#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 (theory) - 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.

[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"

[tattooyeol]

Stel 2 of my research

[jaejoongs-nipple-piercing]

This is what happens when I look up Disney lore stuff…

If Donalds’ twin sister Della married Daisy’s brother and that’s where Huey, Dewey and Louie came from; that makes Donald and Daisy in-laws, right?

So then wouldn’t the two of them dating be classed as incest in a way?

[nyasialiveshere]

Twin theory part uno

(Long introduction for context)

This one is so old. I did research on this, like, around the time peaches came out. I have way too many notes; some I deleted, and only God knows where they are now. I’m not spending a whole day looking for them, and I need something to focus my attention on that makes my brain cells work. So I’m going off the dome. It’s actually better when I do that because I do active research instead of looking at old notes, and I can find new info. 

So what is the theory? Well, long story short, I had a theory that Kai of EXO was actually a character, which he is technically; all celebs are. They are named by their company, given a backstory, a personality, and Exo even had ‘powers.’. Like, babe, that’s a character, obvi. In this train of thought, a character has to be played by a real person. We are given that much information by the company. The actor playing the character Kai of Exo is Kim Jongin. Story over... right? Well, maybe so, but that’s not how my brain works.

Backstory to this. I actually wasn’t always an inquisitive person. I years ago was actually pretty dull. I spent most of my time worrying about grades, being a good kid, and, I don't know, iCarly, Victorious, and memes. But then I found K-pop; I was super curious about everything because it was so new to me. I had to learn everything I could. This was easy because I liked world history and learning about different cultures and stuff. I think Growl was the first mv I saw. I wasn’t too familiar with K-pop, but I did know it existed, vaguely. To be honest, it was just something taking up my time. I was just monitoring it and watching, learning names. It was during the One Direction era.

(historical context)

One direction the boys that walked so boybands could rise again. People talk bad about them but forget they single-handedly made boybands cool again. There were others, but the impact wasn’t the same. 1D was the blueprint of the up-and-coming boy bands that would later try and break into the American market. They cracked the code. They were parent-friendly but sensual enough to keep the tweens/teens/young adults crushing on them. Fanfiction culture was also impacted. Many forget it was a Harry Styles fanfic that made fanfic normal and somehow socially acceptable enough to come out of the shadows of fandom and be something talked about in media/out in the open. (moral of the story: don’t do them—slander won’t be tolerated)

Anyway, I was familiar with boy band fandom, the shipping, fan service, the weird pandering, etc. The only differences for me were the dancing, the odd music style, and the language. It took some time getting used to. It was so hard getting used to the cultural differences and the style of talking. The odd monologuing/sarcastic banter that’s borderline rude. It was hard to tell when people were being funny or cruel. I still have trouble with that, but years later I realize it’s cultural, but you can tell where people are coming from by their tone.

I say all this to say it was difficult adjusting. I was interested in the group and wanted to know as much about them as possible, BUT I spent so much time trying to learn everything I could, and by the time I became completely accustomed to the behavior and culture and language, I realized I didn’t even like the group that much. The music was good; at the time, the members were okay; sometimes they were funny—but not all the time. Overall, by the 2nd year of being into K-pop, I was like 

IDK—it’s probably just me, but all the drama, gossip, and people caring that grown adults were dating... Like it was so odd because I grew up on J-14.

Going from everybody being super chill about their fave dating, getting married, or having babies to this

Grown adults getting in trouble with their fans... for what? Like it was just weird, and due to hive mentality, I was like coming into agreement with it and thinking, Oh, that’s just how things are over there... like, no." It’s not right. Just so many things were weird, but I said nothing because I didn’t want to be the odd one out.

Cause don’t get me wrong, everybody watches E! news and celeb gossip, and that’s not our business either, but that’s out in the open; that that’s people telling you this is my person, and I am dating them. Yeah, sure, some of it is fake, but it’s openly fake. This is odd because even though these dispatch couples were revealed, they don’t go places together or do interviews talking about one another. There’s a layer of shame because idols are dolls who are ‘dating’ their fans. 

Now I won’t judge; all I’ll say is I got a lot of evidence suggesting this is gonna lead to an AI pixel perfect. 

turned horror movie;

(mobile boyfriend 2009)

where there are apps where you can see, talk to, and text an AI version of your favorite idol 

where you can have a fake version of your idol in your phone, but plot twist: it's a demon... Anyway, I’m getting off track; that’s another thread. The point is stuff was getting weird; I was slowly backing away and just distancing myself, but a few things were keeping me from dropping K-pop and just focusing on school and other stuff. One, like many women, once you invest emotionally into something, it’s hard to leave; two, I was a tad bit concerned about Kai; he was injured around that time.

 and I felt bad about dropping the group because usually when I drop something, it’s for good. I may check up on it out of curiosity, but I will never care (like really care) ever again. So I was teetering.

Eventually I just gave up and decided my mental health and having my head on straight was better than being in a cult.

Long story short, around 2021ish I was like, What’s been going on?" I just went on a journey and became more aware, so somehow I came back to K-pop. To make a long story short.

So when I saw Kai’s face for the first time in a long time, I didn’t really notice anything too different. Slightly, but I thought maybe it was just aging, plastic surgery, fillers; I really didn’t know, but something was off.

So I started looking at his photos, and at this point he had released a lot of his old childhood photos. And again it wasn’t too drastic, but I’m not normal; I was looking hard. 

Now, a disclaimer: this isn’t proof of anything; it’s just stuff I notice. I talk a lot, but it’s just brain ideas coming out to breathe. It’s more so just to make people see a different perspective. Use your creativity. Life is as interesting as you make it.

So when I started looking at the photos, I first paid attention to the thing that, if different, couldn’t be a coincidence; there’s no way these body parts can just change over time or with p.s. That means the face can be used but only sort of. Plastic surgery can change a lot, but upkeep changes more than the initial surgery. No surgery equals perfection, and after the surgery, minor surgeries afterwards are necessary. So it’s necessary to look at childhood photos to understand the initial facial structure (which can change but only so much); they more so develop or morph, elongate, etc., but only so much. I’d say like 90 percent of the time, most people can recognize someone from child to adult by the small features: the way they smile, or the way their teeth look, or their ears, or their eye shape. Plastic surgery is... it’s a thing, but as long as it’s not total facial reconstruction, it’s a nonfactor. You can usually tell what’s unnatural by looking at childhood photos.

Anyway, I looked and looked and looked, and I don’t know for sure now because it’s been a while since I’ve even considered this, but I trust my notes, and I remember I took a lot of notes, and it is one of the only theories I’ve given my golden stamp of approval. This is why I’m talking so much in the buildup. This isn’t some joke. I’m not saying it’s true, but I did work hard on it. If I could find my old notes, I’d copy and paste it, but it’d take me all day to look for it.

Okay. The theory. Twins.

Ahh, okay, I’m kinda excited it’s been so long. Okay. So I think what I thought was that it was a pair of fraternal twins. The reason why I said fraternal and identical is in theory if this is two people pretending to be one person...they don’t even look that much alike. They feature one another a lot but it’s not mirror twins which is odd because you’d think if an entertainment company was to pull one over and have a pair of twins play a single person they’d go for a parent trap deal

Theoretically, I thought maybe it was more of a Mary-kay and Ashley type of situation

who are not identical; they are fraternal. They just look extremely alike. How do people tell them apart? Well, now they look different because of different external stimuli that have an affect on appearance, but back when they used to look more alike, just watching their movies year after year it’s quite clear do to vocal tone, mannerisms, and behavior that they are two different people. It simply takes observation.

I have to sadly make a list because it’ll be too unorganized otherwise.

First I’ll put physical characteristics that are definite and most consistent. Meaning you can see the physical traits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Uneven ears: 

Baby—toddler

Childhood / adolescence

Adulthood

Now adulthood is very tricky because the adult bone structure set in at around 16-18, and the cheekbone and skull make the ears appear small when really they are probably normal-sized; he just has a big head. So I’m just going to show the ears, both left and right, at an angle because it’s pretty much impossible to see them when he’s staring straight ahead. P.S. I don’t know what’s digitally edited or not, so I prefer candid pics, but it’s not good quality to see the details of the ear, so... it’s so-so. But ear prints, like fingerprints, may be similar for identical twins, but they’re not identical. 

To be continued.

[britneyshakespeare]

rumor has it it was the love shot

[ghosteri]

.

[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 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[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)

[bunny-jpeg]

https://www.tumblr.com/bunnys-kisses/768349619894861824/im-holding-your-hand-when-im-saying-this-as-a?source=share

people started asking crane (Max’s friend) on stream if Lestappen (Charles and max) is real. I think he was like “I shouldn’t be furthering/entertaining this” (I forgot what he said word for word). People took it as something to be excited about, that the drivers are aware of the ships and all, but idk. I think fandoms are getting too bold for my liking. I have no problem with shipping, but this parasocial behaviour is out of hand. I saw this when 1D was still a group (with Harry x Louis shippers harassing Louis to the point where he got so upset when the ship was referenced in the popular show Euphoria), I’ve seen it with Kpop in which idols have stopped hanging out publicly because fandoms get out of hand (a girl in the group Aespa had a boyfriend earlier this year and fans got very upset because they shipped her and another member and they broke up. A few years ago, 2 members of two different kpop groups (SNSD and EXO) dated and the girl got harassed at the airport even). And now this.

Fandoms get so parasocial so quickly, it’s insane. It’s not new behaviour, but it’s strange.

exactly, this isn't new behavior. but i feel like it's become more emboldened with how much more "online" both fans and companies/groups are.

more under the cut, because this is a long one....

i also think it ties into this notion that i've been seeing online about how fans have this feeling to be "right" both with rpf and fiction as well. that their theories, opinions and whatever else is "correct". i've seen this with like pieces of media like steven universe and even star wars. like fandom isn't fun anymore, it has become this weird one up over each other. i honestly don't know when this changed, my guess is around the pandemic when it seemed like people were more logged into the internet. but, i could be wildly off with that. (if you have an idea, i'd love to know). it just feels stupid in so many ways how fandoms are structured. even if you're not the "best" artist or writer, people can't have FUN in fandom - of course that doesn't mean it has to be absolved criticism. you can have fun and still call out hate within spaces. the issue with formula one (along with k-pop like you mentioned, anon), is that these aren't characters. this isn't arguing in the tags over is finnpoe or reylo is more valid or legitimate within the narrative. these are REAL people, with REAL friends, families and partners.

it's this weird push to have someone's theory - and while i have a soft spot for lestappen, it is at the end of the day nothing more than fan theory - be confirmed. also personally, if hattie (oscar's sister) or crane (max's friend) "outed" them, i would be horribly fucking offended on oscar/max's behalf. to have someone you TRUST just out you like that. it's sick. maybe it's because i worked in queer spaces from high school all the way through uni, and the number one rule no matter WHAT, is you never out someone. even if the question is harmless and the person asking has no ill intention. you never out another person, because it's not YOUR coming out. so the fact that fans are near begging these people to OUT their loved ones, is not only a level of delusion that i can't ever comprehend. but, also it could honestly, ruin that interpersonal relationship.

so like even if a driver is queer, whoever it may be. could be a driver from the 90s, could be a driver today, it could be a driver in five years, i don't want someone else in their life outing them. because that's THEIR story. and fans need to realize that. bothering crane or hattie or alexandra (i've seen that too) - isn't helping anyone and it makes you look unhinged and weirdly alienates not only the driver but their loved ones. YES, they knew it exists, it is EVERYWHERE. but shoving it in their faces doesn't help. and you're never going to get the confirmation because there is a high chance that their not even queer to begin with. and if they are, NOT OUR CONCERN

i don't have a problem writing or consuming rpf, it is not a crime nor do i think it should be stopped. like HAVE FUN. but you have to realize that it's not like debating star wars or marvel or whatever other piece of fictional media. formula one is REAL, they are not actors. they are athletes, and unless you want all rpf to be shut down some how. i suggest the likes of some of ya'll need to understand that there are different boundaries. and respect them.

i know they're all millionaires, but they still breathe and bleed as a friend of mine once said. it's fun to put them in little scenarios in fanworks, but just keep it out of their direct attention. there are unspoken boundaries, that some of ya'll need have said to you apparently.

asking oscar issac if he THINKS that finnpoe is real is VERY different than asking someone's sister if she thinks her REAL LIFE BROTHER is fucking his REAL LIFE TEAMMATE. - people's relationships have turned to ash over insistent rpf in their faces all the time.

my advice at the end of the day is: have fun, don't write or draw it because you want confirmation that it's a real relationship. write or draw it because you're having fun. fandom is about making friends and shipping in whatever context is about finding a slice of community on the vast internet, not cracking the code of if it is a real relationship. - bunny.