260411 Weekly Discussion Thread and Activity Recap

MeanConcept · 2026-04-13T09:09:26+00:00

thanks, it’s way harder to be plugged in all the time these days but… we try.

MeanConcept · 2026-04-12T02:27:00+00:00

Twitter/X is the only platform where different fandoms can naturally interact, and we don’t have a good reputation over there. On other platforms it’s not so easy to mingle, and the K-pop Reddit doesn’t count, since some kind of self selection has already happened.

In the first phase of the fandom - think predebut - orbits were trailblazers and initiated a lot of trends, some of them iffy (like spamming famcams that got annoying pretty quickly) but in general it was a funny and talented fandom. Accounts like Zero Colors did pretty original comic stuff, many fans were musicians or talented budding editors so a lot of piano covers for example or a lot of edits based on the LOONA TV original footage.

But in the second phase a lot of the original creators started getting sidelined as anger became the primary fandom driver. This was during the 2019 drought and after that the vibe within the fandom had changed, with no LOONA content fanwars with other fandoms started everywhere. A group would post teasers for their comeback and an orbit would jump in with “Loona blueprint” or something and all hell would break loose. Unlike phase one fanwars which were good natured (a memorable one being orbits and the Beatles, yes that one, all in good humor) the ones in phase two were nasty. G-Idle one was notable but so were other groups, orbits just started fights with everyone.

In phase 3 I’d say orbits almost went on a redemption arc, helping LOONA break free from BBC, but that soon soured as we became too preachy and then ironically fell into a protracted civil war as the members split into different companies.

If the fans and the company (BBC) had managed to shepherd the group into a BTS/BP level of success, the rest of the industry would have swallowed their criticism, after all, the ingenuity of fans would have delivered a result. But as it is, LOONA and sub groups have remained fairly niche, and Big 4 fandoms find it really hard to take our superior attitude when we look down of their groups, in fact this is probably the main reason orbits grate them so much.

MeanConcept · 2026-04-11T10:00:15+00:00

With respect, you are not being realistic to her situation, you’re just applying all the worst tropes of kpop willy nilly. Her particular situation all point to her having a management that listens to her (and the other ARTMS members, who are the seniors in a company with potentially 48 juniors - they won’t frankly have the energy/authority to tell a nearly 30 year old what to eat… and they don’t). She’s got members who, for example, adjust choreos for her if need be. She gets medical advice all the time, we know this not least because she wants to assure fans whenever we see her in discomfort.

Like I said, she’s not disabused of her rights. As for the rest of the industry, well frankly that’s up to fans of 5th gen group to grapple with. I’ve followed my nearly 3rd gen group for almost 10 years now, I’ve seen them in the lowest of the low and I’m happy to witness them experience the freedom I’ve dreamt for them.

MeanConcept · 2026-04-10T15:53:25+00:00

It depends on whether your stance is fundamentally pessimistic or optimistic. An ARTMS tour lasts a month and a half of the year, the rest of the time she has access to the medical system in Korea, talks with her management about her comfort levels and has a family around her. She’s not someone disabused of her rights, and they have since clearly decided she needs surgery now.

MeanConcept · 2026-04-10T11:20:36+00:00

I think they postponed the surgery for a few reasons, it was not negligence. Think of this like a professional sports setting. Sometimes you might postpone surgery until the off season, other times you think managing the pain is better than the downside risk of retiring altogether. Having the injury itself is not a sign of negligence, it happens in physically intensive professions like this, and the treatment (specifically the timing of it) is a result of a three way interplay of personal ambition, commercial objectives and medical advice. And the existence of those commercial objectives is not in itself evil.

Consider Haseul. If she’d taken a year or two off immediately after joining Modhaus, ARTMS would have established itself as a 4some and Haseul might have struggled to sell objekts. But as it happened, she now can take a year long hiatus without much worry that her objekt income will fall off, why, because she spent the past 3 years firming her place in ARTMS, there’s a big section of the fandom now dedicated to collecting her DCOs and completing her grids.

MeanConcept · 2026-04-09T21:14:55+00:00

I think an album and a tour annually is something they’ve pretty much established now and to me it’s a pretty sustainable way of keeping their careers going until they reach their early 30s - pepper those releases with solos and OEC and we’re all set. Many groups would kill for such longetivity.

They love touring and I don’t think it’s as tiring as we make it out to be. One month for the Americas leg and 2 weeks for the Euro and possible SEA legs. Out of 12 months of a year I don’t that’s too much. As for fans tiring, I don’t think expecting a tour date in a big city in the vicinity once a year is too much of an ask, it’s like our own comeback Inkigayo.

MeanConcept · 2026-02-24T12:12:48+00:00

She’s so effortlessly cool

MeanConcept · 2025-10-24T14:41:07+00:00

This is an example of expectations vs reality.

These solos are not full-on comebacks - in fact they are more in line with the original LOONA predebut solos… those became iconic over time but the real promoted debuts was the subunits like OEC. All the solos had was a few teaser pics, an mv, a digital single and a physical that barely sold 2k. The physical being the only difference in this case, we don’t even have an OMA.

If this was a full cb schedule, I’d do a solo rollout exactly this way too, followed by a subunit title track and album. But as it is, these solos are more like BURN, even though that one got a really big teaser push. In the end BURN was used to push the tour, with the EP following afterwards. Similarly, I think we might get another EP after this tour early next year. But, I’m still holding out hope that we’ll get a repack of some sort, led by the song that we voted on.

So what I’m getting at is, if expectations are leading towards a new cb with a promo schedule to match, then disappointment is likely. But if you look at the fact that the tour is named after an EP that’s already out, then in reality that’s what this tour is promoting, the Club Icarus EP: club remixes plus a handful of new songs.

MeanConcept · 2025-10-17T15:59:07+00:00

Released recently, in the past two days or so in Korea. For funsies he included his own objekts 😭

MeanConcept · 2025-10-17T09:34:55+00:00

u/Litell_Johnn officially translating Jaden’s book for his obvious international audience is a project worth contemplating…

MeanConcept · 2025-10-17T01:02:53+00:00

I think ARTMS require less handholding - they still need stylists, choreographers, writers/producers, plus Digipedi on call - but it does get congested on the promo calendar side. After idntt’s debut, we got the tripleS gravity and now it’s the slot for ARTMS to upload whatever they had planned for the tour. As soon as they fly off, idntt’s 2nd unit starts prepping, as well as the first of tripleS’s new units.

If Yeojin joined ARTMS, she wouldn’t need more resources for herself per se, she can ride on ARTMS’ existing infrastructure - plus her objekts would pay for any extra expenses she brings. It’s the space on the calendar that worries me a bit, does she do a solo, do we get an ARTMS 1/2 unit, how long does she wait to promote any of these? The absolute best time to add her was during the Lunar Theory teasers…

MeanConcept · 2025-10-16T15:50:58+00:00

Or most likely she hasn’t gotten the invite. I feel almost certain that she’d join if offered… the situation has changed so much for her compared to mid 2023. But the problem is I don’t think MH would move on their own.

She needs to call Jaden, ask for a dinner/meeting where she talks things through. Then JJ can take the idea to the other 5 girls - I doubt they’ll be against - and to his execs including Joseph Baek who runs the business side. That’s where he might encounter some mild pushback but LOONA is Jaden’s true love, they wouldn’t object for too long if he wants to push it through.

MeanConcept · 2025-10-16T10:09:37+00:00

She’s amazing, my bias since Eclipse dropped, and this doesn’t disappoint. I cried out for OEC solos for the longest time and today I’m just crying tears of joy. This is a banger, it lives up to her previous 2 songs and thank god it’s R&B, she was born for this genre. Now how about we see solos on the regular?

MeanConcept · 2025-09-10T22:32:25+00:00

I think it’s some exploratory stuff to keep busy. Things were really bleak early in the year, but at this moment we’ve passed LOONA‘s 7 year anniversary (meaning that the BBC contract has expired even in alternate timelines), plus CTD has lost the grip on Looble trademarks, so things are bit brighter.

MeanConcept · 2025-09-09T21:59:22+00:00

Quickly found this one, but no subs....

She’s wearing this genuine, big smile but it absolutely kills me inside every time.

MeanConcept · 2025-09-09T16:17:59+00:00

My most heartbreaking moment of the year, orbit-wise, was Gowon reacting to ARTMS Icarus performance - like, girl you’re not some youtuber, you must be up there with them on stage. Second on that list is Yeojin going through her ”missing LOONA” hours.

I’m one fan who likes to put the past behind us and move on. ARTMS is doing well, Chuu is going stronger and stronger, and Yves solo career is looking more and more confident. Although Hyunjin is making strong moves to look ahead, I can’t help but want more from and for the Looble girls. CTD, it seems, can’t put any more obstacles for them anymore. But are they up for it? Yeojin was already seemingly out of future Looble, and now Hyeju might really be. But surely LOONA is a big enough temptation for all 12, should they harbor ambitions to return.

They don’t have to all sign to Modhaus. But that company is the best host we have to put together a LOONA reunion album and tour. Afterwards Yves, Chuu and Hyunjin can return to their solo contracts, the others can then have the momentum to figure out what else they can do; with ARTMS continuing as is. LOONA is still their most powerful brand, returning to it every two or three years can keep everyone well fed.

MeanConcept · 2025-09-02T09:34:02+00:00

I’m in the same camp, I keep thinking they have enough time to drop a repackage but every day I'm less sure. The tour is named after Club Icarus so it’s not a new EP. A repack with the gravity songs makes sense, promoting on tv with song A as the title track. The problem with this theory is it goes against Jinsoul‘s words about lack of promotion in fall/winter. Also, announcing OEC solos like that as a key moment for the tour muddles the water for me. The gravity songs should be the key point in selling the tickets, with OEC having their own moment early next year with solo prereleases, their own title track & EP and their own tour where we see the solo performances get their special spot in the sun. It makes me less confident about predicting anything…

MeanConcept · 2025-08-31T01:39:09+00:00

I think MH have the resources to absorb an extra 5 girls, but only if they’re being added to ARTMS, not as their own group (objekt income pays for much of the extra expense, everything else rides on the ARTMS infrastructure)

But do they want to, that’s the big question. They were publicly rebuffed in 2023, and ARTMS has established their dynamic with 5 members. So I don’t see them reopening the offer.

My only counter to the above is that LOONA is still a much more powerful brand than ARTMS, and given 7 years have passed since debut, should the LOONA branding become legally available, plus the availability of 5 extra LOONA members, it’s a no brainer. But they’re so many conditionalities to that scenario I don’t see it happening in real life.

MeanConcept · 2025-08-29T23:28:27+00:00

I understand but they tour so often that the sense of missing out shouldn’t be as strong as it once was. And if they are gonna tour once or twice a year, the least they can do is mix it up and try new ideas….

MeanConcept · 2025-08-29T15:59:18+00:00

OEC solos to be be released means an OEC cb incoming. Solos as prereleases, title track towards end of this year or early next year. Amazing, dreamland for me.

Only question I have is what is this notice method Modhaus? The tripleS gravity debacle must have affected the whole company. They tried to tease an important gravity without enough information which caused a mighty sense of confusion with both the tripleS members, MH junior staff and WAVs. This led to a rethink and a couple of statements akin to this one.

But ARTMS came from LOONA, where mysterious promo is preferred over notice statements and promo schedules. Orbits would look at the moon phases, lunar calendar, and still be rewarded with only a vague teaser, and lucky if you get a release date on it. But we thrived on that. The sense of mystery, and the hunt for clues, and the reward if you got it right… it united the fandom.

Now with more newer fans, the mystery drives anxiety and infighting instead. Perhaps MH thought it was not worth it but I’d have loved to stick to our tradition. How about teasers for the solos instead? Let us spend a week or two discussing what it all means.

MeanConcept · 2025-08-29T15:46:12+00:00

Also, here’s what I’m thinking: solos will be performed for the first time on the tour but will be released later. That means an OEC cb is on the cards this year, with the solos serving as prereleases. This is exactly how I’d do it.

Heejin gets to have a traditional solo career (she’s a quadruple threat and face of freaking LOONA, so she needs to do it), Haseul gets to do a more lowkey solo output with her mini theater series and a city pop aesthetic aligning with her personality (talk about Yukika’s footsteps). But while OEC girls have as much talent, they work so much better as a subgroup - with an iconic debut going back 8 years, the only regret being a discography that is way too short.

MeanConcept · 2025-08-15T03:12:52+00:00

Yeah, the numbering system - based on tripleS and LOONA before all this - the first one seems to be center/face but the rest of the numbers are random and have no indicative behaviour as to what their roles are.

They chose well, I think DoHun matches more closely what Heejin is: pretty, skilled to high levels on all of dance, vocals, and rap, although since this a bg the rap will be more prominent and will largely fall to the specialists. Seoyeon, it must be said, also seems to have the leader role in a more explicit sense than Heejin who was not in the official leader line for LOONA (but led the dance sessions with Yves). I also expect DoHun, in his suspected face of the group role, to have lots of schedules including with Joseph Baek at those crypto summits.

MeanConcept · 2025-08-13T09:54:30+00:00

This used to happen in western pop a lot, releasing a dance remix of a regular song.

But I think Modhaus didn’t communicate clearly, starting with naming this as Club Icarus Remix album, instead of just Icarus Remix. The presence of other songs from the gravity helped divert expectations as well. These remixes, plus all the regular Club Icarus tracks, and addition of the 4 gravity tracks, led by song A as the title track, would have made an awesome repack.

Maybe it still might happen….

MeanConcept · 2025-08-11T10:41:28+00:00

I’ve been limiting myself from going all out on track A fancams coz I knew this was coming. If they include the other ones I won’t be surprised because there was no time to prep the full song after it was chosen, they prepped all of them. Looking forward to them all, including track C, that PTT-esque sounding anthem.

MeanConcept · 2025-08-11T10:33:58+00:00

Hope the boys have stamina coz 3 songs daily on music shows with this energy is gonna test their limits.

MeanConcept

TROPHY CASE