Superheroes: Why Spider Gwen’s Story Arc is Perfect

Screenshot of Gwen and Miles in ‘Spider Man: Across the Spider-Verse’. Copyright goes to Sony and Marvel.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve recently watched ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ twice. I think it’s safe to say that this is one of my favorite superhero movies right now…if not my absolute favorite. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such amazing storytelling for so many characters all packed into one movie. But the character that really struck a chord with me personally here was Gwen. There was so much about her that I really related to and it was done so perfectly that it really felt like she was real. She felt like a real flawed person to relate to. Because all relatable characters are flawed. Human beings aren’t perfect, so how are we supposed to relate to a character that’s written to be completely perfect? How are we supposed to truly connect to a character that makes no mistakes when humans make mistakes and learn from them all the time? There’s been an influx of people talking about Gwen in this movie because her arc, for the most part, is her messing up. Some fans have talked about how difficult it’ll be for her to come back from this and how her mistakes in this movie lessened her character in their eyes, while another group came out to defend Gwen by saying that she did nothing wrong in this film. And I disagree hardcore with both sides. I loved Gwen’s arc in the movie and I’m going to go into why this character is so important and so relatable. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL SPIDERVERSE MOVIES COMING UP!!!

Gwen and her Dad:

We all know from the last movie that Gwen is a bit of a loner. In her universe, because she got bit by the radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker, she becomes best friends with Peter who is now a completely normal person. Somehow Peter eventually puts the pieces together that his best friend is the Ghost-Spider, or Spider-Woman, and decides that he wants to be special just like she is. His scientific prowess is the same in every universe, which leads this Peter to create a liquid that he hopes will make him special and more like Gwen. But this causes that universe’s Peter Parker to become the Lizard and Gwen accidentally ends up dropping some building debris on him before realizing that it’s actually Peter. Her Dad is still the police chief in this universe, so he swears to find the person responsible for the murder of his daughter’s best friend. All very complicated and it makes Gwen feel like she can’t have anyone close to her. She can’t tell her Dad that his manhunt is for her and she feels like everyone close to her gets hurt. This is where her first mistake in this movie comes up. Gwen’s inability to do anything but push the people closest to her away causes a rift that everyone feels. She quits her band at the beginning of the movie and she has even kept her Dad at arm’s length because she’s worried he’s directly at odds with her. Though you understand where she’s coming from because her father is threatening to arrest her; she does ultimately run away from her issues when Miguel gives her a watch to enter the Spider Society. Gwen doesn’t correct this until the end of the movie when she learns the importance of your loved ones from Miles. When she finally opens herself up to have a conversation with her Dad, everything becomes much better for everyone involved. Struggling with having a different expectation for your future than your parents is something that I relate to, especially since I’m at such a transitional point in my life right now. It was important for me to see Gwen make a mistake in that process and then go back to fix it and have such strong support there for her. It’s the hope and comfort that those who truly love you, do so unconditionally. And I think everyone needs to hear at some point or another that the people closest to us aren’t going to leave us just because we make a mistake. Gwen learning to communicate with her Dad would not have happened if she didn’t mess up first. This kind of lesson is an important one and one that we don’t get without a character fumbling their relationships with others in some way.

Gwen and Miles:

Now this is probably where we see the most mistakes and relationship breakdown in the movie. Gwen selfishly visits Miles when she’s told not to because he’s one of the only people she has left and she misses him. This leads Miles into several unsafe situations and she becomes more deceptive towards him as the film goes on. Gwen at first doesn’t tell Miles exactly why she’s in his dimension and then lies to him about the Spider Society because she doesn’t want to tell him that he’s an anomaly. Later she even helps Miguel chase down Miles in the hopes that he will act according to the “canon” and let his father die. Gwen sees how much she hurts Miles by the end of the movie and finally stands up to the Spider Society despite not wanting to go back to life without it; but it doesn’t quite make up for how much she really hurts Miles and how she uses her position of privilege in the Spider Society to justify her actions. Hobie, who barely knows Miles, stands with him while Gwen doesn’t know what the right thing to do is. Gwen really has a lot to make up for here and we see her start by the end of it. She’s already made her own group to help find and rescue Miles and she completely drops out of the Spider Society; rightfully accusing the others of blindly following Miguel as she does it. I think we can all agree that her redemption has a great start. But Gwen also admits at the very beginning of the movie that she messed up. Gwen herself doesn’t think she handled the situation well. So I don’t quite understand the people arguing that Gwen did nothing wrong in this movie. She’s still an excellent character though. I think the movie does a great job of showing how selfish and misguided she can be; as most teenagers and young adults are. And we see her beginning to learn from it. She acknowledges her mistake and uses it to become a better friend. She recognizes that Miles handled the situation much better than she did and follows his example because she knows that’s what he would do for her. Gwen has had extremely bad luck with friends and relationships, but by the end of this movie we see her put her selfishness aside and actually start to embrace them. Again, all lessons we wouldn’t have gotten if Gwen hadn’t made the mistake. I’ve always been a bit closed off and unsure of how to really embrace my friendships and keep them going. Seeing Gwen do this simply by embracing the people around her and being herself around them felt a little like a revelation to me.

Gwen and Hobie:

There’s been some debate on this. Though we only have some information about their relationship to each other, I personally think it’s safe to say that it’s platonic. There’s something very sweet about the way that Gwen and Hobie take care of each other throughout the movie and I think the knowledge that Gwen crashes at his place and even has a toothbrush there is just an extension of that. I think the two of them are just abandoned young people who have learned to take care of each other and have a strong friendship because of that. There are a few people who seem to think that Gwen and Hobie are further proof of Gwen’s betrayal towards Miles. I think that is very wrong for several reasons. This idea that men can absolutely date around when they aren’t official yet while women can’t has continued to be an issue for women. The double standards there are gross. Miles and Gwen were never dating and Gwen honestly thought she wouldn’t see Miles again. But, unless this is clarified to be incorrect in the next movie, I really don’t see any romantic connection between the two and I don’t think there’s supposed to be one. I personally love the platonic relationship between Hobie and Gwen. Because, for the thousandth time, men and women can be just platonic friends. And it’s really nice to see that Gwen has somebody she can fall back on during the most difficult parts of her life.

Flawed Characters:

I feel like this movie in particular really drove home to me just how much people in general still have an aversion to flawed characters. I’ve seen several people condemn Gwen Stacy in this movie and say that she can’t be redeemed in the next one. That her betrayal of Miles proves that she’s a bad person. I think this condemnation of Gwen is extremely misguided. I used to be a person who had a certain amount of skepticism when it came to flawed characters. When a character would make a mistake in media, I used to get annoyed with it and add it to a list of reasons why the character just “didn’t work”. Going through my twenties and having a rough time figuring out myself and wondering which decisions in my life would come to be mistakes and which wouldn’t, has been a harsh slap in the face. Protecting yourself from making the mistake is often what leads you to make more mistakes. Being human is about falling and getting back up. What really determines who you are is what you do after the mistake is made. How you decide to get back up. As I said before, Gwen acknowledges her mistake at the beginning of the movie and by the end of it is already turning it around. I don’t see how that is unredeemable. If characters were never flawed, we would never see ourselves in them when we truly needed to be seen the most. I am so glad that this movie took a risk with Gwen’s character here in this way, and I think the storytelling was so beautiful that they pulled it off perfectly. Let’s be honest here, Miles idolized Gwen so much in the first movie that I think she needed to be knocked off the pedestal and seen as a kid who’s only a year older than Miles is.

I am absolutely in love with this depiction of Spider Gwen now. I’ve always been in the Spider-Man fandom and I’ve always wanted to be a Spider Gwen fan. I mean, look at her, the Spider Gwen suit is my exact aesthetic. I was never expecting to get into this character in such a personal way. This last movie made this character mean so much to me. And while I understand where the confusion over her character is coming from; I don’t think condemning her helps anybody or really grasps the points that the writers were trying to make here. I personally can’t wait to see how her relationship builds again with Miles in the next movie, and how she uses her strength and newfound support to prove herself again. I can’t wait for the next one! Though I really do hope they take their time and treat their artists better. We don’t need to rush the next one, especially if slowing it down means better working conditions.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse’ Character Arcs

Screenshot of Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’. Copyright goes to Sony Pictures Animation, Marvel Entertainment, and Arad Productions.

Hey! Hallie here!

At this point pretty much everyone’s seen ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’. It’s by far one of the best movies of the century and one of the best animated projects I’ve ever seen in my life, so if you haven’t seen it, you need to go out and see it immediately. I was skeptical when others said this was better than the first movie, but it really is. Plus, the art in this movie alone is worth the price of admission. Moving past all that though, it’s long past time that I do a deep dive on this movie. This won’t be a review because, let’s be real, I have only positive things to say here and I think I would run out of compliments, but I really want to talk about the characters in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’. We have a lot of them this time around, even more than we had in the first movie, and there’s surprisingly deep storylines for each of the characters we get the most focus on. There’s also a lot of imagery and theming within each of the main characters. So let’s look at their motivations and where that leads them from the beginning to the end of the film. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Miles Morales: Miles probably has the most obvious imagery in his character arc. On the surface we see a fifteen-year-old kid who, despite his age, is a very capable Spider-Man. But with both his parents and the main group of Spider-People in this movie, Miles never feels like he’s being taken seriously. He doesn’t feel like his parents have enough faith in him to pursue the things he wants to pursue, and he feels even more frustrated when Gwen reveals that he’s one of the only Spider-Men who hasn’t been invited into Miguel’s task force. But though Miles proves himself as one of the most skilled Spider-People by the end of the movie, there’s much more to his story. Most importantly, the cake metaphor. At the beginning of the movie, when Miles is meeting up with his college counselor, she mentions that he can’t have his cake and eat it too. His response is a quippy “not if you have two cakes”, but later we see him juggling two literal cakes for his dad’s party. By stopping to be Spider-Man while trying to deliver the cakes to his family, he winds up ruining them both. This one is a pretty obvious metaphor for the way Miles is attempting to unsuccessfully juggle his personal life with his Spider-Man life. You could argue this theme makes Miguel right when he tries to take Miles down. Miles must make more sacrifices in his personal life if he’s meant to be a good Spider-Man. But I don’t think that’s what the movie’s saying at all. After all, a large emphasis is also put on Rio Morales telling Miles that while he can go out and explore the world, at the end of the day he has an obligation to take care of his personal responsibilities. In other words, Miles’ obligation to his family, and ultimately his obligation to save his father, is too important to be sacrificed for Miles’ superhero work. So what is the solution? Well, given the amount of Spider-People he’s befriended, maybe it’s not putting so much pressure on yourself and asking for help. But I think the resolution for this will have to wait until the next movie.

Miguel O’Hara: Let’s take a look at Miguel because his character arc seems to be mostly used in order to complete Miles’ arc. Miguel has taken it upon himself to fix every single anomaly he sees in the multiverse, maintaining a “canon” for Spider-Man specifically so that various universes don’t disappear like the universe he attempted to inhabit. First off, I do think it’s important to note that the canon Miguel is attempting to maintain is broken by Miles Morales’ existence, which is a very important acknowledgment of the awful fans who attempt to discredit Miles for not being enough like a classic Spider-Man. That aside, Miguel’s ideas on universes disappearing forever due to anomalies is constantly disproven in front of his face. While the Spot was created due to the events that happened after Miles was bitten, Miles is not responsible for the Spot’s actions, and Miles existing as Spider-Man has not lead to any disappearances like what Miguel experienced. There’s also Mayday, a direct consequence of Peter B. Parker training Miles, which wasn’t supposed to happen. Mayday, similarly, has not lead to any disappearing events. So what could have caused the tragedy that happened to Miguel? Most likely the fact that Miguel chose to stay in a different universe and permanently infringe upon it. And if we look at Miles’s storyline hinging on Rio’s idea that ultimately it’s your responsibility to come back home and take care of your personal life, it does seem like Miguel’s mistake was not going back home and taking care of his personal problems. I also think that Miguel’s insistence on being solitary could be a big hint that having other people to rely on solves the big cake problem in Miles’ character arc, but we’ll have to see.

Pavitr Prabhakar: Quick shout out to Pavitr for his short character arc being more possible proof that my “relying on other people” theory is correct. Pavitr has a heartbreaking moment where he actually says the words “I can do both” when he’s trying to save Gayatri and Inspector Singh at the same time. This is supposed to be his canon event, where Inspector Singh dies and carries on a tradition of majorly traumatic and impactful deaths in Spider-Man’s storyline. Except Miles prevents this by taking some of the pressure off of Pavitr’s shoulders and saving Inspector Singh himself. So thanks Pavitr, and also thank you for being adorable and having the most gorgeous Spider-Man design I could have possibly imagined.

Gwen Stacy: The discussion of this character arc has lead to a lot of in-fighting amongst ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ fans, meaning there’s a lot more work that needs to be done to fully understand this one. The first step to understanding this storyline is knowing that it’s a story of failure. Gwen tells us this herself. She failed Miles and she knows it. Gwen starts out the movie missing Miles a whole lot, and it’s because she isolates herself due to trauma. She had to kill her universe’s Peter Parker, her best friend, because in an endeavor to be as “special” as her, he turned himself into the Lizard. As a result she’s hostile towards her band and then quits, is short with her father, and has made no friends since Miles. The only thing she really cares about is being Spider-Woman, and her dad rejecting her once he realizes she’s Spider-Woman only further pushes her in that direction. Which is why meeting Miguel and Jessica so immediately impacts her. Suddenly she has a mentor in Jessica, and a whole group of Spider-People she can befriend without having to care at all about her personal life. But she essentially has to sacrifice Miles in order to have all of this. She knows that Miles is considered an anomaly, an enemy of everything Miguel’s working for. She also knowingly supports a system that would see Miles’ father dead, and does not support Miles when he rejects that system until it’s too late. So yes, she’s understandable, but she also made the selfish decision to let Miles suffer for an escape from her personal life. She even selfishly decided to reunite with him so she could have her friend back, and then attempted to distance herself from him again so she wouldn’t have to be the one to hurt him. But she’s learning, and that’s also important. At the end of the movie she goes back to her universe and reconciles with her father, no longer avoiding her personal life. She’s also actively leading a group with the sole intention of helping Miles. But she does have a lot to make up for in the next movie.

Hobie Brown: Hobie’s the big wild card in ‘Across the Spiderverse’. While his status as an anti-capitalist, anti-conforming, anarchist punk is used jokingly in some scenes, the narrative tends to agree with him. Which is why Hobie Brown ends up being one of the best characters in the entire movie. He’s the first person to warn Miles that he should be cautious of Miguel and his task force, and is openly disapproving that Gwen hasn’t told Miles that his mere existence is a problem to Miguel. He also stands by Miles throughout his entire time on screen. He gives him advice on his new energy blasting trick when he first meets him, reminds him that he has good parents, helps Miles escape Miguel, and then quits immediately after Miles gets away. Hobie is praised by the narrative both for questioning authority and for being loyal not to establishments, but to individuals like Miles. Even his thievery of Miguel’s tech is supported by the plot when he manages to replicate a universe hopping watch for Gwen in the hopes that she’ll quit like he did. And, naturally, he’s part of Gwen’s team at the end of the movie. Hobie’s such a badass and I’m really glad the movie praises his ability to point out problematic systems.

And that’s all I have for ‘Across The Spider-Verse’. There’s a lot going on in this movie, but the depth to all of it is one of the things that makes it such a masterpiece. And the depth to the animation is also a major player here. The animation isn’t just gorgeous, but the little details like the guiding lines on Miguel’s face, or the onomatopoeia bubbles being in different languages, really prove how much love and devotion went into each frame. Which is why I’m happy the next movie will likely get pushed back a year or so. The animators are excellent, but they were worked way too hard on this movie. I can’t wait for the next one, but I really want them to take their time with it so the animators can enjoy making it just as much as we enjoy watching it.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

ATEEZ:’THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW’

Promotional photo of (from left) Kang Yeosang, Park Seonghwa, Choi San, Jeong Yunho, Kim Hongjoong, Jung Wooyoung, Song Mingi, and Choi Jongho. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

The new album has officially dropped and I can say right off the bat that this album is like all of their other albums in one very important way. It also contains some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life. There’s something about the way that they create music and beats that scratches my brain in just the right way. But this album comes with a whole other level of hype just from the marketing strategies involved with this alone. Just for this album we got a wanted poster of ATEEZ that was the next day torn down with a flag stuck in the middle of the debris, a truck advertising chili peppers spotted at several locations, and mysterious character specific trailers set in a brand new setting for the story they’ve been weaving for years. Not many other groups are so dedicated to their storylines that they’ll release character trailers for their upcoming MV. With all of this hype there is the big question of if it lived up to all of that. We all knew that the music was going to be good; but is it that good? I mean; what do you think? It’s ATEEZ.

‘BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILI PEPPERS)’:

I’m going to start out with this one because this is the main track. Admittedly, this wasn’t originally one of my favorites on the album. And it’s still not my absolute favorite, there are a couple other songs that take that title. But I absolutely love this song! I think it just speaks to the quality of the album that there are songs that I like better than this one. This is such an amazing and upbeat song, and I love it more with each time that I listen to it. It shot up on my list quickly and I don’t get tired of it. One of my favorite parts of the song is the very beginning, because I freaking love the rapper taunts that the song starts out with. And this includes Seonghwa because in this particular song, the track has three rappers. I absolutely love this turn of events and I really wonder if this means they’ll use Seonghwa in the rapper line more often. He’s an amazing rapper and he did such a great job while Mingi was taking a much needed break; I would die if rapper Seonghwa becomes a regular thing! But hearing Hongjoong say “I got time but it’s not for you bro” made my entire life. The song itself is actually about their music itself! They talk about being young and hungry and how their music is something different that they put out into the world. I completely agree considering their music is nothing like anything else I’ve ever heard and my first reaction to hearing it was wondering where it had been all my life. Mingi even included a section in his own rap about how their music is welcoming to everyone. Considering the fact that ATEEZ has made it clear that they are a safe space to so many communities who need that, I loved this inclusion. Though, let’s be honest here, there’s an implication (or more than) in this song that has a completely different meaning. I am also pleasantly amazed that they listened to Atiny after ‘HALAZIA’ by giving the pre-chorus to Yeosang. His voice and deep register is amazing and he deserves to be heard more! They also gave a huge section of the song to Yunho and I’m loving how versatile they’ve been discovering his voice is. Because his voice is one of my favorites in all of K-Pop. But, you know, I’m biased. (Pun intended.)

‘BOUNCY” MV:

There were SO many trailers for this MV and it definitely stirred up the amount of interest they wanted by having so many. In the character trailer we saw the members of ATEEZ all separated into groups of two. Hongjoong and Mingi had a more western vibe (goat included) where they were watching the city from a rooftop, we also saw a wanted poster of Mingi being tossed around. We saw San and Wooyoung hiding out in a van with San as a boxer and Wooyoung as his manager. Yunho and Jongho were in a mechanic shop but also seemed to be moonlighting as undercover cops; or are undercover cops. And Seonghwa and Yeosang were heading a motorcycle gang making their way through the city. There were a lot of theories as to what this could mean right off the bat. Some people thought that this took place after the break out in ‘HALAZIA’ and that they were now hiding out. Others thought that this could be a past look at HALATEEZ. Everything was thrown into even more confusion when other trailers came out depicting the members in school uniforms at the academy we’ve seen in past MVs. Well this MV has now dropped…and I can’t stay that I have any more answers. I think I need to watch it at least another half a dozen times so that I can start understanding it a little more. Mingi seems to shoot up a saloon, which I’m sure isn’t really helping his poster status. My favorite pieces in this MV actually came from San and Wooyoung as the boxer and boxing manager. Wooyoung’s facial expressions were amazing and made me laugh! The other members we see in their concepts from the trailers, but they don’t seem to have much of a story going on more than what we’ve already seen. They don’t really get to the school until the end, but it feels more like a setting than a plot point. At least for now. It could be that this is ATEEZ and before we were seeing HALATEEZ? My guess is that this will come back later. They all get back together and blow up the town by the end of it. But I have so many questions! Is this ATEEZ or HALATEEZ? What was that town? Does the town being blown up help their cause in the revolution? Despite my confusion, this has to be one of my favorite ATEEZ MVs. There’s so much going on in the very best way and the concept is completely impeccable. Also new iconic choreography complete with a new iconic walk! What’s not to love? (Except for the fact that Jongho needed way more screen time than he got.)

‘This World’:

I have to say, this album gives off very HALATEEZ vibes, but perhaps nothing so much as this song. This song is about the corruption of the world that they’re living in, asks what they are prepared to sacrifice, and declares that sometimes you need a little darkness to get out of the darkness. One of my favorite elements of this song is that it includes the PSA from the last album as part of the song. The repeated words add a chilling effect that fits it so perfectly. There is a willingness to fight in this song, but the song is also a little about them sacrificing themselves for the cause. Considering the position they currently have in the K-Pop world, it does really make me wonder if they take a little inspiration from that business. But who knows! I mean, these are the pirates of the K-Pop industry. But that aside, we do know that HALATEEZ were committing violent acts for the sake of restoring emotion from their performance of ‘Rhythm Ta’ on Kingdom as well as a few other things. Though needed in the world they’ve created, it does absolutely play off this theme of needing darkness to defeat the darkness. Maybe this is a clue for this being a more HALATEEZ album? But Hongjoong has been pretty agile about clearing up the storyline lately, so he could come out and completely put all of my theories to shame. That is what usually happens.

‘Dune’:

This was one of my two favorite songs on the album. There’s another possible hint here for this being a HALATEEZ album. ‘HALA HALA’ actually comes up in this track at the very beginning, but very briefly. This song has a really great beat and is very energetic despite the somber tone of the lyrics. The lyrics are despairing wondering why this is happening to them and wondering how much more they’ll have to sacrifice. This also talks about the loss of passion for the war and wanting to give it all up. Understandable for anyone fighting in a war or leading a rebellion. But the tempo of the song is so different, the depth of the lyrics come as an amazing surprise for what you’re initially expecting. I also have to say that the chanting in this song is one of my absolute favorite things. It gets stuck in my head all the time to an insane degree. All the combined features here made me feel like I wish I had a song like this earlier in my life. It’s so transportive!

‘DJANGO’:

This was the song I listened to at first that made me really feel like the album was going to blow me away. The small clip that we had of this was too addicting and the song was already getting stuck in my head before it even came out. The song criticizes society’s tendency to live for the future instead of living for the present. The song boasts that living for the present means that you make the life everyone else is attempting to predict. It’s a really good message and a reminder that I’m sure many of us need frequently. I also really like this song because Yunho growls and has this really low register bit that makes me want to pass out every time I hear it. This song completely lived up to all of the hype. It was also the one that most other people seemed to like the sound clip of the most, and the full version is even better.

‘Wake Up’:

One of the reasons why I like this song so much is the double meaning of it. The song lyrics follow the plot of a brainwashed society that’s having their emotions taken away from them. The song acts as the rebellion’s attempt to get through to the public by waking them up. But the song also can be read as ATEEZ themselves getting through to fans who are having difficult times. The lyrics instruct the listener to listen to their voice and to let them lead them out of whatever dark place that they are in. It also comforts the listener by saying that they’ll be with them even in the dark. It’s so clever that the song can be read both ways and it also is so heart warming. As someone who has used ATEEZ to help myself out of dark places, the lyrics of this song are so touching to me. Hongjoong’s fast rap in this song also makes one of the best pieces of it and Jongho’s soaring vocals on some of the most emotional lyrics feel perfect.

‘Outlaw’:

This song has the title of the entire album and like everything else, it packs a punch. The song is a little simpler lyrically in that it talks about being an outlaw and someone to be afraid of. It feels a little more like an anthem for HALATEEZ. Especially because it talks about having the nature of an outlaw rather than becoming it, which does fit HALATEEZ more than it fits the plot ATEEZ themselves have been going through. It’s another addicting song and just like the rest of the album, I’m very impressed with the line distribution here. This album is really great for line distribution and they completely answered our requests about Yeosang getting more since ‘HALAZIA’. This is a good song to highlight this in.

So, yes, if you were to ask me whether this album lives up to the hype I would answer very very positively! Not only does this album live up to the hype; but I would even say that it surpasses it! ATEEZ has once again come out with an album that I wish I had my entire life. And like their other albums, it’s an album that is meant to be blasted out of speakers. If I ever doubted; ATEEZ would slap me in the face with how much I can’t stray from my ults. If you haven’t yet, go stream this album and all of their performances of ‘BOUNCY’! This album is yet another immersive music experience and I will be listening to it for months and months on end. Ugh, it’s just so good!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

K-Pop: Happy Birthday Yeosang!

Promotional photo of Kang Yeosang. Copyright goes to KQ Entertainment and ATEEZ.

Hey! Hallie here!

Today Ateez’s new album comes out, “THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW”! Unfortunately I’m writing this post in advance, so I will absolutely be enjoying the album by the time you read this post, but I have nothing to say about it now other than I’m extremely excited to hear it and you should go stream it right now! For this post, I’m celebrating Yeosang and his birthday! This might be a day late, but I can’t let this amazing man’s birthday pass by without a post dedicated to all of the things I love and appreciate about him. From performances to variety shows, Yeosang is completely captivating. He’s kind, hilarious, and born to perform on stage. There’s so much to obsess over, so let’s get into it!

Yeosang’s Thoughtfulness:

Yeosang is undoubtedly extremely kind to those around him, especially Atiny. I mean, this man can’t look angry during a photoshoot to save his life, are we really surprised? He famously created a long note for Atiny during a period where he was receiving a lot of hate that stuck with people purely for how kind it was. In it he focused specifically on Atiny, telling them how much he appreciated them and reassuring them that he was alright and that they didn’t have to worry. His only words towards the people attacking him were that he hoped they would find happiness writing good things in the future rather than tearing other people down. His selflessness has extended to fan meets as well, where he has been known to not only focus conversations on Atiny, but even to prepare questions for them. He also has joined in with other members to ensure Atiny safety at such events, including taking steps to cool down overheated Atiny. He’s very sweet towards his members as well. Seonghwa has called him out for not voicing his problems to ensure other people don’t get hurt by his grievances. He also avoids conflict as much as possible and attempts to show frequent affection towards all the members, often through teasing. He’s stated before that coming into the group, he attempted to show as little favoritism as possible towards any one specific member so all the members knew they could rely on him. And after all these years, he’s become a member who both ATEEZ and Atiny can still consider extremely reliable and thoughtful.

Yeosang’s Thoughtlessness:

Yes, the title for this section is a joke. Yeosang is absolutely hilarious and I really want to talk about how much he makes me laugh, but as a fan, I have to start with this man’s cluelessness. Yeosang is a very intelligent, dumb man. He’s, of course, really smart and has said many things that could be considered wise. But he also has turned a fan towards a sweating Atiny while he and the fan were behind glass due to COVID restrictions. Which, as you could imagine, didn’t work out the best. Yeosang recently was given a concept for an episode of ATEEZ’s variety show, and the minute the show started he completely forgot the concept. He once confused himself into silence while trying to remember his showering routine. I adore his moments of “brain empty” because I find them so relatable. We all have moments where all thoughts completely fly out of our heads, but Yeosang manages to make his so funny. But while we’re on the topic of how funny Yeosang is, I do want to highlight how good he is at deadpan, teasing comedy as well. He once gave Jongho a birthday gift that appeared to be AirPods but when opened, turned out to be a giant AirPod shaped bubble machine. He also responded to Mingi jokingly yelling in his face by turning around and taking a sip of alcohol. He’s just naturally so funny, ready with a funny comeback to most things without a single change of expression. It’s hard not to laugh after watching Yeosang interact with his members.

Yeosang’s Talent:

While I have always really appreciated Yeosang’s contributions to ATEEZ, I wasn’t truly swept away by him until I saw him live. His stage presence is unmatched. Not only are his interactions with Atiny both hilarious and adorable, but his facial expressions and dance skills are no joke. When I saw him perform the intro to “Inception”, looking both regal and mysterious, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. He’s the perfect visual, managing to look elegant no matter what he’s doing. Whenever he’s center during a performance you can’t help but stare. When it comes to dancing, he executes each dance with practiced grace, making even complicated and highly energetic stages like “Cyberpunk” look absolutely effortless. And, of course, he looks really attractive doing all of it. Have you seen his birthmark? And none of that even mentions his deep voice, which we’ve heard for years in songs like “Answer” but now we finally have on full display in “HALAZIA”. His voice is not only impressive, but one of the deepest I’ve heard in K-Pop. It’s incredibly satisfying to listen to how deep his voice can get after years of only hearing hints. Yeosang is one of those people who I hope everyone can see live at least once. I walked in to my first ATEEZ concert with a completely different bias wrecker than what I walked out of the concert with, and that’s thanks to Yeosang absolutely wrecking me during the concert. Everyone should be able to experience the power of Yeosang’s stage presence in person.

Well that’s it for now. I could ramble forever about how much I adore Yeosang, but I think I’m going to leave it here. I honestly can’t believe how much this man has changed my life. He isn’t just someone who I find impressive or entertaining. He’s someone who inspires me. He leads with example through his determination, hard work, and kindness. He inspires me to embrace the unique things about me and to keep trying when things get tough. I really relate to his awkward moments and his moments of forgetfulness, and I take comfort in his quiet moments of consideration and wisdom. I honestly can’t imagine my life without cheering him on from the Atiny crowd. I’m so happy to be spending another birthday celebrating him, and I hope to continue doing so for many more years. Happy Birthday, Yeosang!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop: Twice at So-Fi

Promotional image of (from left) Minatozaki Sana, Kim Dahyun, Yoo Jeongyeon, Myoui Mina, Im Nayeon, Son Chaeyoung, Hirai Momo, Park Jihyo, and Chou Tzuyu. Copyright goes to Twice and JYP.

Hi! It’s Annie!

It’s been a while but we’re back and now with unexpected experiences! I have been following Twice very very loosely for a little while because of a few songs that I’ve liked but, because I was completely unaware of how versatile they were, I never got completely into them. I’ve been on the precipice a few times and now I wish that I would have gotten into them sooner. A family member of mine only two days before the concert in LA entered a raffle and randomly won suite tickets to the Twice concert at So-Fi stadium. Because she isn’t really interested in K-Pop, she offered the tickets to my sister and I who immediately spent the next couple of days doing a complete deep dive into Twice. A couple of days ago was the concert and I can honestly say I am definitely a Once now. Not only was the concert an absolutely amazing time, suite or not, but I am now so utterly obsessed with so many of their songs that it’s like I’m constantly listening to a Twice playlist in my head. This was my second time at So-Fi, my first was for BTS’s PTD concert. This just seems to be one of the perfect venues for filling all of LA with the energy of a K-Pop concert. And Twice is a group that really knows how to put on a show and interact with the crowd!

Suite:

Just because I know some people might be interested in this, I wanted to explain what our experience in the suite was like! These were some of the middling level suites, so they were the suites right under the nosebleeds and not the ones close to the stage. I’ve heard rumors that suites get their own viewing screens, but they really aren’t worth it because they’re further into the suite and why would you go there when you’re watching the concert? What was worth it were the comfortable seats right in the first row of a private balcony and a private quarters with a private bathroom. The private bathroom is probably what makes it all worth it; if you’ve ever been to a concert you know what the women’s bathroom lines are like. With barely anyone in front of you from the seats, it’s a very excellent view! My only issues with it were the lack of a community feeling. When you’re so isolated from the rest of the crowd you don’t hear everyone around you singing along and you also don’t really get to stand up to dance. You can’t really participate in the lightstick wave either because it’s hard to see it coming. So overall, I wouldn’t sneeze at doing it again! But I did miss a lot of the community and energetic feelings of a more general seat.

Group Performances:

The concert started out with some of their most energetic songs; ‘Set Me Free’ and ‘I Can’t Stop Me’. Starting out with a bang seems to be the trend in concerts right now and I love it every time! Their entrance was nothing short of iconic. Before the concert we were treated to a commercial level reel of all of the girls with their eyes closed and right when the concert started their eyes opened and we saw all of them in silhouette on the screen before they were lit up. After the first songs we had their introduction where Jihyo practically punched you in the face with how charismatic she is as the leader of the group. Then we got ‘Go Hard’ which did perfectly in showing how energetic the concert was going to be. ‘More and More’, ‘Moonlight Sunrise’, and ‘Brave’ came next and absolutely blew me away. Especially with the set pieces. ‘More and More’ had them all on these triangular structures at first which they all looked so good on. Seriously, all of them are so charismatic. I challenge you to go to one of the concerts and not come out completely in love with all nine members. The concert did really well in giving them all time to shine within the group performances and outside of them, which I’ll get to in a minute. For the next part of their group performances they actually had a live band including a woman on lead guitar! They started their section with the live band with ‘Feel Special’ and then they did ‘Cry for Me’ which people know as more of a B-Side but was one of my favorite songs all night. Their vocals were so good I nearly cried during this song which doesn’t have en emotional melody, and the live band fit it so perfectly! Then they continued with ‘Fancy’ and ‘The Feels’ which everyone went crazy for. You could barely hear the girls with how many people were singing along to these ones. They did the next group segment starting with ‘Queen of Hearts’ which was another song that surprised me. They did a medley of favorites which was ‘Yes or Yes/ What is Love/Cheer Up/ Likey/Knock Knock/Scientist/ Heart Shaker’ which was almost exhausting to watch them do. I have no idea how they got through such energetic songs right after each other, but they made it look effortless. Then they did ‘Alcohol Free’, ‘Dance the Night Away’ (I lost my mind at this one because this is probably my favorite Twice song right now), and ‘Talk that Talk’. Those three together gave off such fun and summery vibes! A little later they did ‘When We Were Kids’ complete with pictures of them as kids and ‘Crazy Stupid Love’. Before the encore they watched a video LA Once prepared for them that was emotional for everyone involved. For the encore they spun a wheel and partly listened to fans to determine which songs they would perform. They ended up with ‘Doughnut’ which I fell in love with despite it being a slower melody, something I’m usually not as much into, ‘Basics’, and ‘Signal’. I didn’t realize that most girl groups don’t do as much of ending ments and speeches. It felt surprising to me to have them leave so suddenly! But they were so adorable about leaving and Dahyun stuck her head out from the side of the stage to say goodbye to all of us a little longer!

Individual Performances:

I am so glad that more groups are getting to do individual performances! I know that a few groups and members in K-Pop have talked about how the group mentality takes a toll on their mental health. A lot of them don’t feel as though they can express themselves individually and being in your twenties is really difficult in general because many of us are trying to figure out who we are as individuals. I wish more groups would look into individual stages for this reason and also because they are always so entertaining! At the beginning of the first one; Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Jihyo, and Chaeyoung came out as a unit to entertain the crowd by dancing to Stray Kids and introducing themselves as “girls who take showers together” accidentally before laughing for a long while and elaborating on what that meant. They laughed so much and it was so contagious! It was one of the most fun pieces of the concert! Dahyun came out first with her solo in a gorgeous dress with a long train draped over her seat as she played piano. She began with playing the melody of ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen before switching into a cover of ‘Try’ by Colbie Caillat; it was insanely gorgeous and she expressed how nostalgic she felt about playing piano. Tzuyu did a cover of ‘Done for Me’ by Charlie Puth where she really showed off her individual vocal and dancing skills and she talked about how proud she was of taking on the challenge. Sana then came out with a very sexy version of ‘New Rules’ by Dua Lipa and she talked about how she loved her new outfit. Momo did a sexy dance cover of ‘Move’ by Beyonce complete with pole dancing which she worked hard to learn more of! And Mina capped off that section with a mesmerizing version of ‘7 Rings’ by Ariana Grande which she said she loved hearing everyone sing along to. Then when the other four girls came out later we got Chayoung playing an acoustic version of an original song about her guitar that was adorable, Jihyo came out powerfully with ‘Nightmare’ which is a song from her solo album coming out soon, Jeongyeon did a cover of ‘Juice’ by Lizzo in all pink complete with a recorder solo, and Nayeon did her solo song ‘Pop!’ which I freaked out when I heard. It was nothing short of energetic and adorable, and I love the song! The solo stages really showed off their individual charms and I loved seeing how they each expressed themselves in a concert that was about their individual identities in concept!

Bias Wrecking:

I went into this concert really wondering if my assumptions about my bias and bias wrecker would be wrong because I was so new to the group. Weirdly, my bias and bias wrecker remained the same! Watching the concert only made me more sure of which members spoke to me the most. Nayeon is my bias and I love her sense of humor as well as performance. Her voice is gorgeous and she’s so effortless that it’s hard to take your eyes off of her. And I loved how much she laughed through the whole concert, she really made it her mission to make the other girls and the audience laugh! Dahyun is my bias wrecker and she was hilarious and so sweet to everyone on stage! My sister went in with her bias being Jeongyeon and she ended up being her bias wrecker at the end of the concert; she really knew how to hype up the crowd! But she ended with Jihyo being her bias because that girl has so much charisma! It was hard to not watch her during the concert and feel more energized by her presence. Mina almost wrecked me for how gorgeous and confident she came across in every stage. Momo almost wrecked my sister because of her performance ability that was really off the charts. But everyone almost got me at some point! Tzuyu was a such a fluid and versatile performer, Sana was so adorable and hilarious, and Chaeyoung knew exactly how skilled she was and it was infectious. But seriously, I’m such a huge Nayeon stan and such a huge Twice stan after this!

I am so glad that I got to go to this concert! And my sister and I are both officially part of Once! You can absolutely expect more posts about Twice in the future and I’m already so excited to write more about them. It is never too late to expand your multi-stan field! Just know that if you’re an Atiny, like I am, Hongjoong is always watching.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Books: ‘Star Wars: Thrawn’ Review

Promotional artwork of Grand Admiral Thrawn for the cover of ‘Star Wars: Thrawn’. Credit goes to Two Dots, and rights go to Del Rey, Lucasfilm, and Timothy Zahn.

Hey! Hallie here!

A few posts ago I mentioned that I was reading this book, so naturally now I have to review it! This is the first book of Timothy Zahn’s first canonical Thrawn trilogy. For those who aren’t aware of how beloved Timothy Zahn is in the Star Wars fandom, he also created a trilogy in the nineties titled ‘The Thrawn Trilogy’. These books were widely regarded as the best Star Wars books of their time and some of the best sci-fi books ever created. This trilogy introduced the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who found himself in control of Imperial forces after the demise of Palpatine, and followed his attempts to crush Luke, Leia, Han, and the Rebellion. But this trilogy is now considered one of the ‘Legends’ books, or the books that are no longer canon since Disney took ownership of Star Wars. Fortunately for us, Dave Filoni is just as big of a Star Wars fan as the rest of us and loved Thrawn well enough to introduce him into canon via ‘Star Wars: Rebels’ and now, ‘Ahsoka’. With Thrawn finally part of the official Star Wars timeline, Timothy Zahn was invited back to write for Thrawn again, this time without any caveats. But has Timothy Zahn’s writing, and the incredibly interesting mind of a character like Thrawn, held up over the years? Let’s talk about what I liked and disliked about this book! Minor spoilers ahead!

The Good:

Thrawn: Of course. The writing kind of needs to be good for this character in order for the book to hold up at all. But the writing for Thrawn isn’t just good. It’s incredible. This book reminded me why I adored Thrawn in the original ‘Legends’ trilogy. When we meet Thrawn in this book he’s been banished from his home world and sent to live in exile on a desolate planet. But we don’t necessarily see this from Thrawn’s perspective. Instead, we follow the Imperials on an investigative trip as they flail attempting to figure out who’s taking control of their technology and silently depleting their forces of Stormtroopers. Thrawn’s abilities to outsmart the Imperials get him a one way ticket to Palpatine, who regards him with vague interest, and then intense interest when Thrawn mentions that he once knew Anakin Skywalker. From there the book covers his successful military career and his immensely fast rise through Imperial ranks.

The book changes perspectives between three characters, but when you’re in Thrawn’s head you understand why so many people compare him to Sherlock Holmes. He reads body language with mind-blowing ease, notices small details no one else takes note of, and puts together strategies so quickly that he remains several steps ahead of the reader even when you’re reading his perspective. But it isn’t like he finds sudden solutions to impossible problems. The clues are always there for readers to look back on, it’s just that Thrawn can put them together faster than you can. I also really enjoyed exploring Thrawn’s motivations. He doesn’t side with the Empire because he agrees with them. In fact, he feels Palpatine is dangerous and unfit to lead. However, he is loyal to his people, the Chiss, and feels the Empire is the best way to keep them safe from their adversaries and create the order the Chiss desire for the galaxy. Thrawn also doesn’t like killing people. He sees it as a waste, though more a waste of assets than a waste of life, and frequently demonstrates extreme dislike and disgust for the Imperials who brush off major loss of life. Then there’s the fact that despite all of his admirable elements Thrawn is given one major flaw in the book. He’s really bad at politics, and other people often have to intervene for him in his career because he’s an alien working in the mostly pro-human Empire. All of these elements make for a really complicated character who’s just as enjoyable to read about as I remember. Seriously, if you don’t get the Thrawn hype, I really recommend reading this book.

Eli Vanto: This is the Watson to Thrawn’s Sherlock Holmes, and one of the other characters whose perspective is explored in the book. Just like with Watson, Thrawn takes an immediate interest in Eli despite the fact that Eli has no idea why. But unlike Watson, Eli has really complicated feelings about this that make his character extremely interesting. Eli first becomes close with Thrawn because Thrawn doesn’t speak Basic well and Eli speaks a language that Thrawn is more familiar with, so Eli acts as Thrawn’s translator and teacher. But before Thrawn was essentially pushed onto him, he was a country boy from Wild Space who joined the Empire for his parents. Those ideals both align him and alienate him from Thrawn. On the one hand, most Imperials look down on Eli for being from Wild Space, so Eli greatly empathizes with Thrawn for the way Imperials look down on him for being Chiss. But he also despises that his connection to Thrawn entirely changes his military career and prevents him from living the comfortable life he was envisioning for himself. Eli struggles a lot with his relationship with Thrawn, feeling both like he lives in his shadow and also that he’s privileged to be able to observe someone so brilliant. He also learns a lot from Thrawn and winds up smarter than most of his peers by the end of the book just for spending so much time with him. But despite all those mixed feelings, Eli is only ever kind and considerate towards everyone, especially Thrawn, and it’s easy to root for him.

Nightswan: Nightswan is the main mystery of ‘Star Wars: Thrawn’. Towards the beginning of the book, Thrawn hears word of a mysterious person named Nightswan who’s disrupting Imperial shipments of precious metals and whose strategy impresses him. Though I will say that it’s REALLY easy to figure out who Nightswan is, I still found the hunting down of Nightswan to be a fun thread to pull the plot forward. I enjoyed the back and forth of intelligent strategy and attempting to one up each other from both Thrawn and Nightswan. I also really loved the moment these two finally meet before the final battle of the book. The amount of respect and genuine curiosity that they greet each other with makes the conversation feel less antagonistic and more bittersweet. Though this was supposed to be more of a mystery, there are so many other mysteries to solve in the book that I was able to put that aside and just enjoy this for the entertaining battle of wits that it was.

The Bad:

Governor Pryce: If you’ve watched ‘Star Wars: Rebels’ you know who Governor Pryce is. She’s the governor of the planet Lothal and a pretty standard Imperial lackey. In this book Timothy Zahn decided to spend time fleshing her out, but I’m not sure he entirely succeeds. For one, she is another character whose perspective you follow in the book, but her storyline is completely different from Thrawn’s and Eli’s for most of the book. And her story is a lot less interesting. She gets less time than the other characters, but I couldn’t help but be irritated whenever the other storyline was put on pause for her. Then there’s her characterization. Zahn mainly focuses on her desire to get out into the world and become a more powerful figure. She feels stifled by Lothal and is tired of being pushed around by the politicians who want to get control of her family’s mine. But we don’t get much time to feel for her before she spends most of the book on Coruscant, kissing up to as many people as possible in order to get the power she wants. And when she realizes city life isn’t everything she hoped, you still don’t empathize with her because she’s well established as shady and untrustworthy by this point. The betrayals she experiences that you’re supposed to feel bad about, mean nothing when you’re already certain she would betray those people as well the moment she got the chance. And it all leads up to the end of the book, where it fully cements her villainous reputation. Which would be more powerful if I cared about her at any point before that. But I didn’t. She was the same, uncomplicated, classic villain at the end of the book as I assumed she was at the beginning of the book.

Overall, I really loved this book. I just really love Thrawn, you guys. He manages to be badass without being force sensitive, and the respect he shows for his enemies only makes me respect him more. I fully intend to read the rest of this trilogy and I might check out Timothy Zahn’s other canon trilogy too, which details more about Thrawn’s people. So look out for those reviews in the future! For now, if you want to brush up on Thrawn, or if you just don’t know much about him and want to know why everyone else freaked out when he showed up in the ‘Ahsoka’ trailer, I highly recommend this. Thrawn will in the very least ruin you for any other Imperial officer ever.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Books: ‘K-Pop Confidential’ and the Reality of Idol Life

Cover art of ‘K-Pop Confidential’ by Stephan Lee. Copyright goes to Stephan Lee and any artists involved in this design.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Before I go further into this post I want to say that not only will this post contain MAJOR SPOILERS for ‘K-Pop Confidential’, but also its sequel ‘K-Pop Revolution’. I also want to place a TRIGGER WARNING here because of the trauma depicted in these books specifically when talking about eating disorders. With that out of the way, I really wanted to talk about this two-book series that tries to take a very realistic look into the lives of K-Pop idols. Now whether both books do a great job of this is a different question that I will absolutely get to. But the first book tackles trainee life and what that is often like for idols while the second book tries to take more of a look at the treatment of idols in their idol lives. We know that the K-Pop industry can be brutal, especially in the treatment of those involved, and it’s absolutely great that more media has been getting into the reality of it. ‘Imitation’, a K-Drama featuring Yunho of ATEEZ, set out to make some of these realities known and those bits were some of my favorite parts of the entire show. So how well did these two books really do in pushing the reality into the limelight?

ANNOUNCEMENT: As of next week we will be on vacation for two weeks, but then we’ll be back with regularly scheduled posts. See you soon!

K-Pop Confidential:

This book is mostly focused on the trainee lives of idols rather than having a small training section and rushing to the debut of the K-Pop group. Showing the glamorous life of a K-Pop idol is not the point of these books. This book specifically details the lives of the artists and the tough circumstances surrounding the realities of it all. When Candace first auditions in the US for the company, she does it more out of an obligation or proof for her friends than doing it because she actually wants her life to be that way. We see her battle with that as the book goes on and find the determination to stay, because it is all too easy to want to quit. And while I absolutely loved this book and really liked how in depth it went, I still had some issues here.

The Good- Obviously, this book really succeeds in doing what it sets out to do. From the beginning we see that Candace is dealing with very stone faced corporate individuals rather than ones who really seem to care about her. We learn that with some of them that isn’t true; but with some of them she is very much viewed as a commodity rather than a human being. When Candace is first being given a tour of the facility she will be training in, she sees a group of very young elementary school kids being trained and knows that they will eventually go into the same program she is going into. In fact, it makes her aware of how many of her fellow trainees have been training since they were small children. “But doesn’t this break child labor laws?” Yes, but not until recently. Very recently a law was passed in South Korea that means that idol companies will no longer be able to train minors over a certain amount of time a week and must allow all minors to attend school full time. This law has rocked the K-Pop world, forced many companies to completely rearrange the way they work, and is just the first step in what many hope is an ongoing battle to protect minors in entertainment. After seeing this, Candace is led to her trainee floor where her and the other trainees are essentially locked in and not allowed out except on weekends. However, in this book and in many real life companies, trainees are not allowed out during the first month at all in the hopes of stifling early urges to quit. No, I am not joking. The book goes on to talk about the panic attacks that trainees go through frequently, including fear that they will be punished and not allowed to leave to see their families. It talks about dietary restrictions and how taking away the little food they already have can be used as a way of punishment. Female idols get way less to eat than male idols who already barely get anything at all. The book details how trainee programs pit the girls against each other as well. Candace is bullied by a girl named Helena who was encouraged to make Candace want to leave by an adult telling her that they’d likely only debut one American-born Korean in a K-Pop group, so it had to be either one or the other. Candace even bears witness to another trainee group being told that the company put them on hold and that half of them would be eliminated immediately. The author pulls no punches. We see the weight measuring in front of your entire group in ‘Imitation’, but this also mentions how certain idols are encouraged not to swallow their spit and to stop drinking water in order to lose weight. You might think that all of this is unrealistic and absurd, but the sad fact of the matter is that this is all pretty common in trainee programs. In some companies more than others, but common nonetheless. And this book delivers all of this through an engaging plot that still manages to keep things a bit lighthearted without veering the book straight into depressing. I get pretty emotionally affected sometimes when reading books or watching media, and this book managed to not tap into that too deeply while still getting its point across, which I appreciated.

The Bad- If this book has one thing that it suffers from most, its character development. One thing I will say is that it tells you a lot that I still really loved this book when I am usually more character driven than plot driven. The plot was that fantastic! But the characters did feel a little lackluster. While Candace was an interesting main character to follow, it felt as though she remained stagnant throughout the book. She would learn lessons and become more determined, but her inner dialogue never really seemed to change with those new lessons and views. And I think part of that was because we saw that Candace was determined to prove her parents wrong, but Candace had a shorter amount of time to really demonstrate who she was beyond singing and proving her parents wrong. The other characters in her group are focused on minimally and only when they are major plot point relevant. This book has a love triangle, and I know I’m biased because I’m not a huge fan of love triangles, but I really wasn’t a fan of it here. One of her love interests is also a trainee who we know she thinks of as cute and lighthearted but has little time to demonstrate even that. When they start dating it feels like it comes out of nowhere because they’ve only had a conversation maybe twice, and the author tries to subvert this by putting in a time jump. But then the audience has no connection to the couple because we didn’t get to truly see the couple form and get closer. Then the author has this character called One.J who is the maknae and writer of the most popular K-Pop group of all time and is extremely popular internationally. (He’s basically a mix of Jungkook and Namjoon with more Jungkook.) And One.J is looked down on by the main character for a couple of meaningless things. Like kissing her when sasaengs could be a problem or yelling at somebody who wouldn’t give them privacy when he was literally trying to warn her about something pretty bad. He had also asked this person to leave very nicely like three times beforehand. She literally treats him like he’s not a human who’s allowed to show emotions and it drove me insane. Because too many people treat idols like that already. Overall I did really love this book! These things feel small compared to all the good that the book covers.

K-Pop Revolution:

While I really liked the first book, this one definitely had its ups and downs for me. What’s a little odd to me is that this book in general gets better reviews than the first one. But this one feels more like a work of fiction or a more soapy K-Drama to me. It certainly has lots of drama in it! But what really got me about this book is that it still set out to do some good like in the previous book, but because of a series of events that happen in the book, these pieces of immense good just don’t hit as hard. Like I mentioned before, this is more or less after the debut of the idol group. This book instead details the hardships of the lives of K-Pop idols. Or some of them at least!

The Good- This book picks up right where the last one left off! Which I usually don’t like, but I felt it was good here. Especially because this amount of material could not have been covered in one book and this series ends after the second book. There’s not another cliff-hanger, this is just a two parter and it really makes sense where the author decided to divide the story. Candace speaks out against the K-Pop industry in the last book and is now facing being sued. Until her company asks her back after a change in the CEO and claims that they’ll be a new revolution for K-Pop, and the new face of making the industry more ethical and human-focused. What this book does right is exactly what it did right in the first book. Expose the realities of the current K-Pop industry. It talks about how idols have almost every facet of their lives filmed. And how in these variety shows, even though they are supposed to show us the unfiltered versions of our favorite K-Pop idols, they don’t really do that. While these shows often start out from a place of showing the reality of the situation, they often make K-Pop idols choose elements of their personalities and over-dramatize them. Which means they come from a place of truth, but still don’t feel completely true or comfortable to the idol. And being filmed all the time, especially during what’s supposed to be down time like vacations, can be even more draining because those are the times when you most want to be comfortable in your own skin. It also talks about the insane schedules. Trainees have to train all day and usually only get about three hours to sleep if they’re lucky. Idol life is no different. Their feet are often awful looking and nailless from having to dance so much and their schedules involve even more. We’ve been taught that the schedule of having one album release, a press tour, and a concert tour a year is reasonable. It is not. Companies in the US have been taken down by their artists for overworking artists for having schedules like that. K-Pop artists often also have to do things like release solo tracks, do press for those, do elongated tours, and film K-Dramas within that time. Not to mention they do more variety shows as part of their press tours. My favorite group is ATEEZ and this really slapped me in the face with how inhumane their schedules often are. Because they have done all of these things that I just mentioned above in only one year before. The book also talks about how all K-Pop looks exactly the same and acts exactly the same, and how it hasn’t been a safe place for idols who are different races or sexualities. This book has a Black character and a queer character, and it does all that it can to empower those two characters and the K-Pop group that they are in. Honestly, I kind of wish this book was about their group and their rise to popularity. I wanted to know more about them! I also loved how this book tackled how female artists are blamed for more than male artists, especially when it comes to love related scandals. Too real!

The Bad- This book seemed to decide that the reality of the situation wasn’t enough and that’s where it really broke down for me; because bringing out the realities is what this book series did best. So when the author felt that there had to be unrealistic twists and turns, I wondered why we couldn’t have spent more time on the other issues that idols face. We talked about sasaengs in the last book but we didn’t see them in this book. We didn’t even get fully into the close relationship between idols and their fans, which is something I really wanted to see from this book. Instead we got this master plot from the CEO who was hiding her true identity to make some of the girls drop out and sabotage the group so that she could run the K-Pop industry the way she wanted, I guess. A good chunk of this plot was hijacked by this sudden appearance of this mustache twirling villain, when the real villain should have been what it was in the last book. The unethical practices of the industry. And while many of the messages came from that, that’s not where most of the plot was. No real life agency is going to sabotage a group they think will do really well and already have proof that they would do really well. If it gets them money it stays, if it doesn’t it goes is how most business work. A real life CEO isn’t going to suddenly maniacally laugh and claim that she was the daughter of another evil character this entire time. Also, the love triangle came back for no reason in this book even though it was pretty well settled in the last book. For some reason, Candace finally discovered that One.J is (gasp) a human being! And so has a crush on him again. It doesn’t help that this book spends absolutely no time on her actual boyfriend. In both books it really felt to me like One.J is the better choice just because he’s the character who’s most developed in both books. But then again, the main character gets pretty egotistical and annoying in this book and doesn’t really grow out of it. So I’m glad that One.J didn’t end up with her. I actually liked who One.J ended up with (the leader of the actually progressive group) and I wanted to see their relationship instead. I just wanted this book to be about the other group instead; rising up from nothingness to changing the world. An underdog story, like BTS with more likable characters! There was always something going on in this book, it never took a second to breathe, but not all of it was realistic. It made it feel stressful for no reason. I wanted to like this one after the first book but, I’ll say it again, it felt like it was lacking something by not being more centered in reality.

If you want to go pick up these books, go ahead! It’s honestly pretty hard to read the first book without reading the second, at least the first time reading them, because you really are lacking a part of the story. But don’t expect the second book to hit as hard as the first one. It still hits pretty hard, but I feel like the blow is lessened by having more unrealistic things happen. It feels more like it could be a fantasy than the first book did. But still, these books bring forward a lot of really good points about the industry and a lot of realities I wish more people would know and understand. I just wish I had connected with the characters a little more! But connecting these realities to things I know groups that I like went through was truly heartbreaking. Good to know, but heartbreaking.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Theme Parks: What’s Going on With the Disney Parks in Florida?

Promotional photo for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World. Rights go to Disney Parks and Resorts as well as photographer Matt Stroshane.

Hey! Hallie here!

If you keep up with politics at all you know that Florida isn’t the safest place to be at the moment. You’ll also know that Disney has been having issues with the new environment as well. Or rather, the governor has attempted to give Disney problems for refusing to conform to his ideals while Disney lawyers have made him look like a giant idiot. This hostile face-off continues with the news we heard recently. Disney, while in the process of opening new offices in Florida and moving a large amount of their California staff to the state, has cancelled all of their plans and is moving their staff back to California. There’s a lot to discuss around this giant move, and on top of that we have news about Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the immersive Star Wars hotel experience now closing permanently in September. So what does all this mean for Walt Disney World? Let’s speculate!

Disney Moving Out of Florida:

Yes, Disney’s moving their staff out of Florida. Back when Bob Chapek was still calling the shots at Disney, the decision was made to start a complete move of Imagineering to offices in Florida. This was a move worth billions of dollars that would have opened up thousands of high-paying jobs for the state. For those who don’t know, Imagineering describes the branch of Disney that works on attractions for theme parks, cruise lines, hotels, and any other location that provides entertainment to guests. So it’s easy to see that a lot of their plans surrounding the move to Florida included Walt Disney World itself and the expansions they’ve been promising in the parks. But now that Iger’s back on the scene and properly pissed off at DeSantis’ poor attempts to undermine Disney’s efforts of inclusivity, all of that’s off the table. The offices they were building to make the Imagineering base are now no longer under construction, and the cast members that were moved to Florida are being offered aid to move back to California. Luckily, a large chunk of the cast members set to move to the state have not moved yet. Construction on the Florida offices was delayed before Disney even made this move, so a lot of employees merely had their moving plans cancelled rather than finding themselves stranded in Florida. This is still stressful for many cast members and Imagineers, but the decision has been mostly praised by cast members who have voiced their displeasure at Disney World’s past refusal to stand up for their marginalized employees. But without Imagineering moving to Disney World, what will happen to their big expansions and future projects?

This is just speculation, but unless DeSantis drops the issue or leaves office all together, it’s likely we will see an indefinite hiatus on most large projects. We already heard from a Disney chairman that expansions will be put on hold. To me, that sounds like the Epcot expansion we heard about at D23 is going to be the biggest project we know of that’s going to be affected. I can’t see Disney doing the major work of clearing out and replacing the various out-of-use warehouses that have existed in Epcot for years now while DeSantis is still waging a losing war against them. Especially considering that we can expect Walt Disney World attendance to drop this summer with all of the news coming out of Florida. The major construction costs just won’t be worth it for them, nor will major changes to the parks bring the attention they want. And that’s on top of the fact that they want to give the state of Florida as little money as possible at the moment. I’m not certain this change will effect singular rides like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure since work on it is already underway, but who knows? If DeSantis continues to push his luck we could see a halt in Disney putting any major amount of money or time into Walt Disney World for the time being. Here’s to hoping that they turn all of that attention to the other Disney Parks in the meantime! I’d love to see more imagination be brought to California and the parks overseas, and they’ve already drawn up more expansion ideas for California’s parks for the city of Anaheim to view.

Galactic Starcruiser:

Now that we’ve talked about the largest Walt Disney World news, let’s talk about the major Disney fail we saw happen in Florida. While Disney has been doing nothing but winning against DeSantis, their entire treatment of the Galactic Starcruiser hotel experience has raised eyebrows since its announcement. At first the idea of an immersive hotel based around Star Wars was exciting. Star Wars has a huge fanbase that has always wanted to escape into the galaxy far, far, away, and the Galactic Starcruiser promised to give fans that feeling more than even Galaxy’s Edge. The Starcruiser, rather than being a regular hotel, instead invited guests to spend two nights as part of an original Star Wars story where they could mingle with characters, complete important tasks for either the Resistance or the First Order, participate in lightsaber training, fly the starcruiser itself, and watch dramatic scenes unfold around them. The hotel was also designed to block out the outside world and keep up every appearance of guests staying in space, with their access to the park being mostly through Galaxy’s Edge. It was a LARP hotel, or live action role play hotel, taking immersive entertainment to the next level. But the lowest cost for individuals remained around $2000, and families saw price tags closer to $7000, which for many was more expensive than an entire week at Walt Disney World. The pricing kept people away, and though those who attended enjoyed their time in the hotel, no one could rightly recommend throwing away all of your money on the experience.

Reports of the last few months confirmed that the hotel was becoming a bit of a ghost town, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that it’s permanent closure has now been announced for September. Statements from the Disney Parks have been framing the hotel as an exclusive experiment meant only to try out immersive entertainment tactics, but we all know that’s not entirely honest. The amount of time and money it took to bring this idea to life clearly indicates they thought this would be a rousing success and not a limited, experimental venture that would last less than two years. This closure is deserved, but there’s reason to feel cautious about it. Despite its major drawbacks, the hotel was a major step forward in terms of live entertainment. Now that it’s failed, a lot of investors will pin it on the immersive nature of the hotel and not on the giant price tag, which is a shame. Immersive entertainment pairs so well with theme parks, and brings so much enjoyment to guests, that it would be a shame to write off large immersive events like this. I’m hoping that if anything, they bring some of the ideas from the hotel to Galaxy’s Edge now that the hotel is off the table. After all, the idea of guests regularly chatting with characters and becoming a part of the story were ideas that were promised to us for Galaxy’s Edge but didn’t entirely make it into the parks. This is their opportunity to fulfill their promise, or at least bring those aspects to the parks for new projects instead of saving them for “premium boutique experiences”. But I suppose we’ll have to see where this failure takes Disney. As always, it will be money that decides their next steps.

The main take away from this post? Don’t go to Disney World for your Disney fix this summer. DeSantis has made Florida unlivable for the LGBTQ+ community and evidently for any company that wants to keep their free speech. Florida doesn’t deserve your money. But Disneyland in California is still happily accepting visitors and is soon going to hold their first Pride Night! And there’s always the other Disney parks around the world that have plenty of fun attractions to explore. Also, even though we’re celebrating Disney’s big middle finger to Florida right now, we can also celebrate the fact that they finally learned the hard way that catering their theme park experiences only to the rich doesn’t work. Let’s hope we see bigger changes come from that.

Don’t so anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Why ARMY is Changing

Promotional photoshoot photo of (from left) Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), Min Yoongi (SUGA), Kim Seokjin (Jin), Kim Taehyung (V), Kim Namjoon (RM), Park Jimin, and Jeon Jungkook. Copyright goes to BTS and HYBE.

Hi! It’s Annie!

There’s been a lot of tension and confusion in the fandom right now. And by a lot I mean, definitely more than normal. And with this new amount of negativity in the fandom, a lot of ARMY are reasonably scared. I mean, we used to have the reputation of being the most positive, kind, and supportive fandom anywhere ever. We coordinated amazing events for change for the better, we protected the boys from racism on multiple occasions, and we went through all of BTS’s highs and lows unwaveringly with them. Which is why it is truly jarring when ARMY log into Twitter every morning to see other ARMY getting into another absolutely needless Twitter battle and why it was absolutely heartbreaking and undeniably true when Namjoon said that ARMY had changed in a recent live. And while he did say it for a particular reason, which I will get to later, the undeniable truth is that ARMY has changed. But starting to compare ARMY to fandoms that have been glaringly toxic from the beginning isn’t helping and it isn’t a one to one comparison. So in this post I want to talk about how we got here and why this is not the end of the kindhearted ARMY fanbase that we all know and love. There is absolutely hope for the future! We have to hold ourselves accountable for the unhelpful things we’re doing before we get there though.

Changes:

I think the first thing all of us have to acknowledge is that changes, whether they are a good thing or a bad thing, always come with some form of struggle. Changing for the better takes a lot of strength and sacrifice, and it can leave people feeling unstable. When BTS, a year ago at this point, announced that they were taking a break it raised a lot of fears for ARMY like changes are bound to do. While we all knew that this change would absolutely be for the better because it meant that our boys were taking care of their mental health; it raised the common fear that this break would end up being permanent. No matter how many times the boys assured us that it wouldn’t. And just to assure you, ARMY was never alone in this fear! Namjoon expressed in a live that he was afraid they would come back and everyone would have forgotten them! (Never going to happen, Joonie!) It’s ok to feel afraid; what isn’t ok to do is judge them for taking this much needed break or constantly scrutinize everything they do to try and determine whether or not they’ll come back. A few people have judged certain members for how much it seems like they may or may not be hanging out with other members. Firstly, we do not see how much time they spend together and secondly, even if we did it doesn’t speak to their relationship as brothers or to the status of the band itself. Yes, BTS is like a family. But imagine only seeing six members of your family for years and years and barely getting to meet with or even talk to anyone else. Using some newfound freedom to expand your social circle would not suddenly mean you don’t love that family.

Things also came to a head when BTS took their military service decision in their own hands and all decided to go. I personally can’t say that I’m supportive of a system that forces people into the military; at the same time I acknowledge that I am not sharing borders with a country that has a dangerous government like that and don’t know how to respond to such a situation. A lot of fans, especially international fans, were absolutely livid that they hadn’t gotten an exemption sooner and many people were fearful when their enlistment became more scattered than some people originally thought. Again, none of this was or should have been any of our choices. It is for them to choose and them alone, and we should all support them in these decisions. It’s time to stop reacting to every military decision regarding them with anger. But whatever side of this decision you were on, this is another fear that started to create a divide in the fandom. Fear usually divides. ARMY who had never fought before were suddenly at each other’s throats. Even though, again, this was never a decision for any of us to make. This divide has continued.

Solo Work:

This divide that I’m talking about was only made worse by the way certain fans have handled the separate solo work for each individual member that has come out. And yes, I do think we should all be giving their solo work a listen. But I am also not going to condemn people for not listening to everything that comes out. I’ve said this so many times on this blog, but I’m a Namjoon bias. He’s one of my ults if not my actual ult. He is legitimately one of my favorite people in the world and I mean it sincerely when I say that he changed my life. I have been keeping up with all of his solo work, but I’ve noticed that a lot of other Namjoon stans have been going after other ARMY for not listening to some of his recent collaborations. I don’t think that going after people for what they are or are not engaging in is the best course of action here. I completely understand it when you’re calling out people who call themselves ARMY but won’t listen to any of their Korean work and will only listen to their English songs. It’s absolutely deserved there. But there are people who don’t have time, or the attention span, or show their support differently. Some fans show their support by streaming while others have more of the attention span to write or create fan art or engage in other ways. Many ARMY have become recent multi-stans and are just trying to figure out how to divide their time between groups. Being a multi-stan is a good thing for K-Pop! We also know that solo work fights have led to bad fandom places in other fandoms before. Let’s all be a little more understanding of each other! And I hate it, but certain members getting more attention than others has always been in every K-Pop fandom. Even in BTS. We all know that the hyung line fancams always got less views than the maknae fancams. This is not something new. Let’s all continue to support all of the boys in the absolute best way that we can!

Unhelpful Behavior:

On top of the fighting over decisions that should be BTS’s and theirs alone, and fighting over solo work streams; there have been other issues going on that don’t look great. Namjoon has actually seen and mentioned the fighting between ARMY on lives and spoken out against it. Which should have been our first clue. But this is not why Namjoon said that ARMY had changed. A little while ago, Namjoon went on live to talk about the concert in LA directly after their concert. I remember this very clearly because this was the day that I went to the concert and I remember watching his live on the car ride home! It was my first ever K-Pop concert! In this live several people asked Namjoon to marry them in the comments and he expressed that this type of comment made him uncomfortable, especially because it is a short comment that is usually spammed and drowns out some of the more meaningful comments. This was a boundary that Namjoon set and communicated to us. Why did some of us not listen? Recently, Namjoon and Yoongi have talked even more about these comments. (Shout out to the guy in the band for Yoongi’s recent concert who had the message on his phone!) In some situations it can be funny, but for ARMY in general we need to stop using it especially because they’ve expressed discomfort regarding it. This was the context of Namjoon saying ARMY had changed. If they express a boundary we have to honor that! ARMY have also been randomly going after other fandoms for non-issues that make no sense. Like today got7 was trending because two members got seven tattoos and ARMY started accusing them of copying BTS. BTS does not own the number seven. In fact, seven is in that group’s literal name. What are you doing? Not long ago ARMY started accusing Kai of EXO for trying to skip enlistment and making fun of him for the fact that his company made a true mistake and he had to last minute enlist. That is a loss for everyone. For him, his fans, everyone. He wasn’t trying to skip; that was just a sad situation all around. Why did ARMY feel the need to rain down on him and his fans who were already hurting?

Trauma and Hope:

I personally think this partially comes from an over-protective nature that we’re seeing in ARMY. The fear of change resulted in a divide and an anger that the fandom is still reeling from. Not only that but other things have come up that we haven’t been able to protect the boys from. Like their information being sold by sources close to them and now these insanely terrifying accounts of stalking and death threats. And it feels like HYBE isn’t doing enough. But reacting with this anger and this amount of overprotection also serves absolutely no-one, especially not our boys. We can call for action, absolutely! But we shouldn’t be turning our anger on other fandoms by imagining slights against BTS. It is understandable that the fandom is reeling right now, but that doesn’t justify any of this behavior. It never will justify any of this behavior. We really owe some fandoms apologies. Like I said, it makes sense for the fandom to be reeling and making some mistakes at a time where we’re going through change. This doesn’t mean that the fandom is doomed. We just need to acknowledge our flaws and grow! It’s part of growing pains for ARMY! We haven’t always been a toxic fandom, in fact for the most part we haven’t been before this. Which means that we absolutely have the tools to pull together and repair. But acknowledging our mistakes and making ourselves better for the boys has to come first before we can get there!

I really believe that ARMY can become that warm place of belonging again! Even if it’s in smaller groups; I know it’s more difficult to control since there are a lot more of us now. But there’s hope for safe spaces in ARMY enduring! Especially because we are all inspired by all of these incredibly kind men. So don’t lose hope!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Theme Parks: Galaxy’s Edge vs Avengers Campus

Professional image of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland as taken by Andrew Long. Copyright goes to Long and the Disney Parks.

Hey! Hallie here!

Recently my sister and I were able to go back to Disneyland after several years being away from the parks, and no surprise, we had an amazing time. Disneyland is still at the top of the theme park game when it comes to rides, ambiance, and overall enjoyment. But what stood out to us most on this trip was the newer themed areas in the California Disney parks. In Disneyland that area is Galaxy’s Edge, the big budget Star Wars land that opened pre-pandemic. In California Adventure that area is Avengers Campus, the smaller land that opened post-pandemic. Both are made to be immersive hubs for fans of by far the biggest franchises Disney has their hands on at the moment. But despite the fact that both lands aim to transport fans into the universes that we’ve always wanted to escape into, they both succeed in different ways. And though I do love them, they both also fail in different ways. So I’m putting these two areas head-to-head to decide which is better to visit as a fan. I emphasize better because, honestly, if you’re a fan of Star Wars or Marvel you’ll have an amazing time in the parks regardless of the outcome of this post. With that said, let’s get to comparing these two!

The Rides:

This category is not one of the categories that’ll be a close call. Both areas boast two rides, but Avengers Campus comes with a bit of a caveat. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout’ was created before the rest of Avengers Campus and is now considered part of the area, but when Avengers Campus opened the public was promised two new rides for the land. One, ‘Web Slingers’, was opened along with the rest of Avengers Campus while the other, an unnamed project that has changed multiple times since its original announcement, has been permanently put on hold. Disney has even debated opening the gift shop they had planned to go along with the new ride, but those plans have appeared and disappeared periodically. That let down is definitely points against Avengers Campus, but let’s look at what we do have. ‘Mission Breakout’ is a really fun ride and one of Disney’s more successful overhauls of an already existing attraction. While some are still very upset over the demise of California’s ‘Tower of Terror’, the elaborate exterior, fun storyline, and amazing soundtrack really have won me over. It isn’t the most technologically advanced ride, but it doesn’t have to be. It simply has to be an excellent drop ride, and considering Disney went the extra mile to change footage and songs to make each ride experience different, I’d say it succeeds. ‘Web Slingers’ is a bit of a different story. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun. Peter Parker is an amusingly bumbling host and shooting webs at targets like Spider-Man isn’t a bad time at all. But it’s a really simple screen-based ride with little to no immersion in a park that already has a screen-based game attraction.

Galaxy’s Edge, much like Avengers Campus, opened with only one of two rides promised to the public available to ride. But unlike Avengers Campus, this was because they were making the finishing touches on their main ride, ‘Rise of the Resistance’. At the time I wondered if the wait would be worth it. After my last trip to Disneyland I can confirm that this ride would have been worth any wait. This isn’t just an imaginative attraction that relies heavily on excellent animatronics and practical effects in order to completely engage guests. It’s almost an interactive performance. The story recruits all guests to the Resistance, starting them off with a briefing from Rey before they’re taken to a shuttle. This shuttle isn’t the ride by the way. It’s a show area before the ride where you experience flying into space and getting captured by the First Order, all under the care of an amazing animatronic who, once again, isn’t even part of the ride yet. After that, First Order officers escort you to interrogation where you are then saved by members of the Resistance who THEN escort you onto the ride for your great escape. Which includes a droid at the front of your car who interacts with everything that happens on the ride, at least four impressive animatronics, and sets that are so flawless you completely forget you aren’t in the Star Wars universe. Galaxy’s Edge wins with this ride alone, but ‘Smuggler’s Run’ shouldn’t be looked over either. The animatronic Hondo Ohnaka in the line for this ride is another one of Disney’s best animatronics, and though the ride is mostly a video game for riders, it’s certainly a fun video game. Plus, you really can’t beat the detailed interior of the Millennium Falcon you walk into right before the ride starts.

Winner: Galaxy’s Edge by a mile. ‘Rise of the Resistance’ might be the best ride I’ve ever been on.

The Lore and Characters:

Strangely, Galaxy’s Edge and Avenger’s Campus take two extremely different approaches to explaining the presence of the lands and the characters who live there. Avengers Campus takes place in a timeline where “the snap didn’t happen”. But it’s a bit more than that. This is a universe where none of the major tragedies in the MCU happened. Characters like Tony Stark and T’Challa are still alive and well, and everyone is friends with each other regardless of their current status in the MCU. What that means is we get more characters and more character interactions. Characters are constantly either on balconies monitoring the area or on the ground greeting guests. Some characters choose to wander while others stand in designated spots to invite guests to take pictures. Many characters, even when they are in designated spots, will spirit guests away to new adventures, often to poke fun at other characters walking around. So while nothing in Avengers Campus is impactful to the MCU, it does allow for engaging guest experiences.

Galaxy’s Edge takes place during a specific time period, the time period that occurs around the sequel trilogy but before its ending. You won’t find characters from the prequels or even the original trilogy walking around. You’ll only find characters like Rey or Kylo Ren, or characters who could have feasibly been active during this time like Boba Fett or Din Djarin. What’s the purpose of being so strict about the time period in Galaxy’s Edge? Because Galaxy’s Edge is canon. The planet Batuu, which is the planet we are visiting when we step into Galaxy’s Edge, is an actual planet mentioned often in the canonical Star Wars books. Characters here are also more sparse and don’t interact with each other as often. After all, the Resistance can’t risk getting into an altercation with the First Order, and Disney can’t risk characters interacting who perhaps shouldn’t be interacting yet in canon. So while Galaxy’s Edge lends more importance to what happens in the land, less interaction meant I had less fun observing the characters as a guest.

Winner: Avengers Campus. Avengers Campus puts most of its focus on the characters and it definitely pays off.

Immersion:

I’ve talked a lot about immersion in this post and it’s for good reason. Immersion is what both of these areas are aiming for, which means its the main thing I want to critique as a guest. First off, neither Avengers Campus or Galaxy’s Edge chose to replicate an actual location from either the Marvel or Star Wars franchises. In my opinion, this was a bit of a mistake. Fans like to escape into the worlds they fell in love with on the screen, not a location that seems like it could vaguely be a part of that world. Which is why people rave about stepping into Hogsmeade at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter more than they rave about stepping into Batuu. Regardless, both are still well crafted areas that try to insert themselves into their movie universes in their own way. Avengers Campus does so as essentially a military base that houses hubs for Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man. The details, like the Quinjet sitting on the roof of one of the buildings or the graffiti on the walls signed by Miles Morales, really pull it together. But the area also doesn’t have much space, so even separate areas like the ancient sanctum that houses Stephen Strange’s show sits right in the middle of everything else. It really doesn’t feel like you’re stepping into the world of the MCU until you see the characters. Before then it feels more like you’re looking at an amalgamation of “greatest hits” from the MCU, which isn’t much helped by the ‘Mission Breakout’ area that sits at the end of Avengers Campus and very clearly looks as though it existed before the rest of the campus. I will say though, the MCU soundtrack music does help get you in the Avengers mindset when you’re visiting.

Galaxy’s Edge has a much larger area, and once again, relies on details to immerse you. Aurebesh, or the Star Wars alphabet, is either used or imitated on every sign. Cast members will greet you with “bright suns” or “rising moons” and they all have some kind of story explaining how they came to Batuu. Familiar ships are docked all over the land, including the beloved Millenium Falcon. Instead of soundtrack music, DJ Rex, the droid who can be seen in Oga’s Cantina, plays cantina music over every speaker. There are even parts of the land that are designated for the First Order or the Resistance, clueing you into their warring presence on the planet. The main issue with Batuu is perhaps that it focuses too much on immersion. Shops, in order to seem like humble establishments run by locals, are far too small for Disneyland crowds. There’s also the fact that the land looks a bit bland at parts in order to create the cohesive look of a rundown haven for those on the run. But that goes back to my criticism of Disney deciding to create their own planet rather than recreating a place fans have wanted to visit for a long time.

Winner: Galaxy’s Edge although this is closer to a tie than I was expecting. In some ways, I do like the way Avengers Campus attempts to surround you with familiar things from the movies. But I always prefer commitment to an immersive environment over an amalgamation of random locations.

That makes the winner Galaxy’s Edge! I can’t say this was a surprising conclusion. Galaxy’s Edge had a far larger budget and focused much more on immersion. To the point that they decided to make Batuu canon to the Star Wars universe in order to make the guests who visit it a genuine part of the Star Wars universe as well. But Avengers Campus is enjoyable in its own right, and I wouldn’t recommend missing it. After seeing what both of these places have to offer, I really do want to see Disney step fully into immersion and bring a location from the screen to life. I think they could blow away the competition if they made a genuine effort to transport fans to a place they’ve always dreamed of going. I personally would have loved if Galaxy’s Edge had taken the form of Naboo or even Tatooine. But for now, I’m more satisfied with what they’ve created than I thought I would be, and I highly recommend visiting both Galaxy’s Edge and Avengers Campus if you have the chance!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie