Lurker > Ruddager

Dunno if this means each member has a virtual version of themselves or some members of the group are exclusively virtual but SM is on some weird shit with this new group.

Tryna hit up that K/DA and v-tuber audience or some shit

Oof, another public accusation against her from an extremely famous Chinese stylist that worked with the group in 2018

And what would have been their first full group schedule since Wendy's injury nearly a year ago has been canceled

MixedRaceBaby posted...

i mean like half the idols these days are from china anyway

There really arent THAT many, and even less when you consider that most of them just end up on permanent hiatus from their original groups as they run off to China at the first opportunity

Aeriis posted...

Lol have you read the book? I'm halfway through it and it's not like that at all...

I have no interest in reading anything she's writing, but I'll own up to being at least partly wrong on this, looks like this particular book is just the set up for the sequel/sequels (which she's confirmed) where her Mary Sue self insert actually debuts and she will be "definitely drawing from personal experience" to write that one. That's where the true bullshit will start.

Technically no it's not an autobiography it's just "heavily inspired" by her experiences in Kpop.

AKA she's hiding behind the "totally fictional character/story" in order to throw whatever outlandish bullshit claims she wants toward SM and the other SNSD members without consequence because it's "just a fictional story bruh" and without having to man up and actually talk shit directly at/to them because she's a coward

Seems like the tracklist for their album leaked. It's only 8 songs and Tthere's a song featuring Cardi B which will almost certainly be the title track considering the approach YG is taking with them. So there goes any hopes of getting a decent title track in from them this year.

Yeah that was absolute dogshit, I didnt think it was possible for them to release something that makes HYLT sound good by comparison but here we are

Jennie looked great tho >_>

Also wtf they're tryna charge 70 USD for a Vinyl of their full album, actual robbery

Looks like Hinapia (Pristin 2.0) just disbanded after only ever releasing a single song. That group/those girls must be cursed or something

Kenzie has nearly exclusively worked with SM artists in her career and has done a bunch of Red Velvet title tracks and LDN Noise does most of their kpop work with SM artists as well.

As if there wasnt already enough evidence that Twice is indeed trying to pander to the west since their "concept change", they just announced they're gonna release an English version of More & More. Hopefully their English has gotten significantly better than when they covered I Want You Back because that one was really rough and that level ain't gonna fly with a western audience

Dude, if you don't think this sudden half assed shift to a "mature" image and sound is meant to target western fans/audience you're crazy. The Asian audience was more than happy with their original sound/concept. Its not a coincidence that the shift started happening right as JYP signed a deal with The Orchard for distribution of their music to the West and then followed up by forming a "strategic partnership" with Republic Records in America.

Twice largely has Asia locked up, the only significant growth potential left for the group is in the west or China and we know their history with China.

closetjpopfan posted...

You're hard to please, Rudd. You say you don't like the high pitching, but then you say you don't really like the newer stuff. I mean to be fair maybe it's just the style direction that you don't like... but still, you have a very picky taste. You're such a veteran fan but sometimes your expectations are too high or don't even make sense. I shouldn't say that... you always make sense, you always have a valid point, but it's just too critical. Why even compare them this critically in the first place? It's not just supposed to be the exact same song, they're supposed to sing it differently.

The difference is that the higher pitched vocals and singing style fit their original concept whereas now it actively detracts from it. The problem with their direction of late is that's it's clearly an attempt to pander to the West but JYP is too scared to fully commit to it and potentially turn off their Korean/Japanese fanbase (which is the bulk of their fans) and so it ends up being a half assed "concept change" that is constantly at odds with itself and kinda washes away that unique "Twice charm" that's built them into one of the biggest/most successful Kpop girl groups ever. Also they should be doing better than getting Twice 5 year old songs that the original composer didn't think was good enough for her own album for their title tracks. While the Zara version is listenable the song still isn't great and sounds dated.

Im clearly being hyperbolic calling it Kids Bop, but JYP pitched the song up way too much, as they do with all Twice songs, to make them sound younger/cuter (despite this being their "more mature" era) and it takes away from the song and no one has the grit in their voice to really make the verses pop. I also find Twice's chorus more grating and repetitive. Plus Im already not a fan of throwing in token rap sections to give the bad vocalists something to do in Kpop and the song is better without it.

lol, I like Twice, have all their albums, their new direction and title tracks just dont do anything for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3KmufNyDDQ

Its not even just the lyrics/translation thing, it just sounds much better with Zara singing it. Hearing this made me realize the song is actually not bad its just that Twice's version sounds like a Kids Bop cover compared to this >_> Also no tacked on rap part to give Dahyun/Chaeyoung something to do. But then again I havent fully enjoyed a Twice title track since DTNA

Damn, just saw/heard the original English demo version of More & More, its like significantly better than Twice's final version >_>

closetjpopfan posted...

I've said it before and I'll say it again I'll never understand Somi's decision. The only thing I can think of and by thinking I mean mostly hoping is that they're really going for an IOI reunion (or at least a partial reunion) and staying with JYP would have prevented that.

They were trying for an IOI reunion before the vote rigging scandal dropped and Somi no interest in joining, she very clearly just wants to be a solo artist

I havent used this site for its Guides or FAQs in over a decade so

Yoona

look whos finally coming back after 14 months, hopefully its not another Teddy stinker like Birthday and BPs last few tracks

Its a bit of a grind to max out the skills for that trophy in just NG+ (especially if you do the Shura ending which locks you out of the "endgame" areas with high exp enemies) whereas if you do 4 full playthroughs youll spend much less time mindlessly grinding at the end, plus you get more experience the higher NG+ level youre one. Also each playthough only gives enough Lapis Lazuli to get 2 of the Lazulite tools and if you do Shura on your 2nd playthough youll get locked out of getting enough.

Theres also a trophy for defeating every boss on the same save file so youll need at least 3 playthroughs on that save file since you didn't get the 2nd Owl fight on your first run and cant fight him on the Shura path + you need the Shura exclusive bosses

For the other 2 endings you don't have to worry about anything until after you beat Owl at Ashina Castle. But IMMEDIATELY after you do beat him you should look up a guide for the exact steps to take

tag

Mezcla posted...

are you the dude on youtube who bought 100 copies of an album so he could get picked for the fan meet up

how beautiful is sana i bet shes amazing

lol no, I dont bulk buy for fan meets/hitouches but I have been to quite a few over the years for a bunch of groups and I just did one of those virtual fansigns that all the groups are doing now with IZ*ONE. I just pick up one of every version of the albums that groups I like put out.

For Twice I'm all about Mina but Sana is also quite pretty in person and was very pleasant to talk to

Touch posted...

Damn bro. I'm guessing you have some kind of bookshelf or something of all your albums and stuff? If that's your haul for 1 month, I can only imagine your whole collection @__@

Ive got like 4 large drawers packed full of stuff plus a bunch more sitting around that dont fit, space is an issue I've had for like a year at this point. Ive got everything that SNSD, TTS, Taeyeon, Oh!GG, IU, Red Velvet, Twice, IOI, BP, BOL4, Sejeong, IZ*ONE, and ITZY have released in both Korea and Japan as far as albums (and I buy all versions generally except in cases where some of the covers have individual members and I can choose which version instead of it being random, like with IZ*ONE I only do Sakura/Minju/Eunbi stuff) as well as signed copies of every version of all of IZ*ONE's albums, all of IZ*ONE's photobooks, an SNSD photobook, and a few AKB/HTK Singles where Sakura was the center. I cant see myself adding any more groups to my buy list at this point (unless Sakura sticks around and joins a kpop group post IZ*ONE, or if Minju ends up in a group) but there are certain idols whose albums I will buy if they release solo stuff (eunbi will likely end up as a solo for instance) or if groups I already support do subunits with members I particularly care about Ill end up buying those too

My copies of Fanfare arrived today, they kinda cheaped out on th pacakging this time though, the A versions are usually a little more elaborate than a jewel case in a sleeve but whatever. Didnt get any individual member photocards either >_>

June and July have been attacking my wallet though. BOL4 album, 3 versions of More & More, 3 Versions of Oneiric Diary, 2 more copies of Oneiric Diary that are singed, 3 versions of Monster, How You Like That physical single, 2 copies of IZ*ONE's D-ICON magazine (Sakura and Minju covers), 3 versions of Fanfare, one of every version of whatever ITZY releases later this month, and who knows what else might get announced

Might be worth it to do the bell demon and give back the Kuro charm if you want a challenge, the NG+ cycles werent much of a challenge since you should basically know/have muscle memory for the parry timings for everything especially if youre jumping right back in and should therefore expect to get hit much less and kinda breeze through anything youve already fought if you just do standard NG+

Squall28 posted...

Try to get to where Gyoubu was

Been a while since I played but I dont remember anything new being in Gyoubu's arena post palace, if youre guiding him to Demon isnt that near where the first mini boss after the tutorial was

DeadBankerDream posted...

Game gave me a trophy for "Immortality Severed" ending.

Yeah thats the "standard" ending, one of the other endings requires you to side with Owl at the top of Ashina Castle and has 2 unique bosses to fight, the other 2 ending require a series of complicated steps to unlock which youll have to look up. One of those, called the "purification" route contains another unique boss and a memory and 2 prayer beads you can only get from it

There is still another optional boss (Demon of Hatred) you can fight before progressing to NG+ if you wanna do that though, and round 2 with the ape if you didnt do that yet

Squall28 posted...

Fight demon of hatred and Owl.

He cant fight owl again if he didnt do the steps for the purification ending, which if he was playing blind I highly doubt he stumbled upon randomly

Speaking of which, Dispatch uploaded pictures of ITZY in their Instagram yesterday and Ryujin is blonde now, I know they were rumored for a summer comeback so they must already have started preping

Hes great, I watch Your Moms House and Two Bears One Cave every week

Banana_Mana posted...

Seems odd to be discussing the Korean public view unless youre part of it... Just saying

Not sure about the other dude but over the past 18 years I've lived in Seoul full time for 12 of them and the other 6 I went between Seoul and another country in 6 month intervals

Yes, album sales show the power/size of your fandom. What is a fandom? A collection of people who self identify as a fan of a particular group. What do we call things that have a lot of hardcore fans? Popular. I'd easily call a group that can generate that kind of response from people more popular than one with a bigger casual listening audience that can and will stop caring at the drop of a pin.

Who had the better year in 2018? Undoubtedly Gfriend did, despite lackluster charting they were able to continue to grow their fanbase (and therefore popularity) and harnessed that popularity to hold their first concert tour. Whereas by the end of the year that Momoland released their hit song in, nobody cared about them anymore, hell even when the dog was still number 1 you would be hard pressed to find a regular Korean who knew the group name let alone anything about them. Do you think Momoland members wouldn't immediately switch careers with Gfriend if given the chance?

Yes, a member can skyrocket to fame if a group does well digitally and the public likes them. And then that member nearly unilaterally reaps the benefits of that popularity, not the group. Irene being arguably the most publically popular female idol hasn't stopped 4 of the last 5 Red Velvet songs from horribly flopping and hasn't increased the rate at which the group gets CF deals or tv appearances. And regardless of their flops no one claims Red Velvet is no longer a top group.

You say it's a mistake to bring up JYP since their girl groups typically do well digitally and with the public. But if you're seeing the head of a company that historically performs super well in that regard give a public lecture in 2018 about how moving forward their company will completely prioritize building fandom for their current and future groups while not trying to pander to the public and chase digital success, and that doesn't set off an alarm in your head about how the industry itself sees the importance of digital success and "public recognition" you're crazy. Even if other companies haven't outside said it like JYP did the fact that nobody is making girl group songs to fit the typical Korean taste anymore should be all the sign you need. There's no real argument you can make against the entire industry clearly moving away from chasing public relevance.

Yes ITZY had the highest Gaon score in 2019 for girl groups, yet if you compare to just the year prior it barely would limp into the top 10. The public IS moving away from idol music (I live here 6 months a year I see it first hand) and the companies are responding by deprioritizing pandering to them and trying to win their affection.

No sure why it matters what you see idols cry about. Idols cry when they win music shows too so is that more important than album sales? Is that now an important measure of popularity? Is Laboum more popular than IU because they beat her on a music show? Of course not.

Your entire argument seems to hinge on thinking:
1. anyone but internet dwelling Kpop stans care about arbitrary "top group" lists.

And

2. That the Korean publics reaction to a group is judge, jury, and executioner on the matter. Despite the fact that Kpop is far bigger than Korea now and there are more consumers and listeners of Kpop outside of Korea than inside of it.

Obviously both is better, no one's arguing that, but youd be a fool to choose digital success/"public relevance" over large fandom if you had to pick one. Clearly you have your opinions which aren't going to change because this is the internet after all so I will also stop there.

Of course both factor in to some degree, but frankly "public relevance" in Korea isn't all that important for girl groups or idols anymore.

Idol music as a whole is falling off in popularity among the Korean public but idols are more popular than they've ever been overall and that's due to international fandom and reach. Public support USED to be of utmost important for girl groups because they couldnt amass the kind of fandom support that boy groups could and Kpop didn't have the international reach it does now, meaning they couldn't put together significant tours/merch sales, meaning they had to rely on getting local CFs and ad deals to make money. That's not the case anymore.

There's a reason that essentially every 2nd gen girl group is toast now while "less popular" boy groups from the same era are still going strong. Relying on the public means you're career and relevance can dry up in an instant if public perception changes or shifts while having a big fandom leads to long term success for long after the public and advertisers shift their attention to other newer groups.

I'd argue a group being able to draw in more hardcore supporters from all over the world that will religiously buy albums/merch/concert tickets/etc... for as long as the group exists than others speaks more to their popularity than whether the Korean public like and casually listen to their songs or not, digital success in Korea is just a bonus.

Again, the top Kpop companies themselves are shifting towards a focus on building fandom for girl groups and are making songs more and more aimed toward western tastes rather than pandering to the specific tastes of the Korean public so that should tell you how relevant that is in the current Kpop climate.

Kpop has moved much further beyond Korea than it ever was during the 2nd gen. The Korean public are no longer the authority of what's "popular"

Also if you did the route that leads to Mibu village before beating the guardian ape there's a mini boss you missed that gives 2 prayer beads and a ninjitsu technique

Nah that one has nothing to do with the endings, it's just for a key item to complete an NPC questline. I really recommend looking up the ending requirements after you go to NG+ because they are not obvious at all and if you haven't done them by the time you beat the boss in the area you're in you're locked out I believe

I believe if you go back to the guardian apes arena there will be something there for you if you used the truly precious bait and killed the fish

Ohhhh, giving it precious bait will get you treasure scales, 1 the first time and 3 the second time. Giving it truly precious bait will do something else

You've gotta get to the other side without it seeing you, the bait isn't used here

*its actually 10 groups that have hit 100k this generation after yesterdays Gaon chart came out, with Gfriend set to also hit the mark and become #11 very soon based on their growth rate. Also LOONA (who have 0 public support in Korea) will likely get there too and even a group like fromis_9 (who are also not popular with the public) has an outside chance if they're ever allowed to comeback

YamaChan posted...

Physical sales are an indication of fandom size only. It's vitally important for the long-term health of the group, but it's not the most important measurement of popularity with girl groups particularly.

Id highly disagree, this was something that maybe rang true in the 2nd generation where girl groups besides SNSD couldn't even hope to measure up to boy groups in terms of physical sales and fandom size but not anymore. And yes while the absolute biggest boy groups sales still dwarf the girl groups, only 3-4 boy groups can outsell groups like Twice, BP, and IZ*ONE who are all putting up record sales numbers that no one though were possible for girl groups. From 2007- 2014 only 3 girl groups that debuted in that time ever broke the 100k mark for an album, it was basically seen as a nearly unobtainable benchmark, a "golden standard" of sorts and any group that could hit it would be seen as one of the legendary groups of the generation. From 2014-2020, there have been 8 groups already that debuted in that period and have hit that number. The situation is no longer that girl groups need to rely on digital/public relevancy to be successful.

The public is finicky and cant be relied on for long term success in all but a few cases (mostly just Sistar). I'm sure Momoland thought they were gonna be the next big thing after Bboom Bboom but then the public decided they didnt care anymore and Momoland fell back into being only slightly less unknown/unpopular than before they released it, same story with Crayon Pop and Bar Bar Bar. In kpop large fandoms are king, even for girl groups. Hell JYP himself recognizes this and has changed the whole culture around how his company functions to put a focus on cultivating large fandoms, especially for his girl groups, instead of trying to pander to public tastes.

DeadBankerDream posted...

I can't quite figure out what to do to progress. There doesn't seem to be a way to reach the platforms to the far right of the zone. Only thing I found underwater aside from a bunch of goodies was the entrance to the great carp's lair. There doesn't seemt o be anything of value in there, and I'm not sure how to "defeat" it, or if that's tied to progression. I assume it has something to do with the precious and truly precious bait I've been getting.

A little hint would be appreciated. The last hour or so I've just been running around blind trying to poke at everything. That said, I'm done playing for today, so I won't actually move further along now.

The Big Carp area is the way forward, progression is at the other end of it

Yeah Physical sales basically have 0 correlation to the quality of/reception to the title track of the album, especially in modern kpop. Hell for basically every group like 85%+ of total sales are from pre-orders made before anyone can even hear what the song is like

DeadBankerDream posted...

Like I said, I have platinum in all the Souls games. It's par for the course.

I do wish the game had more memories like the Hirata Estate that don't tie to the main world or your progression, that you could jump into and progress in if you want to do something else rather than just the main story.

It's almost certainly the easiest of FromSofts games to Platinum, I never had the patience to bother with the others tbh

There are multiple endings, each with a trophy, so unless you do some save scumming (and look up guides to access some of them since its not exactly straight forward) youll be going to several NG+'s if you want to platinum

Touch posted...

Surprisingly, More & More has become the best selling girl group album of all time

http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=&termGbn=month#

Previous to this, no other girl group album sold more than 500k but Twice and IZ*ONE did it both in the same month. Congrats to both groups!

It was pretty expected I'd say. IZ*ONE basically ignited an all out sales war between fans of the top girl groups in April 2019 when they took down Twice's long standing first week record (it had stood for nearly 2 years up to that point) which lit a fire under Twice and BP fans asses leading to both groups breaking that new record 2 weeks later when they both released their albums (releasing them on the same day also drove things higher due to the direct competition), then Twice increased it again later that year. Then IZ*ONE came back from the forced hiatus and more than doubled the previous first week record (which they still hold and increased again with their latest album) as well as immediately toppling the overall sales record (which Twice had finally just barely taken from SNSD 2 months prior after like 3+ years of sales trickling in little by little for their TCL1 album from 2016) which motivated Twice's fans to push even harder this time. It also helped that this was the first time since Cheer Up that there was more than 3-3.5 months between Twice's Korean releases which gave fans time to save up more money and hit the record (at least for now, IZ*ONE's album is close behind and still moving units pretty well due to initial stock/shipping issues and BP is always lurking). BP was looking like a lock to smash all these records in September (their fans have literally been actively fundraising money for their next album for 14 months at this point, there was 300k+ albums worth from China alone last I saw) but YG stealth dropping a physical single for How You Like That (and likely the 2nd pre release single too) could kill that since their fans now have to split that money between 3 releases. But they will likely also break the 500k mark with one of them

Foppe posted...

Seriously?

Yes, theres a particular (and limited) set of gamecube controllers that have a specific manufacturing error with the joystick that happens to make a certain "advanced technique" in Melee trivially easy to do and at one point a "top 5" player dropped out of a tournament because he couldnt get one of those controllers to use

Running Sorc makes the game braindead easy so probably faith