Golden Child really finished off 2021 with a bang, with Woollim announcing Golden Child's 2022 Concert Play on December 31st, 2021 at 2PM KST. The tweet came with the first concert poster of the boys in sharp black suits with the concert dates for February 5th and 6th at KBS Arena.
On January 3rd, 2022 at 7:30PM KST, Woollim dropped the second concert poster, and it really felt like a shot to my heart (LOL I'm being dramatic). It showed the boys in Geumdong University letterman jackets...
And now time for my sob story, which feel free to just skip this paragraph: my life really felt like it revolved around Golden Child for the longest time, and I had planned to go to every concert that they'd hold (within reason). It wasn't until early 2019 that I really had my career straightened out so that I could take off on short notice anytime to see Golcha, but of course with their hiatus it was quite difficult. I'm extremely grateful to have attended Future And Past, especially with the pandemic following soon after. News of Summer Breeze was tough but I got over it, and with Play I thought I was taking it well that I'd miss Golden Child's second live concert until Woollim dropped the poster of Golcha in their branded jackets. Not only am I a sucker for branded items (sports jerseys, school uniforms, work overalls, airline wings, etc.), to see the continued growth of Golden Child's concept from high school to university was really touching, and it made me sad knowing I won't be able to see them in these outfits in person...(I clearly wrote this before the concert happened...and now after watching the online stream, it hurts even more to know this may have been the last OT10 performance for awhile...)
On January 5th at 7:30PM KST, Woollim released the third concert poster, again with a princely white outfit theme.
On January 6th at 7PM KST, Woollim Mall previewed the accompanying merchandise, with the first round of preordering (potential for future rounds?) from January 7th 4PM KST until January 10th 11:59PM KST. The image preview included the university jacket from the second concert poster! If I'm unable to see Golcha performing in these jackets live, it makes me happy that at least Goldenness can match and join in on the Geumdong University au^^
Just as the preorders opened, Woollim Mall posted the product detail and announced the first preorder delivery schedule will begin on January 27th. The Play merchandise includes the following:
- STADIUM JACKET + POLAROID (1EA) / 88,000₩ / $74.54 USD
- SIGNED MESSAGE PHOTOCARD SET / 30,000₩ / $25.41 USD
- SLOGAN / 18,000₩ / $15.25 USD
- A4 PHOTO (1 version per member; able to choose which member) / 10,000₩ / $8.47 USD
No events or benefits have been announced by Woollim Mall for this merchandise.
Furthermore, surprisingly Kpoptown didn't list any of Play merchandise, making Woollim Mall my go-to this time around. But as I am for whatever reason still blacklisted by Woollim Mall / Eximbay, I am forever grateful to my friend for helping me get these items^^
Like with Woohyun's latest fan meeting merch and how a second round of preorders opened the day before his first show, on February 4th at 12PM KST (a day before the first concert date) Woollim Mall announced the second round of preorders starting at noon and closing at end of day on February 7th KST. The tweet included a clearer preview of all products, and listed that delivery will start on February 28th. The difference from Woohyun's second round of preorders is that for Golden Child, they added 3 more items:
- PHOTOBOOK + PHOTOCARD (1EA)
- PHOTOBINDER + PHOTOCARD SET
- TUMBLER + PHOTOCARD SET
At first I was quite frustrated about the addition of items, because it's like they are penalizing those who already preordered during the first round by having to place a second order (again facing ridiculous shipping fees). But then I ran some calculations...my first order which included the jacket, photocard set, slogan, and 2 A4 photos totaled to $241.66 USD ($132.14 item total plus $109.52 shipping to the US); my second order of the photobook, photobinder, and tumber totalled to $152.89 USD ($76.23 item total plus $76.66 shipping); if I placed a single order combining all 8 items, the total would have been $367.61 USD ($208.37 item total plus $159.24 shipping). Therefore the difference between 2 separate orders and 1 combined order is $26.94. Now the way I look at it, I paid an extra ~$27 to receive the bulk of my items sooner.
So I've been going back and forth, trying to look at any sort of bright side to dealing with Eline. After all, getting merch and receiving packages should be 100% fun and exciting! Yet because of Eline (and other kpop vendors, but Eline has taken the reigns of this competition), I have lost so much sleep and gained so much stress time and time again. This time, 2 packages showed up together on March 7th local time via UPS.
I'm sorry that all my Eline posts are of me complaining...I do want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has helped me to get official Woollim merch, because without them, without our friendship, especially now when the world is so virtual and feels so disconnected, I wouldn't have much to look forward to. So thank you <3
Messaging with my friend, it does seem like Eline didn't ship multiple international Round 1 packages, or perhaps even any of them. She emailed Eline and within a day she received a shipping notification from UPS for our Round 1 orders.
My box was pretty filled this time, with the items in bubblewrap bags. You can see the slogan is slipping well out of its bubblewrap bag.
The jacket and the slogan came in their own bubblewrap bags, the 2 A4 photos came together in 1 bubblewrap bag, and the photocard set came in its own bubblewrap bag that was then wrapped around itself and then taped shut for added protection.
I received my Round 1 package on March 14th. Again the silly Everline sticker is slapped on top reminding customers to film their unboxings.
Here is a closeup of the shipping label. At first I took this picture to aggravate myself even more how the invoice number at the bottom states the purchase date was January 7th while the ship date at the top states March 8th. Then I compared this shipping label to my shipping label from my Summer Breeze order and noticed an improvement - now these shipping labels have a description of the items ("2022 GOLDEN CHILD CONCERT [PLA" vs. "goods") and has included the total item count, which is great in hopefully more accurately fulfilling orders without missing items.
Here are all my items from Round 1! I'm so relieved that everything arrived intact, and that I'm not missing anything. And the moment I saw that I had pulled the Jibeom Polaroid for the jacket, I felt like the wait was well worth it! (Though of course it's still unjust that Round 1 wasn't even shipped until we received Round 2, and it seemed like only after my friend emailed them that they actually planned to ship these...).
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