Will history look favorably on 2nd gen?

Unclear. Hopefully they'll be looked at favorably because they paved the way.

It still will. At the end of the day many of the 3rd and 4th Gen idols credit the 2nd Gen as their inspiration to become an idol. You have many crediting Taeyeon and SNSD, GDragon and Big Bang, 2NE1, Wonder Girls, KARA, etc as their desire to enter the idol world.

It’s like saying will people forget the Y2K artists just because their streams aren’t high anymore? Of course not. You still have people giving homage to the greats of Britney, Christina, Eminem, etc!

2nd generation was the start of kpop's globalisation, it would be unfair to overlook that.

Well, maybe i'm bias, but I would say the 2nd gen was 10x more important than the 3rd generation, that don't mean they was better, even if I my favorite are the 2nd gen groups. But the 2nd generation was pretty much what established kpop as a thing.

Quote from Alex_Murphy

Unclear. Hopefully they'll be looked at favorably because they paved the way.

Yall forgot 1st gen

Quote from ArmyBlink0

Yall forgot 1st gen

You're right, they should not be forgotten. Stan Seo Taiji & Boys, H.O.T, Baby VOX, S.E.S, Fin.K.L and all the others. They paved the way.

I actually think 2nd gen popularity will increase as the years go by and as current groups continue to sound the same.

Quote from Drew_B

I actually think 2nd gen popularity will increase as the years go by and as current groups continue to sound the same.

Debatable. I don't think the k-pop audience is an educated one that cares much about what came before them and their faves.

No I think they will be looked at favourably as they were the generation who inspired the current idols and are iconic so no they won’t be forgotten.

Right now favorably, but if japan becomes less important for kpop and music style continue to change in 5+ years maybe it will be called the dark age

No if 3rd gen fans are the one writing it.