Personally, I have followed the Korean progaming scene since 2003. My love for it extended in early 2007, and therefore, decided to start learning the Korean language for myself.
Unfortunately, my learning of the Korean language quickly evolved into learning about the culture. A consequence of this, as many of you have may seen, is my 'avid' passion for the Korean music scene.
To be brutally honest, I have no idea why I listen to it. If I made my friends listen to it, they would punch me in the face, because it's probably really horrible to the common ear. I can't seem to find the factor why I listen, watch and follow the crappy Korean music scene. Is it because of their catchy tunes? Their uncomprehensible lyrics? Their LEGS?
Thus, I present to you, my comparisions of each Progaming Team to a popular Korean group. Brownie points if you can recognise before I talk.
SK Telecom T1
I can't wait for the day OSL/MSL/PL uses 'Gee' by SNSD for their end game song. It is so damn fitting! I guess it will get to the point where I'd probably have to pay the PD's of the respective shows to use it.
The reason I have chosen the oh-so-popular SNSD to compare with SK Telecom T1 is mainly behind success. What does SKT have?
Well, a thousand Proleague championships, some of the most successful players of all time and an awesome staff.
SNSD, they also have a thousand championships, but in the form of awards, mutizens etc. Like SKT, the group has a HUGE fanbase (hello Soshified readers!), and even though some fans follow certain members only (*cough* Bisu *cough*), they are still regarded to the group as a fan.
Talking to so called #1 SNSD Fan on TL.net, Solinren, I have established a relationship between the following;
Boxer <> Taeyeon (Leaders of each respective group, and popular too!)
Bisu <> Jessica (The eye candy of the group. Who wouldn't go gay for Bisu? Who wouldn't go lesbian for Sica? Like Bisu who has gaming skills, Sica has 'apparently' singing skills).
Fantasy <> Tiffany (Why not. Both have their share of fans and anti-fans).
SKT Zergs <> Hyoyeon (Ask all the K-Pop people in the thread why).
Hwaseung OZ
In my mind, Wonder Girls will ALWAYS play second fiddle to SNSD. Until the day SNSD disbands, WG will always be the second best girl group in Korea (according to the population).
As I saw in the PL finals, SKT pretty much demolished OZ on Day 1. Day 2, a bit closer, but still. I feel that the SNSD-WG rivalry is similar to this. SNSD will rape some days, WG others. Maybe on other days, a random group like 2NE1 decides to unleash its unknown fanbase and win every award out there.
Oh, another thing. Don't ever let WG take the stage of an OSL final, again. Watch EVER 2008's Pre-Game ceremony to find out why.
Errr, back to Starcraft. OZ is basically Jaedong and his cronies. I feel that WG is too, Yoobin and her cronies. Everybody loves Yoobin from what I've seen, ergo some love Wonder Girls. Feels the same that everybody loves Jaedong, ergo some love OZ.
CJ Entus
Super Junior have thirteen members. THIRTEEN. Are they all skilled and talented? I don't think so, but they are 'good' enough to be there on stage doing the stuff. I feel like half the members are just there for more netizens to ramble on about.
CJ have an abundance of good players. Unfortunately though, it appeared that some of them couldn't live up to the standards against OZ (looking at Iris and Movie here). Hopefully with their abundance of talent such as Snow, Greg, Jjonga, Devil etc, they can bounce back to number one in 09-10.
Samsung KHAN
It's been clear on TL.net. Not that many people ca a a a a a a a a a a re about the successes of Samsung, even though they have some of the best Protosses to ever grace e-Sports.
Like KHAN, I don't really care about 2NE1 as well. They may be Big Bang's 'sister group', but I just find them to be a boring group full of fat women (barring Sandara). This does not amuse me.
hite SPARKYZ
Check out the OSL group selection pictures. Think this is the reason why I compared hite to Big Bang.
STX SouL
Soul to me are still the cutesy-poo team. They have an overstock of young players (Bogus, Modesty etc), and their manager Eun-dong sure isn't scared of using them.
Kara though, have been through an amount of member changes. I'm pretty neutral about their new members, but that is just personal preference. One other person though (Sup Roffles, also known as 'Bat Hara'), can speak a different story.
KT FingerBoom
I assume most fans of KT are pretty much only Flash, Forgg, Luxury and Violet fans. Fair enough.
Davichi, very logical choice of a group. There is Kang Minkyung, the super-cute ulzzang who can sing, and there is Lee Haeri, the old fogey that only ahjushi's care about.
Like how much I want Flash to leave for a better team, I feel Kang Minkyung should go solo. She would be so successful if she did.
Woongjin Stars
Woongjin Stars are a pretty mediocre team. 4Minute are a pretty mediocre group.
Anyone see the correlation I made here?
Both of them are crap.
MBCgame HERO
Hongki from FT Island reminds me of Light. They both usually bring out the weirdest damn hairstyles.
I don't know why I picked FT Island with MBC, maybe it's because I can't think properly anymore.
eSTRO
Are they genuinely good? Do they just not care about the fame and popularity? This is what I see from both eSTRO and SG Wannabe.
Maybe certain players like Flying can bring eSTRO success they have wanted so much for the past.... 6 years.
WeMade FOX
The past weeks on the Korean music shows have shown that Brown Eyed Girls have legalised sex on television in Korea. Their new act, Abracadabra, makes people hard. HARD.
Similarily, when I see certain players of WeMade play, it is also like sex on television. Watch Baby's games against Jangbi for an example.
Air Force ACE
Ace is a bunch of old, struggling players looking to get back into shape.
Shinhwa's former members share the same struggle as Ace. People like Min-Woo, Jun-Jin etc have tried to go solo with not much success. I feel that when Ace players come out, they will definitely not be successful as ever.
and there we have it, probably the worst read of your life.
K-Pop and e-Sports 회이팅!
Maybe I'll do something more interesting for 30k.