need to download the KCON:TACT 4 U AR PHOTO SET ver.1 to be able to view Golden Child's AR set.

Here you can see the progress of the download. After it is fully downloaded, exit back to the main screen, click the center pink circle button, and scan each AR postcard. While viewing it, there is no watermark. However if you would like to screen record, you need to do it directly through this app because it would only record a black screen but with sound if using another screen recording app. While screen recording, the MOING watermark will be in the center.

Each member's clip is around 15 to 30 seconds long, and they all have English and Japanese subtitles at the bottom. Some are a bit cringey, but they're adorable and entertaining nonetheless^^

Here is the behind photo set. There are 11 postcards, with the last one being a super cute group photo.

I like the subtle detail of the backsides of these cards, with Golden Child's original logo in the center and then the member's name printed on the bottom right.

Overall, I'm really happy with this MD package and had a smooth experience with Mwave! As a note, Mwave moved to a new website in the middle of August so I'm not sure how the new ordering experience will be. Regardless of that, I absolutely love the autographed box and the contents inside definitely did not disappoint. I'm glad that KCON is finally releasing products with new content of the artists rather than promotional photos from the latest comeback.