Road to Kingdom : Ace of Ace Ep 1 [2/2]

(YAP YAP YAP alert)

This is the fastest a survival program has ever pissed me off this much-

Really, really, REALLY not a fan of the idea that being last in the Ace section could make it so that groups can't perform. It feels unnecessarily dramatic and it's hella disrespectful to all involved in creating the performance. Sure they allowed CRAVITY to perform and posted it on their channel anyway, but not everyone who watches the show is going to seek out the extra uploads and it puts CRAVITY in an unfair position both in rankings and in public perception because clearly MNET wants to make a storyline out of them with them being one of the more commercially successful groups on the show and people already weren't happy about them being on the show and it's all just unnecessarily messy, as well as whatever is going on with Eunsang-

Having watched the full versions and fancams of every performance by now, here's my current final ranking (3-5 are kinda interchangeable to me tho):

Ace:
1.) Hwanwoong (execution and character are on point, can't even be mad about the concept-)
2.) Myungho (best prop usage imo)
3.) DEY (Uniqueness and charisma)
4.) Hanbin (I know I said his concept was a bit ambiguous, but looking at the full cams made me appreciate the risk-taking, impact and prop-usage a lot more)
5.) Junhyeok (would be 3 but it could have done without the dance moment)
6.) Lim Jimin (I know this is crazy different from what I said in the reaction but it loses some of it's impact without the camerawork and the prop could have been used more and unfortunately his concept was a bit ambiguous in hindsight as well, his dance execution was excellent tho, if we were just evaluating that then I'd put him up there after Hwanwoong)
7.) Hyeongjun (a bit too focused on introducing their storyline, also the choreography didn't play towards his strengths as a dancer, I'd be curious to see him do a concept like Myungho's, actually)

Group (I have a clear number 1 but the rest of these are so close that it's pretty interchangeable tbh):
1.) 8TURN (best overall performance in terms of concept, execution, energy, and impact, on of the best Kingdom/Queendom series performances across all seasons imo. The full cam really highlights their phenomenal dancing and staging and the usage of the footballs was chef's kiss.)
2.) The New Six (beautiful prop usage in visuals and how it connected to the Ace performance, very emotional to be honest)
3.) TEMPEST (again with the beautiful prop usage, it really elevated the song and also seemed to connect to Hanbin's performance with the light usage)
4.) YOUNITE (still not too keen on the concept, and the choreography execution could have been cleaner, but extra points for commitment and the live rapping)
5.) CRAVITY (Solid and competent performance, I'm curious about the storyline even though the knight concept is a little overdone by now too, could have been 3 but I needed Jungmo to commit to that electric guitar moment a bit more and what I said about the arrangement)
6.) ONEUS (ngl I kinda paid this dust because I'm sick of the joker theme in K-pop but they get extra points for the live vocal moments and the minor mistakes really weren't noticeable until the end)
7.) TheCrewOne (in terms of execution, phenomenal on the choreography and staging. also looking forward to seeing their storyline because it's giving THE BOYZ, it really just comes down to them not performing an actual song like the rest of the groups, though I do understand the intention behind slowly rolling out their skills once challenge at a time. It was one of the most engaging for me as a former dancer/choreographer but taking into account everything else, it could be considered a bit safe.)

Anyways, it's really just the warm-up challenge and there's never actually an accurate indicator of who's going to win in the end at any point in this series because of MNET being shady and the wild card factor of fan voting and streaming which I'm sure is going to come into play, so I'm not putting much stock in these first few challenges as far a rankings go. I stan literally every group on this show and I'd be happy to see any of them win, but I'm definitely the most impressed with 8TURN so far, which I'm not surprised about because when they play to their strengths (and they have a lot of strengths lol), they're a force of nature in terms of performance. Really hoping to see CRAVITY get a chance to show what they're capable of, and I can't wait for TheCrewOne to pop off because they have a HUGE concentration of talent in that group and there's so much they can do with their numbers. I don't know what to expect from TEMPEST, but this was an excellent start! Can't wait to see YOUNITE's song choices because they probably have my my favorite discography musically out of all the groups participating. The New Six have so much versatility and skill and emotion so they're ones to watch out for. And I'm hoping ONEUS will explore more concepts outside of the joker theme or dramatic themes, maybe something comical or sensual? Either way, the hype is real!