#em's rtk thoughts

[bcatdfox]

The Road to 'Road to Kingdom 2: Electric Boogaloo' [RTK2 #1]

The time has come, my friends. 'Road to Kingdom 2' is coming, set to start airing in September (as far as I know, there's no specific date yet). At this point in time, I'm planning on watching the entire series and, after running a poll on my twitter, I will be (attempting) both livetweeting my reactions to the episodes, as well as posting full recaps and thought posts here on tumblr.

Why, you may ask? Well, first of all, I'm an absolute survival show junkie. I don't necessarily watch all of them (because there are so very many of them) but I try to watch as many as I can. Secondly, I am actively part of the performing arts community, from musical theatre to concert band to choir to dance to drama - and I enjoy engaging with things in that area. And thirdly, I'm very opinionated and I enjoy hearing myself talk, lol. So instead of terrorising my various group chats, I'm just going to get all my thoughts out there into the void.

Anyway, with that out of the way, here's what we know so far. Taemin is going to be the MC (so fun), and the official lineup of participating groups is Oneus, Cravity, Tempest, Younite, The New Six, 8TURN, and The CrewOne. Mnet have already announced that, unlike the first season of RTK, this season is no longer for smaller/unknown groups with no music show wins and will not be a precursor to 'Kingdom' proper; the prize for the winning group does not include a spot on that show, apparently. This show is effectively going to be a whole different show from the original RTK, just using the same name, which... why bother? Just give it a new name, then, instead of piggybacking off one of your existing IPs, Mnet. Removing the ticket onto Kingdom element thoroughly defeats the purpose of the show, in my opinion, but hey, since when has Mnet ever cared about doing stuff logically. I could say something about 'Build Up' and how that was handled both during and after the show, but I digress.

Due to it not being the same show as the original season, there's not a lot that can currently be predicted about how it might run, what sort of challenges the groups will face, or how any of the rounds will be conducted. The only thought I currently have is that an uneven number of groups (to me) is implying potential eliminations, which I'm not thrilled about. I'm still traumatised by Golden Child's elimination on the original season, and I'm not likely to be getting over that any time soon.

Now, onto the actual groups. I'm actively a fan of two of the groups (Cravity and Oneus), a casual listener of one other (Tempest), and am only tangentially aware of the other four groups. So, leading up to the start of the show, I'll be making a few intro posts to the groups with my first impressions and thoughts on them as they stand, to see if the competition affects those impressions (I could come out of this with a new stanlist...). If anyone has any MV recommendations for 8TURN, TNX, ATBO/Justb (The CrewOne), or Younite, please feel free to drop them here or reply to me on twitter or whatever.

Pre-voting opened today (July 22) and will run until 12:00pm KST on July 26. As far as we know, the group that wins the most votes during this time will receive some sort of benefit when the show starts. The groups also seem to have started preparing for the first round (most likely will be some sort of introductory performance) if the posts I've seen on SNS are anything to go by. If you want to join in the voting, you just need to download the Mnet Plus app and create an account.

I think that's all I have to say, I'll be back over the next few days as I get to know the rest of the groups on the show. For now, happy voting, and I'll see you all in September for the airing of the first episode!

[realstraykids]

i want unit songs on the repackage

[lofeel]

TEHYR EPERFORMOMG WHIPLAHS

I KNOWNWOINW

[prettywordsyouleft]

Hi!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that you get to feeling better soon! Are you excited for your move or is mostly just stressful right now?

I'm excited to hear that you are watching Kingdom. We finally got to watch the second episode today and it was *chef's kiss*. Please share your thoughts once you get to watch it. The Boyz once again are pulling out all the stops, and we are happy for all the new ikon content.

I really wish the groups could focus more on the opportunity to showcase their talents and experiment with their styles than on ranking and winning because that's what I'm here for. I'm too much of a multi-stan for the competition aspect. I just want all of them to win because they're all great and work hard and deserve it.

Sorry, I realize this turned more into a ramble than a question😄

Good luck with the rest of your packing. I pray you will have a smooth and easy move.

-h

I was so happy to see your name come through when I checked my notifications! How are you Hana? (And Em too of course!)

I’m hoping to feel better soon... sometimes I can eat gluten with zero issues, and then others it’s just the smallest of levels and I’m feeling as if my stomach will never settle. It’s nothing I would wish on my worst enemy, that’s for sure! 

I’m definitely excited for the move. Every little horse girl dreams of living with her ponies. And that dream is still the same despite not being so little haha. I’m nervous because it’s a farm and whilst we’ve always wanted one, it was always going to be on our terms. This one comes with chickens... about 15 of them, and we’ve never raised them (or handled them aside from when I looked after them this Easter and last Christmas)... I’m the only one out of 4 who isn’t petrified of birds too, so this is great, lol. I guess I’m most nervous about being “city slickers” our whole lives and now making our pets and ourselves adjust to a different lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we’re moving to the country... our farm is in the suburbs. The city center is about a 15minute drive outside of rush hour traffic. And the shops are a 6min drive so we’re definitely not losing any comfort there... but it’s things like our dogs are used to being in a fully enclosed yard and there’s none of that here... just certain things to navigate so we can live happily. Which I know we can easily conquer, but I’ve definitely been up at 2am searching “dog fencing” for one, haha! 

How could I not watch Kingdom after how epic RTK was. I’m such a fan of The Boyz, there was no way I would be sitting out watching them perform their hearts out again! It’s good to see both iKon and BTOB on the show. I’m also super pumped for SF9 being there. The battle between Stray Kids, Ateez and The Boyz isn’t anything new really, so having the other three there really balances it out for me. It is sad how the pressure is to get ranked high and not to just showcase what they’re about. This is a great platform for all 6 groups to really expose their talents and build their fandoms from. Alas, everything is deemed a competition these days. As a fellow multi-stan, I feel you on wanting to just proudly watch the groups perform and not focus on who is the best. (Which we all know is Ji Changmin, okay lolololol)

I think I rambled just as much! 

Thank you for your endless kindness. I love you both dearly, and it always feels like Christmas whenever I see your name pop up on my screen! 

________________

My ask box is open for this week’s Chelle Chats!

[inseong]

Thoughts about knk on kingdom

do you mean for rtk or upcoming kingdom? there’s no chance of them on kingdom, but honestly i would’ve loved to see them on rtk. i think they’re probably a lot more cautious about survival-type programs after mix9 (can’t blame em, yg sucks ass), and it’s probably harder to be considered when you pretty much run your own company, but as a desperate tink i would literally kill to see them, first of all, on anything, and secondly on something that actually boosted onf that much. even given that tho, you’d need money to pay for those new choreographies and backup dancers and sets, and i don’t think knk’s got two pennies to rub together