#diary;

[manycolouredglass]

[embersrevived]

The modernized Apollo who performed as no one dared, His synthesizer ready with fangs and abdomen bared. His newly formed lyre now strapped across the chest, Commanding the fawning mortal base at his behest. His voice, haunting then roaring, hypnotizing the crowd, The sheep all corralling in the lion's den, bleating loud. Canines were licked mid-performance as he beheld the flock, Hunger fueling passion and song as he inhales the blood stock. And I among the sea of faces, how potent was this hold?? Perhaps in appearing at this venue, I had been too bold. The haze in that arena was laid on thick, potent and numbing, And many vain attempts to shake off this sensation so dumbing. Though efforts were futile as my gaze was ensnared by violet eyes, He who now threatened to unveil each and every vampire's guise. A chaotic entropy and draining experience his performance brings, He masterfully plucks a myriad of heart as well as violin strings. Arms raised towards heavens as stage lights illuminate the leonine mane, Making one truly believe in the coming of Helios and his fiery chariot again. And in the process he rightly earns other entities' consternation and derision, For none can emulate his new age Dionysian dogma and unrestrained religion. And the Fanged Pharaoh and Phoebus flaunts and flirts upon the grand stage, Grinning at all the tantalized mortals whom he has willed into the beast's cage.

[maddyxchangjo]

random nuest theory part i

so here are some random nuest theories because everywhere is flooding with them! :D i’ve shared a bit about my old thoughts on overcome (& here) and love paint a long while back, but seeing ren’s latest teaser video got me so bad.

before i start, it’s important to note that during overcome era, while they came up with the queen and knights theory, there was never a fixed ‘lore’ per say of which queen they took inspirations from. it is very likely that they took inspirations from several pop culture references with the queen idea, this includes The Queen’s Knight’ manga in which their styling is based on, but an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme for the actual Overcome MV for example. (see below, the Cheshire inspiration for Q is. teaser)

so here, i think ren’s mv draws a parallel with overcome (and Alice) once again. in overcome, the queen is seen decked in white, looking at ren from behind a glass wall while ren could not see him. it’s possible that it’s still in line with how the queen is taken into another dimension, and the scene was a representation of her viewing ‘through the looking glass’. 

the phrase ‘through the looking glass’ referred to the metaphorical expression that things are in a strange parallel world. it could also mean that it’s a mirrored reflection of the real world, where a clock running forward could be viewed as running backwards in anti-clockwise. 

either way, that’s the benchmark for when they were first broken apart into two different worlds. 

( i also think the mv story is done in a mix of ‘flashback’, especially when jr was seen standing in a room of broken windows before we got brought to the past at the moment the queen was taken away after knighting Aron. i’ve mentioned before, that according to the positions of the knights, the process seemed to indicate minhyun as the first in ranking, followed by Baekho, JR and Ren. so it’s probably worthwhile to investigate the timeline by switching up the scenes )

next, we see ren taken to another world. like jr’s new video, ren has his own room, once again, following the theme of the glass. this time, ren stares ahead as if in confusion, but also note that he’s donning a similar outfit from love paint era, suggesting the connection between Where You At and Love Paint. He wakes up in the room, and then he gets blindfolded with red laced blindfolds, and then he’s transported to this new, empty place. 

the red figure in question, possibly the same ‘creature’ (considering the mask that hid her face) that blindfolded him, is now seen dancing along in front of a glass mirror. but what if, that glass mirror is actually the gateway to another dimension, maybe the original dimension in which ren was taken from? what if the red dancer was actually guarding the portal?

which leads me to the theory of Alice, with the white queen and red queen. i do not think the figure in red is the queen, but more of the red queen’s underlings. as those who read the book would know, the red queen is viewed as the antagonist to the white queen, and it’s possible she had a hand in the white queen’s disappearance in overcome. following that extension, it is possible why ren is actually seen running away, not towards her.

even as the car was cruising along the road, it wasn’t shown if he’s driving it, because it is possible that he was ‘kidnapped’ into this dimension. if i’m not wrong, he’s also coming out from the passenger’s seat, not driver’s seat.

( see below for juxtaposition )

while all the same, another thing to note is that the compass/pocketwatch** is not to be seen. instead we were shown the red bracelet, a jarring color, and one that jr too has on his wrist. as some twitters have mentioned the possibility of those who have the red string may find their other halves, it might be key to searching for each other and the queen.

why is ren kidnapped, if he was? well, i think ren’s role is pretty distinctive (of course, everyone had a role). to me, he was the one that’s actively searched for by the queen, even if he couldn’t hear nor see her. in love paint, you can see ren seated by the side of the pool, and eventually entering a body of water where a key was dropped. this suggests that ren held the key to open the chest of their jeweled box which contained five of precious stones.

if i remember correctly, these precious stones are a symbol of each member, and ren’s role then, meant that he might have a way or is holding onto the key that allowed them to move trough dimensions or gateways.

** it’s not known if it’s a compass, or a watch, or both since it makes sense in terms of time line jumps + searching for directions. furthermore, nu’est original logo since debut is actually the compass.

in that retrospect, i want to briefly mention about time parallel and dimensions, and also why I think JR can cross time and that’s his role. After all, he’s the only person featured in Love Paint in both day scenes aka the one with the flower wall, and night scenes aka the one in the car. This comes at a reach, but he is featured in Daybreak, and now he’s found in the Church and in the middle of the night. 

It sounds a little complicated, so i drew up a ‘graphic’ representation haha so JR can move within one vertical of time, but Ren can open portals.

And actually, I personally think that Where You At, Overcome and Love Paint are not in chronological order. I’m inclining towards Overcome > Where You At > Love Paint at the moment, since the finale of Love Paint showed that after Ren ‘opened’ the box with the key, all five of them were finally gathered in one scene. 

So yes this is my mess of a theory, feel free to discuss with me or let me know. I have a couple more but I shall stop for now I don’t even know what I’m doing 

[manycolouredglass]

[manycolouredglass]

[maddyxchangjo]

random nuest theories part iii: dreams and reality

part i / part ii

so nu’est mv has finally dropped and besides it’s superb aesthetics, cinematography, sexy choreography and a sound that’ right up my alley, here’s some more random nu’est theories.

previously i mentioned that where you at (wya) is actually in between overcome and love paint (lp), and that the boys might be escaping their dreamscape in wya into lp’s world, and i feel like the mv does support this theory in some sense. 

double figures and parallel timeline

in wya, there are two alternating timeline. (1) the part where they were wearing more modernized and casual outfits, the one that’s mostly shown in this mv and represents the dream world, and (2) the part where they were wearing silk shirts like in lp aka reality. the following might be easier if you’ve played games revolving alternative timelines, but i’d try my best to explain what i mean.

if you look at the mv, (1) seems to not have any acknowledgement of (2); on the other hand, (2) seems to be able to see what is going on in (1)’s world. thus, this makes me think that (1) is likely the dream world and the one that happened earlier in terms of timeline compared to (2). the most obvious one would be aron’s, as aron2 mimics the process of aron1 in finding the key in hopes of leaving the room.

here you see aron1 taking the key from the dresser, followed by aron2 searching the said dresser. as aron1 heads immediately for the door, aron follows suit by turning his direction towards the door, as if wondering what aron1 was doing.

now here’s where things get a little tricky. are (1) and (2) the same person? if the anewer is yes, they are, then it’s likely that (1) is the dream projection by (2) as they fall into deep slumber. in short, whatever happened by (1) is a trial and error process of the soul as (2) falls asleep, taking place in this alternative timeline of the same dimension.

through this soul projection, all of them managed to leave their room. however, ren and dongho seemed to be transported into another dimension. if the isle of death does exist, it is likely that they’re brought over. for ren, it seems that there was more of a mastermind, aka the red queen, and you can see that he was indeed brought along after being blindfolded. since the female dancer disappeared by the mirror, i do think that the glass mirror is a portal to yet another place, but ren either could not go through it in his aestral form, or he did not fall into temptation of the red queen and ran in the opposite direction, away from the mirror portals.

following what i mentioned in random theory one, ren does seem to cross dimensions and jr in time, but we don’t actually see much of aron and baekho’s storylines in both overcome and lp. however, among all, it seems like aron’s gift is possible premonition: in overcome he’s one of the first to find the staircase. in wya he finds the key, and in lp, he’s the sole artiste painting on the canvases. how can he paint the art of his members if he has no way of seeing them till the end of lp?

also, it would make sense to be a soul projection if they all see the butterflies only in that state, meaning that the butterfly is a fragment of their dreamscape and does not exist in reality.

alternatively, what if (1) and (2) are different people because they come from alternative timelines? this means that in this universe, there are a multitude of timelines that’s constantly ongoing that lead individual lives, but are still you all the same.this  means there are more than one worlds, and they exist in each of them. this is a possible theory because at the end, as aron2 search for the key at the dresser, it’s no longer there. for a physical object to go missing in aron2′s timeline, means it has already been taken away by aron1 in the midst of this alternate timeline clashing in the same dimension.

this also means that even if ren1 and dongho1 seems to be trapped in the isle of death, ren2 and dongho2 will be able to avoid that fate because they already see what happened to them. so in their timeline, they will have another beginning, another opportunity waiting for them.

butterflies & red strings - a brand new arc?

next, the butterflies and red ribbons are two things that haven’t been really discussed in lp or overcome before. in fact, they’re new additions. gone is the compass/pocket watch which only made a brief appearance in the car ride with ren being blindfolded, but we see new elements. 

firstly, butterflies - butterflies are commonly used as a symbol describing the soul of the body, as with themes such as rebirth and premonition. they’re commonly used in films and pop cultures for many variations of symbolism to do with life, death and omens. here, it seems to be guiding them somewhere, but it disappears on 2nd glance, so the boys ended up chasing tales but never quite figuring out where they were going.

next, the red ribbons. instead of the pocket watch, we see red strings. ‘red strings of fate’ is an idea where you meet your soul mate - basically everyone in this world has an invisible string tied to your other half, which will tangle but eventually unravel to meet one another. yet, throughout wya you see four different rooms, and they never once came together. the utilization of the red strings is comparatively little and drew less attention than the butterflies, which made me think that there’s only more to come.

in fact, it’s because of the red strings that i feel wya is not exactly part of the queen’s trilogy, but an arc within it. this means that there could be more story to where you at, and the queen’s story is not yet finished, and not likely till 2019. 

timeline graph of where i think wya stands right now in the queen’s series.

from the lyrics too, one can see that there is fear, longing and searching for the queen in wya, but in love paint, it is more of a story where they want to protect the queen, and how the queen changed their lives.

in short, wya is not the ending in my opinion, but the beginning of something new to be explored. thoughts, people?

[maddyxchangjo]

random nuest theories part ii: love paint/overcome choreo

part i over here

so as im trying to process aron’s teaser, i thought it would be interesting to look at the choreography of love paint and overcome before wondering about the possibilities of where you at’s choreo. the first similarity - and difference that struck me is the beginning and then ending poses of both videos.

from here you can see that in overcome, what we see is more of a captive state at the beginning. Minhyun is standing in the circle as 4 people surrounds him, while the other four members are kneeling on the floor, as if in defeat. at the end of overcome however, you see that nuest have gathered together, standing over the back up dancers.

depending on how you arrange the timeline, the stories seem to go a little different. (the following is also inspired by a point from nuest_view (?), and i do agree that chronological order is important in deciding how you view this trilogy as each will come to a different outcome)

if you go by overcome >>> love paint, then we see a hopeful end as nu’est retain the power over others as the knights in question. if you go the opposite way however, with love paint >>> overcome, this means they’ve lost and suffered a defeat, possibly ending in a loop.

next, why i think ‘where you at’ is actually falling in the order like this: overcome >>> where you at >>> love paint.

if we go by overcome to love paint, then clearly, you can see how the two links together somewhat as the end of overcome’s choreo have the five of them in the inner ring, and the backup dancers in the foreground. in the beginning of love paint, the boys were puppeting the dancers too, showing that nu’est is reigning.

here’s the plot twist, someone pointed out that at one point in time recently, they changed up overcome’s ending choreography (video). in this sense, it could actually be made into the beginning of where you at’s choreography. 

this is also very possible because in overcome, minhyun was the one who managed to find the queen on her throne, while the others seemed lost. in other words, where you at could document how the other boys come together after resisting the temptation of the red queen, eventually leading to love paint.

as i’ve mentioned before in part i where ren is donning a similar silk shirt reminiscence of love paint, the order of where you at’s mv might actually be the boys escaping their dreamscape and then waking up in love paint’s world, and not them being in where you at’s rooms from love paint’s world.

time theories are impressive with this trilogy that i can’t stop playing with them