#ill update with more photos and stuff when im not dead tired

[muchanmocha]

Hey So Why is Till Wearing a Sponsor Logo?

I am now connecting many, many dots.

[Please keep in mind the following is just a giant conspiracy board for a wild interesting path they could take]

Let's assume that's a sponsor logo Till's wearing. Just for this post.

Alien Stage puts a lot of intention into every outfit design so there must be a reason behind this purposeful inclusion in Till's Round 7 appearance.

To review, Till's Round 2 and Round 6 outfits reflect two very different states.

In Round 2, his outfit is closer to his personal style, but he's barefoot because he kicked off the shoes given by the designers (Artbook Interview). This nods to the fact that he doesn't want to cooperate or care to respect any part of this.

In Round 6, he's wearing an outfit reminiscent of kpop because he's finally conforming to Alien Stage (Patreon). He has no will to live, nor will to fight. He allows the segyein to style him as they wish because nothing matters anymore.

Now in Round 7, from what we can make out, Till is wearing a ripped, translucent tank top of unknown material over a black one underneath. This is paired with baggy pants, and a pair of armbands on his biceps. These armbands have what appears to be a sponsor logo that doesn't match any that we've seen so far. The overall vibe is closed to his Round 2, yet with a few disconcerting elements — the most obvious of which, is the logo that was intentionally included in the teaser.

Till is the rebellious character. Segyein sponsorships go against his very concept, demonstrated by the fact that they've only appeared in relation to Ivan and Luka, the characters who conformed to and worked the system the most.

Till: Passive vs Active

Up to this point, Till actually seems fairly passive for a character symbolizing rebellion and rejection. Everything he does is a reaction to something, rather than taking any action first.

His rebellion -> reaction to the segyein's attempt to control him. He doesn't take the initiative to do anything, whether that be sabotaging the segyein or escaping their control. His rebellion only lasts as long as the segyein are present.

His music and song-writing -> a reaction to the emotions generated by Mizi

Him killing Freddie -> a reaction to Acorn trying to take control in the middle of his song to Mizi while his feelings were running high

His death-seeking -> a reaction to Mizi's incident and losing his sole motivation, his light in the dark

And then two specific scenes:

1) Standing up to the wagyein aka the scene wherein Ivan fell in love -> Till is reacting to Mizi being in danger.

You'll notice Till doesn't actively do anything once Mizi is out of danger (for example, attempt to sneak back in to eliminate the wagyein so that Mizi will never again be in danger)

2) Unknown (Till The End) for Round 2 -> Till is reacting directly to My Clematis

The theory that Till sang this song instead of the one he was supposed to was confirmed (Artbook Interview). I don't think this was planned by Till either, until right before the round.

Canonically, Till has put on lukewarm performances in the preliminaries before this (Magazine Site Article) yet for some reason he exploded in Round 2. So what changed? What was the catalyst for his behavior? My Clematis.

Till presumably hasn't seen Mizi since graduation (implied in everyone's graduation messages) and now he's hit over the head all over again by the full impact of his emotions as he watches Mizi at her brightest, living out her dream with Sua (see Mizi flashbacks Round 2). He's overcome by these emotions and impulsively chooses to sing Unknown to channel and express this new tidal wave of feelings. So this would be yet again, Till in the passive role of reacting.

There is a certain irony in Till being the rebellious character, the one fighting against his restraints, yet he is held completely at the mercy of his emotions.

I think his passiveness is due to not having any real goal or direction. Up to this point, his only motivators are Mizi and music.

Mizi — Surprisingly, Till shows no desire to date or aim to have any specific relationship with her. Most of his wants are limited to just existing near her and bask in the feeling her presence gives him. Part of this is because they possibly haven't even been taught the concept of dating or romantic relationships (see "do they even know what a kiss is" comic). So while Till knows Mizi makes him Feel, he doesn't know what to do with said feelings.

Music — Music isn't a goal for Till. It's a way of living. The sounds come to him. The notes dance on his fingertips. He lives, breathes, is music, whether he chooses or not. There is no goal he sees in music, except the abstract want of expressing his feelings.

This lack of goal and initiative serves as an even bigger contrast to the rest of the characters.

Sua and Ivan are overachievers because they wanted what little control and special privileges that would grant them.

Ivan -> Sua (Piggyback Comic)

"It seems like you're overdoing things these days, aren't you? At the end of the day, I know best that good grades here are useless."

Luka has reached the epitome of the road Sua and Ivan chose to take.

Hyuna broke free of Alien Stage and now works as part of the human rebellion, saving Mizi and carrying out raids.

Mizi shooting the gun in All-In is representative of her overcoming the trauma imposed by Luka and choosing for the first time to actively take control of her own life (Artbook All-In Commentary).

As for Till?

He did kill Freddie on stage, but it looks more like an impulse than a premeditated murder. There was no deliberate planning for it — no request to use Freddie, no seeking permission or sneaking to bring Freddie on stage, no sign of murderous rage directed to Freddie himself. Freddie just happened to land in his possession because of his musical talents (Urak: "He [Till] should know he's only alive due to his talent.") and from there Till simply followed his emotions.

Other than Freddie's incident, nothing notable has been seen from Till for the ~20 years in segyein captivity.

Round 7's Resolution

The worst has happened — both Mizi and Ivan are gone. He's even been denied death by Ivan. Where can he go from here?

Round 7 specifically explores Till's "emotional journey" after these major events (Patreon) so it's safe to assume Round 7 is meant to be a turning point for Till.

Considering his overall aimlessness up until this point, I think this emotional journey and ultimate turning point will take the form of him finally finding a goal and therefore his resolution.

So here's the real conspiracy-boarding:

What if the sponsor logo is Till's resolution?

What if this is a sign of Till finally compromising with the segyein for the first time in his life?

His resolution is the end of his absolute rebellion.

Of course, only on the surface.

This time, Till chooses to work the system and destroy it from the inside.

Hear me out:

Mizi and Hyuna manage to get to Till.

Mizi reaches out a hand to save him, just as she had in his visions during his darkest hours.

But this time, he doesn't reach out for that hand. Instead, he walks back to the segyein.

He turns away from Mizi, his reason for staying all those years ago, and stays, this time for Ivan's sacrifice.

Poetic, really. A full circle, you can say.

He's very specifically turning away from Mizi, his only driving motive in his life up until now, to devote his life to something bigger than just the two of them. He is no longer waiting to be saved. He is one doing the saving.

His Round 7 outfit is rebellious, yet segyein-favorable.

Instead of rebelling aimlessly, he rebels in a way that makes him sick to the stomach — he rebels in a way that weaponizes his appeal to the segyein audience.

Instead of throwing his life away, he claws for survival, compromising just enough to grab at the chance to bring this system down from the inside.

It's Mizi/unknown till the end, but in a way he never expected.

Till becomes their man on the inside.

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Wow, congrats on reading to the end of the crazy conspiracy board theory

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Bonus:

What if we got rebel Till in the song cover because it's not gonna happen canonically