‘You’ll never know what's hindering you until you step out of your comfort zone...’ —————————————————— Call me ‘Jai’ ;) Instagram account: jai.graphics_
Reason: Really just me testing if the linear had a closer color to the fill. I found it very experimental. Don’t get me wrong it is kinda good but it’s just an experiment. Prob doin more of em.
2# (Cornelius Robinson with Lightnin powers lol)
Reason: I traced this from a traditional drawing and I found out with my DanTDM as Ironman drawin, It’s better to do it mixed than traced :/ So I’m about to just that :D
Even though Aizawa and Hwajin look similar, they are very different. Like, when I say Aizawa is a SUV person and Hwajin is a Harley Davidson person, it makes sense.
One of my biggest headcanons for Epic the Musical is this- even if they fought Scylla, even if they spared the cows, even if Odysseus chose to sacrifice his own life- his crew was never going to make it back to Ithaca.
Hear me out here, guys. In No Longer You, Tiresias has the option of telling Odysseus exactly what he needs to do to get home. He says as much with "There is a world where I help you get home, but that's not a world I know." Instead, he chooses to tell Odysseus what he needs to hear in order to embrace ruthlessness.
What would've happened if he simply told Ody to go to Scylla? Maybe they would've sailed past the Sirens, not fighting or interrogating them. They would've tried to fight Scylla, since peace-love-and-open-arms Odysseus wouldn't sacrifice anyone, and they'd all end up dead. Or, they survive Scylla and the Sirens come back to kill them, having followed the ship. OR, maybe, everything from Suffering to Mutiny plays out the same but when Zeus asks Ody to make a choice, he chooses himself. The crew keeps sailing but sadly, without Odysseus, they can't figure out how to pass Charybdis and are destroyed.
What I'm saying is, I think that by leading Odysseus to becoming the Monster, Tiresias was leading them to the best possible outcome. He told Odysseus what he needed to hear so that even one of them could make it home alive. The crew never had a chance.
Why 457 is actually valid af and not just a "joke" ship
I wanna start this by saying that I'm in no way, shape or form convinced 457 is canon nor I think there will be anything remotely romantic between the two of them in season 3. But people seem to think it's just a joke inside the fandom, while actually, their dynamic is pretty fucking valid and I want to analyze that in this post.
One of the most discussed things (if not the most) when it comes to this ship is the stares.
Some think this is the stare of love, others think In-ho just enjoys seeing him suffer. Well, let me tell you it is neither.
But before we delve into the way In-ho stares at Gi-hun, we first have to go back to talk about Hwang In-ho as a character.
As we know, Hwang In-ho is the Winner of the 2015 Squid Game. He went into the games so he could have the money to treat his sick, pregnant wife, much like Gi-hun who did the same for his sick mother. Both of them won the game, but both of them were too late to save the person they loved from a sad fate.
This lead to In-ho becoming the Frontman. We don't know exactly what happened in the timeframe between him winning and him becoming the Frontman, but we can safely assume that after loosing his wife, In-ho lost faith in humanity. The games have destroyed him, they turned him into the villain he is today.
And the thing is, when he looks at Gi-hun, he sees his past self in him. This was confirmed by both Lee Byung Hun (In-ho's actor) and the director of the show himself.
Or to be more precise, he sees his past self. He sees who he was before the games changed him. And this is what led to his fascination and obsession with Gi-hun, because here's the thing; the games traumatized Gi-hun, but they didn't break his faith and hope in humanity, like they did with In-ho himself.
And this is the thing that, in my view, both fascinates and deeply angers In-ho. Deep inside, subconsciously, he is thinking, "Why were YOU able to retain your hope in humanity? Why were you able to remain a good person when I couldn't?"
In-ho was genuine when he told Gi-hun he wished he'd try to be happy after winning (or to better say, surviving) the games. I find it especially interesting when he tells him "Just pretend it was all a dream."
In-ho wishes he could pretend it was all a dream, but he couldn't. Think about it: he's a billionaire, but he lives in a shitty, small apartment. He doesn't talk to his mother, he doesn't talk to his brother, he doesn't even go visit his wife at the cemetery. Pardon me for borrowing the phrase from The Hunger Games, but he's not living the life of a victor. whether it's because he feels guilty or something else, I guess we'll find out in the next season, but that's not the point. The point is, that In-ho wants Gi-hun to do what he wasn't able to do after he won. He wants him to be happy because he sees himself in Gi-hun.
This is the most important point in this post.
Now I wanna focus on these moments. During the second game, during mingle, and during the lights-out massacre, we see Gi-hun being absolutely destroyed over the players that were killed. He's undoubtedly blaming himself for it. And here we see In-ho staring at him, not with the look of love, not with joy at his suffering, but with sorrow. He's sad for Gi-hun, because he could have spared himself further suffering if he didn't stubbornly decide to go back into the games.
What In-ho is thinking right here, in my view, is; "See? There is no hope. There is nothing you can do. Stop torturing yourself, just give it up already. How much more pain do you have to go through before you give up? Accept you can do nothing and go on with your life. Try to be happy."
Now you might be asking, okay, but what does that have to do with romantic love?
Well let me tell you that these feelings I just described can easily and quickly turn into love.
Many philosophers over the centuries have come to the same conclusion; we see part of ourselves in the people we fall in love with.
"The Front Man believes that Gi-hun is wrong in his way of thinking, but perhaps, he reflects on himself through Gi-hun. He does want to destroy Gi-hun's belief. I felt that a small part of him, unknowingly, might be hoping for Gi-hun's thoughts to be right. And rooting for him in some way."
These words Lee Byung Hun said about In-ho, makes me think of Jacques Lacan's theory in particular (which is a rather complex topic and I will try to summarize as shortly and as simply as I can).
For Lacan, love, at least in the beginning, is essentially a form of narcissism. When we fall in love, we're also falling in love with ourselves. We see ourselves in the other person, but we also see in the other what we subconsciously think we are lacking in ourselves. Which doesn't mean the other person will fix us because, at least according to Lacan, this lack is something that can never actually be "fixed".
And I think that's exactly was is happening with In-ho. He sees in Gi-hun what he's lacking in himself. They were traumatized the same way, but reacted in two completely different manners. In-ho became cruel and disillusioned with humanity, while Gi-hun still believes in humanity and wants to save everyone.
I know that this way, 457 seems like a one-sided kind of love, but that's honestly my personal interpretation of the ship. I think Gi-hun could have fallen for Young-il, for the person In-ho was before the games, if they had more time. But the Frontman In-ho? The person he became after becoming the Frontman? There's no way.
Not all loves are meant to happen, not all lovers get to be lovers. Some are meant to just leave us wondering what could have been. Which is what makes transformative works so fun and interesting! From the canonverse toxic fics to the wholesome alternative universe flower shop fics, I think their dynamic is valid as fuck.
so, i'm working on a cross stitch that i'm making for my friends birthday, and as my chosen Background Noise show, I'm rewatching Squid Game, since i'm not too invested in it and i just finished the second season, so a rewatch would be fun.
now, i know that Gi-hun has changed and developed as a character a lot since the first season, after everything he saw and did of course he'd come out like a different person. however! just because it's obvious doesn't mean i can't appreciate a good parallel :D
in the first season, when they played red light, green light, Gi-hun was stopped by a man who was shot:
(excuse my low quality pics, i am in a constant fight with netflix). he seems to consider helping him for a minute or so, before ultimately deciding to focus on himself and leaves the man behind:
i'm not shaming him for that decision at all, i find it to be completely reasonable since Gi-hun hasn't even crossed the line himself and it's also his first game, so he's obviously panicked and doesn't want to like. you know. die.
in season two, he's put in the same position, an injured man near him begging for help. however, he had already crossed the finish line this time and would put himself in danger again by going back for the injured man, unlike season one where he was right in front of the man:
also unlike the first season, Gi-hun barely hesitated before running to the mans aid, determined the help him this time instead of leaving him behind:
we all knew he was a changed man, but i enjoyed how they used the same game and even put him in the same position to really drive home the impact these games had on him. i'm a sucker for parallels haha.
their dynamic is absolutely insane, like watching two halves of a broken mirror slowly shift toward each other, each reflecting something so raw, so !! unbearably !!! human !!!
they are opposites in the most obvious way: one, a cold-blooded killer who thrives on power, privilege, and pain (though they both come from a similar background); the other, a man haunted by his own humanity, stubbornly holding on to the last shred of his moral compass, believing in a better life, a greater future.
but it’s the tension between them that burns — the way they orbit each other, drawn together by something darker than either of them is willing to admit. and it drives me insane, insane I tell you.
Inho studies Gihun like a predator; he is disguised as an ally, draped in the mask of sympathy and empathy, but every moment spent with him … it’s like watching a snake move through tall grass, its every flicker of movement calculated, controlled and designed to ensnare, trap, conquer, destroy. he watches his every more, everything he does and he doesn’t do. it’s a real time dissection !! he watches Gihun's cracks, his weaknesses, his flickers of anger and despair. every subtle movement doesn’t escape him.
he needs to see that part of him, the part that’s been broken, the part that still hurts. and in a way, he’s intoxicated by it. it’s like he wants to drink from those wounds, to feel the sharp, stinging taste of anguish on his tongue, to experience that pulse of pain, just so he can savor it, dissect it, and make it his own.
he watches Gihun not because he’s merely intrigued, but because in his suffering, in his brokenness, there is beauty. a beauty that can only be savored when torn apart, shredded, dissected, bruised. and the more he watches, the more he feeds on that agony, the deeper he falls into the nightmare of this endless fucking twisted game.
Inho is too far gone. he’s lived through the games, seen how the system works, and he’s embraced it without shame. to him, the so called “blood money” he earned is a truth. he doesn’t hide from it. he doesn’t pretend it’s anything else. he has seen too many bodies pile up to think there’s any other way. Inho believes the only way forward is through destruction. he’s accepted the curse of the games. hell, he’s fucking embraced it ! the lives lost are nothing more than fuel for his ascent to power. people are pawns, and pawns don’t matter. it’s all part of the game.
Gihun, though… he’s not like Inho. he too has been brutalized by the games, crushed under the weight of the world’s cruelty, watching as the lives of those he loved dimmed. BUT! even so !! there’s this flicker of light in him — a really fucking stubborn and desperate hope to protect those who still live, to undo the wrongs. for all the pain he’s endured, he hasn’t completely surrendered to the darkness. he’s been pushed, stretched to the breaking point by the horrors he’s witnessed, by the blood shed that he can never wash away and still lingers even in his dreams … but there’s this part of him that still fights to hold on to the fragments of the man he used to be. he’s so stubbornly human.
and yet, it’s not the break that Inho is after imo — it’s the collapse. he doesn’t just want to see Gihun’s humanity crack; he wants to see him fold. he wants to make him question everything, even his need to protect others, even the value of his own moral code. to descend into madness, forsaking logic.
you can see him being fascinated when Gihun agrees to sacrifice people for the greater good. I swear, you can see Inho alive in that moment. I can’t explain it other than he’s feeding on him. he’s watching this man, so different from him, with scars that shine the same way, who once held onto some semblance of hope, succumb to the same darkness that devoured him.
he wants to see the man who refused to let the games destroy him finally fall into the same dark logic that built those games in the first place.
but here’s the thing — Gihun’s resistance, his refusal to just surrender to Inho's desires, drives him insane. Inho, for all his power, for all his twisted thrill at orchestrating this, isn’t immune to that same hunger. he sees Gihun as both a reflection and a challenge. it torments him. he wants to unravel him from the inside. the more he watches, the more he understands just how much it is tearing at him, how much he wants it.
there is a tenderness to it, a chilling, perverse tenderness, where one offers the illusion of safety while the other inches closer to the slaughter.
what drives me insane is that Gihun doesn’t know. he doesn’t know that the man he’s grown to trust, the one who’s quietly listened to his every confession, who has offered him that flicker of human connection in the desolate wasteland of the games, is the very demon he’s been chasing. the one that has orchestrated every nightmare he’s endured. and every time Gihun speaks of his mission, of his burning desire to kill the one who created this nightmare, to undo the games and get revenge Inho just listens intently, relishing in every moment of vulnerability. and it’s delicious. Gihun is literally unraveling before him, piece by piece, and Inho hasn’t even revealed the true extent of his power!
the betrayal scene is going to be so good. SO FUCKING GOOD. it’s when Gihun talks about revenge, when he plans to end the game, to kill the person behind it all, that Inho feels that twisted thrill in his chest. because what Gihun doesn’t realize is that all those plans, all those quiet declarations of death, have been heard and they’ve been absorbed, broken down, and processed. Inho already knows what Gihun is capable of, what he’s willing to do, and how far he’s willing to go to get his revenge. it doesn’t matter to Inho. it never has. he’s already five steps ahead. Inho has studied Gihun like a surgeon carving through flesh, patiently unraveling his soul, savoring each fragile thread of hope only to tighten the noose, knowing that the moment Gihun’s trust shatters, so too will his humanity.
-> and like … Gihun’s humanity is his greatest weakness. his desperate hope to protect, to save, to make things right when he couldn’t before (example: in season 1 when a dying man reached for him and he looked away, in season 2 he helped a dying man) that's what Inho sinks his teeth into, because he knows that in this world, hope is the ultimate poison, the biggest gamble. every moment Gihun spends clinging to the idea that he can save anyone, that he can stop the game — that he can stop The Frontman — it draws him closer to the truth that will eventually shatter him.
and imo — Inho watches him with a twisted admiration, because in that desperate struggle, he sees himself or rather, the version of him that could’ve been if he had not embraced the game so fully. and in that, their paths, though seemingly different, are always converging. they are the same in the most brutal way: two sides of a coin, both marked by the same blood, the same violence, the same emptiness, and in the end, they are not so different after all.
for all their differences, in the end — they are mirrors.
addition cause I saw this post and omg ?? it’s an intentional, almost possessive move. he’s not just playing along with their conversation; he’s LITERALLYYY replacing Jungbae with himself in Gihun’s mind, stepping into the role of someone who belongs in Gihun’s future.
Inho doesn’t just want power or control over the situation — he wants needs Gihun to need him, to see him as the one who’s always there, the one who understands him, the one who can stand beside him.
and to me, it feels like a possessive kind of longing that goes beyond mere rivalry or control. it’s ugh — just the way they orbit around each other, the way Inho needs Gihun to acknowledge him, to see him as more than just the “other guy that joined my team”.
and as much as Gi-hun is fighting to hold on to his humanity and the relationships that matter to him, Inho is just as desperately fighting to be the one that Gihun turns to in the end. it’s obsessive. it’s possessive. it’s dangerously romantic and I need them to fuck it out.
When in-ho is eavesdropping on gi-hun and jung-bae's conversation he hears jung-bae say "when we get out if here we should get soju like the old days" and then later when they're getting ready to rebel, in-ho makes a point of telling gi-hun "you can buy me soju when we get out of here" SO he heard these two best friends reminiscing about the time they used to spend together and took the next opportunity to insert HIMSELF into that scenario with gi-hun instead.
He was jealous af listening to that conversation and he is down bad for gi-hun and no one can tell me otherwise
I am getting through those amazing SMG4 suggestions!! In the meantime, here’s so Squid Game fanart I drew bc this line was the ONLY thing I could think about when watching this episode.
