Broken Base: Has happened several times within the fandom, especially in regards to changes in member line-ups.
Kibum's presence (or lack of it). There was also his fanmeeting in Thailand in 2013, where he was presented as "Actor Kim Kibum", instead of "Super Junior Kim Kibum". Some fans were excited for having him again in the limelight, while others were enraged at the title (which created more questions about his actual status relating to the band).
Kangin's scruffles with the law which either got him more support from fans or hate or loss of respect from others.
Hankyung's lawsuit - some fans (and the public) call him a traitor, others support him for fighting for his freedom.
There's certain groups within the fandom called "13elieve" (supporting only 13 members of the group) who will hate on Henry and Zhoumi any time they show success or even do as much as breathe, those who support all 15... It's a very polarizing fandom.
Another example of this has been with the debut by Super Junior's record company of boy band EXO, which has 12 members - half of which promote in China. Comparisons are constantly drawn, with parts of the fandom quite bitter about the amount of money spent on EXO while Super Junior's last four music videos have been basically the same, set and costume-wise, and other parts of the fandom jumping ship to pay attention to EXO instead.
Sungmin's announcement of his engagement and wedding. Aside for the predictably amount of jealous fangirls (also reported that many sites for Sungmin got closed after the news), it's also rumoured that even Sungmin's parents and some of the members were not cool with this. Also, there're other fans who fully support Sungmin's decision of tying the knot.
The 2017 comeback had only half of the groupnote Ryeowook and Kyuhyun are in their military service, Sungmin opted to not participate because of his problems with the Korean fans, Kangin had another DUI, and Siwon was still under the problem with his dog killing a person. While the group was welcomed by the fans, the base is still divided on the absence of Sungmin, Kangin and Siwon.
After Super Junior released two collaborations with Latin Pop artists Leslie Grace and Reik, the fandom was divided once again.
Some fans, especially Korean fans, have criticized the group’s incursion into Latinamerica for many reasons, while others, especially the Latin Fans, applaud them for dedicating their new focus on them, considering that their biggest fanbase are from Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Chile.
Fans are divided on which version of Lo Siento is better, between Leslie (who has great chemistry with the group on stage, but isn’t as skilled in dancing), or KARD (both girls sing and dance great, but some fans feel the lack of chemistry on stage because of their lack of eye contact)
Replay and One More Time have been hit with mixed reception from the fan community. Korean ELF hasn’t supported the albums, while Western fans have expressed full support, even placing both themes in the Latin charts.
Sungmin and Sweet Pumpkins. There's a sketch of Sungmin finding a Sweet Pumpkin on the street and, instead of picking it, he hides it by sitting on it (and it also happens that he was wearing a big tulle skirt for no reason).
Eunhyuk and Strawberry Milk
Yesung and Coffee
Recently with the MAMACITA video, Kangin and Watermelon. In the MV, Kangin's character was cuddling a watermelon. When Leeteuk bumps into him and the watermellon breaks, Kangin throws a tantrum, cries andswears revenge on the thief.
Also Heechul had this to say about Kangin:
Heechul: I want to say that Kangin looks so well in the fruit seller. lol. He likes to eat watermelon, so he eats that even in winter by getting if from somewhere. ^^
Ryeowook's role as the spastic student council vice-president in the band's Affectionate Parody movie "Attack on the Pin-Up Boys" was a fan favorite and actually won him both praise from movie critics and nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Comedic Performance at the Korean Movie Awards.
In a minor level, their manager Kim Junghoon, also has his own following as he's good looking and looks like the boys' big brother. He even was nicknamed "Prince Manager" and had his own fan signs.
Inside the group, the most popular pairings are Kangteuk, Eunhae, Yewook and Kyumin (followed by Qmi).
Eunhae is an extreme case of this. They have always been close since their debut and the fans ship them, some of the members ship them, even Eunhyuk's dad once said that he was an Eunhae fan. If you see a Siwon and Donghae picture of them acting rather close, don't be surprised if instead of Sihae comments, you see comments like "Donghae ah, Eunhyuk will get jealous!" Doesn't help that they even got their own D&E sub-unit and sometimes seem to even ship themselves. Not that anybody is complaining, though.
Recently it's becoming quite popular Henry/Amber, especially with their collab for the song 1-4-3 (code for "I love you"), and many photos they take together going to dinner or the gym.
Foe Yay Shipping: Sungmin/Heechul would bicker A LOT and both are shown to have very awkward tension on camera, and still they fueled the shipping with their Concert Kiss.
Genius Bonus: SPY was launched the same year the James Bond franchise's 50th anniversary.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Henry and Zhou Mi are not popular in Korea, though they have gained more popularity with their solo activities. However, they're two of the more popular members in North America.
Super Junior has a very large fanbase in South America, to the point they made their concert tours twice in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Peru. They also has a large fanbase in Indonesia, partly for being one of the first bands to kick-start the K-Pop boom and Hallyu wave in that country.
During the Explorers of the Human Body program, the members pranked Eunhyuk and Ryeowook to make them cry tears of genuine sadness. They did this by pretending to start a fight over Shindong leaving the group to pursue a hosting career. After the fiasco had ended, Kangin said "we must never let this happen in the future," "this" being the breakup of the group. Fast-forward to 2011—Kangin ended up taking early military service after his drunken assault (but has since then returned), Han Geng sued their label and went back to China to start a solo career, and Kibum hasn't been seen anywhere since Sorry, Sorry. Han Geng has not waved off the possibility of a reunion, however, with the issue lying with SM.
Also during EHB, in episode 5 "Laughter", Leeteuk attempted to tell a lame joke by saying that the world will end in 2020, but the professor who could stop it fell in 2019. Considering that 2020 was the start of a global pandemic which as of the time of this writing (August 2021) is still getting worse and showing no signs of slowing down, this joke really didn't age well.
Photoshopping anyone in a weird pose to a different background.
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: For Lo Siento, the official version features Dominican-American singer Leslie Grace, sung in Spanish, Korean and English, but the version promoted in South Korea is the one featuring KARD instead, sung in English and Korean. The version with Leslie Grace is so strong in Latinamerica that has gained the recognition of being the first Kpop song to enter the Latin Billboards.
Portmanteau Couple Name: In a group of thirteen to fifteen men with a possibility of 105 pairings (not even going into the threesomes), this is inevitable. Examples include Kangteuk, Hanchul, and Eunhae.
The members are well aware of this, particularly Eeteuk+Kangin and Eunhyuk+Donghae, and insist on playing it up.
Heechul has admitted to reading fanfics about him. Specifically, Slash Fic of him and Han Geng, who he apparently can't look at the same after. Later on, he also wrote a Teukchul fanfiction.
Eunhyuk enjoys KangTeuk fics, especially ones where they have children.
A fan wrote in a question to a radio station asking Yesung if he had ever read fanfics, and how he felt about them. His reply (translated): "I've read once. But why?! Why?! Why is it about the relationships between our members?...Why always me dating Ryeowookie?"
Ships That Pass in the Night: Another unusual couple in fandom, besides the crack pairs, is "2jin", which stands for Jongjin and Sungjin, Yesung's an Sungmin's younger brothers. Helps fueling the shipping the fact that both are cute as well and seem to be good friends also. This is also subverted, since both of them knew each other from their brothers' family reunions.
Signature Song: "Sorry, Sorry." Apologies made in the same manner in spoken conversation often invite a Super Junior reference, even amongst non K-pop fans.
In the movie, the prospect of being attacked with poop.
Also lampshaded in-universe by Donghae, who asks Kibum if he had to crap inside the bag. Then we find out Kibum also got his ammunition from the Panda.
Take That!: The inclusion of M's Perfection on the fifth album as a bonus track (a song that heavily features Henry and Zhou Mi) looks to be a shot at the Only 13 portion of their fan club.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: This is a reason for the fanbase's adament hatred for the idea of returning Super Junior's concept to a rotational group, a la Morning Musume. They don't want new members to join and they don't want old members to leave. And then came Henry and Zhou Mi.
Super Junior's reputation over the years has been tainted by certain members' expressions of misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, and racism. Interestingly, felt points out that an extra layer of Values Dissonance applies not just to them but the era of the idol industry they come from, in which idols were expected to stay apolitical. Super Junior originally broke that mold with displays of irreverence for protocol, which initially came off as part of the group's humor, but this lack of knowing when to shut up has also hurt the group in the long run.
Although Shindong's even been called out by Korean fans for acting like a moron on an awards show (going behind winner IU and making stupid faces even after someone tried to pull him back - twice◊!), and commenting that women should be skinny and take care of themselves.
There's also values dissonance on the part of the fandom - Shindong was revealed to have had plastic surgery, and pretty much the entire SJ fandom cooed over it - a far cry from how they treat female idols who admit to it! (To be fair, female k-pop idols have far more rigid standards than male.)
Die for Our Ship: Expect to find at least one fanfic where Jessica or one of their girlfriends are written as the villains.
Averted for Nari, Shindong's (now ex) girlfriend though. She is always his love interest in almost all fanfics. This might be because Shindong is the only one to not be widely paired with anyone in the group and the fans find his and Nari's relationship endearing.
Flanderization: For most of the fanfic writers Leeteuk is the Team Mom, Heechul is the narcissist, Hangeng is the Funny Foreigner, Yesung is the awkward oddball, Kangin is obsessed with Leeteuk, Sungmin is sickeningly sweet, Shindong is Fat, Eunhyuk is the Butt-Monkey, Donghae is the adorkableCloud Cuckoo Lander, Siwon is Christian, Ryeowook is sweet, Kyuhyun is the Mouthy Kid, Zhoumi is girly and Henry is... Canadian.
Real-Person Fic: Most of the fics online are about the band when they aren't working or appearing on the media (including news or other reality shows appearances), and a big amount of them have no plot at all.
Ronthe Death Eater: Some fics will make another member into a Jerkass to fill in an antagonistic role. Members of other groups are affected by this as well.
. Aside for the predictably amount of jealous fangirls (also reported that many sites for Sungmin got closed after the news), it's also rumoured that even Sungmin's parents and some of the members were not cool with this. Also, there're other fans who fully support Sungmin's decision of tying the knot.
