but how did the walrus knock

My take on the walrus vs fairy thing:

Right now, when I am not face-to-face with either, I do consider a real, magical fairy to be more unlikely than a walrus at my door (although the walrus would also be exceedingly unlikely).

However, in the moment?

In the case of the fairy, my first thought would be (depending on the appearance of the fairy): person in a costume? Hummingbird? Large insect? Trick of the light? All of those are much more likely (and less alarming) than either a fairy or a walrus, and would have to be ruled out before the true strangeness of the situation could really set in.

But a walrus? I would know immediately what I was looking at, how unlikely it is, and how dangerous it is.

In short, a fairy would make me blue-screen, but a walrus would make me scream and slam the door. Up to you which you would define as "more surprised," I guess.

I have no idea how this started but the fairy and walrus meme has brought me so much joy after several days of intense depressing stress. It's made me laugh. It's made me smile. Its made me feel like this world is still worth living in. The op of this should be so freaking proud. I have no idea who they are but they made a beautiful thing.

Thank you, Walrus vs Fairy OP. <3

Dying at the idea of a fairy au for any of the idiot brigade and extended cast 😭

I'm not sure if you mean the Idiot Brigade finding a fairy, or the Idiot Brigade being fairies but oh my god the chaos of either of those things delights me to no end hahaha

Also I just got a very strong image of a sour, sharp-tongued Devon-fairy and giggled like a dingbat.

(One of) my personal headcanons about sky kids is that they're basically just cats with two legs and wings. Like in my head I see them lounging around all stretched out n stuff. Maybe sleeping in places they shouldn't perhaps. Possibly knocking a few things over for fun. Yknow. I mean, they even screech randomly at everything and anything. Coincidence? I think not.

No one should care but ive been thinking about it and my take is that the root of the walrus/fairy question is one specific word used by the original poll: "surprised". The question is not which would change your worldview or which is more/less possible to really happen. The question is which *surprises* you more. To me, this means which causes a stronger immediate surprise reaction in you upon opening that door. In essence, how bad do you flinch?

This, to me, is why so many people (including myself!) choose Walrus. A walrus is an immediate situation! That's an animal larger and stronger than you are, one that I would say is potentially very dangerous, that many people have never seen in real life. And now it's your responsibility and on your doorstep! A walrus on a doorstep is a novel idea, at least to me. I don't think I've ever had an animal just appear at my door, and certainly never knock. Sure, after the gut reaction dies down, the mundanity of the situation is certain; a walrus is a real animal and the perpetrator is likely nearby, laughing at the world's weirdest ding-dong ditch prank. But for a few seconds, it's just you, your expectations upon opening a door, and a pinniped of unusual size.

Now let's examine the fairy; The term can be vague, but I think most people imagine a generally humanoid but very small creature with insect wings. First off, by being small, the fairy will likely not trigger a defensive response, unlike the walrus. This thing is not an immediate threat, at least to your subconcious. Also, by being humanoid, usually with a very human face and features, this changes the situation from "strange beast on my doorstep" to "strange person on my doorstep". Obviously this may be different from person to person, but I think "strange small person on my doorstep" would illicite much weaker response from my flight or fight reflex than a large, strange animal. This is nothing to say about the familiarity most people have with fantasy and fantasy ideas, and the lack of familiarity most people have with walrus' in general, but I think those are also factors.

back six months after saying i should probably post my ocs at some point hi guys heres a fairy guy i've been working on they are incredibly normal

also the walrus vs fairy debate is funny but I feel many people miss the spirit of it. It says walrus OR fairy. By saying the walrus is a fairy you are ultimately trying to create a middle ground that does not exist. The spirit of it is to assume that your options are a genuine real walrus, or a genuine real fairy. It would be equally wrong to try and say "well the fairy could just be a person in a costume". You lose the spirit of the question.

one thing vis a vis the walrus/fairy debate which was at least a large contribution to my own choice when i voted was the word surprised

if i find a fairy at my doorstep, im probably going to blue screen. like holy shit. first thing im gonna ask myself shit is this real or an elaborate hoax? and presuming i can get past this and conclude the fairy is real, im now gonna have to have a crisis regarding magic being real and my whole worldview being incorrect. i would seriously be going through it at that moment.

but in terms of surprise? i open the door and the whole doorway is blocked by a giant creature with tusks and a mustache and SHITTTTT! i slam the door, panicking.

its not about the plausibility of either scenario. i can invent a zoo mishap that results in a walrus at my doorstep, it's unlikely but possible. ill get over it. the emotional fallout of the fairy encounter is gonna be waaaaaay bigger than the walrus.

but in terms of pure shock factor, in the moments BEFORE i think everything through? my gut just says walrus.

I saw a drawing, but I can't find it again, of a fairy and walrus, where the fairy says, "I'll try these doors, you try those, and maybe we'll find someone who can help."

And I love it, because it makes me wonder, on a level where my life makes no sense, if walruses are also fae folk.

The fairy has come from the fae realm to rescue the walruses from zoos and such, but he's tiny, so he needs help. He gets one of his walrus friends from his realm to start knocking on doors in one neighborhood, while he knocks on doors in another neighborhood, not knowing that the sight of the walrus will, in fact, shock people to their core.

They also fail to realize that humans do not speak walrus, so there's a lot of miscommunication when the humans call animal control.

(if anyone can find the picture I'm talking about, please reblog it. I wanna keep it. It's adorable.)

it's a sunday afternoon, you're not expecting company and you've got no plans or you might be nude depending on how you interpret the phrase "you've nothing on" and you suddenly hear a knock at the door

Yes, I am still thinking about My Journey to You constantly so here's a list of things I did not expect this drama to include

microexpressions. The way the camera lingers on every complex little weird emotional moment these characters are having. didi's face when gong shangjue feeds shangguan qian. gong shangjue in the hall of the elders. every silent conversation between yun weishan and shangguan qian. for that matter, every silent conversation between gong ziyu and jin fan. the emotional turmoil is always front and center and that's how I like it.

actual voices. all the dialogue is captured on set, so the actors are allowed to do things like interrupt each other, speak quietly, WHISPER so we get scenes like the one where yuanzhi says "what are your orders, gege?" except he's crazy person whispering when he says it and you just know there's murder in the air. IT'S GOOD. (there are also at least 2 scenes where there was clearly some kind of on-set audio problem and they had to clean it up in post and just barely succeeded, and I really appreciate that commitment to NOT dubbing over literally any of the audio)

cameras and lighting. there's real cameras in there, they move across great distances and follow the actors around the room and utilize depth of field and even go underwater sometimes. plus it's mostly filmed in a real-ass location so the lighting is soft and natural instead of washed out by studio floodlights. IMAGINE. everyone's cheekbones are looking GOOD in this one.

relatedly they do the water scenes with REAL WATER. something you'd never think to clarify but here we are in cdramaland!!! it's real water!!!

still thinking Abt Fabian fumbling mazey so hard and then lou saying in the ap that it's bc all of fabian's bravado is stripped down when he's alone