#ateez owns this concept btw

[queertwilight]

Under threat from my sister @awkwardlysarah I have been forced to return to this hellsite in the middle of a delirious long day to post what she has informed me is the best idea she has ever had. please share and show her some love so that she thinks i’m a cool older sister and not just a tired grad student with a nostalgic affection for this series. Seriously she’s really excited about this post and I love her so make her happy or else :) Without further ado:

The Cullens as Different K-Pop Fans

Disclaimer: this is all my @awkwardlysarah head canons not my sister’s @queertwilight. I decided to combine my love for K-pop with my sister’s love for twilight. My qualifications are that I’ve been listening to K-pop for 6 years, so I kinda know a lot. Also no hate to any of the artists mentioned, you can have your own opinions and I’ll have mine. Silly little post enjoy!

Edward:

-exclusively listens to K-drama OST’s

-mainly for the instrumental and piano

-listens to the Best KDRAMA OST: of all time playlist and ranks them by instrumental

-secretly does watch K-dramas but claims its to help “appreciate” the music, has cried to almost every drama he’s seen

-Does not understand the appeal of K-Pop groups, prefers what he believes to be the classics

-Though, Alice once showed him RM’s album Mono and is now his biggest fan

-“No, you don’t understand guys if I met Namjoon we would get along perfectly. We could go on a museum date together and talk about life.”

-Loves RM’s newest release Indigo and locked himself in his room to reflect on the lyrics in the album.

-He too, mourns the loss (of what would have been) his 20’s

Rosalie:

-she is such a baddie with her K-pop taste

-mainly a 2nd gen girl group stan, but dips her toes in 4th gen (mainly AESPA) because Emmett showed her a couple groups

-also loves soloists-mainly IU and BIBI and DPR

-BIGGEST 2NE1 and 4minute stan there is (prays on YG and Cube’s downfall)

-if the songs are about being bad bitches then Rosalie is listening to them

-she can low key body any rap by CL

-has her more mellow moments when listening to Girl’s Generation and IU

-overall supports her girlies

-will fight trolls online that try to discredit any of the girls’ careers (

-has made multiple accounts deactivate because she proved them so wrong they could not show their faces online again

Emmett:

-OH BOY

-when Emmett discovered K-pop it was like opening up a portal that could no longer be closed

-he had casually stanned 3rd gen groups (since Alice listened to them)

-but then he found LOONA and other girl groups

-Rosalie low key curses this day btw

-became the biggest Orbit and Chuu stan

-“Emmett we have to go save Bella, she’s in danger.”

“Idk, maybe if she stanned LOONA this wouldn’t have happened.”

-is a photo card collector (Rosalie put a stop to this after he spent 3K on a Chuu broadcast photo card and getting scammed trying to buy other pcs)

-when I tell you he was so devastated that Chuu was kicked out of LOONA

-he didn’t have the strength to go hunting for DAYS

-helped boycott BlockBerry Creative #freeLOONA

-he does also dabble in boy groups; mainly Enhypen because he thinks they are actual vampires. (No one tell him it is just a concept it would break his heart, he streamed Bite Me for days because he felt SO seen).

Alice:

-MY MULTISTAN QUEEN!!!

-she knows everything about every group (obvi) and knows which groups are unproblematic

-runs an undercover KPOPpredictions twitter account where all her visions go

-Loves groups mainly for lore/storyline purposes

-like TXT, BTS, ENHYPEN, ATEEZ, EXO, etc. she LOVES a good storyline

-does theories on her main stan blogs about what she believes the MVs mean for the overall story

-always has people commenting on her theories about how right she is.

-is also a K-pop dance/lifestlye influencer

-give her 10 minutes and she WILL know the entire dance-will upload and edit it almost instantly

-has been featured in KCON dream stages and has been able to dance alongside some of her fav groups

-love planning her outfits for concerts and giving people inspiration on her social media platforms

“You need help coming up with vampire themed outfits for Enhypen’s upcoming concert, say no more I’ve got just the looks for you!”

Jasper:

-some of y’all may be a bit mad about this one…

-he’s the problematic K-pop stan

-like his playlist is CONTROVERSIAL

-liked sticker when it first released (believed the flute is what tied it together)

-low key a Jay Park stan on main

-…and a super junior apologist

(what did you expect he literally was a confederate solider)

-If a group has a cowboy concept he will be all over it tho, “takes me back to my roots.”

-will start shit online because he knows in the end he can control their emotions

-loves those unpopular k-pop opinion videos

-Alice does try to get him away from the problematic side of K-pop and it does kinda work, but like quitting human blood it takes him some time

-not a big stan, he’s kinda in it for the drama and to be an instigator

[downbadreading]

Ateez fic recs

some of this is mature themed so MDNI!

first of all, there's a lot more and i will edit it time by time! thanks for the authors for writing such a great fic that make me enjoy reading so muchh

my main fic recs is here!

THE LEGENDARY FIC IS MIST OF CELESTE BY @hongism (m)

-i've been dying to do this i always think whenever i do my own fic recs this fic MUST be on the very top because it's insane i'm telling you who never heard of moc???

OT8 / ateez x reader

SUBTLE VARIATIONS OF HEARTBREAK by @nonclassyparty (m)

please read this. I am begging. the heartbreak i feel for each chapter??? INSANE. MUST READ AND REREAD.

the answer by @berryunho (m)

A CULT. A HOT CULT LEADER YET I AM ONE THE VERGE TO CRY BECAUSE HOW GOOD IT IS.

into the aurora by @honeyhotteoks (m)

this is so cute. super cute. i'm having emotional attach. btw part 2 is coming soon so if you're done with the first part, stay tuned! it's a poly ateez fics!

like the moon by @sunmoonjune

poly ateez x female oc. i love this. i love bug. i want to protect her so badly i will kill for her. what i really like about this fic is it's so wholesome. read this and you will understand, I SWEAR.

Seonghwa

love is gone by @ateezmakemeweep (m)

i have no words. it's not yet done, but i really love this story. there's another must read story SO PLEASE CHECK THE MASTERLIST

read for me by @pirateprincessblog (m)

(fem reader x best friend's father) this one heheheh it's so fucking hot like you don't get it it's just another tier i'm kicking the ceiling jaw on the floor while reading it.

Wallflower by @tenelkadjowrites

This is not just a sexual thing between an officemate okay it's more than that because i'm so invested on this story. mc and nerdy hwa is so cute and sexy when it come to the time there's four part of this fic!

Accidental Destiny by @hoonieversed (crying throwing up because this blog has been deactivated)

based on how to train your dragon and YEAH IT'S TOOTHLESS HWA (shifter) with healer reader i love the concept

Hongjoong

paradise lost by @setsugekka (m)

i will cry. this fic is so special to me because it changes my reading style and that's how good it is. i remember all the reread session i did before this because I AM OBSESSED.

bla bla bla by @yoongiseesawmp3 (m)

Stylist reader x idol hongjoong their relationship make me wanna cry it's sooooooo good

game of thrones au by @wordstro (m) eventually i think

I'm a sucker for got. even for hod. a fic starring my favourite group with my favourite series? i'm super duper in. there's one part leave from this fic, it contains four part! (and i'm not ready for the ending yet actually)

yunho

the meaning of 'jeong' by @hwaightme

ANYONE JUST KICK ME THIS IS SO URHHHHHH HOW DO I SAY THIS YOU MUST READ IT FIRST AND THEN WELCOME TO A ROLLERCOASTE RIDE OF EMOTIONS

yeosang

laces by @ttalgiwooyu (M)

This makes me blush for soooo long i wanna die. and read it again.

san

ginger and cinnamon tea by @cheollipop (m)

THIS ONE IS SUPER CUTE. AND HOT sick san and caring partner (along with woo's nonsense idea) this is a must read!

2 a.m. || Choi San by @mingigoo (m)

where do i start? idol san with make up artis reader is so hot.

in this place, full of lies: series masterlist by @wordstro (m)

i'm on my knees. the impact this series have on me. the fact i read it on one sitting and it takes hours. YET SO WORTH IT. I LOVE IT. SO MUCH. TO THE CORE. this one is post-apocalyptic world, and i love it.

Say what you want,be my people pleaser by @chokchokk

Still ongoing but the writer can have my kidney for this story I'm so invested you don't understand this is the falling with your fwb when he doesn't (yet idk it's my wild guess) and conflict here and there my I love this way tooooo much

mingi

series 2: sector one of itpfol by @wordstro

-this one is still ongoing and not yet started but it's on a same masterlist as the s1 with different y/n BUT IT'S ON ITPFOL UNIVERSE SO FIGHT ME

wooyoung

i wish you would by @multiland (M)

THIS? so good. so fucking cute and wholesome and hot and bother me so much. reader here is like frustrated with woo because he keep flirting that lead to a situation (NOT GONNA SPOIL IT BUT HOLY SHIT)

° good lil boy by @sorryimananti-romantic

I read this fic at 3 in the morning. By the time I'm finished with it, it's nearly 4 (or past already) and I can't sleep because this fic is so super duper good. Prince wooyoung and princess y/n (different continent they're not related!!!) And I love their banter so much

jongho

PLEASE SUGGEST ME SOME

multi member

starring roles by @nonclassyparty (san and mingi) (m)

BIG CLAP FOR THIS ONE. you know this is more y/n centered like i couldn't care less with who she ended up with i want her to be happy and be her. i root for her and i will kick anyone who mess with her on their ass. (i do care ofc but you know what i mean y/n is everything for me!)

not all that glitter is gold by @the7thcrow (seonghwa, san, wooyoung and reader) (m)

a great storyline. a super duper great one. i can go on days about this fic and the backstory of each of them. IT'S INSANE! eventually poly!

[romatique]

hi lina! i sent jes a message ab a day ago and it's all ab astrology. if u have time and it doesn't bother u, i hope u could give ur two cents ab it ^^

my bestfriend for 14 years, know nothing about ATEEZ [ i just found out that she won an ATZ album to a "BTS ALBUM GIVEAWAY" so she's not completely unaware of them ] recently gave me her birth time and out of curiosity, I put it up with my bias' (hwa) chart and in my interpretation, if these two meet— idk... IM A FAN

8h mars overlay

1h mars overlay

7h vertex

11h moon overlay

6h moon overlay

virgo-juno conjunction

juno-juno conjunction

asc-sun conjunction

moon-sun conjunction

mars-moon conjunction

mars trine moon

mercury trine venus (both ways)

mars trine venus

*attached below is a pic of their composite chart*

these r the placements that i feel are very strong and important to relationships. but idk, i could just be reaching and maybe im just a delusional bestfriend and fan but im not even kidding when i say she *almost* always match the seonghwa ideal type and fs readings VERY WELL that it almost always creep me out and even question my sanity bc it was just so random (somehow).

so yeah, that's basically it. im actually not so very much deep into astrology YET. i already asked her ab her thoughts on this, and she just said "everything will workout if it's meant to be" then followed it up with "or baka masyado ka lang oa sa interpretation, baka kapag nagkita kame niyan pumikit pa siya heheh POGI-POGI NIYAN" implying that she doesn't think it's impossible for them to cross paths but also doesn't believe that there would be something, that he's too good- looking, and that I AM JUST REACHING LMAO

I HOPE I DIDNT BORE U BC OF THAT LONG ASS MESSAGE LMAO. this is me asking for ur 2 cents btw lol i just want to know if i am interpreting things properly or... im just reaching.

THANK U IN ADVANCE, LINA!

hello sweetheart! you didn’t bore me at all~ i absolutely adore jes and i’m happy she sent you to me.

i know a lot of people have that “delusional” concept in their heads. i’m ngl, i’m lowkey like that too, i try to stand on a realistic ground, especially for readings. but i do believe that, in some way, celebrities could end up with potential fans aswell.

someone (i don’t quite remember who rn, i’ll make sure to check after i post this) posted once that bangchan’s fs is also a fan, for example. that happens more often than we could ever imagine. some celebrities even prefer it that way (let’s say they like the attention, not in a negative way, they just like being cared for)

in astrology, not everything’s perfect, of course. so even if their charts don’t match perfectly, that’s still a good sign. if you never bleed, you never grow and etc. it’s important to have a few negative sides to every relationship, as long as it’s not abusive! cause if not, how will we know what works and what doesn’t?

so, i read your whole message and the chart you sent as well. and i LOVE the earth energy right here. stable, grounded, and there’s also an open-minded side to the relationship with the gemini mars in the 10th house. could mean a foreigner, someone who’s into literature, or has an academic life, opposite to seonghwa’s which makes sense since he’s a cancer moon conjunct rising. he NEEDS that, haha.

i’d say: you’re completely fine on having your own opinions on it! she seems like she has her own life to handle so i believe that this won’t get in her way. as she said, if it’s meant to be, it’ll be.

don’t worry, you’re definitely not crazy haha. i was like this with my boyfriend before we started dating. but i just wanna let you know to not live like your life depends on it, just let it be~~ who knows? maybe someday their paths could cross, maybe not. let’s wait and see 🫶🏻

thanks for the ask again, love 🥹💞

[fadingoutintothehands]

(Long post sorry)

Ateez as Danger Days songs

Danger Days (by My Chemical Romance) has a lot of similar aspects and themes to Ateez' discography, mostly because their storylines are both dystopian. So I went through all the Danger Days songs and matched the songs to the Ateez members (more so the characters they play in the lore) based on my personal interpretation of the lore of both groups/bands. It's for my own enjoyment, I had fun.

1. Hongjoong as Vampire Money

Initially I didn't know if I should include Vampire Money because it's not really apart of the overall DD/Killjoys story. But it's very Hongjoong coded, with the David Bowie inspiration, and the fast pace of it all reminds me of his rapping. It stands out from the rest of the album, maybe that reflects on his authority as a Captain. I'm biased but Hongjoong has always reminded me of Gerard Way and his mannerisms, and its especially prevalent in this song. Unrelated but this song is pretty much a diss track on Twilight, and I love Twilight btw, but now it means I can connect Hongjoong to another one of my major interests - vampires.

2. Seonghwa as Destroya

HEAR ME OUT if you know anything about MyChem you probably also know the weird reputation of Destroya. But my reasoning is that behind the somewhat strange vocals, Destroya's main theme is based around a beacon of hope, with the actual character - of the massive robot called Destroya - representing salvation for the oppressed. This theme (in my interpretation) is also in Halazia, because in the music video that scarecrow/Halateez figure seems to represent hope for those people. And Halazia for me always reminds me of Seonghwa, probably because of his visuals in the music video and his siren vocals which I am so in love with.

3. Yunho as The Only Hope For Me Is You

I read up on some of the diary entries a few days ago, but I am by no means we'll versed in what they mean or what they represent. But Yunho's entry was very focused around his brother and a very close relationship between the two, which is also shown in this song as the narrator places their faith entirely in the hands of the person they trust. It connects with the Killjoys (the main characters of Danger Days) as being their wish to be remembered, and I think that's also something Ateez (or Halateez?) would want in their universe.

4. Yeosang as S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W

The distortion on this song is so heavy and that reminds me Yeosang's low register/voice in Halazia & Ep2: Outlaw. The lyrics are really out there with this idea of isolation and separation, and from watching Ateez' music videos (though I definitely don't entirely understand them) Yeosang seems to be more distant from the group on the regular, like when he's trapped in another dimension/world. Furthermore it connects to Ateez lore as "Scarecrow" refers to a police type extermination team, and that could either be Halateez in the earlier MVs or the masked individuals who keep popping up.

5. San as Save Yourself I'll Hold Them Back

This song holds a message of making a name for yourself and being determined to stand up for yourself, both in the real world for the fans and also for the Killjoys in the fictional dystopia. It took me a while to decide who'd fit this concept best, but I decided on San within the MVs he's a very stand out character who's hard to miss, his character obviously strives to be strong and overcome (re: pulling down the moon/sky ball in Halazia) but also in his diary entry he mentions making it "his" world, showing that he's not going to conform to a higher being.

6. Mingi as Party Poison

Party Poison inspired this entire post. This entire deep dive. I made the fatal decision to watch the Bouncy music video (for the 100th time) right after listening to Party Poison and seeing Mingi in the bar put me through it. I'm assuming Mingi is Django, that's my interpretation, and Party Poison is one of the Killjoy characters who's also Django, in a conceptual sense. The song walks you through a very violent encounter where Party (the character) uses dance and music as an accompanying metaphor. Music and dance is a very strong theme here, and obviously it's also a main theme within Ateez' music as a whole. Party Poison is also just a very eccentric person and those vibes shone through with Cowboy Mingi in Bouncy.

7. Wooyoung as Planetary (GO!)

Similarly to Mingi and San, Wooyoung matches with Planetary because of the overarching themes of dance/music as well as overwhelming determination. A big part of the Killjoys characters is that they're never ones to be forgotten and they'll do the craziest out of pocket things in order to be remembered by fellow outsiders or by Blind (the oppressive system) themselves. This brings chaos to the song, I personally think Wooyoung embodies this chaos in his performance and his character within the lore. The song speaks directly to you, as the listener, and it's very easy to imagine Wooyoung being the one to shout these social commentaries at you.

8. Jongho as SING

Again, if you're familiar with My Chemical Romance, you might know that SING doesn't have the most favourable reputation among fans. They're wrong, objectively I disrespect their opinion (jk) because SING is so goated, so top tier. Why Jongho, besides the obvious reason that his singing is off the scales incredible. It's Jongho because the song details the power of singing and music in the face of who want to put you down and the way Jongho's vocals make me feel is like that. He's very inspirational, he said on Lee Mujin's service that he wants to be recognised for the work and effort he's put into his voice and SING represents that view entirely. Goated man for a goated song.

Finally, overall I adore My Chemical Romance and Ateez and they're probably the only thing I think about most of the time. One of the reasons I found myself loving Ateez so much was because I recognised the similarities they have with MyChem so I often find myself comparing them as artists and comparing their songs, mostly the themes within their songs. Obviously it's not a unique idea to portray motivation and inspiration through a dystopian storyline, but Ateez & Mychem (MyTeez? AtChem?) manage to do this incredibly well through both sound and visuals. If you've read all of this then THANK YOU <3 wholeheartedly I appreciate you for giving me the time of day to talk about silly little musical connections, despite them not being that coherent or even making sense.

If you've never listened to Danger Days, or My Chemical Romance, I'd highly recommend it, it's a very enjoyable listening experience. And look into the Killjoys comic book/story if you're into dystopian fiction. and found family tropes

[thelastharbinger]

I am going to have to address this in a longer post but I originally intended this as a reply because once again we have to talk about the supposed “queerbaiting”. Look, I’m tired.

People misunderstand that "queerbaiting" by definition is a marketing ploy and tactic where media producers imply queer stories that are never actualized because they think it will bring in profit. It’s the quintessential, they want to have their cake and eat it too-- “we don’t want to turn off our conservative audiences but we still want everyone’s money so we’ll dangle something in front of you and pull out before we make our Mike Pences in the crowd upset.” In a conservative South Korean market where queer visibility is little to none and still very publicly frowned upon (Marvel's Eternals had its first gay married couple kiss on screen and many audiences in Korea at the theater were not happy about this, in case that gives you any indication of where things are in terms of how Korea feels about the gays, *hi*), to do what OOO is doing from a strategic and monetary standpoint, hurts more than it helps them. Companies will do literally anything to avoid making their group unmarketable, that’s why idols are not allowed to publicly date (OOO are btw), among other things.

I don’t know how to emphasize that for OnlyOneOf, who are a very small group (as in, they are largely unknown among 4th gen groups inside a hyper competitive industry) that come from a very small company, that to actually imply any kind of same-sex narrative would be more to their detriment. In the kpop scene, we know conformity gets you more popularity. It’s why so many groups follow trends like the girl crush concept (Blackpink, Itzy, Aespa, Everglow, and more) or why electronic dance music made a major splash across groups these last few years. OnlyOneOf doesn’t produce a typical kpop sound, they don’t have typical concepts, thus they already are at a disadvantage compared to their peers in the industry and sure, you could say by queerbaiting they’d garner attention, and they did, but a lot of it was negative (which they understood and accepted as a risk, hence why we’re getting a song called “undergrOund idOl” but it’s not on spotify yet???) and they had to censor parts of their choreography to fit broadcast standards.

(Also, and I do have to add, why is it suddenly OOO is queerbaiting but fandoms have been shipping kpop group members since the beginning, and those are actually some of the most popular/viewed kpop youtube content, i.e. “Stray Kids are not Straight Kids”, “The S in ATEEZ Stands for Straight” or “YeonBin are real” or whatever shit. Moonbyul released a song and video about a same-sex relationship and I don’t see anyone claiming she’s queerbaiting???)

I can’t say libidO and skinz are “queerbaiting” because there’s no way to look at those videos and not come away with, “this is gay.” They’re not hinting at relationships and pulling the rug from under you, it is there. And if the mvs didn’t confirm that for you, then the choreo and stage performances certainly did. The members have been very explicit in the behind the scenes of the libidO shoot that what you see narratively are three love-lines.

I don’t think OnlyOneOf set out to say “oh we’re going to pretend to be gay now” (1. don’t assume you know anything about anyone’s sexuality) but rather, they set out to depict a more mature concept about love that is explicitly sexual in nature and in Korea where women are admonished for participating in their own sexuality, it may have just been easier to say we’re just going to express carnal desire amongst us. It was a double-edged sword to begin with. You gotta understand that in kpop, when it comes to songs about love it is very much, a school crush or a puppy love or a break up song or a yearning, etc etc, but it is never about sexual desire. Idols are encouraged to be sexy but not act as sexual beings, that goes for male and female groups alike. OOO’s Instinct albums are a refusal to this rule and several others. In the end, it is all storytelling and I think they’re doing a pretty good job of it.

[donghyuckkies]

Hi there!

Seventeen, Ateez, and Shinee for the ask game if you haven’t done them already?

Also, a photo of Seungkwan just for you!

omg hello that seungkwan pic is lowkey making me blush 😳😳😳

seventeen:

favorite member / bias line kwan > chan > cheol

which member I’d fight (& why) chan cuz he just has that "it's on sight" effect on me

favorite song(s) so so so many of them ;A; here's a playlist i made of my faves

favorite thing about the group they're literally sooooooo in love with eachother and work together so well as a cohesive unit despite the amount of members it's really amazing. like they each have such distinct personalities and i'm sure it must've taken a while for them to learn to appreciate eachother but it's one of their greatest strengths cuz they all contribute their own colours to create amazing works of art. they're another group who continue to raise the bar for kpop groups when it comes to performances with their steady vocals and insanely detailed choreographies. there also isn't a single weak link in the group, like regardless of units each member is a strong dancer and singer. i was late to the carat live but i don't think i'll ever leave cuz i love these boys so much <3

something i’d like to see from them more vacations for them please

ateez:

favorite member / bias line woo > joong > hwa

which member I’d fight (& why) woo and joong lol i feel like i could take them and also would enjoy it

favorite song(s) one again i have a playlist here of my faves

favorite thing about the group they're just so??? dumb and lovely and cute??? and their concepts fucking slap lbr similar to skz they've really got a handle on their sound and it's so uniquely theirs. like they're still pretty young so ofc there's going to be releases that might be more "commercial" in sound as they're trying to expand their audience (imo this was fireworks and deja vu, and maybe even thanxx and inception) but even then they still stick to their style and i love it so much! they're just really cool and fun

something i’d like to see from them moooooore spooky edgy space pirates pls omg

shinee:

favorite member / bias line jonghyun > key > taemin

which member I’d fight (& why) taemin cuz who wouldn't fight taemin

favorite song(s) yes you've guessed it: i've got another playlist here

favorite thing about the group they were the very first group i stanned when i got into kpop back in 2012 and omg they've never let me down we ignore 2013 title track everybody in this house trough the years they've consistently been releasing my fave albums. and don't even get me started on how much i love these boys outside of their musical talents! i'm just so incredibly proud of them and will cry if i think too much about all the things i've been through with them. they've also just been pushing the boundaries of kpop and raising the bar for the industry since debut (which btw was the best debut in kpop fight me). on top of that they each have incredible solo careers! (oh and never forget that their first solo albums were all connected to eachother in design and titles ;A;)

something i’d like to see from them literally nothing but good things for them please they deserve all the love and admiration and happiness in the world

[kpopmakesmequestionmylifechoices]

Kingdom Round 3: "Plagiarism", rigged voting and fanwars.

[Disclaimer: It is possible that for fans of certain groups I'll come off as offensive. I like each of the groups, I possess albums of TBZ, SF9 & SKZ, and I watched HOURS of content/debut programs of ALL the participating groups. Nevertheless, I will ALWAYS say my honest opinion. If you want to fight me, you're ofc allowed to do so but I hope you're all mature enough to not feel offended by opinions.]

Act 1: Tbz, where do your ideas come from?

So what I've noticed is that there's a massive difference between tbz behind the scenes and other groups'. Not only in this episode. So far, tbz simply DID NOT show how they create ideas, stages, how they practice. They picked a song, fooled around, and then met up with RTK members. It was cute sure, but it had NOTHING to do with the stage. The other groups showed practice scenes, showed their ideation process, showed who taught them and how. The boyz didn't. No practice, no ideation. Only song choice. We didn't see them practicing the choreo, we didn't see how they even got the idea for this stage. Their behind the scenes footage sadly has NOTHING to do with their performance. I really wish we could see them practicing and coming up with ideas.

Another big problem I see with this, is that they literally don't explain where their ideas come from. Now for people who know Game of Thrones (GoT hereafter), it probably appears rather obvious that the previous and also this stage was inspired by GoT, right? The white walkers? Ice and fire? The throne? The freaking red wedding??? I can't be the only one who sees a connection between their stages and GoT. ATEEZ said they were inspired by Pirates of the Carribbean. SF9 said they were inspired by film noir and showed how they worked with an actor on their storyline. iKON explained how they associate inception with dreams and put together their ideas. But TBZ didn't freaking talk about any of this. Either it was never recorded, or it never was aired. In any way, it's extremely suspicious in my eyes. Moreover it's just pretty shit to not say where your idea comes from. Especially not when you even name your stage after the iconic red wedding... Now IF they were NOT inspired by GoT, then it would be some... extremely huge coincidences... especially the stage title is just a bit too much tbh. But more to that stage later.

Edit: It came to my knowledge that according to deobis, Cre.Ker will post the content after Kingdom on tbz social media. Whoever took that decision needs to be fired tbh. If the content will be released, I'll link to it and add some few words to it.

Act 2: The good, the bad, and ... All hail king Juyeon?

Let's talk about the performances now.

SF9: What I dislike is the fact that as I stated in my previous Kingdom post, they are forced to do such dramatic musical/movie stages to even be recognized as part of the show. Moreover, I found it weird and unfitting that they held guns during the group dance parts, to me it seemed a bit off. Also, at times, their energy level seemed a bit low.

What I liked is that even tho it was a MASSIVE set, the performance still was extremely easy to understand and follow. They all looked insanely good tho, SF9 simply is mature and manly. I liked the concept, it was fresh because it for once had no fantasy vibe but actual criminal mafia energy. My favourite parts were Jaeyoon's fighting scenes because they were very well choreographed. Altogether, I really enjoyed it and also found it interesting how they referred to the Boyz crown scenes on RTK.

The Boyz: In my eyes, this is already the second GoT inspired concept they did. Not a fan of this. Moreover, I'm a bit pissed that it looks as if they are selling all that as their own ideas. As I said before, I believe this is GoT inspired, the name at least definitely was - but it's never said that the inspiration comes from there, because we literally have no information about where their ideas come from and if it's even their own ideas. To me it has the bitter aftertaste of wanting to hide sth the viewers aren't supposed to see. But this is not tbz fault but the fault of whoever writes/directs/edits their footage.

With the title of the stage given, I actually thought I'd see a wedding. But what I've seen was a woman in a bird cage. And then many more women. I failed to see what this all had to do with a wedding, and I moreover failed to see the connection to "THE" red wedding. And I failed to understand the plot once again, and because they didn't explain it beforehand, I'll never understand it.

What I liked is that the performance was way less dramatic than it was ever before. It didn't seem like a stunt show anymore, it didn't seem overdramatic anymore. It was easier to focus on the performance. Sadly, I noticed that this "downgraded" (aka slow-paced and less dramatic) stage was unfortunately underwhelming in comparison with what they did before - which was sth I predicted from beginning on. At some point you can't go bigger anymore, and if you tone it down it'll automatically seem underwhelming.

Edit: It's sad that they have this pressure to outperform themselves because they've won RTK. But honestly, it was clear that the winner would have this pressure on them. I don't see why I would pity them for this, after all, each of the groups feel pressured anyways and I rather feel sorry for ALL groups together because this whole ranking/competition thing is just unnecessarily stressful. But once again, I don't understand why you all blame MNET for this. Don't forget that the companies have contracts with MNET and knew that shit would go down. If you blame any bigger instances, then please also the companies who put their idols on the show. It's not like they got forced to make their groups participate.

My biggest criticism this time however is the fact that they give the most screentime to Juyeon (and Sunwoo because of the rap parts), and the rest of the members barely appear, or basically aren't shown at all. I already felt before that there was a strong focus on Juyeon, but now it's srly showing very clearly. I really like Juyeon, but I don't find it fair. I think that doesn't do justice to the other members, which deserve screentime as well. In conclusion, tbz on kingdom is an extreme mess in my eyes, with lots of communication- and management flaws.

iKON: I belong to the group of people who heavily prefers THANXX over inception, so I was a bit sceptical about the song choice. They really made a YG version out of this tho, I was pretty impressed. The stage concept was pretty nice, iKON surely knows how to use light. Now the stage seemed very inspired by Inception (the movie) which makes a lot of sense - but wasn't communicated either. Just mentioning this because I critisized tbz earlier, so I think the same applies here to some degree. I didn't recognize the song anymore tho but I found it pretty refreshing. In my eyes they did the best so far in making another group's song their own. This could have been an iKON song for sure. As always, a fun stage.

My personal ranking will follow after the other stages.

Act 3: About cheating and faking.

The Voting looks as follows:

Views: 1. SKZ 2. iKON 3. ATEEZ 4. BTOB 5. TBZ 6. SF9

Online Voting: 1. SKZ 2. SF9 3. iKON 4. BTOB 5. ATEEZ 6. TBZ

Btw if anyone knows the overall voting, please comment or send a message, because I somehow missed it?

I said it before, and I say it again, this entire voting is rigged and I totally don't care about it anymore at this point because it's absolutely not trustable. Experts didn't know about the budget differences, who even are the experts, why did SF9 get zero on-site votes, and then ofc the fans who created 50 accounts to vote...this voting is a joke. What I can totally not understand is how ATEEZ and TBZ can rank last for online voting. Sth seems off here to me, especially the fact that SF9 ranks last in views but ranks 2nd in votes? I'm sorry to say this but I think that's the result of the ZZZ fanwar. My assumption is that there must be a big mass of people who purposely voted NOT for TBZ & ATEEZ, and my guess is - no offence - that those were stays. In accordance with the fanwar, they didn't give their 2 other votes to the other ZZZ groups but to whatever other group. Or in general the ZZZ fandoms purposely not voting for each other. That would explain extremely well why SF9 could suddenly rank 2nd. I'm tired of this voting, of fanwars and all this drama and I decided to not care about the official voting anymore.

If you got to this point, I wanna let you know that I feel very blessed that you made it through this long post hahaha. Thanks! And for the next week, I expect BIG THINGS. I'm the most excited for BTOB. Them covering back door is the most absurd thing I've imagined for a long time hahahaha. But Eunkwang with tattoos really is a good sight, isn't it ;)?

[jonghours]

How much of INCEPTION and the ATEEZ Stroyline is based/tied to the concept of Nolan’s Inception (2010)

(I won’t be going into the details of the INCEPTION MV because I believe it must be analyzed with the THANXX MV and Diary film altogether, so I won’t touch on it here!)

okay after years of rolling my eyes everytime someone mentioned Inception in film school I went back and rewatched it just for the sake of this post so you all better not let this flop!

1. What is the concept of Inception?

First of all, for those who have never seen it, Inception takes place in a reality in which people can enter their own and other people’s dreams. They create the world within dreams at will and make them so they can suit their every need and desire. The reasons why they use them in the movie aren’t relevant, but the concept is. 

In the movie is explained how people prefer the world in the dreams so much that they spend so much time in them they lose track of what is real and what is not. The dream becomes their reality.

The people in the dream can dream in within dreams, which is the concept of this ATEEZ comeback “Dream In Dream”, these are called levels. The deeper you go in the dream (the more levels you create) the slower the time passes. You could spend decades and grow old inside those dreams but when you wake up, it might have just been days, maybe just hours in real life. This could be related to ATEEZ’s concept of “always staying young” I don’t know if this could be the case, but I believe this different levels might also be the “parallel universes” of the ATEEZ Storyline, but I hope that’s not the case because I personally don’t like this theory.

I believe there are multiple ATEEZ MVs that fall under this Inception concept, and that each one is a different level, but I’ll get into that later in the post.

Here is a shot of Inception of a group of people sharing a dream and the INCEPTION promotional teasers

2. The timer // hourglass

When a person or a group of people (the case in both the movie and the ATEEZ storyline) enter a dream, they set a timer to wake them up. Once it does, no matter how many levels deep you are in a dream, it will wake you up. I think this might be tied to the hourglass, and how when its sand goes upwards might represent the waking up and the oportunity to submerge in a dream yet again. This could make sense in the Diary Film when Hongjoong turns the hourglass around, since is tied to the INCEPTION MV.

3. The roles

In the world of the movie you need a group of people with special roles to create the perfect dream, and I believe each ATEEZ member might have one. It’s been made clear that there are two groups in the INCEPTION MV.

There is Yeosang, San and Wooyoung, who carry a glass ball that is also seen in the ILLUSION MV.

meanwhile, the rest of the members have the spinning tracticoid from the movie itself, even if it’s hard to appreciate

Now, what the hell is a spinning tracticoid. In the movie, each person has a totem, a personal object that belongs to them and them only, and this is the protagonist’s

I’ll get to what a totem is and how it’s important for ATEEZ’s storyline in the next point. Meanwhile, back to the roles. I mentioned the two different groups because I believe Yeosang, Wooyoung and San might be architects.

In the world of the movie, architects design the world of the dream, even if is not their own dream, they can create it. This could explain the ball, since I always saw it as some kind of “holding the world” metaphor. Also it made me think of that shot in ILLUSION where Wooyoung changes the world with a simple movement of his hand

there are also forgers, people who can take the appearence of other people inside dreams with the intention of manipulating the subject of the dream by making them believe they are said person. This might be a reach, but I’ve always found it weird that when San stares at his own reflection in the Say My Name MV, he sees Yeosang

could Yeosang be the forger? Maybe San? Wooyoung looks startled when he sees HALAteez Yeosang in front of him, so he might have come to the realization that he’s not the person he was staring at?

If San is an architetc that would explain why all the objects in the Say My Name museum scene were created the day he was born (this is a clue confirmed by Wooyoung btw)

also, (and this is another reach) there are chemists in charge of creating sedatives that are strong enough to make deep dreams possible. In the movie, creating more than two levels of a dream is already hard, so they need do drink these sedatives to be able to fall into these deep levels, so it made me think about the toast

Could the content of the glasses be the sedative? Are ATEEZ falling into another dream? The color shceme seem to match, but as I said, a reach

3. The totems

As I mentioned before, every person has a totem. These are small objects that help the people that sumberge into dreams to remind themselves that they are still sleeping (or make sure they are actually awake), so they won’t get them consfused with reality and get lost in the dream.

Now, every ATEEZ member has their own object. I mentioned this briefly on my post about FEVER being tied to Say My Name, but long story short, each member has a personal object. They’ve had them since HALA HALA/SMN, but they became more relevant in the ANSWER photoshoot.

Hongjoon’s... weird thing

Seonghwa didn’t have an object in the HALA HALA era, and unlike the rest of the members, he got no object on his plate during ANSWER, because of course Seonghwa is special

Yunho is a special case too, because he used to have the walkie-talkie during HALA HALA, but then moved to the compass

Yeosang actually owns the compass during HALA HALA, but then moves onto a pocket watch

San has his vintage binoculars

Mingi keeps his walkie-talkie

Wooyoung, who previously had nothing during HALA HALA, shows up owning no less than the hourglass, go big or go home I guess. However it’s important to note that the hourglass isn’t in the plate the teaser picture

finally Jongho, who didn’t own anyhting either during HALA HALA has a telescope

Now, I don’t know if this is relevant, but in the wolrd of the movie, no one should touch your totem, because then they would be aware of it’s weight and shape and could create an exact replica to convince you that you are awake when you are still dreaming, so I wonder if the compass who changes owners so frequently has something to do with that

4. What MVs are related to the Inception concept?

As I’ve said and we already knew, the concept is about dreaming inside dreams, or more simply put, sleeping. So what MVs have we seen with ATEEZ sleeping that have long been theorized to not be “real”? WAVE and ILLUSION (of course UTOPIA too) and also, apparently, WONDERLAND.

ILLUSION and WAVE are easy to tell here, and I believe these two MVs are actually dream levels. Actually I’m almost sure ILLUSION is a dream withing WAVE. Look at these shots and compare them to the INCEPTION ones

also, at the beginning of the WAVE MV, all members are sleeping and just waking up. I’m almost certain ILLUSION takes place inside of Seonghwa’s mind, and that’s because he’s the first one to open his eyes at the end of ILLUSION and beginning of WAVE. Also Seonghwa has been tied to dreams and dreaming for a really long time.

I believe they are waking up from ILLUSION into WAVE, which I believe is another dream inside a dream, from which other MV I’m not sure. It’s hard to to put the dream levels in order without all the clues. Also, in the movie there is a place called limbo which I will talk about later, but in the movie they say this about it “[...] when we wound up in the shore of our subsconcious we lost sight of what was real” which makes me think of WAVE

Now, I wouldn’t have tied WONDERLAND to the Inception concept if it wasn’t for the various, obvious visual references to it, such as

the stairs or paradoxes

the elevator

also that scene where one of the architects bends the reality of  adream over itself reminds me in cocnept of the WONDELRAND stickers, the overlapping worlds

5. Limbo

When you are far too deep in a dream and try to wake up, you might end in the limbo, which an uncunstructed dream space full of nothingness except fot the remain consciousness of the person whose dream belongs to. That might be the dark place seen in the Diary Film and the end of INCEPTION, but I cna’t say so yet

[skzfaker]

i just finished your fic! :) it's nowhere near ready tho. i still have editing to do, and only then will it be perfect, but yay! prepare >:) also - i'd pass away if u made a book cover for it, omg. that would be so good blinking is optional and yeah, i still have a long time :) it'd be super cool to incorporate the stuff i learn into fics, but i also just finished my pre-reqs so im still really not in my major just yet. but im excited for my upcoming classes! i have done evil wizards, evil joseon dynasty era warriors, evil pirates, evil vampires... ahahahahaha. can u see a theme AND YEAH, JONGHO <33333 he's the greatest. he's so cool. i have put him through so much and he absolutely does not deserve it. i show my love in really strange ways. he's the main vocalist of ateez, right? i may have stolen his vocal cords in one of the fics as a punishment for his sins it's a very long story. I have a handful of fluff fics but it's really just majorly horror or fantasy and it's all darker fantasy lol. clearly... i enjoy the more sinister side of life. hahah i might skip but probably not. i hate skipping class ajdsjklfskl and i'd just be worried about it during the concert which wouldn't be good. idk, who knows, i'd stop a moving truck w my bare hands if i knew that by doing so i'd be able to see ateez oh, where do u live if u dont mind me asking? i figured we lived in different places because your time zone seems different than mine and thank u!!! i've just been chilling, but i also like being a busy bee, so i've been writing when i can, i'm also a lifeguard, and im trying to get a paid internship at a lab for my resume :') and yeah, i like to do a lot of things not on the computer! i play viola tho not as much anymore bc im burnt out but i still say it, write, knit, and read! ngl the first thought i have was felix's extensions in thunderous. clothes never really bother me too much, it's always hair it seems. i just like it a certain way and im not a big fan of longer hair, so i saw his extensions and sighed a bit. ofc it's just hair and i still love him but AAAAAA. what about u? - 🎅

wow you work really fast! THE HYPE FOR THIS STORY IS REAL (╯✧∇✧)╯and it'd be a honor to make the banner/cover for it! do you usually have covers for your stories or have someone make those btw? i remember back when i frequented fanfiction sites, everyone seemed to have their own banner-makers. sending you energy for the editing portion tho!

also i spent a majority of yesterday taking naps so i think my eyes are back to normal

okay that's a pretty impressive repertoire of horror-themed stories! very intrigued by the evil pirates one evil-anything needs to be more of a thing - this is why i love it when groups do dark/evil concepts (also i keep typing 'evil' as 'evel'). all the fluff and bubblegum is cute and all, but i live for the edgy and dark themes too.

HAHA OMG jongho is ariel - i love how you stole his voice HAHAHA. you really hit him where it hurts; i can already feel his crisis from over here. yeah we're definitely the same in that regard. i love my cheesy romance, but horror is still my #1 genre. i do hope you gave jongho a happy ending tho (≧▽≦)

aww man i was the same when i was a student too. i wasn't happy skipping classes and i was constantly anxious about being late. fast forward a few years and i'll take a random day off of work for the heck of it HAHAHA. hopefully having to stop a truck with your bare hands won't be the requirement for you to meet ateez tho! have you already met them before, btw? or is the concert next year potentially the first time you'll see them?

ah i'm currently staying in the philippines! what about you? i kinda just assumed you're in america - please let me know if i'm off-base there, and we can figure out just how much time difference we have tho tbh i'm a vampire so i'm up until 3 or 4 AM here

(also you just reminded me to ask which timezone to follow when it's time to give gifts/reveal ourselves on the 25th. i might give my gift too early...)

btw, have you made it home??

yay! glad you’re getting some rest! wow a lifeguard tho! i'm guessing you enjoy swimming then HAHAHA. and that you live close to the beach? ooh i love that knitting is also part of your hobby list. i used to crochet but got too lazy about it. what kind of things do you like to make?

...okay i swear i'm not copying you on purpose here, but felix's thunderous extensions is also on my list of ??? skz looks. the blonde ones that match his actual hair looked okay, but the weird greyish ones...yeah i'm not feeling it. i thought it was part of his hat at first. hmm, can't say i'm a huge fan of chan's cheeto hair much either, especially when it was so short (soz chan). what about your favorite looks?

[park-seonghwa]

I'm sorry for my late reply btw, I've been on a trip with a friend so I wasn't online today :3 It was so nice we went on a little island and ate ice cream and talked a lot^^ Oh, and I wanted to ask you the rest of the questions today since you said it was fun answering them :D 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17 here you go~ ^-^

ohh aurora is beautiful🥺just imagine if we'd get a video for each song omg I'd die- the whole album is so nice and gives me those summer vibes I totally need right now✊☀️if you ever decide to watch anime I could give you some recs^^ and ohh I don't know that one the only kdrama I've watched was Hwarang (but I wanna watch more). Oh I see, thanks for telling me that I'll check them out maybe I find some nice ones to buy (since mine look more like earrings than piercings)😍

Also,,,I hope you feel okay with shipping?? because that's our fourth mission and I wanted to say that I'd ship you with Hongjoong!! I'm really bad at shipping so please take this with a grain of salt but I just feel like you'd match so well and you refer to him as a soulmate and I found that so sweet and you're both so creative and good at what you're doing and yeah, that's why :3 (but I also low-key ship you with Yunho so you two could dance together)

im the one who should be apologizing for always replying late:( you can virtually slap me or somethinsjfjner im glad you had a nice trip with your friend, id love to go there too hehe i hope you dont mind but i wont be answering the qs since another mission is on nd yeah...but thank you anyways!!

tbh i thought utopia would get her own performance video,, but yeah i was wrong:( true!! i dont really like summer songs/concepts, however this album is just flawless, i love it so much and there hasnt been a day i havent listened to the whole album since the day it came out. im still on that ateez high hehe ive never seen hwarang but many ppl told me it was good!! you definately should watch more,, i love watching kdramas, idk theres something abt them.......

im okay with shipping (im against shipping members in a romantic way tho), and im really happy you shipped me with hongjoong asjdhwje there were some kpop games similar to this and quite a lot of ppl shipped me with him as well!! omg dancing with yunho.............id die..............

hmmm i think id ship you with yeosang. you both give off a fairy energy asjewkjfnr i think you two would perfectly complete each other!!

[skzfaker]

coolio, you'll be dark haired girl then!!! not sure how big of a part you'll play but I have ideas 👀👀👀

yee, engineering is pretty neat! I love the idea of helping people. I'm in bioengineering specifically, so that means building prosthetics or engineering cells. I like both tbh but right now my concentration is slated to be nanomedicine, which is the cellular part of the major!

you're still young!! :) but yeah, there's stays that are even younger than me and it definitely freaks me out just a little. No one is supposed to be younger than me

Actually, yes, this person was indeed in shax or sparkling! So that eliminates it down to jongho, seonghwa, or yunho 🤔🤔🤔🤔 since san is already out

He actually has some of his own merch bc he likes a few girl groups lol. He rly likes this small gg called pixy and has an album of theirs :) but he doesn't collect photocards or anything like I do

Bruh yeah! It was annoying how they just took turns being on stage. For a "collab" none of them interacted :/ and yeah, ateez literally just had a comeback yesterday so it wouldn't surprise me if they were just too tired to do anything super elaborate. I was still hoping for something big tho augh. Skz made up for it tho bc there's was so epic. Jeongin on the scooter 😭

Oh my god I love up all night (bc vampires!!!! The concept was so good!! I think u have seen that I absolutely love creepy or horror stuff and the MV was so perfect)! I also love island. and streetlight, streetlight is epic.

- 🎅

Eyy any part is good in my book…unless I’m revealed to actually be the antagonist or something. Tho actually that would be pretty cool too!

Ooh that does sound interesting! Difficult, but interesting (I don’t think I’d be able to survive studying it tho since I hated biology as a student LOL). And your reason for going into it is very noble too! We need more people like you d(￣ ￣)

HAH my dude you’re telling me tho thank you for that hahahahuhu. When seungmin was teasing chan for being “half 52” next year, I felt attacked as someone who’s already that age now _(┐「ε:)_ thanks seungmin. But eh I still look like (and have the maturity of) a seventeen year old apparently so I’m okay HAHAHA.

Okay this is my last guess: is it seonghwa? my atiny friend’s busy so that answer is purely mine, tho at some point she was thinking of either seonghwa or san.

Oohh that’s cute! I think I’ve heard of pixy, and at least one of their songs when watching a music show once. HAHAHA I’ll be thoroughly impressed if he collected photo cards too - it takes special dedication to collect something like that - tho just the fact that he has is own merch is impressive enough. Kudos to your dad!! Kpop is a nice bonding activity.

Right?? That’s what I was saying too - what kind of a “collaboration” doesn’t have them actually collaborating. It’s like a group project where everyone didn’t have time to meet so they just made their own parts and stuck them together last minute. I loved hyunjin’s part tho - they opened strong with him. Oh wow yeah tho it sounds like ateez didn’t have the time. I’m sure they’ll make up for it in their tour. And YES THE SCOOTERS FOR CHEESE. Loved that, and the 3RACHA portion.

YESS I knew you were going to include up all night in your list. The vampire concept seriously fits them so well. The amount of fanart that song spawned was the best part for me HAHAHA

Ooh how was your last final btw?