Are plastic fans/glory hunters a thing in k-pop? If so, which group or individual artist/idol has the most plastic fans?

    In association football/soccer (and other sports i guess), a plastic fan is a sports fan who supports a certain team just because of their glory. Plastic fans will usually have little to no knowledge of their preferred club, and will get overly defensive when you point out their lack of it. Another term for that type of fan is "glory hunter", as they only care about a team if the team has glory.


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    As someone who follows both k-pop and sports (mainly association football and basketball), I have been thinking that k-pop can be quite similar to sports, especially in regards to the fandoms. This led me to wonder are plastic fans a thing in k-pop? If so, which k-pop group (or individual member of a group) or artists have the most plastic fans?

    SM groups especially older ones had a lot of those


    even rn you can see the sudden spike of Gidle fans after Gidle's hit comeback


    they'll always be a thing in any form of competition albeit kpop should NOT be about competition

    u r m o m g a y

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  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from BlackpinkHouse

    We call 'em "success stans" 'round these parts.


    And don't make me actually say the group that has the most shooters in Kpop lol. Instead, let's just say the group's name rhymes with "TangBan-nonyeonSan"

    Agree that there are success stans and many are plastic fans, but disagree that it's all ARMY.


    Loyalty is what you need to consider and a plastic fans don't have much of it.


    Sure we like charts, but plastic fans usually know nothing about who they are stanning while most ARMY know the history well. Most plastic fans aren't going to stay with a club unless the club continues to be successful and will switch on a whim to a more successful club/team/squad. This is in high contrast to most ARMY who are diehard BTS fans.

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from Ves

    Agree that there are success stans and many are plastic fans, but disagree that it's all ARMY.


    Loyalty is what you need to consider and a plastic fans don't have much of it.


    Sure we like charts, but plastic fans usually know nothing about who they are stanning while most ARMY know the history well. Most plastic fans aren't going to stay with a club unless the club continues to be successful and will switch on a whim to a more successful club/team/squad. This is in high contrast to most ARMY who are diehard BTS fans.

    He didnt even read the defintion of a plastic fan in OP, he just wanted to fire shots at BTS/ARMY. A Success stan/Shooter doesn't fit the description given of a plastic fan who know nothing about the group and get defensive when you call them out:rolleyes:


    Anyway honestly I find most GG stans to be plastic fans. They seem to hop onto the gg that is currently doing well digitally, you see badges appear etc. all of a sudden but they seem move on when the next comebacks aren't as great. BG stans tend to have alot more investment in the group and have more loyalty but with all that said it's a mass generalisation so take it with a pinch of salt. Just my observations.

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from unbannBLACPINK

    SM groups especially older ones had a lot of those


    even rn you can see the sudden spike of Gidle fans after Gidle's hit comeback


    they'll always be a thing in any form of competition albeit kpop should NOT be about competition

    Pretty sure it is for labels and idols themselves. I mean they literally competed with a bunch of trainees to be part of the final line ups. Well music industry and life in general are a competition, it is what it is

    those kpop fans that stan like 800 groups but frequently confuse them for each other :eyes:

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from jooniebug

    He didnt even read the defintion of a plastic fan in OP, he just wanted to fire shots at BTS/ARMY. A Success stan/Shooter doesn't fit the description given of a plastic fan who know nothing about the group and get defensive when you call them out:rolleyes:


    Anyway honestly I find most GG stans to be plastic fans. They seem to hop onto the gg that is currently doing well digitally, you see badges appear etc. all of a sudden but they seem move on when the next comebacks aren't as great. BG stans tend to have alot more investment in the group and have more loyalty but with all that said it's a mass generalisation so take it with a pinch of salt. Just my observations.

    And then you have ex-ARMY who write essays on why they unstanned... some of them cause BTS got TOO successful. Wouldn't that be another type of plastic fan? LOL, it's not true ARMY at all.

    Quote from Ves

    And then you have ex-ARMY who write essays on why they unstanned... some of them cause BTS got TOO successful. Wouldn't that be another type of plastic fan? LOL, it's not true ARMY at all.

    Lmaoo yh exactly, the I'm too cool for school where my indie band at types.

    Quote from jooniebug

    Anyway honestly I find most GG stans to be plastic fans. They seem to hop onto the gg that is currently doing well digitally, you see badges appear etc. all of a sudden but they seem move on when the next comebacks aren't as great. BG stans tend to have alot more investment in the group and have more loyalty but with all that said it's a mass generalisation so take it with a pinch of salt. Just my observations.

    You're right. certain fandoms more than others

    Quote from Ves

    And then you have ex-ARMY who write essays on why they unstanned... some of them cause BTS got TOO successful. Wouldn't that be another type of plastic fan? LOL, it's not true ARMY at all.

    your comment reminded me of that one youtuber that used to an army but stopped being one once BTS got famous and then moved on to another group who were "less famous" at the time.


    Pretty sure they have left that group cus that group is doing pretty well right now.


    Honestly though, I don't get plastic 'fans'. Why the hell are you stanning a group because they are super famous or super nugu?


    The whole point of being a fan of a musical act is to be a supporter of their music.

    By your definition all plastic fans are success stans but not all success stans are plastic fans (success stans can be very knowledgeable about the group at least in the numbers department). Of course success stans are plentiful in kpop and there as follows, there’s a lot of plastic fans.

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