MNL48’s i-School continues with new class-mates, two guest teachers, and some pretty interesting stuff. But besides that, nothing much happened this week in the world of MNL48, as there is still no word about the release of the first single, and the hype is only being maintained by their presence in a fan-voted chart.
MNL48 i-School has completed its second week, and as far as content goes, this week seems to be a lot better than the first. It featured Kazu from the group HPN 3, and Teacher Mia, the girls’ actual Personality Development Teacher, the latter of whom gave the girls some activities.
As far as the girls are concerned, they’re still developing their variety skills. But that doesn’t mean the show isn’t worth watching. Oh no, the girls can be downright funny at times. Again, i-School is a soft introduction for non-wota fans of the group, so I don’t really expect any head-hitting, truth games, or blowing an insect at each other. Although, I wouldn’t mind if they get another show. These online shows are great, but I wouldn’t mind having a “performance-oriented” show that features the girls performing and showing their skills.
The week ended with some heart-breaking “eliminations”. Faith and Jem leave the show after just a week, while TIn and Ash get the boot after two weeks. The girls are given tests and activities to determine who gets booted after a week and the above-mentioned girls have had their moments, but in these kinds of shows, someone’s got to go. New members will take their place this Monday.
Let’s take a look back at i-School’s week 2:
https://youtu.be/NconIxBwqp0
https://youtu.be/nZRR6Re-SB4
https://youtu.be/o6vCxnSKSc8
https://youtu.be/sp237DwvP8U
https://youtu.be/NnZWjTiZ_BA
MNL48’s Aitakatta – Gustong Makita once again grabbed number one in the fan-voted chart of Popcharts PH. Once again, the fans have diligently voted for the song to keep MNL48 at the top. Once again, this is a fan-voted chart, and is not indicative of actual music popularity. But still, it’s a positive thought in an otherwise frustratingly delayed single. I mean, no offense meant to the bosses, but September is ending and we would really appreciate any update regarding this.
Moving on, the girls also went to Camiling, Tarlac for an Outreach Program for the victims of Typhoon Ompong. Members Lei, Jan, Kay, Rans, Brei, Coleen and Belle went traveling in the early hours in the morning to distribute relief packages to the victims. Considering that most of the members seem to have their weekends off (based on their posts in Instagram), it’s nice to see some girls sacrifice their precious time off to do some social work.
On a personal note, I managed to secure the photo-cards of Thea and Kay. I wasn’t able to buy a single photo-card during the Manila Idol Matsuri and have been scouring Facebook groups since. In the group “MNL48 Trade Your Merch”, fans can sell, buy, or trade their merch. It is the perfect place to hunt for rare goods such as S1 complete set with signed greeting. Hell, any Ash photo-card in itself can be considered rare as it is seldom for a single photo-card for the fan-favorite to go any lower than PhP 1,000.00. No kidding. There are kind souls who do offer them lower, but the end price becomes inflated because of multiple bids, each one higher than the previous one. One person even told me that the bidding for his Ash already reached PhP 1.3K. I’m not going to go into the price her complete set cost.
While Ash photo cards can be considered premium right now, there are others who also have high values. The Kay photo-cards I bought, for example, drew me back 600. That’s 300 each photo-card. Not much at first glance, until you consider that a random set sells for PhP 400. I managed to snag the Thea at PhP 250, and I consider that a bargain seeing as many people have been looking for hers. Again, people may think these are overpriced, but this is how the wota market works where the demand and popularity of a certain member determines their goods’ after-market value.