Dr. Syn · 11mo
Oh man I couldn't help wanting to comment on the xingdae anon's post but then it turned out way too long so I hope you don't min me dumping some of what I know about it in your inbox since I had a massive research spiral and wrote and analyzed so much about the divorce like a year and a half ago.
SO, here is what I know, abbreviated from this post of mine (https://tellonym.me/synteis/answer/3477964961).
The xingdae breakup seems to have happened between the Japanese fanmeeting (150417/18) and the tour stops in Shanghai in (150530/31) because the jpn fm is when they picked each other as their favourite member and did the whole hug business. My personal theory is that it's about go fighting in some way since amongst other things, those tour dates are when the Yixing's go fighting-ges attended the concert and he'd been filming with them in the gap between the Seoul dates (march) and those Shanghai dates (may). However this was a very busy gap and also included Zitao's father's letter being published, Yixing receiving on injury on the set of Go Fighting and SM announcing that they were in negotiations with Zitao (and his father). There were a lot of stress points that could have caused the fight.
I made the case in that post based on reading a lot into the My Answer performances on the 30th and the 31st (the day the GF-ges arrived) that the 30th was basically a normal performance while bt the performance on the 31st, they are actively avoiding each other (tough to do in a performance with three people). My conclusion then was that something happened in that 24hr that meant that they fought and since the GF-ges were present on the 31st only, I tend to think it had something to do with them.
I also personally think that we got the first signs of jongdae softening in 151017 when Yixing sang a Wang Leehom song during one of the ments and Jongdae came up to him and blew paper all over him. Worth noting that this is after Yixing's apology post for Jongdae's birthday in September. Then by 160320 when they did the animal onesie relay, Jongdae comes to block Yixing humping the floor in a onesie and Yixing looks up at him with the biggest smile on his face and from that point onwards they seemed to be more at ease again especially by November 2016 when it's clear the riff is fully repaired during their overlapping Hey Mama!/Lose Control promotions.
hey syn! thank you for sharing this wealth of information! it's really helped straightening out the fuzzier bits of my own mental timeline, and i especially appreciate the information from someone who actively follows and stans yixing. i highly recommend anyone interested in the xingdae schism to check syn's account and links out!
i actually edited it out of my initial response because i didn't feel informed enough about yixing's solo career to confidently make the assertion, but i'm glad someone else is of the opinion that said schism was less about the hard drive as is popularly believed/joked, and more about yixing's growing distance from the group to build his own career in china that jongdae may have taken personally, especially right after zitao left.
expanding on your tellonyme's read on jongdae, i agree. i can't help but think that this reveals another layer of meaning behind jongdae's penchant for intense, possessive care-taking: he positions himself as someone to be depended upon, so that he will not be abandoned. for how kind he is, he does not take "betrayal" well (think of his reaction to kyungsoo as x-man LOL). he is extremely firm with his personal boundaries, and once you fall from his favour, it is very hard to gain access to him again until he forgives you. which he will, but it takes time!
