LOONACON
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Name: | LOONACON |
| Dates: | 2019 |
| Frequency: | |
| Location: | Los Angeles |
| Type: | Professional |
| Focus: | Kpop convention |
| Organization: | KCON |
| Founder: | |
| Founding Date: | |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
LOONACON is the informal name given to an KCON LA event hosted in 2019. It was notable for being the group's first performance outside of South Korea.
At the time, there was a notable disparity between the group's domestic and international popularity. In South Korea, they were considered a nugu group (meaning unpopular). However, internationally, they were growing a large cult fandom, infamous for memes like "Stan LOONA". The convention was LOONA's first in-person interaction with their international fanbase at large.
The hype for the event was strong. As such, fans began to dub the event "LOONACON", to the point that KCON's staff were also using the name. During the event, "LOONACON" trended on Twitter worldwide.[2]
History
Origin
In 2019, KCON wanted Chips Ahoy (the cookie brand) as an official sponsor for the event. Prior to this, Chips Ahoy had made several K-Pop tweets, including "Stan LOONA", becoming one of the brand's most popular tweets.[3]
One of their employees, Fico, was an Orbit and agreed to sponsor KCON New York only if they invite LOONA as a guest. The concert organiser declined, unsure who LOONA was, and assumed they meant f(x)'s Luna.[4] However, for KCON Los Angeles, they agreed to invite LOONA for the first time, in exchange for the Chips Ahoy sponsorship.[5][6]
Event
The event itself was not strictly a LOONA convention, simply a regular KCON, with multiple acts preforming including AB6IX, ATEEZ, IZ*ONE, MOMOLAND and others. The announcement post received over 28.3k likes, more than any other acts, including popular names like Seventeen[7] Due to the immense hype, it was frequently dubbed as "LOONACON", becoming a popularly used hashtag used to livetweet. During the event, it trended worldwide at #30.[2] It trended at #4 in the United States.[8]
During the convention, LOONA preformed two songs "Butterfly", followed by an encore of "Hi High". They also preformed a special stage for the BTS song "Not Today". Chips Ahoy filmed a "Meet & Greet" video with LOONA and gifted them cookie packs decorated by Orbits.[9] Fans chanted "LOONA" or "STAN LOONA" at various events.[10] Kim Lip was shown a Momlip meme.
LOONACON has sometimes be used as a hashtag for other LOONA events, such as KCON:TACT Season 2.[11]
LOONA Memories
Some comments from LOONA about their experience at KCON LA:
Question: What did it feel like performing in America for the first time earlier this summer?
Chuu: Back then...
Heejin: "Will there be Orbits overseas?" That was a thought we had a lot. And a feeling we didn't quite understand. But once we went there in person. We were so thankful that many fans were waiting for us.
Choerry: It was a bit different from concerts that we've done in our country. They cheered us on so passionately. Even though it was only our first time. But all our hearts became one. And they sang along to all our songs. And seeing them support us so earnestly. Left a deep impression on us.
Heejin: If you look at it a certain way. Because we can't communicate our language. I believe we communicate our hearts a lot more. I truly see them as people we only communicate through our hearts. And because of that we really wanted to keep a promise of going to them.
Chuu: The truth is, during the last performance. I felt a lot of emotions. And I started tearing up a lot before we left the stage. Many international Orbits even got up and danced for us. And even though we only sang a few songs. Everyone followed along. And seeing everyone wave their lightsticks leaves a very beautiful memory in my mind. It was truly an unforgotten moment.[12]
Question: Did you know that LOONA is so popular overseas?
Choerry: No I don't think that's something we could comprehend.
Kim Lip: We've seen a lot that we have charted high on iTunes or Bilboard. And we've only ever heard about it from others. But because we only hear about it from people overseas. It's something that we couldn't quite properly grasp.
Choerry: We really did not expect people to come all the way out to a concert. So that moment left a big impression on us.
Kim Lip: It was when we arrived at the airport that we had a feeling of "Oh are we at this level?" There was this feeling of curiosity. It was very interesting but during the stage everyone was so... People were standing and dancing and sing along with us. When we saw this we had a big sense of gratitude. There were a lot of people who came to us first especially at the fan sign. So we were thankful for that. We had a lot of feeling of wanting to visit more often.[12]
Fan Memories
Some fans recounted their memories of the event:
LOOΠΔcon was just magnificent - it gave us the iconic Not Today cover (which has yet to be topped in my opinion) and it gave the girls an inkling of just how popular and loved they are overseas. The picture that (I think) u/caskerbox took of Heejin looking out at the sea of Orbits who showed up to sit through a short promo spot on makeup of all things vs. the small handful of fans who showed up to her first album signing brought tears to my eyes. I kick myself every cb for not just dropping everything and flying out to LA for that experience.[13]
Fanworks
Some fans made fanart or posters:
- Loonacon 2019 by RuruCreations
- LOONACON 2020 Phone Wallpaper Fan Content by m0narquee
References
- ^ Poster by DarcyDaAquarius
- ^ a b Tweet by zingmetosleep
- ^ Tweet by ChipsAhoy
- ^ Tweet by puertofico
- ^ Tweet by puertofico
- ^ Tweet by loonasthinker
- ^ 2:05 of The Avengers of Kpop: A Story of LOONA
- ^ Tweet by @intl_loona
- ^ 190817 LOONA x Chips Ahoy! - Meet & Greet at KCON on Chips Ahoy YouTube
- ^ The Avengers of Kpop: A Story of LOONA
- ^ Orbiting the Twitterverse: Studying a Digital Community
- ^ a b DEEP DIVE: LOONA
- ^ Comment by this_for_loona