LOONA

LOONA (이달의 소녀, Idarui Sonyeo) stylized as LOOΠΔ, was a twelve-member South Korean girl group known for their large LGBT fanbase and becoming a gay icon within the K-Pop scene. Their fans, known as "Orbits", create various fanworks and are notorious for their widespread memes (such as "Stan LOONA") and viral hoaxes (such as "Lesbian Korean Billionaires") to promote the group, some of which have entered fannish osmosis.
LOONA’s career has been unconventional, leading to a fandom that has changed drastically throughout the years. LOONA began, not as a group, but as soloists. Dubbed by fans as the “Avengers of K-Pop”, each member of LOONA was announced periodically with a single release and album. This began in 2016, over the course of sixteen months, until they assembled as one group in 2018. Each release was interconnected into the LOONAVERSE, a sci-fi fantasy storyline that sparked numerous fan theories. Despite gaining a cult fandom, the group faced financial difficulties and periods of inactivity dubbed "loonathedrought" by fans.
In 2022, member Chuu was kicked from the group. It was shortly revealed that LOONA was operating under a illegal contract clause, wherein they were not earning any money and were in perpetual debt. This led to all members filing for provisional injunction to suspend their contracts. Orbits waged a full-scale boycott, aiding the group's departure from Blockberry Creative in 2023. The members continued working in the industry, with many re-debuting in groups like Loosemble and ARTMS, while Chuu and Yves pursued solo careers.
== Members ==
LOONA is comprised of twelve members. Each member has a officially designated colour and animal. These are used frequently in fanart and in general reference to the members. Some also have official fruits, shapes, months, and even flowers. In the order they were announced:
Name 	Animal 	Color 	Debut Solo 	Sub-unit 	Post-Blockberry
Heejin 	Rabbit 🐰 	Vivid Pink 	ViViD 	LOONA 1/3 	ARTMS
HyunJin 	Cat 🐱 	Yellow 	Around You 	LOONA 1/3 	Loossemble
HaSeul 	Bird 🕊️ 	Green 	Let Me In 	LOONA 1/3 	ARTMS
YeoJin 	Frog 🐸 	Orange 	Kiss Later 	/ 	Loossemble
ViVi 	Deer 🦌 	Light Pink 	Everyday I Love You	LOONA 1/3 	Loossemble
Kim Lip 	Owl 🦉 	Red 	Eclipse 	Odd Eye Circle	ARTMS
JinSoul 	Blue Betta 🐟 	Blue 	Singing in the Rain	Odd Eye Circle	ARTMS
Cheorry 	Fruit Bat🦇 	Purple 	Love Cherry Motion 	Odd Eye Circle	ARTMS
Yves 	Swan 🦢 	Burgundy 	New 	yyxy 	Soloist
Chuu 	Penguin 🐧 	Peach 	Heart Attack 	yyxy 	Soloist
Go Won 	Butterfly 🦋 	Eden Green 	One and Only 	yyxy 	Loossemble
Olivia Hye	Wolf 🐺 	Silver/Black	Egoist 	yyxy 	Loossemble
== History ==
== Fandom ==
LOONA attracted a significant lesbian, WLW, and queer following with the release of the MV for Heart Attack, which depicts Chuu having a crush on Yves. 
=== Orbit ===
On July 10, 2018, LOONA’s fan club name was revealed to be 오빛 (Orbit).이달의 소녀(LOOΠΔ) @loonatheworld. Tweeted Jul 9, 2018. (Accessed Jun 9, 2020.)
According to a news article, Orbit means that the fan club is creating a path of orbit where LOONA can grow. Also, 오 is read as "oh" and 빛 as "bit" which translated to English is "light", and together makes "Oh! Light" where oh is the exclamation and light representing what LOONA is to fans.http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2018/07/11/2018071100622.html
Korean orbits are named Hanbits (한빛) and international orbits Wuebits (외빛). "Wue" (외) stands for foreign and "Han" (한) for Korean.Casker. Tweeted Aug 22, 2018. (Accessed Jun 9, 2020.)
Some well-known Orbits (essentially the fandom's BNFs) include:
* Caskerbox
* Orrery_nim 
* Litell_Johnn
* ZSunder
* Daebak Jjang
* Twinfish
* Zero Colours
* barttheworld
* Johan Moon
* SuA's SinB
Groups
* Team Subbits
* Loominosity
* LOONA Union
* Team ReOrbit
=== Lightstick ===
Most K-Pop groups are known to have a lightstick to be held at concerts. For LOONA, this lightstick is elegant and regal, designed as a golden crown with a crescent moon on top. Posted Jun 19, 2020 by cabbagejuice. LOONA reveals their first official lightstick! It was initially called the High Bong. However, this name was discarded after criticism. 
The lightstick can change into 12 different colors with each color represents a different member. At concerts, it is common to display the colour of your bias or the member you want to support in the moment. Sometimes fans will coordinate to all display the same colour. This was done to support Chuu when she was absent from the LOONA World Tour, turning the crowd into a sea of peach, during the song "Playback".
After LOONA's departure from BlockBerry Creative, fans opt not to buy the official lightstick, as part of the boycott protests against the company. So far, ARTMS, Loossemble and Chuu have released their own individual lightsticks, the former being shaped like a bow and arrow, Loossembles is a croissant and Chuu's lightstick is shaped like a flower.
=== Memes and Hoaxes ===
Orbits are known for their memes, with many memes going viral beyond fandom. Many of the memes are photoshopped news articles and screenshots, some so convincing that non-fans fall for the fakes. Some recent fakes include photoshopping Kim Lip's name into a screenshot from Lana del Rey's instagram.Bella Kay. June 5, 2020. "LOONA Stans Create Viral News That Kim Lip Is Suing Lana Del Rey". Koreaboo. Retrieved January 11, 2023. Another popular meme is the "Stan LOONA" meme, where "stan LOONA" would be posted under popular tweets, which may be accompanied with the video for their songs "Girl Front" or "Eclipse"."Stan Loona". Know Your Meme. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
=== LGBT Fandom ===
LOONA has a large LGBT fanbase. From an interview with MTV:
== Loonaverse ==
LOONAverse refers to the overarching storyline (also called "lore") that connects LOONA's music, music videos, and other content together. It is a science fiction fantasy narrative depicting the members residing in an alternate universe and traveling between three worlds located on a Möbius strip. The first is Earth, the second is a middle realm between Earth and the Cosmos, and the last is an utopian world called "Eden." Much of the Loonaverse storyline is intentionally open-ended, resulting in an active community of fans analyzing the content to uncover deeper meanings and construct elaborate fan theories.
A common primer to the "LOONA lore" is the LOONAverse Basics video series by Loominosity.
 
== Fanworks ==
=== Fan Albums ===
:: See List of LOONA Fan Albums
Another popular trend in the fandom is the creation of fan albums and songs inspired by LOONA's music. These can be completely original songs, instrumentals, or remixes. The most well-known 'Orbit Producers' are JENMUSIC and ZSunder. The latter of whom likely popularised the trend. ZSunder is a Filipino music producer who created various remix albums and purely original music that attempted to emulate the "LOONA sound". 
Some examples of fan albums -
* orbitverse - In 2019, over twenty-eight fans would collaborate on the album titled "orbitverse". This album was made to celebrate the group's anniversary and consists of fourteen completely original songs, inspired by LOONA.
* moon&me - Released in 2020 by JenOrbit, described as "a visual series soundtrack for a LOONA X Netflix fictional collaboration" and is part of the "LOONAVERSE Original Series".
There are also several unreleased LOONA songs that have been teased or hinted towards. For example, the album "La Maison LOONA", which was indefinitely delayed, and a teaser for the song "BURN". From these snippets, fans have recreated the songs in full, whenever by piercing teasers together, or by providing new instrumental (see BURN).
=== Fanzines ===
Zines are not common, though a few exist. There is also a trend to create fanbooks for the members to celebrate their birthdays. 
Some zines include:
* Midnight Oracle (2023)
* Asterism (2020)
* WANDERLOONA (2020)
* Moonstruck (2020)
* 12X12 (KR) (달페스 웹진) (2019)
* Prismatic (cancelled) 
===Fanart===
 
File:Chuu Heart Attack (hanavbara).jpg|by hanavbara (2018)Chuu in an "90s anime style" based upon the "Heart Attack" music videoTumblr post by hanavbara. 30th March 2023. They redrew this artwork in 2022, see here.
File:Space - Orbitverse cover art.png|by Gress/hyyluv (2019)The art for the fan song "s p a c e" from the album orbitverse.
=== Fancomics ===
* 12MOON
* Eden's Moon
== Resources ==
=== Wikis ===
* LOOΠΔ Wiki - A FANDOM-hosted wiki on LOONA.
* LOONATheWiki - a fork of the FANDOM wiki hosted on Miraheze from 2024, intended to host additional projects like 'LOONAtheMessages', an archive of all messages sent by LOONA on messaging apps like Fromm.
=== Documentaries ===
* The Avengers of Kpop: A Story of LOONA - A 2019 fan-made documentary on LOONA. Now outdated, but at time time, was frequently recommended to new fans as the quintessential guide to LOONA, covering the their lore, fandom, music, concept and more.
==References==
Category:LOONA