Ordering Fansite Merch via Duckzill

Fansite merch is such a fun part of being in a fandom. They can be obtained various ways, such as by purchasing or receiving freebies on site at events, given out during cafe events, or by preordering online or via a group order. I've generally only gotten fansite merch from events on site, but when I saw a Jaehyun cheering slogan from his fansite YOUNG&RICH using a photo from one of my absolutely most favorite Jaehyun looks, I couldn't pass the opportunity to have this.

For this particular case, I would have had to go through a group order since there are no opportunities to purchase at any in-person venues. But now, there is the online retailer Duckzill that fansites use to post their goods to sell internationally. These goods range from cheering slogan sets, to photocard holders, to cup sleeves from cafe events. Fansites send their goods to Duckzill, and then Duckzill ships your order. Therefore, you can purchase multiple goods with combined shipping from various events and fansites. I tried adding various other products to my order, however the shipping greatly increased depending on the product, so I decided to only order the 1 cheering slogan from Duckzill.

You should pay attention to the product listing and whether the item is a preorder with a set closing date, or if the item is a stock sale where either the fansite or Duckzill already has the inventory on hand.

There is a Korean site (for those shipping within Korea), Japanese site (for those shipping to Japan), and English site (for those shipping anywhere else). The price is originally listed in KRW, and the price on the English site is using a 1,000₩ = $1 USD conversion.

Looking at the ordering process, it looks very similar to Everline's (especially the shipping setup). I ordered the product listed here and followed the fansite's Twitter as they provide the most updated information on the slogan production and shipping. The slogan itself was $10 USD and shipping was $16 (weight is .3kg = product weight is .2kg + box weight is .1kg) with no option of the carrier or shipping method. The website takes both PayPal and credit card. 

The fansite has continued to update on production (there was a quality assurance issue so the slogan had to be reproduced) and shipping via Twitter. On August 23rd Duckzill sent an email containing a fansite update, but of course Twitter is where you'll get the latest updates. While August 17th was the original ship date, on September 2nd the fansite updated that shipping has started. On September 4th, a K-Ness posted on Twitter that they had received their slogan. I checked my Duckzill account on September 13th and saw that my order had updated with a carrier (OrangeDS) and an ONS shipping number which I couldn't use. For $16 shipping I would have thought they would have used some sort of EMS...I checked my order again on September 17th and a master tracking number was also populated. This master tracking number is a USPS number. I continued to view my order on Duckzill and on USPS to use both tracking histories as they did differ.

My package arrived via USPS on September 27th. My item was packaged in a waterproof bubblewrap envelope and had a cute Duckzill logo sticker.

Because the envelope was already lined with a layer of bubblewrap inside, my item didn't need additional protection. The cheering slogan came in a plastic zipper pack as explained in the fansite's description.

And here is the cheering slogan! It was well worth the wait^^ It's a soft yet firm microfiber slogan with an image of Jaehyun from KCON Thailand back in September 2019. The funny thing was this day was back before I officially considered Jaehyun as a bias, but at the time this photo and this entire day captivated me so much. And it makes me so happy to have this as a cheering slogan now^^

Here is the backside^^

Overall, I'm just happy to have this cheering slogan! I wish the shipping process were better and more apparent, especially with the carrier, But it is nice being able to buy fansite goods officially from a website so that I have the security as a customer and can handle any discrepancies with a business, despite the business still being a middleman.

Additionally, Duckzill also has a page listing out various ongoing fansite events, which is helpful for those wanting to go cafe hopping in Korea. Duckzill does seem to be a fairly useful site for fansite goods and events, and I can't wait to use it to go cafe hopping in the future^^

[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.

My Mini Korean Haul! August 2019 Edition and Nam Woohyun 식목일2 (Arbor Day 2) Eco Bag Review

On August 24th, our maknae on top Golden Child's birthday, I received a special package from a friend currently in Korea! Here are fansite goods from cafe events, banners, and the eco bag from Infinite Woohyun's 식목일2 (Arbor Day 2) concert which was held on August 10th and 11th.

I'm really grateful for my friend - having these goodies is the next best thing to being there to receive these in person. Here is a Rocket Punch banner from their Pink Punch promotions, a Lovelyz Jisoo banner, along with the Golden Child fansite goods from cafe events (including Sweet Plot for Bomin, and Golden DoShine who organized events for Tag, and for Y and Joochan). The flat cup sleeve for Tag is pretty cool, because it comes with 2 stickers that are meant to decorate the cup sleeve. I'm really happy that this is truly a Woollim package, with goodies from each Woollim group!

And now onto the eco bag from Woohyun's concert. The bag cost 38,000₩, which seemed a bit costly for a tote, but seeing it in person I see why it's so worth it!

The bag came in a resealable plastic bag with the product info on the backside.

The bag is made of canvas. There are long, tight pockets lining the outside of the bag; 3 on the front, 1 on each side, and 3 on the back. There is also an adjustable shoulder strap along with the handles. The Arbor Day strap is attached from the inside of the backside and goes around to the front and through the brown strap.

Here is the backside of the bag. You can easily put the shoulder strap inside the bag to convert it into a tote.

The bag is so roomy! It's so much larger than I had imagined, and it has structure. There is also a small pocket on the inside (similar to Woollim's other totes). Excluding the straps, the bag dimensions are about 14.5" by 13.5" by 5".

Here is a closer look at the details. The hardware on the bag is matte black while the ones on the straps are more gloss black. The Arbor Day strap is stitched inside. And the brown strap on the front has a branch motif matching the concert theme.

Without adjusting the length of the shoulder strap, here is how the bag looks. It's quite large, perfect as a messenger bag.

And here it is like a tote bag.

Overall, the quality, appearance, and size of the eco bag are definitely top notch and I'm so happy to have this! It'll definitely come in handy for events (like conventions) where you just keep collecting more stuff you need to quickly store. And the many exterior pockets are also very practical and look simplistic yet complete the design well.

My Korean Haul!

This week I received another package from a very special friend! During my second year in college, I began taking Korean 101 and had to meet a language partner where I would help them with English and they would help me with Korean. I was so lucky to be paired with none other than a Korean Inspirit! She is my very first Inspirit friend and I hold our friendship very dearly. Anyways, she sent me another box of goodies, which I want to show on here^^

My friend gave me a project banner from the second day of IE in Seoul, fansite fans, Myungsoo's TSC2 poster, two Infinite Only normal albums, Infinite Only photocards, scratch postcards of Korean landmarks, and a festive holiday card. 

Coming up, I'll have a separate post showing the random member pages of the Infinite Only albums, and I'll continue my Infinite collection series. I'll show all of the Infinite Only photocards I received in my collection post about Infinite's Korean albums.

[IFNT COLL] My Infinite Collection Introduction

Infinite means the world to me as they've helped me become a better version of myself. Not only that, I'm so grateful to Inspirits for helping me grow as well. Recently I had an application essay with the topic What is your best community? and I instinctively wrote about how the Inspirit community has given me so much strength and how I always want to give back to the fandom. I hope that my blog posts have helped Inspirits and the broader audience with better understanding Infinite merchandise and Korean merchandise in general. Now I'll begin a series of posts to reveal my entire Infinite collection that also compiles my unboxing reviews of those items.

I have been collecting since March 2013 and am really proud of this collection, though of course it's not complete and I'm missing quite a few of the more recent releases due to the many versions being released. Everything is official and was purchased new except for BTD Type B (black) and Over The Top.

To begin, I store majority of my Infinite merchandise on my shelves here. The bottom shelf is all Infinite stuff, from right to left: drama OSTs, mini albums, singles, full length albums, repackaged albums, Japanese releases, photo essay books, Japanese DVDs, Korean DVDs, and Reality limited edition at the end. The shelf above on the left contains collection card binders, Season's Greetings boxes, IDEA photobook, and She's Back limited album. I'm running out of room so there are some items sadly not on display.

I display some of my Infinite memorabilia on these shelves. I put random items on here, like L'aile's goods, fansite fans, concert merchandise, calendars, T-money cards, and endorsement goods. You can also see the L's Bravo Viewtiful Part 2 poster on the left - many of my posters are framed and lying against my walls. I'll figure out how to show those later.

As you can see, my displays are quite messy. Once I finish this series of posts, I hope to reorganize my room and properly display my Infinite merchandise. Then, I would like to post my Inspirit room tour to properly show my displays.

I have been wanting to post about my Infinite collection for quite some time but still haven't figured out an efficient way to organize everything. I'll try my best and break up my collection into separate, detailed posts:

∞ Infinite Korean Albums
∞ Infinite Japanese Albums
∞ Infinite Solo/Sub-Unit/Project Albums
∞ Infinite Other Albums

∞ Infinite DVDs

∞ Infinite Miscellaneous Official Goods

∞ Infinite Events Merchandise

∞ Infinite Collaboration and Endorsement Merchandise

∞ Infinite Magazine Features

∞ Drama Merchandise

I will provide links to the above posts as I finish them and will continue to update these posts as I collect more items. I'll also place all of these posts under the label "My Infinite Collection." Additionally, in each post I will provide links to my unboxing reviews of each item pictured, hyperlinked to (∞).

I'm really excited to be doing this extensive (and hopefully photo-heavy) blogging because I seldom take the time to look at every item I have. I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I do creating them and please ask if you have questions about anything.

Infinite's 2nd World Tour IE Fansite Goods

I ended up getting a LOT of fansite goods at Infinite Effect in Vancouver and in LA, and I've decided they're all way too gorgeous not to share on my blog. I wrote more about the sets I bought and from which fansites in my post about IE in Vancouver here. In IE in LA, I bought the banner/fan sets that I didn't get from Hogam and Honeytree.

Here are all the sets I bought. From the top left clockwise is Spring Rain, Hogam, Honeytree, Summer DW, Miss Cham Cham, and L'aile.

Miss Cham Cham: photobook, 5 photos, 4 photocards, 2 stickers

Summer DW: banner, fan, 4 sticker sheets, 5 photocards, 3 postcards

Spring Rain: 2 fans, DVD (with 6 ~4min compilation clips), photobook, 4 postcards, 5 photocards

Honeytree: banner, fan, 2016 calendar, 2 posters, airport photobook, 9 postcards, 17 photocards, 2 sticker strips,  anti-radiation sticker, 1 sticker

Hogam: "Mask" photobook, "Bad" photobook, fan, poster, 1 sticker strip, 2 stickers, 2 anti-radiation stickers, 33 photocards

L'aile: 7 postcards, "Cunning Single Lady" and "My Lovely Girl" photobook, photobook (2011-2014), fan, banner

My favorite sets are definitely from L'aile and Honeytree because their goods are so high quality. Those L'aile photobooks and the Honeytree Everyday Everynight calendar are so precious. I really wish TurningPoint could have sold her stuff too as she did go to both stops, as well as Monodrama who didn't make the trip. Since there was sadly no official concert merchandise being sold, I'm especially happy that fansites were present with their merchandise.

Infinite's 2nd World Tour IE in Vancouver Concert Experience, Part 1

This post will be the prelude to my fan account of Infinite's second world tour, Infinite Effect in Vancouver. I'll talk more so about the boring aspects but important details to know, the logistics of preparing for this concert.

Buying the Concert Ticket

The ticketing war for Infinite Effect in Vancouver was intense on ticketmaster.com. First off, on December 1st there were limited VIP tickets on sale that were way too hard to get; after the concert, it seemed like VIP honestly had no advantage and were much more expensive, so I heard VIPs were pretty upset at the situation. Two days after the VIP sale, the regular sales began. The server crashed, not accepting many credit card payments, and therefore many Inspirits lost precious tickets, including myself. My best ticket was in the third or fourth row, but eventually I was only able to buy Left Centre Orchestra Row 10 Seat 32 for $170CAD, $197 after fees.

However, Ticketmaster is very customer friendly and allows refunds up to a certain number of days after your purchase, and offers ticket exchanges so you don't have to try reselling your tickets (unlike AXS...). I kept on checking the seating chart for any new available seats throughout the next few days, and I easily exchanged my ticket over the phone. The first exchange is free, while any additional exchanges require a $7 fee. During my third exchange, the service representative said that I can't exchange any more either, since I've done it so much -.- But anyways, I ended up with the third row in right center orchestra!

Day of Infinite Effect in Vancouver

I decided for a minimalist appearance, with my silver Infinite OTT logo necklace, gold zipper Infinite bracelet, and Cruciani Lurex Infinity bracelet in sandalwood lurex (an Italian brand popular in Korea). Lastly, I painted my nails gold.

My biggest regret from One Great Step in LA was not video recording the concert, so this time I was definitely prepared to have no regrets! I had planned to audio record with my Samsung and iPhone 4S, and video record the entire concert on my iPhone 5S. I also planned to bring a power brick and USB cable to charge my 5S during the concert.

Another regret I had from both One Great Step and That Summer Concert 2 was not buying more from fansites. I've always wanted to join support projects as those displayed on Twitter always look so gorgeous, so this time I wanted to be aware of all the fansites selling their goods, and all of their sets available. At OGS, I couldn't even find any fansites despite arriving on site at around 1:30PM. At TSC2, I mostly only bought the cheapest sets that only included photocards, banners, and fans, though I really wanted photobooks, DVDs, and weekly calendars.

At the Venue

I arrived at the concert venue, Queen Elizabeth Theatre in downtown Vancouver, at around 5PM, and of course Infinite had already arrived well before then. There were about 50 fans or so hanging around outside, and some people were graciously passing out banners and fanmade photocards. Above are the banners and photocards I received. During the concert, Woohyun mentioned that he saw the banner project for him (the yellow banner).

There were also about about four smaller fansites, I believe Inftfashion, summer_dw, MissCham, and Kyutizen, at this circular seating area thing outside the venue. They were each selling one set type. I thought that no bigger fansites would come since it was already so late, so I eagerly bought a set from summer_dw and MissCham (Sungkyu fansite).

Summer_dw had one set type which included photocards, postcards, a fan, and stickers for $20CAD (everything is in CAD in this post).

From MissCham, I bought a set that included stickers, photocards, postcards, and a photobook for $25.

I also saw Spring Rain and instinctively bought her set, which comes with a CD, photocards, stickers, two fans, and a photobook for about $35.

At about 5:45PM, the big fansites arrived, namely L's Wings, Honeytree, and Hogam. It was really cool to meet the fansite masters, despite the language barrier. They speak some English, but it is helpful if you know some Korean. For instance, one fansite master didn't understand when I asked what is included in a certain set, so I asked it in limited Korean: 안에 뭐예요? and then she understood and gladly showed me the contents.

I bought all three of L'aile's sets: the My Lovely Boy, L photobook (100 beautiful pages) for $30, another photobook set for $20, and the banner, fan, and photocard set for $20. The second photobook was originally $15, but I didn't have exact change so she changed it to $20 and included another one of the fans from the third set.

I bought two of three Honeytree sets. The first is the 2016 weekly calendar that comes with additional photocards and stickers for $30, and the second is the airport photobook and fan set for $10.

For Hogam, I bought the Bad photobook and Mask photobook for $10 each.

At about 6PM a huge line began to form to enter the venue from the left side entrance. I got in line at about 6:15PM and was near the right side entrance, however no one knew that there was an entrance on the right side. At about 6:50PM, a worker told the area where I was standing to go to the right side entrance, despite us being about halfway into the line. It was really nice to be about the 30th in line to get in, and I was near the stage side entrance where I figured Infinite would leave from after the concert. At around 7PM, we are let in, and inside there is someone checking our bags. I enter inside where the actual concert is held and asked the usher about cameras. On the promoter Dilemma's website, it says no small or pocket cameras are allowed, however the usher said that small cameras and phones are allowed, just no flash.

I made another post detailing the fansite goods I got from both IE in Vancouver and in La here. My next post will be Part 2, my fan account of the actual concert and afterwards!

My Mini KR Multimedia Haul!

A few weeks ago I visited KR Multimedia, a tiny kpop shop with a huge selection of merchandise, located just outside of Vancouver, BC. You can read my review about this shop here.  I didn't buy much, but I was able to find, in my opinion, rare items.

I bought two items for myself.  The first one is an official poster of IU and Infinite for Elite school uniforms.  I am such a fan of both that to see this collaboration, it was a no brainer to buy this!  I've never personally seen an Infinite endorsement poster.  This poster is priced at $16 (Canadian), which is a few dollars more expensive than KR Multimedia's other posters, but there is a 20% discount off posters when buying official albums.  This poster is folded accordion style and comes with a nice slip to hold it together.  The dimensions are about 24 inches by 16 inches.

One side is of IU showing off her cute innocence while modeling several cheery school uniforms.  Included is a copy of her autograph and a QR scan that takes you to a minute long YouTube video of IU speaking at an informal Elite interview.

The other side is of Infinite in neutralized school uniforms and showing aegyo.  Each panel consists of one member, a copy of his autograph and a QR scan like of IU.  I love this poster 1) because of how adorable everyone looks, 2) because it's like a documentation of everyone's signatures (especially Sungyeol's before he changed his to the 3-sectioned style) and 3) because this is an official poster that's not commonly found of Infinite!

Here's my poster all framed up!  It's sitting beside my desk so I can easily get distracted and daydream about having Infinite as classmates.

My second item was a pig rabbit bag from the drama You're Beautiful that is roughly 16 inches tall.  This unstuffed animal is very plush and has bendable wires inside the ears for shape.  The strap is just one long strap coming from the sides of the head, so it's meant as a crossbody bag.  The head, arms and legs are fully stuffed while the stomach is empty and lined and has a zipper in the back to store little items.  I'll probably just stuff some blankets in the stomach to make for a stuffed animal rather than a bag.

Overall I'm so thrilled to have found about KR Multimedia and I'm very happy about my purchase.  A poster of adorable Infinite in school uniforms is an amazing addition to my poster collection.  If only I could display both IU and Infinite, but of course Infinite wins.  Also pig rabbit has so much significance to me as You're Beautiful is the drama that started 'My Seoul Obsession' and the only pig rabbit I found was for ridiculous prices online.  I'll definitely head to KR Multimedia again for more interesting and unique finds!

Update: Kpoptown Jewelry Review

A few months ago I ordered an unofficial Infinite zipper bracelet from Kpoptown but gave a disappointing review (here's the link) on the product because I couldn't unclasp the bracelet.  I had no idea how to detach the clasp of this bracelet until my friend showed me. You're supposed to use your fingernail to push down on the plastic knob and it should come out easily. My friend thinks just the first time was difficult because it was jammed, but now I can flawlessly open and close it in seconds.  To fasten the bracelet, simply lock them together like a seat belt.

Here is the bracelet fitting perfectly around my wrist!  Now that I've actually figured out how this bracelet works, I'm so glad to have purchased it and now I can physically show my support during Infinite's upcoming world concert tour by wearing this bracelet and adding to the ocean of gold!

Kpoptown Jewelry Review

I usually don't buy unofficial merchandise, but I'm a sucker for zipper fashion and had to order the Infinite Logo Zipper Bracelet from Kpoptown.  I speculated about its quality but subtly showing off my Inspiritness on my wrist was too good to pass up.

My bracelet arrived in an adorable, unexpected cardboard jewelry box with a cute bow and ribbon on top.

Inside, my bracelet was secured in a plastic ziplock bag that sat on top of a thin cardboard platform.

The bracelet itself is so adorable.  It is a zipper and you can zip it open, closed or in between.  It's edgy with the zipper design yet glamorous with its gold color.  And this Infinite symbol is my favorite of all the eras because it looks so elegant and royal.

Because this is an unofficial product, I correctly expected poor quality.  the Infinite symbol is off centered.  The gold paint is flaking off from the orange plastic.  I think other fanclubs' bracelets are nonmetallic plastic colors instead of an additional layer of paint, so they wouldn't have this flaking problem.

And I seriously can't figure out how to put this bracelet on my wrist!  It's too tight for me to slip it through my hand and I don't know how to open the plastic holding.  I don't even know if it's meant to be opened, or if I have abnormally large hands (which I don't).  The link says that the bracelet is 19 cm in length, yet it's too inflexible to go around my hand.

Overall, I'm not satisfied with my jewelry and probably will never order kpop jewelry again.  It's true that you pay for what you get ($3.90 without tax or shipping), but I at least want the bracelet to be wearable.

Update: I've figured out how to actually unfasten and fasten this bracelet now, which you can read in this updated post.