You would think that a post titled "Part 2 of 2" would be published after Part 1, but Everline had other plans due to my Golden Child 2022 Concert Play Round 2 merch arriving before my Round 1 merch even shipped. I'll provide links to the introduction of the Play concert merch and ordering these goods here, and my unboxing review of the Round 1 merch here. Below I'll blog about the 3 items that were added onto the Play merch list.
The Play merchandise added into Round 2 are:
- PHOTOBOOK + PHOTOCARD (1EA)
- PHOTOBINDER + PHOTOCARD SET
- TUMBLER + PHOTOCARD SET
PHOTOBOOK + PHOTOCARD (1EA)
This set comes packaged inside a silver zip lock bag. It comes with a random photocard, which was placed inside its own clear resealable bag and then flipped so that the backside is showing.
The backside of the packaging has the product sticker and holographic Woollim authentication seal in the bottom right corner.
For the photocard, I pulled Daeyeol! All the photocards are from the black suit photoshoot, matching the front cover of the photobook.
I ended up trading my photocard with my friend who's Daeyeol biased, and received Joochan in return~ It's really too bad that there is a random photocard here, when in reality it doesn't seem likely that people would buy more photobooks just to collect the photocards.
All the photocards have this same backside. These photocards have a glossy finish.
The photobook is softback and has a nice glossy finish that isn't prone to fingerprints (similar to Woohyun's Namu Company photobook). I feel like it's hit or miss with Woollim adding a design to the spine, and this time they did with text reading "2022 GOLDEN CHILD CONCERT PLAY". The dimensions of the photobook are about 8.3125" by 11.75" by 0.25". There are 72 pages excluding the covers.
Here is a closer look at the front cover, with Golden Child all polished in their black suits.
There are only 2 "wasted" pages - the remaining 70 pages are full color photos of the boys.
The photobook starts out with photos all from the black suit photoshoot. It begins with a 2-page spread of OT10. All the group photos in this photobook are over 2-page spreads and are formatted well so that no one gets lost in the binding (but sorry Bomin that I couldn't capture you in my photos >.<).
The next 20 pages consist of individual member photos, where the member order is random. The left photo is a closeup while the right photo is a full body shot. For all individual member photos, there is one large photo per page.
Tag and Jibeom are killing it throughout this photobook! They're definitely my 2 favorites from these photoshoots!
The page layouts are generally different, with some photos maxing out the entire page whereas others having a navy blue border to mix it up.
The set of this photoshoot feels a bit random; it looks like a super sterile subway station which doesn't really match fancy Golcha.
This first section closes off with another OT10 photo (again sorry Bomin >.<).
The next section contains Golcha in their branded university jackets (these stadium jackets were also sold during both Round 1 and Round 2 Play merch preorders). It starts with this cute OT10 photo, which again they did well in formatting so that no one gets lost in the binding.
The next 20 pages are the individual member photos, again in the same random order and each member having a closeup shot and full body shot. This time the photos alternate where it starts off with the full body shot on the left and closeup shot on the right for Tag, then the full body shot on the right and closeup shot on the left for the next member, and so on. I seriously cannot get over how adorable Tag is! He pulls off the uni look so well and I love the contrast from fun to serious in these 2 photos.
And look how precious Jibeom's smile is! Again the page layouts vary, this time with a white border framing certain pages.
Donghyun in caps is always so adorable! And paired with the jacket is perfect! Again the set is a bit random, but I like how they added all the sports elements to it, tying in well with Golden Child's original concept and au.
Again, the combination of baseball caps and the uni jacket is perfect! This photoshoot is of course my favorite of the 3 because I'm such a sucker for branded items and the stadium jacket really brings the Geumdong au to life! It's crazy to think that all these photos weren't going to be shared...unless Woollim had always intended on releasing this photobook during Round 2 presales.
The last section contains Golcha in their white outfits and begins with this OT10 photo.
The next 20 pages are individual member photos, again in the same random member order. Each member has a full body shot on the left and a closeup shot on the right.
I like the simplicity of this set but at times the boys don't stand out much due to the white on white.
This is my least favorite photoshoot of the 3, but overall it's grown on me, especially after watching the live stream of the concert.
And lastly there is another group photo from this shoot to close off the photobook.
This set comes in a clear resealable bag, with the photocard set on top of the binder.
The backside of the packaging has the product sticker and holographic Woollim authentication seal.
This binder is really sturdy and high quality. It has the Play logo embossed in metallic on the front cover, and the spine has the Play logo embossed in matte.
I love how the back cover has the original Golden Child logo and even though Golcha continues to grow and explore new concepts, they continue paying homage to their debut.
The binder includes 5 9-pocket sheets already inside this 3-ring binder. There's no indication on if these sheets are acid free or PVC free, but regardless I like to store all my Golden Child stuff together in my binders that I know are safe. If you want to add or remove pages, to open the rings, you have to pull apart at the ring.
As a note, this binder is huge. It has dimensions 10.3125" by 13.5" by 1.375". Here you can see it rivaling Golden Child's other tall items (Summer Breeze photobook, Ddara albums, and Wish through Take A Leap albums). However, the diameter of the rings is only 0.75", so the binder can't store too many things. I think this size is perfect for a small set of A4 photos, because A4 photos generally stick out from the standard binders, and this binder can easily fit 10 pages. If only I purchased all 10 members' A4 photos from the Play merch, this combination would've been perfect...^^
And here are all the photocards in this set! I love that we get an entire set of selcas in the uni jackets^^
The tumbler set comes in a thick cardboard box, with the top lid taped shut by a matte sticker with the Play logo. I used a pair of scissors to slice through the sticker in order to open up the box.
The backside of the box has the product sticker and holographic Woollim authentication seal.
Opening up the top flap of the box reveals the tumbler inside. The photocard set is also inside leaning against one of the walls of the box.
The backsides of the photocards all have this white brick wall design matching the photoshoot of the white outfits. These cards have a glossy finish.
Here is the complete photocard set! They're all from the white outfit shoot. I really like how the 3 new items from Round 2 include photocards grouped together by photoshoot, so that they do look like cohesive sets.
Here is the tumbler! It's about 7" tall and the lid is about 3.1875" in diameter. There's no indication of the size, but I'd guess that this tumbler can hold at least 16 fluid ounces. The interior of the tumbler is stainless steel while the black outer is polypropylene. This outer finish is glossy and prone to fingerprints.
The bottom of the tumbler has a sticker with info mostly in Korean about the product and company. The bottom is made of a different material that should grip the surface well to avoid slipping, however it still feels rather slippery (even if the sticker is removed).
Here is the lid of the tumbler. It's made of plastic and stainless steel. There is a vertical plastic strip to put the lid in either a closed position or open position (pictured above).
The lid doesn't screw onto the tumbler, rather there is a rubber lining that suctions the lid. My friend was a bit weary about this design (and for good reason, whereas I didn't even notice because I never planned on using the tumbler...), so I performed a few experiments. I added water to the tumbler, put the lid on, and made sure the lid was flipped to closed, and flipped the tumbler upside down. Water did not leak out from the edge of the lid; a little bit did leak out where the closed flap was, but I'm not concerned about this since the tumbler wouldn't normally be upside down. My next test was seeing if the tumbler falls if I only hold the tumbler by the lid. I tried this and vigorously shook it by the lid, and the tumbler did fall about 1 millimeter, which I'm not too concerned about either.
Honestly I keep comparing this tumbler to Woohyun's Namu Company tumbler. Everything about Woohyun's tumbler was perfect, and then there's Golcha's which seems much lower quality. I think it's the fingerprints that bother me the most, how the tumbler quickly looks so used and worn in even though I haven't officially used it. But as it's an official Golden Child product, there was no question about whether or not to order it, and the photocard set that comes with it is a nice bonus.
Overall, the addition of the photobook, photobinder, and tumbler make the overall Play merch list a great balance of practicality and what I group as "impractical but beautiful photos to look at". The binder is great for storing a small collection, or perhaps a few key pieces of your collection that you'd like to highlight, the tumbler is a nice variation from the other cups Golden Child has released (NOW mug and Summer Breeze ice tumbler), and the photobook includes such high quality photos (especially of the uni jacket outfits!).
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