T1 continues the “idolization” of players amidst the drama
It’s no secret to the League of Legends community that T1 is one of the pioneering teams in “Kpop-izing” players. The players themselves, like Faker and Gumayusi, frequently engage in fan service activities. However, a recent move by T1 has left their fans in shock.
Specifically, T1 has officially launched a standalone lightstick, no longer just a “freebie” like before. The LCK community reports that this lightstick has been produced for T1 by HYBE. And HYBE is no stranger, as it is the management company behind famous Kpop idols like BTS and NewJeans…
However, the price for this new lightstick has outraged many. Specifically, these lightsticks are priced at 75k won (approximately 1.3 million VND). This figure has been confirmed by Korean fans to be more expensive than many famous Kpop groups, such as BTS (around 33k won) and NewJeans (49k won). These prices do not include shipping costs to Vietnam.
The audience is also outraged with T1
In reality, it’s not unusual for a League of Legends team in Korea to create a lightstick. However, the price is leaving many T1 fans perplexed. These lightsticks may indeed be of high quality. But according to one fan: “While NewJeans’ lightsticks come with a corner card, T1’s comes with nothing.”
The “idolization” of players is something that almost all LCK (and LPL) teams are pursuing, and T1 is the most active in this. However, this has also sparked considerable controversy, especially recently following the drama surrounding Zeus, followed by the incident involving Gumayusi and now T1’s “sky-high” lightstick pricing.