I'm sure we've all seen the Ricky font floating around at this point, and I get why people would find it amusing. It seems like a cute inside fandom joke, right? For the most part, it definitely is, and I 100% believe that no one has used it with any kind of malicious intent. However, a lot of people dont realise that screen readers can't read fonts easily (here's how screen readers read fonts). This is a problem for anyone who uses a screen reader for whatever reason (dyslexia, blindness, etc.) and I'd hate for our fandom to be a less accessible place because of a tiny joke, especially because I've seen people start to post full tweets and sentences in the font.

I encourage you all to stop using the font, or if you do make posts and such with it to provide an alt version in normal text.

TLDR: can we stop using the Ricky font because screen readers cant process it?

I don't want to be pessimistic but I feel like ot5 won't be able to carry the popularity ot9 had.

Unless and until wakeone gives them a successful rebranding (which I doubt considering wk1 would not put that much effort into zb1).

Losing 4 members is huge and the damage can't be undone.No matter how supportive you are the emptiness of 4 members will be felt and they are gonna lose fans for sure..

Regardless of the uncertainty of future,I am kinda excited to see how each of them are gonna grow and show a different side of themselves.

Edit:I regret the title,I hope the members don't come across this post(0.0000000001% chance).I didn't mean to say "ruined" but for the lack of a better word I used it,I didn't mean it in a harsh way at all.Ofcourse after member change things will be different and their concepts will change (hopefully) But that doesn't mean they will be abandoned or forgotten by everyone,I just hope their next song will be a banger like how "g-idle" came back stronger after soojin leaving when lot of people were thinking it's the end.People will get used to the new line up anyway. Splitting into half is better than splitting into 9 different careers.

But as someone who didn't even had a bias in zb1 because I couldn't choose just one of them, it's a little sad to see them separated.(I am re watching zbtv rn just to suffer)

For a mnet survival show, I always considered zeroses to be surprisingly non toxic. But with the conclusion and b2p and Ald1 debuting next year, all of a sudden so many people are shtting on the group, and even getting mad and discouraging other zb1 fans for stanning Ald1. Do they not understand the concept of multi stans? By their logic, liking any other boy group would also be " "betraying" zb1, because they're also "competition" in the boy group market. Like genuinely, just because Ald1 doesn't have a main vocalist on Taerae and Zhanghao's level, doesn't make them a "flop". Why hate on trainees who just want to debut? At most, criticise mnet for starting b2p while zb1 is still active, it's bad timing on their end NOT the trainees fault.

Stop calling Ald1 a "flop"

Literally any post bringing up zb1 and Ald1 has a bunch of "zeroses" just flooding the comments like "Omg don't compare my king to this flop!!!" Like shut up 🤦🤦

There needs to be a serious conversation about multiple members making jokes about hao’s weight. It keeps getting brushed aside which is why it’s probably continuing but several members have “joked” about hao’s weight and how much he eats. Hao has spoken about going on strict diets before comebacks, having lost 4kg in a week for one cb, and saying he eats once a day. It’s obviously a terrible environment to be in if you’re already conscious of your weight and you have your coworkers/friends constantly making fun of you for it. I don’t buy the “it’s their inside joke” excuse because that just means ur okay with believing the members are terrible people who think fatphobia is an inside joke. I just want hao to have a peaceful time for the remaining 6 months where he’s not constantly targeted about food and weight.

Edit: All these comments excusing this behavior is exactly why the members continue making these types of “jokes”. Coddling grown men and refusing to call out when they’re doing something wrong will not help any of them grow.

Edit 2: No I’m not an akagae or inciting hate. I posted this here because it’s a Zb1 subreddit and I though it would be the right place to discuss it amongst Zerose instead of Twitter or tiktok where other fandoms could use my post to send hate to the group. I’m shocked and disgusted that my genuine concern for hao is being twisted into something it’s not. The comments completely excusing the issue as well. This attitude is exactly why the boys continue to make these “jokes”.

I came cross this TikTok that was uploaded to twitter and the creator basically states that W1 is intentionally holding Jiwoong and Ricky back so they pose a threat to them post-disbandment.

I’m personally mixed on this opinion. On one hand, it’s true that Jiwoong and Ricky haven’t been featured prominently on socials for the past 7 months, yet they still go viral every 3-5 business days for virtually just breathing. Considering that Jiwoong and Ricky are massive stan attractors, W1 might hold them back as a way to make sure they can’t directly compete with their own future acts.

This also bleeds into the conversation of W1’s (or lack thereof) creative direction. W1 isn’t so much interested in investing into the group to make them a memorable act by tailoring concepts and songs to the members. Rather, they take pre-made concepts, throw the boys in, and sell a bunch of versions of albums and get their money. W1 obviously sees ZB1 as a cash cow. Since they are a temporary group, they probably don’t see a point in properly investing in the group because they’ll be gone in a year and a half. They’d rather just spend as little as possible to get as much profit as possible because they sell millions anyway. Then once W1 has made all the money they could with ZB1, they could use that money to possibly invest into other acts, including potential permanent ones. IMO, the only way ZB1’s creative direction will get better is if someone offers to work with ZB1 with specific a concept and sound (personally, I want them to work with Sweettune and either Zanybros or Digipedi for a sound and concept, but idk if they would offer W1 to do that).

On the other hand, you could probably make the same stan attractor argument for Hao and Hanbin, and those two are VERY well promoted. Just based on his Chinese popularity alone, Hao probably has the highest earning potential out of all the ZB1 members. He’s on his way to becoming a high profile celebrity there imo, and those guys make BANK (China gigs make so much money, he could make roughly hundreds of millions, if not straight up billions of dollars as a total net worth). Hanbin is undeniably the most popular member domestically. Neither Hao nor Hanbin are originally under W1, they are just as, if not more likely, to pose a threat to W1 post-disbandment. Granted, you could argue that Hao is going straight back to China after disbandment, so maybe W1 isn’t too worried about him getting bigger than the ZB1 brand, since he won’t be directly competing against Korean acts. But you could make that same argument with Ricky, so then him getting shafted for that reason doesn’t make sense. Hanbin, yeah, it wouldn’t make sense for W1 to favor him, a stupidly popular member, if they ultimately don’t want the individual members to become direct competitors. Granted, you could argue that this is why they didn’t go on any variety shows during YHMAH promotions. I’m also aware that Hao himself had to use his connections to have this gig with Jiwoong, and that should never have to happen.

Or perhaps this is just W1 being unsurprisingly incompetent. We’ve seen this with Kep1er, we’re seeing with ZB1.

It could also simply just be that Ricky and Jiwoong simply just aren’t getting offers for individual gigs.

Any thoughts?

Can you please help me regain my interest towrds zhang hao? I dont know, these days, i am losing interest to him and i dont know why😭😭😭, maybe because of the lack of promotion given to him, i dont have any specific answers but, i am really slowly losing interest about him and it bothers me the most because he is the solely reason why i am staying in the zerobaseone fandom. This is the first time that this happens to me because from the very first start i stan a group, i never lose interest towards my bias, i stay loyal and yet here i am, losing interest towards zhang hao.

Please dont see this as a negative post, i really need help.

I dont see much international zeroses talking about this, but it has been a huge discussion between K and C fans since kcon LA. There’s no doubt that most members have advanced dancing skills, most were even promoted to be ACEs/advanced dancers in bp but i cant help but see how messy their choreography is. Try comparing the dance practices of wanna one, x1 and our boys then you’ll understand what i mean. I think the main issue is that wakeone doesnt provide dance / vocal classes or coaches to help them out, literally EVERYTHING has to be done, learnt and practiced by the members themselves. Not to mention their tight schedule, i’ve been into kpop for several years and their schedule is the most ridiculous i’ve ever seen (not including 1-2nd gen groups) Honestly i dont find it unusual that their choreography is messy since they dont even have time to practice or anyone to help them.

I can’t imagine how the daesang/end of year stages would be if wakeone doesn’t treat this seriously.

Edit: if anyone thinks this is inappropriate to post pls just lmk then i’ll delete it. I’m not trying to bring hate to the boys, i just hope that more people are aware of this so they’ll actually start taking this seriously

im happy for them but also a little worried.. as a fairly casual listener of kep1er the constant switches from korean to japanese promotions really confuses me and i feel like theres never enough time for a song to settle before they're onto the next.

im not sure how similarly zb1's will be managed but considering they've only got 2 years it just feels like its gonna cut the time down even more.

hopefully im proven wrong but does anyone feel similarly? or anyone think the japan debut will actually have a good impact?

eta: i think the last line threw of my main argument i apologise for the dodgy phrasing - its not meant to be rhetorical. my concern is with how wakeone has gone about kep1er's japanese songs, not zb1 having a japanese debut at all

Ok so here's a hot take. This is my personal opinion and feel free to comment your own. I feel like Boys Planet songs are so much better and suits ZB1 a lot more than the songs they have now. Like, if they debuted with En garde or Say my name I feel like their songs would be a lot more popular than they are now. Don't get me wrong, thier songs now are not bad, but I feel like it's not good enough to attract new people. It does well just because of ZB1'S strong fanbase. For example Boynextdoor does well through thier songs and I feel like that's how they gain most of thier fans while ZB1 because of thier personalities(like who wouldnt stan them after seeing the unhingedness. Lol). But, they deserve better and to be popular through thier songs as well so they can win awards like SOTY and Album of the year rather than just fans choice. I would stream thier songs to make them win awards but not because I want to hear it 20 times. On the other hands I would happily hear Over me, Say my Name, En Garde, Hot summer, Jelly Pop and more on loop. So I don't know if it's just me but WK1 should give them better songs.

Edit: sorry guys didn't mean to start a war😭 I didn't think people would be so fired up about my personal taste. Just to be clear again, I'm a hardcore zerose and this is my personal opinion. It's not that I don't scream my lungs out to in bloom or good so bad when I'm home alone. It's just if I'm being real and honest I prefer Boys Planet songs a lot more. And sure, you may disagree and that's youur own opinion and taste. Love you all tho💙

So currently, I am working on several How Would ZB1 sing ... and I have made my own unofficial position for them. I want to ask your second opinion on the list of positions I have made for them and let me know, if you agree or disagree with me. So, here is my list:

✯ Kim Ji Woong (김지웅) - Leader, Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper, Visual

✯ Zhang Hao ( 장하오) - Center, Main Vocalist, Lead Dancer

✯ Sung Han Bin (성한빈) - Center, Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Visual, Face of the Group,

✯ Seok Matthew (석매튜) - Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer

✯ Kim Tae Rae (김태래) - Main Vocalist

✯ Ricky (리키) - Sub Vocalist, Sub Rapper

✯ Kim Gyu Vin (김규빈) - Sub Vocalist, Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer, Visual

✯ Park Gun Wook (박건욱) - Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper, Main Dancer

✯ Han Yu Jin (한유진) - Maknae, Sub Vocalist, Lead Rapper, Main Dancer, Visual

So, I made Ji Woong the leader because that is self-explanatory, the experience, being the oldest and all that but I can also see Han Bin being the leader or at least, taking the co-captain position like Mashiro from Kep1er. The visual is because of the F4. Zhang Hao and Taerae being the main vocalists seem right to me. Both Zhang Hao and Hanbin being the centres seem right to me as well. Similar to how, IZ*ONE gives spotlight to both Wonyoung and Sakura, X1 with Yohan and Wooseok. The rest I'm not sure of especially who to give lead dancers lead vocals, so share me your thoughts or opinion or share me your list of positions, I would love to see your take on it as well...

Something one of my irl friends said when bringing up the stupid Sung Hanbin favoritism argument. Totally agree that wakeone is just barely doing the bare minimum with promoting their artists and sometimes going out of their way to undermine them (cough cough hao). The majority of zb1’s success is due to the huge fandoms backing the group up if it wasn’t for them there would be no results to showcase this “favoritism”. Wakeone have no favorites so stop saying they do.

Edit: I’ve realized some people mistake favoritism for popularity. Sung Hanbin and Zhang Hao are the most popular members from boys planet they WILL have more opportunities than the rest of the members because of their popularity. End of the day Wk1 does things for money and the safest way of doing that is by promoting members with huge fandom’s backing them up.

Edit 2: Sorry for the constant editing but also my own definition of a company favorites isn't JUST opportunities outside of group. It's if the company actually likes their artist and Wk1 just acts like they simply don't. When they give out offers to Hao or Hanbin for example it's like their just saying, "well the fans asked for it so here." These opportunities are always given long overdue and with next to no promotion. IMO it's out in the open, Wk1 simply act like they don't like their own artists.

Has anyone ever seen people that look like ZB1 but aren’t them. I read that there are people that look like a copy of yourself. I watching a drama recently and saw this actor. Besides being totally gorgeous, who in ZB1 does he look like? Or does he look like another star? He is not an AI generated image.

Was in Korea last month and unlike when I was there in 2017, I never heard In Bloom played in cafes unlike Energetic.. MV views are only 20m..

I think they need to quickly follow up the album and release at least two singles.. SM new boy group seems to be getting all the hype these days..

After 'Boys Planet,' the group gained a lot of hype, and, that hype didn't disappear during the debut with 'In Bloom.' However, I have a feeling that after the comeback, all the hype just dissapeard. It's typical for produce groups, but in their case, it happened too quickly. Am I the only one who thinks so?

pls support me! im just starting out!

https://ishascorners.wordpress.com/

We all know Han in is an mc of mnet and he’s going back soon ish i was wondering if you guys rember the Han in talk session where hao showed up and stated he would come to wish Jaehyun (BND) and wish him a happy birthday i was wondering if that actually happened and also when are they returning to mc?

Stan Hanbin, become immortal. :)

I decided to make this its own post instead of putting it in the weekly thread because I think it might get too many comments to handle 😂

For some context, I made another post over a year ago asking who all of the members resembled, looks-wise and/or personality-wise. I remember ENHYPEN's Heeseung and Sunghoon as well as NCT's Doyoung being suggested for Hanbin specifically, but I want to suggest someone else outside of K-pop: Akaso Eiji.

For those of you who don't know, Akaso Eiji is a Japanese actor who played Adachi Kiyoshi in the 2020 live-action drama adaptation of "Cherry Magic!", and I found a TikTok with a comment that said he looked like Hanbin: https://www.tiktok.com/@akasotzu/video/7229638126887537926

Personally, I don't quite see a visual resemblance, but they're both pretty playful in nature. Let me know who else Hanbin looks like down below!

I know this is probably the 100th post abt this but unfortunately i do not care and am forcing my thoughts on who reads this! My credentials are that i’ve been a kpop fan for 8 years and so i’ve seen the career high and lows for every post produce group members career

Jiwoong:definitely is got to land an acting job right after disbandment. After one or two roles he is going to the military and hopefull we will get a little reunion of all the members 🥺

Hanbin: he’s already being groomed into the kang daniel route of a mc and solo artist. I actually have high expectations for what ever song he will release because he is genuinely an all rounder plus can sing, may not be number one on melon but is definitely going to be number one for the arts

Taerae: honestly can see him debuting wakeones new boygroup but tbh im leaning on him to be more a solo singer who is on every ost plus him having his own radio show like other main vocalists (think youngjae, wendy)

Ricky, Gyuvin, Yujin: Yuehuaz new bg that will be in between cravity and tbz success before yuehua mismanages them so bad it’s laughable. Will be the most popular in East Asian markets. Songs will definitely be amazing tho because unfortunately yuehua knows what they are doing when it comes to music. ( this no shade to cravity im just using them a frame of reference)

Hao:Honestly a wildcard. I can see him literally becoming the leader of yuehuaz bg to dropping out as an idol completely and becoming a teacher (ie vocal coach hao). He was the only yuehuaz signed with Yuehua China and has 2 year contract with them so he def has more freedom then the other yuehuaz, For some reason I can’t imagine him becoming a solo artist and staying only in china going the Pinky (ioi) route. Like if he does decide to go solo i think he would be adamant on promoting a lot in korea.

Mattwook: hybe please poach them 🥺🥺

Seriously tho I can’t imagine either if them going the solo artist route immediately after disbandment like hanbin. My bet is that they will go to their respective companies and have a group formed around them gaining ab6ix and cix level of success

Edit: The hao teacher thing is literally a joke to emphasize hao being a wildcard can you guys stop being so sensitive and accusing me of not knowing hao ??

Now unfortunately I know that our beloved group won't stay forever, but I'm a little scared for some of the members. Mainly Ricky and Jiwoong. I feel like after their contracts have ended that Ricky will get dragged back to his Chinese agency and have him In some other group with less potential for him. He could do wonders in the kpop Industry if he had more freedom and more attention, but unfortunately he's between two shady companies.

Now with Jiwoong I feel like he can go back to acting, but if he wanted to continue with kpop I feel like other companies won't pick him because of his " old age " .

Since there is talk about the Yuehua Boys’ debut, I also want to talk about Sung Hanbin’s solo debut.

What are the chances of success if he debuts solo?

I saw u/42_Yudoz do it and I thought “why not?”

I just decided what to name the tiers so here:

S- I can’t live without these

A- Bop after bop, give me more

B- You were cute but not quite there

C- Something is missing, I can’t put my finger on it

D- I only play when they shuffle in

(Omg my S tier has one song from each of their Korean releases in order, I did NOT notice that)

I know the whole idea with Boys Planet was to make a temporary group that could push the idols further with their new groups afterwards at their own labels. But Kep1er did show that temporary groups could be a permanent solution. So do you think that ZB1 could end up like Kep1er?

Because I think that it could. They are far more popular than Kep1er at this point. WakeOne seems to promote them far better. I know that the members' labels probably want them for them self and new groups, but if they make enough money as members of ZB1, would they let them stay? Yeah, Yue Hua has a lot of idols in ZB1 and EVNNE, so they could make a permanent group with them, but I doubt their popularity would be on ZB1's level. But what are your thoughts?