Hey friends, it's me, the girl who laid in bed all day lol. It started bc I got in my phone and realized the girls planet 999 livestream doesn't save on YouTube so I download the iqiyi app to watch it. Then I started my period so now I'm still relaxing before I have to go to work lol.

But I caught the second half of the first episode on the livestream last week. So today I watched the beginning of ep 1 and all of ep 2. And wow. First of all, all the girls are really talented. Even them ones who didn't perform well just need more confidence and practice and they will do well, they're just lacking a bit of experience right now. And secondly, I LOVE the cell idea.

so if you haven't watched the show, there aren't any like placement spoilers (okay just one I couldn't help myself) and no one has been kicked off yet, but I will talk about the mechanics of the show.

Since it's 33 girls from Korea Japan and China but a kpop show taking place in Korea, I was so worried that the Korean girls will be prioritized. But the cell concept is so lovely. Basically, a cell is a group of 3 girls, one from each country. Every girl is in a cell and the girls who are in a cell together are roommates and also automatically perform together (after the initial ranking auditions on ep 1/2). And in the beginning of the show the producers formed the cells by interests the girls share. Like one is of girls who all love kpop bc they are twice fans, one cell of girls who are main vocalists, one cell of the maknaes, one of girls who love eating pigs feet, all things that they can talk about and bond over despite being from different countries. So nice and good for bonding the contestants and aiding in avoiding xenophobia. Although all the girls still were like "I hope k (Korean) group does well Bc I'm Korean, I know c group is the best, j group shouldn't be discounted and I'll prove that" which was kinda wholesome bc it was shown equally that all of the girls still have a bit of country pride which is to be expected.

when they said the final 9 isn't limited to a particular ratio I was really nervous. I was really upset w p48 and izone only having 3 j members. So when they called for the top 9 in ep 2 I was nervous. They called out I think a c member and a j member and then like 3 k members in a row and I was like they're already k biased. But in the end I think the top 9 was 4 k 3 c and 2  j if I'm not mistaken? And my only issue was they should not have had that random young k girl as number two. She was good but not top 9, ESPECIALLY not number 2 good. They should have had yurina as number 2. Then it would have been equal as well w 3 girls from each country. Then they could have just debuted them and ended the show there lololol

I also thought the idea to not grade the girls but rather have a top 9 from the start, that I assume will change after every voting session, was an interesting choice. I do think it's better bc groups and training will be more focused on peer evaluations and judgement than just the "masters" ranking the girls and making them feel EXTRA judged for no reason.

Also, the fact that on the first elimination 16 cells will be kicked off but the planet masters will save one girl from each cell I think was kinda weird. Just bc if they save 16 of 48 girls...that's 5 cells and an extra? So after that elimination will the cells not be a thing? Bc they really made it sound like the cells will be a thing for most of the competition. Maybe I misunderstood that but 🤷🏻‍♀️ we'll see lol

i did download the universe app after last weeks ep in prep of voting lol. I already voted today. If you don't want cell spoilers then look away lol but imma tell y'all my votes.

for cell pick I did :

Choi yujin cai bing  may

Jeong jiyoon  su ruiqi  ezaki hikaru 

Seo youngeun  shen xiaoting  kawaguchi yurina

and individual pick I did :

choi yujin  yoon jia  seo youngeun 

Fu yaning  shen xiaoting  su ruiqi

ezaki hikaru  may  kawaguchi yurina

i also really love that they make you vote equally for 3 of each country both times basically. So that way it really seems like the final group will be very balanced. They will probably be some girls who are like super popular that like throw off the ratio somehow so we may not end up w 3 girls from each country but I really like it so far. And mnet already faced the voting scandals and since they have all this balance in place it will look wildly sus if the final group is heavily unbalanced.

but yeah, let me know ur thoughts on gp999. Are you watching or no? Who do you think? What do you think of the set up? I watched both girl seasons of produce and part of the Chinese show Lisa was a mentor on. I really like watching the survivals shows for girl groups. Forming boy groups I don't care lol but they girl groups I look at them like little sisters and feel so proud of them when they grow and do well so I love these shows and I hope this one turns out well. I'll probably be watching every episode as they come out on the iqiyi app. The livestream is 8 am my time and I work night shift so that's when im asleep. But when I wake up they have the full ep on iqiyi so im good. I recommend that app too if ur international esp in the west and wanna watch the show. There are only a couple of ads each ep and it has subtitles so ur good to go.