bep 1 going wa da da da
Apr. 19th, 2023 10:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
openthetimeboys planet finale is already tomorrow (wtf!!!) so i'm going to list my predictions of what the final lineup will be and then i can look back after the final episode and either laugh or cry.... it's incredibly hard to guess though and very questionable so i'll add even more thoughts under the list.
edit: reading this when there's almost a week til they debut is insane what the hell was i on
P01: sung hanbin:
i know he was ranked at P03 during the interim ranking BUT i truly think that was a wake up call for everyone. his fanbase has always been extremely strong and dedicated, especially the korean side - they're kinda carrying ngl, so i think that that ranking pissed them off (he was even trending at #1 on korean twitter because of it) and he'll get back to his rightful place at P01. if someone else takes that spot i'll also be annoyed considering there's that benefit of a solo song and let's be real, sung hanbin is best suited for that by a landslide. sorry to his 13 year old supporters but if han yujin wins, it's not gonna be a good look for anyone (although if zhang hao somehow gets P01, i will be less mad).
P02: han yujin:
he has a veryyyyyy large fanbase in korea, maybe not so much internationally but the numbers still shock me. they're silent but deadly i think. he'll probably wind up here considering it's one pick.
P03: zhang hao:
zhang hao stans are in a tricky position so i think this lit a fire under their asses. dude is extremely popular but also dude is chinese so like he's immediately at a disadvantage, even if he is one of the most likeable contestants. they're gonna wanna do everything they can, and i think they will. i see lots of fear mongering by zhang hao stans on my tl, saying he has to be out of the top 9, but i do think they'll be pleasantly surprised. on the flip side, however, i can see him pulling a xiaoting and getting a lower rank such as P07-09 but i pray to god that doesn't happen.
P04: kim jiwoong:
this is literally just my pov but i feel like jiwoong stans are in a similar spot as yujin stans? i don't see them as much as other fanbases but he has a whole acting career and also has that whole failed idol career sob story (not a bad thing btw, it's true and he deserves success after all he's been through) so i think he'll make it around here, maybe a bit lower.
P05: seok matthew:
matthew has gotten a lot of hate over the past few weeks and i mean a LOT... it's kind of unprecedented and at the start of the show i never would've predicted that he'd be in this position. regardless, i think that's motivated matthew stans to vote hard. they're still loyal as hell and the people who hate him probably didn't vote for him in the first place. however, korean votes apparently mean a lot more in the finals so if somehow he didn't make it, i could see that happening although it'd be very shocking, maybe the most shocking turn of events in survival show history. i'm not a hater of him by any means but i will feel a bit weird about him being in the group for everyone's sake, dude's mental health is probably terrible right now and he's gonna be shat on until the end of time.
P06: kim taerae:
this is the part of the top 9 where it gets very tricky. taerae has what is probably the 2nd biggest fanbase in korea so everyone expects him to rank high BUT as we saw with the interim ranking he fell below the top 9. i think this is yet another thing that will motivate his stans and because he has so many of them, he could move up this high. he's not even one of my top picks but i do not wanna picture bep1er without him because who else will serve VOCALS? (ok zhang hao yeah and sung hanbin if you squint but other than that.. hmm).
P07: ricky:
ricky stans have just about gone crazy with the voting, they're everywhere. i wake up and there's a ricky stan over my bed screaming "VOTE RICKY". he has all this loyal support on both the korean and international side that i genuinely think he could make it and i really hope he does. his vocals, while not the strongest, are very unique and could add some pizazz to the group.
P08: kim gyuvin:
A 4TH YUEHUA? i know. extremely questionable. however, his spot could be swapped out for multiple people. he's in the original f4 though so if he somehow doesn't make it i'll be surprised. when he was ranked P16 that one time his stans went batshit and then he went up to P07. i think they have it in them to keep him in the top 9 but at the same time it's a bit 50/50.
P09: park hanbin:
maybe i'm delusional because he's my one pick (although sung hanbin is at a very similar Level Of Love for me) but i really do think he could make it. mnet spoiling him as P10 for the interim ranking was a double edged sword as he did get a lot of hate and accused of being a pd pick - which is a little ridiculous to me because it makes sense that if mnet is gonna be weird about who they show at interim ranking then they'd show who's just outside of the top 9 - but at the same time it did show park hanbin stans that he really can make it and that he's ever so close to debuting, just one spot away. other fanbases are really strong and dedicated, probably more so than park hanbin stans, so this will be hard but again, really really really hope he makes it. bep1er needs him BAD like it's actually dire without him; loved by all the trainees, a good leader and extremely talented despite never making the top 9 previously.
PLANET PASS: haruto:
copium.
other top 9 contenders (imo) and my thoughts:
keita:
i remember last time he raked up a whopping 2 million votes internationally which was crazy as it was about 200k more than the 2nd highest internationally who was ZHANG HAO. i think he has a slim chance of making the top 9 as his korean votes are extremely low in comparison and he's also disliked there. i would love if he was in the lineup.
jay:
he's in a similar spot to keita in the sense that his international fanbase is a lot bigger than his korean fanbase, but i believe he has even less korean votes than keita and he had less international votes than keita as well. however, his stans seem very dedicated so i could see him getting really close or even just scraping it although i hope for everyone's sake he doesn't make it because i don't wanna deal with all the baggage that comes with that.
park gunwook:
weirdly enough i feel like i hardly see gunwook stans? he's always teetering on the edge of the top 9 though so i think it'd be intriguing if he made it. well deserved too, wouldn't mind him in the lineup.
lee hoetaek:
i personally don't think he's a top 9 contender but i keep seeing people list him so i'll write my thoughts i guess???????? pentagon stans are extremely mixed on whether they want him in the group or not, in fact i've seen hardly any support for him this entire competition, so i don't think he'll make it. however, he did make P10 last round which really surprised me.
kum junhyeon:
i don't think he'll make it sadly.. he dropped to P16 last round, all the way from being a top 9 contender so it's not looking good for him. but hey, maybe that was motivation for his stans and he'll at least move up a few spots.
about the 4 yuehuas, i'm VERY conflicted. they're all obviously contenders and i can see all of them making it. i guess both ricky and gyuvin are questionable but yujin and zhang hao will definitely make it. i guess we have to see whether it's gyuvin or ricky that has to say bye bye (or both?). if all of them make it, i could see backlash concerning bribing or rigging even though i don't think that's the case which is so Yikes.
um so yeah, i don't have thoughts on the other trainees or i think they're not likely to make the group at all. i can't wait to come back to this tomorrow or a few days later.
edit: reading this when there's almost a week til they debut is insane what the hell was i on
P01: sung hanbin:
i know he was ranked at P03 during the interim ranking BUT i truly think that was a wake up call for everyone. his fanbase has always been extremely strong and dedicated, especially the korean side - they're kinda carrying ngl, so i think that that ranking pissed them off (he was even trending at #1 on korean twitter because of it) and he'll get back to his rightful place at P01. if someone else takes that spot i'll also be annoyed considering there's that benefit of a solo song and let's be real, sung hanbin is best suited for that by a landslide. sorry to his 13 year old supporters but if han yujin wins, it's not gonna be a good look for anyone (although if zhang hao somehow gets P01, i will be less mad).
P02: han yujin:
he has a veryyyyyy large fanbase in korea, maybe not so much internationally but the numbers still shock me. they're silent but deadly i think. he'll probably wind up here considering it's one pick.
P03: zhang hao:
zhang hao stans are in a tricky position so i think this lit a fire under their asses. dude is extremely popular but also dude is chinese so like he's immediately at a disadvantage, even if he is one of the most likeable contestants. they're gonna wanna do everything they can, and i think they will. i see lots of fear mongering by zhang hao stans on my tl, saying he has to be out of the top 9, but i do think they'll be pleasantly surprised. on the flip side, however, i can see him pulling a xiaoting and getting a lower rank such as P07-09 but i pray to god that doesn't happen.
P04: kim jiwoong:
this is literally just my pov but i feel like jiwoong stans are in a similar spot as yujin stans? i don't see them as much as other fanbases but he has a whole acting career and also has that whole failed idol career sob story (not a bad thing btw, it's true and he deserves success after all he's been through) so i think he'll make it around here, maybe a bit lower.
P05: seok matthew:
matthew has gotten a lot of hate over the past few weeks and i mean a LOT... it's kind of unprecedented and at the start of the show i never would've predicted that he'd be in this position. regardless, i think that's motivated matthew stans to vote hard. they're still loyal as hell and the people who hate him probably didn't vote for him in the first place. however, korean votes apparently mean a lot more in the finals so if somehow he didn't make it, i could see that happening although it'd be very shocking, maybe the most shocking turn of events in survival show history. i'm not a hater of him by any means but i will feel a bit weird about him being in the group for everyone's sake, dude's mental health is probably terrible right now and he's gonna be shat on until the end of time.
P06: kim taerae:
this is the part of the top 9 where it gets very tricky. taerae has what is probably the 2nd biggest fanbase in korea so everyone expects him to rank high BUT as we saw with the interim ranking he fell below the top 9. i think this is yet another thing that will motivate his stans and because he has so many of them, he could move up this high. he's not even one of my top picks but i do not wanna picture bep1er without him because who else will serve VOCALS? (ok zhang hao yeah and sung hanbin if you squint but other than that.. hmm).
P07: ricky:
ricky stans have just about gone crazy with the voting, they're everywhere. i wake up and there's a ricky stan over my bed screaming "VOTE RICKY". he has all this loyal support on both the korean and international side that i genuinely think he could make it and i really hope he does. his vocals, while not the strongest, are very unique and could add some pizazz to the group.
P08: kim gyuvin:
A 4TH YUEHUA? i know. extremely questionable. however, his spot could be swapped out for multiple people. he's in the original f4 though so if he somehow doesn't make it i'll be surprised. when he was ranked P16 that one time his stans went batshit and then he went up to P07. i think they have it in them to keep him in the top 9 but at the same time it's a bit 50/50.
P09: park hanbin:
maybe i'm delusional because he's my one pick (although sung hanbin is at a very similar Level Of Love for me) but i really do think he could make it. mnet spoiling him as P10 for the interim ranking was a double edged sword as he did get a lot of hate and accused of being a pd pick - which is a little ridiculous to me because it makes sense that if mnet is gonna be weird about who they show at interim ranking then they'd show who's just outside of the top 9 - but at the same time it did show park hanbin stans that he really can make it and that he's ever so close to debuting, just one spot away. other fanbases are really strong and dedicated, probably more so than park hanbin stans, so this will be hard but again, really really really hope he makes it. bep1er needs him BAD like it's actually dire without him; loved by all the trainees, a good leader and extremely talented despite never making the top 9 previously.
PLANET PASS: haruto:
copium.
other top 9 contenders (imo) and my thoughts:
keita:
i remember last time he raked up a whopping 2 million votes internationally which was crazy as it was about 200k more than the 2nd highest internationally who was ZHANG HAO. i think he has a slim chance of making the top 9 as his korean votes are extremely low in comparison and he's also disliked there. i would love if he was in the lineup.
jay:
he's in a similar spot to keita in the sense that his international fanbase is a lot bigger than his korean fanbase, but i believe he has even less korean votes than keita and he had less international votes than keita as well. however, his stans seem very dedicated so i could see him getting really close or even just scraping it although i hope for everyone's sake he doesn't make it because i don't wanna deal with all the baggage that comes with that.
park gunwook:
weirdly enough i feel like i hardly see gunwook stans? he's always teetering on the edge of the top 9 though so i think it'd be intriguing if he made it. well deserved too, wouldn't mind him in the lineup.
lee hoetaek:
i personally don't think he's a top 9 contender but i keep seeing people list him so i'll write my thoughts i guess???????? pentagon stans are extremely mixed on whether they want him in the group or not, in fact i've seen hardly any support for him this entire competition, so i don't think he'll make it. however, he did make P10 last round which really surprised me.
kum junhyeon:
i don't think he'll make it sadly.. he dropped to P16 last round, all the way from being a top 9 contender so it's not looking good for him. but hey, maybe that was motivation for his stans and he'll at least move up a few spots.
about the 4 yuehuas, i'm VERY conflicted. they're all obviously contenders and i can see all of them making it. i guess both ricky and gyuvin are questionable but yujin and zhang hao will definitely make it. i guess we have to see whether it's gyuvin or ricky that has to say bye bye (or both?). if all of them make it, i could see backlash concerning bribing or rigging even though i don't think that's the case which is so Yikes.
um so yeah, i don't have thoughts on the other trainees or i think they're not likely to make the group at all. i can't wait to come back to this tomorrow or a few days later.