Unboxing LOONA [&] Albums & My Personal Impressions (Pros & Cons)

And while I had previously and individually unboxed+pageflip all 5 album versions for 이달의 소녀 LOONA 4th mini album [&] release, THIS post however will showcase a all-in-one-video featuring time-lapse page flips for all (featured in above video / no commentary from me, cheers), a look at my PHOTOCARD-Pulls for each album (excluding the KiT Album), and some impressions summarised from my previous yammering :p

BlockBerry Creative has just announced the launch of the Official MD for [&] on blockberrycreativeshop.com, which also offers their album(s), so this is the perfect timing for a relook at the albums (even tho I can't afford any of the merch, thanks ~ LOL).



Above: PHOTOCARDS for Album "A" (Unboxing+Pageflip HERE)



Above: PHOTOCARDS for Album "B" (Unboxing+Pageflip HERE)



Above: PHOTOCARDS for Album "C" (Unboxing+Pageflip HERE)



Above: PHOTOCARDS for Album "D" (Unboxing+Pageflip HERE)

PROS: Similar to their [12:00] release, the 4 Album each feature different looks, styling and moods for the 12 girls of LOONA. And while the 12:00 them was a "music festival", this comeback was pretty heavily "LOONAVerse"-ccentric - from the "PTT (Paint The Town)" music video, to even the colors and props used in this era = All of which provides a certain level of discussion amongst their fandom/Orbits, beyond the "surface aesthetics" of whatever budget could buy.

For the first time since the individual debuts and LOONA albums, 2 of the 4 albums featured BLACK covers, signally a shift or at least movement beyond their regular boundaries - something which I personally appreciated.

I am exceedingly grateful the "photo-manipulation" seemed to be dialled back quite a bit (not withstanding the fiasco that was Album "C" from 12:00 release :p), and frankly exceedingly subtle this time around - So, Bravo!

I am also intrigued with their delve into the Air-KiT / Kiho-album, even though (I have not had the opportunity to delve/discover more about it as yet...

BlockBerry Creative is still relatively a "small" Agency, with LOONA being their sole source of income managed idol/performance group (we know of), and as much folks and fans constantly cry foul (to put it mildly) about their "output", what they are able to afford, might not be what folks expect the talented twelve to be deserving of, IMHO.



ABOVE: ViVi manages to have most of her face and both eyes within the page ...
BELOW: Our poor Chuu has a partial of her face cropped because of the page layout.
And this was such a great image of her too!



CONS: Not too keen with select page layout, especially the single circular spread between two splash pages, or even when the entire 12-girls are line-up side-by-side spread across two portrait pages, which might leave girls cropped out. I cannot believe I a getting worked up about that again OMFG... Here are a few quick snaps to share (in case you've not purchased your copies).



ABOVE: Poor Choerry's face is buried in the crop :(
BELOW: JinSoul's face barely escapes the page crop but I'll have to pry open the photobook to see her.



And while I've not addressed the styling and imagery for [&] yet, I'll quickly say that it had been very impressive this era indeed, and it would be unjust to bury any of them under unfortunate layout design, IMHO. Unless you are saying you don't want folks to scan ALL the page-images ... *cough*

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INTRODUCING LOONA
LOONA & on TUNESTALKSG
LOONA on TUNESTALKSG

If for any reason you do not want to purchase their album via regular source(s), or for when availability is scarce (if you happen to find this blog-feature later :p), the following are listings on Amazon (with a noticeable price difference, FYI), for your considerations, cheers.