Though lightstick is often well invested since it’s part of a group’s spirit, there are
still times where the management company would just throw a random idea and bring to the
table some really confusing designs. While calling these lightsticks ugly or failures
of creation might be a bit too extreme since the aesthetics of each person is different,
as the group and fans themselves have whined multiple times about their lightstick, such
design is obviously nowhere near to the general aesthetic standard of people.
SechsKies After roughly 20 years working in the industry,
SechsKies finally had for themselves a lightstick in 2017. However, in contrast to the expectation
of fans, the design was oddly plain. Though the lightstick came in two different versions
instead of one as usual, it could have been better off had SechsKies put all effort in
creating one best version of the lightstick. As you can also see, while there are obviously
no questionable or ugly factors in the design, it is the fact that everything is just so
plain and normal that has made the lightstick appear on the list. While most groups usually
bring the most brilliant, outstanding lightstick to the table, that of SechsKies looks as if
it was designed by an amateur designer whose pool of ideas was as dry as a desert.
When buying SechsKies' lightstick, fans have to assemble it themselves instead of having
a complete, inseparable one like other groups’. Specifically, the set will include three parts:
a black stick—which is basically a flashlight, the first version—aka a small silicon yellow
balloon with SechsKies' logo op top, and the second version—which is the upgraded, plastic
design of the yellow balloon with a transparent bigger balloon outside. In fact, it’s not
so correct to compare the lightstick to a balloon because it actually looks more like
the Korean pita bread without sesame seeds on top. For this high similarity and the fact
that SechsKies didn’t call their lightstick by any special name, DSFs have long referred
to it by “Gong Gal Bong”— the Pita Bread Lightstick.
Despite the lame design, Gong Gal Bong has a quite interesting history. According to
the groups, since they used to perform in the era where there was no such a concept
as a lightstick and thus, their fans would use yellow balloons to stir up the atmosphere,
they released the balloon version of the lightstick as a way to appreciate DSFs and keep that
moment alive forever.
BTOB’s Lightstick version 1 In total contrast to SechsKies, BTOB seemed
to have gone a bit out of this world with their lightstick design. Instead of the common
formula where a stick plus a lightable ball will be equal to a lightsick, the group turned
their lightstick into a toy version of a trumpet. However, because of the oversimplification
of the design, BTOB’s lightstick looked like nothing but a cheesy blue flared-mouth
vase. If you leave the lightstick in the kitchen, maybe your mom will indeed arrange some flowers
in it
Another element that made BTOB’s lightstick appear on the list is its functionality. Since
an ordinary lightstick will have an actual stick that can be held and whisked around
in concert, with this trumpet-shape design, where should you hold it? At the mouthpiece
or at the simplified main slide? Either way, you will still look awkward when vibing with
the song and whisking it in the air.
B1A4 Another attempt to stand out but end up looking
cheesy and weird was the lightstick of B1A4.
Despite being a popular group of gen2, not until three years ago did B1A4 have for themselves
an official lightstick—Bbyeongie [Bi-ong-gi]. While some fans did take pride in this one-of-a-kind
design, most people believed that it was too boring, cheap and useless in representing
the unique color of B1A4.
Instead of the regular round ball, the group replaced it with the green, zombie head. While
that could have gone well with some spooky and scary details, the group opted for the
heart-shaped cute red eyes with a bow below the head. However, there is one thing that
you can’t never do with other lightsticks but absolutely can with Bbyeongie: either
bringing it along with you when doing trick-or-treats or using it as a Halloween decoration for
your house. For example, besides placing just pumpkins in the yard, you can also “plant”
some Bbyeongie into the ground like this.
SISTAR Despite being one of the top girl groups of
gen 2 and even owning the title “Summer Queen,” SISTAR have never had a proper lightstick
until the day they split ways.
Instead of releasing a well-designed lightstick, SISTAR introduced a piece of plastic with
a big pink S, a random yellow star that a toddler can also draw, and the name of SISTAR’s
fandom: STAR1.
While other groups treat their lightstick like a unique symbol that can well represent
themselves and their creativity, that of SISTAR was obviously plain and boring. Where is the
signature summer vibe of the girls? Where are the fresh, confident and sexy feelings
that are always there in SISTAR's songs? Obviously, none of those were portrayed in the lightstick
and thus, fans have a solid reason to be triggered. However, if you want to prove yourself an
authentic STAR1 and look fabulous when fanning yourself waiting for SISTAR at the airports,
you could totally buy this lightstick and “kill two birds with one stone.”
Wonder Girls
While most of the mentioned groups would have their lightstick fall somewhere on the plain
and simple end of the spectrum, that of Wonder Girls comes straight onto the eye-confusing
extreme. However, that sophisticated detail seemingly didn’t come from the efforts of
being unique or anything; rather, it’s like a last-minute attempt to turn a poor amateur
idea into something more complicated. By that, it means the idea of putting together the
first initial letters of Wonder Girls was obviously too lame and boring, so the designer
tried to cover it by making the surface resemble the pavilion part of the diamond.
While it’s true that the lightstick looked not that disastrous, when the light is on,
it literally turns into a mess where no one could identify what is what
Since the LED system installed inside the lightstick was of poor quality,
except for the areas where the lights are located, all other parts of the letters were
completely left in darkness. This detail not only makes the lightstick ten times less pretty
but also causes irritation for the eyes. Just imagine looking at a beautiful picture but
with tons of black ink spots all over the place, quite annoying, right?
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– NCT’s Meumwonbong
While there are quite some things to judge the lightstick of NCT, let’s just sum it
up with the comment of a NCTzen. According to this person, in contests where lightsticks
are ranked based on their aesthetics, while fans of most groups would come to see how
high their lightstick could climb, NCTzens would just come to see how low the rank of
their lightstick is.
”Is it that bad?”—some of you may ask. With NCT and the fans themselves, the answer
is: Yes. Instead of giving the group something as special and unique as the concept Neo Culture
Technology, the lightstick was just a cube with the plastic letters of “NCT” attached
on four facets. The design is so plain and lame that even the members themselves were
triggered when holding it for the very first time.
From the mild level reaction like the confusion of Jaemin and the shock of Jeno, it quickly
elevated into the detestation of Taeyong and lowkey judging of Mark, Jeahyung, and Lucas.
Even funnier, fans believed that such a design will be more suitable as a new version of
Thor’s hammer rather than a lightstick of a KPOP group.
However, it’s worth noting that the meaning behind this chunky design is quite profound.
According to SM Entertainment, since the name of NCT’s fandom is NCTzens, the company
introduced the lightstick in the shape of a building so that when fans together raise
Meumwonbong in the concert, a modern city will be created. For short, SM Entertainment
wanted to build a happy city for the NCTzens to live. Still, such a moving story couldn’t
save the fact that many people, including NCT and the fans themselves, find Meumwonbong
a huge disappointment.
Red Velvet’s Kimmanbong
Talking about Red Velvet, netizens often think about either their mysterious or youthful
image of the girls. Sadly, their lightstick, Kimmanbong, illustrated none of these two
signature aspects. For some reason, both the design and the name were inspired by two famous
dishes of South Korea, kimchi and mandu.
Since SM Entertainment took literally ages to release the lightstick for Red Velvet,
fans have had really high hopes for it. Of course, their dream about a maleficent lightstick
was shattered into pieces since Kimmanbong was indeed a transparent dumpling whose filling
is a julienne of kimchi.
When the official lightstick was first seen, not only domestic but international fans were
also shook to the root. One fan took her disappointment to Twitter and implied that she could hardly
brag about the lightstick to anyone because the design was just odd and awkward.
Another one also emphasizes that even though she was a huge Redveluv, there would be no way that
she could get into the Kimmanbong. Fans also threw hands at SM for never dedicating
efforts into making a proper lightstick for their idols, including SNSD, EXO and NCT.
Golden Child’s Runbong
However, if there was a contest of the weirdest lightstick of KPOP and Kimmanbong was put
beside the Runbong of Golden Child, it would certainly raise the white flag.
Without the need to describe, you can obviously see that the Runbong is indeed a bowling pin.
The only thing that separates this from the actual pin is that the group’s name “Golden
Child” is printed on the surface and it can be lit up with different colors. Besides
the design problem that once gave fans a panic attack, people were also disappointed at the
brightness of the color. Since the shell of Runbong was opaque and the light bulb itself
isn’t bright enough, there are very high chances that some time in future’s concert
of Golden Child, the Internet would mistake Goldenesses for giving their idol a black
ocean. Though that has never happened with Golden Child but their fans were once accused
of participating in a black ocean for other groups just because their lightstick’s brightness
was extremely weak.
On the date the lightstick was released, fans were blown away by its questionable design.
On Pannatic, there was even a whole pose dedicated to dissing the lightstick and as you can expect,
the comment section was full of people sharing the same opinion.
Even until today, some Goldenesses still seem to haven’t escaped the “acceptance stage”
to send some love to Runbong.
Despite the odd design, the meaning behind this lightstick’s name is quite interesting.
According to the group, since the first character in Korean of Golden Child, “골” (gul)
is also “goal” in English, they came up with the idea of turning their lightstick
into a bowling pin—aka the goal that every one must hit when playing bowling. However,
since fans need to hold the lightstick upside down when cheering for the group, the word
“골” (gul) becomes “룬” (run) and thus, “Runbong” was born.
Sonamoo The last lightstick that is honored to have
its name on the list is that of Sonamoo. Instead of taking the inspiration from something profound
and meaningful like Runbong, the lightstick of Sonamoo can’t be any simpler since it’s
literally the visual representation of the group’s name. Simply put, since Sonamoo
means “Pine Tree'' in English, the group released a lightable piece of plastic in the
shape of a pine tree. Compared to the lightstick of SISTAR whose design was at least cut in
the shape of the letter S, that of Sonamoo was obviously a triangular plastic piece.
However, it was not that useless since you can actually use it as a bookmark and even
use the light to read books in the dark. By that, you can not only save the electricity
bills but also can avoid the situations where your mom will catch you reading some comic
books through the night. A multi-functional plastic piece that is quite worth the 15,000
KRW price, right?
Despite such brilliant functions, when Sonamoo first released the lightstick, aka the lightable
bookmark, fans not only whined about the cheap design but also the choice of pearl sapphire
green. Since the color was first picked by SHINee, Shawols started to throw hands at
both the girls and TS Entertainment for plagiarism.
Of all these questionably unique lightsticks, which one do you think is the most memeable?
Comment down below to share your thoughts with us.