Jaehyun and his Doyoung

I suppose, the director isn't used to working with live animals, and the staff forgot to insist on a DoWoo reference. The squad keeping pets would fit the narrative of the MV's world.

Can't help myself but be reminded of the moment Jaehyun was spreading something on a cookie while telling everyone Doyoung gave him a ticket to his 1st musical. That scene was just too theatrical.

Have nothing to say about the song, it's a standart tune for its genre, nothing memorable but will be a hit on concerts. It was a correct choice at this point of time (the message, a "cool" genre). Still, kind of dissapointed nothing was tried with the vocals to make it more distinct (I mean, Jaehyun is back, the second best vocal in NCT, common).

Well, ok. We can play a bit of numerology for the sake of the 8th full album. 8 is also Infinity ∞ And Doyoung's group friendship rings have this sign.

It was extremely rare when 127 had songs less than 3 minutes long. "Love is a beauty" was 4:48, but now there is a 2:08 song? It's a full album only technically, it's 26 min, and 25 min is the historical threshold for a mini album. Blingy barely cuts it. For comparison, Neozone was 45 min 46 sec. Awaken was 42 min 53 sec.

I wonder whether it would have been better to comeback with an EP, cut it to 8 songs. Probably not because of an expected long hiatus before the next album. It's the projected image, the advertisement. As we saw with Tae's 1st EP vs Do/Jae's 1st full album, for the fans labels matter. (J was an EP in all but the name (7 songs + 1 English version, 24 min 49 sec))

Doyoung, comeback and put out an ultimatum for 14 songs plus Prelude and Interlude!!!

Paired with the LP and the facial expression, a ready meme.

I think, the way 127 is going through the enlistment period is a precedent.

I'm very pleased that SM decided to comeback to the roots and strengthen the brand through beginning a new cycle. It goes well with the 10 years and "rebirth" after the loss of 2 members, as well as absence of DoWoo (NCT # 127 also didn't have them (Doyoung was there but as an SM Rookie on "Switch")). The shade of green was corrected (Sticker album had the wrong one, the green screen rather than the neo green). Newer fans, who often don't investigate older discography, should be more interested in doing so because of older fans taking a walk down memory lane and making album cover and promotional run comparisons. The attention is shifted from the loss (eh, it's only 5 members) to the cool image (acid colours, the fighting club, a bigger budget). I'm observing fans hyping themselves up. The Pinata trailer was pretty average, but was received very well. (Speaking about the budget. Neozone album had how many track-videos? 12. Walk had 2. Blingy has 1, noone complains because the fandom collectively decided to forget Fact Check budget, solo and DJJ budgets, and persuade themselves 127 always got Ay-Yo treatment (which happened during internal struggle and the ousting of LSM, and Hybe/Cacao)).

I'm keeping in mind that this comeback had to be prepared very quickly (Mark leaving changed plans, Jaehyun could join late, plus TaeJae are dedicating part of their time to their solos, while Haechan is working for Dream as well), so, despite it being 2 years since Walk, I don't expect something on a big scale (2027 I will judge differently). For now the goal is to return to the global scale, so touring and performances are more important.

So fans pointing out that Tae’s jet has a poison dart frog pattern, the point isn’t that “Tae likes frogs." Most are trying to tie it back to the 독개구리 because Tae is the Neo leader so it's appropriate he would have a frog-like pattern.  (I’m sure there is probably someone happy that Tae likes frogs, but most of the comments about 독개구리 are about the group branding).

Thanks for the info. I saw the name of the pattern Koreans use but not in relation to Tae's jet. Personally, doubt there is a connection. Considering the Seoul-shape based pattern hadn't been in use for 9 years, the creatives wouldn't know the fanlore. And in general, would have been easier to use the pattern to begin with.

I saw many Korean fans mentioning the poison (dart) frog, and how it fits Tae because he likes frogs.

There is no Japanese stork (they have the Oriental stork, but it is almost identical to the White stork). Did you mean the Javanese stork? The lesser adjutant?

Hm, the wings of the jet do have white, so my last guess is the Japanese crane then, lol. It is the iconic bird everyone knows, afterall.

Yuta's fans seem to like that there is glitter. I don't understand the choice of colours for neos, but, seems like, the designs were not completely random.

I liked the idea of one fan that DoWoo's jets were in stealth mode on the wide shot from behind (in the teaser). That's why they didn't have colours. Ah, and I also appreciate that the jets in their open form have the star shape - a connection to "bulgasari".

Wait, come to think of it, Jae's is not just fuxia, it's a mix of pink and purple swirls. An accidental Blueberry and Peach combo? Haha.

SM staff actually does a good job of sorting eras into folders on YT (reels became a problem, though, making the lists too long). So if you missed a roll out, you can binge it using those playlists. Convenient for solos especially.

Fans are saying because of the new contract 127 got budget. It's not exactly that. A photoshoot against a green screen or a wallpaper screen in a moc jet cockpit in a studio costs almost the same as any other photoshoot against a white screen. The difference is in the planning and the best talent allocation. Time needed to book better photographers and outsource 3D jet models, as well as creatives with fresh ideas and good grasp on concepts.

Yes, all toxic solo stans behave the same. Same words, same tactics, same phrases. Doyoung just didn't have them before, it was truly peaceful in his corner (and TaeDo corner) in comparison to today. He was not an ace, he was not an underdog, he was not a visual. He was a 2nd place vocalist and was not interesting for a certain type of k-pop fans.