#K-pop creators produce | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

duckprintspress · 1 month

Text

Fandom Lexicon: B

Last week, we debuted our long-in-the-works Fandom Lexicon by sharing the terms we’ve currently got logged under the letter “A.” We got a few suggestions and updated it, and now we’re back with the second installment. Let us know if you spot anything we’ve erred on or any terms we’ve missed that you think should be included!

Note: future updates will not update this blog post, but will update the main Lexicon page in our webpage Resources.

Lexicon Terms Beginning with B (read more!)

Babygirl: A term used to refer to an adult character, almost always a cisgender man, that the speaker thinks is cute despite (or perhaps because) of questionable and/or pathetic behavior. Read more about the term “babygirl.”

Baihe: Baihe is the Chinese term for wlw books.

Bang Path: Refers to when an exclamation point is used to separate a character’s name from a defining trait, usually (but not exclusively) when referring to different versions of a character. Example: Florist!Kirk or Human!Castiel. Originates from classic email structure where exclamation points were used to denote how a message should be routed. Read more about bang paths.

Bashing:1. Action: Hating on characters, people, media, or themes that one does not enjoy. 2. Photo bashing: Combining multiple reference photos to create one cohesive image

BB: Abbreviation, stands for “big bang.” See Big Bang.

BDSM: Abbreviation, stands for “bondage, domination, and sadomasochism.” An umbrella term for individuals who engage in bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism, and/or masochism in their lifestyles and/or community and/or platonic or sexual relationships. Read more about BDSM.

Bechdel Test: A test for assessing the extent to which women are represented in a work of fiction. The work passes the Bechdel test if 1) the work contains at least 2 women, 2) and the women talk to each other, 3) and their conversation is not about a man. First depicted in a 1985 comic called Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. Read more about the Bechdel test.

Beta: A secondary gender term used in works with Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics. While the specifics are up to the writer, betas are often characterized as lacking the physical and hormonal features that differentiate alphas and omegas from each other, thus making betas the closest to real life humans in terms of appearance, capability, and mentality. See Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics.

Beta Reader: Someone who provides feedback on a completed, but unpublished, written work. The particulars of what betas do depend on the individuals, but common tasks include providing feedback on plot, pacing, and characterization; cheerleading; proofreading; and editing for readabilty, consistency, and other issues. Read more about “beta reader” as a general term.

BF: Abbreviation, usually either for “boyfriend” or “best friend.”

Bias: In K-Pop fandoms, bias is a term that refers to a fan’s favorite idol from a given group. Read more about the term “bias.”

Bias Line: In K-Pop fandoms, having a “bias line” instead of only a “bias” refers to having multiple, joint favorite idols from the same group. See Bias.

Bias-Wrecker: In K-Pop fandoms, a bias-wrecker is a fan’s second-favorite idol, one they like so much that this second-favorite could supplant the favorite and therefore “wreck” the previous bias. See Bias.

Big Bang: A collaborative creation-oriented fandom event in which authors write fanfictions to fit a specified theme, typically no less than 10,000 words in length (events focused on shorter works are often referred to as mini-bangs); artists then choose the work they want to collaborate on through an anonymized claiming process and produce at least one but typically 2 or more pieces of art for that fic. The fic and art are then published and shared by the event runners and/or creators on a pre-scheduled day. Read more about big bangs.

Bingo: In fandom spaces, typically refers to a fandom event in which a “bingo card” is created with a different prompt in each square, and artists/writers/other creative types create things to meet those prompts. The creator gets to select which prompts they fill. They get a “bingo” if they manage a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of prompts, and a “blackout” if they make something for every prompt on the card. Typically creators are required to make something new and unique for each square, but the requirements for these creations are usually much less strict than for bangs (sketches and mini-fics versus fully completed art pieces and lengthy fics, for example.) Usually fandom bingos use 5 x 5 square grids (25 prompts total), though sometimes 3 x 3 (9 prompts total) or 4 x 4 (16 prompts total) are used instead. Read more about fandom bingos.

Bird App: A moniker for the social media platform formerly known as Twitter (now X).

Bishie: See Bishounen.

Bishie Vision: When a bishounen character is introduced in a Japanese anime or manga, they are often shown with flowers, sparkles, rainbows, or other diaphanous decorations around them. This is called “bishie vision.”

Bishounen: Bishounen is a Japanese term for an especially beautiful young man, often in shoujo or shounen-ai manga. Read more about bishounen.

BL: Abbreviation for “Boys’ Love.” See Boys’ Love.

Blacklist: Oxford dictionary: “a list of people or things that are regarded as unacceptable or untrustworthy and should be excluded or avoided.” Many websites and/or browser extensions offer blacklisting functionality that enables users to block out text that includes specific terms, hides posts that include those terms, etc. People use blacklists to avoid content they don’t wish to see for any reason.

Blorbo: A person’s favorite character. Originated as “blorbo from my shows,” from a post by Tumblr user thelustiestargonianmaid, but can be used to refer to characters from other media sources. The original post has been deleted. Read more about “blorbo.”

BMP(file format): Abbreviation for “bitmap.” An image file format.

BNF: Abbreviation for “Big Name Fan.” An individual who is well known within their fandom (and occasionally outside it). Read more about the term BNF.

Boff(-ing, -er): Boffing is a type of Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) where people use carefully constructed foam weapons to enact fights and battles. A boffer is a person who participates in boffing. Read more about boffing.

Boomer: Short for “baby boomer.” Use is almost always derogatory. Read more about the origin and use of “OK Boomer” as a meme.

Bottom: 1) The recipient of penetration. 2) The submissive in a D/s relationship. 3) In shibari, the person being tied up. These uses are often conflated but are not actually synonymous.

Boys’ Love. A Japanese manga genre focused on romantic relationships between male characters. Often abbreviated BL. Sometimes conflated with yaoi and/or shounen-ai, but also commonly used as a distinct and separate sub-genre. Read more about the BL genre.

BRB: Abbreviation for “Be Right Back.”

Britpick: Reading a written work that is set in the UK to check for linguistic and cultural references that someone in that setting would use and that may not be familiar to someone not from that setting. While [otherculture]pick terms are also in use, Britpick is the most common. For example, britpicking might flag spelling (e.g. color vs. colour) or language choices (e.g. vacuuming vs. hoovering). Read more about Britpicking.

BroTP: Abbreviation for “Bro True Pairing,” a humorous alteration of the term OTP, or “One True Pairing.” A platonic pairing between two characters. Canon sibling relationship not required, nor must the characters be male. See also OTP (below, pending).

BTS: Abbreviation for “behind the scenes”; can also refer to the K-Pop boy band Bangtan Boys. When not referring to the K-Pop band Bangtan Boys, BTS most often refers to “behind the scenes,” as in footage, images, recordings, and other material taken behind-the-scenes of a show, concert, movie, etc., showing the performers when they are not acting.

Burn: A specifically directed insult; the act of directing specific insults at a target.

BYI: Abbreviation for “before you interact.” On many social media platforms, people will include a “before you interact” statement in their profiles or on their Carrds, including information about what people should know and/or be okay with before they follow or interact with the person who wrote the BYI.

#duck prints press #fandom lexicon

7 notes · View notes

thelargefrye · 10 months

Text

˳ ׄ ཐིiཋྀ ⟡ — HUSBAND MONTAGE LORE.

THE ARTIST — an upcoming artist who often gets commissioned to do paintings. sometimes she will take jobs in illustrating children’s storybooks. is best known for illustrating the character “sharky” and his adventures on land. in 2024, she held her first gallery called “the stages of eve, psyche, and the bluebeard’s wife.”

NCT HER — mostly known in korea as being a part of sm’s group, nct, she is also well known in japan for her acting. going under the stage name nct her, she debuted in 2016 as a soloist and in the units nct u, nct dream, and eventually nct 127.

THE INDIE DEVELOPER — known for popular indie horror game turned franchise "odd eye club." she's been creating video games since she was a teenager in 2016 and continued to make them even into adulthood. "odd eye club" has been turned into a multimedia story that has gained a rather strong following since its release in 2018. in 2022, she created her own game publishing company called "freight punch" in order to help other indie game developers be recognized.

THE FASHION STUDENT — originally a fashion student studying in korea. she would be offer an opportunity to study at a high-end fashion school in tokyo for two years. after she graduates, she would return to korea and start a fashion brand called 'aera's' a few years later. ateez's yeosang is often seen wearing the brand and was also named as the face of it in 2027.

THE WANNABE AUTHOR — originally came to korea to study aboard, but fell in love with the place. she would eventually move back after graduating. she has always wanted to be an author and had been working on a novel for years before it was published. while staying in korea, she worked at kq ent. as a staff member for the creative director team. around 2025, she was assigned as a lead creator for kq's girl group, rookie.

THE WEBTOONIST — creator of the popular horror webtoon 'the red sun' which is known for its gory images and monsters. she is known as a homebody and is best known for the cat head mask she wears whenever she makes public appearances to hide her identity. in 2023, she started a new isekai webtoon series titled 'idealism' which has seemingly reached the same success as her previous webtoon.

GIDLE’S DAZZLING MEMBER — a member of the popular girl group gidle. she is the group's main dancer and lead vocalist. she earned her nickname "dazzling gem" from her members as she has been noted to be basically an ace in all departments of being an idol. she is also credited for creating the dances for some of her group's songs like "oh my god," "tomboy," and "queencard."

THE PRODUCER — known more professional as "princex," she has been producing and writing music since 2015. she has been credited for a lot of popular songs in k-pop. she is mostly known for creating the song "move" by taemin which is really what helped skyrocket her career. sometime in 2019, she would sign with kq entertainment as both a producer and artist. from here she would help create a lot of ateez's songs.

please note that anything here is subject to change as i continue to write for this au and the characters!

#husband montage.#ateez x reader #ateez imagines #ateez headcanons #ateez dad au #ateez blurbs

28 notes · View notes

disneytva · 1 year

Video

youtube

Disney Branded Television Lists Futurustic June 8th Premiere For Hailey’s On It! With Digital Album For June 9th And Disney+ Release Alongside Shorts For Summer.

Don't worry! Hailey's On It! She's here to save the world and the final task of the the list to save the future depends in one kiss! 📓✅🌴

“Hailey’s On It!,” an original animated comedy-adventure series from Disney Branded Television & Disney Television Animation, will premiere Thursday, June 8 (8:00 p.m. EDT/PDT), on Disney Channel, Disney XD and next day on Disney+.

From creators and executive producers Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton (”Phineas And Ferb”,”Shorty McShort Shorts: Mascot Prep”), the series, set in Oceanside, California, follows Hailey as she is pushed outside her comfort zone to discover the greatness that lies within. Whether she’s tackling every ride at the county fair, performing in a musical, reuniting a singing duo, or facing her ever-growing and complicated feelings toward her best friend Scott, Hailey is always encountering new challenges ― and more opportunities to conquer her fears.

Auli’i Cravalho (Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Moana”) stars in the title role as Hailey, a risk-averse but resourceful teenager on a mission to complete every item on her long list of challenging — and sometimes impractical — tasks in order to save the world. Starring alongside Cravalho is Manny Jacinto (“The Good Place”) as the voice of Scott, Hailey’s best friend, and Gary Anthony Williams (“Marvel Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur”) as the voice of Beta, an artificially intelligent operating system from the future. The series’ trailer was also released today.

Joining the cast in recurring roles are the following:

Cooper Andrews (“DC Shazam Fury Of Gods”) as Hailey’s dad, Kai

Julie Bowen (”DuckTales 2017”) as Hailey’s mom, Patricia

Josh Brener (“DuckTales 2017”,”101 Dalmatian Street”) as Hailey’s academic rival, A.C.

Sarah Chalke (Netflix Animation “Dogs In Space”) as high-energy scientist from the future The Professor

Nik Dodani (Walt Disney Animation Studios “Strange World”,Disney “The Owl House”) as Hailey’s classmate Thad

Judy Alice Lee (“He-Man and the Masters of the Universe”) as Scott’s younger sister, Becker

Amanda Leighton (”Amphibia Franchise”) as the most popular girl in school, Kristine

Joy Osmanski (The CW “Stargirl”) as Scott’s mom, Sunny

Nico Santos (“Tuca and Bertie”) as Hailey’s classmate, Jonathan

The star-studded guest cast includes Brian Jordan Alvarez (Univeral Studios “M3GAN”), Blake Anderson (“Dreamworks Animation Television Voltron: Legendary Defender”),Mick Foley (WWE World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famer),Jo Koy (”Live from the LA Forum”),Jack McBrayer (“Amphibia Franchise”,Wander Over Yonder”), Bebe Neuwirth (“Tick, Tick... Boom!”,Cartoon Network Studios “Over The Garden Wall”), Chris Parnell (“21st Jump Street”,“Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers”), Tim Robinson (“Big City Greens Franchise” “Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers”), Natasha Rothwell (Paramount Pictures “Sonic The Hedgedog Franchise”), Brandon Mychal Smith (Nickelodeon Animation Studios “Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”), Martin Starr (Marvel Studios “Spiderman” Franchise) and Weird Al Yankovic (”Milo Murphy’s Law”).

Additionally, several “Theme Song Takeover,” “Broken Karaoke”,”How NOT To Draw” and “Chibi Tiny Tales” shorts featuring characters from the series will begin rolling out in July on Disney Channel, Disney Channel YouTube, and DisneyNOW. Hailey,Scott & Beta will make apperances on Chibiverse Season slated for Fall 2023.

“Hailey’s On It!” features music from a cross-section of popular genres, from K-Pop to musical theater to pop-rock to EDM. A digital soundtrack with six original songs is set for release on June 9 on Walt Disney Records. Matthew Tishler (“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”) and Emmy Award-nominated Andrew Underberg (Nickelodeon Movies “The J Team”) are the series’ songwriters and composers.

Hailey’s On It! joins the ranks of DuckTales 2017,Big City Greens,Amphibia,The Ghost And Molly McGee,Hamster and Gretel,Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur & Kiff in getting official albums by Walt Disney Records.

#Hailey's On It #Hailey's On It!#Nick Stanton #Devin Bunje #Disney Channel

52 notes · View notes

worldsover · 3 months

Note

What if there was a K-pop based game? Not a Just Dance K-pop edition, but an actual game? What would the gameplay be like? Would you play or buy it? And who should be the first cover idol?

My idea is a RPG/Social Sim based on being a trainee. There would be an in-depth character creator (very important), or you could have your character based off an actual idol. You interact with fellow trainees, staff, producers, etc to build up relationships and open up. You manage your time between this and different types of training, maybe we can have like Warioware-style minigames for vocal/dance/rap/production training. And then in a similar vein, performances are the "battles" of the game, where it's like training but more difficult. Finally, it could culminate in either debut or a survival show, where the battles get even more difficult, and you have to start collecting a team, maybe based on the relationships you made earlier.

I'll pick Sakura as the first cover idol. When I think of popular and influential, as well as having gone through a long journey of change and improvement, I think of her. She's been on Produce 48 obviously, so that's another connection to the survival show aspect. Plus, I could probably get her to start uploading to her Youtube channel again if she's on the cover.

#asks #zeketheknight

16 notes · View notes

power-chords · 3 months

Note

out of curiosity, where are the Frankenstein references wrt Chris in Heat 2? I'm interested in Mann referencing that text in particular because 1) it cements Neil as his Creator/Father and you can get all kinds of freaky with that; but also 2) was there Gothic subtext this whole time and if so I can't believe I missed it!

It’s Mann so it’s all very oblique/metonymic/tongue-in-cheek, and nothing that would register on a first pass! It’s only once you start turning the text over repeatedly and engaging with these structural choices, and the tangle of associations in the negative space that is created by these choices — selection produces a far more extensive network of omission — that you realize you are dealing with a Text of Texts and no ordinary crime novel. I’ve discovered that by trying to render it visually/semantically through a more open and direct “haptics” of reading (if that makes sense), as opposed to being slavishly devoted to the film’s own pre-established lexicon and popular mythos and perpetually running it through that error-correction filter, it becomes a playground for these moments of recognition.

Anyway, the opening scene with Chris is delightful if you take it and run with it. Except in 1995 we don’t create the monster with thunderstorms from above, but flashing neon lights and K-pop from below. Intermittent strobes between slats of blinds is not exactly lightning bursts through a rickety wooden windmill, but it’s pretty close. He’s being patched up with gauze dressings, sporting an angry wound with crude stitches, lurching up from a bed, his inner monologue dropping phrases like meat machine — why include this, if not to invite the reader to indulge? And this is my favorite part:

Lmaoooo

#heat 2 midrash

6 notes · View notes

pocketsizedowls · 1 year

Text

"Ditto" & "Melty Land Nightmare": Allegories for Idol/Fan Relationships.

TLDR: "Ditto" by Newjeans and "Melty Land Nightmare" by More More Jump are about the way parasocial relationships can be toxic to both fans and content creators (in this case, idols). While "Ditto" encourages fans to look outside of the escapism of K-pop for happiness, "Melty Land Nightmare," when covered by More More Jump, encourages idols to not sacrifice their own happiness and well-being simply to fulfill the heavy expectations of being an idol (i.e. bringing happiness to their fans).

"Ditto" is sung by Newjeans, a K-pop group known for their youthful charm and y2k aesthetic. The music video features the Newjeans girls as typical Korean middle school students, laughing and dancing and going to school until it is revealed, in the end, that they never existed. "Melty Land Nightmare" is by Harumaki Gohan, a Japanese VOCALOID producer whose songs have vague but intriguing storylines. This one is about an unhappy human girl (i.e. Blue Girl) struggling with nightmares and a half-human, half-baku girl named Melty who consumes her dreams and brings her comfort.

While "Ditto" is clearly about the parasocial relationship between idols and fans--with Newjeans encouraging their fans to enjoy real life instead of relying on the escapism of K-pop for temporary happiness--"Melty Land Nightmare" is not. I would argue that "Melty Land Nightmare" does not at all have anything to do with idols, actually, unless you play Project Sekai.

More More Jump, the cutesy idol group of Project Sekai, covers a wide range of Vocaloid songs, from uplifting ones like "Happy Synthesizer" to sadder ones like "Shoujo Rei." "Melty Land Nightmare" is a song that sounds pretty but, once you look at the lyrics, turns out to be kind of sad, much like another MMJ cover that I really love (i.e. "Patchwork Staccato").

When viewed in the context of More More Jump, "Melty Land Nightmare" has a similar tone to "Ditto": From the way Melty checks in with Blue Girl about her nightmares ("Did your mother say something to you? Was somebody in class cold to you?") to the way she holds the Blue Girl close, it is clear that Melty is a place of escapism for Blue Girl. Just like Ban Heesoo, the main character of "Ditto", would rather spend all her days recording videos of the Newjeans girls instead of living in reality, Blue Girl visits Melty every night to avoid real life. Both of these scenarios show that parasocial relationships, when taken to the extreme, can be unhealthy. This is why the Newjeans girls disappear at the end of "Ditto" - because they are just idols, just people, and they cannot be your reason for living.

"Melty Land Nightmare" is a fitting allegory for More More Jump because when Blue Girl disappears from Melty Land, having been cured of nightmares, Melty falls apart. She begs Blue Girl not to forget her as if she has no purpose now that Blue Girl is gone. Unlike the Newjeans girls' casual acceptance (and encouragement!) that they cannot be your reason to live, the MMJ girls struggle (at least initially) with not being your reason to live. From Haruka quitting ASRUN when she fails to save a teammate, Shizuku leaving Cheerful*days due to toxic competitiveness, and Airi being told she'll only make it big on variety shows, all three girls give up their dreams when they realize that they are not enough--not enough to save their Blue Girl, or worse, enough to save the Blue Girl but not enough to keep her around.

In our digital age, it's hard to not care about what people think. We are obsessed with the likes, comments, and reblogs on our posts, obsessed with being loved by strangers on the internet. While Haruka, Shizuku, and Airi's original purpose of being idols are noble (i.e. inspiring hope for others), it becomes convoluted due to the bureaucracy, politics, and jealousy of the idol industry. Plagued with imposter syndrome and guilt, these former idols stay disillusioned until they met their own idol: Minori, a former Blue Girl on a mission to become Melty. She inspires Haruka to become an idol again not by asking her to save someone else, but by showing her an ocean of blue, which reminds Haruka acutely of her original mission and how much she loves performing. And that, my friends, is how More More Jumps thrives: Outside of the system as freelance idols, where their mission is always clear, always real. Where bringing hope to others depends heavily on bringing hope to themselves.

youtube

28 notes · View notes

baemon-ivy · 5 months

Text

Two fellow YG Entertainment idols were involved!

The date of BABYMONSTER‘s debut, November 27, is getting closer, and YG Entertainment has been slowly releasing more information about the group’s members and their debut song.

A couple of days ago they shared that their debut will be a digital single titled “BATTER UP”, and it was met with mixed reactions from netizens.

Earlier today, though, they shared the many producers and lyricists who have taken part in the creation of “BATTER UP”, and it seems to be making many fans feel more confident that the song could be a good one.

Perhaps most notably, BABYMONSTER’s own Ivy and Asa is included in the credits for lyrics and composing, which is impressive for rookies, especially in a girl group. Fellow YG Entertainment idols Hyunsuk (of TREASURE) and Chanhyuk (of AKMU) also participated in songwriting.

Some fans are probably also familiar with other producers listed, such as WHERE THE NOISE (one of the producers for TREASURE’s “BONA BONA”), Chaz Mishan (who participated in GD X TAEYANG‘s “Good Boy” and BIGBANG‘s “Flower Road”), and BIGTONE (a producer for TREASURE’s “Going Crazy”).

Also included in the credits is YG (Yang Hyun Suk) himself, which is certainly the most controversial name on the list. Though he is one of the lead producers of BABYMONSTER, his numerous scandals and poor image among K-Pop fans has many feeling unsettled by his involvement with the new girl group.

Notably absent from the producers is Teddy, one of the main creators behind BLACKPINK‘s music, and Choice37, who has worked on many YG Entertainment songs and was also involved in BABYMONSTER’s Last Evaluation series.

8 notes · View notes

roguehongsami · 1 month

Text

༘♡ ·˚꒰ g e t t o k n o w m e ꒱ ₊˚ˑ༄

— “dragged from the silence where you hide”

「✦ B A S I C I N F O R M A T I O N ✦」_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

name: tracey

line: '01

sexual orientation: bisexual

pronouns: she/her

「✦ A T I N Y I N F O R M A T I O N ✦」_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

how long have i been an atiny:

officially 3 years. discovered ateez predebut. listened to them occasionally, but it was during kingdom when i committed full-time.

other groups/artists i listen to:

𖤍 boy groups: seventeen, got7, p1harmony, block b, enhypen, exo, monsta x, shinee, xikers.

𖤍 girl groups: dreamcatcher, red velvet, le sserafim, aespa, newjeans, (g)i-dle, tri.be.

𖤍 soloists: jay park, jackson wang, yugyeom, jay b, kai, kihyun, rm, agust d, dpr ian, ph-1, han seungwoo, iu, heize, 10cm, gray, park hyeon jin.

𖤍 others: kard, se so neon.

non-k-acts i listen to:

lana del rey, aaliyah, beyoncé, iamddb, emawk, buffy sainte-marie, childish gambino, tyler the creator, ellie goulding, playboi carti, rico nasty, softcult, linkin park, greta van fleet, megadeth, death, darkthrone, burzum, alice in chains, L7, type o negative, strawberry switchblade, cocteau twins, selofan, atarashii gakko, yoasobi, vinida weng.

top 5 fave genres:

1. goth (post-punk, darkwave, goth rock)

2. metal (black, death, glam)

3. j-pop

4. indie

5. horror punk

bias(es) & bias wrecker(s):

matz & woogi. (proud bias hopper tbh)

「✦ P E R S O N A L I N F O ✦」_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

astrology big 3:

gemini sun, leo moon & rising.

myers-briggs:

i fluctuate between intp & istp.

hobbies (besides writing & reading):

clubbing, video games, watching anime, drawing, painting, baking, learning electric guitar, hiking, gardening, pottery, knitting, volunteering at animal shelters.

「✦ W R I T I N G I N F O ✦」_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

have i written before:

fanfics? no. plain stories? yes. i started on wattpad in 2016. i deleted all my stuff but there's some drafts i'm reworking into ateez fics.

writing process:

i tend to imagine scenarios i can associate with the music i listen to. my stories are mostly influenced by lana del rey songs, but i primarily gravitate towards music w. descriptive & imaginative lyricism.

「✦ E X T R A I N F O ✦」_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

𖤍 i'm dyslexic. so i use text-to-speech to read people's fics, & speech-to-text to write my stuff.

𖤍 really suck at small talk but i don't mind people coming in my dm for chit-chat.

𖤍 writer's block is a big struggle for me, so i can't post my stuff as often as i wish i would.

𖤍 sucker for supernatural (esp. witch, vampire) media/literature. fave witch archetype is the voodoo & wicca-inspired. hate the wizard archetypes, put the wand down. fave vampire archetypes are bram stoker, anne rice & l.j. smith. hate stephenie meyer archetypes, vampires should NOT sparkle in the sun. loathe werewolf media/literature.

𖤍 have an undying appreciation for dark themes & gore in media/literature, but only if it's well-executed & feels natural to the plot. something about delving into that frame of mind to produce such work & coming out mentally unscathed, is praiseworthy.

#about the writer #roguehongsami

2 notes · View notes

allthefujoshiunite · 1 year

Note

Have you watched Buddy Daddies? If you have do you like it?

Random ask....Do you think anime like Free, Sk8, Jeweler Richard and Yuri on Ice are queerbaiting or at least have semi canon couples? I mean I love those anime series and my fav otps are from those series, but what do you think?

P.s Love your latest meta, it really made my day and when I read them, I also found answers to my internal questions my self...Thanks for sharing them...( I'm not the anon who asked that)...

💐🌷🥰🤩

Hello! Today's great coincidence that made me chuckle into my morning tea was getting asked about my opinion on queerbaiting by two different people, 1-hour apart 🤣 Thanks a lot, both of you! I'll put my two cents down about queerbaiting discourse in anime and I know it's silly to mention but just to be sure, these are all opinions, and my opinions only.

Before I start rambling about gays, no I haven't seen Buddy Daddies yet. I've been very excited about it ever since I've seen the PV but as you may know, I decided to review every first episode of the Winter 2023 season so I'm pretty much swamped... I'm saving Buddy Daddies to savor it! If you wait a bit, you'll be reading my first impressions of it soon.

So. Okay. Queerbait. First of all, definitions because for the love of BL gods, people have been throwing words around without knowing what they mean.

According to this interesting book that's been sitting on my TBR pile, Queerbating and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities, the definition of queerbaiting is as follows:

Queerbaiting describes an industry tactic where “those officially associated with a media text court viewers interested in LGBT narratives... without the text ever definitely confirming the nonheterosexuality of the relevant characters.” For this reason, the term is seen as exploitative, and when fans use it to describe a series, its marketing, or the actions of producers, they are engaging in a “form of queer activism.”

There are other terms coined by the scholars such as "covert courting" (i.e. targeting gay consumers using subtle elements not intended to be picked up by heterosexual audiences) etc. but in my opinion, these terms are built upon the presupposition that there is a queer audience to bait into consuming your media. And I'm not sure whether there's a group of audience that is acknowledged as queer in the minds of producers and/or creators in Japan.

What they want to tap into according to yours truly, however, is FujoMoney. No, it's not a new currency, although now I kind of wish it was. There's an interesting video on it that delves deeper into the topic but in short, they are after the buying and creating potential of shippers. Creating fan content is, in itself, a grey area legally but it's overlooked because the franchise profits from it immensely. A similar practice, if you're or have been into K-pop at some point, is the fansites. Normally, they shouldn't be allowed to make merchandise off of the artists and gain profit from it. However, they attend concerts out of their own pockets, take these photographs using their own cameras, and contribute greatly to the group or the individual artist's popularity. Tl;dr: it's free real estate for the companies.

So I guess the term we're looking for is fujobait, rather than queerbait. What the higher-ups want to attract are shippers who are buyers and/or fancreators. Look at any sports anime and you'll see. There have been multiple times when I got into a series because I've seen a shippy fanart or a video edit of a character. And to be honest, if I was more fortunate economically, they'd be making that kind of monetary profit through merch off of me as well. xD

While queerbait and fujobait might seem like they mean the same thing, they eventually are not because the former capitalizes on real-life stigmatized identity while the latter relies on a consumer's practice of queering the content at hand. I'm personally not as interested in putting the label of "right" or "wrong" on these terms, so I'll leave it at this for now.

Moving on to the series you mentioned, they can't all be put into the same box, but can be divided into two groups where Free and Sk8 rely more on fanservice and the intricacies of the relationships are left to the shippers' imaginations while Jeweler Richard and Yuuri!!! on ICE are entirely different. Especially, Yuuri!!! on ICE because there's no room left for discussion or different readings that Yuuri and Victor are a couple. They literally get married, and the only reason some people still to this day question whether they are canon or not is because of eurocentrism/racism. I come across reels of real-life women taking a ring out and putting it on the ring finger of another woman with people cheering in the background and no one is asking to see their marriage registration in the comments. On the contrary, they congratulate them! The exact same scene is there in animated form, so why do we even question its validity?

In the case of Jeweler Richard, sadly light novels aren't my thing. I have only seen the anime and have read the first volume of the manga. However, I've read an extensive blog post on the light novels comparing them to the anime adaptation. From the blog post, their relationship is evident even though to an anime-only it might come off as implied. I personally didn't think it was implied even in the anime, but if anyone else did, we have our answers in the source material.

All of this then begs the question: does having things spelled out on screen matter? If yes, to what extent it matters? I mentioned in the previous meta post that the consumers of Asian media are already lucky when it comes to the existence and variety of such content. I'm personally someone who's in favor of having media to consume at hand instead of waiting for the Perfect Representation. I don't even want representation, because what is representation anyway for a non-monolithic community with a deep, rich history? I want portrayal, and while having things openly said is cathartic and something I want to have, I won't discredit the works I enjoy and find meaning in just for the sake of it. Especially content that come from countries with heavy censorship or a high possibility of GP backlash.

Plus, while I'm not in any Chinese BL or BL-adjacent work fandoms, I watched dramas here or there and have a lot of mutuals who are actively in the fandoms of certain series, so through osmosis, I learn a couple of things as well. I've seen people talking about the cultural significance of certain choices in these works that someone who's not well-versed in the codes of the Chinese culture won't be able to pick up, i.e. characters wearing red can be an insinuation on marriage because red is a color worn in weddings. Or there's no way I would pick up that Chinese BL dramas are dubbed over just so they can pass censorship. Would it be better if China were to be supportive of LGBTQA+? 100%. Should people there push for the content they'd like to see or portrayals that they see themselves in? Without a doubt. Should it mean that they should get nothing until they get exactly what they want? A hard no. There must be still works that portray such relationships even if they are implied because I see this attempt as getting a foot in the door.

To sum everything up: what I want is to enjoy what I read/watch and share it with others while trying to keep a critical eye on as much as I can. My background is in STEM and I'm not formally educated in humanities anyway. What I try to do is to read and discuss questions I have in mind, and writing helps me order and expand my thoughts. I find value in trying to keep an open mind instead of gatekeeping and micro-analyzing every little thing, or at least, I try not to let them take the fun out of it. To quote the great Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts:

I am not interested in hermeneutics, or erotics, or metaphorics, of my anus. I am interested in ass-fucking.

Easily one of the best books I've read in 2022. Pure brilliance.

#queerbaiting #bl meta #boys love #yuuri on ice #jeweler richard #free iwatobi swim club #sk8 infinity #queer portrayal #allthefujoshiunite answers

20 notes · View notes

gallyg · 2 months

Text

Hold On Tight (Tetris Meta)

Sometimes you find a bit of poetry emerging organically from chaos. David Pridie was a programmer for several Tetris games including The New Tetris, the ROM of which contains a hidden text file wherein he reflected on his experiences working at H2O Entertainment. He had a lot of harsh words for the producer of The New Tetris (Don McClure), calling him lazy and incompetent, culminating in a warning to "hold on tight" to his useless job.

As a side note, based.

That exact phrase, "hold on tight," instantly calls to mind the song of the same name from the 2023 biopic thriller Tetris by the K-pop group aespa. The film itself centers the story of Henk Rogers, arguably the most accomplished and passionate producers in gaming history. As the film tells it, Henk Rogers violated corporate protocol and international law in order to get the game Tetris published. In actual history, the story is less sensational, but one can't argue that Henk Rogers went above and beyond what is expected of a game producer.

This paid off financially, obviously, but there's a more human element the film explores which both Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov (the original creator of Tetris) corroborate as being true to life. Henk Rogers didn't just think Tetris was a good product, he believed it was good art. He wanted its creator to be compensated for his contributions to humanity. He did everything in his power to ensure not only that Tetris was presented to the world in the best possible light, but also that Alexey Pajitnov was treated as more than a cog in the Soviet machine, resulting in a friendship which has lasted 40 years.

In short, Henk Rogers is everything Don McClure is not, if the public stories are to be believed.

youtube

Anyway, better hold on tight. To Don McClure, this is a warning from a disrespected underling. For Henk Rogers, this is a warning from destiny.

Baby, you and me are a twisted fantasy Buckle up and take a seat, hold on tight

From the first lyrics of the song, the importance of collaboration is stressed. It's not me against the world, it's you and me.

We were built to be two enemies But somehow I know we're meant to be This world's a battlefield, I will be your shield We got something real, worth disrupting the peace We'll disrupt the peace, ah-ah-ah

There's something fundamentally romantic about Tetris. You need every piece to play. The line piece is big and flashy, but you could not build a beautiful stack without the T, the L, the J, and even the S, Z, and O pieces. We are given chaos to find the ecstasy of order.

Tetris is about love.

#wow i care a lot about tetris huh #tetris #henk rogers #don mcclure #tetris 2023 #Youtube

2 notes · View notes

youreignhere · 3 months

Text

Mental Health & The Lack of Mental Health Care in the K-Pop Industry

The K-Pop Industry has helped brought forward the Greatest Performers, Dancers, Singers and Groups to this day. The industry is a Billion Dollar powerhouse for South Korea and has boosted the Nation’s connection to the World.

K-pop has played a huge role in Korea’s Tourism boost, the rising love for Korean Dramas and Movies being appreciated by International fans. With the growth of Korean Media, for example Youtube Videos by Korean Content Creators are being viewed by Foreign viewers, all of this contributing to the overall Economy of South Korea. While K-pop has only been around since the early 1990s, over 30 years old and it has changed the entire Music Industry for the better.

While K-Pop may have many great things, there are also a lot of dark sides within the K-Pop Industry as a whole. Today, we’ve decided to write a semi-well-researched rant about some things that we have a problem within the K-Pop Industry. Starting with the Overworking Crisis and the Lack of Mental Health Care in the K-Pop Industry.

Before we begin, feel free to like the blog and lease note, if you want to support or request a Blog Topic, please follow me here and Message us on Twitter. We will link all the sources used within the blog and in a Google Doc visible for all.

This Blog is also supported by affiliates as we’re not in a country that allows Stripe Pay, so Medium can’t support us. We are grateful for any comments, likes and shares even if you can’t support us financially.

Bare in mind, this post contains references to Suicide, Depression, and other Mental Health Disorders with references to Trauma. We will do our best to pay respect to the Names mentioned. May they all Rest in Power. Please continue with caution if this may trigger you in any way. After all, your mental health also matters and I will not fault you for finding something more comfortable to read.

Now, if you are still with me, let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Chapter One: Toxic Productivity in the K-Pop Industry

Before we delve into Mental Health, I would like to start with Toxic Productivity, or in simpler terms, Overworking. From what we have witnessed online and sometimes in person, Idols just collapsing after a performance or when the lights go down. They are so tired that they can barely stay standing or walk off a stage.

But what exactly is Overworking or in other words Toxic Productivity? And how has this become the norm in both Western & Asian Culture, specifically the K-Pop Industry?

Better Up dot com says that “Toxic productivity describes the drive to produce while neglecting other important aspects of our lives. We value productivity over everything else, like rest or quality time with loved ones.”

This has become Hustle Culture or that “Grind” Mindset that many on social media push to their audiences. While there is nothing wrong with working hard, working to the point of exhaustion, to the point where you forget or disregard your own needs or those that rely on you, is Toxic and even Physically Harmful.

Companies and even the media have pushed that “Grind” mindset for years but fortunately Millenials and Gen Z have picked up on the bullshit and many are fighting against the system or simply disregarding that system by refusing to work countless hours for barely minimum wage. But the sad fact is that companies don’t care that the Hustle mindset is Toxic or unhealthy, they only care about the revenue they can bring in the more their employees work and as you can tell, even the K-Pop Industry and Korea as a whole has companies like this.

Better Up goes on to state, “Productivity equals revenue, so companies want employees to value it as much as they do. This frame of mind is considered toxic because it’s culturally contagious. The more a society promotes overworking as valuable, the harder people work. And it can also have negative consequences like burnout and poorer relationships.”

Companies that encourage overworking have a special space in Hell. I am sure most of you guys reading think the same and feel the pain when your Fave rapper, singer, dancer or group is tired and obviously working too much. Especially after learning just how much Overworking or Toxic Productivity can Physically affect a person. Overworking of course leads to burning out- which let me tell you guys, is so horrible- but it is also proven to lead to adverse health problems, neck chest and back pains and even stroke to name just a few. Just take a look at this 2016 article reporting on some Idols who suffered the effects of Overworking.

At this point, I don’t even care if they have to put out that reality series or work on a new song. I’d much prefer if they took a week off, no actually. I want them to take an entire month off. I just want them to visit family, relax, don’t touch a lick of music or choreography. Have the free time to catch up on trends and just sleep. God, some of them just need to sleep for a month, shaking my head.

Sometimes, this isn’t the companies’ fault and more so the Idol/s pushing themselves too much, mentally and physically, all for the sake of their loving fans. Due to Korea and many times, Black & Asian, even Western Culture pushing this “Hard & Long Work Hours guarantees Success mentality”, ignoring the fact that Suicide has become rampant due to the pressure on many Teens or Young Adults in or out of the K-Pop Industry. With the stress to perform well academically starting at the young age of 10, it has been ingrained into many, in or out of the K-Pop Industry.

However, as we know, Overworking does more harm than good and I wish I could just grab certain Idols and just shake them until they see sense. I know at the end of the day, many of them choose the life of an Idol and are adults who can make decisions for themselves. I just don’t agree with some of their choices (that’s pretty fair too, not like they are going to care about what some stranger on a blog says lol).

If you have any experience with Toxic Productivity, please let me know in the comments, I would love to see everyone’s thoughts on this as a whole, because we pretty much see it everyday in our normal lives as well.

But before we head into the next chapter, I would like to take a moment to help you save money on the latest in K-Pop Merch. Please bear with me, as this Blog topic is going to get a bit deeper as we dive into Mental Health and I would like to make this a quick break as well as an opportunity for you, the reader.

This is your chance to grab a cup of water and if you happen to like Korean Snacks, Fashion, Skincare and K-Pop or are looking for a place to get it all, do I have news for you. I have partnered with Daebak Company to help you get all your K-snack, K-Skincare, K-Lifestyle and K-Pop needs in one place!

You can use the code UREIGN for 10% Off your purchase. They have more than 10k five star reviews and ships Internationally. Daebak Co. is committed to bring Korean to you with Official and Luxury K-Pop Merch, Snack and More! Try out their Daebak Box, a monthly subscription service where you can choose from their Snack Boxes, the Mystery Box or a One Time Box as a surprise for a loved one. Just check the link in my description or use the code UREIGN to save 10% on your Order!

But that’s not all, if you check out the link here, you can find more ways you can support the blog and save money when shopping for stationary, kawaii clothes, k-pop merch and more. Remember to use the code UREIGN when you shop at Daeback Co for 10% off but If you are just looking to save up to 40% on the latest K-Pop Albums and Merch, then A-Kpop is the place for you. That’s right up to 40% on Official BlackPink, BTS, and TXT when you use the link to Shop!

Chapter Two: Mental Health & Mental Health Care in the K-Pop Industry.

Let’s start with, What is Mental Health?

This is taken from our past blog, Everyone has Mental Health; The World Health Organization states, “Mental Health is an essential component in overall Health, as Mental Health decides our emotional, physical and social well-being. This can affect any person’s contribution to their environment and overall life.”

To put it in layman’s terms, Mental Health helps how we handle stress or anxiety, relate to others and topics, and determine our choices or behavior in life. The World Health Organization, or WHO continues to state that, “Mental Health is key at all stages of Life.”

Just like Physical Health, Mental Health is equally important for every person. However, it has been pushed aside in the media, education, and by society as a whole. Mental Health is never brought up when it can decrease your overall health just as much as diabetes or a stroke.

Just like you have Physical Health, everyone has Mental Health. Please feel free to read more about what is Mental Health on our Everyone has Mental Health Blog Here.

Mental Illness or Mental Health Disorders (they can be referred to as both) are classified as a or many significant disturbances in a person’s cognitive, emotional, and even physical behavior. As of a 2019 study from the World Health Organization, 1 in every 8 people globally is affected by Mental Illness. Making that an estimate of almost 1 Billion people worldwide (as of 2021) are directly affected by Mental Health in one way or the other.

Anxiety and Depression are the most common for Entrepreneurs and in this case Musicians or Idols. You can read more about the link to Mental Health Disorders and how it connects to Entrepreneurs from our blog post here. Toxic Productivity and Overworking also connects to Mental Health Disorders, as overworking is known to harm your physical and mental well being. Sadly, many Idols show symptoms of these and other Mental Illnesses and unfortunately, there are many times where no amount of fame or money can help ease that pain.

Remember, K-Pop Idols are many times put on harsh diets, told to look and act a certain way or their real personalities would not be liked. They are constantly put in the spotlight and have to conform to rigorous schedules, while many of them deal with Anxiety, Depression and low self-esteem or Self Hatred. Not to mention the mental pressure that Society and many fans place on them to be “perfect”.

With the fact that many K-pop Companies rarely care that much about Mental Health, much less their Idols’ mental health, not taking into consideration just how much toxic productivity, anxiety and depression can physically affect a human being. Causing them to spiral and fester for sometimes years, in absolute silence. Until they feel absolutely alone, even when surrounded by loving fans and a family like group. Suicide, seemed to be a last and, sadly many times, most pleasing option of a way out of the Industry and pain.

Considering how many Idols we have lost just in the past decade due to the lack of Mental Health Care and Mental Health Awareness in the K-Pop Industry. We may not have been able to save them all, but if at least one or few had the ability to get the professional help they deserved, then we may still have many of our loved ones with us. Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, would not have to mourn and Fans would not have to grieve.

Psychology and Psychiatry Professor, Lim Myung-Ho said, “For a long time, celebrities have mostly avoided meeting a psychiatrist or a psychological counselor as they were afraid that their health condition would somehow tarnish their image,”

We have lost brilliant and beautiful Lights, due to the fear that society has put on these human beings, as well as the lack of understanding for Mental Health or the resources to give Idols the help they deserve as human beings.

Thankfully, since the last decade, there’s been a rise in Mental Health Awareness in the K-Pop Industry and Korea as a whole. Many Idols or Musicians in the Industry, like Solo Star, AleXa and Lim Jaebeom, the Leader of Got7, have opened up about his Struggle with Depression and Mental Health. Groups like BTS, Stray Kids and Ateez are known for making music that addresses mental health struggles and societal pressures.

Personally, I think it’s time that K-Pop Companies implement Mental Health days for K-Pop Idols, as well as have some professionals within the company have weekly to monthly mandatory mental health sessions with whoever needs or wants counseling and help. Just like if an Idol was Physically sick and had to go on hiatus, then an Idol should be able to take Mental Health Days for their emotional and mental, as well as overall physical well being.

Professor Lim also thinks that there are easier ways, as in Online Counseling, especially considering how fast paced most Idol’s lives can be, it would make sense to have Online Counselors if Idols simply need to distress or vent on the go.

Cho Jung-Hwa, a Life Coach at Starship Entertainment, home of Monsta X, said in a telephone interview, “K-pop singers have managers, hair designers and makeup artists, but they often do not have any experts to resort to when they feel emotionally taxed,” she said. “If they can get some direct help from a mental health trainer or professional, they would feel much better.”

She made some good points and I would like to stress that for the Idols or Trainees, it should be a safe and open discussion so that they can feel less isolated and have less to carry on their shoulders.

There has been progress, for example, KQ Entertainment allowed Song Mingi, Main Rapper and Co-Writer for Ateez, time off for his Mental Health due to Psychological Anxiety, from late 2020 to 2021 (a total of 8 months). While KQ is still a Family like and small Entertainment Company (that is still flawed), I would like to see this more, from Companies like JYP, Starship, Cube Entertainment and even Hybe.

“Celebrities are generally more impressionable than non-celebrities,” Lim Myung- Ho said. “They often take the brunt of the emotional labor too, because they frequently conceal their genuine emotions in front of the public. In the short run, having a regular mental health check-up may seem unnecessary, but in the long run, it will help the K-pop companies’ financial success by ensuring the mental stability of their stars.”

I would like to mention that SHINEE’s Jonghyun has a foundation in his Memory, created by his mother, that aims to help Idols and Trainees with their Mental Health. I highly suggest checking it out here and seeing how you can support them or even visit if you are going to Korea or in Korea. I have to admit, that is one strong and amazing woman, to take her loss and try and make some changes in the Industry for other Idols and trainees. I wish her the best and all my love to the Shawols reading this.

You can probably tell by now, there’s still a long way to go, but I am glad to see some progress at least. I sincerely hope that those gone too soon are finally resting easy, seeing the growth and recognition that K-Pop has achieved and knowing that their art, their music will live on in the hearts of K-Pop fans worldwide. I just wish that it didn’t have to take, the passing of many amazing beings or the abuse of Idols, as well as countless backlash from fans, for it to finally start to have changes within the Industry.

Chapter Three: What can we do as Fans?

Kpop fans hold a lot of power; We can literally make or break an Idol’s or Groups career. I would honestly prefer to use that power for advocacy.

You have the power to raise awareness for these topics in the K-Pop Industry. Your favorite Idol is overworking and the rest of the group is tired but they continue to put out that reality show. Start a hashtag, bring up the topic to other fans or members of the community. Discuss it in groups and forums.

Remember Toxic Productivity does more harm than good so remind Idols that they are human too and not just a form of entertainment to us. Raise Awareness in respectful ways like starting a Twitter account and sharing your ideas or events with like minded individuals. Check out the Shiny Foundation, in honor of the late Jonghyun from SHINEE. Do your research and advocate for Mental Health Days or Mental Health care as a whole for Korea and Kpop Idols.

Raise Awareness in respectful ways like starting a Twitter account and sharing your ideas or events with like minded individuals. Do your research and advocate for Mental Health Days or Mental Health care as a whole for Korea and K-pop Idols. Support Idol from Companies like KQ or Starship Entertainment, that allow their Idols the time & resources needed to mend their mental state.

Highlight Speakers on the topic of Mental Health in Kpop, like BTS, Jay B and recently Beomhan the Ex-F M Trainee that Spoke up on his own Mental Health Struggles.

Show support to content creators that touch on topics like this. Follow and share their content to bring more eyes on the issues. Share this blog with your friends and fellow fans to help bring more eyes and start discussions. Try making your own content, be it blogs on Tumblr, Tweets on Twitter (yes I am still gonna call it twitter) and Videos on Tik Tok or Youtube to bring more awareness on these less spoken about necessities in the industry.

If you get a chance to meet your Idols at fan meets or on a fan call, quickly speak to them about your own experiences with mental health, how they helped inspire you. Let your fave Idols know that they are not alone. That they and their feelings do matter.

So, what do you think? Should K-pop Idols and Trainees be allowed Mental Health Days and have access to mental health care? Did anything else I mentioned stand out to you, tell me what in the comments.

That was probably a lot, but this will be separated into more parts because I would like to talk about homophobia, racism, abuse and other issues in the K-Pop Industry soon!

If you like how this sounds so far, please feel free to check out my blog on Medium or Tumblr and follow for more. If you’d like to get more information on Mental Health you can read my post here.

That’s all for now, I will see when I see you. Remember, you can always, Reign Here.

Comment & Subscribe for More.

Hello guys, It’s Reign. Feel free to subscribe and comment below with your thoughts on this.

Support Us!

Follow us everywhere you can! If you wanna see more of what we post on Twitter, check us out with the link. Or send us some support by sending tips on to our Buy me a Coffee or Paypal!

Notes

All of the graphics in this blog were created by myself in Canva Pro, or taken from our Pinterest.

The links for any more sources and videos are here in this google document.

This Blog post does include affiliates as I’m not in a country that allows Stripe Pay, so Medium (where this is crossposted) can’t support me. You can save money on stationery supplies and K-Pop Merch using the link here!

All funds go towards bettering content quality and speeding up production (getting better devices, paying for medium, canva pro and more). It means a lot if you can support, even if it’s just by liking, sharing and commenting.

Feel free to correct or critique (respectfully) and I’ll edit any errors with links, information and grammar.

#kpop blog #kpop #kpop stan #ateezatiny #got7 #bts #mental illness #mentalheathawareness #gidle #dreamcatcher #shinee #kim jonghyun #ateez mingi #fx sulli

2 notes · View notes

historyhermann · 3 months

Text

Supa Team 4 Season 2 Spoiler-Filled Review

Supa Team 4 is a computer-generated superhero action-comedy series. Malenga Mulendema is the series creator and co-executive producer. Trigger Fish Animation Studios, known for the recent animated series Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes, and Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, and various television specials and films. The first season was released in July 2023.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the sixty-second article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 14, 2024.

The second season picks up where the first one left off. The four protagonists (Temwe Chiti, Komana Mwinga, Zikomo "Zee" Phiri, and Monde Wamunyima) are trapped in an abandoned mine. They are confronted by Bad Magz (voiced by John McMillian) and fellow villain Prof. Greenthumbs (voiced by Abena Ayivor), with the former angry they keep ruining his plans. Mama K (voiced by Pamela Nomvete) can't get in touch with Team 4 and thinks the Principal Nkwashi (voiced by voiced by Abubakar Salim) is up to something, until he admits he only wants to help Temwe (voiced by Kimani Arthur). The heroes use makeshift weapons and detain Prof. Greenthumbs. Mama K helps them escape, but not before Bad Magz photographs the van. Later, his assistant Ms. Prudent confirms that Zambinite was there. He is intrigued by the ring on Mama K's hand. And that's only the first episode!

The kidnapping of the four protagonists impacts all of them. It may have heightened Temwe's jealously toward Zee (voiced by Nancy Sekhokoane). The latter results in them "switching places," so they can recognize each other's struggles. There is no doubt that the kidnapping deeply impacted Komana (voiced by Zowa Ngwira). Later, she is comforted by Monde (voiced by Namisa Mdlalose). More directly, photographic analysis causes Bad Magz to track down Chi (voiced by Chi Mhende), a blind man who is Mama K's comrade, and snatch a computer, blueprints, and disc, even as he lets Chi flee. Also, this episode shows Temwe and Zee sympathizing with each other's struggles. That's something you don't always see in TV series.

Bad Magz is one of the most devious villains. His public form, Lee Magadzee, is outwardly an African nationalist who wants to return power to "the people." Later, he flirts with Monde's sister, Likando (voiced by Chipo Chung), who holds him to his promise to end load shedding. Putting aside his somewhat developed hacking skills, he can be harsh toward his subordinates. For instance, Alley Gator (voiced by Yinka Awoni), finds the Zambinite for him. However, Alley Gator wants to be with Prof. Greenthumbs instead.

The actions of Team 4, in Supa Team 4, are reactive. They resembling the Pretty Cure in the franchise of the same name. Team 4 fight villains, save people from sinkholes (called by Ally Gator), and promise to support one another. They don't face the one behind everything. Bad Magz is not a villain equivalent of Bell in Power of Hope: PreCure Full Bloom, a mysterious guardian angel who traveled back in time to prevent a town from being destroyed by humanity. The consequences of his actions matter little to him. He agrees to freeze Zambinite because it is combustible. This mineral gives off a bad smell before energy is extracted. He ignores Pro. Greenthumbs before she points out the hazardous and toxic waste byproduct.

Bad Magz's harsh managerial techniques bleed over into his feelings for others. In the fifth episode, he plans to go on a date with Komana's sister, Likando, which the girls of Team 4 are happy for. But he stands her up! This makes her suspicious of him (she only knows him in his public persona of Lee), and his secrets, and mysteries. She even points out that secrets, like those of powerful people, always get out. This causes Komana to investigate and discover that Storm Drain (voiced by Ashley Zhangazha) is freezing the Zambinite.

Komana is the first one, of Team 4, to be openly suspicious of Bad Magz's public persona. Monde refuses to believe her. Likando's love of Lee causes her to assist him, throwing her logic out the window. This directly parallels Click. He is unhealthily obsessed with Temwe after the third episode. Clearly, the lesson is that obsession with other people can cause you to lose sight of what is important. Later in Supa Team 4, this all comes to a head, for Bad Magz, Komana, and Team 4.

Bad Magz sees everyone as toys to be manipulated. He says gaining control of the Mayor will be "automatic" with Likando's trust. In his public persona of Lee, he promotes "Magz Power" as the "solution" to the power cuts in Lusaka. He claims it will end load shedding and blackouts. He challenges his scholarship recipients to sign up, as many people as possible, for his Magz Power system, saying those who bring back the most signatures get an internship at his corporation. This too-good-to-be-true presentation makes Komana a willing pawn in his scheme. She is unaware that this power source has toxic waste as a byproduct (conveniently not mentioned by Lee). She sees the internship as a way to advance her own career.

The sixth episode is one of the best in Supa Team 4. There's a parallel between Komana's dad suffering from asthma and Lee turning on his "alternate energy source" which fills Lusaka with light. In one case, he is suffering from a chronic health condition. In the latter, Lee is hiding the truth behind an action which casts him as a "savior." Whether he is directly aware of it or not, he is responsible for Alley Gator dumping toxic waste, from Zambinite processing. Written by Gloria Huweiler, and directed by Valentina Ventimiglia, this episode is outwardly cynical of demagogues. While people in the crowd chant "power to the people," Bad Magz thinks of ways to gain more power for himself. Undoubtedly, he is worse than Huey Long.

The final two episodes raise the stakes. In the first of these episodes, Komana abandons Team 4 so she can work for Lee, distressing her teammates. The remaining heroes put together the pieces. Without a doubt, they are worried about the people of Lusaka. People are coughing, scratching themselves, have rashes, and inflammation in eyes. As a result, everyone is leaving because they are sick, in what looks to be a commentary on COVID-19. This is more direct than the "missing" episode of Cleopatra in Space, entitled "Quarantine".

youtube

In episode seven, Komana wants to warn Lee about toxic waste from the Zambinite. She is shocked out of her role as a willing pawn. She learns that he lied about his past. As a result, she comes to the conclusion he is behind everything. This happens at the same time as Mama K. She sees Bad Magz in front of her before he kidnaps her. In a parallel development, the girls decide to bust into his corporation. Likando agrees to give the contract (which gives Lee full rights to the city's electric grid) to Lee personally.

In the final episode, the girls fight against Prof. Greenthumbs (and her monster). Mama K and Chi are in Lee's office. Mama K calls him a "monster" and "worse than a villain." The truth is finally revealed. His mother was in the Intelligence Agency of Zambia. His real name is Limbani. He claims that Mama K "made him" who is is today. Elsehwere, Monde reveals her hero identity for the first time to someone other than her fellow teammates: to her sister Likando. Both agree to talk about her hero identity later.

He is confronted by Team 4. They demand he turn off his power source, saying it is hurting city residents. Instead of listening to Team 4, he ignores them and continues his own agenda. He blames Mama K for causing the memory of his mother, Towela, to be erased. Following this, he places the device on Mama K's head, allowing him to access her memories. While they are horrified, Team 4 can do nothing. It is only when the memory showing Towela was mind-wiped by Chusi that he realizes his mistake. He uses the same device to restore his mom's memories. She recognizes Chi and Mama K and tearfully embraces Lee. Following this touching scene, Likando rightly punches Lee (for being a lying jerk). She has the police arrest him.

Of course, this is not the end. In a strange juxtaposition, Prof. Greenthumbs' ZambiMonster causes a cave-in, and captures Komana. I found it awkward to have this after an emotional moment which could bring you to tears. In any case, Lee shows that he is not fully a villain. To the chagrin of Prof. Greenthumbs, he saves Komana (he recognizes her voice) after Greenthumbs' monster explodes. He frames his next steps as an attempt to amend his past wrongs. He says he will do whatever he can to fix things. In a coded manner, he hopes that Komana's spirits aren't dampened. However, no one believes his declaration at face value.

In many ways, Lee's declaration is one of restorative justice. Traditional / retributive justice systems are clearly stated throughout this series. They are symbolized by police arresting villains and keeping them behind bars. Surely, there are laws that have been broken, villains who broke the laws, and methods for punishment of said lawbreakers. Lee is attempting to repair the harm caused. He knows who has been harmed and how he can repair or address those harms. In response to one of the key questions of restorative justice ("who should address or repair the harms?"), that person is clearly Lee.

Lee will likely face criminal punishment for what he did and may face his victims. He is on the road to understanding the impact of his actions on other people, taking responsibility for his actions, comprehending how he harmed people, and behaving with basic respect for others. It would allow him to become a better person. This would make Supa Team 4 one of the few series which depicts restorative justice principles, apart from Steven Universe.

The episode ends with her teammates showing their camaraderie for each other. They comfort Komana. Everyone supposedly has a "happily ever after." The villains are locked up. The corrupt mayor is arrested. Likando runs to become the next mayor of Lusaka on an anti-corruption agenda. Komana's device makes the city's energy clean, and green. It runs on Zambinite but does not produce toxic waste. The episode closes with all of them meet at headquarters where they welcome Komana back. Mama K boldly says everyone is worthy of redemption (not sure this is entirely true). Chi says that Lee is trying to right his wrongs.

I also liked that in this series, characters such as Marjory (voiced by Celine Tshika) appear to be on the road to villains. She blames everyone for ruining her party (including Team 4), and causing well-known performers, like Click, to depart. The fourth episode emphasizes this. She said she disliked Team 4, even though they saved her, and harshly commanded the majorette team. Everyone else on the team picked Monde as captain instead. This left Marjory, under a lot of pressure from Principal Nkwashi, behind.

Although Monde comes up with a new routine, she tells her fellow teammates that even though Marjory bullies them, it isn't right to bully her back. The episode ends with Monde and Marjory, having a heart-to-heart about working together as a team, and they use this to take down the hypnotizing rapper, Snap Back (voiced by Sne Dladla) and saving them all. Marjory later apologizes to Team 4.

There is the possibility of a third season. In a final scene of the episode, Chusi says he is back, after 20 years. He declares he wants Lusaka to burn. He fades away, into the smoke. It is a bit of a cliffhanger, akin to the scene with the Triumverate in High Guardian Spice, a series which should receive a second season. A second season may focus on fighting with Chusi and Lee's attempts to rebuild the city from the damage he caused. Perhaps it could resemble the aftermath-of-victory concept that is present in Steven Universe Future, where the protagonists have no villains to fight, but are trying to make the world (and universe) better.

Although I liked this series, my enthusiasm was severely dampened, as compared to season one. It came at a bad time. Other anime series such as I'm in Love with the Villainess (ended on December 19), Kizuna no Allele (ended on December 21), Spy x Family (ended December 23), Stardust Telepath (ended on December 25), and The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess (ended on December 30), were ending. This series seemed too compressed. It should have been longer.

I wish 1-2 episodes were released weekly rather than a huge episode dump on December 21. This method makes clear that Netflix cares little about the creators, fans, or anyone else who worked on Supa Team 4. Furthermore, the binge model itself is a detriment to creativity itself. It encourages crunch conditions to complete series. If two episodes had been released a week, Supa Team 4 could have finished by January 11. If one episode had released a week, it could have finished by February 8. That would have been preferable.

Supa Team 4 can be streamed on Netflix.

#supa team 4 #netflix #animation #covid 19 #cleopatra in space #reviews #pop culture #youtube #binge model #steven universe #high guardian spice #black animation #african animation #obsessive love #retributive justice #restorative justice #Youtube

2 notes · View notes

boysplanetrecaps · 1 year

Text

Boys Planet, Episode 8: The First Hour

Hello, friends! So, as you might recall, the first hour or so of episode 8 is devoted to going through the preparation that the various teams made for the third challenge mission, knowing that only half of them would actually be able to perform it. I didn’t recap it at the time because I was more interested in covering the eliminations, but I’ll be covering it here in this post!

Please note that it’ll be hard for me to talk about these groups without sometimes acknowledging who does and who doesn’t survive the elimination from the second half of this episode. If you’re spoiler averse, you may want to wait until you’ve seen the rest of the episode to read this part. For what it's worth, I don’t feel like I’ll be saying anything that you wouldn’t have more or less guessed.

Here we go!

We start at 5:45 in to the episode. The boys are gathered in a large room, still wearing their outfits from the second challenge mission. They’re there to be assigned to one of the five “artist” songs that were revealed in episode 6. (The link takes you to the mini demos, and is spoiler free.) I find it difficult to describe what the songs sound like, especially since we can’t hear the whole songs and the genres the show uses to describe them are kinda weird (“oriental pop”? “Sentimental hiphop”???). So you can listen for yourself.

As was the case for all Produce/Planet shows before this, the trainees were matched to songs based on audience vote. The Star Creators were given like, 24 hours to vote on this, which means that for the most part, only Koreans really had a chance to do it. The idea is supposed to be that the audience would put, say, Cha Woongki in a cute song, and put, say, Kim JiWoong in a sexy song. Also, the trainees appealed to the Star Creators to put them in a particular song. That video is actually a lot of fun -- some of the trainees sing or dance to get your attention, and I feel like it’s the first time I actually heard Ricky just straight up sing. He’s got a really nice voice! Notably, Z-bo speaks some Korean in his video, too, so that’s cool! Anyway, it’s cute to watch, and has subtitles, so give it a look if you’re at all interested.

Of course, since a bunch of trainees wanted certain songs, and not a lot of people wanted certain other songs, the matchup could never be perfect. I’ll get to all that in a bit!

In any case, we finally find out that the new Star Master is Key from SHINee. If you don’t know SHINee, check out their songs Sherlock, View, and Replay. If you don’t like any of those then it’s ok, but trust me, SHINee is really well-respected and completely changed K-pop. Before SHINee, no one danced while singing the way that SHINee did. If there had never been a SHINee, there would not have been a BTS, not the way that you know them. So, even if you don’t like their music, you should know who they are. (Oh, and side note, if you watched Run for The Money on Netflix, that featured Minho, who is also from SHINee.)

The SHINee boys are also sentimental faves of mine. SHINee and f(x) were the two groups who really got me into Kpop, and if you know much about kpop, you know that those two groups have something really awful in common and I don’t want to talk about it, but let me just remind us all to be kind to kpop celebrities, ok? Because we don’t want stuff like that happening again.

Anyway, SHINee debuted in 2008, when Key was just 17 (and dance machine Taemin was just 14). They were HUGE -- they were absolute sensations. Their clothing set fashion trends, and their songs were all massive hits. The members have gone through a lot, but they’re still kicking. Key is the funniest, most snarky, most honest member, and he’s known for his sense of style as well as his performance abilities. Check out his new song Killer -- it’s got a retro-80s vibe that I really dig and I think a lot of people would like it!

So yeah, when the trainees react to Key as of a god has walked into the room, they’re not exaggerating for the camera. Key debuted when some of them were still too young to know how to tie their shoes, and he’s fucking COOL.

His level of fame leaves pretty much every other star master on the show completely in the dust, with the possible exception of Sunmi, who dropped by in episode 3. She's at least maybe kind of on par.

So, yeah, once they manage to rehinge all their jaws, Key gives them the rules of the next mission -- how they’ll all prepare the songs, then find out halfway through who survived and will get to perform them. I love how the trainees are always surprised when the show does exactly what it has done every season since Produce101 season 1. I mean, I know the show has a different name now but it’s still the same show. Six seasons, and you’re shocked? Come on, now.

Since this is an “artist battle,” let me add in a quick note on the term “artist” in Kpop -- I think I talked about this in another recap but I don’t remember for sure so I’ll risk doing it again. In Korea, it’s understood that idols make idol music, and that artists make, for lack of a better word, “real” music. People like Bibi are understood to be artists, and as such don’t necessarily always dance, or have fan meetings, etc. People like Huta are understood to be idols; they’re praised for their “visuals” (ie, whether or not they have nice faces) and are generally expected to remain single to be a parasocial love object for their fans. They make their money off of brand endorsements as much as concert sales. People like Hui or Jeon Soyeon from G-Idle or G-Dragon from BigBang kind of toe the line between idol and artist, since they write their own songs and manage their own teams, but also happen to be really good looking and usually happy to endorse whatever you have lying around. It’s kind of weird to expect these trainees to be “artists”, but every reality show keeps making things more difficult ever year, even though their contestants aren’t necessarily getting more talented every year. I mean, have you watched the most recent season of Great British Bake Off? What WAS that? But I digress.

Ok, back to the point. It's an artist battle; they'll be given demo songs and demo choreography, but they're expected to go ahead and change whatever they want and plan the staging and performance.

So the boys listen to the songs and aggressively love them all. My favorite is when they listen to the “oriental pop” song Switch and Seo Won says he feels like he’s abroad. Wut….? I guess to them, “oriental” means India? I also liked when Matthew said, “I don’t want to do sexy concepts” about the sexy song, which like, yes, thank you, Matthew. Figure out what you’re good at, please.

Then Key tells them that the members of the team that gets ranked first at the Artist Battle will get 200,000 points each, with the “winning” member getting an extra 200,000. That is a substantial benefit, but since it will probably end up going to a mostly top-11 team anyway, it won’t end up mattering. They’ll also end up going on M-Countdown, and, even bigger to them, having a fan meeting. They’re excited about that, and I don’t blame them.

Oh, I’m having a flashback to that GP999 fan meeting when they were still in the middle of c*vid and all the fans were in their cars in the middle of a field. I’m glad we’re through the worst of that stuff now. I don’t want to go off on a tangent about some of the stuff I experienced living in a huge, hard-hit US city, but it was awful. I bet a lot of us have stories like that, huh? It’ll be one of those things that in five or ten years, when you meet someone for the first time, one of the first things you’ll talk about in the get-to-know-you phase will be “where were you in March of 2020?” Like for the boomers, talking about where they were when they found out that JFK had been shot.

Back to the show.

So, the boys are finding out which song they got, which means it’s another one of those lengthy “finding out who is in which team” montages, complete with pranks and stuff and it’s not that fascinating…? So I’ll just recap some of the highlights, and then get to the part where they’re actually preparing.

I-Chan asked for Over Me in that video, but as he was leaving the room the other trainees say he wanted Switch, and that is in fact what he got.

I really love Park Hyunbeen saying at first that Supercharger didn’t really “suit his taste” (he wanted the cute song, Say My Name, and I agree it would have been a cute performance!) but when he finds out that he got Supercharger after all, he gives a big smile and says that now he’s excited to do that song. Aww, why do I only end up really loving some of these trainees when it’s too late? You’re a cutie pie, Hyunbeen.

It’s kind of heart breaking to watch Ji Yun Seo and Lee Yedam be so happy to get the song they wanted, knowing what we know.

THEORY TIME: I think that for the most part, the audience did vote to give trainees what they asked for, and I think that when there were too many trainees for a given song -- “Over Me” and “Say My Name” were very popular -- the producers matched them to songs in order of their rank. Thus, as very few trainees wanted Supercharger, many low-ranked trainees ended up in that song; as Say My Name was heavily requested, it was filled mostly with higher ranked trainees. Just my theory but it seems to explain a lot.

This:

I think that the reason Anthonny seems a little sad when he joins the Switch team is that he wanted Say My Name. But I think Switch could also have been great for Anthonny.

The fact that Lee DaEul and both “houses” were put in Supercharger seems to confirm my theory that Supercharger was a dumping ground for unpopular trainees who wanted popular songs. That, or the audience put Lee DaEul in Supercharger to continue to punish him for his sins.

I love Kum Jun Hyeon saying, “Park Gunwook and I decided to be friends. We became friends.” That’s how it works in my little cousin’s world -- he decides to be friends with someone and then is. Knowing that he’s good friends with Gunwook kind of explains that whole scene in episode 6 when he was trying to get Gunwook kicked out of Tomboy so Gunwook would have to come over to Ggang with him.

I know that the show format encourages the pranking and stuff but it’s really not my favorite.

Everyone’s reaction to Zhang Hao arriving is amazing. Chen Kuan Jui just picking him up and carrying him around is my favorite bit.

It’s kind of interesting how Sung Hanbin, Kim JiWoong, and Matthew all wanted to do something “not sexy.” I guess I understand -- most kpop groups do all different concepts, and it’s a valuable skill to be able to pull off a song like Love Me Right and ALSO pull off a song like Love Killa. But still, I just think that Say My Name sounds like every “cute” kpop song thrown into a blender and then put into a “cute song” mold and allowed to solidify there before someone carefully dumped it out onto a plate. I don’t know. I know it’ll get stuck in my head eventually anyway but it’s not like that’s the kind of song I seek out to listen to.

JiWoong says, “I want to perform while smiling.” Do that ANYWAY, JiWoong. If Kai from Exo smiles in the middle of Obsession, you can smile in the middle of Love Killa, JiWoong.

Ok! Let's talk about each team's preparation.

21:26: En Garde

Here is the En Garde team, with the song that each member wanted, as well as their previous song. I’ve arranged them in order of their Episode 6 rank, which gives you a sense of how likely they are to survive.

Kim Gyu Vin En Garde Love Killa Hui En Garde Tomboy Park Gunwook En Garde Tomboy Kum Jun Hyeon En Garde Gang Park Hanbin En Garde Law Lee Seung Hwan Say My Name Gang Hiroto En Garde Rush Hour Lee Ye Dam En Garde Law Ji Yun Seo En Garde Home Oh Sung Min En Garde Rush Hour

They have to choose a leader, and Hui is like, WAYYY too invested in being the leader. He wants to work with his “database” and all the know how he’s built up over the years. The editors do him a little dirty, fast forwarding his speech on why he should be leader, and even showing him practicing his speech in the bathroom ahead of time.

The first time that I laughed out loud at anything that Kum Jun Hyeon has ever done was right here, when, after Hui finishes his lengthy speech, Kum says to the other trainees that their speeches about why they want to be leader “have to be lengthier than this.” I think it threw Hui off a little bit -- he may have been expecting grateful acceptance of his leadership, or else a challenge from Park Hanbin perhaps, but not someone making fun of his careful speech.

In any case, naturally, Hui is chosen to be the leader. I’d choose him as the leader too.

The crew members explain that there will be two people chosen for the killing part and other parts, because there are ten of them for now, despite there being six people in the choreography. And of course, everyone wants to get the killing part, because as usual that means tons more screen time. Gyuvin, JunHyeon, Yedam, Gunwook, YunSeo, and Sungmin all want it. I actually laughed again as all six of them practice the same bit but at slightly different times. The edit focuses primarily on Gyuvin and Gunwook -- as if the other ones are laughable for wanting it. I think Oh Sungmin actually does a great job -- JunHyeon overdances and looks out of control, and we barely see Yedam or Yunseo.

Side note: Oh Sungmin looked so much better with his real hair color. Why is he doing this blonde curl thing when he is capable of looking like this? Oh, and while we’re looking at old T01 fancams, check out this one of Woongki, being all serious and charismatic. I know it’s not his personality but he pulls it off, in my opinion. I guess they just both don’t want to do songs like that anymore.

In any case, Gunwook turns out to be a lock, and then they choose Gyuvin as well.

We cut to their trainee self-evaluation, and we see them performing. Honestly, they look great for a midway practice run. I wonder if Hui deputized Park Hanbin to run dance rehearsals? I would, in his shoes. A good leader knows how to delegate!

Gyuvin is nervous to be compared to Gunwook, and when it’s his team’s turn to try, Gyuvin chokes a bit and forgets some of the lyrics. Still, later on when they get the evaluation forms back, many trainees choose Gyuvin as the better choice for the center, saying he suits it better.

Side note: Look at Gyuvin doing a scaled down version of his hero Exo-Kai’s trademark leaning-back slouch.

Obviously, Kai has it down to a limbo-esque art, but Gyuvin is working on it!!!

The team does well overall. It’s great to see some of the trainees perform the song who won’t get to do it on stage -- good job, you guys. And we’re left with the thought that team En Garde is on track to succeed.

We’ll have to see

which member they kick out later on, and

which member gets to keep the Killing Part.

At 31:00, we switch over to team Say My Name.

Everyone in this group wanted this song, so I’ll just list the trainees and their previous song to help remind you of who is who, but this group is full of fairly popular trainees and you’ll probably recognize all or most of them.

Sung Hanbin Tomboy Han Yu Jin Law Seok Matthew Love Killa Kim Ji Woong Love Killa Kim Tae Rae Man in Love Yoo Seung Eon Home Seo Won Love Killa Takuto Rush Hour Ollie Zoom Cha Woong Ki Feel Special

The team needs to elect a leader, and there’s this ex-cru-ci-a-ting-ly edited bit about Matthew possibly wanting to be leader and then Sung Hanbin volunteering. I cannot describe how irritating it is. The worst part is from about 31:55 to 32:15. I want to burn their editing studio to the floor.

So they decide to have Hanbin be the leader, and Kim JiWoong says, “Matthew, I think Hanbin will be good leader,” and Matthew says, “As long as he listens to you.”

Matthew is doing a lot of that kind of “joking” that people do when they’re not really joking, you know? Ok, so, story time. I’m friends with two people who a couple, and we were all having a board game night, and when one member of the couple went to get another drink, the other one in the couple was like, “Oh, ha ha, he can’t enjoy an evening without drinking too much, ha ha ha ha, guess I better not get a second drink because SOMEONE has to drive home so we don’t end up in a ditch, ha ha ha,” and it was sooooo uncomfortable because she was saying it like it was a joke, but it was NOT a joke. You feel me? That’s the kind of “joking” Matthew is doing.

That little dig -- “as long as he listens to you” -- manages to imply that (1) any issues JiWoong may have had with Matthew’s leadership stemmed from JiWoong wanting to inappropriately get his own way and (2) that JiWoong’s preference in a leader is rooted in who he thinks will give him his own way rather than in the quality of the leadership and (3) that JiWoong will probably have as much of an issue with Hanbin’s leadership as he did with Matthew’s once Hanbin starts actually giving orders AND (4) that there is no other substantive difference between Hanbin and Matthew’s leadership skills. You see what I mean? There’s a LOT there.

It’s u n c o m f o r t a b l e.

We don’t see the team choose main vocal -- they must have given it to Yoo Seung Eon -- and instead we go straight to subvocal 1, a substantive part that a lot of people want. One of the people who wants it is TaeRae, who inexplicably is NOT the main vocal, again, what the fuck, everyone. The story editors, though, focus on Matthew wanting sub-vocal-1. He says, “If I don’t get sub-vocal 1, then I’m screwed.” Again, not a good look.

I don’t know if you guys watched I-Land -- the reality show that created Enhypen -- but there was this memorable scene in which a guy named Jay (see what I mean about there being too many Jays in K-pop?) kept trying to get parts. He tried for main vocal, then subvocal 1, then subvocal 2, subvocal 3…. Every time they went to assign another part, he raised his hand. Inside, he was kind of dying as the potential parts got smaller and smaller, but he just kept trying. He ended up with a smallish part in the song, but the audience watching at home fell in love with the way he kept trying. He ended up actually getting into the final lineup for Enhypen.

Matthew, honey. Listen to BPR-Noona, ok? The audience already knows how well you sing, so you can relax. And truly, there are no small parts, just small players. Why did Sana’s “shy shy shy” take off in Cheer Up by Twice? Just because people liked the way Sana did it. I’m sure it wasn’t designed to be a “killing part.” You don’t need a "killing part" to win, or even a big part. The most important thing for you right now, Matthew, is for you to stop coming across like a greedy rude North American. As a fellow North American, I am telling you, bud. Rope it the fuck in. BPR-Noona has spoken.

In any case, both Matthew and TaeRae get the part, so we’ll have to see what ends up happening!

Then the trainees try out for the Killing Part, and both Ollie and Han Yujin get it. While I actually like both of them, I can’t help but root for Ollie to keep it in the end. He’s almost certainly not going to make the final lineup for Bepler, so I just want him to have this chance to shine on stage. But yeah that’s probably not going to happen -- no team would lower their chance of winning by choosing a trainee who barely survived over a Top9 trainee.

After that, we focus on Hanbin’s leadership. He starts off by telling them their goal for the day, which just sets my teacher heart on fire in the best way. Goals should always be specific and achievable. Yes, Hanbin, yes.

Notice (1) the way that the only two “global” members on the team end up on the edges, just kind of interesting and (2) the way that Matthew positions himself as if he is also a leader -- he’s the only one not looking at Hanbin. Already, I have a bad feeling about this.

Hanbin manages their expectations expertly, letting them know that the choreo is challenging without presenting it as scary, and then demonstrates the choreo once for them. (I love how Han Yujin immediately begins sort of dancing along as he watches in the mirror-- that kid really is kind of amazing.) Hanbin is a great leader, and Matthew is very, very envious of that. In an interview, when asked what he would rate Hanbin out of 100, he “jokes” that he “can’t give him a 100” and so gives him 90. The editors are still kind of on his side. They’re scoring his “jokes” with plinky-plunky comedy music.

Hey, hey, uh, Matthew? Matt? Hey. It's me, BPR-Noona again. Um, why? Why can’t you give him 100? Isn’t he your friend? Aren’t you hoping to debut together? Why even joke that you can’t give him 100? What’s that about? Is it because you don’t want to place yourself below him in any way? Could it be that? Because other people who are excellent leaders themselves are letting themselves be led in other groups, and aren’t being “joking” jerks about it, Matt. General Gunwook and Park Hanbin are both really excellent leaders, and they’re following Hui in their current group. I don’t know, Matt, but I don’t think that this is a good look, no matter how plinky-plunky the comedy music is.

Sigh.

Then there’s a hilarious bit in which Kim JiWoong openly admits that he’s never felt jealous of other trainees before, but he does now a little bit, because they so naturally suit the concept of the song in a way he doesn’t quite. Then he says that normally he just looks at himself in the mirror while he dances and enjoys his time that way. OMG.

See, JiWoong can make jealousy seem just fine because he’s honest about it. And just so fucking weird. I love this weirdo.

Ok, then there’s this long scene that I don’t want to get too bogged down with, but basically, there’s trouble brewing between old friends Sung Hanbin and Seok Matthew.

While Hanbin is off in the bathroom (I assume), Matthew begins “teaching” some of the others the dance -- Takuto, Seo Won, and Ollie. Now, I don’t think it would hurt anything for someone to run through stuff with Takuto one on one, but I’ve never thought of either Seo Won or Ollie as people who need extra guidance when it comes to dancing -- particularly not Ollie, who actually basically taught his own team the dance in the first Challenge Mission.

It’s pretty interesting how, when Hanbin comes back in, he doesn’t flip out and immediately make them stop. He watches for a bit and thinks before he acts, which, again, is a sign of a great leader. He knows there’s something a little off, but he waits. He’s also polite about it in his interview, saying, “I am grateful that he [Matthew] wants to help, but my style is to have people learn the overall flow and image of the choreo before moving on to the details.” I wholeheartedly agree with that. Again, it’s that thing of how we normally build the frame of the jigsaw puzzle first, right? Hanbin also seems to say that some of the details might even change, or perhaps that Matthew is teaching them incorrectly --? Either way, Matthew isn’t helping here.

Then Matthew full on asks Hanbin if he can be “sub-leader,” and though Hanbin doesn’t think it’s a good idea, he says yes. Dude, I think that’s something that maybe you talk about as a team. Like, “Hey, guys, let’s get into one of those awkward semi-circles and let’s talk about whether or not you want Matthew to be the sub-leader of the team.” But I guess Hanbin doesn’t want to devote the time to that, or was worried it would create division or strife, so he just says yes. Ennnhhhh I don’t like it….

We don’t see any footage of the team performing at the trainee self-eval, interestingly enough.

So, we’ll have to watch to find out

which trainees are going to get kicked out of the team (a lot of them!)

what will happen between JiWoong and Matthew

what will happen between Hanbin and Matthew and

what will happen between Matthew and TaeRae with the subvocal one!

40:14 Over Me

Here are the trainees, again arranged in order of rank in episode 6 so you have a sense of who is least likely to survive, with their previous song listed to help jog your memory. All these trainees preferred Over Me except for Ma Jing Xiang, who asked the viewers to give him Say My Name. However, I think the audience might have just voted for him to Over Me anyway -- it’s not impossible.

Zhang Hao Tomboy Keita Zoom Jay Home Ricky Rush Hour Yoon Jong Woo Home Wang Zi Hao Law Chen Kuan Jui Butterfly Ma Jing Xiang Rush Hour Lee Jeong Hyeon Gang Lim Jun Seo Butterfly

The team starts off by trying to choose a leader, and it seems that some of them are reluctant to volunteer. Zhang Hao says that everyone should just take a moment to think about whether they want such a big responsibility, and then Yoon Jong Woo steps up. Almost immediately, the whole team says an enthusiastic yes. Jay says that JongWoo has cold eyes like a tiger but behind that he’s a genius. Heh. Everyone’s excited because they think that being on a team with JongWoo will give the team a good vibe.

Almost all of them want the killing part -- everyone but Jay, Lim Jun Seo, and JongWoo himself.

We see their auditions and are reminded again how great Keita’s and Hao’s vocals are. In the vote, Keita gets 4 votes and Hao gets 5. It’s noteworthy that Hao is the only one who didn’t vote for Keita or himself -- I think he voted for Ricky, but it might have been Chen Kuan Jui? It’s not clear from where his finger is pointing. But if Hao had voted for Keita, the way that Keita voted for Hao, it would have been a tie. Did Hao purposefully not vote for Keita in order to win? Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Side note: I’m kind of surprised that Keita didn’t volunteer to be leader. This seems right up his ally. But maybe he’s kind of exhausted after working so hard on Zoom. Or maybe he knows that the show will punish his team if he’s the leader. But when he’s not the leader, Keita becomes an excellent teammate instead. Just watch the way that he reacts to EVERYTHING here. He grins broadly at the idea of JongWoo being the leader, and even puts his fist in the air to cheer for the team. He laughs with genuine good humor when almost all the teammates apply for the killing part. Later, he grooves to everyone else’s singing. He’s a fan of every other member of his team. That’s the kind of teammate people want to be around. Just sayin’.

After that, the team moves forward with part distribution, and there’s an uncomfortable moment in which Ma Jing Xiang tries to ask for a section of a part that is in his vocal range. It’s also edited horrifically, with TRIPLE replays of MJX’s incorrect Korean. Yoon Jong Woo shuts him down extremely thoroughly. Then we also focus on how MJX continues dancing even when Jong Woo calls the team over to circle up. You get the feeling that Jong Woo genuinely dislikes MJX, and it’s a little uncomfortable because all or most of the team feels the same way.

Like, Yoon Jong Woo is not fucking around. Not one bit. I get it, because MJX seems like a pretty irritating person to be around sometimes, but it might be a bit… much.

The other storyline is that Lee Jeong Hyeon (that’s Lee of the Mun and Lee duo) thinks that there’s a spot in the song that he could write a rap for. His teammates support him in that. The next day, they go to the producers and Lee gets to do the rap he wrote in less than a day for them. The editing here gets REALLY annoying for a bit so feel free to skip ahead if you want -- the upshot is the producers say they like it and will consider it, so that seems like a win for Lee!

So we’ll have to find out:

Which teammates they’re going to kick out

Who will get to keep the Killing Part between Keita and Hao

Whether Lee Jeong Hyeon will get to do his rap

50:01 Switch

Here are the trainees, again arranged in order of rank in episode 6 so you have a sense of who is least likely to survive. A lot of these trainees had bene hoping for a different song, as listed in the second column. I’ve also listed their previous song to help jog your memory.

Zhang Shuai Bo Switch Feel Special Na Kamden Switch Law Cai Jin Xin Switch Feel Special Anthonny Say My Name Limousine Brian Say My Name Butterfly Dang Hong Hai Switch Home Wumuti Switch Zoom Krystian Switch Limousine Jung I Chan Over Me Not Spring Choi Woo Jin Switch Man in Love Lee Dong Gun Over Me Feel Special

So, this team, as leader Wumuti put it, is “nomu down.” (nomu = very) And with good reason -- their average final rank is 38, and as it happens, only a very small percentage of this team is going to survive.

Wumuti is doing his best, but his team knows that most of them aren’t going to make it through the eliminations, and it seems kind of like a waste of time to them to try. The sense I get of the vibe of the song is that they would be good choices even if other people DID want the parts.

Because no one else wants the killing part, Na Kamden and Wumuti take it. Wumuti is hoping that as they continue, that they’ll “find joy.”

For some reason, as I was watching this, I found myself thinking, “What would I say as the leader of this team, to get them to try?” And I think what I would have said is this: “Hey team. I know a lot of us are discouraged right now because the reality is that many of us, myself included, may get eliminated soon. But I still really want to try my best preparing for this song. So, let’s brainstorm reasons that we should still try our hardest, despite the circumstances. I’ll get us started by pointing out the cameras that are recording us, right now. Everything we’re doing right now? The Star Creators may see that in an upcoming episode. Some of them are Star Creators who may have voted for us in the past, or might become fans of us in the future, when we’re on a different stage. Don’t we want to do our best, for them?” Then maybe based on the vibe, I’d have us go around and each give our own reason for wanting to try our best, or else just let people say things, or if necessary, give more reasons myself, like “We want to be kpop performers or we wouldn’t be here -- don’t we want to practice just for the sake of improving?” You have to get a buy-in from the people you’re trying to lead.

Me saying this isn’t knocking Wumuti. I think he was doing a fantastic job, especially considering his quite low rank.

Anyway, then the show spends like 3 minutes just shitting on Jung I-Chan, who obviously could work a bit on his focus (I really do wonder if he might have something in the vicinity of ADD?) and who is obviously feeling super defeated. He never has been much of a dancer, so him having trouble with the choreo is probably just too much. At some point, his self-defense mechanisms would kick in and tell him to just give up because it’s safer. I just don’t think the guy is cut out for this stuff, but that doesn’t make him a bad person, MNET. Jeez. He even tells Wumuti, “I want to work hard, but I’m scared to work hard. It’s over.”

And the show just HAMMERS on I-chan, even though Lee Donggun is just as “lazy.” It’s like MNET is trying to destroy this kid who obviously has some mental health issues.

It makes perfect sense that Kamden, Brian, and Dang Hong Hai would keep trying, but I was a little surprised to see how hard Krystian keeps trying, though! I thought he was pretty much OVER the show. Maybe it’s just sort of in his nature to keep singing and dancing when he has the chance to do so.

At the trainee self eval, they actually look pretty cool.

I totally understand why Wumuti is irritated with I-Chan, though. I would be too, in his shoes. There’s no easy way through a situation like this.

We see him in the dorm later, wearing his official pink pajamas, and talking to someone who I can’t really see but might be Na Kamden. I don’t think we’ve ever spent this much time with Wumuti, ever. He’s such a sweetheart, though.

At their meeting with the composer oversees -- at which they seem to communicate mostly in English -- Wumuti has a lot of ideas, and the composer seems to really enjoy the conversation. The choreographers are also impressed at their dance rehearsal. These are the kinds of things that people remember, my friends. It’s not just about how many audience members like you -- it’s also great if producers and choreographers and staff like you. That is how sometimes you can get gigs.

So I console myself that even though most of this team doesn’t survive to perform the song -- and yes, that includes Wumuti, I don’t think that’s much of a surprise and I did warn you that there would be some mild spoilers -- I think that good things can still happen for them in the future.

Hey, go follow Wumuti on insta, ok? Even if you don’t use insta much, it just helps him to keep his numbers up. He has a nice cover up of UN Village, and a long note he wrote in English about his time on the show. Fighting, Wumuti, sweetie!

So, I guess the questions to be answered are:

Who among this team will survive?

What will it be like for the replacement team members to jump into this work in progress?

1:00:00 Supercharger

So, not a lot of trainees wanted Supercharger. Among those who asked for it, all of them got it. A lot of the rest wanted the super cheerful “Say My Name” or the sexy “Over Me,” and this song is neither cheerful nor sexy. It’s easily my least favorite of the five, and I think that’s how most of the trainees felt as well. Below I list the trainees assigned to this song, the song they asked for, and their previous song.

Haruto Supercharger Zoom Mun Jung Hyun Say My Name Gang Jung Min Gyu Over Me Man in Love Chen Jian Yu Supercharger Gang Park Ji Hoo Supercharger Limousine Cong Supercharger Butterfly Bak Do Ha Over Me Not Spring Lee Da Eul Say My Name Not Spring Lee Dong Yeol Over Me Man in Love Park Hyunbeen Say My Name Zoom

We don’t seem them pick a leader -- it’s Lee Dongyeol -- or the killing part -- they give it to Haruto and Park JiHoo, good call. Instead, we pick up with the trainees as they are watching the demo performance on their tablet. The choreo is difficult to say the least. The song still requires a lot of tweaks to the rap, performance, and choreo, and most of the team doesn’t really have the skill. They have Haruto, who can probably choreograph, and Park Ji Hoo, who can definitely write raps, plus I think Mun Jung Hyun and Park Hyunbeen are both into rapping and might be able to help a bit. Lee Dong Yeol debuted with Up10tion in 2015 and must have learned something about performance by now. But the rest of them, as Dong Yeol puts it, “aren’t there yet.”

They seem to be putting on a happy face as much as possible, especially Hyunbeen, who probably doesn’t want to be remembered for how much he cried at the first elimination.

They talk about how they want to put on a good performance, and my theory is that what they mean is, they want to put on a good performance at the trainee self-eval. That’s the performance that they know is guaranteed to them, right? And they want to do really well there.

If you operate under that theory, everything else they’re doing makes sense. They’re not dwelling on their low ranks. They are instead working really, really hard. Haruto is the dance captain, leading the rest -- Jung Min Gyu (red house) calls him “Haruto-sensai,” which is pretty adorable.

They are trying so, so hard. The dance is probably the hardest of the five and the average dance abilities of this group is probably the lowest of the five, but goddamn if they aren’t trying, you guys, and it’s charming. Haruto is complimenting them, and they’re saying “This is fun!” and stuff.

The other teams go back to the dorms to sleep….

… but all ten of them stay and keep practicing. Even back in their dorms, they’re continuing to practice in the hallways and their rooms. Trainees from the other teams notice and cheer them on.

At the trainee self eval, though, things go off the rail pretty fast. No one really sings, and they sort of lose their place in the choreo a few times. I think they rehearsed in a big group of tne, looking into the mirror the whole time, and didn’t work enough on performing as a group of five and singing along, without a mirror. They keep trying to pick it back up, but it’s a mess.

The other trainees are looking at them like this:

Kum Jun Hyeon says to a friend, “Wow, the choreo must just be THAT hard” -- that’s such a sweetly empathetic thing to say, cousin. Park Hanbin is doing that thing he does where he smiles because he’s shocked. Hui is squinting at them, as if trying to imagine how he could fix it somehow. And Lee Yedam is just like, a full body Aigoo. Things don’t go better for the second team.

It’s just heartbreaking. Afterward, Haruto is crying from embarrassment, and a few of the others are near tears too. The choreo is just too fucking hard for them. They probably should have focused on simplifying it a little, and maybe building in some rest periods, where a few dance a few don’t and then they switch.

When they get the trainee evaluation forms, the feedback is brutal. But Park Hyunbeen says that this isn’t the worst. “The worst,” he says, “Was when I wore that vest for the Hot Sauce hidden camera.” Then he adds, “I was born to do Super Charger. I went on Boys Planet to perform that song and I don’t ever want to go home. I’ll make sure to survive and perform SuperCharger.” If only the show aired some of this footage before the voting period was over, lovey, but at least we see some of your mettle now. You’re a charming guy, Park Hyunbeen. Fighting!

So the questions that remain are:

Which trainees, if any, will survive?

Which trainees will end up joining this team?

What will happen when they join -- will anyone be able to dance this choreo?

After that, there’s this bit where Seo Won and Cha Woongki go around and are silly with the other trainees -- the Planet Camp Tour -- and it’s cute, but I don’t have a lot to say about it.

I still think Ollie was dumb to jam his finger into the camera and say that it smells bad. But he doesn’t know about my theory about bad smells on reality shows. Basically, something I’ve noticed is that on audience-vote-based reality survival shows, like So You Think You Can Dance, if someone on the show is revealed to smell bad at some point, they nearly ALWAYS go home the following week. Like once on SYTYCD, one of the dancers was complaining cheerfully that her dance partner had awful Doritos breath. Gone the next week. Another time, one of the dancers was joking about how awful he smelled at the end of a day of dance practice. Gone the next week. It doesn’t happen on shows where the judges decide, like RPDR or ANTM, but it happens whenever there’s an audience vote. Seriously, watch for it from now on. Let me know if you have another data point to add to my research on this.

Anyway, the final moments we see before the eliminations start are all the trainees in their dorms probably the night before. We see a conversation between Hui and Kim Gyuvin, who worked together on Love Me Right and are together again on En Garde. It’s cute because Gyuvin doesn’t really fit on the bed.

Gyuvin is worrying not about this elimination, but about the final one. It’s far more likely, he reasons, that he’ll be one of the 89 who don’t get into Bepler than to be one of the 9 who do. Hui is worried too. “If I were a Star Creator,” he says, “would I vote for an idol in his 30s? Even I wouldn’t do that.” Oh Hui. Then why did you come on the show, sweetheart? Why on god’s green earth did you do this to yourself?

We see Wumuti talking to his friend again -- it has to be Na Kamden, but I still can’t get a look at his face or get any other clue. “ ‘Give up,’ “ he says. “I used to say those words to myself once in a while. But I can’t seem to. I want it so badly.” Oh, twist that knife, MNET.

Then we check in with Ji Yunseo and and Lee Yedam, who are with a friend in a mask who I can’t identify. The fucking subtiles say that Lee Yedam is Oh Sungmin, and I mean, omg, MNET, Sungmin has blonde hair right now, what the actual fuck.

Then we check in Cha Woongki for a while, while he calmly but sadly talks about how he’s not really that popular and even expected to come in last in Feel Special. Now they’re not just twisting the knife; they’ve attached it to a power drill and are just spinning that thing at like 200 rpm.

Then there’s a bit with the boys all writing final messages on the wall about their time on the show. It’s as sad as you’d think it would be. A lot of the notes are addressed to the star creators. I hope that the boys are at least happy to know that people did vote for them, even if they didn’t win. Every single one of them got hundreds of thousands of votes. That must mean something, right? I do a creative performance thing myself, and I recently was eliminated in the second round of something, but people came up to me afterward and said that they voted for me and thought I was the best and were sad I’d been knocked out, and that meant a lot.

And then the eliminations start.

Alright, loves! Thanks for reading! At this point, episode 9 is out and I haven’t even watched it yet, so I guess I’ll get on that. As always, I really appreciate the support -- some of you have sent in asks that I really loved and just haven’t responded to yet because I have the thoughts in my head and haven’t had a chance to type them. You guys are great. Hope that you’re having a good day and that you’re warm and cozy wherever you are. See you in the next one.

#boys planet #Cha Woongki #Wumuti #Park Hyunbeen #Hiroto

12 notes · View notes