‘Growling tigers yern?’: Seventeen as ‘Thomasians’ trend on social media as allkpop uploads fanmade photo as a banner
A fan-made photo edit of Seventeen “wearing” shirts with a logo of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) has caught the attention of Pinoy fans online after K-pop news site allkpop used it as a banner in one of their articles.
The allkpop article, which was uploaded on Mar. 17, talks about the K-pop boy group gearing up for a comeback in May 2022. The story now has over 14,000 views, as of this writing.
But it was when allkpop pushed the article on its social media platforms that it gained more attention among Pinoy netizens. The Facebook post now has over 11,000 reactions, 1,500 comments, and 5,000 shares.
“GO USTE,” UST Civil Law assistant professor Kenneth Manuel, a bar topnotcher in 2019, wrote in the comments.
One netizen, meanwhile, said in jest, “SAY THE NAME! GO USTE, SEVENTEEN!!! haha,” in an apparent reference to the boy group’s opening greeting.
Another netizen wrote, “bwisit ka allkpop hahahhahaahhahahahahhahahaha growling tigers yern?!”
On the other hand, the article’s Twitter push drew over 13,000 likes, 7,000 quote retweets, and 2,000 retweets, as of this writing.
[UCC] #SEVENTEEN's comeback will be on their debut day anniversary? https://t.co/OxZ2SJmFCL
— allkpop (@allkpop) March 17, 2022
Twitter user @sebongscarrot wondered how the edited photo managed to slip through.
didn't even expect anything, how on earth didn't they notice that this is an edited photo
— gim • bukchigi bakchigi bak bak bak (@sebongscarrot) March 17, 2022
@talranghae wrote, “You did not even [credit] the editor of this pic. Go USTE hahahah jusko SANA OKAY LANG PO TAYO ANO PO?”
Lmao allkpop, you did not even credited the editor of this pic. Go USTE hahahah jusko SANA OKAY LANG PO TAYO ANO PO? 😂
— tala ✨ (@talranghae) March 17, 2022
‘Tawa lang ako nang tawa.’
Pami, the owner of the photo who requested to withhold her real name for privacy, told PhilSTAR L!fe that she was “super shocked” when she saw allkpop’s article on social media—although she found the incident to be “funny.”
“Super gulat and tuwa and medyo kinabahan kasi baka mamaya may ma-offend or something. Unexpected talaga,” Pami said, adding that she was barely able to sleep because of the retweets and replies.
Pami shared that she edited the fanmade photo before “for fun” at a time when she was experiencing academic burnout. The inspiration behind the photo was imagining Seventeen as Filipino college students studying in the country’s top universities.
“Gusto ko lang pa-kiligin mutuals ko especially my close friends here sa stan Twitter para naman kiligin sila while doing acads,” Pami said.
The Seventeen fangirl added that K-pop idol Hoshi was also the inspiration behind the photo because of his love for tigers—a reference to the UST Growling Tigers.
Pami, however, is hoping that the platform should have exercised due diligence first before using her edited photo.
“Minsan kasi kami pa ‘yung mapapahamak kung may fake news silang ilalabas. Ang gusto lang naman namin ay magpasaya ng filo fans,” Pami said.
PhilSTAR L!fe has reached out to allkpop for a comment but hasn’t responded, as of this writing.
Seventeen is a 13-member boy group that debuted in May 2015 under Pledis Entertainment. The group is composed of the following members: S.coups, Wonwoo, Mingyu, Vernon, Woozi, Jeonghan, Joshua, DK, Seungkwan, Hoshi, Jun, The8, and Dino.