My Mini LA Ktown Haul! and Upcoming Choice Music Package (And Confirmation that I'm Whipped for Golden Child)

I had it all planned out on how I would collect all of Golden Child's photocards and special photos from their latest album Re-boot, however my plan quickly backfired when Kpoptown "forgot" to send me 2 normal albums and said they would resend them but never did (that was over two weeks ago). Furthermore, hardly anyone is trading or selling the photocards or special cards. I haven't seen anyone selling the deluxe special photos and with the deluxe albums out of stock online, I'm starting to lose hope in completing this collection.

Prior to this haul, I had 3 Deluxe and 3 Normal copies of Re-boot in my possession.

Choice Music had a Cyber Monday sale where I ordered 3 Deluxe and 2 Normal, however I'm still waiting for this to be shipped. I learned that there are two different systems between Choice's physical store and online store, hence there are price differences and inventory differences. The same applies to Music Plaza.

My brother visited Music Plaza on December 7th and found these treasures for me: 1st Look Vol. 186 (featuring Golden Child), Lovelyz in Winter World 3 Kihno Video, and Golden Child's normal version of Re-boot. The worker confirmed that there were only 2 copies of the normal version in stock, and the deluxe version was sold out. I'll have future posts about the magazine and Kihno.

I really wanted to cap my brother's Re-boot buying spree to just 1 Deluxe and 3 Normals for this haul, but then at Choice we had a revelation: for the normal version, you can actually partially see the top and right edges of the special photo.

Because of this, we compared the special photos I already have along with what I could find online (which was quite hard; I found all but Daeyeol's). For example, Seungmin is the only one with red on the edge, so it was obvious that the first copy has his special photo. The others are much harder to see though, and it also depends on how far in the special photo is placed within the folder. I felt horrible figuring this out since it should be randomized, however I was only going to buy one more copy at Choice when now I got four more copies at Choice; so in the end because of this, I bought more copies.

My brother looked at the 2 sealed Normals he purchased at Music Plaza; one was dark blue all around, so it could either be Tag, Jaehyun, or Daeyeol (as we didn't know how his looks like); the second was light blue in the left corner, then white all around. The second had blue in the top left, so we thought it could be Y, Jibeom, or Donghyun. After my brother came back, we opened the albums together to see how well we did with our selections. The first ended up being Daeyeol (mystery solved on how his special photo looks like!) with the Y photocard and the second was the Donghyun special photo with the Joochan photocard. So far, Donghyun and Y are duplicates for me.

For the 4 Normals from Choice, we opened the albums in order of confidence. We knew for sure the first album had the Seungmin special photo; it also came with the Seungmin photocard. The second album had dark blue at the top left, top right, and all along the right; we figured it was Y, and it ended up being Y with the Seungmin photocard. For the third album we guessed it was Joochan, and it ended up being Joochan with the Y photocard. And lastly we were debating if this would be Jibeom or Donghyun, and it ended up being Donghyun with the Bomin photocard. Now I have a duplicate Seungmin photocard, and two duplicate Y photocards and Donghyun special photos.

Choice had a total of 6 Normals and 2 Deluxes in stock (some were in the back), and I ended up with 4 Normals and 1 Deluxe. Here is my pull for the Deluxe; now of course for this version it's completely unknown, so I'm relieved I pulled someone I didn't already have.

Currently for the Deluxe special photos, I have Y, Tag, Jibeom, and Joochan.

For the Normal special photos, I have Daeyeol, Y, Tag, Seungmin, Donghyun (x3), Joochan, and Bomin.

For the Normal photocards, I have Y (x3), Jangjun, Seungmin (x2), Jaehyun, Joochan, and Bomin.

Reflecting on all of this (having 9 Normal albums, 7/10 special photos, and 6/10 photocards), I figured that I really shouldn't keep the 2 Normals I had ordered from Choice. I called them and they happily modified my order, including the shipping cost. I'm thankful that they're pretty backed up in shipping out their Cyber Monday orders. Once my 3 Deluxes arrive, I'll update this post with my pulls.

Update: I continued calling Choice Music about my order, and eventually on December 18th they said that their shipment of Deluxes never came through, and they refunded me. While they were quite friendly, it was honestly really frustrating that they were selling albums that they never had in stock (and the site did say "in stock", not "preorder"). And of course they have no more Deluxes in store. At this point, I think it's a sign that it'll be almost impossible to collect all the Deluxe special photos!

Rocket Punch: Pink Punch 1st Mini Album Review

On July 22nd, Woollim announced a new launch with the "Rocket Punch Logo Motion" and official SNS links. It was soon revealed that Woollim is debuting a new girl group called Rocket Punch with 6 members on August 7th, 2019. This all came as a sudden shock to me, especially when Woollim really teased out Golden Child's pre-debut period with W Project and Woollimpick. But as I know Woollim never disappoints in regards to their artists' music releases, I knew I would love this new group, and its name, right away.

The name "Rocket Punch" means they'll bring fresh energy into the boring world, which seems like the girl-equivalent of Golden Child's youthful energetic image. I was surprised at the name at first, since Infinite, Lovelyz, and Golden Child all have that "perfection" meaning in their name, but nonetheless I love the name.

Rocket Punch debuted with the release of their first mini album, entitled "Pink Punch". The digital release was on August 7th at 6PM KST while the physical album released on the following day.

I preordered on Choice Music from about $20 USD shipped, it shipped on August 10th, and arrived on August 14th in a cardboard box and 1.5 layers of bubblewrap. They ended up folding the top part of the pouch, but overall the album came in perfect condition!

The packaging of this album is a clear plastic resealable pouch. This style and vibrant colors are like those children's toys at Daiso!

The backside of the pouch has the tracklist and authentication sticker.

Woollim has a thing for making us physically tear through their packaging, from Sunggyu's Another Me to Woohyun's Write.. to this. I thought more carefully how to best preserve the packaging, and decided to cut a slit through the top of the pouch rather than tearing it open.

And here is the album! The vivid artwork matches the girls' fiery name and strong concept. The album dimensions are 7" by 7.125" by 0.375".

The photobook contains 80 pages. Here is the tracklist, which has a comic book style.

There are 2 pages per song, and these are spread throughout the photobook. I love how these have their own artwork that depict the song titles through the fun graphics.

There are a total of 3 photoshoots, with the first being the pink shoot. Majority of the photos in this photobook are individual member shots. Some of these pages also have that comic book style.

There is 1 group photo from the pink photoshoot.

The graphic for "Love Is Over" is just so fitting!

The next photoshoot is the denim shoot, all with individual member photos.

The last photoshoot is one with the girls in their own Rocket Punch branded tees.

There is one group photo from this shoot.

All other photos from this shoot are like a magazine collage, creatively edited to merge multiple photos together to look like one.

Next are additional individual member shots from the pink shoot.

This is followed by additional individual member shots from the denim shoot.

And lastly there are a few more individual member photos from the pink shoot.

The following 4 pages contain the group and individual Thanks To messages.

The last page contains the album credits.

The inclusions are placed in the very back of the album.

Each album comes with a pop-up card. Here is the backside.

The design is really cute! There are even two whales in the water that you can break the perforation so that they stick up. Also I love that the girls are in their logo outfits.

One sticker sheet is also included, with designs of the girls' names and motifs found throughout the album.

The album also comes with 1 random member photocard out of 6. I got Suyun! The photocard has a glossy finish.

Here is Suyun's printed messaged and sign on the back. Her autograph is so cute!

The CD is slipped inside the very back of the album. The design has the album's motifs, the group's logo, and a pink to green sheen.

This mini album includes the following tracks:

1. PINK PUNCH - is the intro instrumental track to the title.
2. 빔밤붐 (BIM BAM BUM) - is the title with a name that is reminiscent of Golden Child's debut "Damdadi" and also has a fun, energetic feel that fits the group's image.
3. Love Is Over - has a strong meaning that you don't need love. It is the track that Rocket Punch is currently promoting along with the title.
4. Lucid Dream - is such a beautiful ballad! All the members have really beautiful voices. I can't wait to hear future ballads from Rocket Punch as well.
5. Favorite (특이점) - Rhapbet's Razer who co-created many Woollim artist's tracks has also participated in this track! 
6. 선을 넘어 (Do something) - is such a fun B-side! 

Overall, I absolutely love Rocket Punch, their concept, and their debut album! The tracks show a range of genres that the group pulls off so well. I'm so excited to see these girls grow as they're beginning their journey as Rocket Punch.

Ordering My Lovelyz Once Upon A Time Albums

Lovelyz has come back with their 6th mini album, Once Upon A Time. The album was released digitally on May 20th, 2019, and physically on May 21st. There is a limited version and a normal version. Usually I would buy just one copy of each, however this time Woollim cleverly released 9 versions of the normal album (one group and one per member) that has a different front cover and spine where when all are placed together create the latest Lovelyz logo. Because the spine is what I display on my shelf, it would look incomplete if I only have one normal version...so my plan was to buy four copies of the normal version, all from different sellers in hopes of not receiving duplicates, and hopefully buying the remaining ones I'm missing later on.

Pre-Ordering

I pre-ordered the limited version and one normal version from Music Plaza and chose the cheapest shipping option (USPS Media Mail Parcel), totaling to just under $56. I had such an excellent experience pre-ordering my Woohyun A New Journey albums from here that I confidently chose to order from Music Plaza again. Despite me raving about the super fast shipping last time, this time my package from Music Plaza took the longest to ship, on May 26th PDT.

I pre-ordered one copy of the normal version from Choice Music with USPS Media Mail Parcel for just over $21. I was dissatisfied with my previous order from them for Golden Child's Wish albums because they took a very long time to ship out, but I figured because I'm ordering the same album from multiple vendors, I don't mind testing them out again. My package shipped out on May 23rd PDT.

I pre-ordered one copy of the normal version from Kpoptown with Small Packet Service, which doesn't include tracking, for just under $22. My package shipped out on May 22nd PDT.

I pre-ordered one copy of the normal version from eBay seller "worldbiggeststore" which stated that purchases here count on Hanteo and Gaon charts. My order was just over $20 and doesn't include tracking. My package shipped out on May 20th PDT.

Delivery

My Choice Music package arrived first, on May 28th. My one album was secured in bubblewrap then placed inside a flat cardboard box that fit my album perfectly. Unfortunately there was a small scratch on the back of my album, but other than that, the album arrived in good condition.

Choice also provided a "Choice Music" sticker and to my surprise, an unofficial Kei postcard! These are the postcards that Choice would give for free when making a purchase over a certain amount, and when I went in April they didn't have any freebies for Woollim artists (other than Eunbi and Chaewon). My random special letter and photocard were slipped in between pages 32 and 33.

From Choice Music, I pulled the Kei cover, Mijoo special letter, and Jin photocard. I'm so happy to have pulled Jin; I rarely have luck pulling my bias; the only other time I pulled Jin was for the cover strip from A New Trilogy.

My Kpoptown package arrived second, on May 29th. My album arrived in perfect condition, secured in bubblewrap and then placed in a waterproof envelope. My random special letter was slipped in between pages 32 and 33 and the photocard in between 22 and 23. From this album, I pulled the Jisoo cover, Yein special letter, and Jisoo photocard.

My "worldbiggeststore" eBay package arrived on May 30th. My album was wrapped in many layers of bubblewrap and then placed in a waterproof envelope, and arrived with a scratch on the front cover and one corner with a dent. My random special letter was slipped in between pages 10 and 11 and the photocard in between 28 and 29. I pulled the Mijoo cover, Mijoo special letter, and Kei photocard.

My Music Plaza package arrived on May 31st. My two albums came in perfect condition; they were loosely bundled in large bubblewrap and then placed inside cardboard box. My order came with an unofficial card of Loona and G-idle. My random special letter was slipped in between pages 30 and 31 and the photocard in between 22 and 23.

I pulled the group cover, Mijoo special letter, and Kei photocard.

Pulls

Each normal album comes with one special letter out of eight and one photocard out of eight. These designs are different from the limited album. Above is what I pulled overall.

In all, for the random cover, I pulled the group, Jisoo, Mijoo, and Kei.

Here are how the spines look like when putting my albums together.

For the special letters, I pulled 3 Mijoo (!!!) And 1 Yein.

For the photocards, I pulled 1 Jisoo, 2 Kei, and 1 Jin.

Overall, I really love this era. The photoshoots and albums are so gorgeous. I've blogged about the normal version here and the limited version here. I'm also open to trading my duplicate Mijoo special letter and Kei photocard for any member I'm missing, or crosstrading with other Infinite or Lovelyz photocards. And now to ponder if I should stop here or collect all 9 versions of the normal album...

Ordering My Golden Child Wish Albums

For Golden Child's latest album release, Wish, I ordered from both Choice Music LA and from Ktown4u. This is my first time ordering from Choice, so I wanted to blog about my experience. I also have an unboxing review post for Wish here!

This album comes in 2 versions. I pre-ordered 3 copies (2 Version A and 1 Version B) from Choice Music LA for just under $60 USD shipped and 2 copies (1 of each version) along with 2 folded posters from Ktown4u for just under $43 USD shipped.

This is my first time ordering from Choice Music, but they count on the charts and have positive feedback so I wanted to give them a shot. As they're based in LA, they receive albums a few days after the release, then ship them. I selected the cheapest shipping option, USPS Media Mail. The release date listed on the item page was October 25, but on November 1 I still hadn't received a shipment notification while my American friends who had pre-ordered after me had already received tracking information the previous day. I called Choice Music using the main number found on Google, but it would ring endlessly without a voicemail message. Eventually I found this number (213-905-9994) and tried throughout the day, even leaving a voicemail, and finally in the late afternoon I called again and got through. She explained that multiple comebacks is slowing down shipments, but that she'll push my order and I should receive my tracking information by tomorrow. I then asked why orders weren't being fulfilled in chronological order, and she said it depends on if other items were included in their order or not (one of my friends had another item in her order, my other friend didn't, so that didn't make sense). I received my shipping confirmation and tracking information about an hour later. This unnecessary delay has caused a lot of frustration; before ordering from Choice Music again, I'll consider if other comebacks are being released around the same time (when is there a time where other comebacks don't exist though).

My friends received their Choice packages on November 3 while I finally received mine on November 8. The cardboard box is very sturdy and the edges were secured well with packaging tape. Choice Music really branded their packaging well too with the store's sticker.

My albums were securely wrapped in 4 layers of bubblewrap. A layer of thick bubblewrap filled the top so that the albums wouldn't shift while in transit. Included was also a Choice sticker.

Each album comes with 1 of 20 photocards and 1 of 10 book in books. In my first copy of Version A, I pulled Jangjun's white photocard in between pages 66 and 67.

In my second copy of Version A, I pulled Bomin's orange photocard in between pages 76 and 77.

I pulled Y's white photocard in between pages 80 and 81 of Version B.

The book in book is placed in the very last page. I pulled Daeyeol's, Y's, and Jibeom's book in books from these 3 albums (I can't believe I actually forgot which member I pulled from which book, since I'm so meticulous and usually keep track of this).

Ktown4u shipped my package on October 25 and it arrived on November 5 in a cardboard box. My 2 albums and 2 folded posters came bundled securely in 3 layers of bubblewrap. The albums came in perfect condition.

I pulled Y's white photocard, slipped in between pages 76 and 77 of Version A.

I pulled Jibeom's orange photocard, slipped in between pages 60 and 61 of Version B.

For the book in books, I pulled Seungmin's in Version A and Joochan's in Version B.

Here are my pulls: Daeyeol, Y, Seungmin, Jibeom, and Joochan for the book in books, and Y white (x2), Jangjun, Jibeom, and Bomin for the photocards. I'm happy that I pulled a variety of members and managed to only get one duplicate.

In all honestly, I probably won't order from Choice Music LA for a long time; they're still fairly new in the online space and need to get their operation in order. I do have to say that Choice does package their items really well, much better than Ktown4u and YesAsia. However I'll continue ordering from Ktown4u since their packages usually arrive before 14 days in great condition and with complimentary posters.