barttheworld
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bart |
| Alias(es): | barttheworld, "bart, kpopper" |
| Type: | YouTuber, K-Pop Stan Twitter |
| Fandoms: | K-Pop, LOONA |
| Communities: | |
| Other: | |
| URL: | barttheworld on Twitter |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Bart was an K-Pop youtuber. He was considered one of the most well-known fans (or "superorbits") for LOONA during their pre-debut era between 2016 and 2017.
He made popular YouTube videos, including crack, edits and vlogs.
Disappearance
In 2017, Bart travelled to Seoul to meet LOONA's company, Blockberry Creative. Around this time, he suddenly stopped posting and seemed to have disappeared. Before this, he had tweeted that he had arrived at LOONA's company, with photos of the building.
Nothing more was heard after that. Fans were concerned by the sudden inactivity.
Blockberry Creative Employee?
His disappearance was regularly talked about. Some fans suggested he may have joined Blockberry Creative as an employee (though for the most part, this was a joke). If so, Bart would have likely signed an NDA, explaining the sudden absence.
Coincidentally, around the same time, LOONA's company began posting all their content with English subtitles and frequent memes, which were similar to Bart's crack edits. This led to theories that Bart might have become an official editor and translator for the LOONA team. Since then, it has become a running gag in the fandom that Bart was a "secret BBC employee." Some also made theories that he would debut in BBC's rumoured boy group 8x8x8.
This was later debunked when Bart returned two years later.
Return
After two years, Bart posted a written note on his Twitter, saying he was well, not a BBC employee, and had chosen to distance himself from being a superfan:
hey everyoneThank you for worrying about me. Let me start off by saying I’m completely fine; I do not work at Blockberry, nor do I reside in Korea. I’m sorry for the nearly 2-year-long radio silence, and I know this notice is long overdue.
After having time to reflect (in Korea and thereafter), I realized I had made a kpop group my entire personality. I had no clue what part of me I could actually consider "me." Being a superfan is not a bad thing, but it shouldn’t be an identity either. I was using Loona as a way to distract myself from issues important to me, such as my own goals, talents, and charms. Though I still ask myself what the hell I want to do with my life, taking a step back has helped me figure this out a lot more.
I ended up distancing myself so far from the ‘superfan me’ that even thinking about this account scared me a bit because I associated it with a person I did not want to be anymore. Having said that, I genuinely enjoyed my time with y’all and Loona a lot. Sorry for not explaining sooner. I hope you can understand.
This will be my last message on this account (as sad as that sounds). Thanks for being there for me.
PS: My hype tweets about being with Blockberry did not mean much -- I ended up interacting very little with them.[1]
Legacy
Bart is no longer active in the fandom but is generally considered one of the "OG Orbits," known for promoting the group while LOONA's fandom was still tiny and nugu. His name and disappearance often get included in Iceberg Tiers relating to LOONA. He was sometimes called the "Orbit President". His tweets and YouTube videos have since been deleted.
Some fan comments:
I remember there used to be a Kpop fan named Bart who was really into Loona. He made a post about going to BBC and then disappeared for a really long time. I think people rumored that he started working for them. Though, if I recall correctly, he later made a post saying that he kind of dropped out of Kpop fandom because it was taking over his identity or something to that effect.[3]
Bart will always be the legendary orbit. Akin to that, I am happy that he gave us an update and glad to hear that he is okay.[4]
Wooooof, watching the search unfold the last few days has been so funny. Lowkey wished he let it be until they made the buzzfeed unsolved episode. I’m super glad he’s alive though because, between joking about his upcoming 8x8x8 debut and his Loona TV editing, part of me actually thought he was dead.
An old school orbit, one of the biggest Loona promoters back when their fandom was tiny.[5]
The original super orbit.[6]
the representative of stan loona community , also LOONA is his fave girl group! he is one of the first LOONA stan youtubers and editors , his first LOONA video is "sTAN LOONA (loona on crack)" , which brought A LOT of many people to stan loona , we luv an influencial king[7]
Kpop conspiracy thread and there's still no mention of Bart, the ultimate Loona urban legend??? Unacceptable[8]
Some Links
- KPOP-SPIRACY: THE CASE OF THE MISSING YOUTUBER (bart, kpopper) - a video essay by nniymph
- My Life is a LOONA Prophecy - by Johan Moon, mentions various conspiracy theories, including Bart's disappearance
References
- ^ Tweet, by barttheworld, posted on February 7, 2019
- ^ Reddit post, by a deleted user, posted on February 2, 2020
- ^ Reddit comment, by blueappleegg, posted on December 6, 2020
- ^ Reddit comment, by a deleted user, posted on February 7, 2020
- ^ Reddit comment, posted by cloudcottons, on December 6, 2020
- ^ Reddit comment, by rueiraV, posted on December 6, 2020
- ^ Tweet, by ctfuloona, posted on May 10, 2018
- ^ Reddit comment, posted on August 26, 2018