atom boyz e12

[adevyish]

You know it’s the last episode when there’s weepy flashback montages with voiceovers and drama OST piano. We even got acted video reels setting up their stage performances!¹

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This round was filmed on the same day as the previous round. Ostensibly, the theme is “The Original Boyz”, but, that’s not quite what happened.

Mars: Technically they’re eliminated, but since they already had a song prepared they performed it anyway. This song is so 90s Mandopop I hate it lol. It shows off their sex appeal but not their vocals. Otoh, Mars is genuinely one of the best teams in this competition as competitors — they’re close to each other and close to the other teams, and are always cheering the other teams on.

Venus: Even though Yori was switched off, he’s still getting a good edit and talking heads though, so he might yet be debuting. Anyway, Chris 蔡朕’s acting skills during the tiny jumpscare segment ahahahahaha. It was his turn to get teary over the online hate they’ve been getting; I would die for him.

So as I’ve mentioned, performance vids get posted 7 days before the full ep, so even though I’ve watched the performance at least five times by now, I didn’t notice that Chris 蔡朕’s mic pack fell! I only noticed that Blue 藍弟 bumped into him because he was in the wrong spot, but not that he was trying to reattach his mic pack at that moment. He recovered very well.

As for the performance itself, this isn’t something that any group could pull off. At turns, it could be playful, sexy, cool, or aggressive. It included moves from both girl group and boyband choreo, and accents like Chris 蔡朕 crawling between Nelson’s legs and later doing slutdrop on him. Bobby 巴比’s stage presence was incredible this round as well, exuding this self-confident princely elegance.

Mercury: I hate that they’re making Mercury into a “cool” hep hap group; judges Ed and Ken are right that their core appeal is being Best Friends™. As a group their stage presence and dancing has improved a lot, but even then there’s still only like, two or three members with USPs. That said, since Mercury is, with the exception of one 21-year old, all under 18, they’ll have time to develop that.

Uranus: I s2g all of Uranus’ songs sound the same, even with the Beethoven sample this time. They really do sell it though. Also, laughing that TPTB waited the entire show — the entire show! — before they incorporated a contestant playing a classical instrument into a performance.² True restraint for an Asian idol show.

Guei 高胥崴 mentioned that the team always has to practice super late because he’s not in a financial position to quit his job; he fainted from lack of sleep at one point.³ It’s clear from behind the scenes content they’re actually much more normal guys trying to be idols — Kidz 小孩 said he was aiming to be a Mercury-type idol in his intro for the show and doesn’t hesitate to give Chris 蔡朕 showy cheek kisses.

Earth: Finally! A boy-next-door pop rock concept! Finally! Some of the members were overacting cheerful camaraderie for sure, but Rex 林煥鈞 was perfect for it. They have the most popular non-Kidz person on the show, Summer 林佳辰, although Summer 林佳辰 is so boy-next-door sometimes that I don’t even notice him!

As the last performances with the graduation song, they also gave the graduation-type speeches.

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Fave performances:

• Earth / Let’s fly away — this is such a great song
• Venus / Hot Like Sun — the best choreo on the show

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Of course: Uranus won!

The winning team got a record contract, of course, but interestingly all of the final five teams’ contestants are getting a chance to debut based on audience voting from here on forward. [vague screaming] I do think some of the contestants will be getting a debut regardless of that, just because they could make it as soloists or because their agency has enough popular trainees to put forward their own boyband.⁴ Still, oof.

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The bonus segment for this ep was the best one so far — six contestants facing off in a cooking challenge. As it turns out, Guei 高胥崴 went to a culinary-focused senior high (or something), Sean 高有翔 worked as a café chef in New Zealand, and Max 徐彭臒 also knows how to cook idk. Sean 高有翔 and Max 徐彭臒 even plated their food. ⁵

Remember how I said the producers were shippers? They kept playing “Believe in me” like a romance drama OST over footage of Guei 高胥崴 and Chris 蔡朕. (To be fair, Chris 蔡朕 was calling Guei 高胥崴 “dad” while winking. I am not even joking.) Yet when Sean 高有翔 gave Max 徐彭臒 a cheek caress and called him “babe” there was no OST music!?

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¹ The guest performer today was Chen Linong. I’m … honestly surprised he’s still promoting in Taiwan, given how many geopolitical messes he has waded into? Anyway, the way all male Mandopop idols converge on the hard rapper guy in pleather image makes me so tired.

² Auztin 吳昱廷 with his ABRSM (?) grade 8 certificate.

³ I do appreciate this show not milking the crying or suffering of the contestants like I’ve seen other shows do. The show will show something happened — sometimes months after the fact — and then move on.

⁴ Earth especially has been getting a big push. As a 5-piece, they have been advertising for Acer and Guerlain. Mars and Mercury have also had outdoor performances on their own as 5-pieces (as did Uranus). Strangely, Venus has not had any yet.

⁵ My standards for Taiwanese guys are so low that when Sean 高有翔 and Max 徐彭臒 were both like, yeah if my girlfriend can’t cook that’s fine, I was like feminism win! lolsob. Genuinely though I have seen so much bad takes on what guys expect girlfriends to be like, or what guys are expected to be like, on Taiwanese TV that Atom Boyz has been an unexpectedly wholesome.

Comments

[adevyish]

Venus finally had their first live performance on their own today! It noticeably lacked any of their songs with more flamboyant choreography. But Chris 蔡朕 made sure to kiss someone (Nelson) on the cheek to make up for it. They have another one next week.

Meanwhile Earth got a full music video as part of an Acer CF.

With the post-show interviews and performances, I think Auztin 吳昱廷 is turning into my fave out of the Uranus boys. He has some performance tics that are really similar to MYG’s and I think it’s that depressed idol rapper vibe that’s drawing me in. But RIP to all these guys performing outside in pleather in the Taiwan summer.