#human unsha

[shakingparadigm]

boy do you see that pathetic little shit over there boy that's the son of the enemy boy I need you to go over there and beat the shit out of him boy

[nottoonedin]

Okay it might be just me but does Unsha kind of sound like a disappointed father figure in the interview? Like he sounds almost fond of Ivan?

Like?? He doesn't even pick out Ivan because of his talent, he focused on how different and extraordinary his eyes looked? Could just be because he wanted to impress his wife but you'd want an entertaining pet no? (Also side note Ivan being a Valentine's Day present..)

He was only disappointed? If it were Urak or Herperu who had their pets give up on stage I'd say they'd be pissed. Reminds me of the phrase commonly used by parental figures: "I'm not mad. Just disappointed." Calling Ivan an "ambitious kid" comes off almost endearing?

Something something parents learning from their children. A mentor learning from their student. Or something.

Do you guys think. He's moving on from human pets because. Because he knows there will never be another one like Ivan. Like Ivan is special (to him) in a way?

Then again, you can also take the interview as Unsha talking about Ivan like a business partner. Because that's how they viewed their relationship. But it'd be kind of unheard of having a pet human as an (almost) equal?

(Let me be delusional okay Ivan Unsha father-son relationship PLEASE-)

Edit: Should probably add that I'm not saying Unsha is a GOOD father figure. He reminds me more of a neglectful father. Probably not as abusive as Urak and Heperu, but he definitely pushed Ivan and had high expectations for him (I don't think Ivan would willingly have that daily schedule if it weren't for Unsha's gain).

[thesnowtiger]

"In the dark world, Urak and Unsha are almost the most major mountain ranges, and their areas of activities overlap, so they are known as rivals. Unsha always wants to be the number one, so he interferes with Urak's business, and his appearance on Alnst was also a type that looks down on Urak's business."

~ Isn't it ironic, even funny, that Ivan, Unsha's pet human, developed very deep attraction towards Till, Urak's pet human? ~

source: Alien Stage Official Art book

[crustyfloor]

If I described Ivan's situation with his 'family' to a stranger, leaving out the fact that he's human I bet they would think he was the family dog or something 😭

[atrophiedemotion]

The interviews got me curios about Unsha's wife now. I wonder if she was fond of Ivan and if she was sad when he died. She probably was since he was speficially given to her but I wonder if she cared about him as his own being and not just because he was hers. Maybe when his adoption day comes around we can get a comic about Ivan being given to Unsha's wife?

ahh hello, thank you for the ask!! im sorry this took so long but rest assured i have been Thinking about this (i wrote little notes for my response while at work pondering over it lmao)

i think a gifting comic would be very interesting! the way unsha talks about picking ivan out as a gift definitely feels like unsha was thinking more about what their wife would like than anything else. it feels like, from that, that she probably was fond of ivan- but probably more like. a very pretty fish you have in your fish tank, if that makes sense. someone else pointed out that it's likely she was the alien with the flowers in the background of the frame in black sorrow where child ivan has a singing trophy, and i really like that theory. if it is her, it'd show that she does admire him and his abilities.

some of the segyein seem to see humans in a very similar way to the pets we as people have but with even less understanding of them. i think it'd make sense for unsha's wife to 'adore' ivan in the way someone would somewhat shallowly love a pampered poodle? id love to believe she cared about him as his own being but i honestly just don't think most aliens have that capacity simply because of how different they are biologically. (not to mention the fact that ivan was certainly never himself around any of the aliens. hard to deeply care about a fabrication, even if you're not aware of it- but that's another topic regarding ivan's relationship with unsha that ive been thinking about)

[sparkysxi]

do you guys think that unsha is in his divorce era after ivan died?

[f-abulas]

:nowhere:

”oh sweet Nihility, drown me so I feel nothing”

Ivan …the soulful jazz singer. A student of Penecony’s university, who sings sweet and painful serenades to earn money to pay the bills…No one knows why he’s so mesmerizing, or why his voice holds a sway to make someone feel his emotions…yes that’s what he does. He’s just a simple…human.

No one sees the scars he hides on his back, his ears… or the broken circlet now gone. He doesn’t speak of what he was before his ‘keeper’ took him in.

halovian. lost everything.

only that man Unsha and his wife want him. Right?

he has nowhere to go. Who can save him from his spiked cage? Does he want to be saved?

yes.

but most of all he wants love… love.

[alien-til-i-stage]

HIS EYES??? ARE YOU FUCKINF KIDDING ME??? LIKE THE EYES??? HIS BLACK AND DARK EYES WITH THE RED IN THEM??? THE EYES THAT PRACTICALLY HELD THE ALNST FNADOM IN A CHOKEHOLD??? even unsha was capitvatwd by them

unsha: yes good humans, quality humans, i wonder which on- that one

person selling: uh any reason?

unsha: his eyes….

[maodear]

Yapping about the contestants Guardian’s!

TW: Abuse,drugs,SA and etc.

So not many people talk about the Guardian’s in alien stage. I will be making opinions on each, but I will probably write more about the guardians when my art-book comes. Which would have all the lore I need.

Shine 🩷 (Mizi’s guardian

As we all should know, Shine is the most friendliest and definitely the most sweetest Gurdian. She loves humans and has curiosity to them. Mizi and Shien definitely had the most closest thing to a Mother and Daughter relationship out of everyone else.

Shine wanted nothing but good for Mizi, which is probably why she wanted her to be in Anakt Garden. Mizi had talent for singing and dancing. I am sure that if Shine knew that Mizi would have to suffer and go through pain. She would have not done it at all.

During round 5, Shine was watching. And you can tell how she felt looking at Mizi. She looks so sad :((

In all of Mizi’s birthday art or official art with Shine. She looked so happy in each one, always smiling or having fun. Shine loves Mizi like a normal person would love there pet. It seems messed up but Aliens see humans as Pets. But Shine still loves Mizi as her

Urak 🖕 ((Tills guardian

Urak is the Segyein of Till. And I will say he sucks the most. He treats Till horribly, in all ways. Mentally and physically. Urak has had other of his pets compete in Alien stage, but he says that Till is different from all of them because of his personality. He goes on saying that He only kept Till alive because of his Musical Talent he has. Urak believes that a Gurdian should learn right away what their pet’s strengths are to see if they are worthy.

In round 6 flashback Urak is forcing Till to sing “Oh my clematis” which Till refused to, which Urak throws a bottle at him, pinned him to a table. And when Till does break free, He attacked another segyein. Urak then once again assisted in restraining him. It’s said that Till was also SA in that flashback.

When Urak was asked about round 6 in an interview, Urak says that the only thing that matters is winning. It doesn’t matter how, if he wins it all worked. He also does expressed that it’s possible for Till to beat Luka, given how much Urak invested in him. (Which ages perfectly))

As much as I hate to admit. Even if Till is alive or not. I’m glad he lost because Urak has set another of his pets for Failure. And I hope he knows that, no matter how much he abuses, drugs or whatever shit he does. It won’t work because he will always set them in failure. Over and over again and it’s his fault.

Apparently Unsha and Urak have romance..??

Unsha🐁 ((Ivan’s guardian

Unsha is the Segyein of Ivan. Unsha isn’t physically abusive to Ivan but definitely is mentally. He has horrible has Urak since both Mentally and Physically hurt as much.

Unsha bought Ivan for his wife since it was her birthday. Ivan was choose because of his eyes which he found intriguing. Unsha also does mention that he had just begun to venture into the pet human entertainment business, so the timing was perfect for him. Which makes me believe that Ivan was Unsha’s first Pet.

If I’m correct In an interview, Ivan claims that Unsha is well known and him and Urak had nothing more then a business relationship. Saying they weren’t close in any way. Nothing more nothing less.

When asked for his thoughts on Ivan's impulsive actions during Round 6, Unsha replied saying he was disappointed that Ivan essentially forfeited the round, and he thought Ivan had a lot of potential even before Alien stage. He also admitted to being curious about what Ivan was thinking during around 6.

He closes the interview by saying he felt like he learned a lot being with Ivan, and it was worth the loss. He lastly that he doesn’t intend to participate in Alien stage again anytime soon.

Phan💀(Hyunas and Hyun-woo Gurdian

Phan is the Gurdian Segyein of Hyuna and Hyun-woo. Not much is shown or known of her since she was never brought up.

I did find that Heperu has an interesting to her similar to how Luka is obsessed with Hyuna.

((Not my picture! I don’t own the Art-book yet!)

Heperu🖕🖕🖕 (Lukas Gurdian

Heperu is the Gurdian Segyein of Luka. I might get blasted for this but I believe he’s the worst one yet. He claims that he had made Luka overcome fear, which makes me wonder what kind of things he had done to Luka. As we know Luka as went through a test with was monitoring his heart rate, and stoping his heart completely. Luka barley shows any kind of emotion. But he was crying in that art, Heperu disgust me.

Heperu ego is very high I can tell, because in a interview he claims that all of Lukas achievements and his talent is because of him. And he should thank him always for making him perfect. He always puts Luka very high, saying he will win no matter what.

In one of Lukas official art it shows Heperu shadow being in a position in which looks like kissing.?? And his hand was caressing him. Luka also looked quite young too which just gives me more creeps.

In the music Video all-in Luka kissed Hyuna, which I want to say. Was because of Heperu. Usually when someone was SA they see as a normal thing and do it to another person. That would explain why Luka kisses Hyuna.

Luka has been out through so much stuff because of Heperu and like everyone else has. Luka as very right to be the way he is. Because of Heperu and how cruel he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Till did become the same way.

Heperu also has a thing for Phan, having an attraction to Phan, just like Luka has an attraction to Hyuna??

Neigh🐛 (Sua’s Guardian

Not much is known from Neigh, but from what we know is that Niegh sees pets as nothing more than dolls. She dressed them all out usually the same. In a white dress like a doll.

In Neigh’s profile it’s shown that she has 0% interest in Sua. Probably because Sua is a copy of everyone else there. They are all the same as emotionless dolls. With no feelings or opinions.

——<3

Pretty sure that’s everyone? When my art-book arrives I will make any other post on the Guardians probably.

I may hate every Guardian except for Shine, but they hold a lot of meaning in the story which I appreciate.

Thanks for taking your time to read all of this <33

[whizzinpast]

Alien Swap (ALNST Role Swap AU)

Sua (swapped with Mizi)

Nigeh has a very specific taste in pet-humans and is known to raise them with proper manners and dress them in most exquisite outfits. Tired of the doting, Sua decided to break out and participate in a singing competition. Nigeh was happy to provide her with all the resources she needed to sing on Alien Stage and loves to brag about their ‘daughter’s’ accomplishments.

Sua meets Mizi in the same way as canon. Unlike canon though, Sua is more open with the children in Anakt Garden. Many admired her and saw her as an older sister, but she paid particular attention to very few. She was very picky about her company (which mostly consisted of Mizi tbh, and Till when he’s not being a territorial jerk)

Loves singing from the bottom of her heart and has a magnetic stage presence.

At first, her dream was to sing in Alien Stage under the stars because it was a great honor (even if she knew what death was really like). Then it was to sing with Mizi under the stars.

She firmly believed that Mizi would win— she never expected her to lose on purpose.

After Mizi’s death, Sua became a living doll. She couldn’t bother expressing herself. It was only until Round 5, when Hyuna mimics Mizi’s singing style, that she snaps. She uses stage props to knock Hyuna over and beat her with her microphone.

She is saved from execution by Luka, and during his version of ‘All-in’ she gets a side cut.

Mizi (swapped with Sua)

Guardian Shine is a segyein too old to bother with bonds. They’ve been very emotionally distant to Mizi, who they adopted because they felt sorry for her. They had, quite literally, left her in the dark for so long Mizi’s eyesight suffered. In spite of Mizi’s constant attempts to reach out and impress her Guardian, with one of those attempts being her application for Alien Stage, she was ultimately sent off to die.

Despite her cheerfulness, Mizi’s self-confidence was very low. She believed she was worth nothing up until she met Sua, and decided to get stronger for her sake. She made her laugh and helped her with physically demanding tasks.

Although she seemed happier with Sua, Mizi easily got skittish around others. Most kids thought she was weird, albeit cute to some extent.

Mizi decided to lose to Sua on purpose. Till found out and harshly criticized her for it. He claimed she should at least give it her all, to which Mizi responded by punching someone for the first time in her life— and frantically apologized for it.

Mizi didn’t know how brutal death could be until she got shot.

Ivan (swapped with Till)

Ivan had always loved the stars. Even when he was violently abused by Guardian Unsha’s lackeys, he loved the stars.

In spite of his circumstances (dragged out of the slums by the galactic mafia, tortured and then forced to entertain terrible segyein) Ivan used his intellect and appearance to his advantage. He became self-sufficient very quickly and crafted a persona to appeal to his segyein overlord.

Due to his experiences, Ivan appeared very cold and stoic as a kid. He dismissed anybody that approached him because he didn’t how to react. It was easier to scare people away than risk backlash. But, otherwise, he could be a polite and chatty kid if you know what topics to approach him with.

One of his most prized possessions is a lighter that he stole from Unsha. He keeps flicking it when he’s nervous.

Sua was his idol, his inspiration, and his rare comfort was listening to her sing. He thought she was the human equivalent of a star. Unfortunately, he never got to properly talk to her because she always misunderstood what he said.

Both him and Mizi were too awkward to talk to each other.

At some point, Ivan tried to escape on his own, but was quickly found by Till, who bullied his way into joining him. They almost escaped until Ivan realized they wouldn’t survive out in the wilderness on their own.

Till remained in his periphery because Ivan automatically blanked out when he was mistreated. The only way for Till to get his attention was to pinch him or punch him. Ivan was too resistant to verbal provokations.

Ivan stole enough materials off of rich segyein to design and sew his own outfit for Round 2. He won because his stage presence was so intense it terrified his opponent into silence halfway through the song.

Till (swapped with Ivan)

Urak bought a problematic pet-human on discount and struck a deal with him: in return for success, the child will get whatever he wants. They started with food. Then sweets. Then heavy equipment. Then guitars. Till continued to provide Urak with his musical prowess and earned everything he could dream of.

Spoiled rotten thanks to his wild success as a musical protege, Till became a force to be reckoned with at Anakt Garden. He was openly arrogant and didn’t bother with kids or tasks that he deemed unnecessary. Though, somehow, he still managed to attract admirers who thought his confidence and talent was impressive.

Out of all the kids, Ivan had the misfortune (or fortune, in Till’s eyes) to be graced with his attention. This is because Till thought of Ivan as his rival, which is, honestly, just a synonym for him getting a massive crush on him. He is stupidly into him. He thinks his ‘raw intellect’ makes him a diamond in the rough. But because he doesn’t know how to get Ivan to look at him in any other way, he gets his attention by treating him like a punching bag. (Worse than Canon!Ivan, who verbally provokes Till into fights.)

He was intensely jealous of Sua because she got so much of Ivan’s focus. However, it didn’t stop him from respecting her. She was one of the rare people that had enough talent and skill to get him. The same could not be said for Mizi.

As a celebrity, he has asshole charisma and he knows it.

In Round 6, Till does something similar to what Sua did in Round 5: he uses the microphone as a weapon and hits Ivan in the legs until he drops to the ground. He simultaneously punched Ivan three times and kissed him until he was shot and bled out.

Hyuna (swapped with Luka)

Phan, Hyuna’s Guardian, was abusive for no specific reason. They cut off her leg when she was a kid simply because they were curious. But seeing that she wouldn’t be of use to them with one leg, they provided her with a prosthetic.

Imagine a movie star persona — big smiles, big personality, black, bedazzled suits and cool shades. That’s Hyuna, except she’s dressed to impress. Looks very cool and effortless, but shows off a more cold and ruthless side to her during matches.

Hyuna had an unhealthy fixation with Luka and considered herself his ‘protector’ or ‘knight.’ Her and Hyunwoo had a more…dicey sibling relationship. They fought a lot (more like Hyuna was picking fights under the guise of being ‘the good guy’) and eventually she would beat Hyunwoo to death so there would be no one between them. Think like…the black knight in shining armor.

Luka (swapped with Hyuna)

If there is a tale of a princess escaping her tower, it would pretty much sum up Luka’s life. As a kid, Luka was extremely shy and rarely played with other kids due to his health issues (his slightly aloof attitude didn’t help either though). This changed when Hyuna and Hyunwoo invite him to play, and he became attached to Hyuna, who always protected him from bullies (and Hyunwoo, allegedly).

Despite his know-it-all attitude, Luka was genuinely ambitious and eagerly awaited auditions for Alien Stage. He was very confident in his talent and, despite the abuse at the hands of his Guardian and his declining health, strongly believed that he would win.

It all came crashing down when Hyuna reveals her true colors. She was a warden more than a guardian— keeping Luka isolated by intimidating anyone who comes near, with Hyunwoo being a slight exception. However, she kills Hyunwoo the following day with her bare hands while Luka was experiencing cardiac arrest. (Her excuse was that Hyunwoo caused it by messing with Luka.)

Luka escapes his enclosure and survives with a group of human rebels.

As a leader of the human resistance, Luka is a tactical mastermind that moves troops around like chess pieces. However, he can only do it from the safety of his home base. The few times he goes out, he’s heavily guarded by Isaac and Dewey.

A/N: The brainrot is hard at work. This is just me laying the groundwork. May or may not doodle designs if I have the time.

[redrandomposts]

IM SCREAMING NOT UNSHA'S WIFE DIY-ING HER OWN KPOP IDOL 😭 she's so valid for that tho i admit

unsha's wife : my little pet deserves to sing more bc hes more talented than any other pet out there but i dont want him to be killed in a singing death match bc thats just bad for business

unsha's wife : time to set up a new entertainment agency

unsha's wife accidentally causing the final downfall of alien stage the show bc aliens start to realise that it's better for business and overall entertainment to have their fave human pet idols not get killed onstage and instead are able to release new songs every few months 🧍 they learn the appeal of fanservice and fanmeets !! maybe anakt garden starts the trend of human pet idol groups by making the first survival show. 5050 on whether they kill the losers of the show however 🤷

(our levels of copium is incredible 😭)

till discovering ivan's still alive and speedruns the 5 stages of grief AGAIN. he blacks out and suddenly he has a concerning amount of illegally-acquired navi merch ? what is he DOING ?! he needs to get his shit together and find a way to get ivan out of there bc that's the least he could do ???

hyuna watching tillivan pine for each other from afar and questioning how her life has gotten to this point

— 🌦️

unsha behind his wife: so, like, how much money are we making here?

unsha's wife: what money?

*ivan raking in billions.*

unsha: ...okay, honey.

always listen to the wife, folks!

till, the #1 contributor to illegal ivan merch in the hideout. mizi is close at #2, but that's only because she's always accompanying till on his little... fibbits. I FORGOT WHAT IT WAS CALLED. till brings back so much that they have no choice to sell it... which increases their funds by, like, 270%. ivan the money totem?

for publicity, ivan wears multiple outfits and there's a poll each week to which one they make merch of... till manipulates the votes by getting hyuna to hack into the system and raise his favorite outfit's votes.

heperu sends luka to unsha's wife's company when he sees the success. ivan first meets luka on livestream, where it's like, surprise! here's your enemy from years ago! and they vibe together.

ivan will often give luka more food and then is like, "so where's the best place to disrupt the making of robots?"

guys im fixing luka too he needs to eat more (for the baby too).

the rebellion wanted to save ivan... and then luka showed up and hyuna and mizi is much more reluctant, like, ew it's the blonde twink why is he there?

sorry till your wife is being shipped with another man. what can you do.

[geospiral]

With Ivan's adoption day coming up, that means there's a chance we might see Mrs. Unsha since it's her actual birthday, and the thing that I want to know is, was Mrs. Unsha on board with Ivan being used for showbiz because she personally wanted her human to be in the limelight, or was it because she didn't particularly care or like Ivan and just let Unsha use him since he was the one that got him? Considering Ivan's track record, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter.

[iri-desky]

An ALNST Dungeons and Dragons AU?

Howdy! So I mentioned trying to make an alnst fantasy au on a previous post. To be more specific, I thought I'd try to make a DND style au!

Although before I get into the details of it, I thought I'd establish the classes of the characters first and foremost. That's what this whole post is about. Please note that this is just a draft and big idea dump, as well as test of how well these classes fit each character...aaaand how well other people think each class I chose fits each character.

In other words, if you think some other class or subclass fits better, feel free to speak your mind. I'm actively looking for a bit of criticism on these choices.

Mizi - Paladin, oath of redemption OR oath of the ancients. Mostly because of the "belief that God is human" speech and uplifting, positive nature. And how I think that Mizi should be seen in armor (/lh). I also think it'd be ironic for her and Ivan to be best friends while she's a Paladin and Ivan's a warlock. I'm very unsure about this one, though-- she's probably the one I'm struggling with most. An exchange I've had with @mirrorcatcreditcard also is making me consider a Monk or Rogue, though in general I'm trying to give her a class with a good dexterity. If I do end up giving her Paladin as a class, I chose the subclasses I did to give her a less "smite-y, all who defy me must die" flavor and more of a "starry eyed idealist hero" flavor.

Sua - Cleric, Life Domain. Mostly because I think it'd be funny as hell for the most reserved and secretly temperamental one to be given the responsibility of healing the party. She gives the vibes of any cleric-- gentle and elegant on the outside but secretly cursing the world and everyone else in this stupid party on the inside. Except Mizi. She's an angel and we're glad she's here. I also wanna see her deny healing to Ivan at least once. Also, Sua has angel symbolism, so I had to go through with that in the classes.

Hyuna - Rogue, Swashbuckler subclass OR Fighter, monster hunter subclass (or gunslinger). I think it's pretty obvious that a rogue really fits Hyuna, and I think it'd be neat to continue her "outlaw" thing in this universe, just in a different context. Swashbuckler is so she's still high energy and in the thick of things. That said, a fighter can fit just as well given their versatility and spirit-- being a fighter doesn't necessarily have to be "basic". She could be a monster hunter subclass (inspired by her destruction of the aliens in the original series) or even a gunslinger subclass. A champion could work as well.

Till - Bard, college of lore. Despite how the original series is music based, I feel like he's the only character that I can see being a bard outside of the context of alnst just because of his creative genius. He's an artist at heart, and I wanted to reflect that. I don't see him being too flamboyant of a bard, of course, but I feel like his excitement and his genuine love for what he makes might start to bleed into a crowd when he's, yknow, not being judged by thousands of aliens and instead being watched by fellow humans. My choice of the college of lore is especially inspired by his drawings in the Io comic and desire for a better world while knowing what the natural world used to be. It's also come to my attention after an exchange with @nilladrawsstuff that a healer Till that complains about having to heal everyone but still expresses genuine concern would be a neat idea--While I don't think a pure healer Till would be too in character, Bards CAN function as healers and I can see Till being a jack of all trades. That's just what Till is in Canon--a jack of all trades. I want to reflect that in this au with his class.

Ivan - Warlock, with Unsha as his patron, Great Old One subclass (because squid). Unsha gives enough cthutulu vibes for this to make sense-- furthermore, I feel like Ivan's detached and transactional realationship with Unsha makes this make even more sense. I also wanted Ivan's class and subclass to reflect his intelligent but somewhat distant nature, with the theme of "unfathomability" being something that really fits him. The class parallels Luka, as well, a character that Ivan is known to reflect. Hexblade could work as a subclass as well, although I'm leaning towards The Great Old One. Tbh, I'm not too sure about this one, although Warlock Ivan definitely goes hard in my book.

Luka - Sorcerer, Aberrant Mind. He's got the vibes. Luka was the one I figured out first, actually, simply because he screams sorcerer; Annoyingly dazzling man with his powers handed to him (no offense to Sorcerer mains at all, yes offense to Luka /j [jk, we love Luka in this house. I just like bullying him /lh]). That bitch did NOT need to research for that or beg for a thing. Also, a sorcerer's main stat is charisma, so... yeah. The inherently mysterious nature of Aberrant Mind also gives me huge Luka vibes, hence my choice.

Anyway, that's all. Again, if you have any criticisms, comments, or better ideas, PLEASE do no hesitate to tell me. 👍🏽 This is a sapling of an idea so far and I need your help for it to grow!

( ahaha pls don't let this flop... I've been working on this post for over an hour )

(Tagging people who I know might be interested in this / were present back in the previous post below the cut)

@junebluues @awaggaa @mirrorcatcreditcard @ravelroses @nilladrawsstuff @kingofanemptyworld

[ivanttakethis]

WHAT R UR FAV ALNST THEORIES/ ANALYSES!?!?!!

GREAT QUESTION ANON!!!

These my favorite theories in no particular order, with some of my own personal theories mixed in.

Most of these are about Ivan, but he’s my favorite character so yeah lol.

Long post under the cut. Let’s go!!

1. IVAN IS ALIVE (yes, the capitalization is necessary)

I believe this one for a few reasons:

- We haven’t seen any official art about Ivan’s death (which is inch resting imo)

- At one point, there was a post/comment/rumor that Vivinos/QMENG (not sure which) said no one else was going to die after Sua (of course now I can’t find where I initially saw this, so take it with a grain of salt). This could’ve been said to mislead us or maybe they changed their minds later on, but I’m still holding onto this — assuming the statement was made/is true.

- Ivan didn’t get shot in the head. If they wanted to kill him to stop him from “hurting” Till, why waste bullets on shooting him several times in non-lethal places when they could’ve just sniped him one time in the head or neck and been done with it?

- Ivan’s owner Unsha is an alien underworld mobster who has a rivalry with Till’s owner Urak. I don’t think Unsha would take Till (and by extension Urak) “winning” Round 6 in the way he did lightly enough to let Ivan rest without a rematch. But maybe he’s not as petty as I would be idk.

- I’m delusional 🙂

2. Luka isn’t branded.

- This is one of my theories. I think Luka doesn’t have his name branded anywhere on him because he was grown in a lab.

- If the aliens are capable of growing humans, they probably also have the ability to “edit” or design them however they wish. They could’ve made Luka into the perfect Alien Stage contestant: beautiful, musically talented, charming, eternally youthful, but also cunning and cutthroat.

- I think they made him obedient on a fundamental level, more obedient than Ivan or Sua. It’s part of his DNA.

- He’s incapable of rebelling, so there’s no need to brand him. There’s no need for a reminder of who’s in charge because Luka wouldn’t step out of line in the first place.

3. Sua was turned into an android.

- Based on this official art that continues to haunt me.

- Also this post about Vivinos saying Sua will appear again “no matter what form she takes” makes me go hmm 🤔

- If Mizi and Hyuna get captured, I could see android Sua being brought in to break down Mizi as some sort of psychological torture method. (Wow, that got dark. Anyways…)

4. Ivan will appear in the 10th video in the series.

- I talked about my reasoning behind this theory here, but to summarize: the three numbers in this pic with Ivan could represent Round 3 and Round 6, which he appeared in both, and the 10 could represent him appearing in the 10th video in the series. This also ties into theory #1 on this list (IVAN IS ALIVE)

- This is one of my favorite theories because it gives me big “cork board and red string” conspiracy vibes lol

5. Ivan has a connection to the wagyeins.

- Based on the official art we have of Ivan being close with a wagyein as a child. I did a mini-analysis about their relationship in this post.

- Ivan also has some of similarities to the wagyein that we don’t see in any other humans (red pupils, sharp tooth, etc.)

6. Ivan was experimented on.

- Another one of my personal theories is that Ivan was experimented on, though not to the extent that Till was.

- This might explain why he was able to tank like three bullets without flinching much in Round 6.

- And also why his blood might be a different color, as mentioned in this post.

Finally, and perhaps most devastatingly:

7. Till did look at Ivan, he just didn’t notice.

- I think Ivan is an unreliable narrator who is deeply self-deprecating and always sees the worst in himself. And because both Round 3 and Round 6 focused heavily on Ivan’s perspective, we as the audience end up seeing the world how he saw it, rather than how it actually was.

- Ivan thinks that Till never noticed him, but I think he did. Just— not when Ivan was looking. There’s some art/screenshots to back this up too (his eyes being closed in some of these 😭).

Those are all my favorite theories as of now, but I’m sure there’ll be more in the future.

Thank you for the ask anon!

[crustyfloor]

he played kickball with Till's flowers

og image btw

[apeninastory]

ivan as a tragic-love character (pt.4a?)

DISCLAIMER: doing this for fun + because i love ivan + because my brain needs to. nothing abt it is carved in stone and i'm open to discuss abt it like adults do - i just excitedly wanted to share my take on ivan in a more articulated way.

OF COURSE i have to. of course. i managed to listen to nowhere a couple of times on the 31st and i won't shut up abt the new song anytime soon - especially since it's coming out AGAIN in a couple of hours!!!!! sit tight, this is gonna be a long ride.

let's break things down a bit, because i need to process the entire thing and this means i have to make lists and explain and ponder on what i write then fix it and keep writing and whatever

1] ivan's past 2] ivan's adoption by unsha + wife [or, a symbol of love for a character who deems himself unlovable] 3] ivan at anakt, with other characters 4] mimetic strategy 5] ivan and till [cheer up?] 6] the making of ivan's character - by ivan himself 7] meteor shower [or, the turning point of the narrative] 8] sua, hypocrisy and how it may not have been totally intended on ivan's part - until it was 9] nowhere 10] black sorrow 11] ivan, love and his shallow emotion 12] cure

i'll start here with the first 4-5 points

let me say i have no access to the patreon stuff, so what i know is based on: twt, original material on yt, twt again, ppl's fan arts and talking and my own delulu brain. also, i love ivan, so i may be not-totally-reliable on certain things, but you got the idea.

1] ivan's past.

what i know is that he lived in the slums - so filth, violence, a life dominated by a perpatual sense of insecurity (and with this i mean a lack of stability related to survivability, not strictly personality-wise), poor health and poverty was probably ivan's dailiness.

he wasn't alone - there were other kids, they probably lived all clustered togehter - for warmth, protection, complicity, company? also maybe, just like till and his provider/mother, they belonged to some sort of human factory, only this was probably illegal, given the differences in conditions. what we can infer is that life for him was far from violence-free; that ivan knows how to light a fire with rocks from his life in the slums, probably to fend off the cold; that he got used to insults, denigration, mistreatments as something that is part of his daily life.

this routine shapes his view of the world - as something dangerous, where one needs to be practical if they won't to survive, where misbehaving leads to death. it also shapes the way he sees himself, highlighting flaws more than his value and merits.

that being said, did he know abt the "cries"? abt how precious human singing is to aliens? i am honestly not quite sure abt this, but i guess he didn't. if he was "produced" in an illegal factory, it was probably only for the sake of becoming an anonymous pet-human - we know not all of them can sing in alien stage.

what we identify as an abusive, brutal, cruel treatment (objectively speaking) was ivan's daily life. his perception of it is inevitably different from ours/how it would be perceived from an external pov - or to be more exact, from an unaltered (?) pov.

[no wonder the song sounds so laidback, resigned - he is used to it.]

once deemed ready/aged enough (?), the kids are taken away, ready for auction - i guess. they probably tried to run away together, helping each other out

[though i wonder: i'd say they can identify other kids as good/comrades and aliens as bad/captors, but from various illustrations, they seems to live in the streets, albeit possibly controlled by aliens all the same. do they have enough food for everyone? is it evenly distributed? i guess not. so not all kids maybe saw each other positively. maybe they even betrayed each other for the sake of survival. poor babies...]

i was saying. they probably tried to run away. we see it in r3, glimpses of pre-anakt ivan. we know ivan is good at escaping/evading alien guards, and he must have picked it up somewhere (the hard way, since he was clearly captured here). here, they are taken away from the slums (?) to the auctions place (?), where ivan then gets adopted by unsha.

i'm guessing the alien here is threatening him to behave - they shouldn't rough the kids up too much, or else they'd be hard to sell, right?

what i find heartbreaking here is how ivan looks tired and resigned. he is so little and he must have experience so many negative inputs. he is so used to it that he is not even watching the alien - his eyes are focused on the sky. i guess it wasn't much visible from the slums, so it may be the first time? and he sees meteors.

now, for someone living in such a dark environment (both figuratively and concretely), falling stars must have been so touching, so beautiful, yet so painful - for being so far and so gorgeous and making him feel moved.

it's like when we listen to a beautiful song or see a wonderful painting or read a book that touches our souls - art does that to you. it's a selfless form of love, something left by someone else, a gift. of course there are tears in his eyes, falling stars are a wonderful sight for everyone, so i can understand ivan being awestruck by it.

[he sees the stars and maybe his little kid heart starts hoping? but then aliens treat him like an object, like an either-you-behave-or-it-won't-end-well and he starts to believe that an existence like his is destined to violence/negative things]

he must have partly feel frustrated, right? different emotions at play, all at once, can be overwhelming. he has tears in his eyes while he his held by the alien and suspended on empty air, he must also be scared, but in a very resigned way. no wonder he numbed is heart down.

2] this leads us to his adoption and unsha.

i guess ivan's demeanour fit unsha's plan - calm, smart, self-sufficient, not demanding in terms of attentions. the fact that he can sing must be a plus, and unsha is nothing but a business-alien, so he invests in ivan.

ivan's commodification starts right at his adoption.

as far as i know, he is adopted as a gift to unsha's wife for valentine's day, which "becomes" his birthday. we don't even know when he is actually born, which is so sad i wanna bang my head somewhere.

he becomes the object of someone else's marriage, a symbol of love without being at the receiving end of that form of affection. he probably doesn't know what love is, nor has he supposedly heard of it, so again, what he doesn't know remains far from his knowledge (but not from ours).

ivan represents love but does not benefit from it, emotionally. what he gains from it, is a "better" or more stable living environment. ivan has learned to be practical, we said, so he sees how having a roof on his head, food in his stomach and better sanitary conditions are all logical reasons to keep playing to unsha's tune despite him being an alien. we see him behaving - a party is thrown for him (fan meeting info: we know parties are thrown for his birthdays by unsha), he wins some sort of award (?), he practises singing.

all with the same, numb-like expression. he does how he is told and he survives. that's the end of the deal.

3] here comes anakt, friendship and love.

now. what forms of affection could ivan have come to know up to this point? a comradery-like sort of family in the slums? if that's the case, it should be a co-dependent/independent type of relation, where all the kids depended on each other to survive but were aware of being ultimately on their own - until someone either died or betrayed or got taken away. so it was born out of desperation and to fend off loneliness.

ivan doesn't know what healthy love is. doesn't know how it is to rely on someone completely and then slowly learn to stand on your own feet and become a person upon whom others can rely. doesn't know how to balance his need for someone's closeness while respecting the other person's indipendence. no such things have been taught to him in the slums - no adult, healthy humans were probably in his life (long enough?) to pose as models.

teachers at anakt were worried about him not being able to form relationships with others (i think this info is in the public diaries from anakt garden?), and there are comments of anakt kids not having many info abt him or not knowing how to approach him.

4] so what changes? ivan starts to imitate his peers' way of socially interacting with each other

kids in anakt are not like the kids in the slums. they live "healthily", they study and develop skills, they create bonds, they play in the garden - it seems like the perfect receipt for a "normal" childhood, though we know what hides beyond the system. but it is the first time ivan experiences all this, and with his life-baggage? seeing how carefree many children are there (mizi, for example), how can he not notice how different him and them are? what comes natural to others is foreign to him.

he is not the only one to notice. aliens probably criticized this of him, forcing him to train how to smile to appear more friendly and child-like. ivan was not used to kids his age being carefree, so it must have been hard for him to approach them and appear approachable. he inevitably links his ability to make himself liked to how friendly and natural his smile looks, so he practices alone. what else? i already said this in my analysis of black sorrow, but i think that in order to fit in, ivan observed other kids and tried to imitate them.

the problem was that while they behaved spontaneously, ivan's reaction must have seemed forced, especially in the beginning. he sees everyone doing this funny thing stretching their lips that lightens their faces, as he is "taught" during medical experimentation. he tries, he trains, and slowly, he integrates. he becomes good at studying, he obeys and notices positive results in himself, adult aliens like him, his values as a commodity in his business relationship with unsha increases.

he is usefull, skilled, liked. eyes are on him, but he has grown numb to it all - out of survival instict. in the slums, he probably tried not to attract too much attention, so studying to be a performer and be good at it must require a certain effort to adapt. what helps is probably the fact that all the other children were going through similar things, so by observing them, just like he does with his smiling exercises, he knows he can learn. he can become better, become more useful, ensure himself good chances of survival.

5] and then, his heart stirs.

i don't think it was love at first sight - let's not reduce this to love, for ivan and alnst characters offer us a whole spectrum of emotions.

ivan is too pragmatic for that, and his love - his obsession - for till seems to spark and then grow the more he observes him. at the beginning, it is not even abt affection, imo. no, it's that all children have rules to follow and routines to abide to, even the painful ones, but there is this cute boy with fiery teal eyes raging against the darkness, shining the brightest when he lets emotions consume him, and ivan can't stop looking because he is gathering data observing others and trying to be like them. and he can't understand till.

i feel like crying if i think abt how much till must have affected little ivan, to the point that we know he associates till with the most beautiful thing he saw right after coming out of the slums - falling stars. there is something painfully romantic abt it, which also enforces the narrative of ivan self-assigning the role of the tragic-love character to himself.

[after all, none of them knows love. no, none of them knows how articulate and complex love is, they probably only know scattered definitions coming from books aliens have abt humans behaviours and traditions. ivan likes literature. he probably read abt love there, and lacking the direct experience of family-love or other healthy forms of love, he can only research what love may be about from there and from what surrounds him]

so till comes into his life and, like ivan does with everyone else, he observes him. till behaves in ways that go against the norm ivan had come to know, accept and adopt as line guide. ivan has all the reasons to categorize till as annoying; despite that, despite being aware of what makes till different and a stranger to the model ivan built in his head, he finds himself drawn to him. we could say that till is one of the most important sparks of humanity lighting up inside ivan.

[i think people whose emotions are numbed/strictly controlled by rationality tend to be interested/attracted (not romantically or sexually, or not only) by those who are fiery and open abt them, like puzzle pieces that fit together.

what we see in black sorrow speaks abt the inevitable attraction ivan comes to feel for till. that this emotion, for ivan, becomes love, is another matter, because not everything needs to be read as romantic. but before that, we see kid-ivan finding in kid-till something that is worth his attention and devotion - something that easily becomes ivan's light in the dark.]

i think one of the reasons he liked orbiting around till is that till doesn't care abt him pretending, abt his perfect smiles, abt the things he has to fix in order to be approachable to other kids' eyes. no matter what ivan does to rile till up, till doesn't let ivan fool him.

i imagine getting till's attention must have been hard, for ivan. till feels to me like a love-at-first-sight character, so he may have fallen in love with mizi the moment he saw her, not perceiving ivan's gaze on him. when till watches mizi and sua playing with flowers and wants to do the same, ivan probably didn't think much abt trumpling on the flower crown - he just wanted to attract till's attention. he suceeded. violence + riling till up seems a good receipt to achieve what ivan wants.

he keeps doing that, and with time, he understands when he can push and when he has to stop. he realizes how much more sensible than him till is, and i think he learns to cherish this side of till, as well as make it a part of himself. ivan becomes gentler. that is probably why he offered a truce at a certain point (thank you vivimeng fan meeting drawings!!), saying to till that he found it annoying to always have to measure his force to avoid hurting him too much.

loving till starts by trying to imitate him. ivan observes him, knows he can't be like him, reacts to till in unexpected and hard-to-control ways, and feels emotions that are entirely his own. for someone who had grown numb to his surrounding, how strange and terrifying and exciting must have been!

he cheers flower up fully knowing it is useless, imitating and humoring till - and then does the same, spontaneously i'd say, during the interview preceeding his doom and in the room where he finds till before r6, nuzzling till's face tenderly, trying to cheer him up. ivan imitates, absorbs and delivers - but only with till, it seems, he finds himself doing things more spontaneously, uncalculated, things that are not much logical or beneficial to him.

[growing up, maybe he thinks that's love, tries to label it as much, but feels like his emotions lacks the pureness and intensity of mizi and sua's love, so he thinks he can't call it that - instead, he goes for "shallow emotion"]

PART 2