i was thinking today about the XOXO Movement and i sort of branched off and began to think about the exo fandom, and the kpop fandom as a whole. its amazing, in my opinion.

EXO is a group of twelve guys from korea (yeah, yeah there are chinese members but the group is based in korea) who are not only worshipped there, but everywhere else in the world. im only using them as an example because the fandom is absolutely mind-bogglingly large and passionate.

they recently reached selling 1 million copies of their album, XOXO, something that hasnt happened since 2001, and even after that, people keep buying (me included, i just ordered both the original and repackaged versions today). and instead of all these albums all being bought in korea, theyre being ordered from EVERYWHERE as well, on kpoptown and yesasia and even ebay and amazon.

but its not like these albums are easy to get, or quick to arrive. most of the time, they come from china and you have to wait for weeks and weeks before its delivered. that takes patience. kpop fans cant go out to barnes and noble and pick the cd off a shelf. one direction fans are lucky enough that they can do that. and yes, itunes is beginning to get into the kpop craze, but their selection is limited and having a digital copy of an album is nowhere near as satisfying as one you can touch and hold and look at (and drool over all the pictures in the photo books OQO).

its hard to be a fan of an idol who you can barely even see physical pictures of.

even so, i can still got onto google+ or facebook or instagram or twitter or anything and find thousands, millions of people who have a picture of their bias for their profile, or whos bio has the words "i love kpop" in it. i can still find people who live on the other side of the world, complaining about people harrassing someone they have never met, and standing up so bravely and fiercely for that person.

thats just what the XOXO Movement is about (im coming full circle here, see?). it was a brilliantly small idea cultivated between a group of exo fans on google+, shortly after the incident with the sasaengs at baekhyuns brothers wedding. it was decided that instead of sitting by and doing nothing (because we cant do anything personal; were worlds away), we would send packages to show support. we are fans of twelve barely-men (because whos kidding themselves, exo are babies) who always put on a brave smile and a happy demeanor every day as easily as someone would put on a shirt. they work hard, and we decided we should work hard for them.

im truly unsure of if the movement has really caught fire yet, its hard to get people into something that is so small and so unorganized, and the members are scattered across many different websites and countries. but i still think its empowering that the few people who talk about it even exist.

if we counted up all the kpop fans in the world, i know the number would be in the millions, with hundreds added every day. im not going to say that i wish the idols would see it, or do something about it; every single one is restricted by their companies and their fans at home. the thousands of other fans cant all be pleased. but those thousands of other fans (mostly) understand this, and worship and love and dedicate their time to the idols just the same, as if they could see them in concert easily, as if they could walk into a book store and find an album right away.

in reality, we realize we are ages away, but we watch their shows, we buy their merchandise, we support them with our whole hearts. i think if thats not amazing, i dont know what is.

-an essay-like ridiculous blog post by DAndEagerRivalry (hope you read it, i like it. i like to think i can wax philosophical once in a while)