Music / Idols

The 101 on Crazy K-pop Fanboys

Written by Justin On January 25, 2012

[Warning -- if you are an overly sensitive, overly obsessive K-pop fanboy, you are advised to leave this post at once.]

Most of the posts here at Seoulbeats are usually about the celebrities and their activities, but today let’s switch it up again and talk about K-pop fanboys. Last time I talked about fangirls and their “mannerisms,” so it’s only fair that I take the time to address the behavior of their male counterparts as well.

Before I go on, let me just put it out there that this does not pertain to all fanboys of K-pop. There are many intelligent fanboys that understand the balance between entertainment and life, but a good amount of K-pop fanboys are just plain “interesting.”

Now, the thing about K-pop fanboys is that they are not as common as K-pop fangirls because let’s face it, the biggest target group that K-pop companies zero in on are teenage girls. However, ever since the great girl group explosion of 2009, more and more K-pop fanboys have been roaming the Internet and making their way towards concert venues as well.

What separates the K-pop fanboys from the K-pop fangirls are the stereotype differences. Here are two general types of fanboys that we all commonly encounter in the K-pop world these days:

Type 1: “We’re the Dancers”

I’ll give you bonus points if you know where that reference is from. On the subject at hand, times have changed globally. Along with having international influences, we live in a net-culture where it is funny and routine to see guys dance to girl group songs. Before, it would have been unacceptable and almost deemed “wrong,” but now it just seems normal in the K-pop world.

These kinds of fans aren’t that bad, unless you’re uncomfortable watching a dude bubble popping or bopeeping.

A lot of the times we see fanboys just joking around, but in other instances, these fanboys take it super seriously and go all out. Not only do we see fanboys dancing to girl songs, but we also even see K-pop male idols themselves dance to girl songs, and the funny/sad thing is that sometimes the males even outdance the girls on their own songs. If you are uncomfortable with that, avoid the following video (even though it seems rather tame to me).

Type 2: Girls Bring the Pervs Out

Music entertainment companies know that sex sells, and it is selling more often than not, but the question is: what is “sexy?”

There’s a clear difference in what sexy is in Korea versus America, but lately the differences have been slowly deteriorating due to the infusion of cultures between different countries. Still Korea has two distinct versions of sexiness: The standard and the aeygo. The standard-sexy usually involves girls seductively dancing in revealing clothes while the aegyo-sexy usually involves girls being cute and coyly talking in an abnormally high pitch. Regardless of what is sexy, men are simply attracted to the allures of women.

That being said, this brings in a whole bunch of perverts ranging from the awkward pre-teens to the creepy ajusshis (uncle fans). We usually see these fans in the comments sections of YouTube videos or on forums saying “[ ] is so freaking hot!!!!!” and that is VERY VERY tame to some of the other things that I see…

To be honest, the statement at some point or another ends up turning into “I want to [ ] her now,” and that is just TMI. Sometimes it gets even more explicit what guys type down, but I guess everyone has some kind of fetish. For the most part these fans aren’t much of a problem, the most they will do is well… cater to themselves, but there have been instances of these fans being more than extreme and lashing out.

One instance of this manifesting physically was during April 17 last year, when we saw Taeyeon from SNSD being pulled off the stage during a Run Devil Run performance by some crazy fanboy. Luckily, the fanboy was stopped, and no one got hurt.

However, just taking this case, these fanboys need to be notified that these groups aren’t yours to literally take from the stage, and it is scary to think that there are potentially even more fans out there who aren’t aware of this basic difference between the K-pop world and reality.

Speaking of SNSD and their crazy fanboys, check out the screaming from this extremely excited fanboy during a fairly recent performance of “The Boys“:

It can be argued that his vocal cords might even rival even those of the legendary “pterodactyl” Sooyoung fangirl… if that’s even possible.

These are just some of the stereotypes of crazy K-pop fanboys that I see around the world of K-pop. However, like I said earlier, there are definitely other types of male K-pop fans. If I’m missing any other stereotypes, feel free to let me know in the comments section below!

(Soompi, hana-choco-candies, Shenyuepop, MTVK)

TAGS: fanboys, SNSD

Luanbrro

I can’t stop laughing! Hahahaha! That pterodactyl Sooyoung fangirl is awesome!
I’m a fanboy but I don’t feel like i fit in any of the 2 categories… well, maybe a little in the second one…

Luanbrro

BTW, are we sure the pterodactyl fan is a girl?… I’ve heard some guys that can scream just like that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUw5hgblFOE

Anonymous

this just made my day bwahahahahahahahah

Anonymous

Fanboys are generally cute and a constant source of entertainment! (minus the pervert ahjushis!)
i lmao whenever i read their fanaccount!! “i was this close to ____ hyung” “i was so jealous of her because _____ looked at this other girl!” kekeke they act like idol’s wives :p
lmao at the fanboy in the SNSD vid! hahahhahhaha
Russell Dosono

Lol I will admit I am a fanboy… but I don’t even come close to what article talks about. Very good read though
maldita

I don’t think anyone can ever beat DGNA The Boss’s Karam when it comes to fanboying. He’s been so vocal over his Yunho fanboying even before he debuted. LMAO. Even in his album Thank You notes, he thanked Yunho for being his inspiration before he even thanked his parents for their love and support. Win!

Evidence of him declaring his fanboy love for Yunho:
http://youtu.be/R5mmdcYJfJE
http://twitter.com/denzelwynter アシュリ (Ashley)

I am a fanboy. I along with a friend have done a dance cover of miss A’s Breathe.

eboy07

Well atleast you are not on the same level as that lay kid here on seoulbeats.

Jher80

lol does that fanboy have a mic on??
Andi

I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a “fanboy” but I do like K-Pop and even more so, I love to dance. I took Hip Hop dance lessons when I was younger and when I discovered K-Pop, it was the choreography in the music videos and performances that drew me towards Hallyu. Now, my opinion is pretty biased since I have liberal views on gender roles, stereotypes, sexuality and completely despise heteronormativity, but I don’t get what’s so off-putting about guys dancing to girl group songs. Music is music and dance is dance; there is no gender when it comes to any of the arts. I know this is all mainly society’s fault, but what’s so wrong with a guy being sexy or even cute? Since when are those only adjectives that can be adhered to girls? Shit, it’s not my fault if I can pop, lock & drop it better than any girl I know!
whatthefrell

When American guys do covers of female songs,
it’s all a joke to them; to do a perfect cover would
open up the doors for questioning their manhood.
I have only seen Asian men seriously cover female acts,
and they do such a great job that at times
it’s a wee bit disconcerting; it’s a cultural thing, right.
I’m not sure though how I feel about
forcing male idols to do it,
especially since at times,
some seem so uncomfortable doing it.

The “uncle” fascination thing,
like with IU is somewhat disturbing.
I mean people are going to adore her,
because that’s just the image she puts out,
and she is indeed, adorable.
But the way they write about
how she supposedly makes all her
“uncle” fans feel, how they can’t wait for her return, etc.,
it’s a little odd, most especially when the artist
is underage.

I don’t recall hearing about any kind of
“uncle” love being directed towards Taylor Swift.
I have absolutely no doubt it exists,
but to openly express it, would have made
a lot of people very uncomfortable.

This too I suppose, a cultural thing.

CAguest

In reference to – When American guys do covers of female songs,
it’s all a joke to them; to do a perfect cover would
open up the doors for questioning their manhood.
I have only seen Asian men seriously cover female acts,
and they do such a great job that at times

I’d have to disagree with this statement. I’m not sure if you are just referring to YT covers or if your reference to “American guys” = caucasians but I will say this. I find it quite the opposite. There are plenty of people from America who do kpop covers of the opposite sex w/out it being as you say, a joke. They do it because they like the song and it sounds good to them. If they are mocking/joking around, that video was probably meant to be a joke in the first place. (P.S. American females also cover songs as a joke too.)

On a side note, American artists do covers of songs because it’s a song that they want
to cover and not because a female/male artists has sung. When these
singers cover songs, the gender of the original singers don’t come into
mind. In the kpop arena, male idol groups/singers often will cosplay along with songs
of female idols. I’ve yet to see a kpop male idol group do a real true, flat out
cover of a girl group’s song w/out the cosplay, the aegeyo, etc. Individually, yes, some of the better talented singers have done acoustic covers of other female singers…but not girl goups. NOTE that I didn’t say generalize Korean singers, because this cosplay,
aegeyo, fanboy, fangirl thing is predominantly in idolverse. There are
numerous Korean artists that cover each others songs just for the sake
of covering each others songs.

Lesson of the day: Don’t generalize.

Blossemcup4

Super Junior did a serious cover of “Gee” on the show Music Travel La La La.

CAguest

I stand corrected. :-) Kpop boy groups do do covers of kpop girl groups and vice versa.

Anonymous

We don’t have the term ‘uncle fan’ in the US, but when certain female celebrities are 17 ( Britney, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Miley, etc.), there is a coundown to when they turn 18 so it is okay (read: legal) to openly fantasize about them/anticipate their Maxim photoshoot. And Taylor Swift acts like she’s still in high school and is (allegedly) a professional beard, so I don’t think guys like to go too crazy over her. *shrugs*

http://profiles.google.com/jcho49 J Cho

false, there are guys that go crazy for her = my church friends =__=

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001284556376 Juliette Robin Sureau

All this is about is fanboys only like Kpop girl’s music. I’m sure there are fanboys who like listening to Big Bang, FT Island, and SHINee. I’m a girl and I listen to girls music too, not only boys.

xian1989

yeah, i am a fanboy and i like how bigbang swag… f.t. island is also great… but no to shinee… lol…

Anonymous

I’m too busy laughing at the sign on the left. Kwang Soo <3 Yuri. xD
http://nunupununu.tumblr.com/ Leah Her

Yeah, there are crazy fans everywhere.. Even guys, sometimes I feel like girls are called out for being the crazy ones when really, everyone is crazy
Anon

where’s the fanboys who stan boy groups category? they can be just as bad in their intense and single-minded stanning. taeyang’s fanboys are notoriously nutty. many of them dgaf about kpop or bigbang, only like taeyang, copy his every move and hairstyle (which is not hard since he only has one), constantly complain about his promotions and the ones on dcyb spend their time posting pictures of nude women when taeyang is not promoting and refuse to have anything to do with any other bb fansite/gallery. it drives kvips mad and makes me laugh.

but there are many fanboys who are simply too cute. they’re all starry-eyed about their hyungs, especially the little ones. bigbangupdates is doing a support project for bigbang’s concert and a six-year-old fanboy donated his life savings ($1 but it was like 70 cents after the paypal fees) after his mom told him about the project.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Anngelica-Aguilar/100000185514336 Anngelica Aguilar

Lol! I like how you included a link to Chris Koo’s dance cover xD
Anonymous

btw, that fanboy in the above picture holds gwangsoo-hyori banner. i think we can be a good friend. my two favorite member from running man and family outing!

Anonymous

Correction: Gwangsoo – Yuri banner. They were partnered up on an episode of Running Man and won a set of couple rings.

Anonymous

Those guy in the dancing vid were really good. All I got to say about snsd’s vid with the screaming fanboy is: I thought they were trying to bring the boys out…well he showed up. lol
http://weeatlemon.blogspot.com conanblue

I don’t think the dance-cover phenomena is really a bad thing. I think it’s actually pretty entertaining. Everyone likes to do a dance cover of their favorite artists even if it means making other people blind (ehem, points to self).

But I do think the perverts in K-pop kingdom is really horrible. It’s probably the worst thing a fanboy can ever do. While fangirls go crazy in front of their laptops, fanboys take it to the next level by displaying their “affection” by taking their favorite girl group idol home. Way to go boys. And who could ever forget ajusshi fans? They’re the creepiest fans to me, even amongst the most crazy fangirls. It seems like pedophilia is an okay thing in terms of fanboys, which is unacceptable. I mean 40 year-olds screaming love to 15 year-olds is not normal. Except if the 40 year-old is the dad giving support to his 15 year-old daughter, other than that it’s not cool.

Black_Plague

It’s beyond ‘not cool’. It’s absolute insanity that should be fit for the death penalty. Hell, in Korea, abusing a minor sexually can actually get you castrated through surgery…unlike some wimpy nations who think mental hospital actually cures them.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Zhen-Jiang/100003229803466 Zhen Jiang

…only 2 types in the article?
i was expecting more…
RocketSocket

Even though I’m a fan of T-ara….I’m sure as glad I’m not close to any of those two types. Type 1s actually make me laugh a bit but Type 2, that’s when the cops need to be brought out in certain types of cases.