The Avengers of Kpop: A Story of LOONA

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Video
Title: The Avengers of Kpop: A Story of LOONA
Creator: Rice Squad (formerly the Asian Theory)
Date(s): October 4, 2019
Medium: Online
Length: 21:55
Genre: Video essay, documentary
Fandom: LOONA
External Links: Youtube Link
The thumbnail for the YouTube video; the members of LOONA have been edited into a Marvel-style poster
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The Avengers of Kpop: A Story of LOONA is a 2019 fan-made documentary on the Korean girl group LOONA created by Rice Squad (formerly the Asian Theory).

It covers every aspect of the group, from the members, music, dance choreography, fandom culture, the LOONAVERSE storyline and more. Parts relating to the LOONAVERSE was written in collaboration with well-known Orbit Daebak Jjang.

It was considered the ultimate primer of the group, often recommended to new fans and praised for it's high level of editing and construction. However, as of 2024, it is massively outdated, due to the events occurring after it's release, such as the lack of new releases (called loonathedrought), and the eventual boycotts leading to LOONA leaving Blockberry Creative and splitting into the groups Loosemble and ARTMS.

So I probably spent 100+ hours on planning, writing, recording, and editing this video. I just wanted to do my part in spreading the good word of LOONA. If you enjoyed it, I hope you can give it a share so the whole world can love LOONA!

It is named after the Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Excerpts

Maybe you've heard the name, or maybe for the thousandth time you saw a tweet or YouTube comment that said the words "STAN LOONA". Or maybe if you're lucky enough, you saw them at KCON LA, and got a... taste of them in person. LOONA. The group... EVERYONE seems to be talking about.

On KCON LA, (or as fans dubbed it 'LOONACON'):

If you're somewhat familiar with the K-Pop scene, LOONA is a name that's commonly thrown around as one of the "up-and-coming" K-Pop groups. A month ago, LOONA made headlines by making the first ever U.S. appearance at KCON LA. And immediately, the internet was in a frenzy. The majority of the internet buzz surrounding KCON was centered on LOONA. For every activity, for every panel, LOONA was surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of fans. Everytime they stepped on the stage, the cheers deafen and at any given moment the crowd would chant "LOONA! LOONA! LOONA!"

On the fandom:

LOONA at this point is less like a K-Pop group and more like a religion. A cult with their own group of zealots(?). Now, I've seen many fandoms but nothing quite like LOONA. Inside, you feel like a part of something special. A movement, bigger than yourself. A small cog of a machine of grand design. Now, I've never seen a community so welcoming and so united, yet so bat-crazy. Have you, ever in your life seen a group of fans so passionate about a K-Pop group? Like missionaries, these ORBITs will knock on your door, or I guess Twitter. Whether you want it or not, and they will preach till THEIR DYING BREATH. The *holy words of 'STAN LOONA'*.

On LOONA memes:

Now, whether you like LOONA or not, whether you think that they're skilled, talented or even interesting. There's one thing that's undeniable. That they have the biggest and healthiest meme economy, in K-Pop, BAR NONE. The 'stan twitter' community at this point is a well oiled machine. Pumping out jokes, cranking(?) out memes and getting their wigs snatched.

On the LOONAVERSE:

This next topic might be a little bit strange for the casual K-Pop fans. But, also the thing that makes them truly unique. Remember how I said earlier that every song and every music video LOONA(?), have a specific purpose? And vision? Well, not only is LOONA a girl group, but they've all protagonists, in a sci-fi universe known as.. the LOONAVERSE. The LOONAVERSE is told primarily through music videos. With each music video, we follow a central plot, or story that is advanced through each sequential music videos. Think like a TV series with multiple seasons and episodes. Or movies of the Marvel Universe. Pretty much the same think, just think of LOONA as like the Avengers of K-Pop.

Reception

(Caskerbox)

As a long time Orbit, i can really tell the sheer amount of thoughts, research, and meticulous planning you put into making this video... Especially the LOONAverse portions, you did a great job simplifying the key points of an incredibly complex story!

It is the best LOONA documentary I've ever watched. Thank you so much :)[1]

(Daebak Jjang)

Thank you for this amazing documentary/introduction to Loona! You've nailed everything that makes them so unique and special. I can tell how much work, time and research you've invested into this. When you reached out to me for a collaboration about a Loona video I was excited. I've seen a couple of your videos prior and I admired how much work you put into them. Sufficed to say my expectations were Hi High for this. And just to let you know, you've far exceeded them! Job very well done! I'm really happy to have people as passionate as you in the fandom!

To those watching who haven't given Loona a chance for whatever reason: I humbly ask that you put aside any of your preconceived notion about the group/kpop and take a leap of faith into the Loonaverse. I guarantee you will find something you like about the group; be it the girls, the songs, the videos, the story, the fan interaction, there's something for everyone. They're easily one of the most accessible group for international fans. 90% of their content are captioned in english by the company themselves! Don't let any preconceptions get in the way of enjoying the journey that is the Loonaverse. And believe me it's a wild but worthwhile journey!

Happy #3YearsWithHeejin btw![2]

Merchandise

The documentary was released alongside a fan-made t-shirt on RedBubble called "Dark Side of the LOONA", likely inspired by the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. Rice Squad can be seen wearing the shirt in the video.[3]

Reactors

The video has been the subject of many reaction videos. For example:

2022

2021

2020

References

  1. ^ Youtube Comment, by @caskerbox, posted in 2019
  2. ^ Youtube Comment by @DaebakJjang, posted in 2019
  3. ^ See this page on RedBubble
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