Carats Break Down The “Misleading” Photocard Math After SEVENTEEN’s “FML” Album Sparks Criticism

Fans claimed the reports of 899 cards were misleading.

Fans of SEVENTEEN alleged that it was misleading to state that there were 899 different photocards for fans to collect from the group’s album, FML.

SEVENTEEN | Pledis Entertainment

On April 23, a netizen alleged that there were 899 collectible photocards released as part of SEVENTEEN’s latest album.

The netizen’s allegations spurred concerns that the number of photocards would encourage fans to buy more albums than they need to collect the cards.

HYBE Labels Is Being Heavily Criticized For The Nearly 900 Photocards To Collect For SEVENTEEN’s “FML” Album

Unfortunately, there have been cases in which fans, after purchasing the album, later throw them away.

An excess of albums purchased by a fan to qualify for a seat at a fan meeting | Theqoo

SEVENTEEN fans, however, pushed back, stating that it was misleading to state that there were 899 collectible cards.

Twitter user @kidultcomplex uploaded a post thread from a long-time SEVENTEEN photocard collector. In the thread, the collector breaks down why the controversy over the number of photocards was unwarranted.

According to the collector, the 899 photocards are made up of the following, and they stated that it was misleading to include the 312 photocards in the Carat version as part of the 899 photocards.

  • 418 regular album photocards and pre-order benefits (32 per member and 2 photocards with all the members).
  • Carat version concept photocard bundle inclusion (312 photocards, 24 per member)
  • 169 fans sign and Japanese pre-order benefits (13 per member).

The collector then argued why it was misleading to count the carat concept card bundles as individual photocards. According to the collector each album includes 24 photocards.

  • 1 pack contained 24 of one member, and the cards aren’t random, so if a fan, who collects an individual member’s photocards, buys an album, and pulls cards for the member, they would receive all 24 cards available for that specific member. Likewise, if the fan traded for an album containing pictures of the member, they would essentially have all the carat versions of the member and would not need to buy any extra albums. The collector likened the cards to one member poster included in the album rather than 24 individual cards.

The collector then breaks down the versions of the albums. Rather than 13 versions of the album as previously thought, the collector stated that there were 6 versions and argued that member-specific albums were common, and thus it is unfair to state that there were 13 versions of FML because SEVENTEEN had 13 members.

  • 3 regular album versions (2 photocards per member per version), 1 kit version (1 random photocard per member per version), 1 weverse version (1 random set of three per member), 1 carat version (4 random photocards per member).

The collector then further breaks down the Weverse versions. According to the collector, the Weverse collections provide complete member sets of photocards rather than individual ones. The collector also claims that many groups recently had a similar amount of pre-order benefits as SEVENTEEN’s FML.

FML Carat version | Seventeenshopus

The collector goes on to claim that it is “dishonest” to compare the total amount of photocards without taking into account the number of cards per member. As SEVENTEEN has 13 members, it is inevitable that the group’s albums will have more photocards, and the collector argues that collectors will usually buy one album containing their bias and not randomly buy multiple versions. The collector further claims that most collectors focus on album photocards rather than cards included in pre-order benefits.

@kidultcomplex lastly stated that the template previously passed around was deceptive because it displayed the carat version photocards as separate individual ones when they are, in-fact, bundled as sets.

What are your thoughts?

Source: @kidultcomplex/Twitter

SEVENTEEN