Okay, so, I did a rewatch of The Eclipse yesterday and while there are so many things that drive me absolutely insane about this show, the thing that got me the most while I was rewatching was the symbolism involving the Suppalo pin. Putting it under a keep reading because this got long.
The first time the pin is brought up is in episode one, when Ayan grabs the pin off of Akk's lapel and when Akk asks what he's doing, he says "Your pin tilts." Ayan tries to fix it, then Akk stops him and walks away with the pin in his hand.
It's important to note that this happens IMMEDIATELY after their conversation about The World Remembers gang and if they should be following the rules or not. One of the lines that stands out the most to me from that conversation is "Why don't you think everyone has their brain and can think for themselves?" because at this point, Akk DOESN'T think for himself. He's brainwashed by Chadok and does everything in order to uphold the rules and be the perfect head prefect. Until, of course, Ayan comes in.
Ayan comes in suddenly, without preamble, without asking, and tilts Akk's world on it's axis. He disrupts things, makes Akk questions things he never thought to question before. It's why I think the wording of the line "Your pin tilts" is incredibly important as well, because Aye could have simply told Akk that his pin was crooked, he could have let him fix it on his own. Instead, he first says nothing, tries to fix it himself, and then tells Akk that his pin is tilted.
The pin being tilted can easily be seen as an indicator of Ayan's disruption in Akk's life, and while yes, that is one way to look at it, it also means the exact opposite. Akk's life was already tilted. It was skewed, his view of the world was wrong, and he was ready to do terrible things in order to keep others in line. And it isn't until Ayan comes into his life and starts questioning him and pointing out the flaws in his logic that he realizes something is wrong.
But it's not like he accepts it right away! He's resistant to change, he's terrified of what it could mean, of how it could effect him, and so despite Aye's efforts to help him - to fix his pin - Akk doesn't let him. But Akk also doesn't fix it right away, either. He goes back to his dorm with an incomplete uniform.
Ayan's words and his actions stick with Akk, he can't get them out of his head. But that doesn't stop him from fixing the pin himself - putting things back where they should be, and then needing to put the suit away entirely because he still can't stop thinking about it. As resistant as he is to change, Ayan's words have already started sticking.
The pin isn't brought up again until episode eleven, when we get the scene where Ayan puts Akk's pin on for him, and in this scene, Aye explicitly states what the pin is representing: "Now your pin has it's own story created by me... It's my school pin I pinned for you, the person I love."
The pin, in this scene, represents Ayan's love for Akk and the fact that he's always there for him. Later on, when Akk is up there reciting words he no longer believes, he looks out and see Ayan and knows that he's on his side, touches the pin to feel it as a reminder. It also, in that way, represents that Akk has changed. He's finally let Aye put the pin on for him - he's let Ayan fix his tilted pin.
The show also makes sure you remember the metaphor it was originally used as because in the same episode, they have Akk and Ayan recreate that first scene for Wat's film! It really drives home the way the meaning of the pin both stayed the same, yet also changed over the course of the show.
And then, finally, we have the scene in episode twelve, where they each put the pin on for each other. And again, Aye gives an explicit meaning by saying "It's like we're exchanging wedding rings." Which, yes, it is! They're doing this because of what Aye did for Akk the day he got the Best Boy award. So that they always have that symbol of the other one on them, that they have a physical representation of their love and the fact that they always have someone that's there for them.
But, on another level, it also shows that just as Aye changed Akk, Akk also changed Aye. It wasn't as loud or earth-shattering, but Akk changed something in Ayan, too. Akk surprised Aye, taught him that not everyone is as they seem, and he also taught him about privilege. And then, it also shows Akk finally being able to verbalize what he feels for Aye, to finally be able to tell him that he loves him.
TLDR: The Suppalo pin symbolizes the way Akk and Ayan changed each other and I'm insane about it.
