Let's Talk About Till's Feelings in the New AU..
Hello guys, long time no see!
I finally graduated, and with the upcoming content, I'll probably start posting analyses again.
One thing I've been seeing lately is people worrying about Till's feelings for Mizi and Ivan in the new AU, so I wanted to throw my thoughts into the discussion.
First of all, I think the panic is a little unnecessary. We have one comic. A few blushes don't automatically confirm anything, and honestly, the fact that Till's first thought is getting Mizi's autograph is already pretty telling.
He's hearing all these disturbing descriptions and still somehow ends up focusing on admiring her and thinking about getting an autograph instead. If that's not evidence of him idealizing her, I don't know what is.
Also, this AU takes place in a much healthier environment than Alien Stage. Because of that, I actually think it'll be easier to see Till's admiration and idealization of Mizi without all the trauma surrounding it.
As you know, I have always stood by the fact that Till's feelings towards Mizi are largely admiration and idealization. This is the hill that I will die on. I don't think his attachment is rooted deeply enough to be considered genuine romantic love.
Back in Alien Stage, Till viewed Mizi as a perfect, unreachable goddess. She represented hope, comfort, kindness, and freedom in a world that gave him very little of any of those things. In many ways, she became a coping mechanism. He wasn't seeing Mizi as a complete person with flaws and complicated feelings, he was seeing what she represented to him.
Till himself, after growing up and joining the rebellion, described those feelings as childish love. To me, that says a lot. It suggests that even Till recognizes that his attachment was built on an idealized image rather than a deep romantic understanding of who Mizi actually was as a person.
As for this new AU, I genuinely don't see anything particularly romantic so far. He literally thinks about getting her autograph. Where does it outright say, "I'm in love with this girl"?
If anything, it reinforces my point. In Alien Stage, he saw her as a goddess. In this AU, he seems more likely to see her as an idol. Different setting, same pedestal.
Before anyone hits me with "Till is bi!" or "You're biphobic!", I think analyzing Till's attachment to both Mizi and Ivan is important. I'm not erasing anything. I'm talking about the nature of his attachment.
When I look at Till's feelings for Mizi, I don't see someone longing for a romantic partnership. He knows Mizi loves Sua. He doesn't spend his time imagining a relationship with her. He doesn't fantasize about dating her. He doesn't pursue reciprocity.
A romantic crush is usually accompanied by wanting the other person to notice you back, wanting some form of mutual relationship, or hoping for partnership, or even dreaming about it for example how life would be if they got into relationship, or how would the other act like a partner towards you. Till's attachment has never really centered around that. Instead, he admires Mizi from afar and places her on a pedestal.
To me, admiration, idealization, and even attraction can coexist without forming the foundation of romantic love.
So until the AU gives us more than a few blushes and an autograph joke, I don't see any reason to abandon the interpretation that Till primarily admires Mizi rather than romantically pursuing her.
> Also, as an IvanTill fan, I'm not gonna lie, it's a little tiring seeing people immediately jump to "Oh no, IvanTill is one-sided again." > Haven't we spent the last year collectively agreeing that Ivan and Till were a tragedy of misunderstanding and timing? Their feelings didn't get the chance to properly develop because one of them literally died. > We have one AU comic. One. > Nobody seems to be questioning HyuLuka based on these panels, so I'm not really sure why IvanTill is suddenly being put on trial either.