Will there be 260 versions of photocards for Seventeen's 'Face The Sun'? Fans confused
Seventeen is one of the bigger K-pop groups in the industry and they are known as one of the biggest active groups aside from NCT which has 23 members in total. NCT often performs in smaller units like NCT 127, NCT U, NCT Dream, Way V and other unofficial subunits; but in the case of Seventeen, which has 13 members in total, subunits are rare. With a total of 13 members, Seventeen is also the second-largest K-pop group on the scene. Now Seventeen is all set to make a comeback with their fourth full-length album, ‘Face The Sun’, that will be released in May.
The album is already a hit as it has been reported that the boy group has surpassed their original first-day sales record with 1,740,000 stock pre-orders for their upcoming comeback. Stock pre-orders refer to the number of albums being produced based on the demand for a group's older albums. Seventeen’s mini-album ‘Attacca’ recorded 1.4 million sales, becoming the boy group's fifth consecutive million-seller, and now with a 300k jump, they are set to sell close to 2 million copies with this comeback as soon as it opens for sales.
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Seventeen to have 260 photocards for 'Face The Sun'
Despite the amazing news of Seventeen’s impeccable sales record, Carats (fans of Seventeen) are confused about the number of photocard variants that will be released with the album. Fans of K-pop are aware that physical copies of each album have one photocard with them that fans usually love to collect. With there being a total of 13 members in Seventeen, there will be 13 photocards (featuring one solo member each). But it was also revealed that Seventeen will release five versions of their upcoming album, ‘Face The Sun’.
This means that each member will appear in five different photocard versions. With that being said, the total number of randomized photocards for Seventeen’s ‘Face the Sum’ album will be 65, and considering that each album will have four photo cards each, the total number of variations does add up to 260. This has confused a lot of fans of K-pop as they are left wondering whether five versions of an album are really necessary as the planet is grappling with a climate change crisis and is suffering from non-recyclable waste.
5 album ver, 4 pcs per ver:
— 🌤𖧷FACE THE SUN𖧷🌤 (@gggam3bo1) May 1, 2022
4x5=20, 20x13= 260
they have 13 members fyi! and its not as if all carats are ot13 collectors.. anyway, carats actually demanded to bring back 4 pcs per album.
Anticipate @pledis_17 comeback on 27th!#SEVENTEEN #세븐틴 #Darling #FacetheSun
‘5 versions are kinda unnecessary’
Some fans blame HYBE Labels for acting in a capitalistic manner, while others said that groups like BTS or TXT, who originally debuted from HYBE, never faced this issue of having so many versions of the same album that adds to the environmental crisis. One fan said, “While I understand that it can't really be helped bc they do have alot of members but aren't 5 versions kinda.. Unnecessary?" Another fan added, “Its necessary for a capitalistic company lol.”
One fan said, “As a carat, all members are necessary to me. Having lots of members or not, there are other ways to be environment-friendly. I don't think tons of versions are necessary either, and photocards are honestly the least concerning issue. For me, tons of photocards yet 2 or 3 versions is more than enough, specially since photocards are the items that collectors really want at the end of the day.” One fan said, “MX's latest album had 11(?) versions. Somebody needs to put a stop to this madness.” One user blamed, “Well, it's HYBE…”
One fan pointed out, “BTS' last album, BE, did not have many versions... and it's HYBE.” Another fan said, “BE and butter both had only 2 versions... but i hope they can release a standard kpop album with 4 versions.”