This thread shouldn't exist, it's stupid but here it is.
My sister used to be a hoarder for anything that had BTS on it, all kinds of merch and stuff, including socks and candles, I saw her socks and asked her "why would you wear the faces of your idols in your shoes"? She said the socks looked cute..and then there are the candles that melt.
I wouldn't want to see my my face in someone's shoes or my face melting within someone's hands, not that this would ever happen mind you.
I was just wondering if anyone here is that much of a hoarder they would buy anything with their favorite celebrity stamped on it and what they think of some of these choices in general.
I used to be like this to a certain degree. I ended up almost buying Miraculous Ladybug tissues which were literally just white tissues with the packaging with the ML characters on it. Like, why would I buy that? It's just tissues.
I now buy things from my favourite shows that actually are unique and cool.
If those objects bring her joy, then all the power to her! I personally think that the idea of a One Direction candle is kind of hilarious in the best way possible, and I would love to have one. Your sister said that she thought the BTS socks are cute. Just because you don't understand her choices doesn't mean they are any less valuable.
I have a lot of One Direction merch, but I try to stick to things that I like. T-shirts and jewellery for example, can be worn - in everyday life, at conventions, in concerts, whatever! I used to love reading Teen Vogue and Seventeen Magazine back when we had a magazine subscription app, so I bought those magazines every time One Direction was on the cover because I liked reading them anyway.
I do think that fandom can go to an extreme when you are just purchasing for the sake of purchasing. I think K-Pop is especially bad at encouraging that with the amount of randomization present with photo cards, sometimes the need to purchase great volumes of merchandise to enter fan concerts, and the amount of merch available in general. If someone wants to have a complete BTS or EXO collection or whatever and they genuinely enjoy that, good for them! But if you feel that you need to collect to be a good fan (and that fans who don't have collections aren't good fans), that can be extremely dangerous. Your idols do not love you any less because you didn't purchase that One Direction duct tape or whatever; it's a purely money-making tactic on the part of their management, and depending on their contract, your idols may only see a small share (if any) of that revenue generated.
Not saying that you are coming across in this way at all, but I have so many thoughts about why female fans, especially those in fandoms about male musicians or boybands, are often dismissed as obsessive or vapid whereas being male fans of sport who have a ton of jerseys and spend exorbitant amounts of money on tickets or events are considered normal, even desirable in certain communities where sport is highly valued. But that's another post for another day.
