Euntae Lee (이은태 Lee Eun Tae), also known as Vasco, is a supporting character in Lookism. He is a student in the architecture department at J High School and the leader of the Burn Knuckles.
Hong Jun Jia plays Euntae in the Chinese Lookism Drama.
Appearance[]
Euntae is a very well-built man, having toned muscles and a strong physique. He has tattoos on some parts of his chest and on his arms to cover up the vulgar tattoos bullies carved into him while in middle school. Euntae has fair skin, as well as a slender face and jet-black hair parted in the center. Euntae has dark, almond eyes with thin eyebrows. He has facial hair above his lips and a thin tuft of facial hair on his chin.
When Euntae was younger, he was a petite child with wider eyes and a less narrow chin. Even though he still had the same hairstyle and eyebrows, his features were much different from his current appearance.
When Euntae was in middle school, he grew taller and looked more attenuated than when he was a young child. His eyes grew narrower and his cheeks also grew more narrow. After getting bullied by three seniors, Euntae had bloody, vulgar tattoos scribbled all over his body.
After the Hostel Prologue, Euntae is seen with a new style where his hair has gotten much more slicked back and his facial hair more abundant. He also now sports a new orange jumpsuit with the Burn Knuckles emblem on his back and a black and white jacket with the Burn Knuckle emblem on both shoulders and pecs with the same bird tattoo that Euntae had on the left chest area.
Sometimes while in a fight, Euntae will wear a red Mongkol to honor his master, Brekdak. At first, he would wear the red one, but later getting a golden one as a testament to his improved skills.
Personality[]
Even being stated by Jace, Euntae is known to have a unique personality. Although he appears to look scary and menacing, Euntae is actually very pure-hearted and innocent. He cares deeply for those who get treated in an ill manner in society and risks his own life to protect them. Euntae believes that everyone should be treated fairly and the views of respect they achieve should be based on their actions, not on their looks. Euntae is also a strong-willed person, not afraid to keep trying his best to achieve his goals.
While he is a strong-minded and headstrong person, Euntae is surprisingly very sensitive and delicate whenever he is emotionally upset. Some examples are when he starts crying when girls bought other male students at the Auction but didn't want to buy him because they thought he looked too fearsome. Another moment when Euntae starts crying was when he said that people took him for a fool. Euntae is quite compassionate and appreciates the special bonds he has with his friends, especially Jace. Euntae also wants to help the less appreciated people in society become stronger so that they can defeat those who torment and oppress them.
Euntae seems to have a strong respect for teachers and higher authorities in general. He also has respect for the mama bear that raised him in one Night arc and even says that he can't ever lose in respect to his master Brendak.
As the story progresses, Euntae has an increase in his desire to grow. Originally branching from an empathetic mindset, he expressed a sensibility to others situations.[5] Believing that he should always save those who cannot fend for themselves and are weak, he ambitions to become a superhero for them, coming from his understanding of his experience in bullying and self-hatred. However, as result of his self-obsession with becoming a better person, Euntae transforms into believing anyone associated with wrongdoing is inherently bad, with no pity to understand their perspective. His mindset is revolutionized to become the 'villain' as of result. He states to Jake, "For me to beat the bad guys, I have to become one." [6]
History[]
When Euntae was a young child, he was good friends with Jace Park and they often played together with their Hero Man figures. While Jace acted more like how a normal child usually acts, Euntae was more inquisitive and curious than a normal child. He would question Jace about how Hero Man would use his role as a superhero for his actions and Jace would often hit him, slightly irritated by all these questions instead of playing like a normal child. Despite that, Euntae and Jace developed a close bond of friendship in their childhood and Euntae's mother would often give Jace snacks to thank him for being Euntae's only friend.
They soon reached middle school and met three bullies who were going to have Jace smoke with them, but Euntae told them not to since smoking 'is for losers'. This greatly insulted and embarrassed the three bullies and they tortured Euntae repeatedly. Afterward, Euntae disappeared from school and Jace was forced to bring him back.
Jace saw all of the crude tattoos and wounds Euntae had received from the bullies and they went to school to stand up for themselves. The bullies overpowered them, but Kim Joon Goo came and brutally beat the bullies, inspiring Euntae to become stronger.
Fighting Techniques[]
After doing 100 push-ups, 100 pull-ups, 100 squats and running 10 km every day for 2 years, Euntae is one of the strongest characters in the entire series. Many of the delinquents of middle school who dared challenge him were taken down from a single shoulder grab. Euntae's strength has been so overpowering, he has shown in numerous fights to simply take people out in a single move and even lift some up with a single hand. And while Euntae was unable to match with Daniel's new body, he was able to compete with him when he was drunk. Euntae is also incredibly fast as during the live streaming arc and Fake Bank account arc he is seen covering vast distances very easily.
When he met up with Joon Goo once again and after doubling his already insane workout, Euntae got progressively stronger. He lifted Logan Lee with one of his legs, bent steel bars in the Picnic arc and break bones casually. After his training from Brekdak, Euntae has some training in Muay Thai.
Finally, Euntae is known for his indomitable will power and endurance. He is willing to go through immense physical pain and never give in or surrender. His aura in fact as been noted to be terrifying to even gangsters.
After training with Brekdak and the bears for a short time, Euntae's strength and endurance grew unto unbelievable levels, as he still managed to attack after getting his legs crushed by Vin Jin. Given his golden Mongkol, it is implied that he has mastered his Muay Thai training and from living in the wilderness with his bear/master, he managed to unlock a new technique called the Death Blow: a powerful punch that can send people flying.
After retraining again with Brekdak for the month leading up to the Hunt for Big Deal arc, Brekdak himself stated that Vasco's physique and power is enough to take on just about anyone (but was eventually proven wrong as he couldn't handle a blow from James Lee), but that statement was holding up pretty well as the sheer force of his blows was pushing Mandeok extremely far back; Mandeok would have lost the fight as Mandeok himself thought that it is shocking that such as little body (stated by him) generated so much power.
Techniques Used[]
Runner's High
In the Worker's First Affiliate arc when Euntae was fighting against Eli Jang, It was revealed that the first forbidden move of Brekdak is actually controlling a phenomenon known as "Runner's High" where a person can feel euphoria after tremendous physical activity (like The Stage or Mastery). After rigorous training, Euntae was able to control the phenomenon and his eyes become pale white and his body unlocks its peak potential. Brekdak also mentioned that when the Runner's high is controlled, all other techniques that Euntae mastered can be evolved.
In the second half of the fight with Eli Jang, Euntae used the 1st Forbidden skill and immediately overpowered Eli, defeating him. Eli noticed at that moment Euntae's speed, destructive power, and all other physical aspects doubled. Unlike Daniel when using Ultra Instinct in his second body, he loses all control and becomes a fighting machine, Euntae maintains his sanity while using Runner's High.
Muay Thai[]
- Death Blow
Brekdak's Forbidden Skills[]
- Skill No. 01: Hero/ The Runner's High
- Skill No. 02:
- Skill No. 03: Compressed Low Kick
- Skill No. 04: Unlimited Kneading
- Skill No. 05: Piercing The Intestines
- Skill No. 06:
- Skill No. 07: Mince The Dough
- Skill No. 08: Rice Bag Smash
- Skill No. 09: Super Strength Strikes
- Skill No. 10:
Other Techniques[]
- Shoulder Grab[7]
- Bear Style
Quotes[]
- "If you cower, suffer and cry out, they feel superior. They bully to show off in front of others. If I do as they want me to, that means I lose. I don't wanna lose."[8]
- "In order not to give in to anyone, I will overcome this."[9]
- "For me to beat the bad guys, I have to become one." [10]
Trivia[]
- Euntae is modeled after Bill Stax. a South Korean rapper.
- Brekdak and most of the characters in the anime pronounce Euntee nickname as "Basco" due to the V sounding like a B while saying it in a Korean accent.
- Aside from doing suggested training regiments from Goo, Vasco also attends a gym.
- Euntae loves dogs, especially Golden Retrievers.
- When Daniel Park was taking care of Inu, he really wanted to see her and was excited to see the puppies, he never knew Jay Hong was actually taking care of them.
- There are at least 5 particular panels that are humorously repeated in which Euntae is shown with a tear streaming down his face with Jace witnessing this and thinking to himself, "Euntae..."
- There were a lot of references to One Punch Man referencing Euntae
- When Euntae asks Joon Goo how he can get stronger, Joon Goo's advice to Euntae is to do one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a 10 km run each day. This seems to be a reference One Punch Man, Episode 3.
- Moreover, in the Lee Euntae arc, Jace gets angry at the bullies when he sees them after they'd grown up, saying that, because of them, he'd had to train so hard with Euntae he'd almost gotten bald, which is also a Saitama reference.
- Another reference is in Episode 112, when Euntae tells Daniel to go on a diet, he is given a banana to eat in the morning, which also seems to reference the diet Saitama talks about in One Punch Man, Episode 3.
- The nickname "Vasco" was given to Euntae because "Vasco" in the universe of the work is a cartoon/comic hero, who fights for justice by protecting the weak.
References[]
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 9
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Listed in the Japanese Profile
- ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%B4%EC%9D%80%ED%83%9C?from=%EC%9D%B4%EC%9D%80%ED%83%9C%2528%EB%B0%95%ED%83%9C%EC%A4%80%2520%EC%9C%A0%EB%8B%88%EB%B2%84%EC%8A%A4%2529Listed in the Korean wiki
- ↑ Lookism Animated series IMDB page https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22297722/
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 210
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 31
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 9
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 54
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 56
- ↑ Webtoon, Episode 31