// Story Spexial
29 Aug 2018

Source 1

SpeXial is a Taiwanese boy band formed by Comic International Productions in 2012. The group name is a combination of “eXtra” and “Special”, which expresses the desire of the group to be unique. The group started off with four members and debuted on December 7, 2012 with their self-titled album, SpeXial. After several lineup changes, the group’s final line-up consists of eight members: Wayne, Brent, Sam, Evan, Teddy, Win, Ian and Dylan. Their fandom name is SXF (Chinese: 特使), which represents “Special Mission”.

On May 21–22, 2016, SpeXial held their first major concert “SpeXial the 1st concert – SpeXial Land 2016” at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with a guest appearance by Pets Tseng.

Career

2012 to 2013: Debut

In 2012, Comic International Productions selected four boys whose average age was 20 years old and average height is 183 cm to form a new boy band named “SpeXial”. The members included Wes (made his acting debut in Taiwanese Idol Drama K.O.3an Guo, Wayne (one of the top ten contestants of Taiwanese TV singing contest One Million Star (Season 6), Brent and Sam (made their acting debut in the television series KO One Return. Before releasing their first album, SpeXial received training in South Korea for a month.

On December 7, 2012, SpeXial debuted with their first self-titled Mandopop album, SpeXial. The album was funded by “2012 Funding the Production and Marketing of Outstanding Popular Music” of Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development. Also, SpeXial starred in Idol Drama KO One Return and performed the theme song and insert song.

In 2013, SpeXial starred in the sequel, KO One Re-act. They were invited by Executive Yuan for anti-drug campaign endorsement[9] with Pets Tseng (who also starred in the sequel) because of their positive image in the drama.

2014: Break It Down

On May 26, 2014, Comic International Productions announced the addition of three new members (increased to seven members), including Teddy (contestant of Shanghai Model Competition), Evan (Champion of 2012 Sunshine Nation – Sunshine Boyz) and Simon (scouted by the agency on the street). They officially debuted at the press conference of second Mandopop album Break it down on June 5, the album was released on June 12 and ranked No. 3 in Five Top Ranking (week 24 of year 2014) in the first week.

Also, Warner Music Taiwan spent 2 million TWD to create an online reality show Anything SpeXial, in order to introduce SpeXial in different aspects. The fourteen-episode show was released on May 27, 2014.

After starring in Idol Drama KO One Return and KO One Re-act and performing the theme songs, SpeXial took part in other dramas such as GTO in Taiwan, The X-Dormitory, Holding Love and Angel ‘N’ Devil, etc.

2015: Love Killah and Dangerous

In the second half of 2014, Comic International Productions recruited three new members, including Riley (Chinese-Canadian), Win (Japanese) and Ian (the youngest member). They were then officially added to the group on January 13, 2015, so that SpeXial consisted of ten members.

SpeXial’s first extended play Love Killah was released on February 4, 2015. Since Evan had to finish college in Canada from August 2014 and Brent started fulfilling military service from the end of December, 2014, only eight members participated in the recording. In the first week after the release of Love Killah, SpeXial held their first fan meeting at National Taiwan University Sports Center. On May 31, SpeXial won “hito Group” and “Most Popular Group” at 2015 hito Music Awards, which were their first two Taiwanese music awards. This event was Evan’s comeback showcase, but Brent and Sam were absent at the ceremony as they were fulfilling military service.

In June 2015, SpeXial have been the endorser of a mobile game Junior Three Kingdoms, which was downloaded one million times. In July, the J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki and SpeXial collaborated on new single Sayonara feat. SpeXial, they also shot the music video together in Japan. On August 1, SpeXial’s first travelogue photobook “SpeXial Life in Thailand” was released, while the shooting process was edited as LINE TV’s first reality show SpeXial Life. On August 22, SpeXial were invited to perform at a-nation Summer Concert. It was the first time of them to perform Sayonara feat. SpeXial with Ayumi Hamasaki on stage.

SpeXial’s third Mandopop album Dangerous was released on September 11, 2015, while Brent and Sam did not participate in the recording due to military services. Before the release of new album, one of the track Dangerous was selected by 20th Century Fox as the Chinese theme song of the film Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. At the end of September, SpeXial held their second fan meeting under the theme of athletic meet at National Taiwan University Sports Center.

2016: First major concert and Boyz On Fire

On January 25, Simon announced on his personal Facebook fan page that he has filed for contract termination from Comic International Productions due to “unclear accounts”, and he intended to leave SpeXial. He is still close and often hangs out with the rest of the members.

On February 9, SpeXial’s second travelogue photobook “SpeXial Okinawa Photobook” was released, while the shooting process was edited as LINE TV’s reality show SpeXial Life 2. During the shooting of Photobook, SpeXial directed their own music video for “Really Really” from the album Boyz On Fire. These three projects were the last projects of SpeXial consisted of twelve members.

On March 20, Zhiwei officially announced that he was leaving the group. On August 25, Riley officially announced that he was leaving the group after his contract was terminated due to different career goals (he is still close and often hangs out with the other members). As a result, SpeXial will continue as a nine-member group, including Wes, Wayne, Brent, Sam, Evan, Teddy, Win, Ian and Dylan.

On December 17, the press conference for SpeXial’s fifth album ‘Buddy Buddy’ was held in Beijing. The album was released on December 22.

2018: Buddy Buddy

On January 5, SpeXial held a press conference for their fifth album ‘Buddy Buddy’ in Taiwan. However, Dylan was absent due to filming.

On January 13, SpeXial was once again invited to participate in the ‘2018 Super Star’ Awards for New Year’s Eve, performing 6 songs, Buddy Buddy, Love Killah, Dangerous, Break it down, Bad Bad Boy, Super Style, as singers from the white team. The program was broadcast February 15. (Wes was originally unable to go on stage due to his leg injury. But in order to be with his fans and group members on New Year’s Eve, he disregarded his injury and danced along to Super Style with them). Dylan was absent due to filming.

On March 23, Wayne announced on his birthday that he was going to enlist in the army in August, and it was expected that his first solo concert would be held before May 27.

On May 15, Group leader Wes updated his Facebook contact information to the contact of the new company, and can officially leave SpeXial now that his contract with Comic International Productions has ended. SpeXial will continue their activities in their group of eight, consisting of Wayne, Brent, Sam, Evan, Teddy, Win, Ian and Dylan.

Reality show

May 27 – Aug 28, 2014 (Every Thursday) – Anything SpeXial –
SpeXial YouTube channel

Jul 24 – Aug 7, 2015 (Every Friday) – SpeXial Life –
SpeXial Life LINE TV official channel

May 6, 2016 – Anything SpeXial Season 2 –
QQLive

Jan 27, 2017 – (Every Friday) – SpeXial Life 2 –
SpeXial Life 2 LINE TV official channel

Variety show

100% Entertainment (娛樂百分百) – GTV Variety Show
Jan 21, 2015 with Wes, Wayne
Feb 12, 2015 with Wes, Wayne
Aug 10, 2016 with Wayne, Brent, Win
Sep 6, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Oct 5, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Oct 12, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Oct 27, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Nov 3, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Nov 4, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Nov 9, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Dec 2, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Dec 3, 2016 with Wayne, Sam
Nov 8, 2016 with Wayne, Teddy, Win
Nov 21, 2016 with Wayne, Win
Dec 9, 2016 with Wayne, Win

ShowBiz (完全娛樂) – SET Metro (Aug 24) – Youtube (all the rest)
Aug 24, 2016 with Riley
Nov 10, 2016 with Riley
Nov 23, 2016 with Riley
Nov 30, 2016 with Riley
Dec 7, 2016 with Riley
Dec 14, 2016 with Riley
Jan 11, 2017 with Riley
Jan 18, 2017 with Riley
Jan 25, 2017 with Riley
Nov 16, 2016 with Brent, Riley
Dec 20, 2016 with Brent, Riley

Global Chinese Music (全球中文音樂榜上榜) – TVBS Entertainment Channel, TVBS
Sep 17, 2016 with Wayne, Teddy
Oct 15, 2016 with Wayne, Teddy
Nov 15, 2016 with Wayne, Brent
Nov 19, 2016 with Brent, Riley
Dec 10, 2016 with Brent, Riley

Freshman Graduation (一年級·畢業季) – Hunan TV
Oct 2016 – Jan 2017 with Zhi Wei

3 Kingdoms (綜藝3國智) – TTV Main Channel
Nov 2016 – ? with Brent, Evan, Teddy, Win, Riley, Ian

The Groovin’ (最音樂 音樂三國論) – Youku
Dec 4, 2016 with Win
Dec 11, 2016 with Win
Dec 18, 2016 with Win

Photobook

August 1, 2015 – Kadokawa Taiwan Corporation – SpeXial Life in Thailand
(SpeXial Life 泰青春寫真遊記) – Wes, Wayne, Simon, Evan, Teddy, Win, Riley, Ian

February 9, 2017 – Kadokawa Taiwan Corporation – SpeXial Okinawa Photobook (SpeXial沖繩寫真遊記) – Spexial

Television series publications

December 28, 2012 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – KO One Return Photobook (終極一班2 故事寫真) – Brent, Sam

January 12, 2013 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – KO One Return Notebook (終極一班2 校園生活筆記書) – Brent, Sam

February 5, 2013 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – KO One Return – Behind the Scenes and Classic Quotes (終極一班2 劇照紀念冊) – Brent, Sam

July 10, 2013 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – KO One Re-act Photobook (終極一班3 酷帥寫真) – Wes, Wayne, Brent, Sam

August 7, 2013 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – KO One Return 3 Notebook (終極一班3 戰力筆記書) – Wes, Wayne, Brent, Sam

October 27, 2013 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – KO One Re-act Photobook (終極一班3 閃光戰鬥寫真) – Wes, Wayne, Brent, Sam

July 14, 2014 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – The X-Dormitory Photobook (終極X宿舍 電視寫真) – Wes, Wayne, Brent

November 15, 2014 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – Angel ‘N’ Devil Photobook (終極惡女 人物誌) – Simon, Teddy, Wes, Wayne

December 23, 2014 – Angel ‘N’ Devil Story Photobook (終極惡女 故事寫真) – Simon, Teddy, Wes, Wayne, Sam

January 26, 2015 – Shui-Ling Culture & Books – Angel ‘N’ Devil Story Battle Copper Dimension Notebook (終極惡女 決戰銅時空筆記書) – Simon, Teddy, Wes, Wayne, Sam

January 12, 2016 – Suncolor – 終極時空:時空旅人AR經典珍藏組 – Simon, Teddy, Wes, Wayne, Sam

December 8, 2016 – Kadokawa Taiwan Corporation – High 5 Basketball Photobook (High5制霸青春 熱血寫真本) – Wes, Simon

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