I can help further with this if you are interested. Ateez storyline is told through a few different forms of content. There is obviously the music videos themselves, the lyrics of the songs, teasers, trailers, prologues and epilogues for comebacks like the videos you've just watched. They also like to depict lore in big live stages, like the ones on Kingdom Legendary war, sometimes. But the most coherent way Ateez storyline is told is in diary entries that act like comics almost in certain physical versions of their albums. All the albums in the Zero Fever series and The World series have had diary version albums. Atiny have posted translations of the diaries online that are fairly easy to find. But there is another way an atiny has posted the diaries that I recommend. An atiny named Eterniteez created videos on RUclips here reading out the diaries with clips from videos depicting the story being told in the diaries as best as they could anyways. Eterniteez has a list on their profile called "The complete guide to Ateez storyline," which is all the diary videos. Each video is one albums worth of diaries. But I also created a public list on my profile of all the official KQ content that depicts any storyline in the order it occurs in with the Eterniteez diary videos in the places they occur in as well. So everything in my list is 100% canon storyline content in the order it appears to happen in. I will mention that not all videos that seem to depict storyline are in my list because there is plenty of story, especially from The Treasure series, that they haven't yet fully explained. I did my best not to do any theorizing when putting together my list, there are 4 videos in there that are my theory, those being The awakening of summer performance, Hala Hala, the Answer comeback stage and Answer music video, but everything else is just straight canon and in definitive order. *Also the old man's name is Left eye, and he is kind of like their mentor/tech specialist *Yeosang plays violin because the people are brainwashed not to feel any emotions, but forms of art help to break that brainwashing, which is also why Wooyong is dancing in the street. Yunho also pulls boards off the windows because being able to see your own reflection invokes emotion as well
Glad you came back around to Ateez! The World series isn't a bad place get into the lore because the story arc is linear and the soundscape is cohesive. You might get a lot out of listening to The World EPs before the comeback, if you can squeeze it in. As you've mostly put together yourself, Ateez and their alters (black pirates aka Halateez), separate or in combination, have arrived to execute an operation to free the populace from total mind control. They are known to the regime, they have been in hiding and undercover planning it. The main target is the Prestige Academy where the indoctrination takes place. "The disease is human emotion" is the mantra that's repeated, therefore forms of expression are banned: art, music, dance, poetry, literature, as is free will. Halazia is a apart from the other World EPs, literally a spin off, and where it's placed lore wise isn't clear to me, but the setting is a place of exile for resistant citizens. Whether the Hala scare crow is an effigy meant as a warning by the regime, a statue to the honor fallen erected by the people of the camp or an icon to focus their energies on isn't clear either. The new trailer seems like a call back to the 1927 German Expressionist film Metropolis, the poster of which is directly referenced in Guerilla. Jongho's scene in the bar solidified that for me, showing there's an elite class in a stratified society, who operate freely, do not wear hooded capes or some kind of uniform. Plus the trailer is black and white. If that's a source of inspiration, and I won't go into the plot here, it's easy to find on Wiki, then there's a whole lot to come (Yeosang, I'm looking at you). Of course, 1984 is also a big reference point--not just the narrative, but the Apple Mac 1984 Superbowl commercial--as are other futuristic/dystopian works. Their catalog contains tracks like Inception, Dune, Django, Cyberpunk, Eternal Sunshine, so dreams and memories, outlaws, smugglers, etc are directly referenced. The lore that got them to this point is fun: time travel, multiple dimensions, alter egos from the other dimension who they encounter--The Matrix is big inspo--and they've hinted at looking back at it for this comeback. Thematically, they're on a coming of age journey and the first two series focus on that aspect. Points of reference are Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. I also think there's Korean folklore tied in with all the rabbit stuff that they've been teasing for the comeback, but that could all be Alice related. You can dip in and out of that without having to be a slave to it, in my opinion. OK, too long already!
OMG okay so the Matrix vibes were purposeful. Also that is cool about the time travelling aspect. It keeps things fresh! Thank you for all this awesome info
![Tee Grizzley - Robbery 8 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/34_vkNV6wrU/mqdefault.jpg)
I can help further with this if you are interested. Ateez storyline is told through a few different forms of content. There is obviously the music videos themselves, the lyrics of the songs, teasers, trailers, prologues and epilogues for comebacks like the videos you've just watched. They also like to depict lore in big live stages, like the ones on Kingdom Legendary war, sometimes. But the most coherent way Ateez storyline is told is in diary entries that act like comics almost in certain physical versions of their albums. All the albums in the Zero Fever series and The World series have had diary version albums. Atiny have posted translations of the diaries online that are fairly easy to find. But there is another way an atiny has posted the diaries that I recommend. An atiny named Eterniteez created videos on RUclips here reading out the diaries with clips from videos depicting the story being told in the diaries as best as they could anyways. Eterniteez has a list on their profile called "The complete guide to Ateez storyline," which is all the diary videos. Each video is one albums worth of diaries. But I also created a public list on my profile of all the official KQ content that depicts any storyline in the order it occurs in with the Eterniteez diary videos in the places they occur in as well. So everything in my list is 100% canon storyline content in the order it appears to happen in. I will mention that not all videos that seem to depict storyline are in my list because there is plenty of story, especially from The Treasure series, that they haven't yet fully explained. I did my best not to do any theorizing when putting together my list, there are 4 videos in there that are my theory, those being The awakening of summer performance, Hala Hala, the Answer comeback stage and Answer music video, but everything else is just straight canon and in definitive order.
*Also the old man's name is Left eye, and he is kind of like their mentor/tech specialist
*Yeosang plays violin because the people are brainwashed not to feel any emotions, but forms of art help to break that brainwashing, which is also why Wooyong is dancing in the street. Yunho also pulls boards off the windows because being able to see your own reflection invokes emotion as well
LEFT EYE! Okayyyyyyy and he is a mentor. I love it. This was all so helpful
Glad you came back around to Ateez!
The World series isn't a bad place get into the lore because the story arc is linear and the soundscape is cohesive. You might get a lot out of listening to The World EPs before the comeback, if you can squeeze it in.
As you've mostly put together yourself, Ateez and their alters (black pirates aka Halateez), separate or in combination, have arrived to execute an operation to free the populace from total mind control. They are known to the regime, they have been in hiding and undercover planning it. The main target is the Prestige Academy where the indoctrination takes place. "The disease is human emotion" is the mantra that's repeated, therefore forms of expression are banned: art, music, dance, poetry, literature, as is free will.
Halazia is a apart from the other World EPs, literally a spin off, and where it's placed lore wise isn't clear to me, but the setting is a place of exile for resistant citizens. Whether the Hala scare crow is an effigy meant as a warning by the regime, a statue to the honor fallen erected by the people of the camp or an icon to focus their energies on isn't clear either.
The new trailer seems like a call back to the 1927 German Expressionist film Metropolis, the poster of which is directly referenced in Guerilla. Jongho's scene in the bar solidified that for me, showing there's an elite class in a stratified society, who operate freely, do not wear hooded capes or some kind of uniform. Plus the trailer is black and white. If that's a source of inspiration, and I won't go into the plot here, it's easy to find on Wiki, then there's a whole lot to come (Yeosang, I'm looking at you). Of course, 1984 is also a big reference point--not just the narrative, but the Apple Mac 1984 Superbowl commercial--as are other futuristic/dystopian works. Their catalog contains tracks like Inception, Dune, Django, Cyberpunk, Eternal Sunshine, so dreams and memories, outlaws, smugglers, etc are directly referenced.
The lore that got them to this point is fun: time travel, multiple dimensions, alter egos from the other dimension who they encounter--The Matrix is big inspo--and they've hinted at looking back at it for this comeback. Thematically, they're on a coming of age journey and the first two series focus on that aspect. Points of reference are Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. I also think there's Korean folklore tied in with all the rabbit stuff that they've been teasing for the comeback, but that could all be Alice related. You can dip in and out of that without having to be a slave to it, in my opinion.
OK, too long already!
OMG okay so the Matrix vibes were purposeful. Also that is cool about the time travelling aspect. It keeps things fresh! Thank you for all this awesome info
Cb is 1st december. Pre order available now
YAS CAN'T WAIT