Hi, we’re Kathy and Laura, and we have a serious problem: we can’t stop buying K-Pop photocards.

Listen here:

What are photocards?

• Exclusive printed collectible photos of idols that are included in album and sometimes merch purchases. 
• Randomly introduced in albums and albums have multiple versions of them, you never know what’s inside, encouraging fans to buy more albums. 
• Standard sizes:
  • 2″x3″ most common size (just under 57x88mm)
  • 2.87″x4.05″ “Mini Tour” size (just under 73x103mm)
  • Monsta X has their own photocard size: 3.3″x2″ (86mm x 54mm)
• Purpose: incentivize fans to buy in bulk to get photo cards they want – ultimately driving up album sales. 
• Easy comparison to help the non-initiated understand: same concept as collecting Pokemon cards, baseball cards, or basketball cards.

Where to get them (aside from playing the lottery with albums)

• GOs (group orders): one person will place a massive order and distribute the cards among a group of interested buyers. There are GOs for both albums as well as the photocards on their own. The GOs for albums aren’t done out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s typically done because there are often raffles to meet the group in person or via video call, and the more albums you buy, the higher your chances of winning. Since a lot of K-Pop fans don’t have enough disposable cash to buy the rumored amounts it takes to have a shot at winning (said to be in the hundreds of albums), they place the order for multiple albums on behalf of as many people as they can get under them.
• Mercari, eBay
• Social media
• Cupsleeve events
• K-Pop shops 

Spotting FAKE photocards and the magic of LOMOs

• Beware of FAKE photocards and reprints! How to spot them?
  • Tricky wording “originally made” 
  • If they sold or have available high amounts of the PCs 
  • Break-off points on the cards
• LOMOs:
  • Lomo card was originally a small card stock or a card that has custom print on it. They typically referred to some of those small paper card things with pictures, illustrations, with low quality-print and have weird holo-trademark on them and aren’t from an official source. Now fanmade photo cards are more commonly called lomo cards. – Reddit.

• Fun fact: Lomography is a photographic style which involves taking spontaneous photographs with minimal attention to technical details. Lomographic images often exploit the unpredictable, non-standard optical traits of toy cameras (such as light leaks and irregular lens alignment), and non-standard film processing techniques for aesthetic effect. LOMO stands for Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie. – Wikipedia.

How to preserve and protect photocards

• NO PVC
• Sleeves (double-sleeving!)  
• Binders sizes and choices 
• How to insert photocard in a sleeve (there’s a method to the madness)

This episode in particular is good to watch instead of just listening, since we do quite a bit of show-and-tell throughout. Enjoy below!: