This past summer, Woollim opened up their pop-up store W GROUND, featuring original Woollim Mall merchandise along with exclusive W GROUND merchandise. I blogged about ordering my W GROUND merchandise here, and I'll break down my unboxing of these items into 3 parts, with this blog post containing the following Golden Child merchandise:
- TRADING CARD (RANDOM 5EA)
- GLASS CUP
- PHOTOBINDER INDEX
- ACRYLIC KEYRING & PHOTOCARD SET
- MASKING TAPE
- Group Premium Picture Frame
- Personal Premium Picture Frame
TRADING CARD (RANDOM 5EA)
Each trading card pack comes with 5 random photocards. The packaging is a sealed plastic sleeve with a label, and a slit towards the top for you to rip open.
There are a total of 5 photocards per member (excluding Daeyeol), with a total of 45 photocards. The photocards all have a glossy finish. The backsides all have the same design, with "W GROUND POP-UP" at the top, the original Golden Child logo in the center, and then that card's number (out of 45) at the bottom. I really like how they numbered them; it makes it much easier for organizing!
Here are majority of the cards! They are all so soft and adorable and I cannot get over them! I think these are my absolute favorite Seungmin photocards ever because of just how soft he is, and Bomin's are all super cute too!
GLASS CUP
Opening up the flap reveals the cup inside. I was worried for the lack of protection, but luckily the cup came in one piece. Another thing to note is that when the artists visited W GROUND, they signed glass cups which were later on placed back into their boxes so those who purchases cups later on in the week onsite had a chance of getting a randomly signed cup.
PHOTOBINDER INDEX
The photobinder index is made of thick plastic and is translucent, as you can see here you how I put Donghyun on top of my W GROUND poster.
I'm one who loves to preserve rather than use everything, and I was just planning on putting these into clear sleeves and then into a binder. Additionally I like keeping my photocards in sets rather than sorted by member, so I didn't see a need for these indexes. But when I saw that some of the holes were already removed in Tag's and Jibeom's indexes, and when I realized this would be the perfect way to organize my snapshot Polaroids, I knew I had to use them! So here are my photobinder indexes in good use^^
ACRYLIC KEYRING & PHOTOCARD SET
The acrylic keyring and photocard set is by member, and comes packaged inside a clear resealable bag with a piece of black cardstock similar to the photobinder index. My Donghyun one arrived at a later date so that's why I'm blogging about his in parallel.
Here is Donghyun's! The photocard is inside its own clear resealable bag, faced down, with the keyring on top and then packaged inside the larger resealable bag.
Here is how the backside looks.
Here is a closer look at Donghyun's. The keyring clasp is attached to the cardstock. The bottom of the cardstock lists the member and includes the holographic Woollim authentication seal.
I'll use Seungmin's as my example because it's just so adorable^^ Removing the exterior resealable bag, you can see the keyring clasp is attached to the top of the cardstock, with the photocard directly underneath the keyring.
Here is a closeup of the keyring. The clasp and chain are metal, and attached to that is a black plastic charm with Golden Child's original logo on one side, along with the acrylic charm that the member designed. I really like how Seungmin designed a sports jersey, paying homage to their ongoing youthful and bright concepts.
Flipping the charms over, the backside of the black plastic charm has the member's name in his handwriting, and since the acrylic charm is transparent, all the designs can be viewed properly from either side except for Seungmin's.
Here are the members' keyrings and photocards! All of the keyrings are really adorable, and similar to the trading cards, I love how these photocards are also super soft. These photocards also have a glossy finish.
Donghyun's keyring is so cute!
The backsides of the photocards have a similar design to the trading cards, with "W GROUND POP-UP" printed on top, but this time with the original Golden Child logo at the bottom, and then the member's printed handwritten message and name in the center.
Here is a closeup of Donghyun's. Overall, these keyrings are one of my absolutely favorite types of merchandise Woollim has released. I love that the members designed them, and that these are super easy to bring out in public without being too in-your-face.
MASKING TAPE
The masking tape comes in a plastic box with the product sticker on the bottom. I purposely bought 2; 1 to preserve and 1 to use, but honestly I don't have the heart to use it, so this will probably be my worst review for lack of content >.<
The tape comes in a roll, and there are 10 designs, starting with the original Golden Child logo in blue, followed by an image of each member in age order from the same shoot as the photobinder index. The design is so cute how each image looks like a stamp.
Premium Picture Frame
The premium picture frames are were all via preorder in person at the W Ground Pop-Up Store, and then later signed to be shipped domestically within Korea. Here are how all 9 individual frames look, along with the OT9 group one! I am absolutely in LOVE with this photoshoot, and I can't express how happy I am that Golcha had a fresh photoshoot just for the W GROUND merch. These look like family portraits! And it's interesting seeing Tag's old signature in the individual picture, but his new signature in the group picture. He signed using both styles during the Grand America Tour; when he had more room, he'd sign his old way.
I had ordered Eunbi's premium picture frame from her Color MD before, which was delivered straight to my home rather than needing a Korean proxy, and had no issues with the packaging or condition of the product. But unfortunately for my Golden Child ones, there were quite a few variation of damages...as a note, I'm not complaining about any of this, I just feel it's good to call out potential issues others may see on theirs.
My Y frame had a clear wrap attached to the frame, but the corner was completely ripped. I would just completely remove the wrap, but the autograph appears to be on top of this.
My Jaehyun autograph seems to be coming off; I'm unsure if this was when it was signed, or if the ink came off.
It's hard to see, but the side of my Jaehyun one looks like it was chaffed on something.
For my Donghyun one, the top right in this photo, the corner was bent inward.
As for my Joochan one, it had the opposite issue of my Y one. Here, there was just a piece of clear wrap at the corner, but I could remove it to reveal the actual picture frame.
And for the group frame, there was a scratch.
As well as smear marks. And you can't see it here, but there are also clear drag marks all across the picture (perhaps if you drag bubblewrap across the surface harshly).
Moving on from the defects...here are how the backs of the frames look. The styling is slightly different from Eunbi's Color premium picture photo, but you can refer to that product page here for reference as the W GROUND premium picture frames don't have an online product page. I'm honestly not sure how to hang these up, but I just lean them against the wall rather than hanging them on the wall.
For the most part, these are made of metal with plastic corners in the back where the mount part sticks out, but the picture part feels like Plexiglas. Here you can get an idea of the depth of these frames.
The individual frames are under 11.75" by 17.75", while the group frame is under 19.7" by 15.75". The depth is under an inch.
I didn't think I'd actually have room to display all the picture frames, but I'm so happy I made it work! And I'm so happy to have talked myself into getting all of them. And once they're up, I really don't notice the flaws at all.
Overall, I'm so happy with all the W GROUND merchandise! I like that they're different from MD Woollim had released in the past, and how some of the products incorporate the artists' own drawings. My favorite items are definitely the keyrings and premium picture frames!
Up next I'll blog about the Golden Child photobook and original Woollim Mall MD. And with that, this is my wrap-up of 2022 and can't wait to see what 2023 has in store!
