NCT

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RPF Fandom
Name(s): NCT, Neo Culture Technology
Scope/Focus: K-Pop
Date(s): 2016-present
See also: NCTzens
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NCT, short for Neo Culture Technology, is a 26 member K-Pop boygroup managed by SM entertainment. The group was created with a goal of infinite expansion, adding members every few years. The expansion concept will stop in 2023 with a final Japanese unit. The members are all part of the NCT umbrella project, most of their activity taking place within sub-units. The sub-units are NCT 127, NCT Dream, NCT U, WayV, NCT DoJaeJung and NCT Tokyo.

Members

Former members

End of NCT's infinite expansion

On February 24th, 2023, SM executives announced that NCT's infinite expansion concept would end by the end of 2023 with the addition of NCT Tokyo. [1]

Fandom

NCT 127 performing at "NEO CITY: Seoul - The Origin" surrounded by fans holding up their neobongs.
Fans cheering an NCT 127 concert with their neobongs.

The official characteristics of the fandom were chosen by SM entertainment. The fans are called NCTzens and are generally nicknamed as "Czennies" by the members. The group's official colour is Pearl Neo Champagne, a shade similar to neon green, and has been embraced by the fandom. The official lightstick is called the Neobong.

Some fans follow the activities of all 23 members, but others focus on specific sub-units. There are occasionally conflicts and tensions between the fans of different sub-units.

As it is common in K-pop fandoms, NCTzens also often have a bias within the members. These fans sometimes refer to themselves as [member name]-zen, for example, Yutazens. Certain members have also given their fans an indiviual fandom name, such as Haechan calling his fans Sunflowers.

Fan-led support projects

NCTzens have various systems to organize as a community in order to support NCT and advance their career.

Fanclubs

Fanclubs are official groups that support one or more members. Notable examples include Chinese "bars" such as Markleebar and Parkjisungbar. These groups are highly organized and contribute to the increase of album sales. During the NeoZone album comeback (2020), JaehyunBar contributed to 40,452 album sales while TaeyongBar reached 52,013 sales. [2] To encourage fans to buy albums, fanclubs usually create bundles that contain albums and fan created, mass-produced items such as posters, stickers, blankets, plushies, and figurines. Fanclubs also organize various projects to increase the popularity of their bias, including cafe events and ads throughout cities. These projects are funded by similar item sales.

  • A chibi plush of Mark Lee held up with pastel tulips against a blue sky. He looks cute!

    Marky 15cm plush by Markleebar

  • An illustration of a yellow blanket where a small boy lies down looking at a rose. A line of text reads "Le Petit Prince".

    Blanket by JisungBar

  • A digitally drawn rendition of 4 figure boxes. They are all a diffrent version of chibi Ten. Each has a different them: devil, sailor, hero, and Alice.

    KitTen in Wonderland figurine blinboxes by TenBar

  • A nicely designed black, white, and neon chart of the different goods illustrated with minimalism.

    DoyoungBar's chart of goods set options

  • Six billboard ad videos in Times Square. He wears different outfits on each screen and a central video has different clips of him.

    Times Square birthday ad project by Haechanbar

Support Guides

Support guides are created by NCTzens to encourage and help fellow fans to support the group. They focus on two things: streaming and voting. The goal is to get recognition by winning music shows. These shows include The Show, Show Champion, M! Countdown, Music Bank, Show! Music Core, and Inkigayo. Victory is granted according to different variables, notably digital/physical sale of albums, social scores (e.g. number of views on YouTube), expert scores, and broadcast scores. [3] These guides help the fandom to deploy their time efficiently and foster collective action.

Sasaeng List

A fan has compiled list of sasaeng and fans that have exhibited toxic behaviours and tendencies. This helps NCTzens avoid interacting with them and putting NCT members in dangerous or uncomfortable positions.[4]

Fan resources

Created by fans for fans.

Group Orders

Group Order managers may coordinate the bulk purchase of items for international fans, helping them to obtain pricey merchandise at lowered shipping costs. See article for more details on this process.

Trade/buy/sell network

Some accounts are dedicated to helping fan trade/sell/buy their photocards.

Translators

Fan translations help make NCT content more accessibe for all international NCTzens. SM entertainment translates most official NCT content into English, but English is inaccessible for some fans, and some content is still only in Korean. Various Twitter accounts offer translations into non-English languages. Other accounts translate content only available in Korean, notably Johnny and Jaehyun's NIGHT NIGHT radio show (NCTsNIGHTNIGHT) or the members' Bubble posts (nct_bbleUpdate).

Another major fan translation endeavor is lyric videos. These videos usually show lyrics in Korean (both with Hangeul and with phonetic romanization) and in target languages - usually, such videos will also be colour-coded by member singing.

Update accounts

Often run by groups of fans, update accounts help NCTzens stay in touch with NCT news. Examples include:

Fansites

A fansite (K-pop) is fan that takes high quality pictures, usually exclusively of their bias. These photos are shared on social media. Popular fansites often create merchandise featuring their photos. They occasionally collaborate with fanclubs and other fans to create projects. Most photos are taken at concerts, official events, and at the airport.

  • Taeyong performaing at a the 28th Seoul Music Awards. The picture is dynamic, he seems to be sitting up from a chair by pushing his bodyweight up with his arms and his left leg is kicked up high at a 90 degrees angle from his torso. He is lit up against a dark background with a few lightsticks illuminated.

    Taeyong concert photo by Tyrant Syndrome

  • Winwin is walking in the airport with a blue shirt. His eyes wander to the right, he seems to be going somewhere.

    Airport photo of Winwin by Nostalgia_kki

  • NANA LUNA's season greetings 2023 calendar and complementary merch. There are various photocards, posters, and stickers.

    NANA LUNA's season's greetings set (Jaemin)

Dance covers and tutorials

Dancing is an essential aspect of K-pop fan culture.

  • Notable examples include East2West, a Montreal-based K-pop cover dance group who have won 1theK's NCT Cherry Bomb Dance Cover Contest. They have also offered paid, in-person dance lessons.[5]
  • YouTube creators have also created several dance tutorials for NCT fans to follow. A good example is Kathleen Carm's Favourite Vampire tutorial. The dance is both shown in a mirror and with a slow song to make learning easier.

Random Play Dances

During a random play dance event, K-pop songs sections are played randomly. If fans know the choreography, they can run to the designated area and perform the dance. These events are organized during K-pop conventions and ponctually by fans / fan groups.

  • The most notable random play dance in NCT history was organized in New York City on April 29th, 2017 by GoToe. It went viral after being spontaneously attended by NCT 127, who participated in the event for a few songs.

Transformative works

Fanart

Fanfiction

The most popular NCT fanfictions on AO3 as of April 2023 embody three very popular types of fanfictions within the fanfom, respectively the omegaverse, College/University AUs, and Harry Potter AUs:

These fanfictions have generated fan-work of their own (fanart, fanfictions...)

Ships

The ships most beloved by NCTzens in the English speaking world are Markhyuck (Mark Lee and Lee Donghyuck | Haechan) and Nomin (Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin).

NCTV spiderman zine and extra merch (keychains, stickers...). The graphics are vibrant and inspired by Spiderverse.
Promotional image for the NCTV Spiderman zine

Twitter stories

Twitter is host to many multimedia, social media based NCT fanfictions.

Tumblr Gif culture

NCTzens create gifs out of NCT official content. There is a vibrant GIF culture on Tumblr.

Zines

Fanvideos

References

  1. ^ Soompi Article "Watch: SM Entertainment Outlines SM 3.0 Plans Including Artist Releases And Tours For 2023, The End Of NCT’s Expansion, And More" https://www.soompi.com/article/1568727wpp/watch-sm-entertainment-outlines-sm-3-0-plans-including-artist-releases-and-tours-for-2023-the-end-of-ncts-expansion-and-more
  2. ^ [1], Chinese Bars album sales for NeoZone compiled by @monsieurTY_ on Twitter on March 20, 2020
  3. ^ [2], COMPREHENSIVE SUPPORT GUIDE created by the moderator team of r/NCT
  4. ^ [3], NCT/Wayv (OT23) Sasaeng List created by @NCT_ssglist on Twitter
  5. ^ East2West's Facebook post about K-pop dance lessons. https://www.facebook.com/East2WestOfficial/posts/pfbid02azub25BKjLeLB1L433MFpYvhBVSJGHVNx2eEhwN3MgZo28ujrp7esy1HhJ9N1zvhl
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