Ahh thank you for this question! I’m more than happy to provide my hunches. As expected this turned out way longer than anyone wants, sorry.

Just a quick digression to discuss the sensitive nature of this topic:

I do understand why people feel sensitive about discussing the cosmetic work of Kpop idols. For one, for a long time (and probably even now) “plastic” was thrown around as an insult. The premise seems to be that someone who had any cosmetic procedures cannot be considered beautiful—it only counts if they were just born like that. Aside from the fact that somehow things like braces and facials don’t seem to “count,” very few celebrities have had zero cosmetic work done, and of course celebrities with cosmetic work are beautiful!

I think the other reason it’s a sensitive issue is because people are aware of the social pressure to look a certain way, which is only heightened for celebrities. But the social pressure is actually one reason I think we should talk about it, within reason. I never want to approach it as some kind of perverse ogling at the work they’ve had done, which I do think a LOT of plastic surgery discussion is framed as. It’s more about pointing out the kinds of cosmetic changes that create the aura of a celebrity. In Kpop, they’re in an environment where there is mainly one beauty standard that most people gravitate toward, that elevates youth over maturity in media, and where your job is always at risk of someone younger replacing you. The willpower to resist the pressures of that environment is rare, but I think it’s worth noting when genuinely beautiful facial features are modified to conform to a beauty standard which is unfair and detrimental. Crooked or big noses, strong jawlines, small eyes, etc. can be and are all beautiful features to have, but these are features typically rejected in Kpop. Go look at the entertainment industries elsewhere and you’ll see other features rejected.

One third thing, I think people also tend to go too big when they speculate. Surgical procedures like jaw surgery absolutely do take substantial recovery time that most successful idols don’t have. Injectable cosmetic treatments have shorter downtime and can achieve a LOT, but they seem to be addictive, so once someone starts getting them, they can’t really stop. These things also seem to go in waves—e.g. I joke about Seventeen’s veneers Groupon this year but it does make sense that if you see something your friends are doing and you think it looks good and elevates their appearance, you might want to do it too. But I think that injectables in particular seem to lead to a kind of fear-based regimen where idols literally cannot stomach the smallest sign of aging and they just pump their face full of fillers—which often has the opposite of their desired effect, imo. I think this is worth noting as media consumers because there isn’t anything wrong or ugly about things that come with aging like losing facial fat or developing wrinkles. I too feel compelled to slow that process, but I don’t think the goal should be to look like a celebrity or hold that up as the expectation of a minimum standard of beauty.

Okay THAT SAID my disclaimer is that I’m just an enthusiast; I have zero credentials and if you don’t like my speculations please just ignore me lol. Also there are so many tiny little procedures that come out all the time that I don’t know about so I miss those. For instance, did you know there’s a procedure of putting filler in the temple to create a smooth line from forehead to cheekbone? Probably not because few people ever wonder if the dip between their forehead and cheekbone is ugly, but this is the kind of environment we’re looking at. ANYWAY. Also I’m writing this imagining a reader who doesn’t know about these things since I know I have friends who are not cosmetic procedure investigators and might read this; I am however more than open to discussion because I know in reality that a lot of people know more than me! (And I don’t mean to imply that you, the specific anon who asked, doesn’t know all about this!)

Anyway: imo Minghao looks different lately because of lip filler.

The boy LOVES a lip filler right now. In my opinion his goal is not a natural lip. He wants the plumped, luscious lips of an Instagram influencer. And he seems to be really feeling himself, so good for him. You can usually notice lip filler when it affects the natural outline of the lip (Jeonghan posted a picture in profile recently where you can see the filler in his top lip quite clearly) and sometimes it goes a little uneven. When you’re using a lot of it, it can make your lips appear swollen. (Once you start looking for it you’ll see that SOO many makeup influencers have it.)

I also think he’s getting some kind of filler in his cheeks. My friend asked me recently how you can tell if someone is getting filler, and I didn’t have a good answer. It’s most obvious when it’s overdone, but it does impact facial mobility and creates an almost water balloon look to the skin. Injectables like Botox freeze the muscle (reducing the chance of wrinkles forming and helping current wrinkles to fade) while filler actually puts a product like hyaluronic acid under the skin to fill it out. Regardless of what product is causing it—focus on Seventeen’s foreheads during gose sometime and you’ll see that a lot of them have completely immobile foreheads.

Minghao’s nose job looks the same to me as it did in a few months ago tbh. It’s pointier at some angles but that seems to be consistent with past photos too. I think it’s a successful nose job in that it’s still pretty harmonious with his face and isn’t so far off from his old nose that he actually looks like a different person.

His eyes look pretty much the same to me, but the hard thing to ID with eyes is that there are some extremely minor (and imo often kind of pointless) procedures that cut the inner or outer corner to create a wider eye, without touching the lid. A lot of Kpop idols get this done. Makeup also can affect how eyes photograph a lot. Regardless, I don’t really see any major differences there.

In the recent concert pics, I think the combination of blue contact lenses, blonde hair, a lot of lip filler, and fresh filler in his face gave him more of that kind of uncanny Kpop idol appearance I associate with SM box mvs. But overall I think his appearance is most affected by his oversized lips, which he seems to love!

I feel like for Wonwoo I start with the real life observations as key entryways into a character? Like it’s really important to me that he’s nearsighted AND consistently does not wear his glasses. Is the aesthetic really worth being on a blurry stage? There are so many character beats that can come from just from exploring why this man continues to not wear his glasses when he can’t see a damn thing.

Occasionally I’ve come across rumors that he was or is still in a long-term relationship with someone not famous and while I do not know or care if that’s true, it does inform how I go about conceptualizing the character because I also think it’s an interesting headcanon to explore how someone maintains a LTR in a career like that. Or at least in the back of my mind there’s this notion that he’s the sort of person who would prefer something stable and familiar over something exciting.

I also just copy off others’ notes and characterize him with emotional constipation lol

Minghao! I actually really like writing Minghao. For ME PERSONALLY I really like to lean into the self-righteous, insufferable, advice-giving aspect of his personality because I think it’s interesting (remember the gose where he just started instructing Hoshi on his to live his life LOL). It’s not that I think it’s the sum total of his personality but rather that, perhaps as someone who has jumped into the fandom at a later stage, that trait is VERY noticeable to me? It also makes him super useful in fic because you can just neatly mobilize him to cause some friction or reflection in another character. I also tend to headcanon that he has a lot of personal development goals, but quite different that how I imagine Mingyu to. More like… he wants to become this better and more admirable person but questions his ability to do so which makes him even more determined to do it, versus Mingyu who really doesn’t have those same self-esteem struggles. I feel like the advice-giving dimension of Minghao does help me understand why fic authors have used him to explore self-esteem struggles, but the advice-giving is something I’ve seen in irl friends who have discovered all these solutions or gone to therapy and etc and now can’t quite stop themselves from trying to dole out all those strategies to other people… had to tell my friend to stop giving me advice once lol, it was a good conversation 💕 Not sure how well Minghao would take it if he was told to stuff it though HA but that’s just good for fic 😊

Oh wow I gotta reach way back like a decade for that…

This isn’t meta but rather a headcanon which is that when I used to write exo fic, I found myself using the taohun dynamic in some fashion a lot? Especially right around the great EXOdus it was such a useful kind of bitter breakup dynamic, also that leaked picture of them smoking together lol.

As for META… I think the most interesting meta is the Lay meta analyzing the business choices he’d made and how he turned out to be the most strategic out of China-line in terms of his career longevity? Keeping hold of SM even in name only was a gamble at the time that he leveraged really well and I do find that fascinating.

Finally… I had a streak of Chen/Zhang Liyin fics back in the day when they released a duet because the boy was flirting like his life depended on it and she was like “wtf is happening right now” in every interview. So yeah I think his interest in her was real lolllll iirc it lined up neatly between his rumored gfs. If someone has a different timeline don’t tell me, I think it’s funny when idols flirt genuinely on camera.