feeling kind of sick over the fact that till might've been trying to gift a flower crown to ivan (like all the other kids seem to be doing) and ivan destroyed it because he knew they were cameras. blatant and almost unavoidable miscommunication is the basis of their relationship and this really hammers the nail in.
till giving ivan the flower crown as a sign of affection or friendship, ivan destroying it because he doesn't recognize what it means & is squarely focused on making sure they're not monitored, till being visibily very hurt by it (he looks more hurt/betrayed than angry imo) and retaliating with his usual way of self defense, violence. ivan enjoying till's full attention/physicality during the fight and aiming to get as much as possible because he can't even fathom till wanting him in any other way, even though he was just shown proof otherwise.
mizisua have large, matching hearts with the whites of the heart being large as well.
hyuna and ivan both have smaller hearts, but the white in hyuna’s is properly shaped like a heart and it corresponds to the sizing of mizi & sua’s. on the other hand, ivan doesn’t have a white heart at all, but a small white dot.
luka and till don’t have heart eyes at all, which is soo interesting.
also just wanted to point out ivan and luka literally guarding themselves from the heart arrows, ivan seemingly unsuccessfully (since the arrow points towards him unlike luka). imo it’s almost certainly something to do with their emotional unavailability & attempts to tamp down their feelings. (till, on the other hand, seems to only clutch his heart after he was already affected. he feels his emotions fully but still tries to repress them)
in this post (elaborated greatly by geo's tags as well) i mentioned a big sua/till parallel i noticed (but didn't go into much detail because i didn't want to derail the post lol), and i wanted to go into more detail on that and the overall reality vs fantasy theme alnst has going.
sua & till both use their love for mizi as a form of escapism. sua's love for mizi and the weight of her knowledge of their universe causes her to create a safe (fake) bubble for her and mizi to exist in & makes it as perfect as it can be before they're out of time. till uses his love & admiration for mizi as a beacon of hope, as motivation to go on despite how horribly he's treated in day to day life. mizi is the brightness in both of their dull lives.
this view of mizi as a hopeful, optimistic sort-of deity sheds light onto an entire theme of alien stage, escapism vs reality. it also shows that mizi & ivan, in this specific instance, are antitheses of each other.
mizi, as a character, symbolizes hope and escapism. she is the only character out of the main four that didn't understand the exact conditions of their world due to how she was raised. she does not fully grasp how horrifying the alnst universe is until she watches sua die, which is the inciting incident for the entire series. escapism isn't possible anymore, but hope is still there when she gets rescued by hyuna and joins the rebellion.
ivan, on the other hand, literally symbolizes truth and the reality of their world. since he was born he understood the cruelty the segyein are capable of and knows exactly where he stands in the world. he is seen to be fatalistic and even nihilistic. his death, which he sees as an inevitability, is the second inciting incident (the one where everything goes to shit chaos afterward). it is a brutal reminder of the truth of alien stage to both the characters and the audience.
sua & till actively seek out mizi as solace in their pain, and they both actively avoid ivan (in their own ways) and the connections he has to reality.
sua avoids ivan because, well, he's mean to her, but mostly because he's not even trying to be mean, he's just objectively right and she doesn't want to hear it. he is a reminder not only of the cruel world they live in but her own 'twistedness'. he reminds her that she is not solely the fantasy she's created with mizi, but someone with unavoidable knowledge of the inevitable (as well as someone who is willfully keeping this information from an unknowing mizi).
till avoids confronting his feelings for ivan and confronting ivan in general because ivan confuses him. his feelings for ivan aren't cut and dry in the way his feelings for mizi are, because ivan is and always will be tied to pain and suffering for till (their first meeting in the auction shop, their miscommunication/strange relationship, the fact that ivan is the only one who sees him at his most vulnerable, etc). ivan's death forces him to confront these feelings (for ivan & about their world in general) but even then he's repressing them until he physically can't anymore.
mizi is escapism & hope, literally realized because she escapes. ivan is reality & a representation of the fate of alnst contestants, literally realized through his death.
it doesn't end there, though. sua & till are escapists running from reality (with diverging paths that are both narratively important in their own ways), while mizi represents escapism & ivan represents reality. along similar lines, but going a step further, hyuna & luka showcase these exact themes.
hyuna is the legitimate showcase of hope, of freedom. she is a free human (as free as you can get in the alnst universe) and the leader of a human rebellion focused on uprising as a race against the segyein.
luka is the perfect example of compliance within reality. he is now a two time alien stage champion and the definition of a pet, no matter how he actually feels.
hyuna & luka are similar to, but a step beyond, mizi & ivan. mizi symbolizes escapism, but she is faced with reality and must grapple it, while hyuna is freedom personified (albeit with demons of her own). ivan symbolizes reality, but he still yearns for something he thinks he'll never have, while luka completely shuts off those emotions because he knows they will only jeopardize his chances of survival.
the characters of alien stage perfectly embody one of the core themes of alien stage, the discrepancy between fantasy and truth, and the way those can coincide in a world.
there's something to be said about how till equates his relationship with ivan to mizi's with sua, and equates their grief, saying they share the same pain.
he says this having grown up observing mizi & sua's relationship, having been told by mizi that sua is the one she loves most in the world.
i am genuinely never getting over the fact that till stopped singing in r6. i feel like it's not talked about enough that till threw the round and intended for ivan to win.
no matter how you swing it, whether you think it's fully out of grief for mizi (which. is a lil farfetched to me considering how he fought in r7) or was an idea he had before the round (as as all-in seems to foreshadow), whether you think ivan was the reason or not, till was going to sacrifice himself and thought ivan would continue on.
ivan’s fondness for sua despite knowing she doesn’t care for him is just so,, god. it really shows how much feeling alienated/different and inhuman weighs on him. he’s literally just a kid who wants to know that he’s not alone.
till is someone so opposite him that it intrigues him, and he loves him from afar and accepts that he’ll never be the same for till no matter how much he longs for it. but sua is someone who is so similar to him he can’t help but care for her more than his surface level friendships because she gets it- even though sua feels threatened by ivan and doesn’t want to be associated with him.
just the fact that she has a ‘twisted’ aspect to her personality makes him feel a kind of kinship with her. because he lacks empathy he can’t relate as well to his peers, but when it comes to sua he doesn’t need empathy to understand her because he logically understands how her mind works. because it’s similar to his own. and that fact alone brings him a rare comfort and familiarity (that he desperately needs, might i add. sua has mizi to share joy and life with- ivan doesn’t share with till as much as they have a weird unspoken give and take).
i love seeing people talk more openly about viewing ivantill as potentially mutual/reciprocated because iii fully agree. honestly it just makes sense to me as a solid yet gut wrenching narrative choice to make. vivinos wanted to make sure there was enough of a contrast between mizisua and ivantill’s relationships, and i think that would parallel them quite nicely.
both couples plagued with miscommunication that ended up being their downfall. mizisua being openly loving together whilst sua purposefully keeps mizi ignorant of the truth, and ivantill lacking any and all communication to the point where they exist completely separated despite their innate closeness.
the truth only coming out in the aftermath of the events of alien stage. mizi finding out the truth that sua hid from her once she dies, and perhaps starting to resent her in a way for lying while still loving her. till only fully realizing the depth of ivan’s feelings for him when he dies, and perhaps starting to come to terms with the love he has for ivan whilst in part hating him for sacrificing himself.
‘hatred is easier than a word as vague as love.’
there’s a reason the quote from the official merch applies equally to both mizisua and ivantill. their situations are twisted and tragic, and love and hate exist simultaneously in both of their relationships.
when it comes to ivan mischaracterization, i will neither stand for ivan demonization or ivan woobification.
yes, he's manipulative, cares little for most other people, has an entire fake persona that he operates under, and does whatever he can to get his needs met. and yes, he had to teach himself how to live in a way that would guarantee his survival, is overflowing with unshown love & cares deeply for those he feels a genuine kinship with, and believes he is horrible to the point of not being human despite just being a traumatized kid.
but underneath it all, he really is just a child who's greatest desire is to feel emotions because it doesn't come naturally to him. and i think that's beautiful.
