Ordering My Golden Child Re-boot Albums (and losing trust in Kpoptown)

This past year has really been a struggle with the lack of new Golden Child music (don't get me wrong, "Spring Again" is my most played song ever and was the savior for the year), but now it feels so surreal that Golden Child is really coming back after over a year with their first full album! The album was released digitally on November 18th, 2019, and physically on the 19th. For the first time in Golden Child's discography, there is a deluxe version and a normal version. This comeback is especially important to me because 1) it's been over a year that I've been waiting and saving up for Golden Child, and 2) Golden Child deserves so much, especially after such a long hiatus and a loss of fans. Furthermore, the deluxe version comes with one of ten random special photos while the normal version comes with one of ten random special photos different from the deluxe and one of ten photocards, and I would like to collect them all. Therefore below is my strategy on ordering my Golden Child Re-boot albums. I have an unboxing post for the normal version here and the post for the deluxe version here.

Pre-Ordering

Both versions are quite heavy, and on top of that this is a full album, so the price of each album is more expensive than past Golden Child albums. Despite my great frustration with Ktown4u, I caved in and bought one of each version from them so that I could get the free folded posters. Shipping for tubed posters along with heavy albums is just that much more costly. I actually don't mind that these albums are heavier, because that means I have to use express and receive my albums faster. It came out to $73.22 USD ($26.44 for deluxe, $17.35 for normal, and $29.43 shipping).

At this point I had to figure out a reasonable amount of duplicates I would buy. After much contemplation (and seeing how much shipping increases with each additional album), I settled for ordering two deluxe versions and four normal versions from Kpoptown for $184 USD shipped ($25.80 per deluxe, $17.10 per normal, and $64 shipping).

To my great frustration, Kpoptown sent me an email three minutes before the 20th PDT asking for $6 USD via Paypal to cover additional shipping fees since they didn't predict just how heavy these albums were so heavy. This is my fourth order from them where they did this  It's also so frustrating they took so long to inform me, and they're having me go into Paypal and therefore incur additional fees, and the email didn't even state what order number they were referencing; it was just a generic email. I paid the additional fee on Wednesday morning PDT and emailed Kpoptown; they replied that they'd ship it out ASAP but ended up shipping it out Thursday night PDT via DHL.

Delivery and Kpoptown Frustration

My Ktown4u package shipped out on the 18th PDT via UPS and delivered on the 20th. I've always been weary about ordering from Ktown ever since the 2019 Golden Child Season's Greetings mishap, but fortunately I did receive the correct items. The two folded posters were sandwiched between the two albums, with four layers of bubblewrap that fit snug within the cardboard box. Unfortunately a corner of the deluxe version has a dent while the front cover is a long crease at the top. My order also came with a 5% off coupon that expires at the end of 2020.

From Ktown4u, I pulled the Tag special photo and Jaehyun photocard from the normal version.

I pulled the Joochan special photo from the deluxe version.

My Kpoptown package shipped out on the 21st PDT via DHL and delivered on the 25th, but to my utmost frustration, they shorted me two normal albums! First they asked me for additional shipping fees under the table, only to ship less product? The box was just big enough to fit two deluxe albums and two normal albums, however the outside label did state six CDs were inside. I emailed them right away, but it wasn't until the 26th that they sent me a new email saying they shorted me two albums and asked if I preferred the albums being shipped via DHL or being refunded. I replied within a few hours, and in the same day they confirmed that they would ship out the remaining albums. I continued with follow-up emails to Kpoptown but on the 30th still have not received confirmation from DHL. At this point I just don't know what to do as it seems like they're just not going to send me my two albums or refund me.

For my first Kpoptown package, the albums were stacked together with deluxe on the bottom and normal on the top, all in one bubblewrap bag and then two layers of bubblewrap on top and bottom inside a fitted cardboard box. The normal albums looked like they were compressed; the spines are bent. The deluxe albums each have a dented corner.

Even worse, the postcard set was ripped within its enclosure of one deluxe album.

From the normal albums, I pulled the Bomin special photo and Y photocard from one copy and Donghyun special photo and Jangjun photocard from my other copy.

I pulled the Tag special photo from the deluxe version.

Pulls

Each normal album comes with one special photo out of ten. So far I pulled Tag, Donghyun, and Bomin.

Each normal album also comes with one photocard out of ten. I've pulled Y, Jangjun, and Jaehyun.

Each deluxe album also comes with one special photo out of ten, which differs from the special photo included in the normal album. I've pulled Tag, Jibeom, and Joochan.

Thoughts

Based on these six albums, I was pleasantly surprised to pull such a variety of members! I was able to pull every member except Daeyeol and Seungmin, and have no duplicates.

I just need to vent out my frustration here. I purposely pre-ordered so that I could receive my albums right at release, as I've learned trading and buying photocards are best during the first few weeks of the era. But Kpoptown substantially delayed this, first by asking for more money for shipping, then by shorting me 1/3 of my order and not following through with the missing albums.

On another note, it seems almost impossibly difficult to collect all photocards and special photos from this album; the albums itself are more expensive due to tracklist length and physical album size, and the special photos seem too large to safely ship separately.

Lastly, it is a bit disappointing at how low the album sales are; of course it's tough with such a long hiatus, but it just seems too low. I hope as promotions and fansigns continue and the fandom grows that the album sales for RE-boot can also increase.

[LA November 2019] K-Content EXPO 2019 LA

K-Content EXPO has been held previously in around the world including Indonesia, Thailand, Dubai, Mexico, and more. And in November 2019, K-Content EXPO was held in LA! This expo seemed pretty discreet, with the event's Facebook page's first post on October 1st showing a poster of the events including a Kpop concert on November 9th, and then on October 10th a poster of Heize, Lovelyz (!!!), and JBJ95 for the concert. More details were slowly revealed on their Facebook and Instagram pages, and the organizer sporadically replied to users' questions.

Each location operates its events differently. For LA's concert, tickets were free and made available only through Makestar via a pre-order link. The tickets were broken down into four sections: A (far left; 260 sets available), B (middle left, 245 sets available), C (middle right, 245 sets available), and D (far right, 260 seats available). The number of available sets was known once ticketing began, however prior to ticketing the seating chart looked like the middle sections had the most capacity. Each account could purchase one set of tickets, and each set came with two tickets, meaning a total of 2,010 seats. Ticketing began on October 28th at 7PM PDT. Generally if you had a stable internet connection, you'd be able to log in, access the link, select your zone, and check out, though there were errors due to high traffic. You should receive a confirmation email with your reservation number, which is needed to redeem for your two wristbands and seat numbers.

There were of course many questions on exactly how receiving physical tickets works; here I'll explain how I went through the process and my experience ticketing at the venue. My friends and I were able to secure 5 sets of tickets in C. You can change the recipient name for each set at any time, even if it differs from the account name.

After greeting Lovelyz at the airport (read about my experience here), a few friends and I carpooled from LAX to the expo venue, The Source OC at Buena Park. We arrived after 6pm, and the expo was still going on until around 7pm, though it was quite empty by now.

The expo only had one row of booths at the mall (part of the expo took place in downtown LA), with standees of Kpop artists that had Makestar projects (no Lovelyz ones though). There weas one display showing a collage of past Makestar events, including Lovelyz' photobook fansign event.

One of us didn't have a set of concert tickets, so we tried to help him gain a ticket. There was a raffle where if you collected a stamp from all the booths, you'd be entered for a drawing at 7pm. The four of us completed this (by the way, the booths were a bit disappointing; one had VR equipment that was down, another had a tattoo maker that was very limited and slow) and gave our entries to the one without a concert ticket. He went to the raffle booth and out of the four raffle entries he had, he was the 6th, 7th, and 8th winners, and received concert tickets for B-131 to B-136; many participants had already left at this point and the staff was unbothered by one person claiming so many concert tickets. These were wristbands with handwritten seat numbers. My friend and I thought that these tickets are such far seats, especially when on social media the organization said that it was first come first serve from the front row to the back; we were bound to get better seats.

We parted ways at around 8pm, and it was now only my friend and me. Ticketing began on the 9th at 9am at the first floor ticket booth. Just earlier the organization sent an email about parking, along with a map of the mall and ticket booth location. We saw makeshift tents that weren't set up yet.

Around the mall we saw a huge poster for the concert. We scouted out the venue and saw that the stairs to the top of the parking lot were blocked off, and there was an impromptu stage set up on the very top of the parking lot; we figured this was the concert venue.

With an abundance of time to kill, we went to the food court which wouldn't close for another hour or two, and had dinner while we recharged our electronics. Outside we could see music videos projected! They were playing a Heize one, a JBJ95 one, and Lovelyz' "Ah-choo", the same three on repeat without sound.

At 10pm we loitered around these grand steps that look a lot like inside Coex Mall where Golden Child held their guerilla concert. At this point it was getting pretty cold, especially when I only had my summer clothes and was living off a backpack. We spent two hours playing cards and practicing Lovelyz fanchants. Some restaurants at this mall didn't close until 2am, so there were still several people around. We were hoping the movie theater would have a late night showing so we could buy a ticket to sleep for two hours (also they were showing Parasite, which we wanted to see), but the last showing of any movie was 10pm. At midnight we still didn't see anyone lining up, so we decided to head out and find some place to reenergize and warm up. As we were heading out of the mall, a security guard came up to us. My friend explained how we were planning on camping out, and the guard seemed hesitant. He called his supervisor over who readily agreed that we could camp out. It was really reassuring that we had the security guards on our side!

We went to Denny's, and saw they have a 2-hour maximum, so we stayed here from 12am to 2am, recharging our phones, dozing off, and warming up. We also saw one guy who was also at the airport; it looked like he had the same agenda as us.

We planned to meet my Lovelinus friend (who I first met at KTMF19 where we cheered for Lovelyz together!) so the three of us could camp out together.

The three of us went back to the ticket booth area and saw that the expo staff had set up the tents in a slightly different area, and had already marked the lines for each section. We brought our stuff to the beginning of line C and hung out on the staircase nearby. At this point the expo staff knew that we were first in line; it felt great having this reassurance in case others tried to cut. The staff even offered us energy drinks; they had a whole pallet to pass out later on.

Around 3am another Korean guy with a suitcase came by; I assumed he was just another staff member, but it turns out he just flew in from Korea to see Lovelyz! He goes to many Lovelyz events and will go to Japan the following week for Kei's solo promotions, and has Lovelinus friends with good intuition (for example of what songs they'd perform). He had limited English, and I quickly learned my Korean was beyond rusty, but we all bonded really well over our love and support for Lovelyz. He noticed my friend and I were cold and offered us hot packs! He had won a pair of tickets via an online event and had already received wristbands for 2xx, so he wanted to find someone with an extra ticket. We helped him find someone in C who had an extra ticket.

From 3am to 4am, Mijoo and Myungeun began a surprise audio vlive, which we all listened to, then one of the Golden Child music trailers came out at 3:28am, then Myungsoo held a surprise vlive; there's so much content if only I were naturally awake during this hour all the time!

Around 4am, a few more people got into line, for sections B and C. We asked who they were here for, and majority of them were for Heize. Here was my view from the front of C.

By 7am, the first person for D lined up while A was still empty. We quickly learned that he is a Lovelinus, as well as the first person in B. We were so excited to have all Lovelinus in the front! Soon the middle sections started filling up while D had several people in line, and by 9am the first person for A got in line. Right at 9, the staff said they were finalizing the seating map, and the first guy in D asked, "isn't the map already known?" We didn't think much of it. Soon the staff let us get our tickets.

My friend went to the booth first, and the first available seat was C-141, in row 11. She was able to select the seats, so she chose the seats closest to the center aisle. I chose the next seats in the same row, C-143 and C-144. The worker said that the first 10 rows, as well as another set of rows in the 200 count, were reserved for VIP (special guests and family, as well as raffle prizes). We waited all night, first in line, only to get seats worse than those won from the raffles. Even worse, only the first 10 rows of sections B and C were reserved; those in A and D were able to choose the very first row. So for those in A who waltzed right into line at 9am, had the best seats.

Even worse, I couldn't argue with the staff because this was a free event; they could easily just kick me out. We decided to go around the expo to try and win better seats. We went to one booth where if we posted on Instagram, we could enter to win concert tickets. The staff said that the tickets were very good, but not the best, yet I saw the tickets they had, including one at 233 and another at 348. We decided to give it a shot anyway. We got our raffle ticket and they would announce the winners at 4pm. The stamp raffle we did yesterday also said that they were no longer giving concert tickets.

We decided to take a breather from the toxic feelings of the expo, and go out to refresh and re-energize ourselves from our camp out. We came back to the expo just in time for the Random Dance Play at 3:30pm which had special guest JBJ95. They played random Kpop music videos (none from the three performing artists or any Woollim artists) while attendees danced together in the main plaza. At 3:27pm, JBJ95 came onto the stage and danced to (I think?) "Spark". I was surprised that without even really trying, I was pretty close to the stage! They danced for about 1:20 minutes.

Then JBJ95 gave their introduction and ment in Korean. After over a minute, the MC came up to the duo, then Sanggyun began to speak in English. Kenta spoke next, "I...don't speak English. Sorry! (x4) I love you! Thank you." And he was apologizing to everyone on the floor as well as on the balcony of the second floor, then made a big heart. The duo said their goodbyes in Korean, bowed, and waved to fans as they left the stage. They were on stage for under 4 minutes. I don't pay attention to artists outside of Woollim, but Kenta really caught my attention, especially since he's close with Jangjun and Jaehyun. When he said he didn't speak English, it made me really want Jaehyun here even more to help translate!

JBJ95 stayed on stage for just under 4 minutes. Afterwards they continued playing more music videos for attendees to dance to, but everyone dispersed. Of course now is when they play Lovelyz songs; "Wag-zak" and "WoW!" I was a bit shocked because I thought these would be the two title tracks they'd least likely perform.

At 4pm they ended up handing out wristbands to all raffle holders, but they were worse seats than ours. Later on, staff walked up to us handing out blank wristbands; they had lots of seats left and were trying to fill up the venue. We held onto the blank wristbands and walked back to the ticketing booth to see what seats were left, but they were very far away. We decided to settle for the seats we had, and with my extra ticket I offered it to our Korean Lovelinus friend as he received a 16x seat.

We went through security (bag check and metal detector), then walked a couple levels of the parking garage to the very top. Even though the concert would begin at 5pm, the sun was already setting so the lightsticks would shine beautifully.

There were folded chairs with seat numbers. Here is the view from behind the last row of C.

Here is the view from my seat. While of course we were all disappointed at not being in the first row despite being first in line, our view wasn't too bad. There was nothing else left to do but cheer for our girls!

The same three music videos were playing on the VCR; we kept practicing the "Ah-Choo" fanchants and made it quite apparent that we were here to cheer on Lovelyz!

The concert started late, at about 5:30pm. I'll have my concert experience in an upcoming post!

[LA November 2019] Greeting Lovelyz at LAX

My biggest regret of 2019 was not going to LAX for Kei's arrival back in late April. I was too scared to go alone, despite mentally preparing myself and even writing a fan letter to pass onto Lovelyz. This time, I would be arriving into LA a few days before the K-Contents Expo concert, and knew I couldn't let myself down again.

On Friday November 8th, I brought the fan letter I had previously written, along with a new fan letter (on such ugly paper and as a first draft...I really didn't plan this through), had my Lovelinus fourth generation tote, and was ready to greet Lovelyz. At the terminal, we saw officials from the expo holding signs for Lovelyz, JBJ95, and Heize, as well as a handful of fans for Lovelyz with large signs, gifts, and letters to give to the girls.

Of the three artists, Lovelyz came out first. Sujeong and Myungeun came out together first. I was too dazed and could only gasp and tear up; this was the closest I've seen the girls in real life, and Myungeun's my bias; it all became so real, yet it felt like a dream. My friend told me to go toward them as we were on the opposite side from where they were headed. I headed toward them but Sujeong and Myungeun were focused solely on the officials talking, so we weren't able to interact with them. I just stood there staring in awe, trying to blink away my tears as we were just a few feet from them. They just looked absolutely perfect and it felt so surreal.

Soon Sujeong and Myungeun headed to a waiting area and I was torn on where to go next. But then Jiae, Jisoo, and Soul started walking out, and again were being directed by the officials. However I still had my fan letter to hand out, and the girls seemed more open to their surroundings.

I didn't even realize Jiae made eye contact with me!

Then Jisoo passed by me, and I took my chance and called "Jisoo~!" She turned toward my direction and instantly turned from a serious expression to a smile. When she saw I was handing her a letter, she struggled because she was holding her luggage and winter coat, but she was so sweet to take the time to free her hand to collect my letter. Before I knew it, Soul walked right past me and the three continued to where Sujeong and Myungeun were waiting.

Since I was walking with Jisoo for a few seconds and had stepped further away from the initial arrival area, I didn't even realize Kei was already passing by me too. She was smiling and head-nodded to fans as she walked by. I kept excitedly (and probably creepily) saying "Kei~ Kei~" and she also slightly bowed and smiled at me.

Each time every member passed by, I was always too dazed to comprehend if I should continue with them or wait for the next members to come out. But then Mijoo and Yein came out and my attention averted to them. It was hard to see Mijoo's facial expressions but she still seemed so bubbly and energetic as she was pushing her luggage, and she accepted a fan's gift bag.

All this time I forgot how to speak, but as Yein followed closely behind Mijoo and as she was the last member out, I finally said "Yein 안녕~" in a super high pitch voice, and she looked a bit startled but nonetheless turned to me, smiled, and waved. Mijoo and Yein continued on to join the rest of the members in that waiting area.

The members stood around with the staff, but Soul was facing us fans and continually smiled and energetically waved at us! Then one of the fans indicated that she had something to give and started walking toward Soul, and Soul came forward to receive a box of letters meant for each member before retreating back. Afterwards the girls started heading toward the exit.

At this point I was back toward the front where Sujeong was leading the group, yet I just stood there in awe as each member passed by, and ended up in the back. Sujeong waved at a fan while Myungeun and Soul continued on. I called Jiae just as she looked over and waved at me despite having her hands full! (She waved with the hand that was pushing her luggage! She let go of her luggage just to wave.)  Then Jiae smiled as she looked toward others; Jiae's eye smile is so pretty^^

Jisoo and Kei walked past me, then I turned back to see Mijoo and Yein taking the back, with Mijoo waving at fans! I ended up staying behind Yein as the girls navigated around the arrivals area (which was under construction, hence a more complex exit plan and more time the girls had to wait for their ride). Mijoo looked so adorable pushing her luggage up the little ramp with all her energy. By this time, the members were waiting in line for their ride, along with others, and fans had concregated around them, putting me in the second row from Lovelyz. Others were asking who these girls were, so we explained that they're Lovelyz (with a 'z'!).

The girls had to wait for their shuttle for quite a few minutes. Soul was so friendly to continue looking around, smiling when she spotted fans, and waving toward them. She even gave out a finger heart!

Then Soul looked my way and saw me and waved at me!

After Soul shifted her attention away (along with Myungeun, and Sujeong on her phone), Kei looked over this way! She was waving to fans with a big white rabbit candy plush in her hand, then lightly bowed again.

Myungeun was rather reserved, but suddenly she turned to the two Korean fans in front of me and they started having a conversation! In the middle of all this, Myungeun and Soul ended up waving at fans too.

Then my friend took the chance to try and talk to Soul in English. Soul couldn't hear well, so she went closer to my friend and spoke in both English and with hand signs. Myungeun continued waving to a few fans, then as she was turning back around, she looked at me for a split second!

While my friend was paying attention to Soul, Mijoo who was right next to us playfully flung a stuffed whale plush she received in front of my friend's phone, then pretended she didn't do anything! She then had a conversation with Mijoo.

Then I think Myungeun looked my way again and waved at me!

Soul looked back at fans to smile and wave! Jisoo quickly waved too, and Yein looked around and smiled while waving at fans. Myungeun spoke with the Korean fans again as she waved.

My friend then asked Mijoo in English what they'd perform tomorrow, and Mijoo leaned in to clearly listen, then replied, "aww, secret!"

One of the organizers said something about JBJ; also based on another fan's report and a fancam I saw, JBJ95 had just walked right behind Lovelyz and got into their ride, however no one really noticed. Myungeun quickly did a head turn, making her hair sway so perfectly in unison. Then Soul turned around and did a double take as she spotted me and waved to me!

Then Myungeun was looking in my direction and started making cute gestures! Later on the Korean fans in front of me started talking to Kei while the other members diligently waited to get onto their shuttle. Then they started talking to Yein. Jiae then looked around and even made a V sign towards the Korean fans. Soul then talked with the Korean fans while Jisoo smiled and listened in. Soul was so cute, pointing toward her head while explaining something. Then Sujeong started talking with them...wow these two Korean fans are really winning today!

Myungeun then looked toward a fan and made more cute gestures. And she continually nonchalantly did hair flips that made me melt a little every time!

Then the girls were listening intently to the staff, until Soul turned around and the Korean fans started engaging in a conversation with her again.

Just then the shuttle arrived, and the girls slowly made their way in. The Korean fan spoke to Sujeong. I knew this was my last chance to say something, so I awkwardly said "내일 봐요" but no one heard.

The girls waved to the fans as they boarded. Soul saw me and waved to me again! As Jiae walked by I finally had my normal voice again and said "Jiae 안녕~" and she turned around to acknowledge me. My voice got awkward again as I rushed out a "Mijoo 안녕~" and she quickly turned and waved.

Even after the girls were on the bus, they continued waving to us and sending us hearts! Soul even started passing out the individual fan letters she received from a fan earlier while it looked like other members were reading our fan letters.

This has definitely been my best airport experience so far, and I hope the girls felt the love we have for them and our excitement for Lovelyz to come to the US and perform for American Lovelinus!

[LA November 2019] Around Koreatown

2019 has been Lovelyz' year in the US with their first schedule outside of Asia back in April at the Korea Times Music Festival, and now in November for the K-Contents Expo in LA. Prior to Lovelyz' arrival in LA, I spent some time with my friend in Koreatown.

I was only living on a backpack for this trip, which really forced me to not overbuy at the Kpop stores! From Music Plaza, I ended up buying the July 2019 edition of magazine Dazed featuring Golden Child ($15.99), and Lovelyz' normal version of Once Upon A Time (Jin, Sujeong, and Yein, all $18.99 each). From Choice Music, I was able to complete my Once Upon A Time album collection with Jiae ($17.99)!

Above shows my pulls from these albums.

I'm so happy to finally have all album versions of Once Upon A Time! The spine design is so pretty and definitely stands out on my shelf. As for the photocards and postcards from the normal version, I have a ways to go to complete that.

There were also flyers around Ktown promoting a badminton competition; this seemed like so much fun!

Later on, I met another friend who I always go on these Woollim artist trips with. She generously brought back fansite goods from cafe events celebrating members' birthdays and Golden Child's second anniversary. She also got me the PERIPERA x A-Teen Ink Matte Blur Tint featuring Jooha (Bomin's character on Ateen2)!

Here are the backsides of the photocards.

While the main purpose of this trip was to see Lovelyz, seeing my friends and collecting all this merch was definitely such a bonus! Upcoming posts will be about greeting Lovelyz at LAX and attending the K-Contents Expo.