Friday, December 2, 2011

Voyeurism into the Kpop fandom or The Soap Opera known as the Kpop Fandom Part 1

{I have decided to split this up into parts as it covers several years and experiences. Read on dear reader, read on.}
So gentle reader I shall endeavor to tell you what I know/have experienced/observed in the the entity known as the Kpop Fandom. First I'll talk about the different names for the fandoms and move on to some personal experience.

Kpop is that wonderful sound given to us from Korea that makes us laugh, cry, dance, scream, shout and enjoy. The music can range from individuals, individuals solo(ing) from groups and groups....large groups.

First thing that you should know that almost all the fandoms have names. Here are some examples (link will be provided to credit the site I found them and the explanation behind the names)
2NE1 - Blackjacks*
Big Bang - VIPs*
SNSD (So Nyeo Shi Dae) Aka Girl's Generation - S♥NE or SONE **
Rain - Clouds*
Se7en - Lucky Seven*
SS501 - Triple S**
Wonder Girls - Wonderfuls
Super Junior - ELFs (Everlasting Friends)**
DBSK/TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki) - Cassiopeia aka Cassies


There are a ton more...one for EVERY group, but you can find them HERE and how they got their name. Also an FYI every group has a dedicated COLOR as well. Those are listed there as well.
(* denotes what fandom I am a part of and ** denotes I like some of their music, but am not a part of their fandom.)

First let me just stress that this is my own experiences I've had Kpop fandom and is only my experiences on the good, the bad, the ugly, the scary, the torch carrying, the loving, the adorable, the helpful and more of the Kpop fandom and their groups. Keep that in mind as I write this. I don't want to end up on the side of a milk carton. Just kidding... no seriously I don't want to. Some of the fans be CRAY CRAY to the CRAZY, but I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Let's start at the very beginning about oh.... 3 years ago when I really got into the Kpop scene. I blame Full House. Once I saw how adorable Bi Rain was I thought "Wow and he sings and dances? Sign me up!" I don't quite remember how I found a support group for my new obsession, but I did and soon became a U.S. Cloud. ( I believe it was through soompi, but after a bad Joogbo experience I have never been back so who knows.) The thing is when you like someting that was out of the box back then like Kpop, really there was no one to talk to. I loved my Cloud family as we would set up chat parties and fangirl over Bi. We'd vote so he would make the top 100 and all squee as he made a guest appearance on the Colbert Report.

I never really had a bad experience with Clouds. I still talk to several today. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Bi like I used to be, but I'm not an anti either. I love his work when he was with JYP, but when he branched out, I don't know it just felt like he lost something. But that's just me. Hey I own Ninja Assassin and Full House, I'm still a Cloud more or less.

The only bad experience I had (that should have been my FIRST clue of how vicious some fans could get) was when there was a chat going on. The Wonder Girls had just released "Tell Me". I had no idea who that was, what song that was, or anything so when someone said to watch it in the chat, well I did. I like it. It was ok. But it was a little bubblegum pop for my taste, but I never hated it or anything.
This the way the convo went (yes it scarred me that bad I remember it almost 2 or 3 years later)
HER: Have you seen the Wonder Girls new song Tell Me? OMG it's great.
{lots of spatter in between some saying yes other no}
HER: OMG here's the link...hfdsahfdaljhfa Go watch it!
Me and others: ok
Others: Wow it's really good! I like it's so catchy. (See they knew better.)
Me: It was good.
Her: I almost have the whole dance memorized.
Others: yeah me too! blah blah blah
Me: The dance looks fun... great cardio workout lol
{I'm sure somewhere after my comment horns sprung from fans heads and my name was added to the "she who must be torched" list.}
Her: What?! ARE YOU DUMB?! What are you trying to say!! IT'S THE WONDER GIRLS!!!
Me: The dance just looks like a good work out is all. {All cyber eyes on me. I had broken crazy fan girl rule 1)
Her: Whatever....
{Ignored until I logged out feeling sad and confused all at once.}

But SHAME on you for ever having your own opinion and not being a blind follower.

This brings us to Crazy Fangirl RULE 1 : NEVER DISAGREE or Have an opinion that is different than theirs.

The thing about the Kpop fandom is once you've been brought into that excitment, you just want to find out more and more and more. And that gentle readers is where I'll leave off for now... I will post more tomorrow...It's gonna be a post series. Don't put me on a milk carton!!

1 comments:

Bitten Usagi said...

And with that I think I'll just listen to the music and stay off the chats and forums. XD

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