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polaroidic
since B.A.P came back i started buying albums again. the last album i got from them was ROSE back in 2017 - i didn't buy BLUE because i really didn't like honeymoon at the time (i've since warmed up to it, as much as I don't want to admit), and i didn't buy EGO because admittedly i didn't recover from how much honeymoon disappointed me. i was (and kinda still am) a harsh/critical fan who would refuse to pay either money or attention to a release/album/single/music video/material that wasn't to my liking, so i'm glad i ended up liking Curtain Call as much as i did because i really wanted to support them this time.
back when they were under ts, i was still a broke middle/high schooler, so i only bought the albums that were stocked at retailers. for most of B.A.P's korean discography this didn't matter that much as they weren't the type to release a gazillion versions of each album, but for their japanese discography it meant that I would have to settle for the version that the retailer stocked instead of the version that contained the content i wanted. however!!!!!! it's 2024 and i'm (kinda) a working adult so i preordered most of my curtain call haul from kr sites… mostly because i wanted to get on the photocard train. i also promised myself that i would buy at least one of each version (however many versions there are), or at least 5 copies (one for each member) so in total i ended up with 6 copies, chronologically:
- 3 copies from dearmymuse: best, absolute, perfect versions
- 1 copy from interasia: random, turned out to be best version
- 1 copy, preordered through a retailer: PLVE version
- 1 copy from ktown4u, bought through retailer: perfect version
this is my first time pre-ordering albums from the kr websites, so i'd like to write about my experience as someone who's buying albums for the first time in 7 years!
- Best, Absolute & Perfect versions
STORE: dearmymuse, preorder
POB: baby on my mind - dh, yj, ju
RATINGS: POBs 4/5, shipping 2/5
- ok when i was deciding which store to pre-order from, i was in a bit of a panic - all the other stores had some kind of fancall/fanmeet lottery thing going on and I was desperately avoiding that, and dearmymuse happened to be the one that was the most obvious to my non-korean reading eyes to not have the fancall/fanmeet lottery. the other reason was that i had a chance of getting a signed polaroid if I pre-ordered from here. as a polaroid lover, it would be pretty cute to have regardless of member. the previews for the pocas ended up very cute as well!!! the cards had copies of the members' handwriting on the opposite side and i'm a freak for yj's handwriting so it seemed like a perfect match.
- …until it wasn't. 08/08 came and DMM hadn't sent me a shipping notification. then i read that they might ship 10 days after release date. so i waited 10 days. a day or so after the wait, i sent an email to DMM. by this time, my interasia and PLVE orders have arrived at my doorstep. DMM finally shipped off my order 21 days after the release date.
- now!!!!! there was something else that made me mad aside from the late shipping. the POBs were nice and cute, and i didn't get a polaroid which was eh, fine, only 4 were sent out so whatever, but i didn't get ANY of the limited holographic unit pocas, even though i preordered three albums on day 1. absolute insanity in my opinion? then it clicked: i saw my order status was "before shipment" right up until after 10 days - they didn't even prepare my albums right up until after 3000 of the limited unit pocas were already given away!!! dawg then what did I preorder for?? i didn't even get a single yongguk poca TT___TT the POBs were cute and my album pretty much arrived intact but i really wanted those unit pocas…
- Best version (randomised)
STORE: interasia, preorder POB: takoyaki - yj RATINGS: POBs 3/5, shipping 3/5
- this one shipped the fastest and arrived first. i preordered this on day 1 and still didn't get a unit poca… there must be some kind of prioritisation for domestic shipping because all of the krn fans I saw got unit pocas. i was surprised that i got the yj POB - my luck has always been either jongup or daehyun. again, no qualms about the album condition or POBs (in fact, i'm pleasantly surprised by my luck) but the unit pocas…
- PLVE ver
STORE:PLVE, preorder through retailer
POB: ju
RATINGS:POB 2/5, shipping: 5/5
- i didn't read the description properly and thought this was the size of a normal CD. imagine my surprise when i picked it up and it's a small, thin package the size of a poca. my copy was one of the misprint copies with JANGDAEHYUN instead of JUNGDAEHYUN. while PLVE did have a thing where they re-sent the corrected ones to those who filed a complaint, i decided not to do that because it would be a hassle to the retailer I bought it from. i didn't get the lenticular poca I wanted but hey, i don't really care much for this copy. jongup was gorgeous though
- Perfect version
STORE:Ktown4u, bought from retailer
POB: selfie (yj)
RATINGS: POB 4/5, shipping: 5/5
- amazingly this was the only copy that i got that DID have a unit poca. and it's bangdae. sigh. it's amazing how the only copy in my possession to have a unit poca is the one i didn’t preorder. sigh. anyway, the reason i got this copy was because it has a a yj POB (the retailer posted it). and some people in a discord server enabled me.
- re: unit poca, I'm guessing that k4u prepares shipments according to a order number since this copy has a unit poca… but their POBs are on the boring side (this one is literally just a selfie). anyway.
- buy n copies from one store (where n = number of members, instead of n = number of versions). the album gods were graceful enough to not give me any duplicates but the only guarantee of no duplicates were if you bought 4 copies this time round.
- for limited edition freebies (? The things that come with your album…) like the unit poca, buy from ktown4u or pre-order from the local retailer.
- for pretty and/or interesting POBs, buy from dearmymuse.
- brush up on korean maybe idk
truthfully t was tempted to buy an extra, not one, but twelve copies - one of the reasons why i praise dearmymuse despite their ass-quality delivery.
big long picture
bangjae unit poca… and hand-drawn keychains.
absolutely insane.
every 1 copy, you get a different unit poca.
every 4 copies, you get a hand-drawn keychain.
every 12 copies, you get [something]
absolutely insane.
i went crazy looking at youngjae's fucked up yellow square. is it a slice of cheese? is it spongebob? does he like squares? fuck i needed it so bad. the others weren't too bad either - lottery rates be damned.
but i didn't end up buying because the deadline was too soon.
when they come back and do another one of these shenanigans i'll definitely participate like the crazy person i am. dearmymuse i'm in your walls
i'm still waiting for my concert merch to arrive…
