Why NCT Fans Are Buying Another Group’s Merch

One of the best parts of being a K-Pop fan is the tons of cute and fun merchandise produced by companies. While things like lightsticks are standard across most fandoms, each group are able to have their own special merch that sometimes the members even design.

NCT are one of the groups with the most arguably plentiful merch and even have had collaborations with worldwide brands like Sanrio.

In spite of this, NCT fans are flocking to purchase the merchandise of another K-Pop group for a seriously hilarious reason.

Recently, Stray Kids made their comeback with “Case 143,” the group’s first title track about love. In the music video for the track, there were several small heart-shaped creatures that ran around and interacted with the group, the most popular being Heart Tung, or Pipi as fans have lovingly called it.

Stray Kids with Heart Tung or Pipi | *@Stray_Kids*/*Twitter*

The small creatures are so popular that JYP Entertainment introduced two small plush versions for fans to purchase, Heart Tung and Heart Taeng. The members of Stray Kids have even been spotted with their own plushes!

STAYs were very excited to purchase, but NCTzens also began buying Heart Taeng because of its similarity to NCT’s Mark Lee!

Before the hearts were given their official names, some fans referred to the two as Pipi and “Mark Lee Pipi.” This is because the green creature bore a strong resemblance to Mark during one part of NCT Dream’s “Hello Future” music video, down to the similarly shaped sunglasses and “antenna.”

THE HEARTS NAMES ARE TUNG AND TAENG?!,?,? YOURE TELLING ME ITS NOT PIPI AND MARK LEE PIPI?!,!, pic.twitter.com/ilPVECK8uw

— Indi 🍀 IS SEEING SKZ 21.02.23⤮ (@changbinschair) November 7, 2022

Fans even jokingly insist that they will still call the creatures Pipi and “Mark Lee Pipi” despite the official names that have been given to them.

Unacceptable
That's pipi and mark lee https://t.co/0OetAu0qoj

— Clown 🤡 🧷 (@iatemywifee) November 7, 2022

i don’t care what yalls say. pipi and mark lee are it’s names, not “heart tung and heart taeng”#Straykids #MAMAVOTE pic.twitter.com/f6QKhh2wZb

— ᴍɪᴀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴄɪʟ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇʀ ❄︎ (@_grannymia) November 7, 2022

Heart Tung and Heart Tang are currently up for preorder online. While this was unexpected, it is a true win for multi-fans who can have a single piece of merch represent two of their favorite groups if they choose to see it that way!

Check out more interesting K-Pop merchandise below!