We Went to the Play Line Friends x NewJeans Megamall Pop-Up to Hunt for Merch (Under P500)

(SPOT.ph) The Play Line Friends x NewJeans collab has officially arrived in the Philippines! They've set up shop at Megamall in Ortigas, so bunnies,  you know what that means: We had to go check it out for ourselves. And as, admittedly, casual fans, we were looking to keep from burning holes in our wallets—hence the budget we set. But were we able to keep to it, with all the cute things around, and with the voices (and  visuals) of Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein in the store? Spoiler alert: we girl-mathed our way out of it. 

Also read: SPOT.ph Roundup: Dance Studios in Metro Manila for K-Pop Lessons

Everything you should know about the Play Line Friends x NWJNS Pop-Up store

The Play Line Friends pop-up opened on Saturday, September 23, and they'll be there all the way until December 23. Yup, they're ready for your Q4 Christmas shopping—the earlier, the better, we'd say. The store carries adorable characters from different IPs including LINE FRIENDS, BT21 and TRUZ. Don't worry though, the NewJeans collab definitely has the spotlight.

We headed on up to the fifth floor of Megamall's Fashion Hall. Right at a little corner space across the ice-skating rink was what we'd been looking for: shelves and displays full of keyrings, photo albums, phone grips sticker packs, phone cases, shirts, heck, even mouse pads, and a whole lot more in the shapes and colors of everything NewJeans. Need an instant serotonin booth? Just looking at the cool display wall they had outside the store was enough to get us on that little high remembering your bias exists (and having solid proof right in front of you) typically induces.

So back to our mission. Thankfully, there were boards right outside the store displaying what merch was currently available, what was coming, and thank the heavens, their prices.

The NewJeans collab has merch based on the Get Up EP, featuring "bunini." Remember TOKKA, their bunny mascot, and the "minini" IP series that popped up in the "ASAP" music video? That's the vibe. We also spotted merch that called back to the nostalgic Powerpuff Girls look. For what is relatively a rookie group—they technically didn't even exist pre-Lockdown Era—there's no denying their impact. And yep, the merch backs up the hype. 

Walking in, you'll see a display wall on one side that'll make you want to take the whole thing home and put up in your own room. We spotted lots of bunini plushies and baseball caps, too, but we solidly went to the shelves to look for our friendly price-tagged prize. So here's what we saw.

Play Line Friends x NewJeans Merch

So, did we succeed? No. But we did fail happily. We didn't go as hard as we could have, and some of the items we bought will make it to friends and family as gifts, so yay, it totally counts. The pop-up is on a strict one SKU per buyer, and that's totally cool with us, because we'll definitely be coming back, ASAP baby, to check out new arrivals and old faves (ideally with a budget in mind).