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the top indicators of the development system also collapsed.

on august 29, the third-generation new group "top landing boys" of times fengjun, which had been trending on weibo for several days, finally ushered in the finale of the group formation.

times fengjun released a statement saying that yu yuhan announced his withdrawal from the group due to "huge mental and psychological pressure" and out of consideration for the group and other members. "top landing boys" will be active as a five-member group consisting of zuo hang, zhu zhixin, zhang ji, zhang zeyu and su xinhao. the group will still use the previously planned model of equal positions and members taking turns to be the center, and the final ranking of the team will be re-determined one year later.

earlier, due to negative public opinion such as suspected insults to female artists and backstabbing teammates, yu yuhan, who was originally scheduled to debut sixth, became the "target of public criticism". all kinds of negative revelations also caused the top landing boys to fall into another whirlpool of public opinion before they even took the first step. on august 28, five fan groups issued a joint announcement, demanding "protect the top five and withdraw yu."

but whether it was the withdrawal of members or the rotation of c, the debut of tf3 was full of blood and gore. and the "chaotic" group night from the 18th floor in chongqing to malaysia was nothing more than the "lie" of the training system reform.

why was pingfan's debut boycotted?

on august 29, 2018, the third generation of tf trainees officially debuted, and they opened the door to companionship and nurturing with their young and immature appearance. the person in charge of times fengjun once admitted that the past few years of the third generation's growth were the fastest and smoothest years for times fengjun.

as the continuation of the bloodline of times fengjun's training system, the third generation of trainees who have been paid attention to by the fans of the company have also become the new target of betting and training for fans of the company and even passers-by. as of august 2024, the longest of the three generations has experienced a seven-year training career and has been deeply affected by the ranking system.

unlike the first and second generations, the third generation trainees are publicly ranked by popularity, and the floating ranking is directly referenced by the "senior membership list" in the official fan club "times fengjun" app. this also affects the trainees' public shots, content distribution, stage selection, fans' voice, etc., including whether the trainees' weibo accounts are opened or not. for example, zhu zhixin attracted fans to spend 2 million yuan to become the third generation number one in 2020 just by voting on stage performances.

it can be said that the birth of the third generation was consciously and strongly tied to the highly sticky fan economy.

according to the statistics of "yaya push tfpush" operated by fans, zhu zhixin, zhang zeyu, su xinhao, zhang ji, zuo hang, and zhang junhao have been ranked in the top 6 of the gaohui collection list, gaohui fan list, and gaohui like list for many years. therefore, the established "civilian top" fact has also led to the fact that the fan circle has quietly made preparations for the debut of the three generations. according to many fans and fans, several years before the broadcast of the three generations' debut program "landing day", the various trainees' fan clubs and fans had already raised funds to purchase gaohui accounts and hoarded accounts to "store food" for the gaohui voting when they debuted.

in order to squeeze out the value of fans, the company is more inclined to protect popular trainees even if their reputation is exposed. for example, after trainee zhang junhao was rumored to be in a relationship, he still ranked sixth in popularity among trainees. even though other trainees' fans jointly issued a statement demanding that zhang junhao be disqualified from participating in the final debut battle, "the company still let him participate and sent out a signal that he had a chance to debut. fans also thought that his popularity would be promising, so they continued to vote and spent millions of dollars."

the ranking controls the lifeline of the times fengjun training system and affects the investment of fan economy. it is no surprise that the decision of "top landing boys" to adopt the c position of the same ranking caused a large-scale protest from fans.

this also caused the three generations of fans to choose to refuse to buy into times fengjun's stability maintenance measures for the debut battle within three months, and the calls for "giving xxx an explanation", "not accepting flexible rules that are changed again and again", and "the order must be determined based on previous sales and high conferences" are still rising.

for example, on august 10, the third-generation data group of tf family issued a joint rights protection statement, demanding that times fengjun must announce the debut candidates and ranking at the concert, and pointed out that fans are willing to bear the cross-border travel and additional ticket costs "because your company promised that the malaysia concert would be the debut concert", and even more strongly demanded "reject ambiguity."

it is not difficult to find that times fengjun, which relied too much on the nourishment of the fan economy, was finally "taken over" by its fans.

the main reason for this phenomenon is the "aftermath" of the second-generation "typhoon boy transformation battle".in 2019, typhoon boys disbanded. except for yao jingyuan, the original members ding chengxin, ma jiaqi, song yaxuan, liu yaowen and trainees he junlin, zhang zhenyuan and yan haoxiang joined "typhoon boys transformation battle" to re-compete the "debut battle", and the members and rankings were decided by fans' votes. according to incomplete statistics, the total amount of votes cast by ma jiaqi's fans in the debut battle far exceeded 7 million yuan.

as fans' enthusiasm for voting grew, the original five-member debut was changed, and the final times youth league achieved a talent show history of seven in and seven out, with no one eliminated.

in other words, after the second generation started the battle of typhoon transformation, times fengjun's traditional development model had already been rewritten by the fan economy.

therefore, in the operation strategy of the third generation, times fengjun did not continue the unity and free-range, but instead strengthened the sense of opposition and competition between different trainees and different fan groups. facts have proved that this has also become an inducement to attract fans to spare no effort to spend krypton gold. for example, in 2022, the third generation of fans invested more than 80 million yuan to seek ranking benefits for the trainees. more importantly, during the training period of the third generation, times fengjun did not implement the usual law of survival of the fittest and rating system, and only retained the monthly assessment.

to put it bluntly, tf3, which grew up in the most successful development stage after times fengjun's trial and error, has long been in the "greenhouse" of fans paying to watch the show.the gradual stabilization of the popularity ranking has also made some trainees fearless. "selling cp, acting cute, and acting pitiful can arouse the fans' love and sympathy. it doesn't matter whether the singing and dancing have improved. the fans' unbridled love has reached the point where they can tolerate private relationships and poor singing and dancing."

the most direct result was that in the debut program "landing day", the trainees showed obvious difficulty in learning the theme song, and many trainees were questioned as to why "after six years of training, they know nothing".

fan xiaoshu mentioned, "although many fans think that the third generation is a battle royale, to be honest, there has been no system for eliminating trainees for six years, and the children naturally feel that there is an unreasonable tolerance of fans for voting and fundraising to guarantee a minimum. passersby are complaining that they are still losers after practicing for so long, can't we see it? it's just that after so many years of companionship, the sunk cost of time, money, and emotion invested is too high. we want to see them debut and want to see them shine. maybe now we feel that we are spoiling them to some extent."

this may be the reason why the third generation is also called the "most useless generation".

after leaving the position

looking back, when the third generation was first released, its slogan was "evolution". times fengjun insisted on "de-listing", in addition to the compliance and fairness of the fixed-list factors, perhaps more based on the need for transformation.

on the one hand, the talent show + training model has gradually lost its novelty. the variety shows at home and abroad that used to be broadcast for more than a year have drained the trainee reserve resources as well as the enthusiasm and wallets of show fans. on the other hand, the training system earthquake caused by the johnny's scandal has also exposed negative issues such as sexual assault and harassment of minors, stalking of minors by private fans, and underage love and private contacts. the dark side of the training system has gradually risen to a social issue.

therefore, whether in japan or south korea, the transformation of the training model has been put on the agenda early on.for example, akb48, which is also an openly developed group, announced the cancellation of the general election as early as 2019. now the c position of singles is mostly selected by the operator and producer yasushi akimoto.

however, for the family-run times fengjun, which has reaped the benefits of the combination of the audition model and the training model after the reorganization of the second-generation group, embracing fan economy voting to decide idol exposure, debut and even resource allocation is a "safety-seeking" operation.

but for trainees, this is undoubtedly honey mixed with arsenic, and the disadvantages are equally obvious.

the most typical example is that in the cultivation system of times fengjun, the existence of circle barriers has created a clear gap between the unique "building entertainment" and domestic entertainment.

for example, after tfboys, no matter the second generation or the third generation, it is hard to really open up the public's "national recognition", and self-cultivation has become the norm. from louyuzile to entering the domestic entertainment industry, times fengjun has not yet formed a corresponding training model and development model.what is even more fatal is the lack of idol music works that can be recognized and known by the public, as well as idol members with online professional capabilities. the vast majority of them only remain at the stage of being "visible to fans".

at present, times fengjun's way of self-rescue is to conduct international experiments on the basis of breaking the ranking system. for example, during the debut of the third generation, times fengjun cancelled the voting model and cooperated with youku and iqiyi international platforms for broadcasting. the third generation debut talent show was also defined as a "debut documentary". in april this year, times fengjun also signed a cooperation agreement with universal music, and the songs of its artists will also be promoted to the international market.

on the surface, this is a choice to find another way out due to the suppression of talent shows and voting in the domestic entertainment industry, but in the long run, it is also a step for times fengjun to truly create an idol group and even an international idol group. after all, the previous generation of "group fighting for ranking" eventually led to the end of group idols turning into independent artists and leaving.

for times fengjun, if they want to form a group and maximize the commercial value of the group, the current "flat fan" is the most likely to become a "group". and this year's flat fan period is more like a belated team running-in period for the third generation.

fan yi luxin mentioned, "during the trainee period, they should have been cultivating team spirit but were fighting for ranking. ranking really dampens the enthusiasm of the kids. the upper circle sticks together, while the lower circle is decadent. it's hard to strike a balance between the extremes, not to mention team spirit, so it's understandable to take a year to cultivate team spirit, but it's hard for fans to accept that the consistent ranking has become a bubble."

in fact, it is not new for idols who have been supported by voting and fundraising to try to make operational changes without fan voting to create groups. for example, snh48 group has launched vertical group activities such as the international group 7senses and the post-00 group color girls, which are different from the traditional 48g model of dividing resources according to ranking; hard candy girls 303 pages adopted a round c exposure activity during the event. the "de-fanning" behavior of many training branches is also an attempt to regain a certain degree of "fan control" from the voting economy.

after all, after the qinglang operation, along with the management of talent shows, fan club fundraising, and voting, the ranking is also a sword that restricts the development of idol groups. just like now, times fengjun will also establish its first label to absorb mu zhicheng, zhang junhao and other trainees who have not debuted to "help trainees realize their music dreams."

but judging from the current situation, times fengjun's operation of top landing boys still cannot escape the suspicion of extending the period for making profits.

a fan said to music first voice, "the equal ranking is temporary, so the fixed ranking may also change next year. what if a member's popularity changes and they become more popular in a year? these seem to be unknown and unpredictable, just like no one knew that the talent show would disappear. we think,times fengjun seems to have never thought about the question of 'what to do after debut'."

now, the vigorous fan war of the fourth generation of trainees has already been put on the agenda, repeating the old path of their seniors. but perhaps having learned from the lessons of the third generation, the fan club of the fourth generation of trainees also sent a "greeting" to times fengjun in advance, asking for a positive response to a series of fan questions such as ranking and debut.

looking back, in li fei's eyes, the third generation was still a seriously "underestimated generation" in terms of strength. however, as their debut plans became public, criticisms of their professional abilities and frequent negative news made "the most useless generation" gradually become a prophecy.

the head of times fengjun mentioned in an interview before that "a group is a failure if its influence is limited to the fans of times fengjun.". with the cultivation of generations of young people and round after round of rights protection, the 18th floor of times fengjun may really need to be reborn.