LOONA Lightstick
| Synonyms: | High Bong, Orbit Bong |
| See also: | Lightstick |
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LOONA has an official lightstick often called the High Bong or Orbit Bong.
Design
The lightstick is elegant and regal, designed as a golden crown with a crescent moon on top. It is often compared to Sailor Moon due to its design that mimics the typical weapons seen in Magical Girl animes. It is also a long lightstick (at 10 x 9.6 x 43.5 cm), though it is not the longest lightstick in K-Pop (this honor goes to Dreamcatcher).
Fans will often decorate the lightstick with stickers.
Usage
Lightsticks are common within K-Pop. It is intended as a piece of fan merchandise to be held at music shows or concerts to show support (for example, see the crowd of lightsticks at LOONATHEWORLD TOUR in the US).
The lightstick can change into 12 different colors with each color representing a different member. These are based on their officially designated colors. At concerts, it is common to display the color of your bias or the member you want to support at the moment.
Sometimes fans will coordinate to all display the same color. This was done to support Chuu when she was absent from the LOONA World Tour, turning the crowd into a ocean of peach/coral during the song "Playback".
Naming
In 2020, LOONA asked fans for suggestions of names for the lightstick. Some of the suggestions included Moonlight, Starlight, Satellight, Supernova, Waningbong, Selene, Prism, Vivid, and Crownbong.[1]
High Bong
In 2021, it was announced that the official name for the lightstick was "High Bong," with the following meaning:
High-Bong, which has the meaning of support for ‘Let's go up higher’, is a name derived from ’Hi High’, the first work with all of LOONA! Let’s look after each other for the upcoming promotional activities with High-Bong, Orbits🤍[2]
Bong means 'stick' in Korean, while 'High' is taken from LOONA's debut song "Hi High."
This gained major criticism from Hanbits due to its connotations of drugs and weed. It quickly became a meme amongst Wuebits, with many fans finding it hilarious. The post was deleted after 50 minutes, with the name changed to simply 'LOONA Official Lightstick'. However, some fans will continue to call it 'High Bong' regardless.
“Mom, I bought a high bong!”“You bought a what?”[3]
I can't believe this is actually the name lol, I'm laughing so hard right now (High comes from "let's go up higher" and derives from Hi High, Bong = stick in Korean)Jinsoul's reasoning for it not having a name for this long: you could think of it as the lightstick waiting for Haseul to get its name.
edit: Korean fans are really not happy about this (weed is illegal in Korea).[4]
Oceans
In K-Pop, a lightstick 'sea' or 'ocean' refers to when fans coordinate to display no lights (black ocean), or in LOONA's case, a specific color to support a member whenever they are on hiatus, out due to sickness, or any other reason. The most notable is the peach ocean for Chuu when she was absent from LOONA's world tour.
Peach Ocean
During LOONATHEWORLD TOUR, fans in various different countries decided to coordinate and show only Chuu's color, a peach/coral, during the song "Playback". This was done to support Chuu since she was absent from the tour. Unbeknownst at the time, Chuu was in the early stages of leaving LOONA (due to mistreatment, see LOONA Boycott). This was speculated on by fans, with the peach ocean being a way to show the fandom's support.
Purple Ocean
Also during LOONATHEWORLD TOUR, fans organised a 'purple ocean' for Choerry during the song "LOONATIC". She was unable to preform in the Europe leg of the tour due to medical reasons.
Post-Blockberry Creative
After LOONA suspended their contracts with Blockberry Creative, they signed with different companies and received new lightsticks. Chuu's official lightstick is shaped like a daisy, while ARTMS's lightstick is shaped like a bow, matching the 'Artemis' mythology.
ARTMS Official Lightstick
Chuu's Lightstick named 'KKURA'
Fan-Made Lightsticks
Before the official lightstick was announced, fans would often make conceptual art and designs for their own 'LOONA lightsticks'. Similar to the official one, this would often have a magical girl theme, for example:
- LOONA Light Stick, Archived version by Serge Hanna
- Moonlight, Archived version by ce0yeojin
- LOONA Light Stick being Sailor Moon-esque, Archived version by asilluart
- Fanmade LOONA Lightstick, Archived version by luminarycherry
In Fanworks
It is common for the lightstick to be included in fan art:
Some examples of fan art:
- Orbit, crown LOOПΔ by hyperb4llad
Human!Lightstick
Some fans have made anthropomorphic art of the lightstick, often as a Magical Girl. For example:
- New Lightstick Daughter! Protector of all gays, Orbit Bong ! by @Prezweeb
- Dreamcatcher's lightstick x Loona lightstick couple. - reimagining the LOONA lightstick and Dreamcatcher lightstick as anthropomorphic characters on a date.
Other Projects
Matt Cho created a Giant LOONA Light Stick, created as a 3D print, powered by an Arduino.
References
- ^ LOONA Is Asking Fans To Name Their Lightstick—Here Are 10 Of The Best Suggestions on Koreaboo, posted on October 20th, 2020
- ^ English translation, for a deleted tweet, found on Reddit
- ^ Reddit comment, on r/LOONA, posted on June 30, 2021
- ^ Reddit comment, on r/LOONA, posted on June 30, 2021
- ^ Twitter post, by Loona the Netherlands