no flex zㅇne !

joshua

first chair of the second violins. literally he is exactly like the first chair 2nd violinist back when i first joined one of my orchestras: the utter sweetest, literally so accommodating and understanding of the new violinists and willing to teach them concert basics etc. but also he just, like. doesn't show up to half of the rehearsals. like seriously the front desk of second violins only has one person for most of the months until it's the day of the concert and boom he's back smiling in his seat like he never left

junhui

french horn. french horn players are the prettiest people ever actually. also there's never a mean word on the conductor's tongue for them. half of the time he's staring out of the window because let's face it, the french horn doesn't exactly have a bunch of stuff to play. but then when they do, it's the richest, warmest, most golden sound ever and it's so beautiful and fills out the melody wonderfully. and then he empties his horn in the middle of the piece for no apparent reason other than he wanted to get the spit out immediately. 

hoshi

trombone. he's that one trombone who plays super super loudly and is, most of the time, very good but when he makes a mistake it's a loud mistake and has the conductor stopping the orchestra just to sigh at him disappointedly. grins innocently like he didn't just make a mistake. even if you don't talk to the trombones that much, you'll know exactly who he is because of how noisy and hyper he is. messes around with the percussion instruments during rehearsal break, has woozi threatening to destroy his trombone in retaliation

wonwoo

clarinet. but not just the clarinet, he's the bass clarinet too. clarinets are so funky and honestly they keep to themselves in their little clarinet group most of the time, but they're super nice people and actually really really funny once you get to know them. also the clarinet just gives so much wonwoo vibes?? i think it's the supporting vibes, the fact that they're not as center-stage as the squeaky flutes but still play similar melodies, with their warmer, smoother sound that is so wonwoo

woozi

percussion. the timpani, the snare drum, the bass drum, the glock, those huge-ass chimes, they're all managed by him. he is the entire percussion section. crazily good at his job too (which is why he's even capable of handling all those instruments) and because of this he's often seen as intimidating and terrifying. snarky, lowkey doesn't give a shit about the conductor especially when he starts badmouthing the perc performance in front of the entire orchestra bc he's just one person doing everything okay give him a break

minghao

viola. gets pissed at everyone who calls the viola "just a bigger violin" because fuck you actually the viola is a real instrument and has its own name. also is just stressed 24/7 for no apparent reason. apparently has loads of other extra commitments like how he's in a jazz band and he's learning the saxophone but he's also an art student with an artist research study due in like two days that he hasn't even picked an artist for yet. even if he's dead on his feet he'll still punch you for calling the viola a fake instrument tho

mingyu

double bass. everyone thinks he's like, the coolest person ever (he plays the double bass!!!) but in reality he's actually just a total loser who giggles whenever someone says they loved his playing. is still a really really good double bass tho. it's hard to tell when it's playing correctly bc it's such a low instrument, but the moment the double bass is out of time the effects can be felt throughout the entire orchestra. he's proud to announce that when he can't play something, instead of playing and messing up he just sits there and doesn't play they part. 

dokyeom

oboe. he has wind instrument fingers okay, but also he's definitely slaying those yearning oboe solos in those gentle waltzy movements. he plays his solo and the entire audience just falls silent, stunned by the beauty of his playing. also he's really fucking loud just like the oboe. i would have put him in flute but there is something more awe-inspiring and powerful about the oboe compared to the prissy flutes who lowk don't know how to sight read properly bc there are so many of them

seungkwan

first violin. he gives the sassy and performance-like vibes of firsts, and is very very passionate about telling everyone just how important the first violin is in the orchestra. does lightly throw shade on the second violins (because wtf No One is able to hear what they're playing) too, like every first violin ever. but he's so so hardworking, and honestly the only reason that first violins aren't scolded during rehearsals is because of how hard we practise, and seungkwan? seungkwan would practise until he could perform it blindfolded. 

vernon

percussion apprentice. he's actually a second violin but apparently handling like 5 different instruments is actually a little difficult for woozi??? so he's offered to learn how to play perc too. ends up being in charge of the snare drum and all the little additional instruments they sometimes have for specific pieces. enjoys it a lot actually and even tho it's not his main instrument he thinks he could get pretty good at playing percussion. his presence is sorely missed in the seconds tho bc one of their actually playing players is gone and there first chair is still MIA 

chan

cello. first chair cello, specifically, because he has such a similar personality to my first chair cello who's just so bright and lovely and outgoing. actually the coolest person ever, everyone loves him. makes an effort to know everyone's names in the orchestra, particularly the little 13 year olds who have only just joined. lets people play is cello during break, tries to teach them and laughs when they make squeaky noises on it. despises the tenor clef with a passion. 

request guidelines

definitely a firebender in my mind, no questions asked, but i could also see the argument for earth

this kind of comes out of his character of being such a great leader

on one hand he has such a passionate and ambitious personality, which is the main reason why i see him as a firebender

especially on stage you can really feel his energy explode

his loyalty also runs soooo deep and one of the things i really admire about him is the lengths he’ll go through to do what’s best for his members. he really does take care of them

so on the other hand, that’s why i also see the argument for earth!

again making him such a great leader, he has a lot of patience and stability

it’s clear that he’s a rock that the others can rely on during turbulent times, and that steadiness is definitely a trait i associate with earthbenders

but overall i think his own personal aspirations and drive make him more suited as a firebender

jeonghan

waterbender! there is a trait that water benders are versatile and adaptable to situations, which i can DEFINITELY see with jeonghan

i mean obviously we speak loads of his cleverness (cheating) and how good he is at speaking out of his ass on the fly

at the same time though i also kind of see him as a flowing river

as in he’ll flow and move in any direction he wants, and is definitely open to change if he is willing to

but god if you try to force that change out of him he is absolutely immovable; he can also be pretty stubborn and relentless sometimes!

and also with rivers how there’s always a destination for it; jeonghan is completely not afraid to do whatever it takes to achieves his goals, which to me is a lot like a river steadily rushing on towards the ocean

even if there are obstacles he’ll do whatever it takes to overcome them (even if it means cheating lmao)

at the end of the day though he’s definitely a healing presence for other members, considering how much they confide in him, which is another property i associate with water 

joshua

now with joshua i’m not entirely sure. i could definitely see him as an earthbender or nonbender

my rationale for earthbender is that he’s just very... grounded

while of course he can be really goofy and playful at times, i think in general he’s very down to earth 

like in interviews and stuff he obviously isn’t the one always reaching for the microphone

and his answers are honestly pretty standard most of the time, i haven’t really seen him try to answer in an outrageous way, especially compared to someone like, say, hoshi lmao

even in going seventeen he seems more content to literally just sit back and enjoy the show, only speaking up when he really feels like it

he just gives off super reliable vibes as well; i mean that’s probably half the reason why he got that gentleman nickname lmao

it’s also this difficulty of pinning an element to him that i could see him as a non-bender??? 

i’m not really sure what traits drive home for a non-bender but that’s just my gut feeling lmao. if he was an earthbender he’d be an incredibly chill one

jun

ahhhhh my boy is definitely an airbender!!

i keep thinking back to that interview where the members were asked something along the lines of whether they had worries or something? i can’t remember the exact wording

and like jun (and maybe vernon?) said no and the others were like “that’s just because he forgets” lmao

he is suuuuch a go with the flow type of dude, and his playful nature really plays in well with the aspect of freedom that’s tightly associated with the element of air

another reason i kind of associate him with airbending comes from the show itself, namely aang’s own personality and how much aang would stand his ground to defend his own beliefs and morals

i always come back to jun’s selfless attitude in cyzj when he had to perform without yanan, specifically the stage where he performed with two microphones to represent that he was still thinking of yanan in that moment

like even if he seems all over the place at times, when it comes down to it he’s really going to do what he believes is right, and can be incredibly stubborn about it too

but at the end of the day jun is a lover not a fighter and just wants everyone to have a good time and god i fucking love him for that

hoshi

what else could our resident tiger be but a firebender

again, the main thing i associate with firebending is high energy and passion and BOY DOES HOSHI DELIVER

but his outrageous outbursts aside i also think there’s a lot to be said of his work ethic that i think really fits into firebending

from the show there is a lot of discipline and hard work that comes with firebending, as fire is often seen as difficult to control

while all the members are obviously hardworking, a lot of them have pointed to him and woozi being the hardest working of them all

hoshi is definitely the kind of dude that throws himself into his work with everything he’s got

and of course the fact that it’s what he loves only helps push that drive and determination even further

i also often think of how hoshi mentions he basically feels possessed when he’s dancing/on stage lmao

but i think that can be attributed to the overwhelming passion he has for the art; it consumes him like an overwhelming flame

wonwoo

for me wonwoo definitely feels like a waterbender

again with the idea of water being adaptable, wonwoo is really good at adjusting to the energies of the others even if he’s not naturally super outspoken himself

he can easily go from low to high just like the tides (haha get it), and if the other members are being super excitable it’s very easy for him to join in on the fun

but on the flipside he also has the capabilities of just completely shutting them down lmao kind of like how he cuts people off in debate night

not to bring astrology into this but he’s also the one helping bring some water into this air-dominated group lmao

so yes, versatile, adaptable, but also really good at literally dousing out the flame when needed

if jeonghan was a river i see wonwoo more as a vast like, in that even if he’s somewhat quiet on the surface there is so much more going on underneath

there’s just something very tranquil about his energies that i think make him very suitable for waterbending

woozi

honestly woozi is another one that’s hard for me to place, but i’m going to go with firebending on this one, although i can also see earthbending

i know i’m sort of sticking to the same traits for these lmao, but woozi is kind of that perfect combination of being super well grounded and stable vs just sooo so passionate about his work

he’s always throwing himself into his music like never has anybody questioned his absolute passion and determination for it

as such it sort of makes me lean towards him being a firebender, but a more like... aloof one i guess??

kind of like uncle iroh, except instead of tea it’s music lmao

and if you hurt the people he cares about it’s going to get SERIOUS because how DARE you

but that sort of distance is also sort of why i see more earthbending traits in him; he’s more comfortable with sticking with what he’s used to, and isn’t as inclined as others to go outside his comfort zone

and why he facepalms so much when the other members do stupid shit lmao

seokmin

seokmin i actually have no idea

if i had to pick an element i’d say either water or air, but somehow neither of those completely fit either. so maybe even a nonbender???

like for water, i see it through his kind and healing soul and heavily relate that to the healing properties of water

he’s also just so expressive, which honestly to me can be represented in the many different forms of water there are

like he wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve, and i feel like that is something that could be reflected in waterbending

for air, i see it through his playful and joyful personality and the childlike innocence he embodies, like a playful breeze on a warm sunny day

like jun he’s completely a lover not a fighter, and if he had bending it’d be more about mediation than confrontation

but at the end of the day i think he’s more grounded by his emotions which is why i feel slightly more inclined towards waterbending, but honestly it’s still pretty 50/50

he’s also one of the members i can definitely see being a nonbender; i don’t have anything to back this up but it’s kind of just a gut feeling lmao

mingyu

interestingly enough i kind of see both firebending and waterbending for him, and kind of like seokmin i’m very 50/50 on the two

for firebending i actually literally associate him with fire, and my nickname for him is also spicy red hot chili pepper lmao

i also see fire with him because almost everything he does is done with extreme eagerness and curiosity

for me he almost encapsulates the tantalizing allure of playing with fire, and how he wants to try his hand at experiencing many different things as quickly as fire spreads from one interest to the next

for waterbending though it’s kind of for the exact same reason

i keep preaching about the versatility and adaptability of water, and what better aspect to associate with mingyu’s continuous curiosity for trying new things? 

so it’s a mix of the two due to the passionate determination behind his desire to literally get his hands on everything

and there is no end goal, it is just an all consuming fire that is hungry for more until there is none left

minghao

okay i see minghao as a firebender as well and also this is a slight nod to the minghao = zuko agend LMAO

but kind of in the same vein where iroh/zuko used elements of waterbending in their firebending, i think minghao would also have a lot of the more fluid waterbending techniques in his firebending

like where traditional firebending is perhaps more of a hard, fighting style, minghao gives me a much more fluid vibe

this also comes out of his artistic style with contemporary dance and abstract art, and his passions with developing it

i’m not totally sure how to explain this but to me his artistic expression has a lot of fluid movement in it in which the driving force isn’t the necessarily the user/artist (minghao) but more about where those energies want to go themselves

compared to hoshi where i said the fire consumes him (in a good way), minghao’s fire is more directed at releasing the energy where it needs to be released and not forcing it

i think that’s also why minghao finds a lot of stress release in drawing and art

so still very passionate, very hot, but fluid, like a dancing flame

seungkwan

seungkwan i see mainly as an earthbender but maybe with some fire as well!

a lot of this comes with just how extremely disciplined he is with pretty much everything

even if he is extremely witty and incredibly funny on variety shows i think a lot of it comes out of him just being extremely socially aware, or like aware of his surroundings if that makes sense??

one of the key elements of earthbending is sort of taking in the environment around you and waiting for the right moment to strike

and for seungkwan i think he just has so much natural wit and knowledge that he is able to always come up with the right thing to say at the right time

but i also see some firebending in him because he also gets easily frustrated lmao

like how he gets so easily flustered when he does say the wrong thing at the wrong time and it doesn’t get the reaction he wants

he wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve a lot like dk but tends to also act on them, which to me is aspects of firebending shining through

vernon

personally for vernon i very much see air bending!

again a huge association i have with air is also the element of freedom, and kind of literally doing whatever you want, which i think suits vernon SO well

we always talk about how he’s just simply vibin’/off in his own world and for me there is no element more suitable for that then airbending

he has the kind of energy where everyone else is forced to go at his own pace; you can’t really force it

to throw another pun in here it’s literally like trying to fight the wind: completely useless

but it’s not necessarily met with resistance; vernon has his own ideas but he’s definitely extremely open minded to others and could be swayed given a good discussion

like while jeonghan also goes at his own pace, it’s often feels like it’s towards some directed goal, again like a flowing river. but with vernon, i feel like he’s literally just kind of doing whatever, in the same way that the wind never has a destination or specific course

it’s more about exploring the possibilities and just straight up enjoying life

dino

dino is definitely a boy of the earth for me hahaha

while he is definitely just as passionate about things as his other members, his energy comes off more of a really steady and powerful determination

there’s this sort of strength and endurance with dino that for me makes him extremely suitable for earthbending 

like i think a large part of it comes from the fact that he has very clear goals and a steady mindset way of achieving them

like if he says he’s gonna do something then he’s going to do it, and also the way he always stands his ground when it comes to confrontation

he’s the guy who’s gonna absolutely speak his mind but at the same time be really open minded to other opinions