#exo theories

[okiecookie20]

EXO and the CUBE •

There are multiple times we see the symbolism of the Cube in Exo's mvs. Things you (maybe) didn't notice:-

-We find it first appears as a box given to Kyungsoo in Overdose intro (Overdose theory!) as they are trapped in a maze. He sees a vision and empties the sand in it.

-A surprising link I found was in Obsession's concept photos. (Obsession Theory!) I noticed that Baek and Suho stand in and out of a cube literally made of glass & light:

-Tempo is wholly based on this cube and SM further makes things complicated for EXO-Ls 👻. Notice the white text at the bottom of this teaser image:

They solve the puzzles in different rooms which are in the bigger "cube": Jongdae+Chanyeol📝, Ksoo+Xiu♟️, Kai🎹 / Sehun🥂 / Jongdae in the bar, Baek+Suho💡 in the room with a bed (another cube imagery!)

The image below clears all doubts that the 🟥 is nothing but the maze we see in Overdose and Lucky one. (Lucky One theory!)

Another smaller red cube is seen at the very centre of the maze. I'll talk more about this in a different post dedicated to Tempo.

-Notice how the logo of EXODUS - 2nd album is awfully similar to the Necker cube which appears in Don't Mess Up My Tempo Album:

The lyrics of Exodus can be interpreted in two ways 1) they are in a maze in that era 2) this was the past and they escaped it:

I'm still trying to understand the concept of the best kpop group♡. Thank you for reading and have a nice day ;)

[adoringdo]

EXO Theory Pt. 15 - Hear Me Out

New MV, more lore.

<<- First part | <- Previous part | * Masterpost

We begin this MV with Kyungsoo waking up and slamming his alarm clock at exactly 10:45 and falling from out of bed.

This probably wouldn’t be significant if we didn’t see the exact same scene with Chanyeol later in the video.

My first thought when I saw this was that I can relate this back to my theory of EXO being tested. Hear me out :P

After Kyungsoo wakes up he walks out of his room into the living area space and we see Kai, Baekhyun, Suho and Xiumin asleep - almost looking passed out.

Back in part 2 of my theory I wrote about how the vast majority of EXO’s MVs seemed to be set in another plane of reality, think Inception, or a parallel universe and this is signified to us often through this imagery of the members sleeping. Again, we get this a few times in this MV. But, more interestingly, the first member in this MV we see awake is Kyungsoo - who I’ve often claimed was the first member to ‘wake’ from the dream the Red Force has put them in and has been aware of the testing they’ve been put through for the longest time. 

Anyway, when we see Kyungsoo awaken and fall out of bed and come into the room to find his other members asleep he lights some incense which seems to be the trigger to begin the events of that day, starting with Sehun building with Lego.

It’s quite hard to see in Sehun’s scene but in a later scene with Chen we can see the buildings a little clearer that Sehun is building - I’m definitely seeing a London skyline and the Berlin Radio Tower so I like to think it's somehow connected to the Pathcode teasers,

Day one of the MV (which I’m calling Kyungsoo’s day) continues with the members mostly cleaning and relaxing until there is a time jump to the end of the day when Suho brings doughnuts.

The members then play games together and the day ends when Chen looks at the camera and says ‘You know I don’t play games’ which is funny but may also be a hint to the Red Forces/whomever he is talking to that the day is not right and so then they start again with Chanyeol waking up.

However, this is a lie. In the Parallel Universe teaser we very clearly see Chen playing a game with Kai.

Personally, I think this Hear Me Out universe is the same as the Parallel Universe one - or at least, it’s one of EXO’s parallel universes in a similar vein. Many people have made this connection - much of the styling and look of the two concepts are very similar. But the other reason I think these are connected is because the ‘partners’ in this above image continue into the Hear Me Out MV in the final scene with the car in the field.

I’ll come back to that in a bit, but back to Chen. The reason I think Chen is lying is because, after Let Me In or some time before it, we’ve seen Chen switch back to being on the side of EXO rather than the spy for the Red Force. I always believed Chen was the spy through manipulation on the Red Force’s side more than any benevolence from Chen, but since his interaction with Xiumin in Let Me In he’s realised what he’s done and is now purposefully using his sway with the Red Force to take control of this testing.

Anyway, after Chen says he doesn’t play games, the day resets at 10:45 with Chanyeol, and many of the events of the day are similar but focused on other members. I do like the continuation of this circle imagery from both days though:

It really reminds me of some of the imagery in KoKoBop and points to the repeating nature of the MVs and the days (also why the washing machine again lol?)

On Chanyeol’s day the boys are waiting for a bowling game to load, but it seems to be taking a long time and so they are distracted on their phones. 

We then see Suho notice the clock and time reversing quickly again, and then they seem to be transported to bowling irl.

Or do they get transported? Not long after this we see an image of Xiumin lying on the couch with his phone next to him playing a video of himself.

So, as we see Xiumin sleeping whilst also being in the bowling alley with Sehun and Baekhyun on his phone, we can assume that the bowling alley area is actually another dream plane within the dream plane - one again very Inception like.

One of the kind of interesting things about the bowling scene is that there seems to be an attempt to split the 8 members into two groups. There’s a little scene where you can see D.O, Kai, Sehun and Baekhyun in one lane and Suho, Xiumin in the other - assuming Chanyeol and Chen are in their lane as well means that you have two teams, perhaps competing with each other as they tend to test members 1v1 like that as shown in Romantic Universe, and yet the members are all cheering for each other regardless of team - perhaps following on from Let Me In where the members realised that to succeed against the Red Force they need to always work together.

Speaking of Romantic Universe, one of the fun parallels is the test between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo and comparing it to this MV.

In Romantic Universe, we first see Kyungsoo get tested at the ATM and fail and then Chanyeol comes along and clears the mission immediately. I think it’s interesting we’re getting a mirror of that in this MV where Kyungsoo begins the first day and the day fails and we then get Chanyeol start the day and the day should be a success if we compare to Romantic Universe.

However, as the bowling mission may be a success in the bowling reality, simultaneously, back in the living area where Xiumin sleeps, we see Chen walking to the kitchen and notices a phone moving forward in time very quickly.

The phone lies on the Lego Sehun was building the day before and along with Xiumin’s controller next to him in the scene with him snoozing next to his phone I’m going to say that this scene is actually taking place on Kyungsoo’s day rather than Chanyeol’s, and in fact both these days are taking place at the same time, rather than the bowling being a separate day.

I think the phone then explodes because, as in Romantic Universe, Chanyeol’s day was a success, but not in the way that the Red Forces expected or wanted. Instead, the EXO members by not succumbing to the Red Forces plan to split them up actually supported each other and worked together and temporarily set the RF back. Hence kaboom.

Because the EXO members have succeeded in their endeavour, we then see EXO outside washing a car, happy and relaxing - seemingly having escaped from the groundhog days, and remember what I said earlier about the partners/groups from Parallel Universe being important - this is where we see them temporarily reunite.

If you see in this teaser, Kai and Chen are playing a game; Xiumin and Kyungsoo are building a jenga tower (very similar to the one in Tempo that becomes the cube); Baekhyun plays with the globe and Sehun with a ball; Chanyeol’s drowsily looking into a cup and Suho’s stood alone reading.

Here we see Kai and Chen relaxing and talking together.

Baekhyun and Sehun sleep in the car, with Baekhyun in the driver’s seat holding onto the steering wheel. Chanyeol is also asleep in the backseat but we can’t see his face.

Suho alone by the car where the other three members are snoozing.

And Xiumin playing catch with Kyungsoo. The reason I bring attention to this is because I do think this Universe is set with the same members as from the Parallel Universe world rather than the ones from Let Me In or whatever. It’s really hard to explain concisely but so much of EXO’s storyline only makes sense to me if you forget linear time exists completely. We first got introduced to Parallel Universe during the Power promotions, and in the Power opening narration - if Hear Me Out is in the Parallel Universe and Let Me In I suggested was set with some reference with that opening narration too then it would make sense that the next MV could have some reference to something in that as well - maybe the continuation of Baekhyun falling to the water at the end of Power?

Anyway, we end the MV with Baekhyun this time as well. Baekhyun is sleeping in his car and gets awoken by a new alarm clock that is also stops at 10:45.

Will EXO truly ever be free from the Red Forces and their testing? At this point it’s almost seeming like a no, but maybe we’ll get to see Baekhyun’s day at some point.

There are so many other references in this MV but I could not fit them all in tbh. Definitely think it’s linked to Romantic Universe, KoKoBop, Love Me Right, Sing For You and the Pathcodes though!

Stream Hear Me Out :)

Next part ->

[sanstropfremir]

I saw the comment on your last ask and wanted to ask what's your 5th gen theory? I know that for me actually looking at the years 5th gen should have started already but it feels like we're still in 4th gen because no one other than a few girl groups have blown up the way that 3rd groups both boy and girl had and anyone who has gotten popular has been in last year or two. Making a big three comparison exo in their 3rd or 4th year was in a very different place than stray kids or treasure now

fifth gen HAS already started! just not where or how you would think. and for clarity's sake: i don't categorize gens by group popularity, and that would be a moot point anyways because the success of previous gen groups is never going to be replicated on the same scale because of how dramatically the industry has changed.

my fifth gen theory is this: there's already starting to be a generation change in the last year, but it's being lead by smaller companies who are unable to sustain the current fourth gen performance model, and subsequently there's either going to be a delayed transition where the big four companies will be the last to debut fifth gen groups, OR there's going to be a full split where big four and other well funded companies can keep producing groups in the fourth gen method, while every other smaller group has an entirely different performance method.

the main characteristic of fourth gen has been very strong and heavy dance skills paired with difficult choreography, on a scale that's much more extreme than previous gens. although a lot of third gen choreography was probably harder on its idols' bodies thanks to the acrobatics, third gen idols were still trained as well rounded performers and were able to transition smoothly out of their stuntmen eras and still be able to maintain their group's artistic identity. in order for companies to ramp up the spectacle factor from this, instead of tricking + stunts they prioritized technically difficult dance, which has translated into the bulk of fourth gen idols being by large, probably the most technically skilled generation of dancers. however, like i've said in previous asks, that has come as a detriment to pretty much every other skill that used to be trained into idols. making the sacrifice of dance vs singing is fine for companies that have the funds to support having big spectacular cbs and have large stable fanbases that consume uncaringly, but it's more of a problem with smaller companies who are getting priced out of being able to afford cbs to even hope to match the scale that fans are coming to expect. so as a result, they're going back to training their idols as more holistic performers and simplifying choreography. i know a lot of people are not paying attention to the rookie bgs but a lot of the ones from the last year and change have been a totally different calibre of performer than the established fourth gen groups, and it's likely to continue that way. my hypothesis is that the last company to catch on fifth gen is going to be the next jype bg, and how they perform is going to be the indication of if there's going to be a staggered transition or a full split.

[kwangya-express]

What is Kwangya?

This is the question that many still struggle to answer adequately. You have an idea of what it is, but the precise explanation of its origin and operation still eludes many. I admit that neither of us fully comprehends it. Much of our stories are based on our beliefs about what it is, filling in the gaps that have not yet been explained as coherently as possible. We invest our time in researching all types of media, seeking information in the most remote places, and believe me, we've found many interesting discoveries along the way. For example, who the true conductor of the train is (it's not LeesoMan); why EXO rarely uses their powers on Earth; what Atlantis is; among other questions…

Some of these answers can be found between the lines of our stories, but let's start with the essential. What is Kwangya.

Without further ado, Kwagya emerged from the Ether. That's right, the Ether, as mentioned by the NCT group, which means the sea of the unconscious, where everything dreamed becomes reality. This is why it is emphasized in various NCT and AESPA songs that one should never ask for or wish for something within Kwangya/Ether. As they explain, Kwagya was born from the unconscious of the beings that inhabit the cosmos (Kosmo-zen). In other words, Kwangya is nothing more and nothing less than the manifestation of a playful dream, a vast and limitless space where everything is connected, both physically and non-physically. Therefore, it is not a literal place but rather a space where the world and the home of each artist combine.

However, it is important to note that Kwangya is a dangerous place, even for the most powerful beings there. Being in contact with the Ether can be harmful if one is not prepared, especially mentally. Humans are the most fragile and sensitive to the effects of the Ether. Hence, means of transportation like the train shown in SMTOWN 2022 are so crucial. It was created to be a safe place while transporting anyone, provided they have permission from a Kosmo-zen to be there. This means of transportation within Kwangya offers a vital safeguard against the dangers of the Ether, ensuring that those who use it are protected while exploring this fascinating and mysterious world.

[lovvecherrymotion]

feeling emotional about jance again and i want to suffer so i'm asking you do you have a jance playlist or any songs that remind you of them (in any language ofc)?

oh my god yes (i used english translations for non english songs) and it got wayyyy too long

oh no (i think i’m in love) by blossoms

home is, home is where i'll be when you're standing beside me i've never been so sure about it, can you tell? this is all that i wanted i'll never take your love for granted you make all this so easy on my heart

been through by exo

you shine like the stars you light up my heart at the end of today’s hardships brightly shine on me

they never know by exo

i’ve opened all of me for you my eyes, the deepest part of my heart in a world that’s closed without a small crack it’s the only place that’s open for you

rush by troye sivan

you got my heartbeat racin' my body blazin' i feel the rush addicted to your touch oh, i feel the rush it's so good, it's so good

nothing on me by kai

i'll wrap my whole body around you full of you at this moment a brief moment passes as if i could touch it i want nothing on me but you

adore you by harry styles

oh, honey i'd walk through fire for you just let me adore you like it's the only thing I'll ever do

because of you by gustaph

i’ll carry on despite of the things they said and done they’ll never kill this fire your love will take me higher it’s all because of you

paper rings by taylor swift

i like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings uh huh, that's right darling, you're the one i want, and i hate accidents, except when we went from friends to this uh huh, that's right darling, you're the one i want in paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams oh, you're the one i want

a sem ti povedal by joker out

did i ever tell you you're a game of chance you breathe me in and soothe my trembling soul

[gentil-minou]

Hands down favorite part of an exo comeback is all the overabalyzing and theorizing exo-ls coming out of hiding with the most big brained ideas to make it all make sense when part of me thinks that the concept is always just "how do we make this more unhinged and homoerotic"

[sherlockholmeson]

Why I had not idea until today that Not Me is based on GOT7 fanfic??? I just saw it on titok. But there was no more info. And now I am thinking who was who?

And apparently Theory of love was a fanfic of EXO?

Are there the original fanfics translated into english? Anyone knows?

[tattooyeol]

Stel 2 of my research

[nyasialiveshere]

Theories I hide on my phone

Okay so let the record show I have no proof and I can’t even put all the evidence I have cause...reasons but this is more just something I put together a year? year and a half ago. I told my sister but she was on tiktok and didn’t care, but she said it was interesting which coming from her and her limited attention span-- is a compliment. So this is going to be either really long or really short

I actually first thought of this theory as a joke then I was like hold up there’s a lot here. It’s all speculative and for fun, it’s really more of a thing that shows how matrixy the matrix is so many people have a lot in common even if they don’t know each other...or do they 

AgAin this is NOT everything I just have other stuff to do and I’d like to get this posted by like today and not spend a billion years on this one thing and I can’t even go into detail. This is just the small stuff I can’t post other things that make it even weirder because..it’s not my business..his isn’t either but..techinically nothing is anybody’s business. So anyway the theory

okay so what this theory actually is..its hard to explain I’m technically not theorizing anything this is all public information I just said hey there are similarities here so let’s take a look.

So N tee way, Justin Drew Bieber was born march 1st,1994

Kim Jongin was born January 14th, 1994

(ps his ears looked so big as a baby but now they look so tiny off topic sorry)

Justin was raised by a single mother, 

Jongin was not though he has said at some point that it was just him and his mom living in Seoul when he left to pursue his dancing dream.

(there is no photos of them from this time but here’s a photo from around that time? I really don’t know)

Both their lives changed in 2008.

Justin at 13 was signed to Scooter Braun(who interestingly enough would later end up selling his artists to a Korean label what are the odds) and Usher.

Jongin at age 13 won S.M entertainment’s Youth Best contest(what a stupid name). 

There is no specific date for this, for this but sometime during the 2000s Jongin went to an Usher concert(his words not mine.) He was never specific about this but apparently it affected him so much he said he wanted to be able to have stage presence that woo’d women like Usher and Justin Timberlake.

Oh crap this is so funny, turns out Justin Timberlake and Usher were actually fighting to sign Justin Beiber, but Usher won out and became his mentor(Thank God). But they are still cool there’s no beef

Also Usher took a photo with his ex at the Met Gala what is going on

the matrix is matrixing, okay this is a sign I’m onto something

Okay so just small personality things. After doing research I realized shockingly that I didn’t know a lot of things about Justin even though his life is kind of an open book.

Firstly I couldn’t find the photo but I swear there was a childhood photo of Justin with his hair just like Kai’s but I can’t find it his hair was blonde with black highlights

sort of like this

While Jongin had black hair with blonde highlights

So Justin is even more obsessed with kids than Kai is, I know I was shocked but he is. 

A lot of times when I saw photos of him with children he wasn’t related to the kids at all nor did he know the parents though this was a family friend’s child I think. 

He’s done like a lot of make a wish’s and charity things related to children. It’s easy to say it’s a front but I honestly don’t think it is. The amount of times he’s stopped on the street or in a restaurant and introduced himself and interacted with kids who don’t even know who he is that’s a lot of effort for just an act.

Jongin’s philosophical adoration for children is also well known so much so as it’s basically apart of his brand at this point.

the main diffference would be because of how celeb culture is. Celebs being stopped and people going up to them isn’t really a thing so how an idol acts off of professsional studio camera’s is really anybody’s guess. So I’m not really sure the history of Kai’s interactions with kids but...that’s another thread point is they both really like kids.

They both really like and were inspired by Mj. Now this is kinda iffy like almost every celeb is but hey it’s just an observation

Weirdly Kai doesn’t talk about this much now and days there’s only a few comments he made about him at the begining of his career. And a...anyway he is inspired but in his own words he doesn’t want to be him or be too compared too him..I still think it’s strange he said that considering..other things anyway 

The oddball one

In 2019 Jongin starting performing confession.

 It was most likely inspired by Usher’s confession.

 I definitely think it was inspired by that confession because of the hats. (cause usher confessions is about cheating and getting caught (just some historical context.) )

 With what the lyrics of the song was about, the choice of hats didn’t really make sense. Though I don’t think the whole thing was strictly about being like Usher or an rnb type performer, just the aestetic came off that way.

Also the performance style was similar to Justin beiber’s (minus the dancing)

 (I mainly mean the chain, being shirtless and the tattoos)

but all rnb dudes do the same so.. 

(also I’ll get to the tattoo’s later cause that’s also interesting)

They both have had cornrows and dreads in similar styles.

Now I will say the only minute difference is that Justin had his hairstyle as just that a hairstyle. He simply wanted to, as a person making his own decisions, get a traditionally black hairstyle even going to a black person to get it done. Jongin is a kpop idol and it isn’t known who or what made him get these hairstyles....

orrr at least that’s the common belief the truth is...a bit different. From multiple hours of deep research I was able to determine from a large collection of internet receipts that exist in the abyss of websites that are so old my mom probably knows what they are..Jongin actually braided his own hair..pretty much everytime you see a photo of him with them... at least a large majority of the time. This does make sense. Because the quality of his braids are different in different photographs(hairstylists would be more consistent). Sometimes they are very neat other times a little sloppy. 

I assume he took them out because I found old tweets saying ‘thank God he took them out’ but weeks later in a performance he would have them in. I must admit that’s like a lot, having to braid his own hair and then perform, that’s no joke. So to dismiss him just being a typical wave rider/cultural appropriater just trying to look cool, baby who has that type of patience not many people.

So they both have a similar appreciation for black culture...not going any deeper that’ll be for another thread

Ironically right after complementing them I have to say another tid bit that they both have video’s of them saying the N word. Blah blah blah, it’s not hating or exposing just listen. It’s weird because these video’s had have taken place in very similar time frames between 2010-12ish. Also both videos existed but resurfaced around 2014-2015ish. That’s super duper strange. I won’t link the vids cause then people will be like your hating..I’m not I don’t care they were kids who cares. The N word is said approximately a billion times a day in middle schools across america I don’t have the energy to hate on other people. I’m just saying big picture what are the odds. 

I won’t put the links cause that’s just petty,

Also last one in 2018 Justin let go of his bleach blonde hair and buzzcut and grew his natural dirty blondeish hair back

He embraced his imperfections and became more natural and laid back

This one is tricky cause kpop idols change their hair like the wind changes direction but for a minute Jongin had his hair in a similar dirty blonde mullet style

also I won’t post the photos with him bare faced because the kpop community acts like facial blemishes are cursed and if you post an idol with acne you’re hating but he actually went to fashion week with little to no makeup on. Touch ups on his photos and some minor concealor aside he wasn’t wearing makeup. Which is interesting cause he’s usually does do full face contour but in 2018 he was more natural.

LAST THING..that I can think of, idk i’m tired I did this while doing a whole bunch of other stuff today.

So this one is a bit..all over the place just keep an open mind.

So Justin is an open and very vocal christian..very.  There is for a reason but...that’s for another time. A reason aside from the he just made some mistakes or his family forced him, it’s way deeper than that.

Jongin is...not. At best he is one of those people who just stays away from talking about religion and tries not to even discuss it in passing. Which I have theories on why this is but that’s for another day, I’m honestly too tired to get into that. He’s a complicated person. Anyway. We’re just looking at the facts rn.

In 2018 Justin beiber around september? idk. He was doing what he does. Just singing on the street about Jesus to anyone who would listen. Anyone who has done even slight research will know around 2017 Justin had a faith crisis and got super duper close to this celebrity pastor Carl lentz who...yeah just look it up anyway they were so close Justin even moved in with Carl’s family for a little bit. So 2017-2018 was definitely a religious awakening sort of point in Justin’s life.

Also this is just observation, it’s not anything concrete everyone is welcome to believe anything they want. If you want to believe it’s all a coincidence, by all means please do. I literally just do this cause my brain is a rollercoster and this is funner than watching t.v. It’s not that deep

So December 28th 2018, I wasn’t privy to any of this info cause I took a 2-3 year break from kpop cause I wanted decent grades and a social life and Kpop got in the way of that so I just forgot it existed. Then I took a break cause I needed to focus on myself and blahblah blah. Any recently before months starting school in the fall I decided to do a deep dive and catchup with all that happened. So I wasn’t blinded by the daily drama or gossip or emotions that make fans unable to see synchronicities and little details. From what I can tell around that time the biggest thing concerning people’s thoughts toward Kai was his perpetual habit of being a tease onstage. Like I get it but I dunno like I’m a dance/performance head so like that’s normal for dancers like the more theatrical the better. The dance community is literally always gassing one another up male or female like yas be sassier, more hips, pose, slay. It’s normal I just don’t get people oversexualizing him for that, it’s supposed to be fun. But I digress. Anyway I noticed that in one of his performances for tempo he was wearing a cross, I wasn’t sure if this was simply for fashion purposes so I just figured it was and ignored it.

then I found this and realized that probably wasn’t it

Active faith is a christian sportwear company worn by many christian athletes

So what does this prove...nothing really it’s just interesting. 

Anyway then I found that days before during another performance he wore another crucifix looking necklace

Now where am I going with this...just wait. I still didn’t know what to make about it. 

Except I kind of do. So on the 25th of December in 2018 post or pre dating scandal at this point I really don’t know. He was doing an instagram live

https://youtu.be/v7pVauY3QO8

I could say what I heard but.. I feel as if you watch it and read everything I put and do a little of your own research you will know why I put this here if you watch it and notice nothing..don’t even worry about it. I can’t spoonfeed.

Lastly there is his live in 2019 after one of exo’s concert. Again this isn’t about this so I’m not going into detail I’m just trying to like group this thought of mine together with why I feel how I feel.

He was talking about his tattoo’s and also these tattoo’s that he had were portraits of animals which justin also has. It’s not in the same order, not all of the same animal but I did notice both him and justin had falcon’s? eagles? idk something like that, along with a flurry of other animals at least two land animals and at least I think..I’m so tired

the only difference is that Justin has a decorative cross on his forearm that kai didn’t have

oh wait

yeah now I’m done. I literally didn’t even know this starting this, Justin has like a million tattoo’s and I just saw this one. The matrix is really matrixing

[britneyshakespeare]

rumor has it it was the love shot

[okiecookie20]

EXO "Obsession" theory part 1

Lucky One Theory | the Cube

• Let's first dive into the main theme before exploring other details. Obsession makes us wonder whether X-EXO are evil clones. On the contrary Baek mentioned something similar in their behind the scenes video (pls click on individual screencaps to read):

The boys are involved in this good v. evil fight as we know. Now that we have the theme of alter egos confirmed I wanted to mention there is a song on the album called Jekyll (지킬) the idea is borrowed from R. L. Stevenson's book and makes it easy to connect the dots. The lyrics of the song make it clear about the main plot of this era so we move on...

• Chen plays a game of chess with his evil counterpart. At the end there are certain pieces that remain - knight, knight, 4 pawns idk how this is valid since if a king is in checkmate the game ends conventionally.

I believe Chen and his counterpart are the knights. Now knights + pawns = 6 members in comeback. This might mean that Chen is in control and knows things which the other 5 don't since they are just "pawns" for the time being. He is also the only good guy remaining or smth out of these 6 and others might have been corrupted or defeated??!

I believe Chën won.

There are multiple footages of their chess board too: it might mean each of their actions is being watched by the RF. But I'm still not sure why they have the screens in their room (since Chen has the power of Thunder which could roughly go with electricity?). Is Chen keeping an eye on Chën?

• Moving on.. Chanyeøl is the one in center when the song begins. He is also the only member with eye-catching continuous patterns on his outfit. Something about Chanyeol seems a little off. I have started thinking of reasons for his behavior and vulnerability which I'll surely discuss another time :)

Clearly they emphasize how Chanyeøl is the leader of X-EXO or smth, like the most destructive force. In the mv all of X-EXO (except Sehůn) glow red but we see that only Chanyeol (special emphasis on red eyes) looks like that. This makes me think he is consumed by his evil ego:

Chanyeol and his X-EXO counterpart engage in a physical battle using fire:

At one point Chanyeøl is engulfed by fire as they fight and later we see Chanyeol radiating flames. He is also seen on the red side of the ground, encircled by the fire - hence it is clear he loses the fight. More explained about the fate of doubles in part 2

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR!! 😀

• Kai is a biker and his scenes with Kāi reminds us of bullfighting. In the first gif below, we see how Kai tries to dodge his matador counterpart:

There are negative versions of Kai and his evil counterpart (maybe they fight in two different worlds since we know Kai teleports like in MAMA). I'm unsure who wins the fight since both appear with subdued expressions in inverted colors.

I'll also mention that in the performance video of EXO AND X-EXO, Kāi and Kai interact:

• In this picture we see there are 12 rooms → for the original 12 "legends". Only 6 members took part in this comeback so the other rooms are empty (Luhan Tao and 🥴 belong to the rooms below but were trapped in the maze). Notice how Kai is in the center of the OT9 rooms — he is the key to something. From Japanese, Kai translates to Recovery in English: it could mean protection and restoration of the tree of life to its prosperous state since "tree of life and the heart slowly grew dry" in MAMA intro. This is something very important to revert to as we unravel their clues to the story.

•We see exo playing video games/reading comics in some teaser photos of other releases, the vcr from their EXplOration Dot (Day 1, Seoul) and even Power mv and merch reflects this vibe - which makes sense that the battle at such a physical level is fictitious (and being endured mentally). These might be dreams the boys have after the RF drugged them or possibly influenced them in some way.

Another thing is that the drugs induced by the RF (Lucky One) might have smth to do with the creation of alter egos. The boys try to fight the evil versions of themselves but they were created so that RF takes control over the good Exo who foil their plans and to exploit their powers.

_oh well that's all for now, I will create a part 2 to incorporate it all. Have a nice day!!⭐

[adoringdo]

EXO Theory Pt. 16 - I Need All 'Ya ~ Cream Soda

What a bop, SOTY, AOTY, I love EXO. The music video has too many fast cuts that it's kinda annoying to analyse, but the fast cuts really reminded me of Love Me Right and Love Shot and some other MVs that have strong dreamlike vibes - so that's fun! Anyway...

<<- First part | <- Previous part | * Masterpost

The first thing to note with this MV is that we have two sets of EXO in the MV. The colourfully dressed EXO:

And the EXO wearing black suits:

In this MV, I actually think the suited members are representing X-EXO and the colourful ones are normal EXO, so I will refer to the suited EXO members as X-EXO from here-on.

I think it's quite obvious that the brightly dressed EXO members in this MV are trapped in a dream state that they are trying to escape, as we have seen in many EXO MVs before.

We get a few different clips of the Bright!EXO members laying like this on the floor, asleep. Very reminiscent of Love Me Right.

In Love Me Right, we watch as the members take on the roles of Alice in Wonderland characters and try to escape the dream that the Red Force has put them into. In Cream Soda, we see the EXO members asleep, but not taking on characters. Instead, they are wondering around in this space that seems to me to be very cube-like.

However, we do also see EXO outside of this space. At the beginning of the MV they arrive at this fancy dinner hall where they immediately wreak havoc and destroy the layout with a skateboard.

Straight after this we see an image of X-EXO partying and a drink falling over, seemingly out of nowhere.

This is signifying to us that these two scenarios must be connected with each other; EXO cause drinks and plates to smash and fall in their scene and a drink also falls in the other X-EXO scene. So bearing that in mind, we move on.

Next, we get this scene of EXO Chen falling onto a bed and it kind of transitions to this image of some jugs and bottles under water.

From here on I think Chen sort of wakes up from the dream and takes the place of X-EXO Chen. This is sort of in keeping with this idea I've had in my theories where Chen was the spy for the Red Force, but since Let Me In, we have seen him repent and come back to the EXO's side. I think in this MV we get some more of this theory.

Once Chen falls into the X-EXO space, we watch a scene of X-EXO Chanyeol and Kyungsoo playing chess, and we see a clip of 'X-EXO' Chen playing cards.

The chess game gets interrupted by somebody putting their drink on the table. I cannot tell who it is, but the significance of chess is still quite interesting. We've seen chess in a few different places, most notably in the Tempo MV where we see Xiumin and Kyungsoo play and their chess game creates the cube which the EXO members reenter to try and solve the puzzle to escape. The cube is a tool of the Red Force, even if the members do need it in the Tempo MV. We also see chess in Obsession where we watch EXO and X-EXO Chen play against each other.

Chess is clearly used as a symbol of the Red Force, we even see chess pieces in one opening VCR to the MAMA 2016 performance which was heavily lore based.

The card game that Chen is playing is significant in the overall storyline for Cream Soda because we get the reveal later in the MV that Chen actually played the Joker card. Just before this, we get a clip of Xiumin dropping a drop of his glass and it shows us the members aimlessly wandering in the cube like space again.

Chen then sets the Joker card on fire and we see the EXO members from just seconds before begin to celebrate.

Right after this we then see this image of a wine glass smashing to the ground - which again, is signifying this idea that as the EXO members win this round, the X-EXO members lose (as the wine glass is definitely from the X-EXO member scenes).

Not long after this we also see time go backwards; at the beginning of the MV we get a close up of someone's watch which ticks forward a second. At the end of the MV, it ticks back a second again, resetting time.

We then also see Baekhyun and Kyungsoo leave the setting looking very pleased with themselves.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo are shown in another few clips together as well, so clearly the two of them were up to something in this MV.

This duo actually really reminded me of the two of them in The War comics - as the two of them are the ones monitoring the other members and giving them instructions in that comic. I wonder if they were the ones that told Jongdae to go over to the X-EXO side and be the spy for them in this MV. As Chen seems to be the reason that they have got free and escaped from this scenario at least. We don't actually see any of the other members escape though, so maybe only Kyungsoo and Baekhyun did in this one. Hmm..

It could also be that the two were responsible for telling Suho to talk to the girl we see in the MV as well. Before I have been over how I think girls are significant in the EXO MVs - they are almost always a representative of the Red Force.

I wonder if Suho is distracting the Red Force from noticing that Chen has replaced X-EXO Chen in the other universe. We do see cream running down the car and blocking all the windows, blocking her sight, so that could make sense.

As I said before, we end the MV with the watch ticking backwards, in line with the Let Me In and Hear Me Out MVs where time was a pivotal theme of the MVs. I think it's less so here, but I do think it's still important that time was reversed back to the beginning of the MV, but now with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun freed. It could be that we will now get a continuation of that damn The War comic as it's driving me mad we still have nothing??? It's been 6 years SM c'mon!

Anyway we mustn't ignore the most important part of the MV:

These amazing outfits and the amazing dance. Not at all lore significant, but it did need to be noted.

Tbh this video really isn't lore heavy - it's mostly aesthetics and dancing. Not complaining, but not much to really read into imo. Hope it was somewhat interesting anyway! See you in 3 years when EXO has another comeback lmao 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[ghosteri]

.

[babieken]

@orangetipco

and a happy new year!

[cuprohastes]

Evolution? We don't need no Evolution!

Wherever Aliens gather to sit down, do the equivalent of a 1km stare and drink things that make you feel like being gently smacked with a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick, eventually the topic of Humans will come up.

"They're semi aquatic." one says. "I swear. We were on a beach and we had this human - You know, to carry stuff and do Human related Things. And they just went 'oh what a lovely day' and then they ... ran into the sea."

They pause and take a long drink.

"No exo suit. Just splash splash splash, and then they fell under the water."

The others nod or quiver in agreement. "Don't tell me" the Tsin says, their scales painted with that human Nail Polish. The shade called Pining of You looked especially good. "They ran back out holding something horrible and toothy, and immediately adopted it."

The first alien snorts. "No. Sort of. We thought they'd fallen into a sink hole. We had no idea! They were swimming! Like a Tsuga! Just looking at everything underwater and then popping up and going back down... you know... they jsut. They just stop breathing? Because breathing might be inconvenient so they... stop." they say.

Everyone pauses to think about this.

"I mean... how does that even work?" one slender, feathery being asks. "But they're not aquatic. You know how I know? Because I've seen them fly."

Another pause.

"Bullshit." someone says. "They don't have wings."

"No no... but they can make them. AND and and... I don't mean like ships. No! they make them out of fabric and sticks."

The Tsin looks into her drink and then sideways at the make who's been staring at her scales for the last ten minutes. He puffs up a little. "Mm. What as an art project?" she says.

The feathery being declines this supposition and responds, "No. They built them then they go up somewhere nice and high and they pick them up and take a big run - You ever see one running? Terrifying. And they... jsut..." the feathery being makes a sweeping gesture.

"Up into the sky. For hours. Then they come down and slide to a stop and put everything away and... How do you do that? How do you fly and then decide, oh I'll just go on with being a normal terrestrial animal, ho hum, nothing special."

The Tsin coyly blows a bubble at the preening male and shrugs.

"Mmmmy theory is they're bad at evolution." she says. "So they gave up and now they just turn into whatever they need to be for as long as they need it."

There's a certain amount of consideration at this and the Tsin puts her drink down and wiggles her fingers to everyone and leaves to investigate that tasty little male with the gorgeous blue markings.

The tall and frondy being quivers and splays it's fronds. "That's a horrible thought. Imagine if they decided to become plants?!"

"Ah well" says a very drunk Waallondernook, "Funny you should mention that..."

[twise]

FLORAL KPOP: Tempo (EXO) // La Vie en Rose (Iz*One) // Cheer Up (TWICE) // What About Us (Laboum) // Cinema Theory (LOONA) // When IZ your BLOOMing moment? (Iz*One) // Feel My Rythm (Red Velvet) // Make Me Love You (TAEYEON) // PLAY (CHUNG HA) // Comic (Red Velvet) // Through the Night (IU) // Fallin' Flower (SEVENTEEN) // Now, We (Lovelyz) // Eternally (TXT)