#and having him just shapeshift them sometimes feels cheap especially when I dont want him to fly with them anyway

[bunnieswithknives]

Creepy old guy

[unlimitedhorsepower]

lol sure, thanks for asking @ensom-lillebror.

though the more i think about it the less special it is. while drawing this i realized his jacket is a really typical japanese souvenir jacket, shiny fabric and everything. i referenced some 80s souvenir jackets for changing it a little, wanted it to look kind of cheap but he loves it anyway.

underneath he is wearing a gundam logo t-shirt, which is his idea of a tasteful anime reference.

he also wears loose parachute pants, and the original fit of these was originally quite tight but i wanted to reference his looser pants and the later looser fit. parachute pants were very in style with young guys for a moment and he is really trying to be a little stylish but hes kinda late to the party, and maybe the pants are a bit loose on him because theyre a little ill-fitting, hence the belt.

the material is quite thin so its easy to tuck into socks for some extra security, like, thats how you make your pants tick-proof. its a reference to camping/outdoorsy activities and i think a reference to him also being somewhat practical, same with the sturdy boots.

he also has a couple of sentai and general japan-related pins on his jacket, which he considers a tasteful reference. i was thinking its in line with his "please notice me but dont notice me" dilemma, where he kinda hopes someone will ask him about his merch but not actually. he would like to talk about his interests but would also like to explode if someone actually asked him

last but not least, i gave him more of a mullet, classic 80s moment. its my headcanon that he can effortlessly change the cut and colour of his hair, and he probably is naturally dark-haired, but shapeshifts it into blonde to appear a a bit "cooler". i think sometimes he goes a bit daring and makes his hair appear dyed at the tips and sometimes when hes anxious his hair gets just a tiny bit longer and shadows his eyes better so he doesnt have to see.

i also adjusted his design otherwise a bit, i wanted to make him look younger than he is, which ties into his feelings of cringe around himself and how he hates himself a little bit and has anxiety and fares better when he pretends to be someone else

ryan goes "haha i thought you were 15 lmfao i was really surprised youre older than princess is. its crazy dude" and ivans entire year is ruined

ivans japan obsession is also just a weeaboo joke as far as i know but weeaboos werent yet a real thing in the 80s so he would just self-describe as an otaku...

i also thought it would be interesting if there was some other reason than just a joke for this, so i imagined him to have north asian indigenous heritage.

he is also embarrassed of his heritage and parents and especially of being a "rural" kid (i think he moved to sternbild for school. if i was ivan and my family was near i would live with them instead of alone in a funny NEET cave. bc every time i remember seeing his living quarters theyve been 100% japan-themed), because as far as he knows its not cool, whereas japan IS cool, his favourite media is from japan, so hes kind of substituting japan for his heritage. its safe and "cool" and he doesnt have to actually divulge anything real about himself. even if he kind of wishes someone would ask. but he would also die before he talked about any of it.

we dont see anything about his family in canon as far as i know besides them telling him like "ivan dont show off your power to random people it can be scary.stay safe", so source: i made it up. mightve forgotten some ivan canon lore on the side but i hope not

much to ponder about ivans i want to be noticed/ i hope nobody ever notices me ever brain worms and issues over his sense of self

another of my more 80s redesigns. had so much trouble before i remembered his camping backstory. japan merch included of course