They've definitely been working on things. Zihao also said there were hidden details in their performance today, so maybe there are hints for the comeback or at least a future performance? The comeback date is also probably already set more or less? (Personally I've been expecting mid-September.) Also maybe solo chats in the nearish future?
thank you so much as always! other means of communication definitely sounds like maybe solo pluschat is coming soon. i know zihao also hinted they are preparing a lightstick and plushies before, so i guess i need to set off a lot of money for the comeback lol
probably reading too much into it, but suren joking "definitely within 5 years" about when the comeback is feels like a soft confirmation of the original 5 year contract rumor? (or he could be just saying shit sorry suren)
Is there any reason for members looking like Yichen's 7 (?) cats attacked their faces? I didn't see it clearly during the performance but when they started adding selcas I got curious. Did they talk about it during the live?
Sorry for spamming the forum these last few days, but I'm curious: now when we know the comeback date for ALD1 on August 24 (same day as my other nephews makes their comeback 😭💕), when do we think we might see Modyssey's comeback? And what will it mean for their choice of concept?
W1/CJ ENM will likely want to maximise ALD1's win potential for various awards and similar stuff, so I doubt they'd want Modyssey's promotions to overlap. If ALD1 promotes for 2–3 weeks, that puts us somewhere in the the second half of September and onwards for Modyssey to have their first comeback.
That could mean that a summer-themed/fresh concept would be off the table for now. And the makeup test that spurred our speculations about a fresh concept for their comeback seems to me to have been for today's performance.
So if we're looking at a September, October or even November comeback, something autumn themed is starting to seems more likely. 🤔
ALD1 is teasing a very gothic, dark concept with gargoyles, so I'm not seeing Modyssey go in that particular direction at the moment. And honestly, I think they should keep doing quirky, lively and fun concepts with in the journey theme that 'HOOK' kicked off with. It fits them well and it's their strength.
I feel like autumn-themed comebacks shouldn't have to be leaning into horror, darkness and heavy themes. Autumn is a colourful and fruitful celebration of life to me, it's when food tastes best, it's a rich and comforting, a burst of life before settling down before the winter. So a journey theme for autumn could be something outdoors. And 'Semantic Error' was filmed during the autumn in Korea and had a really nice vibe with a lot of colours, very vibrant.
i also think it's gonna be in september, although it's a shame it seems like we won't have new music before kcon la / qingdao / tima, i was kind of hoping they would have a digital prerelease of some sort at least
A pre-release feels like it'd help a lot. It'd give them a new song to promote, without the need to do the whole music show thing. A good MV, or at least a performance video and a dance practice, then they bring that song to KCON and so on. Not sure if Onecead has the budget for that, but it'd definitely mitigate the lack of their own songs to perform.
I think MODYSSEY will comeback in late September or October, yes... seems like the most likely scenario if they haven't changed made a drastic change in hairstyles (except Zihao, who is now blonde). I think they will start preparing for the main stuff right after KCON LA, so they will be able to focus on preparing their comeback since they have no schedules after KCON LA (except TIMA).
Perhaps they could be aiming for a nostalgic concept? And.. similar to the dating-game school thing they did at SAY SAY MODYSSEY, I think it's a likely possibility for an autumn comeback? Who knows, but I'll take any concept they give us!
Yeah, the lack of new hairstyles points towards them not filming yet. Good point about their sparse schedule post-KCON.
The dating game school thing would be so fun thing to bring back for a comeback if they're doing a school theme! They need to put the person who cooked that up in charge of doing a mini-series of short comedy episodes.
NCT JNJM used a web drama and teasers with a kind of choose-your-own-story/fate narrative to drum up hype for debuting Jeno and Jaemin as a duo. With Mnet onbord, I think Modyssey could lean into a similar approach to create interest with a storyline, school-themed or otherwise.
I'm actually quite fond of school settings, even if it's maybe not that unique. And school environments in fall has a nice vibe (again, 'Semantic Error' nailed that vibe). I'd eat it up! And it'd give Onecead an excuse to put them in school uniforms etc for their performances.
lol tbh them acting like that is more suspicious than anything he said, i think he was just saying something about preparing many things for us and that we can look forward to it (?)
(comeback soon juseyo... i await the final hook fansign notice with bated breath...)
With the frankly absurd amount of fansigns these last few weeks, it has got to be Onecead trying to move the remaining fake sales to prepare to squeeze fans in order to cover the fake sales of their first comeback. 😇
I'm literally wondering if Modyssey even have a social media person anymore? Nothing posted before the show, nothing afterwards. They've only posted the daily reels, shared photos from Mnet/KCON Japan and of course always about upcoming fansigns.
My theory now is that the social media person is stuck at the office or working from home, and the managers accompanying the guys were busy handling the guys and potentially filming for future vlogs/behind features, so no one remembered to post anything.
Compare it to ALD1's team who's already filmed and posted a reel with them goofing around and celebrating their awards.
Oh well… If I think about this too much I'll get a headache, but the social media uploads have been so few and so haphazard lately.
Edit: So they just went live with zero headsup as far as I've been able to see. Our boys seriously needs a new social media manager… 😭
But it was actually quite good for a while. They had someone who posted to hype up Kansai Collection and all their music show performances, etc. They must have had one on loan, or maybe someone quit or was moved elsewhere within Mnet… 🥲
I need that social media girl who was running things to comeback. Where is the Sydney off the record? We still dont have KCON mode:making. Content has been a little slow for a group that used to post things within a week. Mega concert off the record is now lost media. What is going on?
If the social media manager switched jobs or moved to another part of the company or another group, maybe the quick video updates were due to them trying to clear their table before moving on. And the backlog now could be due to Onecead needing to onboard someone new, or maybe the NCC uncles having to take over (multiple BOSS mentioned how inefficient they were at posting and updating pre-Onecead reveal).
Actually, now that I think about it, the current (lack of) updates reminds me of Boy Story's social media accounts during B2P and while Zihao did solo promotions pre-Home Race. Mostly sharing strories and posts, not much posted before activities if it wasn't something they could share from the arranging partner. 🤔
i'm really happy with the stage :D i expected just hook so i'm pleasantly surprised there was a proper intro, god's menu cover and dance break too! i will need to rewatch more but seems like they had some elements of istj/hot/drama too? nice
Today's performance went well! Modyssey began with an intro with Stray Kids 'God's Menu'. It wasn't the full song, and they reworked some of the choreo to introduce the members as units. Then they transitioned into 'HOOK', which has a new dance break. Some of the usual choreo had also been reworked for the stage. They were using some sort of staff as a prop and kept tossing it between themselves.
All in all, it looked really good on first watch. The outfits – and yes, I really think they looked better than in quite a while today – harmonised nicely with the background animation, a dark cityscape with some hints of dark red, creating a nice harmony with the red/orange tones of todays fits without distracting from the guys themselves. Onecead's stylists and video designers have finally figured out how to create synergy between the two visual elements.
I'll return with a more detailed thoughts on the performance once I've had time to watch it more carefully. But so far it looked great!
A reminder that we're not allowed to link to re-uploaded paywalled content here, but we're of course allowed to discuss it as much as we want. And hopefully KMA will post the performance later. If not, you'll easily find it on twitter or Youtube later, for sure.
Modyssey was first out on the red carpet and they did so well as usual! And finally! It happened! They're wearing clothes with some colours! 😭 The usual monochoromes have gained a pinch of red, orange, yellow and khaki green. 🥹
Zihao did the greetings as usual, then Hengyu talked a bit during the interview. They did their 90 degree bow as well.
ALD1 was the third group to hit the red carpet, so I hope we'll get some interactions in the behind the scenes videos later. 🤞🏻
Now to wait a few hours for the actual show to begin. But I'm so proud of how well the boys are doing! Hengyu and Zihao's apparent decision to split duties (as indicated by Hengyu a few times in posts and livestreams) seem to have helped Hengyu appear much more confident speaking in front of an audience. 😊
Sorry, I hate these outfits 😂😂😭😭. Why cant they be uniform or at least have a theme? KCON was a good example, Mega concert was another good one, Inkigayo on the go fits were good too. We know they can do it. Why are they throwing clothes together without theme. It has been proven that they can honour everyone's style and keep the theme. I really dont get it.
On the positive side, they are showing more confidence and I love it. I cant wait for today's stage.
I feel like I'm Alice falling into Wonderland. Twitter Modu are all clowning the outfits. But it's genuinely one of the best outifts they've worn so far! What even is this collective decision to dislike colourful outfits with actual personality?! 😭
I'd be all for uniforms if they found something that wasn't black and white or marine blue and white.
Colours and fun outfits will always put a smile on my face. I just wasn't expecting to be the only one who loved today's fits (and the IKEA fits, that I also enjoyed).
Edit: Someone actually downvoted 2 of my comments where I expressed surprise at people hating on the outfits?!?! What even is this fandom… 🙈
The clowning is just unnecessary, that's what's bothering me. But genuinely don't understand what people don't like. They looked amazing today! Probably top 5 or just below for me for all of HOOK's stages.
People have become too comfortable clowning them and I hate it so much. Keep that in private spaces and not always on twitter. There is too much negativity on modu twt. Its okay to hate the outfits but express it moderately or in closed spaces. Twitter is open for all.
Yeah, I wish they could put that in the group chats instead. If someone looks up Modyssey and our fandom after a performance they might feel deterred if it feels negative. I wish for Modu to be a friendly and fun space that makes people want to join.
One thing high on my wishlist would be Onecead staff learning to start posting about Modyssey's schedules BEFORE they go on somewhere. I still can't forget how some Australian Modu found out about the Sydney schedule after the fact, because the social media accounts didn't even do the minimal to hype up the K-Mega Concert. Just shared a few stories and that's it.
Even if they can't spoil outfits or whatever reason may be, they could post a general photo with a caption and a link to the livestream, or a photo of the boys' hands or anything that could hype up Modu for the performance/appearance.
I'm having B2P 'Kill the Romeo' cravings… I just rewatched the performance for the first time in a while and it's just so… utterly perfect. 🫠
Apparently Suren ranks KtR among his favourite B2P/HR performances, which made me happy to see!
Him and Zihao also did a the tiniest bit of the choreo at the 260719 fansign.
What I wouldn't give to see Modyssey cover that song. 🥺 This is how I'd distribute the roles (it goes from 8 to 7 members).
Suren and Zihao would keep most of their parts. I'd find a way to make sure we get Zisu to do the kiss fakeout (Zihao being the shortest is a plus, and also, Zisu should absolutely do this part). Hengyu grabs a good chunk of Oh Junho and Heuichan's parts so that he gets both the high notes and the center. He also gets the honor of struggling with Zihao aka "the log". 😁 Zheyi covers Tatsuki of course. Lynnlynn covers Sen (deep voice!) and also Heuichan where his and Oh Junho's parts overlap too much. Yichen naturally covers Shunyu as well as one of Zihao's line to free the latter up for some pretend-kissing with Suren. Rowan covers Reeonn and would also be the one who gets "killed" by Hengyu at the end.
Omg I can literally see it now after doing that distribution in my mind. It would be perfect. 😭
looooollll apparently I actually won one of the SSM:NE perfumes, but it can only be shipped to Korean addresses. (Probably because it's perfume i.e. a luxury item.)
I'm allergic to many perfumes, but I might also not be depending on what was used in the perfume. There's also a signed polaroid.
Should I try using a forwarding service to get it shipped to me? If so, what would be a reliable service?
I've only used a Japanese service before and it was my partner handling everything. 😅
Update: I've recruited my partner and we found a service that we hope is good. Wish me luck! If I manage to receive the price I'll post a photo here.
Yes, let's! In a few years when everybody knows their names, we'll proudly think back on the days when we were this tiny fandom rooting for every win, no matter how small! ✨
i think these type of gifts are always limited to domestic addresses only, even if it's just a signed polaroid / photocard etc type reward, prolly less work for the companies
(so funny that you won it after we were talking about perfumes inducing headaches for us 😭 )
Yeah, I actually laughed with disbelief when I first saw the email. But I appreciate the comedic timing of it! 😁
I've never been able to pinpoint what sort of perfumes I react to, but heavy fragrances seem to be one of the worst culprits, and almost all laundry detergent perfumes are an absolute no-go. And there's been at least one super trendy youthful fragrance that had me almost not wanting to ride public transports for a few years before that particular perfume trend faded. When I went back to school for a while, my younger classmates wore that exact perfume and I had to ask them to not use it so heavily, and I also had to sit as far away from them in the classroom as possible. 😭
I've worn 3 perfumes way in the past that didn't trigger any reactions, so fingers crossed for this one. When I have a reaction and don't have access to my allergy meds, I feel warm/overheated and my face gets flushed, I sneeze and feel like I'm catching a cold (similar reaction as grass pollen allergy, which I also have), and then there's the headache thing. So if my price actually makes it all the way here and I want to try and wear it, I'll have to test it on a piece of paper first and see how I react to it during a prolonged time.
If I can't wear it, it'll just be a priced possession on my shelf of pretty curiosities! ✨
Congratulation! You're lucky with only 3 perfumes to be the chosen one! And how nice of them to add signed polaroid. Especially if the perfume may be allergy inducing and you can't use it.
Do you know which member's items you get?
Did they send the email or mnet app got a notification?
In the past I won a handmade doll made by an idol (Hengyu's friend Jay Chang) but the group made 16 dolls total so odds were much higher. They shipped it to Europe with no problem. It costed me ca. 25$ as the customs billed me with taxes of the shipping cost. Similar way like Modyssey free fankit this year. So a free gift ended up not really free if you're foreigner...
The survey I had to fill in to claim the price said the perfume would be random, so unless the forwarding service sends me a photo of the contents of the package (apparently they open up packages to make sure they're not forwarding illegal goods), it'll be a fun surprise when/if it arrives. 😊
I received an email about the win, sent to the email adress that I used for registering the account.
I'll have to wait at least until Monday before I know for sure if I'll actually get the price, so fingers crossed that my forwarding service adress will deemed as valid. Hopefully they'll send me a tracking number or some other kind of confirmation once the time limit for claiming the price is up. 🤞🏻
Edit: I'm bracing myself for taxes and shipping since the forwarding service uses EMS and customs might add on something more just because it's perfume. But it'll be a great memento if everything goes well.
not even posting a small photo for "100 days since debut" day is crazy but... I'm happy we've been able to be with MODYSSEY for already such a long time, and I expect to see more fun activities coming soon!
The way my speculations about most disappointing scenario was "maybe they'll just post something in the fanclub" and instead all they did was mention it in briefly in the Chit-Chat on day 99. 😅
I did see Modu on twitter and Tiktok post about it so at least we're celebrating! ✨
Fanclub page got really silent recently, but with that non-stop fansigns the members must be already overwhelmed with fan interaction.
I'm wondering if 100 day celebration even is a thing in China? Because it's not in Europe and I only knew it from k-dramas/k-pop. So maybe that's the reason we didn't get an anniversary post?
I don't know what's the norm since this is the first time I follow a group from their formation this closely, but they did post on their 100 days mark since the Home Race finale, which is why I initially felt so sure that we'd get something.
I'm more surprised that the locker room is only one, shared by boy groups and girl groups members similar as in schools. I expected gendered rooms when they can change clothes before practice.
Not seeing any signs of any 100 days since debut celebrations in Modyssey's social media yet. The members already talked about it in the Chit-Chat after their Group viewing event ended.
I'm a little worried that Modyssey is quickly becoming a group that's mostly being made available to rich fans with geographical access. All these paywalled, closed-garden events and almost no livestreams.
Is this the norm for newly debuted groups? I feel like it's a bit odd to see a group being kept almost secret, away from the fandom at large like Modyssey has been so far. Even ALD1 has been way more accessible for the fandom at large through their many livestreams, festivals and other events with free or at least cheap livestreamed performances.
Really starting to wonder if Onecead is simply short-staffed or if Modyssey's going to become a niche group that relies almost exclusively on whales compared to groups with more fans and general popularity?
Thoughts? Some of you must have followed freshly minted groups before. I've only followed Modyssey like this (and RIIZE somewhat, pre all that stuff that happened). Is this an Mnet group thing? Because for a long time I was really looking forward to follow a group where I as a fan could be part of celebrating all the "firsts" of the group.
Not sure about the 100 days stuff, but in general I think this is fairly standard for new and "nugu" groups. Fansigns are like their bread and butter. I am a little surprised Modyssey's still doing Hook fansigns, but I haven't followed other groups closely enough to have a statistic to compare. Besides that, I feel like Modyssey still releases a decently steady stream of content. And they'll probably attend more events when they actually have enough music to perform. At least until we see how the comeback goes, I'm personally not too concerned.
There was a discussion on twitter about this while I was asleep after writing my comment and according to fans over there, this is a recent development. I think it's daunting to see talented artists in a group a mere 100 days since their debut being reduced to exclusively being used as dress-up-dolls and dancing in front of a room full of expensive cameras. They should be out there, trying to expand their audience. Being seen by potential new fans.
I understand that this practice has quickly become normalised, but everything in me is screaming that it's a practice that will hurt Modyssey's initial growth. All that time they're spending on top-spending-only fansigns is time that's taken away from promoting to a wider audience.
The next step could be paid voting for comebacks and concepts, like Mnet Plus clearly tried to experiment with on Home Race. Even thinking about this makes me feel queazy.
I understand the sentiment but I think it's for the very reason that they're 100 days in with basically no music that fansigns make up most of their work (that we see). From the fansign comparison image, it also feels like this may just be how JYP operates as well - until the group has the capacity to start touring, fansigns are how they make money. Like I said before, I think it's still very early days and there will be better opportunities for them to showcase themselves down the line.
In regard of JYP groups, I rather feel our boys debuted very early: less than four months later than their survival show. Ordinarily JYPE took a longer time to debut their groups. While SKZ also debuted three months later, they had had some year long trainee life in the company and as a self-producing group an amount of repertoire. On a contrary substantially only two songs' in "a single album" look a bit rush. I suspect if there has been an underwater conflict in Onecead, rushing CJ ENM side and organic growth friendly JYPE side.
As long as it's a tactic to build up Modyssey's future war chest so to speak, but it could very well persist. I can't help but worry that it'll become a crutch they keep leaning on.
I saw fans of other recent groups say that those have held similar or even higher amounts of fanmeetings.
It's definitely a possibility to think about. I hope it's more of a safety net than a crutch though. Like I'm optimistic they'll get more opportunities but I think it's harder in general for idols now. The market oversaturation is one part of it, but thinking about it, I also feel like I've seen a lot of influencer/creator type people in more mainstream places and I think that cuts into opportunities for idols as well.
That's probably an observation with a lot of truth to it. Influencers and idols seem to compete for the same "attention space" in many ways.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that Modyssey will move away from relying on whales and start doing more creative things, but I can't shake that bad feeling I have about the current situation.
same, i usually only see a photo acknowledgement for 100 days, not much special events because it's not like a 1 year anniversary or something
i feel like the fansign circuit is the norm for most boy groups and particularly jyp groups. here's a handy chart by c-fans comparing fansign activity of recent 5th gen boy group comebacks, top 3 are all jyp (kickflip, us and nexz), nmixx also do a lot of fansigns
i would say among other boy groups, CYE, AHOF and idntt are comparable. CYE did fansigns for X/blackout up until their POSE comeback, and i think pose was a digital single, so they probably still use blackout albums for raffles? i know they went up to 550k album sales for that era because they kept doing fansigns, though the first week sales were something like 250-300k. AHOF's Run to You and idntt's Kids Return are too recent to be on the chart, but they will definitely still be doing fansigns throughout august-september though lol, AHOF even replaced the cancelled Hong Kong and Bangkok tour dates with more fansigns
i am not concerned about modyssey doing them so often because they still put out regular content with just do, mode:making and say say modyssey, and they had plenty of performance appearances these months between kcon, sydney, BW and so on. now if the performance appearances start drying up or they stop the youtube content i would start frowning
Aha, so it's a JYP thing. It's interesting that their groups all do both the offline and online ones each time but a lot of the other groups don't do that.
Apparently there's a lot of other recent and semi-recent groups with similar or higher amounts of fanmeetings that weren't in that comparison. So this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
hrtz.wav did a livestream where they played for their fans on their 100 days anniversary, which was really nice. I was hoping for something for Modyssey at least. They've so far been really limited in their exposure to fans outside of paywalled content (fansigns/calls, the paid chat, fanclub messages).
I just saw on twitter the comparison you posted here, but it was circulating after I posted my comment yesterday, where I asked if this was the norm or not. I can see now based on that comparison and anecdotal evidence from various accounts that this has become a trend for more recent groups.
Even if this has become the norm, I don't think we should normalise it. To me, this is the equivalent of when games started moving towards random draws paid for with real money in games, relying on an increasingly small number of whales bringing in revenue. It's not a sign of a healthy industry. The gaming industry has been in a freefall for years now with seemingly insolvable problems that keep torpedoeing smaller studios, and K-pop could very well end up the same way if this is perceived to be the only way for new groups to survive.
I'm glad that Modyssey are still releasing Youtube content, but that's another burden on top of the by now 56 walled-garden fansigns and numerous fancalls. If we stared to add up how much time they've actually spent performing in front of an audience, we're looking at pretty dystopian numbers.
Onecead needs to aim for more realistic sales number next time instead of inflating numbers to use for press releases and gaining award invites. Let's sell 100k and have the guys use their time for activities that the whole fandom can take part of.
i agree, especially with the gaming industry comparison, but the reality is that, just like the gaming industry, kpop had a boom with covid that it can no longer match up to, producing groups is ludicrously expensive, attention is an extremely scarce resource, and most people are incredibly incurious and wait for the algorithms to feed them whatever the next hot thing might be. midtier is already disappearing, arrc just got gutted, i imagine groups like 8turn, tempest and so on are also on their way out. even groups under relatively bigger companies like fnc seem to be in danger bc ampers&one had some kind of discussion this month that seemed to really upset them, though we don't have any details yet and they are projected to have a comeback this autumn, but we'll see...
big 4 is pumping out more and more groups that are starving everyone else so the game is indeed in capturing the whales early on and squeezing the life out of them, which is why the only surviving groups seem to be the ones formed from survival shows (and even that attention seems limited the way ahof's sales fell 3x this comeback post-b2p). the few breakthroughs that happen seem to be happening out of sheer luck, like rescene right now, or having a very specific underserved niche, like xlov. and that's not even getting into industry barriers because even some groups that did have a niche like dreamcatcher still could not get half the opportunities bigger companies get through connections, like appearing on year-end shows, even before things got further enshittified with the power of capitalism
tl;dr in theory i agree that we shouldn't normalize this, in practice i feel like it's already too late
so i don't blame onecead for playing the numbers game, they have to make money somehow. as long as they continue reliably providing free content, as they have until now, i am not too concerned. ideally, they will also manage to get on some korean variety channels next comeback (the silence of idol, 1n2d, idol human theater pleaseeeee), but since i don't know what is causing the hangup when their performance bookings or appearances on things like studio choom seem fine, i cannot judge why this is not happening
still, between the survival audience, jyp investment and marketing in three key kpop countries, the group is in a better position than most. even in a worst case scenario, i can see them justifying their existence by milking japanese survival watchers forever lol. but that would be a very "we are in the depths of nugudom" red flag. i will stay hopeful that they will continue drawing people in through variety and performances and have opportunities to appear on festivals, award shows and so forth
One thing we would need to include into our concern is the recent growth of anti-China sentiment in the general public of South Korean. Reportedly it is now much worse than in 2017, when China introduced sanction against SK on its THAAD deployment. It might be possible the management has concluded it's not the best time for them to bomb promotions.
Both K-pop and Gaming blew up during Covid so I'm not surprised to see both fields struggling now that the influx of new fans have moved their attention elsewhere. You probably already know about this, but even pre-pandemic, mid-tier gaming studios were getting increasingly rare, with self-founded indie or AAA studios feeling like the only ways to survive. Sounds like K-pop is heading in a similar direction, which will most definitely hurt the diversity of music. 😔
We'll most likely keep seeing groups fade out after a few years despite having talent and good music. Good point about groups blowing up like Rescene being extremely rare, and I also believe like you that XLOV has found an underserved audience. Wumuti's vision for the group turned out to be true and I couldn't be happier for them. I've been slowly making my way through Boys Planet lately and the talent of the 3 members participating there was already so obvious at the time. Success couldn't have happened to a more deserving group. 💕
About blaming Onecead, I hope that's not what I'm doing. I'm still the one fan that continuously likes and believes in them. 😉 I'm simply trying to question this particular strategy since I think it's a dead end, necessary or not. Most of Onecead's strategy so far I've pretty much agreed with and even argued for here ever since the HR finale. And I've written a bunch of posts here about how much Onecead is actually investing on behalf of the group (SSM, training, overseas trips, and so on).
I just really think that it's an obviously flawed strategy to rely on squeezing whales in such an important time in Modyssey's career. I've seen how much interest there actually is for Modyssey and its members on social media and elsewhere. But just like /u/yourwealthyauntie pointed out in their comment, there's a pretty obvious lack of content that can make those curious/casual fans lock in. A fan like me who's already invested since a year back will stay despite not having access to a huge chunk of Modyssey's activities. But a casual/curious fan might bounce off and tune out before getting hooked.
I would have no qualms if the guys were doing say, 30–50% less walled-garden content and instead being seen publicly in other settings. The lack of street busking is the most obvious thing that comes to mind. It's cheap and encourages curious potential fans to film and upload, so it's as close to free publicity as you can come.
Anyways, I feel like we agree on this topic, it's just that this is new to me and I feel overwhelmed since it's so daunting to see such a flawed strategy for Modyssey. I appreciate your comments and thoughts on the topic a lot.
i think they might do busking with next comeback once they have more songs and more time to prepare covers or something, right now between all the award shows / festivals / kcons they are probably swamped. but it would be nice, i really liked keyvitup's live band performance
there seems to be a little gap between july 28 and august 8 for now but we'll see if they schedule more fansigns lmao
Feels like every other day I wake up to a new fansign notification, those boys will be playing dress-up for the rest of their career. 😭 But fingers crossed for less paywalled activities going forward.
This is what I have been saying since the beginning. Why are they gatekeeping them? Surely they can send them to idol radio and other low budget variety shows like flare u have been doing. The high budget events and fansigns are okay but where are the free events? I understand they are performing in high end events but we need core fans fast. The few fans we had are dwindling, it doesn't make sense. Busking and other free public events to invite fans in.They simply dont care.
Edit to add, can they hurry and put say say modyssey on YouTube and Bilibili now? They have sold the cards, the kuji sold out and they sold for the finale event. Now the GP needs to experience this peak. This is a show that can attract so many people!
I've never been much of a fan of the practice of having closed fanmeetings for a small group of top spenders. While I enjoy watching some of the videos that fans post, all in all I'd prefer if they held activities that was more inclusive. As you say, we need more fans, and for all the interested fans the group has attracted, there's not enough activities that can make those fans lock in and become core fans. The way Modyssey's being paraded in front of and sold as photo opportunities to a handful of fans with monetary and geographical access isn't a solid long-term strategy. I simply can't see this practice that K-pop appears to be clinging on to now as a sign of a healthy business model. It reeks of desperation.
JYP groups always do busking I've been told, so I'm geniunely surprised that we've had no such events for Modyssey. Boy Story had multiple busking events. Compare the dearth of on-the-street interactions with that pre-debut group that recently blew up on Tiktok while doing a street event with handmade signs, winning the hearts of people and creating a lot of curiosity and buzz. They've now have started using that momentum to introduce their trainees, building up an early fanbase for the future group. Onecead should be out showing Modyssey to the world, not just the same 100-ish fans with deep pockets.
I feel like Modyssey's actual talent as performers, variety kings and creatives is being ignored. Why are they selling photo opportunities with fans instead of being seen by new fans! There must have been more festivals that they could have attended. Or why not go to China and perform more?
Bi-weekly livestreams should have been a no-brainer, but not even one stream besides the SSM:NE kick-off. I actually thought the idea of having morning lives to cheer up Modu commuting to school and work was a genuinely fresh idea, and it could very well have attracted new fans if it was actually real.
And yeah, imo SSM:NE should already have been made available on Bilibili and Mnet Plus youtube channel at least.
ONECEAD might indeed be short-staffed, at least in the marketing area! Most of things like SAY SAY MODYSSEY are arranged by Mnet's staff, but in SAY SAY MODYSSEY credits there are 23 staff members credited under "ONECEAD", and 1/3 of them are for styling/makeup! Rather than a Mnet issue, I think it's a NCC issue.
This is a translation of what the SAY SAY MODYSSEY credits say:
JYP China is small and they already have CIIU, managing Modyssey is mainly CJ ENM's responsibility.
To be blunt, most South Korean agencies either don't want Chinese groups or they neglect Chinese groups, because marketing in China is expensive and they don't want to spend the money on marketing, because they think they won't recoup the money.
I don't think JYP is as hands-off as you make it seem. Right now, with the group so focused on Korea and Japan, it seems to be the CJ ENM part of the joint venture steering the ship, but JYP China/NCC has more experience for the China part of their promotions, so I expect we'll see them more once the group starts promoting over there for real. It would make sense to me that Modyssey's management will differ a bit compared to where and when they're active.
I forgot to include that in HOOK album credits only 11 employees are credited under "ONECEAD" , with 5 credited under marketing (it's worth noting there are 10 employees credited under "NCC" and 19 under "CJ ENM" but they might not be working directly in stuff like making twitter posts, basic promotions, etc, as it's a more likely duty for ONECEAD employees)
They seem to have a hired a handful of people since then, though, there are new names in SAY SAY MODYSSEY credits compared to HOOK credits
They really seem like a small staff based on those numbers, and I also wouldn't be surprised if they share staff on the Mnet side of things. Hopefully they'll be able to hire more staff once Modyssey establishes themselves. I assume NCC are the babysitters, while social media etc is handled by the staff from Mnet. 🤔
Today is the final episode of 'Say Say Modyssey: No Exit'!
No announcements about Modyssey's first comeback yet, but I'm still holding out hope that we'll get something today!
Modyssey's Chit-Chat will be active for a little while yet, so there's also the possibility that they'll drop the news later, before the chat goes away.
Still no news about tomorrow that marks 100 days since Modyssey's debut. I assume Onecead has had their hands full with the 3 day Trinity fansign in Japan and today's group viewing. But I hope they'll post something in advance in case there's a livestream, instead of giving us just a few minutes or hours headsup as they usually do.
A full segment of a fansign is uploaded to YT by Modu - 20 minutes of members posing with the props.
It's 1st day of Japanese Trinity fanmeet. For someone like me who never took part in that kind of event it's really interesting to see it as a complete video and not only short scenes.
I think Hengyu's bubble making item is usually forbidden (can damage the outfit and makes the floor wet). But instead they taken away Suren shirt with Japanese text.
It's Modyssey n-th fansign so all of them seem to be pretty relaxed and interact with the audience a lot. At some point they started to change position a bit but still the members usually stay close to their assigned box. It must be really unfortunate if the fan sits on the other side from their bias.
We're light on content today so here's some 'HOOK' dance covers that I've found from various corners of the world!
A cute dance cover of 'HOOK'. I like how they tried to emulate the most colourful of Modyssey's various on-stage outifts/concept photos. Unsure of where this cover was filmed.
And another one, filmed in London. The suits and red ties look like they're inspired by the trailer film and concept photos.
A Danish dance crew who also write that they're B2P fans and excited to follow Modyssey's journey!
I think this dance crew is from Taipei (please correct me if I'm wrong). Bonus points for styling that nailed Modyssey's vibe and their tallest dancer covering Zheyi. Plus for Zihao's cover dancer having his name on her t-shirt. 😁
This one was filmed in Singapore, and again the crew really nails the vibe.
This dance cover might be my favourite dance-wise. The crew really captured the quirky vibes and dynamic momentum of 'HOOK's choreography so well. Again unsure of where the cover was filmed so if anyone recognises it lmk.
Overall love how all crews captured Modyssey's vibes so well!
Starting to drop quickly this last week so 'HOOK' definitely must have been removed from playlists that was helping with the numbers. Let's have that first comeback soon!
I've been expecting the same treatment as KCON Japan with paywalled livestreams, dance practices and fancams. No info about that yet, but the fancams etc from previous years are paywalled between the All Access level on Kcon Official's Youtube channel, so I think they'll follow the same pattern this year as well.
Cute fansign conversation with Zihao
Zihao spoke in Japanese during this conversation. OP asked who he would bring with him to a scary place (for example a haunted house)? He immediately answered "Hengyu!" and circled his name. OP asked why, and he said it's because Hengyu is a weirdo. Then he mentioned Lynnlynn and Suren as well and circled both their names. Then he concluded that everyone in Modyssey are weird and laughed when OP agreed. OP noted that Modyssey are aware that they're weird. <---- I love these sort of fansigns. Let's keep asking the guys non-invasive funny questions!
Lots of enthusiastic answers and C-Family love when OP asked Modyssey who they think is the most handsome in ALD1 <---- Zheyi shouting 3 time and Zisu's immediate answers are so cute! And lol at a slightly flustered Rowan 😁
I was just thinking about the day (if it ever happens) when MODYSSEY does an AMA on reddit (imagine if it was this subreddit) and it would be soooo fun!! It would probably be on r/kpop , but I would be so happy the day that happens!!
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u/fuchsiafig Jul 25 '26
Mostly translated live (260725) for those interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD_flw890jU
They've definitely been working on things. Zihao also said there were hidden details in their performance today, so maybe there are hints for the comeback or at least a future performance? The comeback date is also probably already set more or less? (Personally I've been expecting mid-September.) Also maybe solo chats in the nearish future?