“Just print it yourself!”: SEVENTEEN THE8’s take on photocard collection goes viral

The ever-witty SEVENTEEN’s THE8 take on K-pop fans’ obsession with the photocard collection is going viral on the K-pop side of Twitter. The clip has amassed over 466.3k views already in just two days.

THE8 held a birthday live stream on the Chinese platform Weibo to celebrate it with his fans. At one point, he read out loud a comment, saying,

“What if I don’t get your photocard?”

Note: All English translations added as text are via Twitter @8rchivemedia

The question prompted the SEVENTEEN member to open a deeper discussion on why fans feel negative emotions if they fail to get his photocards. After reading the comments, he went on a rant and finally said,

“Didn’t I already tell you guys before? Just print it yourself!”

He later asked fans not to share it on the internet as it may not be beneficial if the company hears about it. The K-pop industry heavily relies on manufacturing collectibles, which often prove to be one of the key money-makers.

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Fans are in love with SEVENTEEN THE8’s viral video about “dismantling the pc industry”

For CARAT, the SEVENTEEN’s fandom, it is more difficult to get their hands on their biased (favorite) member’s photocard, let alone collect them all from a particular era. With multiple randomized photocards per album of a group of 13 members, fans naturally have a hard time collecting their favorite members.

THE8, aka Xu Minghao, gave fans a reality check about the photocard collection mindset. He shared that it was “not worth it” after hearing fans’ replies on how they would feel if they could not get his photocards. He started the conversation by posing the question:

“First, you must ask yourself, why do you want this photocard? Have you asked yourself?”

He then asked fans why they wanted to get photocards and what they would experience if they did not get them.

Fans said multiple things, such as being upset, crying, and losing their minds. One fan then said that they would continue buying. He seemed to find the replies unbelievable. He gave fans a realistic outlook towards basing their lives around printed cards.

“My goodness, just because you can’t get something you like… [something] you think looks handsome… You couldn’t get something you wanted, you experience so much negative energy? Just because of one photocard, you are going to be stuck in this moment for your life?”

THE8 then continued saying that spending their time on photocards was not worth it. He quickly corrected himself from a fan’s perspective and mentioned that it was not worth it “for us,” the members. Fans loved his next step when he mentioned that he would upload more selfies so that fans could print them.

SEVENTEEN THE8’s brave outlook on the photocard-centric K-pop industry was praised by fans irrespective of their favorite idol group. Many also found it funny as he asked viewers not to make it go viral since the group’s company may hear it so that it remains beneficial to them.

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Meanwhile, SEVENTEEN’s recent comeback saw five versions of Face The Sun with four photocards of a member each. So each member had 20 photocards in just that particular album. The staggering number of all the cards in the album was 260.

These numbers were after only considering the album photocards and not the multiple pre-order benefit photocards. Needless to say, it was heavily criticized by many as they believed that the agency went overboard.

While THE8 is not the first idol to talk about fans' spending on photocards, he has surely attracted attention with his realistic attitude and manner of speaking.