calamariexpert

Was that the director of Parasite on the awards stage?!! Or just a lookalike?

I just watched their 2016 idol athletics archery competition (it's a series of short videos) - maknae Yook Sunjae as King, leader Seo Eunkwang as his horse - they are so crazy. And they won, which is even crazier. On top of Minhyuk the medal vacuum cleaner winning other events...I only learned about BTOB during Kingdom, so I can't imagine how much wackier they are with their maknae line around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOJIQTBxXZ4

Thanks, it was too good not to share. Peniel being attacked by the hanger during his guitar solo was gold. Chang sub singing again. Eunkwang's dramatic solos. Minhyuk the rapper reaching those high notes while Eunkwang harmonizes even above his notes. BTOB just going off the rails...

If you need more BTOB rocking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=522Amho7e9o

Episode 1 was really good on Viki. The FL was easy to relate to, and the storyline looks very interesting. I liked how it showed all the hard work, long years, ambition and desperation of the trainees (especially the FL who has to balance it with high school), the stardom of those who succeed, the stereotype of the girls' groups (either childishly cute or super sexy) and the gritty profit-making business of k-pop at different levels - the big company, the medium company, and the tiny company. The scenes at the drama filming were a fresh change of pace and kept my interest. The epilogue was a nice hook. I actually like the time jumps between the 3 time periods (her move to Omega Entertainment, her working as a lowly imitator, and in the epilogue, her first meeting with the ML), because it makes the FL's story more intriguing. Most of the artists are actually from the k-pop industry, which makes it more realistic. I followed SF9 and Ateez from Kingdom:Legendary War over to this drama.

I'm confused sometimes by facial beauty standards in other cultures/countries, so it's helpful to see what the idols think of each other, especially since they are in a very image conscious industry. I can't wait for subtitles to hear their comments.

Things I liked from the 6th episode:
- If they absolutely had to do a Visual King vote (because everyone seems like a visual/eye candy to me), at least the competitors cast their own votes themselves, instead of having "expert" or "global" voting, lol.
- 2/3 BTOB getting into the KF4, Eunkwang getting a vote b/c he was beautiful from the inside, Minhyuk getting a vote b/c of his vaulting prowess, Peniel voting for Minhyuk b/c he returned from the military and still looks younger than him, Eunkwang and Minhyk joking that they got sympathy votes b/c they were old (MC Changmin laughing at that)
- Felix and Minhyuk voting for each other, Felix getting votes from some of the handsomest men, Felix in a totally pink outfit with a huge pink bow and ribbon
- All the members who voted for themselves (Jaeyoon, Sunwoo, etc.)
- The grand prize for Visual King being an expensive CG effect
- Bang Chan (Stray Kids) and Minhyuk tying for vaulting. How can they be so well rounded?
- All the men wincing in sympathy when someone failed at the horse vault, or laughing hysterically at the comedic fails. Especially Bobby.
- Everything Ikon said. Bobby laughing his head off, roasting/sabotaging his teammates. SF9 and Ikon cheering for their one remaining member in the horse vault. Jaeyoon in his white shirt and jeans going over the vault.
- Watching them go over the horse vault in slow motion like a commercial for a high school drama...I hope some TV producers/casting directors are watching.
- MC Changmin and Eunkwang happily announcing FAIL in unison. BTOB roasting MC Changmin until he had his head on the table in laughter/defeat.
- Eric's shenanigans. Seongwha covering his eyes at some points. Strawberry Kids. Everyone's satisfied expressions eating fried chicken.
- Eric, Wooyoung, Bang Chan, Ikon and BTB being ferocious, strategic, nimble, weakest link, and strongest link, respectively, in the catch a tail game. That green cardigan deserves its own prize for durability.
- Minhyuk and Peniel running so well at the relay until it was Eunkwang's turn, sigh. At least this time Eunkwang wasn't dressed like a cupid or a horse like in previous idol athletics...Wooyoung and Bang Chan running like the wind. Taeyang running in jeans (kudos). Ikon coming in 5th in the relay (given their "mysterious" athleticism, I thought they'd come in 6th).
- All those men calling each other "cute". All the hugging and laughter and cheering.

This was a fun, light mini-drama that SF9 made for their fans. The English subtitles on YouTube were very good. The members work at a fictional company, SF9 Sangsa, which is super poor, and operates out of a run down factory building. The men wear handsome suits but sit on the cheapest stools. The members have different roles in the company, from Department Head Da Won (who kept a straight face and stayed in character admirably) to regular worker Taeyang (who was blissfully spraying his plastic plants) to the ambitious intern Hwi Young. It was nice to see them all together in a mini-drama. It was really entertaining to see them acting/trying to pretend to be regular office workers. Episodes are short, and the company does improve. By Episode 2.5 they're in an actual regular office with 57 million workers, planning a retreat.

Thanks! I knew their music from Back Door but never "saw" them until Kingdom, and now I'm curious about all the groups.

Thanks! I didn't know about the Weekly Idol show.

From Reddit: "...We now also have a "#HoesForHuta" flair, per popular request."
Also enjoyed watching Minhyuk's old record-setting high jump vault jumps at the idol athletics on youtube....they called him a medal vacuum cleaner b/c over the years he earned ~20 medals at the idol athletics.

I read an interesting article that kind of explained the flaming fan wars:
- International fans tend to be fans of multiple groups because they usually connect with the k-pop groups digitally, which requires little time/cost, and by the time the groups expand internationally they're already established domestically, so it's easy for international fans to support more than one group.
- In contrast, domestic fans usually only favour one group - they have to help their group survive in a small, highly competitive market where most groups don't survive a year (it's a zero-sum game), line up for in-personal events like concerts, meetings, variety shows, purchase every item they can to support their group, watch every tv episode, etc. Many years ago, being a fan of multiple groups in Korea was even highly looked down upon. So groups work extra hard to maintain/please their fans.
- In Korea, rankings are partly based on purchasing songs (done by fans) (whereas in the US, song rankings are partly based on radio play)
- Another thing I didn't consider: Inside Korea, I think they mainly use Melon and Naver to watch videos, while China doesn't even have Youtube. Some fans can repeatedly stream videos in a loop across multiple devices/accounts. One person posted on reddit, "i don’t have a lot of free time (because of working) to stream or make accounts and all of that...", and another replied, "I can only say this #adulting + #fangirling is not easy haha". So a group can have fewer views on Youtube, but still be very popular. And then there are groups with massive views on Youtube and are just plain popular.

Didn't realize the Kingdom groups had so much material on their youtube channels. There's so much content from all 6 groups, I've only had a look at BTOB and SF9, but if anyone could recommend any links for the other groups (with Eng subs, but not MVs), I'd appreciate it.
- Eunkwang (BTOB) enlivens the Kingdom show's press conference cracking up the other teams from 35:00-42:35: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbVLdAV6QZk
- SF9 made this cute little drama for their fans, "Sangsa SF9" in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZavKT9gTXM
- SF9's Taeyang (he's the man in the white fur coat in "The Stealer" performance) danced his way through Chicago, NY, Atlanta, LA, and Seoul during their US tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugKwzeK-1dE
- BTOB's Minhyuk has an ongoing vlog (but the Kingdom content will come out after the show ends).

This is a no-elimination show! Yay!

Next week should have plenty of cute moments - it's the athletic day. The preview is on the m-net k-pop YouTube channel.

All the performances have been so good! Remember to vote on the whosfan app. Voting ends in 3 days.
I started re-watching the earlier episodes, and now that I know some of the members and songs better, I can appreciate them even more. I skipped over the insecurities and doubt that the show hyped up for drama. The groups all did really great work on their performances.

I saw it on apple - Kingdom Part 1, it has Stealer and O Sole Mio: https://music.apple.com/us/album/kingdom-re-born-pt-1-single/1564037112
I wish they'd also release the songs from Round 1 , I really liked the new versions of those songs.

Peniel (BTOB) is quiet on Kingdom, but I started watching his video/podcast Get Real with BM (Kard) and Ashley Choi. It's all in English. They talk and roast each other as friends about their experiences as regular folks in the US and as celebrities in the Korean entertainment industry. It's actually really interesting - this particular episode was about impossible beauty standards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOckh1sg46g
Peniel also has a part in Amber Liu's new song, Neon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBWhk4SJhak

Really loved the performances this week, especially the SF9's k-drama in a song, IKON's new refrain, and the dancing in O Sole Mio
- For a global competition, I wish Mnet would post the rankings in both Korean and English. Aside from IKON and SF9, I can't read any of the other groups' names on the rankings in the show. Oh well, I guess that's why I have to wait for the subtitles.
- Similary, I wish Mnet would add more English to the youtube video titles to make them easier to figure out/distinguish/search.

Several Ateez and SF9 members are together in a new drama: https://www.soompi.com/article/1465049wpp/kbs-drama-imitation-unveils-concept-photos-of-lee-jun-young-jongho-hwiyoung-and-more-as-fictional-idol-group-shax