Part 2 Of My #Orbitober2022 Art

ATEEZ (HONGJOONG, SEONGHWA) - 'MATZ' MV

Heyo, more SKZFLIX lore talk below the cut because it's eating at my brain. There's a few things that caught my eye and a couple that I haven't seen people really talking about.

I think it's super clear that our boys can move around through different universes - BUT they don't always know until it's already happening and even then, it's jarring for them. I think what we're seeing in SKZFLIX is Minho knowing he's not where he's supposed to be:

He's shocked to see Felix when he first wakes up/arrives, and has no idea what Felix is talking about when he mentions school things.

He seems off multiple times throughout the video - when Felix agrees to be in the short film & when Seungmin is going over the scene (Hyunjin throws him the basketball). It's like he's spacing out or not really fully involved in what's going on.

Something that also caught my attention is when Felix asks Minho why he wants to be an actor, he takes quite a bit to answer. He might be trying to come up with something because he's a different Minho OR all Minhos have some affinity for acting (On Track Minho was also an actor) - the ability to be free and become anyone he wants (which could also be an analogy for hopping around universes).

I've seen a lot of people confused that Felix didn't exist when he was seen interacting with the other kids - very clearly talking to Jeongin, interacting with Chan, play fighting with Jisung and Hyunjin over the laptop, literally being in the scene they're filming and no one questioning Minho interacting with him - and the simple answer is that he did exist, and then he didn't.

By the end, he's erased from the universe and replaced with another Felix. The easy answer for Minho remembering him when no one else did is because he's not from that universe - he knows about universe hopping - and immediately knows to run to the place where he first arrived, to greet a new Felix. Perhaps that's the spot where everyone enters the universe anew. I'm guessing the other Felix always knew and that's why he was there for Minho when he arrived.

We've been told in the past that Felix is important to the SKZ lore universe. If I'm remembering right, he was described as a compass, always leading down the right path? (please correct me if I'm wrong). He's the one we've seen with the cakes in all these MVs, making the wishes - wishes for a universe where all the kids can be together.

Which brings me to my next point: no matter when or where they are, the kids will always find each other and be together. Similar lines were spoken in the trailer for SKZFLIX. In every universe, there are eight of them and they are together no matter what they're going through.

The biggest indicator of this is the fact that, in this universe, it seems like all the kids don't know each other at the start. We see Chan, Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Changbin are close. They are meeting Jisung and Seungmin for what seems like the first time to team up on this short film. Then they audition Minho and Felix for the film. The film festival is the inciting incident that brings them together in this universe.

Another example of this from a past MV could be Maniac era. In the Oddinary trailer, Felix is meeting all the Maniaced kids as he enters the building and then they turn him into one of them. Then they're complete as eight.

They never leave anyone behind - there is always eight.

One theory that I've seen and quite enjoy is that perhaps Minho did die in an alternate universe of B Me (as opposed to him just having a broken arm, which we see continued in OH), and Felix wishes for him to be alive again. I take this a step further by considering, what if this Felix is tasked with fixing the multiverse? Maybe his job was to introduce Minho to this world and then he "must go back", leaving another confused Felix in his place. Because as we know, there must always be eight.

Again, he's the one we always see blowing out candles, which is insinuated to be him wishing for a better future. "Dreams come to those who truly want them", after all. If you wish hard enough, isn't anything possible?

Some more obvious things:

Blowing out candles and making wishes is clearly some kind of catalyst for switching universes. We've seen that multiple times throughout the Mixtape storyline.

The story itself completely parallels Seungmin's script - "protagonists who come to old friends and must go back", "it's about parallel worlds".

The universes do have similar or repeating elements. In this one specifically, we have Hyunjin stealing Jeongin's coffee milk (as opposed to the reverse in On Track), the basketball scene (B Me), the bus scene (OH), and again blowing out a candle on a cake/making a wish (OH, The View). A lot of their roles on this film crew are also similar to what they were in On Track - Hyunjin is the camera operator, Minho and Jeongin are actors, Chan is sound/boom op.

One last small theory from me:

I believe Hyunjin knows more than he's letting on. He seems to recognize Minho when watching Jisung's application video, when everyone else is supposedly meeting Minho and Felix for the first time. He goes to run after Minho when Minho leaves to find Felix. Perhaps this Hyunjin is also from another universe and remembers making his own hop to this universe.

Realistically, with the confirmation that the boys can go to different universes, we don't know who is in their original universe and who made a hop. We already know there's a universe out there where Jeongin isn’t where he's supposed to be (multiple instances of him in MVs being out of place), so it's not completely out of the question.

These are all my thoughts so far between watching the video a couple times and looking at what people have been saying online. I really love the way SKZ is doing their storytelling, even if it can be a bit confusing. It really just makes me think harder about it all, which I love, and it allows everyone to come up with their own theories, which I also love. Here's hoping Leave will give us some answers once it's released! 😊❤️

god why the fuck do all 4 ateez governmental pairs have this insane unique lore to them why are these men literally characters of tropey fanfiction come to life this makes me crazy like who made them this way

250511🤎

IRENE RBB (Really Bad Boy), 181130

SEONGHWA MBC 231231 CRAZY FORM

someone has to leave first

this is a very old story

there is no other version of this story

loona xxyx

fuck i can’t believe i wasted my entire life being moved by art and beauty and the indomitable human spirit ugh i should’ve been making money through internet scams

i dont think i draw anything other than skzflix at this point LMAO i just think theyre neat..