Orbit (LOONA)
| Synonyms: | |
| See also: | LOONA, Orbit Bong |
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Orbit (오빛) is the official fandom name for K-Pop girl group LOONA. This is both the name of LOONA's official fan club and members of the fandom itself go by 'Orbits'.
As a collective fandom, Orbits are infamous for their memes and viral hoaxes. For example, spamming the words "Stan LOONA" onto different tweets. This resulted in a significant amount of trolling that gave "Orbits" a negative reputation. A significant number of Orbits are often LGBT.
History
The name was announced in July 2018.[1] Before this the fandom would often use "LOONATIC", though this was deemed controversial due to it's negative connotations, with Orbit becoming the fan favorite.
According to a news article, Orbit means that the fan club is creating a path of orbit where LOONA can grow. Also, 오 is read as "oh" and 빛 as "bit" which translated to English is "light", and together makes "Oh! Light" where oh is the exclamation and light representing what LOONA is to fans.[2]
Loonatics (2016 - 2018)
Before Orbit was announced as the fandom name, many fans used the unofficial "LOONATICS". This was popular from 2016 until the announcement for 'Orbit' in July 2018. This name was divisive due to it's connotations of insanity and mental illness, with many claiming it was ableist.
LOONA acknowledged this fan name with the second sub-unit Odd Eye Circle releasing a song called "LOONATIC (English Version)", as a gift for international fans.
I like loonatics because it can be understood as people who are "crazy about Loona", in the sense of extreme eagerness and enthusiasm (as in colloquial usage), not referring to literal insanity or mental illness. In particular, the alternative spelling with "oo" has often been used as a softer meaning of silliness without necessarily a derogatory or insulting connotation (eg. Looney Tunes).If we are looking for a name with a connection to the moon metaphor, the word "lunatic" itself already comes from latin "luna", because historically it was thought that insanity is caused by the moon (Source: etymology dictionary). I'm contented with the double reference in "loonatics" both to Loona (the group) and to luna (the moon).
Perhaps the only reason I might not want the name "loonatics" is that there already is a cartoon of the same name, so it doesn't feel as unique to me.[3]
Over the last few days I learned that the main meaning for "lunatic" in English is the negative one, while the same word in all the other languages I know isn't really that offensive, it's more of a "weird but in a good way" thing.In any case, I wouldn't worry too much since I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be the official fandom name, just like yyxy wasn't actually Eden.[4]
Many fans even emailed BlockBerry Creative in an attempt to prevent 'LOONATIC' from becoming the official fandom name.
Variations
General
There are a few variations of the fan name, these are unofficial, for example:
- Hanbit: Korean fans.
- Wuebit: International fans.
- Babybit: A new member of the fandom.
- Superorbits: Well-known Orbits, essentially the fandom's BNFs, for example barttheworld.
- Orbit Producer: These are Orbits who make fan albums, songs or remixes such as ZSunder and JenOrbit.
Post-Blockberry
After LOONA departed their company Blockberry Creative, the members would be given new fandom names:
- OURII: For ARTMS. It combines the fifth letter of each member’s name (JinSoul, HaSeul, Choerry, HeeJin, Kim Lip).
- C.loo: For Loossemble, pronounced like "crew" or "clue," signifies that fans are a part of the Loossemble crew.
- KKOTI: For Chuu's fans, from the Finnish word “koti” for “home” and the Korean word “꽃 (kkot)” for “flower”.
Crossover
Some fans will combine the fandom names with the names from other groups (for example, Stay or ARMY). Some examples include:
- Orbitzen: (Orbit +NCTzen) A fan of LOONA and NCT, often seen as similar due to having multiple sub-units and a large number of members. In 2019, LOONA released a dance cover for "Cherry Bomb", going viral amongst NCTzens, with over 20 million views.
- Orbitarmy: (Orbit + ARMY) A fan of LOONA and BTS. Both fandoms are often seen as controversial, due to having a large number of vocal 'toxic' fans that give the fandoms a negative reputation.
Individual Names
Some of the members have their own individual fan names (some of these are based on "Orbit", others are not):[5]
| Member | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Heejin | N/A | She has chosen not to have an individual fandom name and will directly use Orbit or OURII. |
| HyunJin | Heungbit | |
| HaSeul | Daon | |
| YeoJin | Bitjaengie | Orbit + Nanjaengie (dwarf). Inspired by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. |
| ViVi | Orbittie | This unofficial. ViVi often calls her fans "Orbittie". |
| Kim Lip | Mom | |
| JinSoul | Doongdoong/DD | Jinsoul has a history of calling fans "Orbit-doongs" in fancafe letters. On Fab, this became Doongdoong, with international Orbits being called "DDs" to distinguish them. |
| Choerry | Ojjokie/Bow | |
| Yves | Crunchapple/Ehngdu | |
| Chuu | Potato/Orpotato/Kkoti | Potato was used until her fandom name, until the official name "Kkoti" was announced in July 2023 |
| Go Won | Sebastian | Sebastian Michaelis is the name of the titular butler character in the anime/manga Black Butler. Gowon has a longtime gimmick of being a "princess", and so people volunteered to be her butlers and she called them Sebastians. Also shortened to '"stian".[6] |
| Olivia Hye | N/A |
Further Reading
- Orbit on LOOΠΔ Wiki
References
- ^ Instagram post
- ^ Article on Chosun, posted in 2018
- ^ Reddit comment, by u/loonatunes
- ^ Reddit comment by olympicmew, posted in June 2018
- ^ Reddit comment, by Litell_Johnn
- ^ Instagram Post on loonathefab