YMMV / NCT

• And You Thought It Would Fail: Many K-pop fans assumed that NCT would flop due to their confusing concept of limitless members and divided sub-units. While a lot of people are indeed being held back from getting into the group for this very reason, NCT still managed to become one of the most successful K-pop acts today, both domestically and internationally.
• Audience-Alienating Era: NCT 2020 was their most successful full-group project so far, but it was also the same era where multiple members' politically incorrect and problematic behaviors went viral on social media. As majority of the K-pop fandom are Moral Guardians, it doesn't come as a surprise that some fans and casual listeners strayed from the group.
• Award Snub:
  • NCT 127's "Kick It" became their Signature Song, particularly for the Dance Sensation it started among other artists and the general public. With this, many fans expected the song to win the Best Male Dance Performance award at the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
  • And it happened again with NCT DREAM's "Hot Sauce" for the same category at the same award show.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: The Neo City – The Link world tour has made NCT 127's "Focus" quickly become known as "the song where Johnny strips and dances half-naked in the shower."
• Broken Base:
  • NCTzens with NCT's music, particularly their "noisy" title tracks. Some find the songs to be "too experimental", while some enjoy how unique NCT's music is. A notable example is NCT 127's "Sticker", featuring an interestingly-played flute. While some loved its quirk, others pretty much found it annoying.
  • Taeyong, one of the more popular members even as a trainee, was pretty controversial when NCT was about to debut after allegations of his bad behavior and online scamming in middle school hit the news. There was a faction dismissing his actions due to his age at the time, another faction who claims the allegations are false, and a third faction who were disappointed and believed he should be held responsible.
  • Jaehyun's Itaewon Scandal. After he was revealed to have bar-hopped in Itaewon during the early months of COVID-19, both fans and the general public highly criticized him. It led to his Audience-Alienating Era: his own fans trashed his merchandises, sent death threats to his family, and harassed him on his Instagram account to the point that he became inactive on social media for a few months. Other fans immediately came to his defense, explaining that some parts of the reports regarding his scandal were false and exaggerated. Despite the controversy, however, Jaehyun remains as one of the most popular members of the group.
  • Sungchan and Shotaro departing from NCT to join RIIZE caused a huge division among the fandom. One group was dismayed because they expected them to be part of the Japan sub-unit given that they stayed in NCT for 3 years without being a part of any sub-unit and found their departure to be a huge loss. Other fans were fine about it because they, just like the other NCT members (e.g. Winwin, Kun, Yuta), were severely neglected by SM Entertainment as they weren't given much activity aside from NCT U comebacks and found their departure to be a blessing in disguise because they looked much happier when they were in RIIZE.
• Cult Classic: "The 7th Sense" was not a commercial success at all, but with NCT's growing popularity comes the retrospective that it is actually one of the best debut songs in K-pop.
• Even Better Sequel: Fans claim that Sticker is a much better album than the already-excellent Neo Zone. Then 2 Baddies came out, and some argue that it's even better than the former two albums.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: One famous misconception about NCT is that they make terrible music. While some of their singles may be critically polarizing, most of their songs are actually praised and well-received. This generalization is usually a case of Hate Dom and Opinion Flip Flop on the internet, which makes this trope justifiable knowing that their bad music reputation stems from bandwagon hating and not actual critiques.
• Fandom Rivalry: NCTzens with one another. Examples are:
  • 127zens vs. Dreamzens: It makes sense since they are the two most successful sub-units, and their respective fandoms comparing their achievements is unavoidable. Some of their arguments stem from which sub-unit Mark and Haechan are better with, though.
  • A member's subfandom vs. another member's subfandom^note Not to be confused with solo stans, who idolize ONLY ONE member and are not interested in anybody else in the band. There is also an "akgae", which refers to solo stans who actively hate on the other members. Either are part of subfandoms, though, and akgaes are usually the ones stirring up fanwars with other subfandoms.
  • Solo stans/akgaes vs. group fans: NCT is a music group. Why do you think group fans question the existence of solo stans/akgaes in the first place?
• Fan Nickname:
  • All NCT members: The Neos
  • NCT 127: Ilichil^note Korean for 127 / Urichil^note Korean for "Our 127"
  • NCT DREAM: Dreamies
  • Taeyong: TY, or TY Track
  • Yuta: Osaka Prince or Japanese Prince
  • Doyoung: Bunny rabbit
  • Kun: Kun-ge/older brother Kun
  • Jaehyun: Valentine boy and Jamal^note An Indonesian name given to him as a one-time thing for an event, but he ended up liking it and it now doubles as a Self-Applied Nickname.
• Follow the Leader:
  • NCT U's "Boss" was so successful that the members^note Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jungwoo, Lucas, and Mark were reunited in 2020. They performed the side track "Volcano", which is an exact recreation of their 2018 hit single. Beat by beat, melody by melody.
  • Averted with "Baggy Jeans". The members for "The 7th Sense"–NCT U's critically acclaimed debut single–reunited in 2023 with a song that sounds nothing like their first one.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • There is an overlap of the NCT fanbase with the fanbases of other SM boy groups such as Shinee and EXO. It helps that the NCT members are also fans of these groups and consider them as their role models. It even gets better when SuperM (a collaborative boy band composed of four NCT members, two EXO members, and one Shinee member) was formed which merged the fanbases together and helped introduce them to the other groups.
  • NCT fanbase also overlaps with the RIIZE fanbase due to the two previous NCT members, Sungchan and Shotaro. Some fans even considered RIIZE as another NCT subunit despite the different concept.
• Genre Shift: NCT DOJAEJUNG are known for their vocals-based R&B music and sensual concept, unlike the experimental hip-hop and rap-focused music of their main unit.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: NCT 127 is the most popular subunit among American fans, since their concept and music are mostly based on Hip-hop and R&B. Also, they have 3 members who are fluent in English and have lived in the U.S., which gives them easier connection to Western fans.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In NCT 127 x Just Dance 2021, Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo are teamed up together for the Just Dance 2021 challenge where they danced to their group's song, "Kick It", which they lost. Fast forward to 2023, and they ended up forming a sub-unit.
• Ho Yay:
  • Jeno surprising Jaemin with a sweet letter on an LED billboard, while they sit together alone in the dark like a couple on a late-night date. One would think it's a marriage proposal.
  • Taeil explicitly calling Doyoung and Jaehyun gay.
  Doyoung (to Jaehyun): Inside my mind, there is nothing but you.
  Taeil: Ah! You two are gays!
  • Ten leaving a sticky note letter to Johnny that says: "I wanna have xxxx with you."
  • Yuta was Winwin's roommate when they were trainees and is constantly praising how cute Winwin is. He has introduced himself in one video as "the person who loves Winwin", wrote on his whiteboard that he loves Winwin in Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and English, has said he gets upset when Winwin doesn't watch anime with him during an episode of Nimdle, and has even kissed him on the ear in an episode of their reality show, NCT Life in Osaka.
  • The group's online variety show "It's Awkward But It's Ok" is basically a blind date.
  • Jaehyun and Jungwoo saying that Doyoung and Taeyong look good together and should get married.
  • Basically everything that Jaehyun and Taeyong do together.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • The case for most of NCT 127's "noisy" title tracks like "Kick It", "Punch", and "2 Baddies". Especially with the fact that even with the polarized critical reception, the group continues to release and embrace noise music, and critics are not exactly so fond of this.
  • Taeyong's solo debut was met with much anticipation as it was the first solo album by an NCT member. Cue the release of "Shalala", and people claim it's just like any other NCT title track.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Jaehyun gets paired with everyone, even with idols from other groups.
  • His most popular ships within NCT cause Ship-to-Ship Combat, namely Jaeyong^note with Taeyong, Dojae^note with Doyoung, Jaewoo^note with Jungwoo, and Jaeren^note with Renjun.
• Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
• Moe: NCT DREAM's youthful and bubbly concept won the hearts of many and endeared them to their music.
• Narm: Johnny's opening English monlogue in NCT 2021's "Beautiful".
  You're the most important person in your life
  So, be yourself... Be beautiful.
• No Budget: Averted following SM Entertainment's reconstruction in early 2023. The increase in budget is most obvious in the teasers, promotions, and music videos for NCT DOJAEJUNG's "Perfume", NCT DREAM's "ISTJ", and NCT 127's "Fact Check".
• Older Than They Think: NCT isn't the first to have the graduation and rotational concept. Super Junior was the first who were supposed to have this concept and they were initially promoted as "Super Junior '05". But after adding Kyuhyun to the group in 2006, SM Entertainment abandoned the concept because they realized fans are very attached to the members and don't want them to leave. In the end, Super Junior became a fixed group just like what had happened to NCT Dream 14 years later.
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • Jaeyong^note Jaehyun and Taeyong
  • Nomin^note Jeno and Jaemin
  • Johnten^note Johnny and Ten
  • Mahae or Markhyuck^note Mark and Haechan. The latter's real name is Donghyuck, hence the second ship name.
• Signature Song: "Black On Black" for the entire NCT brand, but in terms of sub-units:
  • "Kick It" for NCT 127.
  • "Hot Sauce" or "Hello Future" for NCT DREAM.
  • "Love Talk" for WayV.
• So Bad, It's Good: "Sticker" is ridiculed and criticized for the out-of-tune flute that plays throughout the whole song, but NCT 127's vocal performance is so good that everyone claims no other K-pop group would have been able to pull off a song this bad.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song:
  • Before its release, NCT DREAM's "Hello Future" was teased with an instrumental snippet that was mocked on the internet for being assumed as just another noisy NCT song. Until it was released...
  • The vocals-based pop ballad "Beautiful" as compared to the performance-based hip-hop "Black On Black" and the EDM mash-up "Resonance".
• Win Back the Crowd: NCT actually started with well-received music: "The 7th Sense", "Chewing Gum", and "Limitless". Over time, the group (or NCT 127, specifically) found their own sound through experimental hip-hop, which resulted to quite a bit of bad music reputation in the court of internet opinion. That's all until NCT DOJAEJUNG's debut single "Perfume"; even non fans who openly criticize NCT's music admit that this song could be the best K-pop release of 2023.
  • Not only the song, but the entire Perfume album itself is widely praised by both fans and non fans.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: When they dress themselves they're fine, but the stage costumes, especially for NCT 127 were...
  • Not just their stage costumes; M.I.L.F. Hunter Winwin comes to mind...
  • Chenle's hairstyle for "Boom" MV.
  • Yuta's hair from the first part of "Firetruck" era.
  • The "Punch" outfits for 127 are rather... BDSM-ish, especially Taeyong's harness.
  • The styling for "Make A Wish (Birthday Song)" gained notoriety for appropriating the Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures, as well as the Muslim religion. The stylist even admitted to purposely making Taeyong wear a turban because "it fits the concept."
    • The concept is based on Disney's Aladdin, which in turn is a case of Racial Face Blindness itself.
  • NCT U's outfits for "Baggy Jeans". The first five members of NCT reunited after seven years, perhaps their stylists wanted something reminiscent of their rookie days?

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