after staying up all night last night procrastinating on my midterm (yes i really did) by reading zhihu comments about the final lineup of chuang, i have some thoughts of my own that i'd like to share. not that they're super important or anything LOL but i don't have a personal blog or anything so. yeah. yall get this trash instead.

into1 final lineup:

1. liu yu

2. santa

3. rikimaru

4. mika

5. nine

6. lin mo

7. bo yuan

8. zhang jiayuan

9. patrick

10. zhou keyu

11. ak (liu zhang)

problems that cfans have with said final lineup and maggie's thoughts on their thoughts:

1. WHY DID CAELAN NOT DEBUT!!!!11!!1!!!!111

i think the #1 reason i saw on zhihu as to why ppl were so mad was because caelan didn't debut. like 'he's only 18 he turned 18 right before this final episode he's been through so much this is all he ever wanted' blah blah. it's literally so... like, wbk zhihu is The Place for avex fans but MAN that's so much. it's a survival show, yall... ain't no one this mad when ichika was eliminated ://

i don't want to talk more about this, mostly because this ties into another point that i'll be talking about later regarding entertainment companies and vote-rigging. the point is, i love caelan too, he probably should have debuted, but there are so many reason that he didn't debut (avex already had three members in the lineup, his dad's an american general, the company didn't choose him, etc). it's a survival show; get the over it.

2. LIU YU !!1!!!!!!1!11!!!!! >:((((

god idek.... like zhihu, aside from being avex fan hq, is also liu yu hate hq. ppl say all sorts of things, that he's short (???????), that he's fake, that he's too 装 (tryhard), too 油腻 (oily), not educated enough, etc etc... like yeah, okay, he might be a bit too tryhard. but the man is 20 and he's on a tv show that needs fans to vote for him??? you go on such a show and tell me if you wouldn't go hard lol.

the education thing... so, it was a livestream. a livestream where he was supposed to be teaching santa chinese poetry. and the thing he chose to teach was... song lyrics. granted, it was a chinese-flavored song (sorry that was the best way i can describe it) called 青花瓷 (blue and white porcelain) by the one and only jay chou. i haven't watched the video but baby, liu yu, baby, 天青色等烟雨 is not a 古诗... it's his fault lol. and i think he made a mistake with explaining hanfu as well, and considering his persona is pushing chinese culture, i see why ppl got so mad lol. there's nothing to say here; he did definitely make mistakes. BUT that's not to say ppl should be bashing him this hard gdi we're all human lol? we all make mistakes?

he also did drop out of college so i guess i get why haters would cling onto that. but 1. kazuma and ak also put their studies on hold for this (allegedly kaz dropped out of the show because harvard wouldn't let him take any more time off lol) and 2. plenty of other ppl drop out of college for their dreams and i don't see you criticizing them, do i?

oily, being a little , etc, those are unfounded to me. like yeah i like liu yu, and no i don't see how he's a bad person, so what? it's totally normal to want to be number one when you're on a in survival show, and it's also perfectly normal to not be close with many ppl, especially if he's an introvert and has trust issues (parents are divorced, lived amongst both families as a kid), like ???? wtf are yall on honestly.

one thing i do semi-agree with, though, is that ppl were getting on him about fake-crying during debut night. he was looking at the camera while crying and like... i agree, that might have been a bit played up lol. but it doesn't mean that he doesn't truly care about his friends!!! yall hype up dorm 405 and just, what, ignore dorm 1002 (liu yu's dorm)??? and as for him cueing wu hai (MY FAV), i have no doubt that they genuinely have a friendship; wu hai seems like the kind of person to notice those small things and they do both seem very lonely and man just, if you're not them, what right do you have to comment on their friendship?

anyway, i know nothing about dance at all so i can't comment on how 'his dancing >:(((' but just, give the boy a break, goddamn.

3. NINE'S PLACE WAS RIGGED!!!!!

this one is definitely true lol. an official weibo account posted with like 'congrats nine for debuting 5th!' but the hashtag was 'congrats nine for debuting 9th' like... if that wasn't already obvious...

i love nine, i really do. i think he's funny, i think he's cute, i think he's talented. but i don't think he should have debuted 5th. that's a bit too high for what i think are not good enough vocals. fans are speculating that either he 'stole' caelan's spot, or he and patrick's spots were switched. honestly, i think either could make sense because according to dataminers, caelan WAS 5th and patrick also was pretty high up, and nine wasn't even in the top 11. 

but that brings up a whole nother debate about rigged votes. 

like, OFC votes are rigged??? this is all just a capitalist venture LMFAO they push the ppl who will bring the most profit to the company and ofc only the biggest companies (barring those small-company trainees who are just talented enough to catch the eye of the entire world COUGH BO YUAN) have the money to strike a deal with tengxun to guarantee a debut spot. it happens with EVERY damn produce season!!! yall should be used to it!!!!

now ofc this time it was a littttle too obvious with nine lol and ppl are like TENGXUN CAN GO TO JAIL! RETURN OUR MONEY! NINE STOLE CAELAN'S FUTURE! but 1. did tengxun force you to pay? did they hold you at gunpoint and make you spit out your credit card info? 2. nine himself stole caelan's future, really? this is the work of the companies and yeah, i don't think nine should have been 5th and i think caelan should have debuted, but are you really going to blame the boys for something they had no control over and probably didn't even know about? 3. yall are what, 14? take a chill pill. whose money are yall even spending?

there's probably a lot more i could say regarding voting/rigging/guaranteed placings but i'm tired of it for now.

3.5 ZHANG JIAYUAN SSSS 11!!!!!!!!!!!!111111!1

his place was definitely rigged, no doubt. wajijiwa entertainment is a major stakeholder in chuang (i'm pretty sure they're a tengxun branch company) and wbk, W B K that someone from wjjw was going to debut. at least it wasn't five out of six trainees this time (COUGH R1SE). but if it wasn't zhang jiayuan, it would have been fu sichao or ren yinpeng. SOMEONE from wjjw was guaranteed to debut, and i think it was zhang jiayuan because he knows how to portray himself.

see, this has to do with the personas they put up. i think fu sichao and ren yinpeng just... sort of don't know how to handle stuff. zhang jiayuan, on the other hand, gives me the feeling that he definitely knows more than he lets on, but his friends are a little too naive, which i think is why wjjw pushed him instead of the others. this is also why i think the thai company (also a collaborator with tengxun! see a pattern?) pushed nine instead of patrick, because i feel like nine is not the silly innocent boy that he wants ppl to see. nine's old, he's 1995. i think nine knows a Lot more than he lets on. 

and that's smth i've noticed across the board LOL the ppl that tengxun pushes the most are the ppl who know how to hold themselves and play with words and give answers that seem deep and official but actually have no real meaning. like, liu yu's 'commencement speech'. it seemed very deep because that's the persona he was given, but it actually contained nothing very important.

now ofc not EVERYONE is a 心机boy (scheming boy), but i think that the majority of the group has at least been in the industry for a while and knows, generally, what's going on and how to handle things. the ones who are totally not into it are, like, maybe patrick? god, idk, everyone tengxun pushed this year/everyone who debuted this year has been in the industry for a while and/or can handle things decently.

4. ZHOU KEYU CAN MY ASSS!!!1!!!111!11!!! >:(

i will admit, after his whole vaping thing came out, my personal like for him has dropped a bit too. i don't condone smoking/vaping/drug use (even if i might write about it), but if he was doing it in a private space where everyone was okay with it, then it'd have been fine. which he was, in the dorm. BUT! (and this is a hard but) he was in a ing enclosed building with vents and most definitely RULES about it. like i'm pretty ing sure there are ppl outside of your dorm who hate the smell of vape and who would really rather not smell you vaping from across the building. AND the rules of the camp? no show is going to be like 'haha yeah go ahead and smoke!' especially not with high schoolers and underage ppl there, and especially not with underage ppl watching.

so his disregard of other ppl and the rules is what gets me, not the fact that he was smoking at all. but nonetheless, i think he is a talented dude and i do think he deserves to debut.

smth that ppl are also getting on his back for is his nationality and family situation. dude is a US citizen, born in the united states, and allegedly, his father is a deadbeat, cheated on his wife and ran away and keyu never got to see him much. and for some reason ppl are bashing HIM about that??? like can yall ing use your brains for once? what does having a deadbeat dad have to do with my man zhou keyu at all??? i'm just so baffled and mindblown, like what????

4.5. TOO MANY FOREIGNERSSSSS

as mentioned above with zhou keyu, his nationality thing has to deal with the ratio of chinese citizens vs foreign citizens. which was a topic that i knew i had to talk about but didn't want to because it lowkey gets into politics and i hate that . but regardless, into1 has five chinese citizens, five foreign citizens, and one zhou keyu... who is, by definition (if he hasn't chosen yet), both US and chinese.

(the reason i say 'if he hasn't chosen yet' is because china does not recognize dual citizenship. when you turn a certain age [i think it might have been 16 but i'm not sure], you have to choose between your two nationalities. and the reason he's two citizenships at all is because of citizenship laws, which are a pain to get into but basically, you're american if you're born on american land, but you're chinese if you're born to chinese parents.)

and the native to foreign ratio makes a lot of ppl (myself including!) a little pissed off. like yeah this is an international group, but it's a chinese show and the debuting foreign trainees got so much screentime and attention as opposed to the other foreign trainees and the other chinese kids!!! like tf this ain't fair??? i want to see more of ichika!! i want to see more of yuu!! and my 意难平 kids??? BRUH yall giving wu hai the MOST cameratime AFTER he got eliminated???? (and yall can argue with me on this topic idc i'll immediately admit that you're right out of pure not-giving-a- because i'm not arguing over this lol.)

5. THE EDITING WAS SOOOOOOO BAD IT MADE PPL LOOK TERRIBLE

it actually... okay, i've never actually watched any of the other produce series, chinese korean or japanese, but based on what i've heard, this season was actually not that bad. not giving ppl screentime =/= editing ppl to make them look bad. there's really nothing to say about this, it was a weak argument, let's move on.

6. OSCAR SHOULD HAVE DEBUTED INSTEAD OF AK!!!!!111!1!!11111!1

i... actually agree. i think oscar's rap skills are better than ak's, and there's proof that ak wrote raps that dissed fangirls and ninepercent, saying that boy groups are and fangirls are dumb and . which, i don't think is very respectful. granted, ppl can change, and i'm sure ak now understands what being a boy group is about, especially since he now has fangirls... and he did also apologize to ninepercent, though he hasn't yet apologized for the fangirl thing...

but solely from skills, i think oscar has better control and also more stage presence. it's... actually pretty obvious that ak made 11th so that the group could, you know, actually have a rapper lol. in that way i sort of feel bad for him, especially since he was one of the ppl that very few fans expected to make it, myself including. in that way, i do feel bad for him :( but i still think oscar would have made the team stronger.

now for the thing that you KNEW was coming.............

maggie's dream lineup, not including the debuted 11 because we know bo yuan would be in there and i want to give everyone else a chance: (also in no particular order because i love everyone equally)

1. wu hai

i lied he's definitely first. i love my boy. i'm sure yall know (see this blog for more). he just... god he makes me simultaneously so mad that he hid himself away for the first half of the show and got himself eliminated, but also SO glad he didn't debut in this mess of a group.

the thing is, he's an AMAZING dancer, an excellent choreographer (remember i don't know jack about dancing lol), but santa and riki are the glass in ceilings of the dancers this year. he was scared to face them during the first public performance so he chose a relatively safe song where he could actually showcase his skills AND make up for his shortcomings with the vocals already in said group. and by the time he finally faced them during the second public performance, it was too ing late.

he knows himself, bro. he knows himself a little too well and that's why he made it so far but it's also why he didn't make it far enough, because despite coming out later, he already hid too much in the beginning. gahhhh he just, he's such a good dude :(( and ik ppl are noticing him now!! ik they are!! but he still makes me sad and mad but also super glad that he didn't debut otherwise he'd have been bashed to high hell.

吴海，我不是世界，但我看到了你。

2. yu gengyin

俞队！！！！my B O I !!!!!! this dude, oh my GOD this dude. former leader of swin-s. went on to go solo, formed his own studio, and did some things that were hella forgettable and didn't really boost his popularity. came here as an old, old idol and never expected to get so high. hopes ing DASHED. his hopes, and mine.

this was really.... it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this was his last chance. he's not young anymore, by idol standards. my man's 25, which is middle aged by idol standards, and no one's going to want a 25 year old in an idol group. he was literally the most consistently stable dude in the entire camp, along with bo yuan, because they're both OLD, OLD idols. and i'm glad bo yuan debuted i really ing am but leader yu deserves so much better.

my 意难平 :( he really should have debuted. even more so than wu hai, i wish yu gengyin would have debuted because 1. he's SO talented and 2. differently than wu hai, he knows how to handle situations. he trained for six years goddamn it.

俞队，你值得。相信我们，你值得。

3. xie xingyang

i might be just a bit biased because i watched his webdrama with xiaojun and LOVED his acting but i think our boy has EVERYTHING needed to be in a boy group! humor, looks, variety sense -- he's just a little weak on the singing and dancing part, which ofc is essential to being in a boy group. which is not to say that i disagree with his elimination, i totally don't think he has what it needs, but other than that he's perfect ;;; and i'm just sad because i like him so much.

he's also clearly a very innocent dude lol and... idk, i feel like the industry wouldn't be kind to him :( pls act more, bby!! 

4. uehara ichika

older brother of orbit's uehara jun HIS NAME! IS! UEHARA! ICHIKA!!!!!!!!! AND HE! IS! A IN! GENIUS!!!! he knows like five or six different languages??? chinese he SELF LEARNED??? and passed hsk4???? which is ing impressive??? and he's super nice and also very talented ;;; he's my second 意难平 because he just... deserves so much better than just being 'uehara jun's older brother'.

idk, maybe it's because i too grew up in a competitive household and tho i'm more in the situation of uehara jun (though the older sibling lol), i've been compared to other ppl who are not my brother enough times to understand what ichika must be feeling like. there's literally nothing worse than being compared to someone you're close to, especially when that person's your own damn BROTHER. younger, no less.

ichika, you deserve the world.

5. huang kun

third 意难平？i have so many lol. jk he's probably my last real one. because he's SO talented! this dude is 1. pretty cute and 2. HELLA talented. he can compose he can play guitar he can sing and just, he doesn't want his songs to only be heard by himself anymore :( bby i promise you if you make a soundcloud you WILL be noticed. 

i just... there's nothing to say except i hurt for him :(

(ps: he was on superband too! i just saw his instagram post and he was on superband along with the wjjw kids!)

6. caelan

ik we all love caelan ;-; but this boy has enough love from ppl who are not myself ahaha let me brag about my other children.

sorry caelan love you bro.

7. oscar

i think i touched on oscar before too so let me give some love to the kids who didn't get no screentime.

8. zhang xinyao

alright this . i don't remember if he was vocal or dance but he's Really good. obviously not good enough for me to remember lol but he's good. and he's funny!!! he was actually one of the first tiktok/douyin stars ever and he's made enough money to be comfortable so he came to chase his dreams. but still :( i feel like he would have been a great addition to the team because he's funny and a really nice person and also knows how/when to say things.

he's also got a ~vibe~ and it makes me trust him LOL.

9. wu yuheng

awesome vocal!! he's a little shaky, obviously not as good as yu gengyin or bo yuan, but he's GOOD. i really wish they'd debuted him :( he's sweet and definitely fresh blood to the industry and you can tell he really loves music. ofc he's not the best at dancing LOL but his improvement? mannn it's impressive. 

i can't say much about him because he's not my fav but i think he deserved to debut :(

10. amu

omg bruh this dude is SO funny. aside from looking like andy lau (which is funny in and of itself), he's just a comedian period. he was a former johnny's trainee, which gives you a hint about his talents (ps: johnny's is one of the biggest/most famous entertainment companies in japan) and humor, and he so very clearly knows what he's saying and doing. he's also really sad without his friend yuujin :(

i think he's very real. he seems like the comedian type but he's actually very deep and can say some surprisingly deep things. also seems to Really like food LOL and we all know what a foodie does for the entire group.

11. fu sichao

if i was wjjw, based on skills alone, i would have debuted fu sichao over zhang jiayuan. this boy's soft and sweet and i think he's just slightly more likeable than zhang jiayuan LOL. he, zhang jiayuan, and ren yinpeng were on superband (i think that's the name; it's actually called 'children of tomorrow' in chinese but i think it's actually superband) and i don't think they made it very far but, MAN are they young.

anyway i think fu sichao gives me a better feeling than zhang jiayuan, and also i think while he's also very sharp, i like his sense of humor a little bit better. he's got a softer edge when he speaks, as opposed to zhang jiayuan, who speaks in a very piercing and accusatory way. not his fault, but i prefer fu sichao a little better.

why maggie likes her dream team:

one word: real. 

all of them are real. these ppl i chose, idk if it's because they lack experience in the entertainment industry or if it's because they know enough yet still choose to be themselves, or if it's because i'm already looking at into1 with filters (which i totally am), but the ppl i chose are all very real, i think. they don't put on make up in the middle of the night for a show, they always help other trainees when they have trouble with dancing or singing, they're not afraid to be silly and show their dumb sides to the world. they're just... they show us what it's like to be human.

that's not to say that into1 doesn't, but generally speaking, the into1 members have all had a really... strict appearance? liu yu puts on makeup in the middle of the night if he's still up and doing stuff. santa and riki have never really let go, maybe because they're relatively new to the whole 'idol' business. mika's insanely introverted and all his friends left lol. etc, etc. the only one whom i can really say can let go is lin mo, because he's been in this industry for a very, very long time and also because that's his persona.

but otherwise, zhou keyu is called prince, patrick is new to this whole idol thing, nine's persona is a ditz/diva, bo yuan is 100% going to be the leader and he's also old. ak is a cool rapper who has a soft side and zhang jiayuan is the sharp little brother. all in all, the vibe that the entire group gives me is 'we're here, we're gonna rock, and we don't care what you think.'

good for yall! but... yall seem like robots (sad face in the nicest way possible). yall just seem so... cold and pent-up and it's obviously not fair of me to say this since i know nothing about the industry but man--

in conclusion:

tengxun. vote-rigging. everything except the boys because they're innocent. crazy fans of all nationalities. and please, for the love of god, stop in complaining about liu yu.

check out wu hai!!! not sure if you can find him anywhere other than bilibili or weibo but his choreo is usually under 'ocean choreography'.

check out yu gengyin!!! he said he wouldn't give up in his latest instagram post and god i really hope he doesn't.

check out uhhhhhh everyone else! because a bunch of the japanese kids are staying in china to pursue their careers and the chinese kids aren't giving up either.

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don't in bash me lol.

ps: if yall want to watch chuang, here is the link (already set to eng subs) and here is the youtube channel (in particular i suggest yall check out the mafia game series (if yall read my other blog post yall will know that this where i started to notice wu hai)

but yeah there are certain clips/series that are only available to tengxun vip users so we're just going to pretend that they don't exist ;)

last thing i wanna say is... i started watching this series for zhou shen. i came away ruined (jk that's an exaggeration) with many, many life lessons and an adorable true neutral character base that i will definitely be using in the future (cough wu hai don't sue me). even though i ended up watching more for the trainees than zhou shen (i still love my man tho), i think it was a good time.

first produce series i've ever watched the entirety of, and probably the last. it feels like i've let something go. this was the straw that broke the camel's back lol. i think i'm really done with the whole idol-chasing business now. i gave up many hours of studying for this show, i'm failing my classes, and i have no more faith in the industry LOL. i really hoped that tengxun would be less bad than ppl said it was, but no, it was not. it was still bad.

so what i'm trying to say is, maybe look out for a final blog regarding me leaving LOL. jk i wouldn't do that so soon. or would i?

the answer is no i wouldn't lol because i still have requests to write. requests that i've put off for a wholeass month. writing has been the last thing on my mind recently. (except wu hai as a character base really in tickles my brain i have to mold him into a character soon gahssfaha)