Is there anything you wish you knew before getting into Kpop? (1 Viewer)

Wingfrost · 12 October 2021

^ As the title says

I can’t really think of anything major for me personally, although a heads up on how expensive the merch is would have been nice. I could have saved years in advance Oh but now that I think about it I wish I knew that it’s fine to stan more than one group… for some reason when I first got into Kpop I had this idea that you could only officially stan one group. No idea why I thought that.

Jimimis · 12 October 2021

Not to stan more groups? There’s a widespread prejudice around armys who are only armys, and so I felt pressured to be a multi. Multis act like they’re oppressed but single group stans are just as bullied . I’m much happier only being army

raymondchouku · 12 October 2021

The stigma of being a multi... lol

But I would say the fact that being a fan of k-pop would become more of a sub-culture given that [in the west] the general public views k-pop fans/stans negatively. And that gatekeeping would devolve into ridiculousness.. Example of gatekeeping: "You're not a real fan if you haven't stayed up til 2 AM to see [enter group here] comeback right when it aired. You waited until 6 AM when you woke up? *gives a side eye* You're such an amateur." for me 18:00 in Korea is 2:00 for me so that's why I used that analogy...

I'd probably also like to know about how group work would be stalled because of military service. It also would have been nice to know that my then bias in Big Bang would be going to prison in the future... but that's not a general k-pop thing, so...

Panda · 12 October 2021

1. That kpop stans can be super funny.
2. That messing with the wrong stans creates issues that can go beyond the internet.

doll · 12 October 2021

that choerry wold take over my life

Chaeee · 12 October 2021

The pronunciations of some groups and idols…like I called Jimin Ji-meen for the first 6 months I stanned and Seonghwa See-ong-hwa even when he was my bias

I could go on…

Bopper · 12 October 2021

Nothing really, except to buy bigger bookcases in advance. To think my EXO collection alone used to fit on a little bookcase with three shelves.

As for the fans, I don’t think I follow many kpop fans on twitter (I think it’s only my old friends from AKP) and only really news related stuff, so stay away from that part of twitter.

cocomelon · 12 October 2021

I wish i knew the level of toxicity i was going to see in this community.

athenaaa · 12 October 2021

I did not know the lengths some “fans” go *cough cough* saesangs. That’s terrifying for those poor idols

Also living out in the middle of absolute nowhere, shipping for albums is hella expensive. Like boooo make it cheaper

eclipsoul · 12 October 2021

the way the idol culture works in general. visual being a position, paying hundred dollars for a piece of paper or people publicly apologising for dating

the fandom behaviour caught me a bit off guard too especially on things like twitter, it's so weird when you apply it to non-kpop artists like imagine if i made a thread about members of queen as different types of dogs or said that i don't listen to whitney houston anymore because her fans are toxic (in fact i don't think they are i just chose her randomly because i was listening to her while typing this post)

Ahsoka · 12 October 2021

I wish I knew that there was a lot of talented self producing groups, when getting into Big Bang I was fed the narrative that it was only them and because of it it stopped me from getting into other groups as much.

Tickita · 13 October 2021

That it wasn't gonna be just a phase. For me.

Michael · 13 October 2021

I wish I knew that kpop was for me... just a stepping stone to jpop.

Wingfrost · 13 October 2021

Yachii said:
I wish I knew that kpop was for me... just a stepping stone to jpop.

I’m glad that it led you to a genre you really love.

Bopper · 13 October 2021

eclipsoul said:
the way the idol culture works in general. visual being a position, paying hundred dollars for a piece of paper or people publicly apologising for dating the fandom behaviour caught me a bit off guard too especially on things like twitter, it's so weird when you apply it to non-kpop artists like imagine if i made a thread about members of queen as different types of dogs or said that i don't listen to whitney houston anymore because her fans are toxic (in fact i don't think they are i just chose her randomly because i was listening to her while typing this post)

The weird thing is, a lot of younger female fans have come into F1 from Drive to Survive on Netflix. I mean they’re harmless, but they’re already become possessive, and do a lot of the things like selca days and using the kpop idol challenges for drivers. It’s gotten very weird for me as an older female fan of both. They even freaked out when one now very popular driver got a girlfriend.