#alien stage analysis

[bluemoonscape]

To me, this is the thesis of Alien Stage. For each duo and in more ways than one.

For Ivantill, Till might never have loved Ivan romantically, though we do have indications he may have. Either way, he didn’t love Ivan the same way Ivan loved Till. He didn’t obsess over Ivan the way Ivan did Till. He didn’t want to accept Ivan’s sacrifice the way Mizi accepted Sua’s sacrifice, but Ivan forced it on him. Till’s love was different from Ivan’s, but does that really matter? It was love, too.

Interestingly enough, Luka has both Hyuna and Hyunwoo’s hearts. Despite everything, Luka lived. Hyunwoo initiated the fight between them, and Luka reacted violently, which led to Hyunwoo’s death. Luka was shot at, and Hyuna took the bullet, killing her. Luka has lived in spite of everything because of their deaths. Hyuna loved Luka, but her sacrifice was one made partially out of revenge. Luka may have loved Hyunwoo when they were friends as kids, but he still killed him. He may have loved Hyuna, but he still hurt her. But it was love. Nonetheless, it was love.

And, of course, Mizisua. Mizi didn’t love Sua in a way that propelled her to sacrifice herself for Sua. Sua’s love was the kind that made it impossible for Sua to live without Mizi. If you recall their mental strengths, Sua’s is extremely low while Mizi’s is strong. Mizi knew Sua couldn’t handle if Mizi died. Mizi underestimated just how much Sua’s death would ruin her, but she was willing to bear it so Sua didn’t have to bear losing her. She might not have been willing to die for Sua, but she gave Sua a gift, too. She let Sua give Mizi her sacrifice. And that’s love. That was love.

Even Mizi’s monologue about Hyuna is riddled with the weight of this theme.

Mizi is bitter because Hyuna fought for so long for humanity—a wider concept than Mizi can perhaps even comprehend, having lived isolated and then in ANAKT her whole life. She fought for something that seemed to mean so much, and then she threw it all away for Luka, a man who Mizi seems to loathe and whom she thought Hyuna loathed too.

Mizi is angry because Hyuna’s love, Hyuna’s sense of justice, required sacrifice. For humans, and for Luka. Mizi’s lingering bitterness over Sua’s decision transfers to Hyuna, because why? Why does your love demand you to die for it for nothing?

But it wasn’t for nothing.

Because even though Sua sacrificed herself for Mizi, and Hyuna risked her life to save her and then died for Luka only ended in Mizi’s death by her own hand—Luka either dying and being replaced or continuing to be imprisoned by the aliens for entertainment—

Even if Hyuna’s love for humanity and belief in their freedom only led to children in museum displays rather than stages—

It mattered.

Mizi still destroyed the competition that ruined her and Sua. She still cemented Ivan’s sacrifice by saving Till.

Hyuna still got her justice. She stopped running. Even if Luka remains trapped, his life still means something.

They all loved each other and the world differently, but it was love too. And it’s never for nothing.

[marichild]

all that being said i do hope that people realize that the point of the comic isn't ivantill being requited— the point is that the comics have been about till hallucinating ivan, who is a source trauma for him as much as he was someone till cared about. it's about ivan who always hurt him first because he didn't know how to communicate that he cared properly and it became their norm; it's about how ivan was one of the constants that he had and knowing ivan cared and deeply so but also knowing that it was ivan who often hurt him and confused him and generally made things harder than he wanted them to be.

this is about till finally letting go of the rage and fury he's been using to run himself ragged, the fuel he needed to keep going, the sustenance he had, and realizing that ivan was just as terrified and hurt and abused. ivan, someone who picked on his wounds and annoyed him all the time and played the cards so that he'd be in favor of the aliens, something till resented because he tried so hard to lash out and rebel, was just a scared kid doing his best, too. it's about realizing that mizi is just like him, too.

they were all just fucking kids, man.

it's like— there's a reason that ivan disappears when till come to terms with his feelings and he comes back when till's falling apart again. ivan appeared to have it all together but in the end even the one who left him with scars was the one who suffered just like him. and i dislike that people are going "we're free!" over till letting go of his feelings for mizi— this isn't about shipping or ivantill.

it was never about that. it's about till realizing and understanding that mizi's just like him, too. it's about realizing that they're all kids and they all made do with the best they had and it wasn't enough.

[irlcinemakito]

re: mizi’s face

i recently spoke to someone who was wondering if mizi was wearing something on her face in zombie stage. they cited the weirdly perfect/specific heart shape as a reason why they thought it had to be a visor of some kind. i disagree with this for practical reasons—that absolutely is her face, you can see the rot around her mouth feeding into it—but the specific shape is definitely still odd. after thinking on it, my interpretation of it has turned out to be this:

making the rot where mizi’s eyes used to be heart-shaped is an extremely important symbolic design choice that does not need to make logical sense.

actual analysis of this choice below:

throughout the video, mizi’s eyes are more or less the only window into how she’s actually feeling, especially when she’s doing her idol work.

just like her agency was taken from her in life with all the fanservice she was made to do, it was also taken from her in death with the removal of her eyes, the only thing that showed her emotions for what they really were. the one thing that would have given a hint to her being unsatisfied is removed to further the image of “perfect idol mizi”, even when she’s a singing, dancing corpse.

this alone is pretty horrifying and that’s an understatement. but the character design choice to put a heart where mizi’s eyes used to be is just as important as the decision to remove them at all. it holds similar meaning.

i’m sure i don’t have to point out that hearts generally equate to love, especially in a nearly entirely visual piece of media. the placement of the heart over the eyes, though, takes mizi’s agency away from her yet another time. the expressions “heart eyes” and “look of love” are relevant here. figuratively, when she still has her eyes, we see mizi give this to sua.

in the second photo, if you look quickly or from a distance, it even looks like the highlights in her eyes are heart-shaped. this is mizi looking at someone she genuinely loves, with figurative “heart eyes” that portray her truest emotions, just as they do in the rest of the video.

then mizi is bitten and infected. her eyes are removed and auctioned off. and where they used to be, she’s left with…

…literal heart eyes. and this time, when she’s barely even mizi anymore, she doesn’t get to give them to sua like she would have chosen to. no, whoever’s behind zombie stage chooses who she directs them to now.

so, who’s getting the “look of love” from mizi as she is currently?

the group of people she was sexualized and sold to, the group of people for whom she’s been exploited at every turn in both life and death, the group of people we know she hates doing this for more than anything—her adoring fans.

being marketed to this exact kind of audience forced all of mizi’s control over her life away from her, ruined her mental state, and even ended up destroying her relationship with sua by extension. and now, she’s a zombie being made to sing and dance for them forever, and to look at them with the same “heart eyes” that were only meant to be for sua. this kind of marketing works best when the fans can develop a parasocial relationship with the idol, after all, believing that they love you just as much as you love them. putting a heart where mizi’s eyes once were forces her back into the same position she was in in life, performing for men and playing to their preferences. only this time, there’s no way for her true feelings to peek through anymore. all that’s left is—

—that “look of love”.

now, this could all still be true and valid analysis even if that heart shape were a visor or covering of some sort. but i personally believe the point about mizi’s agency being taken from her becomes much weaker if the shape is a removable object. it’s important that this is her true face (haha. get it?) and not a visor because this is no longer the mizi we know. we can see it in her unresponsiveness to sua, how she barely knows she’s performing with someone else at all, how her focus is singlemindedly on giving her loyal and loving audience the performance they deserve. that’s common knowledge at this point, sure, but if this shape is a visor, it undercuts the severity of that. our mizi would never look at this audience that way, not when they’re getting enjoyment out of her exploitation, out of sua’s exploitation. if that heart is something she (or anyone, really) can just take off, it creates an implication that she can go back to being our mizi. that she can stop looking at the audience that way, that she can stop being “perfect idol mizi”.

and she can’t. she couldn’t in life, she can’t in death.

making the heart removable in any way gives mizi some of her agency back. and we can’t have that. not when perfect idol mizi sells so well and makes the audience so happy! she can’t go back.

the fans are waiting, after all.

[cloverandstuff]

Allow me to psychoanalyse this drawing-

I think this drawing was made by Luka. Mainly, due to the fact that Hyuna is the one drawn with the most detail. I think it's also fairly obvious with how it's drawn, that it was made by Luka when he became friends with the siblings.

That leads me to my next point; Luka did not dislike Hyunwoo. I'd even go as far as to say he regarded him in a positive manner. He is the only other person here besides Hyuna who is not blonde.

Now, why is everyone else blonde? I think it's because Luka was imagining a life with his clones and the siblings, in Anakt Garden.

He looks horrified in this scene. It doesn't seem like he took joy or even feels numb here. He looks to be in genuine shock over what happened.

The body don't have a single stab wound either. None that we can see. All we see is the cases they're in shattered. Like they were released and they weren't able to survive.

Here, he's just looking at them. No attempt to get closer, nor to destroy them. He just looks on.

The drawing makes me think that Luka was seeking out other people. He was, in every way, a lonely child. He wanted a sense of belonging. He wanted him and his clones, and Hyuna and Hyunwoo to all just...live happily in Anakt Garden.

And with the few frames we get of this incident throughout, it does seem like Hyunwoo was the one to throw the first punch. Luka never initiated a fight, he always just annoyed Hyunwoo who would respind angrily. It didn't make sense why he would just randomly kill Hyunwoo.

With this, it makes more sense. Luka killed Hyunwoo through an accident. It was a fight gone too far. He does not feel remorse, but it doesn't seem like he actively wanted to kill him.

If this is truly the case, then while Hyuna is right to hate him because he does not feel conscious regret over this, her speech at the at also makes sense. Because she knows he truly is just...clueless.

Luka has never truly allowed himself to mourn loss, or regret actions. He was constantly chasing a high, which he got from Hyuna. He loved her, he truly did. But it was initially borne out of her giving him a sense of belonging.

He loved her because she gave him what he was seeking out from his clones; to erase the loneliness he felt.

Luka is clueless about his own emotions. Him and Ivan are alike in that sense. They both are unable to properly understand their feelings. But while Ivan allows his love to be a silent protector, Luka is much more childish and desperate.

Luka, in every way possible, is just a lonely child.

[mikhardwheat]

People really like to talk about how Luka is one of the most docile competitors when it comes to obliging the aliens: he is the fan favorite, behaves well during interviews, and diligently fulfills his role of an entertainer. However, during the rounds we barely see his childhood/past.

In Wiege, we finally get some answers regarding how he was born and raised. This scene, in particular:

It's obvious that Luka broke into this place without permission, given that he's holding something that he's likely used to rip the capsules with naked bodies inside. His left hand is on the switch, and the scene ends with aliens reaching out to him.

This is the first instance of Luka's rebellion that we get to witness.

His body is frail, there are many frames of him being connected to the monitoring devices. It paints a picture of him being highly dependent on the support that his owner provides. One might think this is why he wouldn't dare to against the rules.

Which is why I find the second frame so interesting.

His room is covered in posters of a known "human terrorist", and he kisses Hyuna's image in front of the cameras. He isn't afraid of getting punished for it, and that makes me wonder if the owner knowingly indulged him in this one obsession, under assumption that it'll keep Luka compliant.

This scene takes place later, and he's visibly less shaken up by what's in front of him. People in the first one didn't have the incisions, so it's likely that they were tossed away before the aliens could start the surgical procedures. We later see similar scars on Luka's body.

[pancake-perry2]

I feel like Till's low self-esteem isn't talked about enough.

Sure, he may seem bold on stage. And his defiance towards those who challenge him is one of his most unique traits. But determination and aggression do not equate to confidence.

In fact, he's pretty submissive around those that aren't actively trying to annoy or hurt him. He apologizes for accidentally bumping into Acorn and is quite shy around people. This leads me to believe that his aggression is more of a defense mechanism than it is real confidence.

Behind the tough exterior he uses to protect himself is an emotional mess.

This official comic is what really inspired me to make this post. It's titled TILL Behind. I personally interpret it as a sort of behind the scenes into Till as a character and artist.

In the comic, he struggles to correctly sing the lyrics of Unknown (Till The End...). He becomes frustrated and appears to break down in tears, saying that he's garbage. I found this rare moment of vulnerability very interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing him praise himself or his work either. I think he's a lot more emotionally unwell than he let's on.

So...where do these feelings of inadequacy originate from? Well, let's take a look at how he's been treated throughout his life.

From a very young age, Till has been handled like an especially bitey dog. The stickers on the glass of his adoption cell in this image are extremely dehumanizing. The discount sticker is essentially saying that he is even less than what humans already are to the aliens. To the aliens, he is nothing but a hassle.

To be viewed so negatively for simply being human and defending yourself must have been incredibly damaging. Even more so because he was still a developing child.

And then he was entered into a competition where if you weren't good enough, you would be killed. I'm sure that didn't help.

This is stated quite bluntly by Urak himself in the Guardian Interview. Urak literally says that if Till weren't as talented as he was, he would be dead. Till does not matter to them outside of his musical talent.

The way you are viewed by others often affects your own perception of yourself. No matter if they are people you despise. I definitely believe that this is an important aspect of his character that should be discussed more.

[un-till-the-end-a]

Oh wait oh fuck he's hallucinating Ivan being the one scratching him, not himself

There's a lump under his shirt.

And then the hands snake up from his collar.

The sleeve of the hand appears to be white.

There are four hands. Till is trying to pull off Ivan's.

But of course, he's the one doing it to himself.

[wlwhyuluka]

despite being so loved in the alnst fandom, a lot of till’s suffering and self loathing goes ignored, while i have trouble understanding why.

even though he canonically seems to think lowly of himself and is shy, ive seen a lot of people see him as a cocky guy who gets angry a lot and bullies others, which does.. not make sense at all, considering that he is LITERALLY called timid when it comes to stats.

i also dislike the misconception that till was mainly at fault for how the ivantill dynamic ended up so hurt and messed up. ivan was the one who, from till’s perspective, was always teasing him, and also takes his stuff and crushes the gifts that he gives to him. and till didn’t even hate ivan either (which is something that we all know). both of their clouded judgement affected the relationship.

im making this post to say that i feel like its sad to see how much till’s trauma and his mental state is brushed aside unless shoved in the face of the audience. ivan will show up ONCE in an official art and people will make an angst fest, but till will be shown self harming himself and it gets shrugged off.

i love ivan, i do, but i really do think that till being a reactive abuse victim to his abuse isn’t a reason to ignore how sensitive he is and how much he suffered. someone being able to stand up for themselves doesn’t mean their hurting doesn’t matter to them.

(i hope this posts makes sense, ivan is my fav alongside mizi and i get that he suffers so much as well but i just wanted to get this rant off my chest)