#not every sns fan is… well it does depend on what kind of sns fan it is too since a lot of them are wild as well and don’t really

[tariah23]

watching naruto for the first time (technically). sasuke is so cool and awesome i get why so many people drew fan art of him hes so badass

HES GREAT!!! I’m so happy that you decided to give Naruto a chance anon (this could be a huge mistake though but idk how much brain damage it’ll give someone much older vs someone who’d been a fan of it since they were a child… it lobotomized me 🧍🏾‍♀️. I was in the trenches watching the 3 day Naruto marathon, anon. I didn’t sleep for 3 DAYS-. And once you’ve become a Naruto fan, it’s just one of those series that will pull you back regardless of how long you’ve actually been way… and the anime is great but it does change a lot of the nuance and tension between Sasuke and Naruto when Kishimoto would directly straight up have them saying and doing whatever it is that they’re doing, for each other (especially whenever Naruto talks about Sasuke and his feelings about him. He’s insane-) vs how the anime would try to make Naruto’s actions seem as though he was doing this all for Konoha, his home that treated him like shit ever since he was a baby.) I’m getting off topic but if you do decide to continue, PLEASE IGORE SASUKE FANS LIKE THE PLAGUE ANSSJSKL!!!!

[nightswithkookmin]

So every member has been posting on weverse or Twitter lately, they've been coming on vlive. But Jk has done none of this. Do you see his social media absence as a silent rebellion against BH for them trying to hide Jikook or do you think he's probably just staying away for like mental health reasons or something.

Run that by me one more time???

Are you asking for my opinion on why JK might be absent from social media or are you asking me to choose between those two opinions as explanation as to why Jungkook might be absent from social media???

Is it for his mental health or relationship??? Lol. You are juxtaposing two extremely opposite theories so one sounds more appealing and plausible to highlight the other as outlandish and ridiculous. But that's a fallacy ma'am. Nice try though.

Also, the part about BigHit hiding Jikook...

I object. You is leading the witness sir/ma'am.

It's a little bit silly and presumptuous to assume whenever a member is absent from social media that the only possible reason I could possibly think of is that they are rebelling against their company.

Sometimes it's just a case of volition and personal interests. Sometimes you just don't wanna be social on social media. Sometimes you have work, family, chores, practice. Sometimes you've outgrown the space or lost track of why you wanted to be apart of an online community in the first place. Sometimes it's the toxicity and wanting to take a break from it for your mental health. Literally a plethora of reasons all of which could be valid depending on the context.

I try to give my theories context by sharing as much of my thought process as possible. It's asinine to strip those contexts away and present me with a skinned theory devoid of context.

About his mental health-

Let's try it this way...

Your first Ask: is there ever a moment I wonder if Jikook are just platonic brothers or something along those lines.

Yes. When they are not together romantically. I look at them and go huh... that's a very platonic hug, or interaction. I still uWu over their interactions though.

Cute. Next.

Is he rebelling against BigHit....

Why would he?? What's the context?

Do you think BigHit is making changes JK and the others might not be happy with in the company? Do you think the company or the members are interfering in his self autonomy and determination within the group or suppressing him in anyway in regards to what he says, what he does or who he does it with?

If so then him rebelling in that way would make sense to me because he wouldn't be the first idol to have used that tactic. A lot of idols do these and worse to assert themselves against their company.

If there's no such underling subtext then him rebelling makes no fucking sense to me.

Is he staying away for his mental health

Again, do you think he's been exposed to severe amounts of toxicity and hate online beyond what all the members experience on a daily such that he would need a break from the internet to rejuvenate like we saw around 2019? If so then taking a break for his mental health would make a lot of sense too.

But for someone who keeps reiterating how important connecting with his fans is to him, you gotta wonder how he strikes a balance between his mental health needs, his emotional needs and his professional deeds.

This is the last he was seen on Weverse.

Relatively recent I'd say. So when you say he's absent from social media which timeframes do you mean? They were all pretty much off the grid until recent times post PTD not just him. Are they all dealing with mental health issues or are they all rebelling against their company or something?

You have all these tiktok trends and memes he's been referring to here and there and incorporating into their freestyle dance- seems to me he's active online alright. Just not in the way we are used to them being 'active' online. He is fulfilling that need to connect with his fans just not in a way you'd expect. I can say same for Jimin.

Just gonna have to observe things for a while to form a definitive opinion. If you know what I mean.

BigHit hiding Jikook

Sigh. Sounds like shade when you put it like that honestly and so I didn't want to touch it but also I don't think anyone in Bangtan has had an out in the open romantic relationship with anyone yet💀

Show me RMs partner or Suga's girlfriend.

BTS are hiding their relationships gay or straight. If you can see it from that angle then I think the idea of Jikook hiding their relationship or Bighit aiding them or asking them to privatize their relationship isn't so outlandish and ridiculous like you make it seem. BTS are allowed to date, they are just not allowed to make those relationships public💀

If Jikook were heterosexuals and in different bands I think a lot of people would have entertained the thought. Hell people are convinced they are each dating female idols and keeping it a secret. People are convinced JK is dating Mijoo and keeping that a secret but him dating a boy in the same band and keeping it a secret is kapushkalava😌

Theories of RM married and raising a kid abounds in this fandom and people entertain the idea. However, because Jikook are in the same band and play out certain interactions in front of the cameras the thought that they may be hiding sounds funny in y'alls ears? Jokers💀

Most idols hide their relationships and are required by their companies to keep that out of the public eye. Jikook are idols ergo they are required to hide and are hiding their relationships be it with themselves or with others.

And yes BigHit does aid them in doing so when they issue statements about that "this relationship rumor is false" or when the members evade questions about their relationships in a way to insinuate they are single and not in relationships.

How Jikook feel about being required by the company to keep their relationships to themselves or their peers taking it upon themselves to enforce those company policies of private relationships is up for debate and speculation.

BTS wrote a whole ass song dissing the company and calling them out for having a no dating policy yet expecting them to write love songs and yet somehow we think it's ridiculous that Jikook who are part of BTS would rebel against their company from time to time over certain mandates? Lmho.

Edit:

This ask was sent in a few days before JK's recent VLive. I started answering it and let it go to draft because I felt it was pointless to answer it. Especially since a lot of my thoughts on this were regurgitative, abstract, and based on my own subjective opinion and assumptions about the boys. I feel I keep repeating myself and repeating the same things I've been saying over and over with these kinds of shady trolling asks. Sigh.

However, due to recent events that gives more credit to my thoughts and feelings on the matter, I'll attempt to answer it again.

In JK's VLive he said he noticed it's been a while he interacted with Fans which is why he jumped on the Live to see Army- if we take his word for it and at face value then he said nothing about his mental health ergo it can't be because of that😌

Tae equally said in his VLive he noticed the others coming on VLive and so he thought he would come too.

Now, don't you think they wouldn't have come so spontaneously if they were dealing with mental health issues or trying to take care of their mental health???

There was a time Tae was constantly online interacting with Fans and I think I was one of the few people out here who speculated he was lonely and wasn't dating anyone at the time- which he confirmed in Soop by the way when he told JK he being online constantly was because he was lonely.

Do you think he staying off Social media in recent times is because of his mental or that he doesn't feel as lonely anymore??

I stay off line sometimes for my mental health, sometimes too it's because I feel there are people and things in my life I've neglected and need to spend time with and pay equal attention to them.

Sometimes it's because there's death in the family or studies, or work or a film I need to catch up on...

As to the relationship between campanies and artists- in case you can't pick up on the subtle cues some of the members leave- Suga captures it so well in his Weverse magazine interview.

We made you, as long as you follow our instructions you will be good. Idols are expected to be subservient and sycophantic. As Suga points out it's a thing in the industry and it's destroying the industry.

As to whether or not you think BTS are fully and totally exempt from this harsh reality because BigHit is different is up to you frankly. As to whether or not you think this type of attitude from companies can create friction and tensions between them and the bands is equally up to you.

As to whether you think certain members in BTS are more obsequious than others, more rebellious than others is equally up to you.

In what ways they rebel is up to you too.

That's part A.

Part B. Lol

I answered the first part of this Ask based on the assumption you were being shady. But just in case you were not then here is an alternative response.

Like I said, JK is not the only member who's been absent from SNS in recent times. They all were at one point.

It's interesting how they will promise to come on Vlive whenever they have some to sell us and only recently started showing up on Vlive consistently when Permission to Dance received such mixed reactions from the audience.

It seems their disconnect from their fanbase and its subsequent consequences is becoming much more apparent to them...

For Jungkook, I think the members discussed his rebellious phase at the beginning of the year when they talked about him not posting for the members's birthday, how they expect his post for Hobi to be a start of something new and Jimin even said he was gonna cut his head off if he didn't post for his birthday- I don't think in all the times he didn't post for the members it's because he was grappling with mental health issues. It's just a post. It doesn't take more than a minute to wish your bandmate a happy birthday on their birthdays.

Especially not when he was posting relatively regularly on SNS but would go radio silent on their birthdays... Forget mental health that's antisocial and we saw how the members felt about that from the VLive.

Also, I think it would be insensitive for the members to expect Jungkook to post on their birthdays or for Jimin to hold him to such high expectations when they know very well that he deals with mental health problems or was dealing with mental health issues in those periods he didn't post for them- whoever says Jungkook didn't post for the members because he was dealing with mental health issues is a fraud. Yea I said it. If I ever spewed that nonsense out here then I'm a fraud too chilee💀

His other forms of silent rebelliousness has been in passive aggressive backhanded remarks aimed at the company and at times certain members. In my opinion of course. He won't do what he won't do and if he has to do it he will do it huffing and puffing and later chat shit about it during pillow talks at night with his boyfriend.

So I don't know what it is he might zeffbe rebelling against now. Like I said, being asked to tone down does not mean he can't Jikook. They are Jikooking. It's just on the low low.

And when you say he is reacting to BigHit hiding Jikook, you have to take into account if Jungkook himself wants to keep things hidden and private. Why would he rebel against something if it's what he wants too?? Know what I mean?

This is why I was talking about context. Jungkook of 2018 and 2019 is not the same Jungkook now. He's pretty much the same person, has the same values but he is learning and growing and that is equally important in the way he sees the world around him.

For instance, he wasn't one to think much about the future when he made certain choices and this is something I've talked about a lot in my blogs. Carpedium, make hay while the sun shines etc used to be his values but now he places a lot of emphasis on thinking about the future, being considerate and about how his actions could impact his future.

Those two mindsets produce totally different actions. One is likely to do very childish things, one is not. One is likely to be reckless, not very ambitious, and less serious, while one is likely to be thoughtful, calculative, intentional and less impulsive. He talks a lot about growing up fast but now it seems to me he's catching up with the times.

This is not to say he is a different person but more so he is becoming. He is learning and unlearning. He is not there yet but he is getting there.

If he wants to sit with Jimin, Vlive with Jimin, post on his birthday and not the others, if he wants to stand in a line up next to him but he can't then definitely he's gonna react strongly to that. But as it stands he is not doing any of that in my opinion- not that I'm aware of. Dude is living his best life out here.

I think I've said this, he is happy with where they are at now. If he is not we will know. That's when they ghetto jumps out of him. Don't know if I'm making sense chilee. Lol.

On the part of the company, I can only speculate to the effect that they are looking for various means to optimize and leverage the bands high demand. That they are trying to monetize their platforms and so restricting access to the boys is part of their mid pandemic marketing strategy- something I have been saying from day dot since the pandemic hit.

Like Suga says, monetization is a huge problem in Kpop and the Pandemic has only exacerbated it.

Showing up on Vlive gives us free access to the boys. As often as we would like to see them through that medium it doesn't pay their bills- doesn't pay much especially if they earn money in Won or whatever currency Naver uses.

YouTube is great. However it comes with restrictions and challenges especially with censorship- videos can be demonetized easily and willy nilly, You have to comply with Coppa and YT guidelines. There's CPM- whixh I don't know if it's high for BTS...

Then there's that whole breaching into Korea/China market agenda going on with them etc

Bighit is a business. BTS is not a nonprofit organization. I think the members can understand that much should the company explain to them why they all- not just Jikook- need to limit access to them.

Bighit made them and holds a contract over their heads. There's a certain amount of control they have over them yet a certain level of autonomy they reserve within such a transaction or business relationship.

Take Tae's appearance in Peakboy's MV for example. It's indication BTS does have a ree will to embark on such out of company adventures. There's Hwarang and features and all these side hustles they do...

Yet in the same breath they were at one point prohibited from taking photos with fans on the streets and stuff like that- I guess I should say allegedly.

If they want to VLive they will- as to whether or not they can VLive outside schedule is another thing all together.

As spontaneous as their VLives can be, a lot of them are scheduled too. So it's interesting how they all went MIA for a noticeable minute without the company officially scheduling these 'compulsory' Fan interactions via Vlive or even YT.

Let's not pretend they don't post sometimes on behalf of certain members. Let's not pretend that that doesn't happen💀

Jungkook showed up on YT grumpy and passive aggressive talking about that he didn't know he was supposed to do a VLive, he wasn't prepared, his hair was messy, he didn't know how to operate things- sigh.

Then he nagged us to death about the arts and crafts thingy... but in his recent live he said singing is all he can do so he sang and thrust his hips away- we can't be mad at that.

So if your question is whether I think there's something up with BTS and how they are interacting with fans or not interacting with fans my answer is yes. I mean that much is obvious...

Money is the root of all evil blink blink. Lol.

Do I think there's something up with Jikook and BigHit my answer is yes still- my theory?? Well I'm still observing things and hoarding information. Can't put out half baked theories you know?

I'm a professional ship delulu theorist and I take my delusions seriously😐

I can say this though, I think BigHit has a lot to lose now that they are a publicly traded company. They have investors and stockholders they hold themselves accountable to- how the fear of a scandal or the stigma of a queer relationship plays into all that is yet to be seen.

They are trying to mitigate that risk through strategic marketing and business models- separating BigHit under Hybe is one, their partnership with Dispatch has always been one. There's just so much they are doing we don't know and can only assume or infer.

If their recent interviews and line of questioning has taught me anything, it's that they are all well aware of our theories on BTS and speculations on their sexuality and if Taemin's manager can ask him or was asked if he was dating Kai to his face then others can equally speculate, wonder and ask BigHit directly if Jikook being the sticky ones in the group are dating fueled by all the fandom theories out there.

Rumour says Jikook is gay and are dating eachother. How Bighit feels about this, how BTS feel about it, how Jikook feel about it open for discussion.

There are those who just want to nip all such rumours in the bud and those who want to lean into it and and profit off of it because negative attention is still attention.

Which brings me to your question about Jikook, because I see you sent that Ask in twice, they sure as hell are goofy and dorky. Jungkook admitted that much in his interview.

They are the ones to troll the lives out of us and feed into our delusions of them. It's why most people dismiss them as messing with fans and playful and fanservicey.

So I find it interesting that the members calling them a couple because of their outfits isn't being taken as goofy, dorky, fanservicey but as a reason to further invalidate their relationship.

If you can't take whatever Jikook says and does seriously then you certainly can't take whatever anyone says and does concerning them seriously either.

I will answer the rest of it under the Ask you sent in. This post is getting longer already.

I hope this helps.

GOLDY

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Can you imagine losing interest in BTS and their music ever? I've seen it's a hot topic on Twitter, how some fans just lost connection and how others put it as "exiting the magic shop". I don't understand. I spent my teens listening to the Beatles, Incubus and now that I'm 30's I still love them. I suppose it could happen but I just dont like it when people say they lost interest bec BTS has already healed them. Like, you can heal and listen to them at the same time right? Your thoughts guys?

First of all, thank you for this ask because this is such an interesting topic.

Secondly, I'm fairly sure this whole thing about "being healed from BTS", as in stopping being ARMY/stanning BTS was started by "ex-ARMYs" (or people cosplaying as such) on either twt or t*kt*k (or both) as a way to feed into the narrative of how you can only possibly like Bangtan while you're "sick" but eventually you get "healed" and move on to other artists, specifically other K-Pop groups. It's also occasionally used by people who stopped "stanning" BTS to make themselves look better in the eyes of kpoppies (or suck up to them) and to get hit twts. A quick twt search showed me a twt where someone spoke about how now that they've "left the Magic Shop" they're able to "love other people" and have found themselves in (Other Group’s fandom name)-land. As in Bangtan healed them so now they can listen to/stan “better” groups.

Do I think there are also genuine people among them who credit BTS for helping them heal before moving on? Probably, but I find the phrasing and way of thinking rather weird and also something that plays into the stereotype that liking a "boy band" is just a phase that you grow out of and then move on to "real music". 

Are there people who genuinely "lost" whatever connection they felt or interested they had in BTS? Probably, though sometimes I feel like people misinterpret twts where people talk about leaving ARMY twt/their sns stan accounts as them stopping being a fan which is false. Being a fan of a musician is more than just posting on your stan account, right? There are plenty of people who are ARMY yet don't engage in fandom sns.

Now circling over to your question about if we/I can imagine basically falling out of love with an artist (BTS) and, well, personally I think it depends on certain factors. Just like you in my early teens I used to listen to a band called HIM, a little later to a band called Placebo, and to this day, if someone asks me who my favorite rock band is, I still name both of them without hesitation despite not actively listening to them anymore the way I do with Bangtan, as example. Yet it doesn't change the fact that I still love their music and check out what Placebo are up to from time to time. 

I think there are certain bands and artists whose music simply does something for us, this specific something that makes us connect to them in a deeper sense, in one that makes their music and artistry stick with us even far down the line when we might not listen to them daily anymore, might not check their sns every day anymore, or even at all. At this point I'm pretty sure BTS are exactly that for me as well. I can imagine that perhaps one day I might not be as invested (invested in the sense of having a stan account and blogging about them) anymore as I am now, because that's natural, but I doubt I'll ever go as far as saying "I've lost interested" or "been healed from being ARMY" or whatever else some say.

So, when I said it depends on different factors if you'll ever fall out of love/loose interest, what did I mean by that? I think a major deciding factor is why you became ARMY/a fan in the first place and what it is that keeps you interested in them.

More below the cut:

If you became a fan because you’re into shipping and your main focus is your ship and nothing else, honestly, I doubt you’ll stick around all that long. And I say that as a vminnie and namjinist myself. I imagine, if the only thing about Bangtan I would care about would be those two pairings and I would spend all my time hunting for clues and looking at gifs/pictures and discussing them and nothing else, their music only being of interest to me if I could make it about my ship? I’ll be honest, I would probably lose interest in less than a year because you can’t possibly remain invested in two people, their lives, “relationship clues” and ship fights with others for years without basically getting tired of it.

Also when I say just focusing on a ship, I literally mean just the ship aspect, not even the artistry those two people have, like their music etc, but just the bond they have and nothing else. And yes, there definitely are people like this. I’ve seen Xkookers only care about (insert song here) because they thought it was about their ship but once they realized it isn’t, they never brought up the song again, and never spoke about the song itself at all. And I don’t want to just point my finger at them, there are also people who ship other pairings who act this way as well, definitely.

At the end of the day, eventually you’ll have analyzed all there was to be analyzed, discussed every aspect and detail, seen every moment and taken it apart, and will have had every fight you could have, and then...what? There’s only so much “content” and “entertainment” you can get out of someone else’s life and bond and that’ll only be able to keep you interested for so long...and then what?

But if you got interested in Bangtan due to their music first and that is your primary focus while them as people is more of a nice “extra”, that’s “sustainable”, for a lack of better words. They release lots of music every year, have a huge discography along with side/solo projects, their lyrics are so layered and you can find so much in them, immerse yourself in their artistry. Their music can become your companion, basically. There are so many ARMY that have songs and albums that mean the world to them, that helped them heal or love themselves, that they keep coming back to, that engage in discussions about their music, old and new, and who find boundless joy in all of it while also adoring the members themselves.

If you got into them for their personalities while thinking their music is just okay, an all right extra, but you love their bonds and shows like RUN or Bon Voyage, I could imagine that being some kind of middle group but then again, why stan musicians whose music you only find okay? Would you be a fan of an actor whose personality you like but find the movies they are in and their acting ability mediocre/okay?

I’ve been around for a long time and the way I think that’s possible, and why I think I will remain ARMY for years to come as well, is because I genuinely love their music, love spending time listening to it, reading about it, talking to others about it, but also because I adore the members, their personalities and who they are, their bonds, their variety show type content and vlives, and I adore vmin and namjin. While I love talking about vmin/namjin, if I had to just focus on that (as in the ‘ship’ aspect of their bonds) all the time, I’d get exhausted and/or reach a point where everything that could be said would be said, but because I also spend a lot of time with OT7 content and in non-shipper ARMY spaces, with their music, their other content, reading their interviews and everything else, it’s a “sustainable” way to be ARMY. And I’ve seen and spoken to other ARMYs who have been around far longer than me, some even having been around since the very beginning, even before their debut, and that's how they’ve remained ARMY since, because it was this package deal that they fall in love with, the fact that they spend their time engaging in different fandom discussions and activities, instead of hyper focusing on a certain part of it exclusively, like shipping.

Of course, if you fell in love with the package deal in your twenties while in a dark place but then reached your thirties and, with the help of their music (side note: while Namjoon (inspired by Seokjin) told us to use BTS to be happy, don’t put the “responsibility” of healing you/helping you heal solely on an artist, since that’s not fair or healthy, rather if you really need help/assistance/someone to talk to, please reach out to someone, friends or family, or a professional if you can) and other (outside) factors, reached a better place and don’t feel as connected to them anymore as you did before, it’s possible you might “unstan”, but that doesn’t have to mean you’ll move away from their music completely, that you’ll make a clean cut and never look back. Especially if they helped you, chances are they will always remain with you one way or another for a long time. At the same time, I guess it’s only natural that sometimes our interests and tastes change and the band you used to love might just not “do it” anymore for you. It’s human. There are bands I used to love as teen but don’t care about anymore nowadays because their music isn’t my taste anymore, I don’t connect with it the way I used to etc. Does something like that make you a fake fan? No, it just, well, makes you human. Though, like I said, at this point I don’t foresee that happening for me with Bangtan and there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of others who will tell you the same thing. We’re in this Bangtan sh*t for life, purple blooded. Even Namjoon joked about how once you get into Bangtan there is no exit anymore. Or that no jammer joke about how once you JimIN you never JimOut.

Lastly there’s also a whole conversation to be had of what will happen once the members start enlisting, or once the daily content turns into monthly, bi-monthly, every half year and eventually only sporadicly spread out throughout the year, when their music will be all that we’ll get instead of music + additional content like sns posts or RUN. What will happen when that day comes? Shippers and those interested in their personalities will stop “being fed” and eventually their interest will dwindle away. Those who need to constantly be engaged with and fed to remain interested will likely dwindle away and move on to other content/musicians that’ll keep them fed with new things on a regular. And those who are into their music, or the package deal, they’ll likely still be fans, still love their music and come back and be active when new releases come, still occasionally return to content like watching concerts or old RUN episodes, but even they won’t stick around the same way we all do right now. This isn’t to say that when that day comes we’ll find out who “the real fans are”, because the question of what a real fan is, is a whole other discussion to be had, but rather it’ll be a natural, normal part of fandom, of a musicians career, of a human cycle.

Take AC/DC as example, after so many decades they still have fans that show up when they release a new album, but I doubt those fans have active stan accounts and engage in daily fandom stuff the way you do with a constantly active/present artist like BTS etc. And I can imagine that’ll be Bangtan and ARMY much later down the line as well.

To sum it all up, I don’t think there is a black or white answer, merely a gray one.

[renlimotroll]

BinTRoLL guidelines!!

Today, I tried to translate (with the help of some friends) the Bintroll guidelines. I've always been meaning to do it but I always forget. 😅 Please read below!

-ABOUT-

■ What is BinTRoLL?

It's a laid-back Let's Play group launched by Siruko.

We won't do anything else but to have fun playing.

We said we won't so we won't.

-GUIDELINES-

■ A Request From BinTRoLL

Please refrain from using BinTRoLL's copyrighted works (videos, images, etc.) beyond the scope of private use.

Let's keep good manners and have fun interacting and creating.

■ About voice actor Hanae Natsuki and Hanae Natsuki channel videos

It is not under the category of the BinTRoLL guidelines.

Please follow the rules of the person himself or of Across Entertainment to which he belongs to.

-Q&A-

These are the questions and answers that have been given so far.

Please take note that we may post the questions from everyone as they are.

Q: What is the extent of private use, distribution and sales? 

A: There are no strict rules as to what private use may entail,

You can make it yourself and enjoy it privately, give it to your family and friends as a present, publish the pictures (images) on your personal SNS such as Twitter, and so on.

Regarding distribution, it refers to the unspecified number of third parties that has been licensed.

Regarding sales, it refers to the act of making profit such as money.

Q: I want to create derivative works using the characters of BinTRoLL.

A: There are basically no restrictions. We look forward to your masterpiece.

Q: I want to distribute and sell doujin works.

A: There are basically no restrictions on doujinshi and doujin goods,

Please refrain from distributing or selling official works or works that can be mistaken as official ones.

Q: I want to create works that partially uses official works such as tracing, printing, and clipping of videos.

A: There is no problem as long as it is for private use without distribution or selling.

Q: Are BL and Ero-Guro safe?

A: BinTRoLL members stated that they don't particularly mind being the subjects (of such works).

However, some viewers may be underage or uncomfortable with it, so,

It would be helpful if you refrain from including R18 elements in public as much as possible.

Q: Why the sudden guidelines?

A: Because we didn't establish our policies, it caused our viewers to have some conflict of opinions.

BinTRoLL doesn't want viewers to feel uncomfortable.

We have created guidelines so that you can have as much fun as possible without worrying about anything.

Click this for the original post!

Author’s Notes:

*Definition of some terms:

Derivative works-��anything (like fanarts or fanfiction stories) that has copyrightable elements

Doujin works- you may have heard of doujinshi! 同人 (doujin) literally means 'people of shared interests', so doujinshi means a self-published magazine that caters to a specific group of people. Bintroll used the term 同人作品 (doujin sakuhin).

Ero-Guro- エログロ (eroguro) is a Japanese term based on the english words 'erotic' and 'grotesque'. It mainly refers to works that has elements of horror/gore and sexy/erotic scenes.

*Some additional information: (these are my own words based on previous statements from BinTRoLL)

× Please refrain from DM-ing Siruko-san, as he has said that important messages get pushed down.

× Depending on the streamer's rules, it causes some conflict when you mention BinTRoLL names in other streams. For example, Mintosu-san has strict rules about mentioning other streamers, but Limone-sensei doesn't mind. However, some fans may feel uncomfortable if other streamers are mentioned in the stream they are watching (ex: "Siruko-san started streaming now!", "Siruko-san did this and that!") It's a difficult area to navigate, so for me I'd rather not mention BinTRoLL in other streams as a general courtesy. If the streamer brings it up, it's all good. Still, it depends on the streamer themselves.

× Try not to ask too personal questions. Out of all of them, Siruko-san is the most likely to answer personal questions, but other members? Not so much. Try not to ask Siruko-san for other member's personal information too. A good rule of thumb is to let the members bring up the information then follow up on it rather than outright asking them (do not DM for the love of gods!)

× Believe it or not, people do actually ship BinTRoLL members (like me! teehee!) Some post FAs and fanfiction (believe me, I’ve seen both Japanese and Korean ones) Bintroll shipping is termed "nmmn" in japanese; it’s kinda like they're not just 2D charas and they're real, so shipping is hidden and found only by fujoshi fans. Of course we know it’s just our imaginations, and we know the limitations and boundaries. There’s a thin line of shipping real people, and we know better than to cross the line. That’s why I started this tumblr, after all, because I can never comment on YT or tweet so much about shipping, especially that public. All my shipping posts will be tagged as such and will have warnings, so you can steer clear of that. But just so you know, BinTRoLL said it’s fine to make BL, so if anyone comes to me criticizing my shipping posts, I’ll slap the BinTRoLL guidelines in their face. 😆

× Please, and I cannot stress this enough, do not pressure the members to appear. Remember, they do streaming for fun; they do have lives and work outside of this. I get what you feel, you have a favorite member and you want to see that member all the time, or you want to see them in complete attendance, but don't be greedy. I've been a fan long enough to always see questions like, "Where is this member?" or "This member hasn't appeared in a long time." and some push it to the extreme and DM BinTRoLL (yikes!!) Let the members appear when they want to and be content with it.

Let me tell you my observations. Mintosu-san is not the type to talk about himself, so you might notice he only appears to play games. He has his own MCup with his fans every Saturday too. Then, there was a time when Ichihachi-san was busy with his real life (I call it The Great 18san Drought), and during that hiatus many fans always asked where he was. Even Hakotaro-san gets these questions, and he is the type to prefer working behind-the-scenes.

Now, let me tell you why it's better to let them be from my past experiences. Whenever Mintosu-san appears in the videos, the feeling of great joy from the surprise is amazing. It's like, "Hallelujah! YATTA!!" When Ichihachi-san came back, everyone had a field day and kept rejoicing. It was a party! When you, out-of-nowhere, hear Hakotaro-san's greeting during a livestream, you'll just suddenly go "AAAAAH!!!" and it's the best feeling ever. The feeling of being pleasantly surprised is nice, because you don't expect anything so you were never disappointed. It's better this way, trust me. After all, everyone performs better if they're not pressured, and BinTRoLL are people too like us, so it's better to let them do their own thing and enjoy whatever content we get.

× Siruko-san has mentioned that it's okay to comment or chat in English (or any language), which is great for us international fans! He said that he's not that good in English (although I believe he's good enough) that he may not always understand it though. However, and these are my own opinions, please remember this before chatting and commenting in English.

Use simple english that's easy enough to understand.

Do not use sarcasm. It does not translate well.

Always, always be polite. Choose your words carefully.

Why do I say this? Sometimes I see English spams and I cringe. The difference between cultures can be great sometimes, and Japanese is known for the politest way of speaking, and they are often straightforward with their words. It's better to be careful than accidentally offending someone, right?

× Regarding distribution and sales of official works, this may be a gray area and it's difficult to explain. For example, you can use BinTRoLL character images which are the intellectual property of the creator Hakotaro-san and by extension of Bintroll, to tweet or even to screenshot and DM it to other people to discuss. You can also clip video highlights and share them on your sns. I think that the moment you profit from it, for example, selling keychains and mugs with official Bintroll art, or re-uploading whole Bintroll videos on youtube or other video-sharing websites, is where you violate the rules. As long as your use is for community-base and personal use, you're safe, but when you gain something official from it (like money or subscribers), that's not allowed.

BinTRoLL members are one of the kindest people ever. Siruko-san always hearts and reads comments on their Youtube, and he also used to like or RT every fanart and even follow back his followers (but he can't do it right now as Twitter almost froze his account). They even read the names of superchat donators at the end of each stream even if they don't really have to (and sometimes it takes hours!) That’s why I hope people won’t abuse their kindness. I hope people follow the guidelines (seriously, it's not that hard) and do not cross the fan line so that we can all get along with each other! In everything you do or say, remember to have manners and be kind, and surely you'll enjoy even more. ^^ 🥰

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I may not know everything about Bintroll, but I'll do my best! Let's all follow the rules and guidelines so that we can enjoy all the videos and live streams to the best we can. Have fun watching and interacting! Have a nice day~  🌻 Think before you click!

[rika-kihira]

Rika Kihira interview with Kose

Kose Sports Blog: Interview with Rika Kihira on Japan National 2019, translated by juronom.

source: https://ameblo.jp/kose-sports/entry-12575880251.html

Trying to do everything with perfection.

Changing hairstyle is also something to be attentive to.

Q: Congratulations on your spectacular maiden Japan National title. Reflecting on that, please tell us how you feel now?

R: Regarding the FS, I was happy that I could perform without any regret, though there was still some (lingering) feeling that I must jump the 4S. This time, it was quite a difficult competition since my body condition barely made it (“tight”). I can feel (my body) is not in the best condition especially early in the morning and in the afternoon, but it was really fortunate that I was able to bring myself up to the best condition in the evening of that day (FS day). The practice just before that (FS) was good and I managed to properly maintain that condition even when I was tired. That gave me confidence.

Q: Recently, it seemed Kihira-san’ music selection hasn’t been orthodox classical, but contemporary or yoga-like melody. Do you have an intention or aim when daringly select songs with difficult rhythm?

R: My strategy from now on is trying to skate to songs that fit me best. Now I’m exploring many things, like what kind of songs will become my specialty. The challenge for me at the moment is gaining the ability to skate to many genres of music.

Q: The process of choosing make-up that matches the music also needs experimenting. Are you hooked on any makeup items recently?

R: My favorite product is Kose's Cosmé de Corte gel eye shadow. Even if with dark-colored eye (make-up), I can create natural shading by repeatedly tapping and blending the product with my fingertips. Especially for today's exhibition “Lion King”, I had a strong combination of brown and gold makeup done for me.

Q: Besides makeup, hairstyle also impacts performance greatly. Kihira-san goes for ponytail regularly, but have you ever considered bun hair?

R: Actually, I’ve considered it, but that is a hairstyle which I haven't practiced with. I think it's the best to try a hairstyle out in practice then get used to it so it won't affect my performance. I dislike changing my hairstyle suddenly, which affects my performance, so I don’t think I will change my hairstyle now.

Q: Do bun and ponytail feel different your performance?

R: They feel different. I don't want to abruptly change hairstyle in a competition and pay (unnecessary) attention towhat’s on my head, which could result in mistakes.

The athlete I respect is Nao Kodaira

Q: We’re switching to another topic. What kind of people does Kihira-san look up to? If possible, could you name someone who is not a figure skater?

R: Nao Kodaira. She is caring and always talks to me when we meet and she told me she came and watched this certain competition. I really love that kind of personality, and I want to learn from her. I think I should think about others in every action. She is also always calm and is an assuring presence. I really like people like that.

Q: It's a very good relationship. I was touched. I think Kihira-san is also respected by many figure skating fans. I heard that Kihira-san said that there will be only regrets if you dare to eat all the sweets you want to eat. Among fans, even those inour company, some people were encouraged by that and went to the gym or put themselves on a diet. Are there any tips to win against the temptation of food?

R: Well, documenting on what you eat in your notebook. That’s probably it. If you keep a record properly, you can judge whether or not you are having a healthy menu in a week. I think it's important to always keep a record, calculate calories, reflect and organize (your diet) for the sake of your health. I try not to eat anything that I consider bad for my body.

Q: Wow, Miss Stoic. I think some adults really need to observe from you. In the last interview, you said you didn’t have any specific routine before the competition, but how is that recently?

R: Warm-up sessions always include stretching with the same exercise menu, but my routine changes according to factors like when in the day the competition happens, how I spend that day and how I spend the previous day. I've improved on adapting (my routine) depending on skating time, to the time difference between Japan time and the venue’s time.

Q: I see, in competitions overseas, you usually took some nap.

R: If the competition took place at night time and I didn’t sleep until then, I would have been sleepy, tired and even lost my concentration, so I took some nap to avoid those situations.

Q: Recently there has been shocking news in figure skating. It is reported that Zagitova-senshu of Russia will not participate in the Russian Championships or the World Championships. Would Kihira-san mind sharing some thoughts, to an acceptable extent for you?

R: Reaching the top position in major competitions, winning every competition, she’s really amazing. I really respect that she went on without taking a break. In my view, now she can take things a little slower and return to competition when she wants to do so. I look up to her a lot since she has won all titles... I hope that she can feel the fun of skating every day.

Q: Finally, please, a few words to your fans.​

R: Of course, I can also hear the encouraging voices and receive messages directly (at the venue), not only on SNS and via letters. Thanks to those, I can always feel good about skating, competing and I can continue giving my best from the bottom of my heart, so I’m always grateful for everything. From now on, I want to continue giving performances that can answer everyone's expectations.

[chibimyumi]

What do you think about Yuta's new role as Kijima? After his mindblowing performances as der tod and sebastian, this role just does not seem to fit his status as TOHO prince and favourite cow(it's just my opinion though, no offence). But still our yuta-bab is working as hard as he did for any other roles.

Dear Anon,

What I think of Kijima? Oh gosh… don’t get me started… Well, HERE WE GO～! (You can thank @akumadeshitsumon​​ for this, this is their terrible idea.)

Kijima and Plot Relevance

Kijima is a new character added to the original novel ‘Top Knife’, and it is very obvious that this character was just shoe-horned in there. The characters of ‘Top Knife’ are not badly written, but because Kijima is new, every time they interact with Kijima it feels incredibly forced. ESPECIALLY Sachiko.

Sachiko is this 26 year old brain surgeon who finds herself lacking in every way. Obviously, being 26 and brain surgeon is very unlikely, but regardless, her having the least experience and getting her ego ‘tamed’ wasn’t necessarily a bad thing story-writing-wise. However, her ‘inexperience’ is entirely conflated with ‘the least professional person you can imagine ANYWHERE, to the point of being law-breaking’.

Why do I mention her? Because she is the only connection Kijima has to the main plot. Sachiko’s total lack of professionalism is played up as ‘cute’ and ‘pure’, and now 5 episodes in, her only role so far is THE girl who is in love. After meeting Kijima and having spoken to him ONCE, she finds herself head-over-heels for him, and at work she becomes this romance-drunk, worthless piece of… She is very much reduced to the ‘tell-don’t-show-device’ to tell the audience how DESIRABLE Kijima is, even though he:

Has hardly got any screentime.

Is a total sexual molester in whatever little screentime he has.

Kijima is supposed to be this ‘project’ that Sachiko will probably have to conquer, she is supposed to “cure” Kijima of his playboyitis (spoilers, it doesn’t work that way.)

My and Furukawa’s opinion on Kijima

Skirt-chasers are NEVER nice, for they are the manifestation of the hetero male entitlement, and I hate such characters because they are usually portrayed as “a fun guy who just needs to find ‘the right girl’ to cure him.” As mentioned above, 5 episodes in, and we are already sure that this is the character-trajectory.

In episode 1 Kijima was already introduced as this condescending man who sees women solely as pretty play-things. In episode 2 we see him showing a more charming and compassionate side to Sachiko who was about to cry, but immediately after that scene, he walks to another girl and sweeps his fingers across her waist as he passes by. Eeeewl. In episode 4 his female customers order alcohol, and Kijima just keeps adding booze to the women’s cups without them asking for it (which is SHADY as hell?) Unsurprisingly, Sachiko drinks too much and she falls asleep at Kijima’s bar, so he drapes a blanket over her, and sleeps next to her. It’s a public TV series, so obviously nothing explicit happens, but the subtext is clear as day.

TOHO’s Prince vs Kijima

Dear Anon, you are very right, the way Furukawa plays Kijima does indeed not quite fit his ‘Imperial Theatre’s Prince’ image, and I am sure the producers would now also agree with you.

As mentioned above, Kijima Tatsuya is an OC and his ‘official’ title is ‘The Bewitching Prince (悩殺王子・Nousatsu Ouji)’. We need no second attempt to guess how this is a blatant reference to Furukawa’s TOHO Prince status. Unfortunately (or ‘fortunately’, depending on from whose perspective you look), they cast the most passive-aggressive, pedantic and opinionated actor TOHO has.

The premise of Kijima’s character was just ‘a skirt-chaser’, and when Furukawa asked the director what their vision was, they told him: “the lovable kind you just can’t hate”, to which Furukawa replied: “I learn something new every day.”

It is obvious that Furukawa really feels uncomfortable with this character as he has frequently expressed so even in public interviews. He needs to remain diplomatic of course, but he keeps emphasising how Kijima Tatsuya is the polar opposite of the kind of person he is while shoving passive-aggressive comments in about what kind of person Furukawa himself wishes to be. While playing Kijima, Furukawa has removed any of the charms that is conventionally attractive. Kijima is obnoxious, loud, imposing, condescending, rude, obnoxious, full of swagger, and obnoxious. He plays Kijima for what he is; a disrespectful misogynist. Fans were quite in shock at the beginning, but they seem to have fallen for this person nevertheless. It seems that Furukawa is the living trope of ‘so beautiful, it’s a curse’, because many fans indeed don’t look past his handsomeness.

Furukawa seems to be trying very hard to distance himself from this character by frequently saying: “I love acting”. Even though he is normally unforgiving towards himself when he makes any mistake, for almost every single SNS video he makes a point out of inserting bloopers to help remind people Kijima is Kijima, Furukawa is Furukawa.

Cowjima

‘Top Knife’ is capitalising on Furucowa’s popularity in such an obvious way it’s painful to watch. Furukawa himself is an absolute techno-noob, but even before the series started they gave him and only him an Instagram, an official website, TikTok, and what not. Sachiko is reduced to an empty hopeless romantic self-insert, and when Kijima’s POV flirting videos were published, I got confirmation why.

The producers of ‘Top Knife’ want to market this skirt-chaser-to-be-conquered-by-the-right-girl, while also throwing Watcher x Kijima videos at us, making us all know that besides Sachiko, Kijima will also flirt with any watcher. They really are trying to eat the cake and have the cake >.>

Conclusion

I hate Kijima with a fiery passion, but I am grateful that Furukawa sees the problem of this character and is giving it his all to make it obvious how obnoxious skirt-chasers like Kijima Tatsuya are. I am laughing at the irony of ntv thinking to have cast the charming Prince of TOHO for this role, but then ending up with exactly what they didn’t know they had ordered.

[snserendipity]

Uh man...If Kishi really don't write Boruto,and if it's all in sp hands,what will happened with Naruto characters?More important,what will happened whit sasuke and naruto? Kishi is the one who created their bond and now when he is out of boruto,do you think that sns moments are officially over???I really hope that I have wrong opinion...

I actually don’t think that Kishimoto is working on Boruto. He, most likely, gave basic ideas of how the story should go and obviously we know that he wrote Gaiden. But, honestly, I don’t think he did any more than that. He definitely isn’t looking over every single episode which SP is making (especially these filler-type episodes) and SP also doesn’t have any manga material to follow, which gives them more freedom to do what they please. They do have the Boruto manga which Ikemoto is working on, but more than half of that manga is the Boruto movie and the rest is set after. That’s why it’ll be a while before we see any of the manga getting adapted.

What will happen with Naruto characters?

Not much, I guess. But it also depends if you’re looking at the old gen or new gen. It’s only been like 3 episodes, yeah? That’s why it’s difficult to judge the characters in this short amount of time. But, I’ll do a quick analysis.

Naruto - Okay, so we haven’t actually seen that much of Naruto (which is strange) but it’s been made pretty clear that he’s often made to look worn-out because of his work as the Hokage. We know he doesn’t spend time with his family and the one time that he does come back home early, he goes straight to bed without getting anything to eat. You’d think he would be happy to see his family after not seeing them for some time or he would at least greet them? It gives me a feeling that Naruto doesn’t particularly feel the need to spend time with the family that he often neglects because of work. 

I don’t find it strange that SP could be ruining Naruto’s character, or generally pushing him away from the spotlight because we all know what they did with him in The Last. There are major hints that Naruto might die, later on in the Boruto series, and maybe the reason for pushing back Naruto is so that we will focus on Boruto and forget about Naruto? They might be doing this so that fans start loving Boruto and don’t get overly upset when they do kill off Naruto. It’s all up to debate for now, though.

Hinata - Where do I even begin? -sigh- 

So, apparently, SP felt like retconning Hinata’s character and make her into a ‘scary mum’ as Boruto describes. I honestly feel so tired about talking about this over and over again so I’ll share two links which perfectly explain what happened: 1 & 2.

Since this is SP’s doing and Kishimoto isn’t involved then I’m not surprised that they’re doing all of this. They’re putting her into every episode to make her look somewhat ‘important’. But what she’s doing when she is actually shown is either taking care of the house or taking care of Boruto or Himawari. And that’s not anything important or entertaining. They’re just trying to shove her down people’s throats in any occasion which they can because she’s SP’s favourite.

Temari - I hate what they did with Temari. She is shown hitting Shikadai or pulling him by the ear because he did something at school. Like, she can just talk to him? And when Shikamaru tries to just stay calm and let go of the situation, Temari says that Shikamaru is being too lenient and that’s why Shikadai is behaving that way. But what way? Seriously, Shikadai is always shown to be good and he’s the one who watches over Boruto to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. So, he’s the sensible and responsible one. Yet, Temari is still complaining about him not behaving well. It’s like she doesn’t know her own son. She didn’t even let them have dinner because they were both thinking ‘what a drag’. Isn’t that going a bit too far…?

Sasuke and Sakura - I’m going to write about the two of them of them because it seems like they’re both being treated like side characters. I know that they aren’t playing a major role right now but it’s strange to see that these two really important characters are getting thrown off to the side like they’re nothing (kind of like Naruto, though he did get some screen time). But, for some reason, Hinata gets the most attention out of all of the old gen. Again, obvious favouritism. We’ve seen Sakura in both the opening and ending of Boruto but Sasuke was only shown in the ending. I’m not sure when we will see Sakura, but I think that Sasuke will be shown when they start to animate Gaiden. 

 What will happen with SNS? 

I honestly don’t know. It looks like SP is in charge of everything right now so we have to wait and see what they will do. 

There’s just one thing which worries me and that is Ikemoto’s take on the Boruto manga. I did a full analysis of how he removed the SNS moments or changed them to make it look platonic, which you can check out here. I don’t think SP dislike SNS and they might give us fanservice but that’s just not the same. Hopefully, SP doesn’t do the same thing as Ikemoto. There were plenty SNS moments in Gaiden so hopefully, SP doesn’t mess that up. But, we just have to wait and see. 

I just want to say that you shouldn’t worry because, as you said, Kishimoto is the one who created the SNS bond. That’s why we shouldn’t worry so much about this Boruto crap because we’ve already got the upper hand. We have all those moments that Kishimoto created himself. Whatever SP try to do, they won’t be able to destroy that :)

[vicerions]

rant

tl;dr: it's really sad to see that artists are reduced to machines solely used for profit by entertainment agencies. i know it's a case-to-case basis but in general, idols really suffer a lot so we should respect their decision when they don’t resign with their agency after their contract expires and move on with their lives.

so let’s start by putting you in the shoes of, say, an idol.

disclaimer: im not pointing at anyone specific. just my two-cents.

stolen childhood. no you dont get to play like other kids. at a very young age you have to choose between education and a half-baked dream. (though there are many idols who truly wanted to pursue a singing/acting/dancing/idol career, i get really sad when i read pre-debut accounts of how some idols were scouted because of their visuals and got blinded by promises of good pay).

business is business, after all.

'hey you look really good and you can sing do you want to spend a decade working for us? we'll pay you but only if you're successful, ok?' and you say 'ok' because you're just turning 14 and being famous and rich doesn't sound so bad. you think you will improve. of course, you will. you're young and determined and the company will provide training coaches.

the trainee system is all good and you make some friends until they announce a debut group then things start to get nitty-gritty at practice. training coaches have favorites. you have to look good when your seniors peak in the practice studio. your every move will be scrutinized by the management. how were you as a student? iljin rumors will do you no good. talent, where's your talent? if you think you're good at singing or dancing, there will always be someone far superior than you. you're really stressed and you know you shouldn’t engage in vices but the temptation is always there.

you've spent years training then one day someone will walk-in armed with a full arsenal of talent, looks, variety gag and star quality. they will train with you but you know they're already included in the line-up of the debut group. there are people like this but you can't afford to be angry at them. they are likeable and with oozing charisma even that you can't even deny that they are made for this. 

are you?

hard-work really isn't everything. IF and when you finally debut, netizens will get to decide if you're a rookie legend or a flop depending on your debut song, something you have no control of since it's entirely the company's decision. if your debut isn't received well and you are from a smaller agency it will be a hundred times harder to climb that ladder.

you have to appease the general public to protect your reputation as well as your company's and your group's. this means dating bans, meet-up bans, sns account bans, phone bans, all kinds of bans. delete any traces of all your previous sns accounts. say bye-bye to your friends who are out of the industry. we strongly advice you to break-up if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend because if it wasn't already hard, it will be harder from now on. talk to your parents for days because you won't be seeing them for a long time. do this, don't do that. we don't like your accent.

there are the extremist fans who expect nothing less than perfect. sasaengs lingering at your doorstep at 3am. when you search for articles with your name on it, sometimes you read more negatives than positives. and you don't understand why because you're just working your ass off and trying your best since the beginning.

there are comments that point out how you look fat on-screen. that you have bad skin. that you have an attitude problem because someone outside the dressing room caught you pulling your stylist's coat off her shoulders while looking angry when in reality she asked you to do it because her hands are busy fixing your hair and you just woke up from a nap and your resting bitch face didn't really help. that you are disrespectful because you didn't bow to a senior who passed in front of you when in reality you have bad eyesight and you honestly didn't notice. that you and xxxxxx might be dating because your bracelets look like couple bracelets when in reality you haven't said a word to each other but fans are already cursing you in your instagram posts. 

you do a v-app and people are asking you where is this member or that member instead of sending you questions. it irks you since you’re the one doing the live and maybe you just aren’t enough, but of course, you can’t get angry so you smile and politely tell them where the other members are and why they can’t do the v-app with you.

you try pumping out self-composed songs and pitching ideas for music videos but sometimes things just don’t get the cut. so you have to market yourself more, get those acting and cf and mc gigs. it doesn’t matter if it’s only a one-minute guesting appearance- you just have to get yourself out there and make connections because you can’t rely on your company to do everything.

your group got signed for variety shows and guestings and reality shows. but you realize everything's the same fabricated stuff no matter how 'real' they get cut and edited. not all seniors are good. some will take advantage of your mandatory respect for them. let's go out for a couple of drinks. you know if you get caught by the public, you are done for because most of the time seniors have the upperhand. especially male seniors. so you politely decline. it’s better to seek refuge in your group members and other same-aged idol friends and old trainee acquaintances to stay out of the radar. better safe than sorry.

there will be times when your company will strike a deal with you or maybe they don't tell you until it's out there. something for publicity. you're lucky if the public feedback is good but most of the time it's just backlash. they don't mind throwing you under the bus. your group isn't doing well and everyone knows they have to debut another one soon.

you are overworked and underpaid. your creativity and individuality are suppressed because you have to maintain the kind of image your group has and what your company wants you to project. your friends have graduated from college. you are thankful and love your fans and your members and your managers but you realize you’re not getting any younger. 

you want to finish college too and have a family and kids. maybe try a different line of work while you still can. and when you finally finally make that choice for yourself, everyone turns at you for being the ungrateful person you are.

unpopular opinion: an idol not renewing their contract, as well as group disbandment shouldn’t always be treated as something negative. as a fan, yes, it is disheartening but we should also think about the sake of our idols.

(unless, of course, they get played by their companies. now that is downright oppressive and wrong) 

being an idol is a job. it’s not fairyland where you sing and dance as you please. idols work to pay their trainee debts if they have any, their parents’ debts, as well. they work to give their families a better life, to send their siblings to school. just because you see them wearing name branded clothing it doesn’t mean it’s personally theirs. companies set aside a budget for their clothing so they would look more presentable to the public. another form of marketing.

idols are human, too. miss me with that robotic response of being an idol because they ‘want to stand on stage’ bullshit. maybe some of them are true, yes, but certainly not all of them. they are normal people with imperfections, varied interests in life and varied mental capabilities. 

they want to be happy, too. they have sacrificed a lot to entertain the public and get them to support their music. they have suffered more than than they gained to make their fans happy. to earn money. to live their dreams. to make good music. 

their lives are not yours to control. buying albums or going to their fansigns does not equate to you having the right to demand things of them. you can’t expect them to still be on stage after ten or so years singing and dancing just because you told them to.

as fans, don’t you think we should be the ones making them happy?

[monikaleeminho-blog]

Lee Min Ho for @Star1 Magazine no.62 May 2017 Issue "Just as it is, Today and Always..Lee Min Ho's Day" Interview - 27.04.2017 When you live by just closing your eyes, and or lean against the wall. Is this an appearance of an artist that just have natural talent in modeling, posing and taking photos? Lee Min Ho has photographs and pictures taken with @Star1 Magazine ahead of his upcoming enlistment. Perhaps it's not exaggerating that every time he change and wear any clothes, it looks perfect. And every time the camera took any angle of him, it became a pictorial.Lee Min Ho once said "I want to be able to stay in people's memories for a long time since this is the last pictorial that i'll take before the upcoming enlistment.".However, we are all sure that it's unlikely for his delightful laugh would be forgotten during his 2-years absence. @Star1 Magazine: "Your upcoming enlistment is approaching fast. Tell us, what are you doing lately? "Lee Min Ho: "After finishing SBS 'Legend of the Blue Sea'. I am still in a process on digesting and processing this upcoming enlistment news, and currently waiting while preparing myself." @Star1 Magazine: "We all and yourself already had a feeling that you know you'll enlist on the first half 2017?" Lee Min Ho: "At first, i thought that i would not mind. Of course i've seen a lot of people crying, feeling lost when someone they're close with enlisting to the military service. At first, i thought i could be cool, and enlisting honestly. However, then i feel that there are a lot of things that i have not done. Rather than the enlisting to the army part, i feel pity and bad for already passing my 20s? I feel more sorry in aging, that now i am already entering my 30s. I actually feel more sorry for my work (in acting) since honestly, i still had so many things i wanted to do..hahaha.." @Star1 Magazine: "Over than years has passed since your debut, and perhaps it's not an exaggeration to say that you work relentlessly 'like a bull' on your 20s. What's with the previous opinion? (saying that he still had many things he wanted to do)" Lee Min Ho: "At first, i thought that i've come this far and sometimes, i wanted to rest. I was wondering too i could still be a good actor in my life in my 30s if i didn't charge-ahead properly now. In my opinion, it seems natural that through enlisting in the military, it will be a wonderful new personal experience. With all due respect, i do feel that i work hard for the past 10 years and it became natural, but i think that Lee Min Ho is losing himself."

@Star1 Magazine: "Can you elaborate more on how Lee Min Ho personally lost himself." Lee Min Ho: "Somehow, there were points in my life when i work as an actor, controlling my private life and personal life. I think that during that time, i have forgotten much of my past. When i enlist, I wonder if i can still have some time to think about the meaning of life, and values of the future." @Star1 Magazine: "You enlist a little bit late." Lee Min Ho: "As you perhaps already know, i was hurt in a traffic accident when i was 20 years old. It was very hard for myself during that time, it was hard for me going from 21 to 22 years old. I thought at that time that i should probably go enlisting to the army since work was not well either due to my physical issue. However, my parents and the company think that it is not a good idea, which left me to not going even when i wanted to." @Star1 Magazine: "But instead, you work hard and became the current Lee Min Ho" Lee Min Ho: "If i went enlisting,i won't be able to take the 'Boys Over Flowers' project or perhaps all of my fans won't ever heard of that drama. On the other hand, i think i couldn't have been happier on how i spent my 20s. It was a good choice to not go early. I have been doing dramas for over 10 years. There's not a single regret in it. I was very happy as well that i got a lot of love overseas and was in the middle of a good generation. I thought, that i also made my own contribution in promoting Korean Wave Culture." @Star1 Magazine: "Lee Min Ho has been known to accept many drama projects, but are you still thirsty for movies especially Korean? It has been put on hold since 'Gangnam 1970'." Lee Min Ho: "Of course, absolutely. My initial goal is to actually do one movie before enlisting, but unfortunately the timing was hard due to 'Legend of the Blue Sea' shooting later than how it was originally planned. However, since my early 20s, i have vaguely thought "I wanted to film a movie when i already aged", so i am also looking for it. On the other hand, i do not think it would be right either to make a lot of movies when the weight of a Lee Min Ho as a human being and a man, and the deep feelings of being an actor could be cultivated more. Well, after all i am a greedy person and i wanted to work with various genres, and various directors." @Star1 Magazine: "For now, do you have any kind of genre of movies that you would like to appear in in the future?" Lee Min Ho: "I wanted to try genres such like '007 Series' (James Bond) and perhaps 'Mission Impossible'. A genre that could be aimed to the whole Asian market. I also would like to try mellow movies, just like what you can find sensitive Hong Kong movies. Anyway, i feel that i am also a generation which is in the middle of analog and digital. I still have memories of old analog way, a movie that contains social values, values that are appropriate to the generation. For example, the MBC Documentary that i participated in, 'DMZ: The Wild', the documentary movie is something that reflects my thoughts, and deals with my areas of interest. I think it would be meaningful to be able to inform many people on my area of interest as an actor, exactly like Gong Yoo-sunbaenim (A Korean Actor) choosing to work in the film 'Silenced' in the past." @Star1 Magazine: "Now, we are curious on the daily life of actor Lee Min Ho." Lee Min Ho: "Nothing, i do nothing, Hahaha. It's actually a trouble/problem i think since i really do nothing. In the past, i always relentlessly in search of something, but now i did not to that. In the past, something always burned inside of me, a heat..but now there's no such thing. Now, i am in the middle of trying to find it again. Probably chronic fatigues could be a significant effect of doing nothing? Hahaha." @Star1 Magazine: "Do you have any favorite food?" Lee Min Ho: "Heol~ Isn't this a typical question? Well..i like 'Mom's Rice'. So therefore, my ideal type of woman is a woman who is good at cooking. Hahaha. My mother is a homebody person, and i plan to keep close, taking care of here for the rest of my life. Oh well, perhaps a woman that is close with her family and had a motherly figure would be good." @Star1 Magazine: "Another typical question then. For Lee Min Ho, what the secret of beauty?" Lee Min Ho: "Hahaha. I think, beauty is..there's nothing that you can actually do. Probably there's nothing more that you can do, even compared to an ordinary man. I think now there are a lot of people seems to be interested in beauty management in order to get more beautiful? I think we should just stick to the basics, even when it has been been said very often. Just use whatever you have, apply it well and erase it well.” @Star1 Magazine: "Do you personally enjoy going out, or travelling?" Lee Min Ho: "Of course there are some points of life when you just get tired, and leave your home. For example, i went somewhere, but i didn't like it when someone talk bad about it afterwards. With the vast development of SNS these days, it's already difficult for me to go anywhere without someone knowing, noticing or recognizing me, then taking photographs. Then sometimes, there are certain kinds of people who post here and there, producing useless words related to me. Of course, a big accident has not been happening, but to be honest i hate it, i consider it a headache when these kind of people who does not know me well did this." @Star1 Magazine: "We think that you have been living rather quietly for more than 10 years without any incident" Lee Min Ho: "Is that so. Hahaha. I consider myself to have lived comfortably then. So perhaps therefore, i have lost myself. My personality changed. At the beginning of my debut, i think that i shouldn't hide anything when i became famous. However, i gradually got stuck in a corner and my personality changed. It was really extroverted, and in many areas it became really conservative. Of course, i still have good relationship skills among people who i work with. However, i seems to be still a little bit conservative." @Star1 Magazine: "This is a year where a lot of juniors are born" Lee Min Ho: "If i was given a chance, i wanted to be a senior whom my junior that need help could depend on. In fact, i think about 80% of actors, idol and singers in entertainment industries seems to not start their career in a good environment. I think i did too. When you encounter something, of course you need a window where you can hear something that is objective and fair. There are a lot of cases when you had difficulties of making decisions too. I was still at my early 20s when i started my career and when i met young people these days, i told them those difficulties of mine." @Star1 Magazine: "Perhaps, would you like to try a challenge to live as a soldier, and not an actor?" Lee Min Ho: "I think regular life itself is already a great challenge, Hahaha. Perhaps because i never got up and and do not go roaming around late at night now, expect when i was still at school since i personally do not enjoy drinking. Even at home, i have a lot of things to do. Because those kind of work is nocturnal, where you wake up all night and when you arrive home, you're already exhausted to do anything." @Star1 Magazine: "What would you like to say to your fans in the counting days ahead?" Lee Min Ho: "I personally think that i still can't understand my fan's thoughts perfectly. I was once liking someone very much, but never been crazy. There's a celebrity i like in the past, but i don't have that kind of experience like what my fans did. I don't understand what i should do, so i don't think i had the right. I feel that there's a gap of course since you can't see each other for a while, of course i do feel sorry, since our hearts technically i believe are communicating well with each other. If we're faithful to each other, and keep being healthy, will time pass by real quick? I also consider this as a healing, and then coming back with a good work is another healing." Editor:Kim Doo Ri Interview Yun Ga Yi Photographer Kim Oi Mil Stylist Kim Ji Yeon, Kwon Soo Heon (EUPHORIA SEOUL) Hair Lim Jung Ho (Aura Beauty) Original Source: @Star1Magazine http://www.atstar1.com/view.php?uid=201704191557566310 Korean - English Translation: Monika Setiono

[spacematriarchy]

Creation is going to try out streaming panels!

Pros:

The many people who are too far, not physically able to attend, or not well off enough financially can finally at least get in on the con experience legally. 

More people being able to participate at all MIGHT (i’m not holding my breath) spread the financial burden around a bit and halt the incredible price hikes just to get in the door, let alone get a good seat, at the conventions themselves.

Quality video! With audio from the sound board! Sweet fucking Jesus! My auditory processing disorder will no longer be infuriated by echo-y rooms and loud audience members!

I, for one, would much rather pay a reasonable price for content I love than consume it illegally, and this makes that an actual option.

At current, pick and choose what you want is nice. There’s always that one panel that you end up flipping through your phone during and it’d be nice to be able to avoid that. And also to not pay full price for Sunday when there are only two or three panels.

Cons:

It’s still on their schedule, and that just isn’t going to work for everybody. If you have to carve out your weekend to watch a video on the internet, that’s a big fucking inconvenience.

A 15$ price tag for 45 minutes. Guys, I know this is just a trail run, like NashCon was, but be honest about the fact that that’s not a reasonable price. If I purchased tickets for all four panels streaming on Saturday, I’d be paying 60$ US. I got my general admission ticket for Saturday at VanCon for 70$ US. If it’s not actually a discount to not be there, It’s not an attractive proposition. That 45 minutes is not super content heavy, and it costs more than a 2 hour movie? eeeeee idk

20$ for the SNS isn’t that bad, honestly, but if you’re expecting people who don’t have the cash to travel to 3+ cons a year to start paying to view the SNS multiple times in a year? Guy........ it’s the same concert. It’s a concert I love but a) you have to FUCKING LOVE Louden Swain and b) unless the guest list is really different, it’s a similar setlist every weekend. I paid 15$ for the NashCon SNS stream and that had the same guestlist, minus Jim Beaver, but plus Jensen freakin’ Ackles.

I’m not convinced on Creation’s set up quite yet, and I’m worried that this means those wonderful people who have been dedicated to uploading panel videos all these years will stop, and we’ll be left with an inferior option or no option at all.

Did um......... did any of you guys try the streaming ticket for Ladies of SPN Con? God love everyone involved, they were doing their very best, but if the stream goes down does the convention stop? Do the streaming fans get a refund? Obviously Creation has the resources to fix the problem faster than a teensy fan run event, but I worry about who gets shafted if something goes wrong, because when I think ‘Creation’ I don’t think ‘masters of audio visual presentation’. I think ‘literally name me one day the mics didn’t stop working halfway through a panel’

Stageit isn’t my fave platform. It works for what it was built for, tossing a few extra bucks to an indie band you like and paid pennies to see play in the livestream, but the tipping system is stressful and ripe for the exact kind of money grubbing Creation is known for. The need to buy notes, and then buy the tickets with those notes, is needlessly complicated.

Next steps (IMHO, and before having actually seen how the streaming goes):

A weekend pass to the stream. Maybe a season’s pass to the stream? At a fucking discount, none of this full GA pricing shit.

A streaming library of panels, like Comic Con HQ have. It’s not fucking convenient to block out three days to watch a series of 45 minute videos. Honestly, I watch panel videos in the bath, or I play the audio while I’m driving. It’s also nice to have an archive when, at least for me, the SPN Family is an equal and almost seperate fandom, in which social media and panel videos are the canon. If we’re going to shift over to legal streams, there needs to be an archive, or half the purpose of illegal panel videos is lost. I’d probably pay a few bucks a month for access to a back catalog of panel videos! I’d probably pay a dollar or two a video for older videos. Obviously it would take a year or two to build up a back catalog since they haven’t been recording until now.

I might buy tickets to the R2M and J2 panels, depending on if I’m working that weekend. We’ll see how it goes!

[raviposting]

most hated fandom?

HA. HAAAAAA. HAAAAAAAAAAAA. Okay, this is going to be me salting quite a lot because there are about three that are tied because I hate them…so…damn..much - but, ofc, everything will be slashed so no one can come at me bc I’m staying in my damn lane. Cool? Cool. 

And of course, this is not meant to shade every single person in these fandoms. Saying this includes every single person in fandom is a ridiculous assumption to make. I follow people from each, and they’re lovely wonderful people. When I say fandom, I’m talking about the community, not every individual in that community. I’m going by my personal experience, with the fandom that I have seen.

Edit: WOW this got too long for only 3 fandoms so it’s under a read more sorry if you’re on mobile bud (and, uh, if you love any of these fandoms). 

The Cl/exa fandom. It remains the first fandom that I’ve actively hated without being a part of fandom or ever watching the show. I followed a lot of The 1.00 people, and fandom seemed really sweet at the time, but sometime around season 2 I noticed a lot of my Cl/exa followers being horribly racist, biphobic, or just overall shitty (about three kept saying B/ellamy had white male privilege and I really had to double check because I was sure he was a POC and ofc, the actor is, so that was fun). There were also people hating on Desi fans who pointed out how L/exa’s brownface + bindi (and yes, yes, the “helm of awe” thing I get it but that paired with her brownface doesn’t exactly pair well) or considered it “just her having dirt on her face!!!” or “she’s just tan!” really bothered me (esp when one of those same people reblogged an AU where she’s the child of D/rogo & D/any where - Drogo is a POC man so which is it?? Is she a white woman in brown face or not because bud you can’t have both.) The full on moment I hated fandom, though, was when L/exa died. I was sympathetic up until every single wlw ship I followed was filled with L/exa dying. I really don’t need that, especially with the constant “LESBIAN KILLED BY A BULLET” trope being applied to D/elphine who 1. Showed up later on in the season perfectly fine and 2. Is B I S E X U A L. There was constant bi-erasure (one post in particular called K/orrasami lesbians and when it was pointed out that they were both bi the response was that they knew but meant lesbian as in wlw like???? What?????). And that, that was the exact moment when I finally went through my dash and unfollowed a shit load of awful Cl/exa fans and now I only have about 3-5 that I follow because they’re nice, point out problematic aspects, and/or are just generally non-shitty people. 

The DC.TV fandom, specifically the Error & Supe/rgirl fandom. The Sup/ergirl fandom was fine the first season, but it’s especially broken down the second season. Constant erasure of James from the white femslash fandom like!!! How fun!!! And, of course, there’s the Error fandom - they were extra fun. I ship Ol*icity and somehow the fandom managed to lessen my love for them with their misogynistic hatred of La/urel!! Not to mention their real life hatred of KC and shipping Stem*ly together and trying to say that they’re having an affair in real life because that’s not gross at all!!!! And honestly, while I shit on the Ol*city fandom a lot, the entire fandom is gross - I’ve seen the L/aurel fandom slut shame Fel*city and I understand not liking her character, but I don’t like the slut shaming, and I especially hate when people want her to die graphically, because she is a Jewish character and people really need to think about the implications that they give off when they write posts about wanting her to die or make posts with Feli/city dolls where the head is chopped off or she’s bloody af like please criticize the character but don’t be shitty and forget that she’s a Jewish character too, and please don’t be misogynistic.

And I didn’t really get on about them but honestly??? Fl/ash fandom can be shitty too, esp with the ones who have their White Faves, and the Sn*wbarry vs West*llen nonsense. Sn*wbarry fandom can be transparently racist at times, and it’s ridiculous, esp when they’re called out on excluding I.ris or Ci.sco from posts. Ship what you want - I’m not gonna rag on anyone for shipping Sn*wbarry - but please don’t try to pretend like this ship wasn’t founded in racism, like the second CP was cast for I.ris fandom didn’t go “oh….you know what…..Dan/ielle’s character looks…more suitable for B.arry….”. That doesn’t mean that YOU’RE racist, but that’s where the ship came from, and I dislike the fact that people act like that didn’t happen. And - I am part of the We/stallen fandom (kind of) and I like it, but I do have to admit the fandom can be too aggressive at times, and goes overboard on people who multiship or don’t ship We/stallen. I understand there are racist issues with most of the people fandom has had to deal with on the tag, but I’ll see people attacking people who want to get along or congratulated us, or simply immediately accusing them of being racist and like, fam, wyd? Don’t do that, be better than that. 

WHILE WE’RE HERE I feel like most of the annoying parts of the LOT fandom comes from F/larrow but they’re still a part of L.OT and the biphobia that comes from there (esp from the C.aptain C.anary fandom - which, I still ship the ship, but come on fandom be less annoying). 

The majority of the S/ansa fandom. I love S/ansa. She’s my favorite female character ever. However, a large part of her active fandom irritates me. What are Sa/nsa (who is 11-16 depending on the timelines) biggest ships? Her with P/etyr (middle aged man), with T/yrion (middle aged man, who she was forced into a marriage with), with J/on (her adopted brother and biological cousin), and with Sa/ndor (a middle aged man who she’s terrified of). People try to pass it off like they were shipping these with no problem because of Sophie being legal, but these ships were very large when Sophie was starting out as S/ansa - aka when she was 13. And, the ship was incredibly popular in the book fandom, meaning that fans read about an 11 year old girl interacting with middle aged men and thought, “yes, let’s ship her with them”. People try to excuse them and say it’s because “it’s how it works in GOT” but honestly I think that’s an excuse to just ship their pedophile ships - and when they ship J*onsa, it completely ignores Jo.n’s place as a S/tark and acts as if him being adopted does not make him S/ansa’s true brother, which real-life adopted fans have seen from the J*onsa fandom and have found hurtful. It’s so shitty and normalizes abusive ships or relationships with a power-imbalance, and it’s horrible that people see this character, call themselves fans, and yet still ship her in the most unhealthy relationships.

[glorykrp]

taken from nebulaent.com: loading the profile of jun…

chwa taejoon ( born february 20th, 1994 ), better known by his stage name jun, is an idol under nebula black as halcyon’s vocalist and lead rapper. prior to the group’s debut, he trained for three years. his hometown is recorded as busan, south korea. loading latest news…

PERSONAL LIFE.

Chwa Taejoon was born in Busan, South Korea on March 20th, 1994. His parents were humble folk, his father worked on a fishing boat, and once his sister was in school, his mother worked outside one of Busan’s many seafood markets, manning a stall that sold odeng and eomuk. He likes to joke that both of his parents always came home reeking of the ocean, and although the scent drove him nuts when he lived at home, he now finds himself longing for it often. There also just isn’t eomuk like his mother’s in Seoul; the ahjummas here all use too much flower, as far as he’s concerned.

He grew up in a hectic household, the middle child of three, in a small, two-bedroom house, with a spoiled golden child of an older brother, and a whiny little sister.

It was difficult to find peace and quiet, that is until he won an iPod Mini and a set of earbuds through a holiday raffle at the nearby supermarket at age 8. He performed chores for neighbours who had internet access and a clunky computer, in exchange for free use of said computer so he could put music on it, eventually discovering by accident the world of file-sharing, where he gained access to music from all over the globe.

This was his first real introduction to hip-hop and rap, and soon it was his life. He didn’t understand much, if anything, of what was actually going on, but he was fascinated by the delivery of the lyrics, by flow, and rhythm, and his love of music flourished.

He began to write raps in his head, about anything, over anything, making beats out of the rhythmic pitter patter of rain on the rooftop, out of the hitch of the transmission systems of public buses as they rounded corners, the cawing of crows, the crash of waves. Eventually he grew older, and braver, and started rapping aloud, finding a couple of friends with similar musical inclinations, learning what they could about rap from the Korean Wikipedia article, navigating Youtube in its infancy to find low-quality 90s music videos.

As they grew older, these friends found new, more mundane hobbies, but he kept rapping, eventually composing his own beats, recording his voice with the built-in microphone on the cheap laptop his parents had managed to save up to buy him. He was eventually noticed, by pure serendipity, by a bored Nebula talent scout who had happened to be perusing the Korean hip-hop tag on Soundcloud.

He was encouraged to attend an open audition in Busan that was coming up, and although becoming an idol had never been something on his radar previously, the lure of fame, and more importantly, money, was all-consuming to someone of his economic stature.

He passed through the audition process with relative ease, Nebula apparently seeing in him some kind of potential, and was thereby accepted as a Nebula trainee, where he trained for just over three years before being marked for debut in Halcyon as part of a somewhat last-minute rearrangement of the band’s members.

PERFORMANCES.

Taejoon’s late addition to his group final line-up caused some issues for him early in his career, mainly in that he was, quite understandably, a bit of an outsider initially. His social awkwardness didn’t make it any easier to grow close to his groupmates, and he still has some difficulty with it, barely maintaining a friendly working relationship with one of them.

His unique, perhaps even strange, flow make his rapping a somewhat polarizing subject. Some consider him to be skilled, perhaps even genius, many others find his delivery stilted, awkward, and unfitting the type of music that Halcyon does. Neither, of course, are objectively true, as ultimately it’s subjective. He is oft compared to his bandmate, Halcyon’s other rapper, whose style is rooted more strongly in more traditional, straightforward hip-hop technique.

His stage persona is strong. He seems to take on something of a new personality when he steps on stage, shirking his softspoken, shy manner for that of an engaging, charismatic performer, and a surprisingly good idol; he seems to have a good grip on just what the fans want, interacting with them heavily on social media, being one of the first Nebula acts (alongside anti’s Edie) to really do so, and showing affection to his bandmates, especially those he is commonly shipped with.

There are rumours, especially amongst the K-fandom, that it’s all an act, and that, moreover, he doesn’t get along with his members at all. Not entirely untrue, although this is an oversimplification; it isn’t that he doesn’t get on with his members, but rather that he isn’t as close to a couple of them as they would like the fans to believe.

He’s got a decent variety presence, being somewhat goofy and humourous naturally, as well as having a pretty low level of shame as “Jun,” but ironically, he’s a terrible actor, having to really put in work to film a CF or pose for a photoshoot, let alone act in a drama, which he’s never done.

Most of his struggles with idoldom seem to happen behind the scenes as a result of his introverted personality. (although he can sometimes do a 180 depending on the environment, and come out of his shell; it’s been known to give people whiplash)

2017 INTERVIEW.

Being able to write his own raps, compose beats every once in a while, all of that has been enough for him, but where fame really gets tough for Taejoon is the criticism. Not just the criticism, but the hate. He’s a sensitive person, with a genuine desire to be better, and to improve, but he also wants to be himself, and so he’s on a constant rollercoaster regarding criticisms of his rap style, does he do what he feels is him, odd, unconventional, and maybe not the most accessible all of the time, or does he tone it down and do something that doesn’t feel as authentic, but is more pop-friendly? Perhaps even more pleasant to the ear?

He takes things to heart, and although he’s gotten better at shouldering, or outright ignoring, hate, he can’t help but let it get to him, and there have been instances where his manager has taken his phone from him for a few days, or a friend changed the password to his sns accounts, just to prevent him from reading harsh critiques of himself and beating himself up over it.

His private life, in terms of friendships, but especially in terms of dating, has more or less slowed to a standstill since debut. It took him long enough to really get to know people as it was, and with a packed schedule, it’s even worse.

He genuinely cherishes his fans, though, and takes a very sincere interest in them, which is something that can’t be said for many other idols, and it hurts him when he’s accused of being fake or insincere, even though that is sometimes the case when it comes to his interactions with other members.