what is the litmus test of being /into/ a particular group or idol? bc i keep trying to get into more and somehow i stop early before i feel like i truly /know/ them. esp 2nd gen. i have this huge fear of the "you had to be there" factor. i consider myself a baby shawol but i don't keep up w/them nearly as much as w/nct, even though i feel like i should? idk.
i mean that's different for everyone. for me personally, it goes a bit deeper than knowing the member's names and their government assigned animals. for me, i feel like i'm into a group when i know tidbits about the members outside of their government assigned persona (with what little we see on camera), fandom inside jokes, and even being there for some of them when they happen. like for exo for example, i was there for the pepper shot joke on live, the "big nose" moment on knowing bros, and i also know where kkaebsong came from bc i went back and watched exo showtime. i just noticed all these moments involve baekhyun 😅
the good thing is there is a ton of content to look back on, so you can catch up and don't have to suffer through the "you had to be there" issue as much. nowadays people make those "unhelpful guides" that're actually quite helpful in terms of explaining bits about the members and getting into some of the fandom inside jokes. you're actually leaps and bounds ahead of a lotta fans these days, who actively refuse to look back and see the history, and end up saying a lotta stupid shit on the tl bc they couldn't be bothered look at what came before.
I assume you meant to write something before your lengthy postscript? If so, it seems to have been lost in transit, unfortunately. Regardless, I have no use for flowers, magic spells, or anything to do with...that man’s law firm.
Minseok has every right to believe the baby shark song will haunt him for the rest of his life.
I mean, he's living in a fandom that's still holding very tightly onto its chogiwa and shawty Imma party till the sun down memes, and don't even get me started with all the ohorat, yehet and kkaebsong... I mean, I'm also still waiting for someone to ask me ""how are you?" just to reply "Sehun"...