Last week, EXO fans were shocked to hear that SM Entertainment was giving the group an official fanclub. What was so surprising about this fact was that the group's fanclub would be named "EXO-L," while fans had been calling themselves "Exotics" even prior to the group's formal debut.

The meaning behind EXO-L is very heartwarming, making EXO's fans the third group that fits between EXO-K and EXO-M.

However, it's worth wondering why SM Entertainment didn't go with the already accepted fanclub name. EXO-L has opened the group up to a lot of criticism, with people calling it "Exo-Loser" or "Excel," or pointing out that INFINITE (under SM C&C) has a member named L.

In addition, it turns out that "Exol" is a brand of condoms, which means that SM Entertainment really didn't do so much fact checking.

Fans are also criticizing SM for not opening up f(x)'s fanclub first, as well as allowing people to join EXO-L entirely for free, while most other fanclubs in Korea have a cost to them.

But, problems aside, it's still shocking that SM Entertainment ignored the fans' wish to be "exotic." While it is possible that SM Entertainment wasn't aware of the fan-made fanclub name, Exotic is one of the first things that appears on Naver and Daum when you type "EXO," in both Korean and English.

This leads to the question of why SM Entertainment would pick a different name. One possible answer is that EXO's fans, ever since the group debuted, have been causing problems.

K-Pop fans in general are very passionate, but EXO's fans have been more harm than good. There have been instances of fans banned from Korean music shows, due to the fact that they disobey the rules of the venues.

Fans have also called for Baekhyun to leave EXO, once it turned out that he was dating Girls' Generation's Taeyeon.

In short, while other idol groups have very fervent fans, the term "Exotic" has come to mean a passionate, almost over passionate fan of EXO.

By choosing a different name for the fanclub, SM Entertainment may be signaling a break, as if trying to say "EXO's fans are now entering a new state, where they are part of EXO and will support the group in every which way, rather than cause problems."

SM may be signaling that it recognizes that EXO's fans are out of hand and, while it is good to have a large fanbase, this is SM Entertainment's attempt to reign everything in by making it clear that it is SM, not the fans, that calls the shots.

EXO-L may not be the most intriguing SM Entertainment fanclub name (TVXQ's fanclub Cassiopeia has that cornered,) but EXO-L has already registered over 1 million fans. It is unlikely that the name change will affect EXO's fans' actions, but it is worth looking at why exactly SM Entertainment broke from the "official" unofficial fanclub name. 

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The thoughts expressed above are those of the writer and do not reflect the opinions of KpopStarz.