#alien stage analysis

“Like, MIZI is so toxic towards Sua that it's almost pitiful for poor Sua; she deserves better, poor thing.”

Why does everyone always jump to demonizing Mizi? Mizi is unhealthy sure, but so is Sua. Sua idolizes and patronizes Mizi, leading her to feel dehumanized and unheard. She acts like a fan in their relationship instead of a partner. They’re BOTH unhealthy I fear.

That’s like, the whole point.

Just because Mizi’s issues are obvious doesn’t mean Sua’s are nonexistent. Sua isint innocent.

(Note: for those who may not know, speciesism is the act of treating members of one species as morally more important than members of others species. Basically)

And so, I've been wondering : do aliens eat human meat? This is not really the focus of ALNST, but this is intriguing to me I guess, for several reasons. (This is going to be long, so bear with me)

Humans are treated like pets, and we know they are, to some degree, considered like sentient beings whose needs must be catered to. There are criteria in Anakt Garden to respect the humans' well-being (e.g kids need to socialize with other children). Some guardians are genuinely attached to their pets (Shine with Mizi), but this doesn't mean they aren't stripped from their agency in other ways. They're still treated like pets, 'cute' little things they can mold to their will.

Aliens can adopt/get human pets through several means. We know for a fact that there are breeding factories. Io, for example, was Till's provider until Till was taken away from her. Now, this is something quite common in our world, too: you could be a dog or cat breeder, send the babies for adoption, make profit off it.

And now I will come back to my previous question (do aliens eat human meat?) Generally, eating species that are pets is frowned upon. Still, there are a few exceptions. Rabbits are pets, and yet, eating their meat is legal (I don't know about other countries, so I'm only refering to mine!) Not many people eat it precisely bc they're pets, but it's legal. In my country, eating horse meat is legal, too, although, again, it is frowned upon by many people. Not to mention that in some regions, eating dogs is also legal. Anyway, food traditions are closely tied to culture so I won't delve into that, but my point is: in Alien Stage, even if humans are primarily considered like pets, it wouldn't be far fetched to suppose that the Seygiens could and would eat human meat, too. Given the way some of them are sent to a deathly competition, it is fair to say that some of them would absolutely give 0 fuck about consuming them as food. If that were to be the case, I do think there would be some kind of controversy around it, since some owners develop some kind of attachment to their pet, and therefore believe it would be atrocious to eat them.

Another point is: the Anakt Garden kids are being experimented on, as well as exploited for entertainment. (Of course the exploitation for entertainment refers to the kpop industry but this is not my focus here) I have many things I want to address, such as Heperu creating a human for the purpose of winning Alien Stage (which reminds me of the very concept of dog breeds for instance, with some breeds being more prone to specific illnesses...) BUT I wanna make a parallel with Alien Stage and Spanish style bullfighting ('corrida') which is basically a 'show' where a bull fights to death with a 'bullfighter' (of course the bull is the one supposed to die here, obviously not the bullfighter). Bulls here are used for the sole entertainment of humans, it's a legal tradition. But bulls are also farm animals, livestock, bred for food. When you make such parallels, it doesn't seem so absurd to say that in Alien Stage, some Seygiens most likely eat meat,,, Given that, yk, humans are treated with such disregard, and are shown to be victims of abuse.

Aline and Alicia's characters in Expedition 33 remind me of Mizi in some ways with their inability to move forward and to accept the loss of their son/brother. Besides, Alicia's brother sacrificed himself for her; Mizi and Alicia are both characters that carry a lot of guilt, survivor guilt, and I do think it would be interesting to explore the way Mizi struggles to move past Sua's death in this AU, by fleeing in a canvas where she repaints a whole another reality, and where she indulges in a counterfeit happiness.

Besides, family is one of the core themes in both Expedition 33 and Alien Stage. The game Expedition 33 depicts a broken family, torn apart by the loss of someone they all deeply cherished. Alien Stage sure differs in that aspect, because the characters are not blood related, but that doesn't make them any less of a family. That's something Till realizes and acknowledges long after Ivan and Sua's death, which motivates his search for Mizi because he wants them to share the pain only they know. In the end, pain ought to be shared, not be kept to oneself.

And in Verso's ending (Expedition 33), the warped family comes together. The cost of facing the reality of the loss comes with a high cost, but is necessary to move forward.

toothbrushes are listed on mizi's character sheet as one of her likes. next to sua and anakt's flowers, their inclusion seems bizarre. how could something so mundane mean so much to her?

but toothbrushes are a tool to maintain one's dental health and hygiene. she needs her eyesight corrected with glasses; it has deteriorated in her time with shine, whose deep-ocean realm is too dark for humans to see properly. mizi is shine's first and only human pet. she didn't know how to care for a human being, as evidenced by their interactions in my fragile god. in a similar way, mizi's dental health deteriorated in her childhood, and correction was only available at anakt rather than with shine. toothbrushes are a dental tool she can use independent of anakt and of shine to manage her own hygiene. as a human being reliant on the strength, grace, and resources of segyein authority, this is a significant act of autonomy.

this scene occurs during karma, wherein mizi is recounting her love for sua to hyuna. it looks like she is wearing high pull orthodontic headgear, which suggsets mizi had an overbite upon entering anakt. the captions are blocking her collar, but it is red. given this scene is arranged within this particular sequence it is most likely that sua is just out of the frame.

mizi tries to make sua smile with her silly behavior even while she's distressed, downplaying the discomfort of her headgear. this willful ignorance is a core element of her relationship with sua—one mizi is trying to defend to hyuna. she made sua smile even when it hurt her. she argues this expression of love is a significant act of autonomy.

as an aside: toothbrushes are also used by the 4nakt to tend to the wagyein. not only are they used as tools for mizi to maintain her own health, but she is responsible for another's. this activity also gives her the opportunity to bond with her peers.

Throughout most of her early life, especially in Anakt garden, Hyuna has had 0 control over anything. Hyunwoo's death wasn't something directly caused by anyone (I think), but it just so happened that unfortunate circumstances came together and it happened. My take is that it was an accident, that Luka and Hyunwoo had a fight, Luka had no intentions of killing anyone, and Hyuna knew this. So when something tragic happens, and there's no one directly to blame, there's that feeling of powerlessness. Of things being out of her control, that she can only be a bystander as horrible things happen to her. That moment Luka climbed onto Hyuna in All In, she also similarly had no control over that either.

She's clearly not very calm, by the colour of her collar. Luka is violating her sense of privacy, but she doesn't do anything. Unlike someone like Till who would shove him off, she just looks quietly. Powerless, unable to do anything.

She appears assertive and in charge, but really she barely has control over herself. She indulges in cigarettes and alcohol, probably because like every other addiction they feel good and help to forget all the bad things. She doesn't really face her problems head-on as a rebel, she just ignores them and pushes forward. And as much as it is a strength in its own right, it's hard for anyone to keep it up long term.

In hyuluka official art, she often appears to be the one dominated, trapped in a sense.

Like this one, where Luka in the official post caption is basically claiming her as his and her only instinct is to stare. She's angry, but she doesn't move.

Or this one, where she looks defeated, like she gives in.

She's the one holding the knife, his life in her hands, and yet she still looks so pained. Even in his most vulnerable he still causes her to question her decisions.

Even when he's not here, when it's just a picture of his face, it's enough to get her to stop. She would probably have gotten hurt, even killed if Mizi wasn't there. As much as she tries, he still holds so much control over her and she can't help it; he's her one and only weakness after all.

When Luka is around, she appears weak and powerless, because she's so used to that feeling that it's like second nature. She's confident, or at least good at pretending she is, but Luka causes it all to crumble.

It's a good parallel to Luka's innate need for control, because he too has been controlled by others his whole life (HEPERU WHEN I GET U). He doesn't know what love is, only that to "love" something is to own it, because Heperu will "love" him as long as he is a good little pet. (I can also make a whole other thread on this actually, which will include many death threats towards Heperu) In turn, he wants her to own him, trusts her with his life, gains the will to live entirely on pictures of her face. But that's not what she wants. It fucks her up, to love someone with such a fucked up definition of love.

And in that midst, he basically has almost full control over her. In the sense that anything related to him is enough to rile her up, elicit extreme reactions out of her. She wants to hate him, which she does, but you can only really hate someone to that extent if they're constantly in your head. She cannot let go of him, which ironically causes him to have basically an iron grip over her mental state.

She "sacrificed" herself for him, which many acknowledge is for revenge, and I agree. It's like a final moment to reclaim something back from him, that slightest bit of ability to make him learn what pain is like how he had taught her so much of. But also, I like to think that she couldn't bear to see him die before her. He has too much over her, and with her already extremely unstable mental state it would straight up ruin her. Reminder: she saw posters of herself, and her first thought is "oh no, Luka is so going to have a collection of these, it's going to make him so happy" and she was RIGHT. With the way she is currently, if Luka was to die in front of her by her own comrades, she would not be able to let go of it for as long as she lives. In fact the messed up thing is that by choosing to sacrifice herself, it is an act of control in its own right, which may have been one of the few times she chose something for herself.

I enjoy dominant Hyuna and submissive Luka as much as everyone else, in fact probably more than the average alien stage fan, but I would love to see other interpretations of their dynamic because God they fascinate me :) hyperfixation ship lessgo

We need more Hyuna love in this fandom like did you see the poll they put on reddit? Unbelievable, all the people desire is gay yearning, and even in that Luka blows all Alien stage characters out of the water its not even close (can also make a thread on that)

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.