Golden Child: Re-boot 1st Album (Normal Version) Review

Golden Child has finally made their comeback in over a year, with their first full album Re-boot! The digital album was released on November 18th, 2019 while the physical album on the 19th. This album has a deluxe version and a normal version, the first time that Golden Child is releasing a limited version of an album. I blogged about ordering my albums here, the deluxe version here, and I'll be unboxing the normal version in this post.

Despite being a normal version, this album is very big, high quality, and has very nice inclusions. The packaging itself is a folder. Unfortunately the folder is made of thin cardstock, so it may be prone to indents if there's pressure against it and the contents inside. The front cover has a beautiful group photo, while the spine and back cover are black with silver lettering. The packaging is about 8.5" by 11.75" by 0.625".

The back cover has the tracklist of this full album. I'll discuss the tracklist more in my unboxing of the limited version.

Opening the folder reveals the photobook on the left and other inclusions on the right. There is silver lettering in the corners of the flaps as well.

The visible contents of the normal album include the photobook, the special photo, and the calendar. The photobook, special photo, and calendar are all practically just as big as the album packaging. I was surprised to see Tag right away!

The special photo is HUGE(!), about the same size as the album itself. Each normal version includes one out of ten random special photos different from the special photo in the deluxe version. All special photos are from this black-and-red photoshoot. The front is glossy while the back is matte.

The backside of the special photo is similar to a photocard, with a printed autograph. Tag's message says "You've waited a lot, right?" We've all waited a lot, Golden Child and Goldenness...but the wait is finally over^^

The calendar is very sleek and matches the front cover of the photobook. There are 28 pages including the covers.

Here is the backside; simplistic in black with publication info printed on the bottom.

The first page includes a message.

Each month has two pages. The first page is always a vertical photo with the days of the month in one line at the bottom while the second page is always a horizontal photo with each week in an individual row. January has two group photos from the all-black shoot.

Each member has one month, from February to November. The first page is a large vertical photo from the Cafe Valor shoot, while the second page is a small horizontal photo from the all-black shoot.

Holidays are identified in red on the calendar while special Golden Child dates are identified in orange.

The only downside about this calendar (besides the fact that we'll probably not get a season's greetings for 2020) is that I'm unsure how to display it. There is no hole to hang it nor can it stand up. Maybe I'll just try to balance it at 90 degrees against my desk and wall.

I absolutely love the all-black shoot; the chandelier in the background gives such a luxurious feeling. And not to mention our maknae looks so grown up!

December has two group photos from the Cafe Valor shoot.

And now onto the photobook. There are 88 pages.

Here is the back cover. My one disappointment is that the photobook cover is made out of what seems like construction paper, which can be damaged by water.

As Jibeom said in Golden Child's unboxing video, every page is important, including this one! Honestly I had excluded this page in my blog until I watched their video.

The photobook begins with a group photo from the all-black photoshoot and contains photos from three shoots: the all-black shoot, the Cafe Valor shoot, and the black-and-red shoot.

Aside from the group photo at the beginning and end of the photobook, the rest of the photos are individual member shots. There is also one page per song, complete with lyrics (if applicable) and song credits.

While this concept is a lot darker than Golden Child's past eras, I'm glad that not all members have such heavy makeup; here, Jibeom's look versus Donghyun's look from the all-black shoot.

I love how majority of the photos are high quality with no wasted space. Each page has two photos maximum.

The only page layout I question is this one, with a small vertical photo of Y and that wasted white space.

There is only one photo per member from the black-and-red shoot. I'm not a fan of unnatural hair color or hair styled up, but Joochan really pulls off this style so well!

I am absolutely in love with Jaehyun's look from the all-black shoot, and to top it off that necklace is just so pretty.

While most of the pages have one to two photos, there is one two-page spread.

There is a group photo from the Cafe Valor shoot to conclude the photos, followed by three pages for the thanks to messages.

Lastly is the page of album credits, along with the CD tucked into a slip in the back cover.

Here is a closer look at the CD itself, with a pretty sheen like an oil spill.

The normal version also includes a random photocard, which is slipped somewhere inside the photobook. I can't express just how happy I was to pull Jaehyun, especially on a page with such a gorgeous photo of him.

Here's Jaehyun! There are 10 different photocards, and only the normal version includes a random photocard.

The backside has Jaehyun's printed sign and message. The photocard has a matte finish and has the same dimensions and corner roundness as the photocards from Goldenness and Wish.

This era also has two official posters which may come with both the normal version and deluxe version. One image is a group shot from the all-black shoot while the other is a collage of individual shots from the black-and-red shoot. I'm absolutely in love with the all-black shoot and am so happy to see one of the photos from this shoot made it for the poster! As for the collage poster, I've never been a fan of these, and furthermore the black-and-red shoot is definitely not for me.

I was really nervous for this concept; I fell in love with Golden Child's youthful charms and energy, and this style seemed too much like Infinite's signature style. But after fully seeing the photos, I love that it shows how Golden Child challenged themselves with a very different concept and can pull off such a concept so well. The normal album is absolutely gorgeous and seems like it should be considered a limited version because of how high quality it is! Also I love that this version includes a special photo AND a photocard, whereas the deluxe version only includes a special photo. Overall, as it's been a long hiatus with a loss of fans, I do hope Golden Child not only gets the hype they deserve, but also gains loyal fans to join the fandom.