Haha that's very fair! I will never understand why they have to do eliminations on this show! Seems so counterproductive when they can lose whole fan bases if their group goes- plus it's just extra stress for the groups.
CallistoWarriorQueen
2024-11-21 08:00:22 +0000 UTC
That's great to hear!! I also came out pretty interested in 8Turn and Younite but I'm still staying away from diving into them until there is some distance from the show in my head since I don't want my negativity towards the show to colour my experience. 😅
Eafiu
2024-11-17 18:39:12 +0000 UTC
I was a bit sad for 8Turn getting 4th in Team. I didn't think they'd win but I thought they'd get Third with OneUs and Younite getting Top 2- I bet Seongmin from Cravity voted for them though haha. Just happy Myungho won Ace for it at least.
CallistoWarriorQueen
2024-11-13 01:28:52 +0000 UTC
I do agree with a lot of what you wrote but I did actually become a fan of 8Turn through this show. I hadn't heard of them until their first performance and now I own every single one of their albums in every single version. So they definitely made some money off me lol
CallistoWarriorQueen
2024-11-12 22:29:58 +0000 UTC
Totally understand!!! I’m really excited for the final stages!!!
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-03 19:30:42 +0000 UTC
sdkljslkf don't worry about not replying sometimes!! I'm just glad that they are not a bore to read. 😂
I will probably still just watch Oneus' final stage when it is uploaded as a video (Actually maybe Younite's too because the snippet I heard for it was my favourite lkdfjgkldg) but I may try to avoid info about the show for a while if I can and just later enjoy everyone else's songs and stages through your analyses at some point. 😅 Going to be busy manifesting I Know You Know acting as a precursor for a Oneus 2nd full album comeback. 🙏
Eafiu
2024-11-03 18:14:06 +0000 UTC
Fun fact was VERY FUN 😂♥️ not fun fact was very NOT FUN 🥲 it’s hard with how CLOSE the points were, because there is so much room for those types of discrepancies…. I mean we all were tearing into the “critics” and “judges” from KLW so involving a fan based audience is going to be 100% subjective… I can find more peace with a fan based audience WAY more than a “critic” playing politics… I will NEVER feel great about how some of that was scored 🫠 I’m really sad for tempest here because it was less that 60 votes and it’s a hard thing to process honestly. I’m excited to continue to support all the groups post show because they all deserve it!
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-03 17:07:08 +0000 UTC
Side note: so glad the comment section here is your new diary 😂 I feel HONORED ♥️♥️ and I don’t mind being your filter to help you cope if you want to finish the show … I’ll have a virtual hug all queued up for you 😂
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-03 17:02:45 +0000 UTC
You have no idea how much I learn from you when you comment. I always feel bad not responding in a timely manner because it looks like I hate you 😂😂 but NOT true haha! I love that you feel comfortable enough to share your thoughts and I am so sorry that Mnet is still doing the MOST in making situations the worst… BLESS IT for all of them.. I completely understand if you want to take a pause for yourself and wait it out until you feel better, because this will always be here! Love that we get to love the groups and celebrate them at the end of the day ♥️
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-03 16:57:53 +0000 UTC
wait that's so fun I didn't know that!!
Nina
2024-11-02 19:25:49 +0000 UTC
It's just a sad affair that channel incompetence and/or malpractice just blows back on fans and add fuel to the fire. I don't think we'll ever have clear answers to how things actually worked. I'm just glad the Round 3 stream tracking period has finally ended and the finale song tracking period will end soon too. It's just been such an unpleasant time on Youtube for R3 in particular. I reported so many trolls from all sides, it's ridiculous.
Eafiu
2024-11-02 15:25:32 +0000 UTC
Ah, I see. I saw that they did the google forms but I just assumed mnet would have taken precautions to make sure that there was some sort of verification. Especially because of the fanmeets that happened during that day unlike the other rounds. The fans who indicated let's say Cravity as their favourite group would have been part of Cravity's fan meeting and not the others so I would have assumed mnet did something to make sure iEs didn't end up in Cravity's fan meeting. But that's just one scenario and there's so many other possibilities and we don't know what mnet actually did in the end 🫠 I've been trying to look for anyone that has the exact contents of the google forms and no leads on it either. All I've seen is people say they have "trustworthy sources" but… aren't willing to say anything else.
케이
2024-11-02 15:16:36 +0000 UTC
I've not seen any credible reporting that Luvity count was higher in the audience. I think it's just nasty minority haters in fandoms looking for excuses so far.
The problem though was that, apparently, audience members weren't asked for fandom proof like in other round auditions - just self-report online. That just opens up so much shady possibilities that it's easy for everyone to spin it. Given the audience streams were on those tiny TVs in big rooms just like group waiting rooms too... This show is just so badly managed that it's wild.
Eafiu
2024-11-02 14:52:33 +0000 UTC
Hi, could you share where you got that this round didn't have an equal number of fans? I've been seeing people saying it but I couldn't personally find where Mnet posted that they weren't going to have an equal number of fans / getting more fans for one group for voting.
As far as I recall, they usually invite more fans based on who has a bigger fandom to fill up the space but only an equal number of fans (not all the fans there) are able to vote. I don't remember the actual numbers but if for example, they had 30 Turnings there for 8Turn and 50 Luvitys there for Cravity, only 30/50 Luvitys would be able to vote. The rest would just be watching. This was what happened from pre-evals, Round 1, and Round 2 so I assumed it would be the same for Round 3 but I've seen people saying otherwise. I couldn't find the full source for this though, one that showed there was an unequal number of fans able to vote. Accounts from Round 3 also mentioned that all of the 6 groups had a mini-fanmeeting with their fans in between evaluating 3-1 and 3-2 and also after evaluations were done.
케이
2024-11-02 11:34:26 +0000 UTC
By the way I should add at the end of this rant: The reason why here ended up being my journal to lay out all my frustrations is purely because of the lovely atmosphere YOU bring to the table Jess. Because you are passionate, professional and you advocate for all the groups, the atmosphere here reflects that too. Otherwise I really would be writing this all in a diary and curdle on the counter even more. 😂 I swear, I wouldn't be able to watch these last 2 episodes without you as my filter almost.
Eafiu
2024-11-02 11:30:57 +0000 UTC
I'll be honest, I can't keep watching this show anymore with how much of a farce it is behind the scenes. In the past I kept trying to focus on the cool stages we get to enjoy, without worrying about the competitive side of things. However, hearing about all the behind-the-scenes stuff groups had to deal with to even deliver these stages and not to mention all the mishaps/overwork that could have been prevented by either companies or the channel itself... Like, Cravity being overworked to this degree?? All that happened with The New Six??? What happened to Tempest??? The CrewOne still not getting properly acknowledged??? Like at this point I'm just glad I haven't heard anything specific coming from 8Turn and Younite fronts but I won't assume it's because it doesn't exist. Hell, I can't even be like "At least Cravity will probably come out a winner in the end and all the bad moments in the competition will be for something," since the source of their pain is mainly their own company at this point. Not to mention just purely from my own bias that just accepting Oneus will probably not win is not good for my own ego, lmao. (I know they have *a* shot, but I think Cravity's consistent high performance will get them the win in the end. They score well AND they stream well. I don't see a final minute upset in the finale performance and live vote. Ngl, if there is, I'd side-eye the channel for sure. Oh, did you see me just start to worry about who wins or loses again??? THIS IS EXACTLY *MY* PROBLEM.) My only choice is to try to mentally check out.
Like, I can't even feel good about "supporting" my favourite when that support can only truly go towards propping this incompetent and ultimately inconsequential competition. And I am obviously not immune to feeling competitive either so I feel I can't enjoy most of the stages because I keep thinking about scores and metrics for no reason, and that's not remotely fair. I don't think I'll be able to see the value of this entire bout until like a year later when all this ephemera passes away and I can just disconnect the performances from their context.
It's just purely frustrating because who is this all helping? Groups getting exposure? Not particularly. Fanbases growing? I'll believe it when I see it. Performances getting appreciated? It shouldn't come at the cost of overworking anyone in the first place AND quantifying performance by unclear votes at the end kind of goes counter to experiencing the art in the first place. Groups getting experience and telling their stories? Some didn't need it, and the ones who did need it are getting drowned out. Groups forming new friendships with each other? They don't need this competition for that AND they are asked to vote for and against each other each step! Groups getting some outside validation? With how under the radar the competition is, at this point I don't think this entire marathon is worth the few extra praises people are getting. Everything feels counterintuitive. It's f r u s t r a t i n g . And I feel frustrated for caring about it enough to write a rant like this instead of, like, the 5k word essay in me to break down the entire LUNA performance piece by piece. Maybe after a few months, I'll actually feel positive again at the thought of writing it instead of thinking "the art doesn't matter anyway so why bother?" Feeling my insides curdling like I'm some milk left out in the open is NOT conducive to just appreciating something. The blood, sweat and tears (🎶💃내 피 땀 눈물--) that goes into those performances deserve better than that.
Basically: competition doesn't matter, the channel doesn't matter, rewards don't matter, companies don't matter, imo only the groups and their production teams matter and it's just not worth their overworking for little to no gain in the end. Honestly, remove the "competition" part and this is true for the entire industry for me and I think this competition just reminded me how much it takes a toll.
ETA: And, like, I reiterate, it takes a LOT of frustration to override my pure joy at the No Diggity and LUNA versions I got out of this entire mess, not to mention the first original ONEUS release in more than a year. Holy shit.
Oh and just to be petty: The ace idea was good in principle but making it this integral was a huge mistake imo. Would have been fine for bonus points and stuff but having it be THIS big is, ugh, a side of K-Pop popularity contests that I don't like, namely pitting members within a group against each other to decide who is "best". We could have gotten a much better "ace" concept if the competition was, well, less of a competition. I will never forgive the Round 0 and Round 2 bullshit with it especially.
The idea of having an ace member to highlight for the finale team performance of all things is the most counterintuitive thing for me since imo the point should be groups doing what they do best all together. And I say this as I acknowledge that *my* bias Hwanwoong is inarguably the biggest beneficiary of this system, lmao. I just hope he has gotten some confidence boost from this although, I reiterate, no one should have gone through this to get the faintest of praises.
Eafiu
2024-11-02 11:22:56 +0000 UTC
on a less light note, i do think some of the audience was trying to be a bit strategic because this was the first recording after episodes had aired. the voting was held a few days after the 3rd episode release where the first rankings were announced and younite and cravity had been in 1st and 2nd place respectively.
if a fan of one specific group that is lower in the rankings doesn't want to vote for someone with a similar ranking they may choose to vote for the top 2 groups alongside their favorite group in order to secure a spot in the finale. with how close the points for 5th and 6th place were it could've been just a couple audience votes that decided so a fan of tco may not have wanted to vote for tempest or 8turn because those were the bottom 3 teams after the first round
Kait Gold
2024-11-02 11:19:20 +0000 UTC
lighthearted fun fact about cravity's fancon, they actually invited 2 members of tempest to the concert ! taerae and hyeongseop were there and cravity just happened to have a jopping cover on their setlist, it must've been a bit of a surprise to the tempest members just 10 days before shooting lol
Kait Gold
2024-11-02 10:54:16 +0000 UTC
Yeah, I only just found out about the whole appendix thing and it's wild. Hyeongseop's always been a huge happy force within the episodes (for me, at least) and I can't believe he was doing that while experiencing the aftereffects of just having had surgery. Apparently he started feeling pain in his appendix *during* the recording of the pre-evaluation round and was rushed to the hospital right after recording ended. Honestly, it should have been on Yuehua to ask him to rest and recover first even if he wanted to participate. They had 3 weeks to prepare for Round 1 and he had to learn all the choreo and formations. I'd guess he took at most 2 weeks to rest which is definitely *not* enough time.
케이
2024-11-02 07:46:02 +0000 UTC
The other rounds have all had an equal number of fans from each fandom (people applying have to include which group they’re rooting for), and this round didn’t have that stipulation so supposedly there were a lot more Luvitys (Luvities?) than other fandoms. I’m sure that influenced the scoring somewhat, but from what Taemin said Younite placed first from the fan judges - meaning Cravity’s first place came from the self-scoring among the groups. I’m super curious how the numbers worked out, and if not for the hell I’m sure it would wreak I would love to see the separate rankings from the streaming judges and from the groups themselves.
Mnet also shot themselves in the foot by eliminating Tempest (NOT that I’m saying they controlled which group got eliminated) because iEs are one of the largest fandoms of the groups on this show and by not having Tempest in the concerts they’re definitely missing out on ticket sales. It sucks for iEs as well, because they’ve been *working* to support Tempest - their performances have among the highest streams and they’ve been consistently finishing first in the voting races on the Mnet app.
I think overall this show has kind of sucked all around. For something that’s supposed to be about lifting up lesser known groups it’s certainly eliminated quite a few of them. It’s put a ton of pressure on the groups and their teams. (Not to mention the whole “ace” thing - that’s so much to put on just one person! It’s a cool concept but I think it should have been done differently, like having the aces earn bonus points that get added to one cumulative ranking instead of the two separate ones, or something like that.) I also feel like there’s been a higher than average number of injuries compared to previous shows in the series (and even any injuries at all is too high but 🙄), and while I don’t use Twitter I’ve heard from some friends who do that it’s not the best over there. The prize isn’t even that great either, since there’s not going to be a Kingdom 2 after this. “Road to Kingdom” more like “Road to KCon”.
We’ve gotten some great performances from this show that I’ll probably still rewatch ages from now, but I really can’t wait for it to be over.
Nina
2024-11-02 07:34:58 +0000 UTC
Thank you so so much for sharing the ins and outs of what's been happening.. It's times like these that I wish I had WAY more influence so I could be a louder voice amongst the chaos but we are working on it haha. I am TRULY hoping that Cravity's situation doesn't turn into what ended up happening to LOONA and BBC. They have worked HARD and I truly want them to firstly REST and FEEL like they can, as well as be able to grow as artists and not be used as content machines. Luvitys have shown a lot of support in ways that make me feel encouraged as a viewer because a lot of situations have absolutely nothing to do with Cravity and more so to do with the company.. I wish that more people would be able to always blame the source of the false narratives (cough cough MNET) vs the artists... BLESS IT ALL... you all have me supporting yall!!!! FEAR NOT!!
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-02 07:03:51 +0000 UTC
I can't believe I forgot about the TEAMS voting haha.... LITERALLY forgot all about that until you mentioned it so THANK YOU!! Cravity has worked their butts off and I am super happy that they are in the finale... They were the first recipients of the Mnet destruction (Not being able to do their intro group stage still is WILD) and I truly love that they have been receiving great feedback despite a lot of the issues.. I'm just happy they are still alive and breathing after their CRAZYYYYY schedule... I honestly didn't think a company would be pulling the hours on their group that ATEEZ went throguh but I was MISTAKEN... I am REALLY excited to hopefully see a prepped and prepared Cravity because it hurt my heart os much to see them have to stressfully troubleshoot ON SITE...... No one should have to have dealt with that amount of issues like they did..
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-02 07:00:07 +0000 UTC
WHAT??? These boys need REST I tell you!!!! Thank you for catching me up to speed with Tempest and I would NOT be a happy camper if my group was no getting what they should... All these companies are not doing a great job (Even KQ wasn't that great with ATEEZ during KLW with scheduling) but I can only hope that these groups are able to continuing growing as artists without all of these unnecessary hardships that can REALLY put them at risk (The whole appendix situation is WILD to me
Jessica Holyfield
2024-11-02 06:56:01 +0000 UTC
I also know iEs (Tempest fans) have been particularly upset with mnet since they were basically used as a cash cow for ad revenue. For context, the R.ace being held on the mnet app required fans to watch through 50 unskippable 2 minute ads. iEs were the only fandom that managed to reach 100% every time and even early since they've always been a very strong voting fandom. I've seen some iEs have upwards of 10,000 boosters leftover. Each ad gives 5 boosters and 250 is the limit per day so you can see just how determined they were to support Tempest. And this is with multiple accounts so multiple hours of watching ads. Even I only watched ads for one account and not for all the others. The rewards weren't even that great. The first was a special performance on M!Countdown for Round 1 aka Tempest performing Maniac (which still hasn't happened). The second and third ads were just physical ads in stores like olive young or train stations and stuff.
Also I know you asked previously about Hyuk's arm. I believe it hadn't been healed when they did Maniac (Round 1) since it was dislocated. I also believe Hyeongseop got appendix surgery after the pre-evaluation round but he still chose to perform Maniac with them on the show. There's… a lot of issues with Yuehua too honestly.
케이
2024-11-02 06:41:49 +0000 UTC
Also yeah, I hate how much starship overworked not just Cravity, but all of Cravity's team too. The fact they had to get to the point where they were trying out things during rehearsal for the first time is just harrowing for me. I can't imagine being told, "there's not enough time to fix this" on the day itself and having to troubleshoot everything when it's supposed to be basically perfect at that point. It just makes me wonder how much starship as a company is actually supporting Cravity or if it's really just the people on their team who are on their side (this includes their performance and video directors). Because if it's the latter then there's only so much they can do since they're also only human. It should have been up to starship to decide that they (Cravity and their team) needed more resources and manpower during this time.
Also, honestly, a lot of things haven't been adding up. Hyeongjun said that they decided along with starship to participate in RTK2. Seongmin said starship just informed them they would be joining.
Taeyoung said that they were preparing for both the fan con and round 3 at the same time but the footage from mnet showed them only having a meeting to decide the concept the day of the fan con.
I'm really curious exactly what the dance practice video, Cravity's behind the scenes video, and Cravity's report videos will show about their process of preparing for Round 3.
케이
2024-11-02 06:19:58 +0000 UTC
As for fanwars, yeah, basically Luvity have been raked through the coals since even before the show started because of accusations that mnet would rig Cravity to win and the last episode definitely did not help. There's a lot of hate and vitriol from both sides, not just from the results but also because of the streaming aspect. There's also been a lot of tension internally with Luvitys because of the low streams… and it's to the point where multiple Cravity members have spoken up and told Luvitys not to worry to much about streaming and that they hope Luvitys aren't suffering too much from the show.
Luvitys are also particularly upset that the finale itself is 100,000 points so basically the 63,000 points Cravity have gotten up to now wouldn't mean much.
I think at this point, everyone's just ready for it to end.
케이
2024-11-02 06:07:12 +0000 UTC
Personally, my top 3 were cravity, tempest and the crewone. Yes, I'm aware of the disasters but I still blame mnet for it. (actually, my theory is that they sabotaged tempest because they were always first on the race voting, and votes in the final are 70000 points. and they probably want either cravity or oneus to win).
But, yeah, back to my picks... I think everyone has different opinions when it come to this. I took into consideration when I picked not only the stage but also if I liked the arrangement of the song and choreo, and how their voices fit the song.
It was also the first time I saw everyone on twt having so different opinions and, as a LUVITY and seeing so many praises from other fandoms, I was actually scared of CRAVITY not getting a good score. This round for me was truly unpredictable and I thought the points for team were all going to be more even.
ashe
2024-11-02 06:04:23 +0000 UTC
To explain about the Round 3-2 points. Younite won 1st for both team and ace from the live audience votes, which is 70% of the 9,000+ score. The other 30% of the 9,000+ score is determined by the self-evaluation (aka the groups themselves scoring). So the only way Cravity was able to win 1st place over Younite is because of the self-evaluation votes. It means more people from the groups voted for Cravity over Younite. At least, based from the information we've been told.
I really… do not have faith in mnet and even as a luvity, I do not understand them winning 1st place in team for Round 3-2. I have even less faith when starship and mnet come together because of what it's led to in the past. I only hope that everything was done above-board and that this won't impact Cravity.
케이
2024-11-02 05:58:07 +0000 UTC
About the rankings. Taemin said YOUNITE got 1st in the video evaluation, which is the fan voting portion (7000 points). Even though it may not seem that much, the other 3000 points matter a lot too (those are from the self-evaluation, aka the participants votes).
In ACE, the final points for 2-4 ranks were pretty close, but still YOUNITE ended up getting 4th overall.
As for CRAVITY getting first, you can tell the idols really liked their stage. If you look at the fancams, CRAVITY was the only team to use 4 walls instead of 3 (the first minute and a half of it it's just a LED screen). The other teams are more aware of the space and they kept mentioning about how much stuff they had going on, so probably a lot of CRAVITY's points came from there.
If we were to think every other idol voted for CRAVITY, that's 3000 points, which means for video evaluation they could have had 6321 points, which is still more of what TEMPEST and The CrewOne got overall.