I got into kpop in the middle of 2023 in the strangest way possible, while I was aware of kpop in some capacity (I had heard about BTS and Blackpink like most folks at that point in time), but I never actually paid any attention to it, nor was I very interested in it. Then, in early 2023, I became really into Babymetal and was confused about why everyone kept mentioning Girls Planet when discussing the new member Momometal. 

So, of course, I had to do some research.

Turns out that Girls Planet (or rather Girls Planet 999) was a kpop survival show in which girls were competing to debut in a kpop group. As someone who loves reality shows, especially competitive ones, Girls Planet 999 felt like it was made for my brand of trash TV watching. While Momometal was pretty much hidden by the edits, and didn’t stay long in the competition, I enjoyed the show a lot and was interested in watching more survival shows*. 

Then I watched Boys Planet…. 

While Girls Planet 999 was kinda messy (the longer I think about some of the decisions made in that show, the angrier I get), Boys Planet was just a perfect combination of talent, drama and personalities coupled with the editors just giving up at one point on hiding how incredibly gay all the trainees were**. It helped that I also found myself watching recaps of the show and finding a community of other queer slightly nerodivergent kpop (and BL stans) who were actually somewhere in my age bracket (shout out to the ampliverse recaps and to their discord community). 

When the group from Boys Planet debuted (Zerobaseone), I told myself that while I enjoy their music (their debut was very 80’s new wave, which is one of my favourite music genres) I am not going to buy albums and certainly not collect a bunch of photos with kpop idols on them. 

Then I went to a Kpop store*** and now I collect a bunch of boy papers and have a lot of opinions about ships in various Kpop groups. This is not helped by the fact that, as a game academic, i am obsessed with how kpop is one big gatchapon game that is filled with endless systems meant to entice fans and create a relationship between the fans and the idols in ways that are far less common in Western music ****. 

This game is a product of all of this. It was mostly based on Boys Planet, but through research, I also watched all the Produce 101 shows, as well as some other Kpop survival shows like Wild Idol*****, Kingdom, and even tried watching Sixteen (which I don't recommend). I also had the chance to test it with some other Kpop stans a few times, but it is likely to undergo a few revisions in the coming year. 

Also, Boys II Planet (let there be more alphas) just started, and it’s already a mess, but I am enjoying watching the show while it is airing and not months after. 

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*For the record, while I didn’t get much into Kep1er after the show, their latest releases have all been bangers 

**Sung Hanbin entering the competition in slow motion and immediately deciding that he is very interested in that one Chinese guy (Zhang Hao) as his future boyfriend is just perfect reality show storytelling. 

*** I describe going to a Kpop store for the first time like being a teenager and going to buy a condom for the first time; theoretically, I increased the average age of the people in the store by 20 years.  

****I might actually write a paper about this one day

***** Possibly the most deranged reality show I've ever watched, I can’t believe anyone thought this was a show that must be made. I highly recommend it, but like all Kpop survival shows, be advised that it can be pretty harsh to some very young people, so discretion is advised while watching.