knock you down, here we go; a ze:a pimp post
I think I must have too much time on my hands, but well...
ZE:A Pimp Post
THE BASICS
ZE:A is actually an abbreviation of their actual name 제국의 아이들 (pronounced as "Jaegukui Aideul [thank you shancq :3]" - put Jae and A together and you get ZE:A!), which translates into Children of Empire :)
So they're a 9-membered group under Star Empire, which is the same company that Jewelry, V.O.S and Nine Muses belong(ed) to. The company actually had a financial crisis, which is why ZE:A had to do wingcar performances in various cities across the country in order to become more well-known before they debuted. This was documented in their cable TV series Empire Kids Returns.
They debuted on 7 January 2010 with Mazeltov, and are currently undergoing preparations for their first full-length album.
DISCOGRAPHY
Nativity
♫ Mazeltov
♫ Love Coach
♫ New Star
Download the whole album here
Leap For Detonation
♫ All Day Long
♫ Man 2 Man
Download the whole album here
Level Up
♫ Separation Drip (Level Up)
Download here
Okay, so Sony Entertainment has removed every single All Day Long MV from Youtube :| You can watch the Mazeltov MV here, though. And I know a lot of people are confused about the (non-)existence of the Level Up MV, so yes, it does not exist. According to Star Empire, not many scenes were filmed because of the heavy rain, and in addition, they somehow managed to lose most of the footage. Which is why only the Level Up Teaser exists ;_;
THE MEMBERS
Kevin Kim
→ His Korean name is Kim Jiyeob (김지엽)
→ He was born on February 23, 1988, which makes him the oldest member of the group
→ Blood type A, 180cm
So Kevin used to stay in Australia, and attended Epping Boys High School there. Apparently he was scouted by Junyoung, who called him up and um, begged him to join the group. Kevin was initially reluctant to return to Seoul, but one day when the other members were sitting in the practice room eating jajungmyun, Kevin just mysteriously came in through the door and said "hello". Yeaaah.
He's the lead singer of the group along with Hyungshik, whom coincidentally is the person he's most often shipped with. Mostly due to the fact that Kevin wears this incredibly lovestruck look on his face whenever Hyungshik comes close to him :3 Case in point: this Love Coach performance. Check out 3:07 when Hyungshik leans in really close, and then later on Kevin just continues singing with this gigantic grin on his face. He wasn't even mouthing the words properly, lmao ♥ This video is also too adorable for words and okay I should just stfu rn because this is supposed to be about Kevin but yes, Kevshik is incredibly adorable~ They also have this awesome duet, which you should totally check out. Okay, I'll stop now lol
Some random trivia:
→ Kevin really likes cooking, and apparently he's quite good at it too :3 he's also been called the "mother" of the group for that reason, since he cooks the members porridge when they're sick, lol.
→ He once got pranked by the other members into taking off his shirt and doing push-ups in their new house lmao. They told him it was part of the ~Korean culture~.
→ He has a younger sister called Michelle.
→ He doesn't like people to lie to him.
→ Kevin's introduction video.
→ Kevin's self-camera.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Hwang Kwanghee (황광희)
→ He was born on August 25, 1988
→ Blood type A, 179cm
The first thing you need to know about Kwanghee is that he is very, very special. In the sense that he will not shut up about the fact that he has gotten plastic surgery orz. He mentioned once that he "modified" his forehead, eyes and nose, although in Strong Heart he says that he basically did his whole face, lmao. His mother took him to do it because she felt that an idol should be handsome, and if you're interested in seeing how he looked like pre-surgery, here you go, lol.
Kwanghee is the moodmaker/~diva~ of the group. He's the one who knows all the girl group dances and jumps at the chance to show off his skills (he particularly likes to do Push Push by Sistar while getting the lyrics totally wrong LOL). And yes, he says his idol is Jokwon.
He can be pretty harsh when he wants to, which means that he's basically awful to everyone except Siwan, lmao. He particularly gets into the most arguments with Heechul, and the two like to tease each other a lot. There was once when they split up into groups, and Kwanghee got stuck with Heechul and some of the rest, and he just went "WHY AM I IN A GROUP WITH ALL THE PEOPLE I HATE". So yeah, he's definitely not afraid of voicing out his opinions lol. In addition, Heechul and Taehun once got "eliminated" in their show Empire Kids although it was later revealed to be a lie. But back when no one had any idea that it wasn't the truth, Kwanghee actually packed their bags for them and put them by the doorstep and was all "bye, guys~". Not kidding. His defense is that he wanted to save time for them rofl.
In recent interviews, some of the members have been naming Kwanghee as the most caring member of the group though. They say he likes to put on a strong front but he's actually a softie inside, and he actually puts them before himself most of the time :') d'awwwww.
His best friend is Siwan (they're the same age), which is basically an excuse for Kwanghee to molest Siwan whenever he gets the chance to. Seriously, I have never seen anyone so clingy in my life. He particularly enjoys kissing Siwan's cheek and annoying him with skinship :3
His ideal type is Krystal from f(x). They go to the same hair saloon, and Kwanghee likes to creep wait at the window to see if she's coming by, LOL.
Some random trivia:
→ He's been named as the dirtiest member of the group. He eats ice cream in his upper bunk bed and throws the stick down (lol ikr), and Kevin, who sleeps in the bunk below him, says that there was once Kwanghee was eating nachos above him and managed to drip the cheese all over his face.
→ He hates the fact that his skin is naturally more tanned, which is why he puts on a lot of foundation. He's been putting on make-up by himself since high school, lol.
→ He got caught for his porn stash in one of the episodes of Empire Kids :'D
→ Apparently his ex-girlfriend dumped him because she found his voice too annoying.
→ Kwanghee's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Im Siwan (임시완)
→ His real name is Im Woongjae (임웅재)
→ He was born on December 1, 1988
→ Blood type B, 175cm
Okay I will try not to let my inner Siwan stan take over lol /locks heart up in an effort to be unbiased ;_____;
Siwan plays the violin. He once named his violin as his favorite thing in the world :') On top of that, he also seems to be pretty good in sports, seeing as how he nearly won the hurdles competition (3:19 onwards, he's the one in grey all the way at the left) in the Idol Athletics Championships.
He's the ~fashionista~ of the group. He enjoys shopping (and actually buys clothes from the women's department because he's 51kg) and helped out in planning their concept outfits for Level Up.
Siwan can come across as pretty cold sometimes, especially towards Kwanghee, but if you pay attention, he usually only does it when he knows he's being filmed. Other times... yeah. One trend in his interactions with Kwanghee is that he usually starts off by acting all annoyed, but later on just gives in to Kwanghee's whining lol. He does initiate the skinship sometimes though, which must be a field day for Kwanghee lmao.
He can be pretty competitive sometimes, as seen in the case when he was one of the candidates for being leader along with Kevin and Junyoung. He didn't expect to be one of the candidates, but once he was, he did want to win. When all of ZE:A were trainees, they had this list that was updated every couple of weeks/months to rank them in terms of their performance, and Siwan was always ranked #1 :') /proud stan
Siwan is also one of the best dancers of the group. Minwoo is obviously first, but Siwan and Dongjun tie for second, imo. He can also do acrobatics, although most of the time it's Minwoo and Dongjun doing it.
Some random trivia:
→ He's a clean freak (total opposite of Kwanghee lmao), and likes to rearrange his things to get rid of his stress.
→ His ideal type is a girl who is around his height, and he would like to call her "manura" (satoori for "wife" - lol yes his hometown is Busan).
→ The one item he must always have in his bag is his hair straightener.
→ He's been called a "skinny pig" by Minwoo because he eats a lot but never seems to get fat. Siwan's also mentioned that he really hates it when people go "eat more, you're so skinny" to him, because he does eat.
→ Siwan's introduction video.
→ Siwan's self-camera.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Moon Junyoung (문준영)
→ He was born on February 9, 1989
→ Blood type A, 180cm
→ Leader!
Junyoung's most well known for looking like DBSK's Yoochun, and he was a famous ulzzang before his debut because of this reason as well. He also participated in a uniform model contest, where he first met Kwanghee (...in the bathroom) and the two later on joined Star Empire together. For some reason, Junyoung was the one responsible for recruiting the other members, including getting Kevin to come over from Australia and calling Minwoo up at 2am in the morning after watching a video clip of him dancing on UCC.
Junyoung was their unofficial leader before debut, although they later on held a competition between he, Siwan and Kevin to decide on the real official one. The competition involved the three leader candidates making a video and posting it up online for the netizens to vote, and a hidden camera prank in which the 3 youngest members pretended to have a fight and let the leader candidates sort it out, as well as a separate voting session by all the members of ZE:A and the company staff. Anyway, Junyoung ended up winning it fair and square :) He did mention that he would have felt like a loser if he didn't manage to continue on as the leader though, lol.
Some random trivia:
→ He's a really fast runner! He got 1st in his category in the 100m preliminaries in the Idol Athletics Championships and 4th in the finals \o/
→ He used to smoke. Not sure about currently, but in Empire Kids when cigarettes were found, the manager was all "it's either Junyoung or Heechul's". It turned out to be Heechul though, lmao.
→ He really likes to sleep. One of his bad habits is that he refuses to get up sometimes, lol. + he really hates it when people annoy him when he's tired and trying to sleep.
→ Junyoung's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Kim Taehun (김태헌)
→ He was born on June 18, 1989
→ Blood type A, 177cm
The rapper of the group! He's mostly known for being the one wearing oversized sunglasses with the husky voice because he doesn't talk a lot in shows, although the members have always said that he's actually really adorable and playful. He's been voted as the member with the biggest personality difference on and off-screen, because he apparently likes to do aegyo to the rest lol!
Imo he's very self-conscious, especially since before ZE:A's debut he was often criticized by the company staff for being "useless and untalented" :( I suppose that's why he's a bit more shy and silent in front of the camera? I hope he'll loosen up as time goes on though.
Oh, and Taehun talks in his sleep, along with Heechul. Apparently the two of them have conversations in their sleep, along the lines of "it's so cold~" and "yeah, baby gurrrrl" lmao. And Taehun also apparently sucks his lips while sleeping. Idk what this is supposed to mean, but yeah.
Some random trivia:
→ He really, really likes hoodies and sunglasses.
→ He's lost his parents :(
→ He writes lyrics as a form of stress relief.
→ Taehun's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Jung Heechul (정희철)
→ He was born on December 9, 1989
→ Blood type B, 177cm
The second rapper of the group! He also eerily resembles a Sungmin + Ryeowook lovechild, idek lmao. He also has this really distinct laughter that is absolutely precious :')
Heechul's got a sharp tongue, which is why he argues with Kwanghee a lot. In his own opinion, his personality is straightforward, and he doesn't like to mince his words. There was one particular interview where he mentions Kwanghee all the time - a bad habit he wants to get rid of is "not speaking to Kwanghee-hyung", something that annoys him is "when Kwanghee-hyung keeps irritating me", and what makes him the most nervous is "when Kwanghee-hyung throws a tantrum". Imo they have this love/hate relationship thing going on, which is kind of adorable.
Heechul used to be pretty self-conscious as well. Before their debut they had this gather-around-and-talk-session and he talked about how he felt that he was useless and stuff :( but he's been improving a lot! He's hilarious on variety shows, so I guess it helps with his self-confidence and stuff? He's pretty sharp, and if you watch Idol League, he always outsmarts everyone else :'D
Heechul's ideal type is Jessica from SNSD, which I guess everyone knows because he's been doing virtual confessions to her for more than 40 times already lmao. He's met her in real life before, of course, but he says that they've only exchanged polite greetings lol. He also likes girls who resemble a cat. Oh, he does get a bit embarrassed about it at times, especially since the other members jump at the chance to bring his ~crush~ up :3
Some random trivia:
→ He's apparently the only idol from Jeju Island, which is his hometown.
→ If you're a SM Town fan, you might be interested in watching Heechul from Super Junior talking to this Heechul about Jessica, lol.
→ Heechul's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Ha Minwoo (하민우)
→ He was born on September 6, 1990
→ Blood type B, 178cm
So Minwoo is a sweetheart. He's amazing to his fans (had the pleasure to experience it first-hand lmao, the boy would not stop waving and giving us hearts ;___;), cries easily, is generally a smiley and cheerful boy, but he's been named as one of the members with the worst tempers. I guess when he's nice he's very nice, but when he's pissed he's scary? :\ He's also mentioned that one of his bad habits is that he can't really control his emotions, so when he's in a bad mood, it just shows on his face, lol. According to him, he takes quite some time to open up to strangers as well.
Minwoo's the best dancer of the group! He took part in the same dance competition as 2PM's Wooyoung (who ended up winning it, lmao). Minwoo's mentioned before that he was quite upset at that time, but after that Junyoung did the whole calling-him-up-at-2AM thing lolll. Oh, and Minwoo was the one who choreographed their Level Up dance :3
He seems to be a pretty good hyung to the two other younger members, although he's complained before that nobody babies him even though he's the third youngest of the group, lmao :') He's also been named before as the crybaby of the group. Other than that, he also seems to quite playful around his members, occasionally playing pranks on them.
Some random trivia:
→ He's really amused by Kwanghee putting on make-up orz.
→ His ideal type is someone that he likes from first glance.
→ Minwoo's introduction video.
→ Minwoo's self-camera.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Park Hyungshik (박형식)
→ He was born on November 16, 1991
→ Blood type AB, 185cm (and growing)
Hyungshik's the second youngest of the group, but because he's the youngest at home and kind of a spoiled brat (+ he's worshipped by the girls in his school), he often seems more like the maknae. He's also easily tricked (especially by Heechul), although I think it's because he's naive, not stupid LOL. Dongjun's called him an idiot before lol :\
He has an older brother, so I suppose he's babied a lot at home. He's also a Seoul baby so he hasn't really experienced a ~harsh~ life, and in Empire Kids Returns when they had to pluck weeds in a farm, Hyungshik went on and on about how he's never done such menial labour before lmao. Which is probably why Hyungshik's called the prince of the group :)
Oh, and he amazingly looks exactly the same as the photographs of him when he was five :o Apart from the height. Netizens have laughingly accused him of having a cell disease because he's still shooting up, and he's really proud of it.
He eats a lot - apparently he orders like two or three meals when he's on a plane? It's seriously scary lol, and when he went to McDonald's with Kwanghee he ordered 2 Big Mac meals along with large cokes, a salad, and even wanted to get ice cream before his manager shot him a look LOL.
Hyungshik's the lead singer of the group along with Kevin (which I've mentioned lol), but he's considered the better singer by the vocal instructors for some reason, idk.
Some random trivia:
→ He doesn't wear anything when he comes out of the bathroom after bathing. Junyoung gripes about it here, and Hyungshik insists it's because he treats them like ~family~.
→ He's the second dirtiest member after Kwanghee, but more of the throws-everything-around sense. Minwoo once said that Hyungshik saved his life because of this, lol. Apparently Hyungshik left all his stuff in piles on the floor, and one night when Minwoo was sleeping on the upper bunk, he got a nightmare and actually rolled off the bed... and landed on Hyungshik's things. Which is why he didn't get sent to the hospital rofl.
→ Hyungshik's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Kim Dongjun (김동준)
→ He was born on February 11, 1992
→ Blood type B, 175cm
The maknae of the group! He's apparently a ~strong Busan male~ though (unlike Hyungshik - one of them has mentioned before that they don't get along particularly well because of the huge difference in personalities), and he really enjoys working out. When they went to Singapore for a showcase, Dongjun headed for the gym the moment he reached the hotel lol! According to him, he's been working out for 3 or 4 years now.
He's very good in sports - he's gone on Dream Team before, and he was amazing in the Idol Athletics Championships as well. He also really likes to play soccer - he, Hyungshik and Minwoo were all in Idol United.
He seems to be pretty outgoing and playful as well, and he's mentioned that if he doesn't act that way for even one day, he'll feel all wrong. In his opinion, his ~charming point~ is that he can be both a strong man and a little boy who needs protection at the same time. ...Yeah.
In addition, he is incredibly, incredibly biased to his fans. In the sense that he'll totally ignore you if he knows you're a fan of the other members (believe me, he's done it to me before ;___; all he did was raise his eyebrow at me and turn to the girl next to me who was holding his signboard and started waving at her all enthusiastically. Ikr.), but he's really sweet to his fans. When they were boarding the bus to get to the airport, I saw him actually reach out to take a gift from one of his fans, which was a seriously sweet thing to do :')
Dongjun's also famous for looking like Han Ga-in. He's dressed up as her before, and apparently he was so gorgeous that Kevin couldn't stop snapping pictures of him until Dongjun got angry with him lmao. Also, if you haven't watched this, you totally should.
Dongjun's also the one in charge of waking the other members + the manager up. Which means he has to get up the earliest, poor boy, so you can't really blame him for kicking them in the morning :\
Some random trivia:
→ He's had a girlfriend before. Shockerrr. Junyoung then proceeded to rub this bit of information all over Siwan's face lmao, who insists he's never had one in his life.
→ He wishes he could be the leader, because he doesn't really like to be bossed around.
→ Dongjun's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
ETCETERA
ENGLISH SUBBED VIDEOS
Chicken CF filming: I actually laughed watching them eat the chicken so happily. Siwan says he starved himself to death in order to look like he was having a blast while eating chicken lol. They admit to being on the news because of the amount of food they eat - they once spent $2000 on food, and that was because their CEO stopped them from eating more.
Let's Go Busan: First part is them taking a photoshoot on the way to Busan, second is them in their hotel suite and going shopping for food.
Quick Questions, Fast Answers: Accusing the other members.
2010 New Year Greetings: General adorableness all around. Epic Sikwang moment with Kwanghee trying to be all close to Siwan but Siwan flinching away.
Idol Maknae Rebellion: Only with Dongjun, Junyoung and Hyungshik iirc.
Idol League Episodes 1-4 download links: The posts are locked though, so you have to join the community before you can view them.
School of Rock: Really worth watching imo!
O4U: A really short thing in which they voice their complaints/disapprovals (i.e. Hyungshik not wearing underwear, Siwan spraying stuff around in the room, someone farting).
Idol League ZE:A Special: In which Minwoo is pranked and he cries :(
Empire Kids Returns Episode 1: The other episodes aren't subbed yet, so be patient!
Empiresubs' youtube channel: Subbing team! Some cuts of Empire Kids can also be found here :)
UNSUBBED VIDEOS
Sourseob's youtube channel, Sicachul's youtube channel: A lot of hilarious cuts of the boys.
Self camera in America: Junyoung wearing adorable pyjamas, a lot of flailing around, someone trying to film someone else in the toilet, Siwan drinking coffee before going to sleep.
Dancing to Bo Peep Bo Peep: Adorable, especially because they start to look like they're headbanging.
Genie + Abracadabra perf, Another Genie + Abracadabra perf
Oh + Bo Peep Bo Peep perf: Idk why Kwanghee is the only singing most of the time lol poor boy.
Sexy Back + The Way I Are perf, Abracadabra perf: Just because.
Love Coach performance: Imo, their most perfect performance of any song ever ;~;
Mazeltov performance
Level Up performance
OTHER STUFF
fuckyeahzea@tumblr
ze_a: Livejournal community
zea_fanfics, madtimeright: Fanfiction communities.
Empire Children: ZE:A's international forum.
So I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it :') finally...
WELCOME TO ZE:A FANDOM *\o/*
ZE:A Pimp Post
THE BASICS
ZE:A is actually an abbreviation of their actual name 제국의 아이들 (pronounced as "Jaegukui Aideul [thank you shancq :3]" - put Jae and A together and you get ZE:A!), which translates into Children of Empire :)
So they're a 9-membered group under Star Empire, which is the same company that Jewelry, V.O.S and Nine Muses belong(ed) to. The company actually had a financial crisis, which is why ZE:A had to do wingcar performances in various cities across the country in order to become more well-known before they debuted. This was documented in their cable TV series Empire Kids Returns.
They debuted on 7 January 2010 with Mazeltov, and are currently undergoing preparations for their first full-length album.
DISCOGRAPHY
Nativity
♫ Mazeltov
♫ Love Coach
♫ New Star
Download the whole album here
Leap For Detonation
♫ All Day Long
♫ Man 2 Man
Download the whole album here
Level Up
♫ Separation Drip (Level Up)
Download here
Okay, so Sony Entertainment has removed every single All Day Long MV from Youtube :| You can watch the Mazeltov MV here, though. And I know a lot of people are confused about the (non-)existence of the Level Up MV, so yes, it does not exist. According to Star Empire, not many scenes were filmed because of the heavy rain, and in addition, they somehow managed to lose most of the footage. Which is why only the Level Up Teaser exists ;_;
THE MEMBERS
Kevin Kim
→ His Korean name is Kim Jiyeob (김지엽)
→ He was born on February 23, 1988, which makes him the oldest member of the group
→ Blood type A, 180cm
So Kevin used to stay in Australia, and attended Epping Boys High School there. Apparently he was scouted by Junyoung, who called him up and um, begged him to join the group. Kevin was initially reluctant to return to Seoul, but one day when the other members were sitting in the practice room eating jajungmyun, Kevin just mysteriously came in through the door and said "hello". Yeaaah.
He's the lead singer of the group along with Hyungshik, whom coincidentally is the person he's most often shipped with. Mostly due to the fact that Kevin wears this incredibly lovestruck look on his face whenever Hyungshik comes close to him :3 Case in point: this Love Coach performance. Check out 3:07 when Hyungshik leans in really close, and then later on Kevin just continues singing with this gigantic grin on his face. He wasn't even mouthing the words properly, lmao ♥ This video is also too adorable for words and okay I should just stfu rn because this is supposed to be about Kevin but yes, Kevshik is incredibly adorable~ They also have this awesome duet, which you should totally check out. Okay, I'll stop now lol
Some random trivia:
→ Kevin really likes cooking, and apparently he's quite good at it too :3 he's also been called the "mother" of the group for that reason, since he cooks the members porridge when they're sick, lol.
→ He once got pranked by the other members into taking off his shirt and doing push-ups in their new house lmao. They told him it was part of the ~Korean culture~.
→ He has a younger sister called Michelle.
→ He doesn't like people to lie to him.
→ Kevin's introduction video.
→ Kevin's self-camera.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Hwang Kwanghee (황광희)
→ He was born on August 25, 1988
→ Blood type A, 179cm
The first thing you need to know about Kwanghee is that he is very, very special. In the sense that he will not shut up about the fact that he has gotten plastic surgery orz. He mentioned once that he "modified" his forehead, eyes and nose, although in Strong Heart he says that he basically did his whole face, lmao. His mother took him to do it because she felt that an idol should be handsome, and if you're interested in seeing how he looked like pre-surgery, here you go, lol.
Kwanghee is the moodmaker/~diva~ of the group. He's the one who knows all the girl group dances and jumps at the chance to show off his skills (he particularly likes to do Push Push by Sistar while getting the lyrics totally wrong LOL). And yes, he says his idol is Jokwon.
He can be pretty harsh when he wants to, which means that he's basically awful to everyone except Siwan, lmao. He particularly gets into the most arguments with Heechul, and the two like to tease each other a lot. There was once when they split up into groups, and Kwanghee got stuck with Heechul and some of the rest, and he just went "WHY AM I IN A GROUP WITH ALL THE PEOPLE I HATE". So yeah, he's definitely not afraid of voicing out his opinions lol. In addition, Heechul and Taehun once got "eliminated" in their show Empire Kids although it was later revealed to be a lie. But back when no one had any idea that it wasn't the truth, Kwanghee actually packed their bags for them and put them by the doorstep and was all "bye, guys~". Not kidding. His defense is that he wanted to save time for them rofl.
In recent interviews, some of the members have been naming Kwanghee as the most caring member of the group though. They say he likes to put on a strong front but he's actually a softie inside, and he actually puts them before himself most of the time :') d'awwwww.
His best friend is Siwan (they're the same age), which is basically an excuse for Kwanghee to molest Siwan whenever he gets the chance to. Seriously, I have never seen anyone so clingy in my life. He particularly enjoys kissing Siwan's cheek and annoying him with skinship :3
His ideal type is Krystal from f(x). They go to the same hair saloon, and Kwanghee likes to creep wait at the window to see if she's coming by, LOL.
Some random trivia:
→ He's been named as the dirtiest member of the group. He eats ice cream in his upper bunk bed and throws the stick down (lol ikr), and Kevin, who sleeps in the bunk below him, says that there was once Kwanghee was eating nachos above him and managed to drip the cheese all over his face.
→ He hates the fact that his skin is naturally more tanned, which is why he puts on a lot of foundation. He's been putting on make-up by himself since high school, lol.
→ He got caught for his porn stash in one of the episodes of Empire Kids :'D
→ Apparently his ex-girlfriend dumped him because she found his voice too annoying.
→ Kwanghee's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Im Siwan (임시완)
→ His real name is Im Woongjae (임웅재)
→ He was born on December 1, 1988
→ Blood type B, 175cm
Okay I will try not to let my inner Siwan stan take over lol /locks heart up in an effort to be unbiased ;_____;
Siwan plays the violin. He once named his violin as his favorite thing in the world :') On top of that, he also seems to be pretty good in sports, seeing as how he nearly won the hurdles competition (3:19 onwards, he's the one in grey all the way at the left) in the Idol Athletics Championships.
He's the ~fashionista~ of the group. He enjoys shopping (and actually buys clothes from the women's department because he's 51kg) and helped out in planning their concept outfits for Level Up.
Siwan can come across as pretty cold sometimes, especially towards Kwanghee, but if you pay attention, he usually only does it when he knows he's being filmed. Other times... yeah. One trend in his interactions with Kwanghee is that he usually starts off by acting all annoyed, but later on just gives in to Kwanghee's whining lol. He does initiate the skinship sometimes though, which must be a field day for Kwanghee lmao.
He can be pretty competitive sometimes, as seen in the case when he was one of the candidates for being leader along with Kevin and Junyoung. He didn't expect to be one of the candidates, but once he was, he did want to win. When all of ZE:A were trainees, they had this list that was updated every couple of weeks/months to rank them in terms of their performance, and Siwan was always ranked #1 :') /proud stan
Siwan is also one of the best dancers of the group. Minwoo is obviously first, but Siwan and Dongjun tie for second, imo. He can also do acrobatics, although most of the time it's Minwoo and Dongjun doing it.
Some random trivia:
→ He's a clean freak (total opposite of Kwanghee lmao), and likes to rearrange his things to get rid of his stress.
→ His ideal type is a girl who is around his height, and he would like to call her "manura" (satoori for "wife" - lol yes his hometown is Busan).
→ The one item he must always have in his bag is his hair straightener.
→ He's been called a "skinny pig" by Minwoo because he eats a lot but never seems to get fat. Siwan's also mentioned that he really hates it when people go "eat more, you're so skinny" to him, because he does eat.
→ Siwan's introduction video.
→ Siwan's self-camera.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Moon Junyoung (문준영)
→ He was born on February 9, 1989
→ Blood type A, 180cm
→ Leader!
Junyoung's most well known for looking like DBSK's Yoochun, and he was a famous ulzzang before his debut because of this reason as well. He also participated in a uniform model contest, where he first met Kwanghee (...in the bathroom) and the two later on joined Star Empire together. For some reason, Junyoung was the one responsible for recruiting the other members, including getting Kevin to come over from Australia and calling Minwoo up at 2am in the morning after watching a video clip of him dancing on UCC.
Junyoung was their unofficial leader before debut, although they later on held a competition between he, Siwan and Kevin to decide on the real official one. The competition involved the three leader candidates making a video and posting it up online for the netizens to vote, and a hidden camera prank in which the 3 youngest members pretended to have a fight and let the leader candidates sort it out, as well as a separate voting session by all the members of ZE:A and the company staff. Anyway, Junyoung ended up winning it fair and square :) He did mention that he would have felt like a loser if he didn't manage to continue on as the leader though, lol.
Some random trivia:
→ He's a really fast runner! He got 1st in his category in the 100m preliminaries in the Idol Athletics Championships and 4th in the finals \o/
→ He used to smoke. Not sure about currently, but in Empire Kids when cigarettes were found, the manager was all "it's either Junyoung or Heechul's". It turned out to be Heechul though, lmao.
→ He really likes to sleep. One of his bad habits is that he refuses to get up sometimes, lol. + he really hates it when people annoy him when he's tired and trying to sleep.
→ Junyoung's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Kim Taehun (김태헌)
→ He was born on June 18, 1989
→ Blood type A, 177cm
The rapper of the group! He's mostly known for being the one wearing oversized sunglasses with the husky voice because he doesn't talk a lot in shows, although the members have always said that he's actually really adorable and playful. He's been voted as the member with the biggest personality difference on and off-screen, because he apparently likes to do aegyo to the rest lol!
Imo he's very self-conscious, especially since before ZE:A's debut he was often criticized by the company staff for being "useless and untalented" :( I suppose that's why he's a bit more shy and silent in front of the camera? I hope he'll loosen up as time goes on though.
Oh, and Taehun talks in his sleep, along with Heechul. Apparently the two of them have conversations in their sleep, along the lines of "it's so cold~" and "yeah, baby gurrrrl" lmao. And Taehun also apparently sucks his lips while sleeping. Idk what this is supposed to mean, but yeah.
Some random trivia:
→ He really, really likes hoodies and sunglasses.
→ He's lost his parents :(
→ He writes lyrics as a form of stress relief.
→ Taehun's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Jung Heechul (정희철)
→ He was born on December 9, 1989
→ Blood type B, 177cm
The second rapper of the group! He also eerily resembles a Sungmin + Ryeowook lovechild, idek lmao. He also has this really distinct laughter that is absolutely precious :')
Heechul's got a sharp tongue, which is why he argues with Kwanghee a lot. In his own opinion, his personality is straightforward, and he doesn't like to mince his words. There was one particular interview where he mentions Kwanghee all the time - a bad habit he wants to get rid of is "not speaking to Kwanghee-hyung", something that annoys him is "when Kwanghee-hyung keeps irritating me", and what makes him the most nervous is "when Kwanghee-hyung throws a tantrum". Imo they have this love/hate relationship thing going on, which is kind of adorable.
Heechul used to be pretty self-conscious as well. Before their debut they had this gather-around-and-talk-session and he talked about how he felt that he was useless and stuff :( but he's been improving a lot! He's hilarious on variety shows, so I guess it helps with his self-confidence and stuff? He's pretty sharp, and if you watch Idol League, he always outsmarts everyone else :'D
Heechul's ideal type is Jessica from SNSD, which I guess everyone knows because he's been doing virtual confessions to her for more than 40 times already lmao. He's met her in real life before, of course, but he says that they've only exchanged polite greetings lol. He also likes girls who resemble a cat. Oh, he does get a bit embarrassed about it at times, especially since the other members jump at the chance to bring his ~crush~ up :3
Some random trivia:
→ He's apparently the only idol from Jeju Island, which is his hometown.
→ If you're a SM Town fan, you might be interested in watching Heechul from Super Junior talking to this Heechul about Jessica, lol.
→ Heechul's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Ha Minwoo (하민우)
→ He was born on September 6, 1990
→ Blood type B, 178cm
So Minwoo is a sweetheart. He's amazing to his fans (had the pleasure to experience it first-hand lmao, the boy would not stop waving and giving us hearts ;___;), cries easily, is generally a smiley and cheerful boy, but he's been named as one of the members with the worst tempers. I guess when he's nice he's very nice, but when he's pissed he's scary? :\ He's also mentioned that one of his bad habits is that he can't really control his emotions, so when he's in a bad mood, it just shows on his face, lol. According to him, he takes quite some time to open up to strangers as well.
Minwoo's the best dancer of the group! He took part in the same dance competition as 2PM's Wooyoung (who ended up winning it, lmao). Minwoo's mentioned before that he was quite upset at that time, but after that Junyoung did the whole calling-him-up-at-2AM thing lolll. Oh, and Minwoo was the one who choreographed their Level Up dance :3
He seems to be a pretty good hyung to the two other younger members, although he's complained before that nobody babies him even though he's the third youngest of the group, lmao :') He's also been named before as the crybaby of the group. Other than that, he also seems to quite playful around his members, occasionally playing pranks on them.
Some random trivia:
→ He's really amused by Kwanghee putting on make-up orz.
→ His ideal type is someone that he likes from first glance.
→ Minwoo's introduction video.
→ Minwoo's self-camera.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Park Hyungshik (박형식)
→ He was born on November 16, 1991
→ Blood type AB, 185cm (and growing)
Hyungshik's the second youngest of the group, but because he's the youngest at home and kind of a spoiled brat (+ he's worshipped by the girls in his school), he often seems more like the maknae. He's also easily tricked (especially by Heechul), although I think it's because he's naive, not stupid LOL. Dongjun's called him an idiot before lol :\
He has an older brother, so I suppose he's babied a lot at home. He's also a Seoul baby so he hasn't really experienced a ~harsh~ life, and in Empire Kids Returns when they had to pluck weeds in a farm, Hyungshik went on and on about how he's never done such menial labour before lmao. Which is probably why Hyungshik's called the prince of the group :)
Oh, and he amazingly looks exactly the same as the photographs of him when he was five :o Apart from the height. Netizens have laughingly accused him of having a cell disease because he's still shooting up, and he's really proud of it.
He eats a lot - apparently he orders like two or three meals when he's on a plane? It's seriously scary lol, and when he went to McDonald's with Kwanghee he ordered 2 Big Mac meals along with large cokes, a salad, and even wanted to get ice cream before his manager shot him a look LOL.
Hyungshik's the lead singer of the group along with Kevin (which I've mentioned lol), but he's considered the better singer by the vocal instructors for some reason, idk.
Some random trivia:
→ He doesn't wear anything when he comes out of the bathroom after bathing. Junyoung gripes about it here, and Hyungshik insists it's because he treats them like ~family~.
→ He's the second dirtiest member after Kwanghee, but more of the throws-everything-around sense. Minwoo once said that Hyungshik saved his life because of this, lol. Apparently Hyungshik left all his stuff in piles on the floor, and one night when Minwoo was sleeping on the upper bunk, he got a nightmare and actually rolled off the bed... and landed on Hyungshik's things. Which is why he didn't get sent to the hospital rofl.
→ Hyungshik's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
Kim Dongjun (김동준)
→ He was born on February 11, 1992
→ Blood type B, 175cm
The maknae of the group! He's apparently a ~strong Busan male~ though (unlike Hyungshik - one of them has mentioned before that they don't get along particularly well because of the huge difference in personalities), and he really enjoys working out. When they went to Singapore for a showcase, Dongjun headed for the gym the moment he reached the hotel lol! According to him, he's been working out for 3 or 4 years now.
He's very good in sports - he's gone on Dream Team before, and he was amazing in the Idol Athletics Championships as well. He also really likes to play soccer - he, Hyungshik and Minwoo were all in Idol United.
He seems to be pretty outgoing and playful as well, and he's mentioned that if he doesn't act that way for even one day, he'll feel all wrong. In his opinion, his ~charming point~ is that he can be both a strong man and a little boy who needs protection at the same time. ...Yeah.
In addition, he is incredibly, incredibly biased to his fans. In the sense that he'll totally ignore you if he knows you're a fan of the other members (believe me, he's done it to me before ;___; all he did was raise his eyebrow at me and turn to the girl next to me who was holding his signboard and started waving at her all enthusiastically. Ikr.), but he's really sweet to his fans. When they were boarding the bus to get to the airport, I saw him actually reach out to take a gift from one of his fans, which was a seriously sweet thing to do :')
Dongjun's also famous for looking like Han Ga-in. He's dressed up as her before, and apparently he was so gorgeous that Kevin couldn't stop snapping pictures of him until Dongjun got angry with him lmao. Also, if you haven't watched this, you totally should.
Dongjun's also the one in charge of waking the other members + the manager up. Which means he has to get up the earliest, poor boy, so you can't really blame him for kicking them in the morning :\
Some random trivia:
→ He's had a girlfriend before. Shockerrr. Junyoung then proceeded to rub this bit of information all over Siwan's face lmao, who insists he's never had one in his life.
→ He wishes he could be the leader, because he doesn't really like to be bossed around.
→ Dongjun's introduction video.
More pictures (click to enlarge):
ETCETERA
ENGLISH SUBBED VIDEOS
Chicken CF filming: I actually laughed watching them eat the chicken so happily. Siwan says he starved himself to death in order to look like he was having a blast while eating chicken lol. They admit to being on the news because of the amount of food they eat - they once spent $2000 on food, and that was because their CEO stopped them from eating more.
Let's Go Busan: First part is them taking a photoshoot on the way to Busan, second is them in their hotel suite and going shopping for food.
Quick Questions, Fast Answers: Accusing the other members.
2010 New Year Greetings: General adorableness all around. Epic Sikwang moment with Kwanghee trying to be all close to Siwan but Siwan flinching away.
Idol Maknae Rebellion: Only with Dongjun, Junyoung and Hyungshik iirc.
Idol League Episodes 1-4 download links: The posts are locked though, so you have to join the community before you can view them.
School of Rock: Really worth watching imo!
O4U: A really short thing in which they voice their complaints/disapprovals (i.e. Hyungshik not wearing underwear, Siwan spraying stuff around in the room, someone farting).
Idol League ZE:A Special: In which Minwoo is pranked and he cries :(
Empire Kids Returns Episode 1: The other episodes aren't subbed yet, so be patient!
Empiresubs' youtube channel: Subbing team! Some cuts of Empire Kids can also be found here :)
UNSUBBED VIDEOS
Sourseob's youtube channel, Sicachul's youtube channel: A lot of hilarious cuts of the boys.
Self camera in America: Junyoung wearing adorable pyjamas, a lot of flailing around, someone trying to film someone else in the toilet, Siwan drinking coffee before going to sleep.
Dancing to Bo Peep Bo Peep: Adorable, especially because they start to look like they're headbanging.
Genie + Abracadabra perf, Another Genie + Abracadabra perf
Oh + Bo Peep Bo Peep perf: Idk why Kwanghee is the only singing most of the time lol poor boy.
Sexy Back + The Way I Are perf, Abracadabra perf: Just because.
Love Coach performance: Imo, their most perfect performance of any song ever ;~;
Mazeltov performance
Level Up performance
OTHER STUFF
fuckyeahzea@tumblr
ze_a: Livejournal community
zea_fanfics, madtimeright: Fanfiction communities.
Empire Children: ZE:A's international forum.
So I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it :') finally...
WELCOME TO ZE:A FANDOM *\o/*