#ASK US STUFF

[ihopesocomic]

Hoping the girls are enjoying some mimosas rn while Edge is screaming

What they're up to off-screen. - Cat

[ihopesocomicask]

So uh, thanks for not killing off your one* disabled character to prove how morally gray the rest of your cast is, or how dark and edgy your plot is.

*Point of fact, thanks for having multiple disabled characters and giving them names and traits other than "is disabled and isn't it sad when they die."

It has been a rough couple of weeks in the talking animal comics sphere. I Hope So has certainly been an oasis, and I am so glad it is back to updating.

"It's been a rough couple of weeks in the talking animals comic sphere." When is it NOT a rough time in the talking animals comics sphere? lol

Not saying there's not good animal comics out there but some really do a good job of being needlessly edgy and dark in exchange for any semblance of good writing.

There's nothing wrong with actually playing into it like you would if you were writing up a horror movie but I'm sure tired of this theme of people trying to clout chase and promote their story as progressive and then it's basically throwing in serious themes with no consideration on how to handle them.

It's just "hey, I covered this serious theme but I'm not going to cover it with any amount of seriousness whatsoever actually: gimmie kudos now!".

Don't even get me started on how there's a misconception that including "adult" themes automatically makes your story mature and sophisticated either. You have early Disney movies that did a great job of appealing to adults without having to include gore or sexual themes to appeal to adults, for example. lol And killing off a disabled character doesn't need to be automatically a bad choice narratively either. It all depends on the kind of narrative you want to deliver.

A woefully dark storyline isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are quite a few movies I enjoy (Fluke being a major example) that are relentlessly heartbreaking and sad. The problem comes from people - like I've just mentioned - thinking that just including minorities experiencing relentless tragedy automatically makes their story compelling escapism on its own when that's not how these things work. If you want to appeal to these minorities, don't use said minorities to simply make people outside of said minority groups feel sad for them before ultimately casting them aside once they've served their purpose.

I appreciate that I rambled a tad here but yeah, just wanted to go over why what you mentioned bothers me too. lol - RJ

[strayk9s]

Is it bad to tell the psychologist your symptoms but pretend not to know what DID/OSDD is so they’ll take you seriously? Our therapist doesn’t believe you can know you’re a system before diagnosis so we just have been telling her our symptoms without saying we are self diagnosed we aren’t adding any symptoms we don’t have just telling the truth about those

I don’t think it’s an issue! DID is the last case scenario for many places, and some professionals don’t even acknowledge OSDD. When we first brought up our symptoms, we played it off like we didn’t know much about either disorder. Then, as the therapist worked with us, we started to slowly bring in our knowledge on things. Eventually, it was to the point where it was clear we were all on the same page. Even getting comfortable enough to show our alter list on simply plural. Then, soon, we were diagnosed after more analysis.

I definitely don’t see an issue with it, especially if it’s to get the diagnosis you’re looking for because getting diagnosed can already be difficult! If you have another question or want me to elaborate on anything, just let me know!

-K9

[ask-thetulparcrew]

Ask the Inter-Systemic Tulpar Crew!

Hello all! I've been debating how to begin this post, but I figure no time like the present! This account is a Muthwashing-related ask blog! The difference between this and other ask blogs that are Mouthwashing-related is that the answers will be provided by introjects of the characters from the game! This account currently is ran by 3 systems: The Treehouse Tavern System (myself), the Moonlight Nightshade System, and the Mystery Box System! From those systems, we have a Curly fictive (TT), Anya fictive (MN) and a Daisuke fictive (MB). What is a system, you might ask? In my own words, a system is a form of trauma response. When under heavy duress as a child, when the brain is still forming, the brain might find it simpler to attach a train of thought onto a different direction, making a new pseudo-personality to better handle certain situations! As this person grows, their stresses become more complex, and so new alters (or personalities, if you will) are made. In most cases, these alters may be mirror images of fictional characters that the person might have become attached to! These fictives/introjects may then have memories of what life was like before entering the system! This ask blog will allow people, as well as ourselves to discover what each fictive's world was like! I do hope we find ourselves some people that share a love for the game as we do, and remember that these alters are distinct people; inextricably connected to their source material, but not exactly like them!

[dhddmods]

First things first, we are going to make it very clear that vaginal hypoplasia most definitely can cause pain during penetration! That is an extremely common experience for people with vaginal agenital traits. It already can be uncomfortable as-is for people with a moderate vagina, so having a vagina that is small or partially blocked can be really painful.

Second, the questioning of vaginismus vs vaginal agenital traits is so real, and is a common phenomenon we've seen. We wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people diagnosed with vaginismus actually have an agenital trait instead.

We feel you very heavily about researching intersexuality being a pain. Its always a shit load of intersexism, either through intersexist language, through recommendations to "fix" it, or through visual gore.

Its really difficult for us to give you much of anything as a resource, because most of these sites are, well, intersexist. And you have probably read the same things we have at this point. Most of our resources are the typical ones around the internet (medical sites, wikipedia, etc) which have a lot of intersexist bias.

Even the intersex wiki's article on it is very small, unfortunately. It even says "In practice, it is usually discussed as a trait of a larger genetic syndrome or phenotype (e.g. Müllerian agenesis, AIS), rather than as an intersex variation on its own."

There's really limited non-intersexist discussion on it. However, people with MRKH syndrome and AIS do discuss it often, as referenced above, so you might find some luck researching those variations specifically.

Intersex resources are lacking severely due to medical abuse and erasure. We wish we had better answers for you.

[thegroveofgreatgods]

Anybody got questions for the two of us? Like questions about the game or our voice acting? Ask away cuz I feel like answering things X]

[metallicarahhhhh]

nerris do you think harrison and preston are cute together?? (dont show this to harrison!!)

Listening to hamilton while drawing asks is peak

[ihopesocomic]

Why exactly is Jasper so awful to those around him? He seemed to have it all. Good parents and good friends (Opal seems like the nicest guy going and Flint was probably the same, even if he's dead and we don't know much about him) and yet he's turned out to be such a terrible individual? I don't feel sad for him whatsoever but I feel sad that he had so many opportunities to do better and he turned them down and for what? Just so he could have a slight hint of power and not hear the word 'no'?

The scariest thing is that - sometimes - people don't need a reason or an "excuse" to be awful people. And - in my honest opinion - I find them more deplorable and scary than those who appear to have a reason.

Jasper is based on a few individuals I know irl who have hailed from circumstances anyone would've killed to have. Stable family upbringing, given everything they could want and straight up having their butts wiped for them well into adulthood. Yet, they turned out to be entitled and abusive anyway.

Kudos to y'all if you've never come across this phenomenon but my personal guess is that you can love your kids so much and give them the things you felt you were deprived of in life (neither of Jasper's parents came from loving, stable families) and said kid can still turn out thinking they're the biggest victim imaginable.

I think it all boils down to victimhood being a very popular commodity nowadays and Jasper certainly plays into this. Jasper would obviously have a very different view on how he was treated in the Thundering Mountains if he was ever given a chance to lie his head off. Because he wants to be pitied and validated in how everybody but him is awful. He viewed advice on how to be a better person as a personal attack and he especially viewed being made a Squire as a way for his parents to 'get him out of the way' when there was absolutely no evidence to suggest this. He was given a position of trust but because he personally viewed the position as beneath him, he took it as an insult. And yes, him having the slightest hint of power and being in control (especially in control of his own narrative aka 'main character syndrome') also had everything to do with it. - RJ

[ihopesocomic]

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO OUR GAY LIONS

[ihopesocomic]

When writing a villain, I had hopes of writing them as an abusive dude like Jasper, (or the entire casting of My Pride lmao) but honestly. I find it kinda hard sometimes to intentionally create an abusive character (do they need an explanation on why they are the way they are, etc...)

Do you have some advice please? 🙏

Villains don't need an explanation to be the way they are. For some reason, people are just really hung up on villains having to be "sympathetic" (complex) nowadays when we know there are villains out there that are cool villains even if their reasoning is non-existent or petty. Maleficent is one of Disney's most popular villains for example... and her whole motivation is she never got invited to a party. lol To be honest, people being the way they are just because is far scarier than any reasoning. I'm into true crime and the amount of people who seem to think murderers walk about with a huge sign declaring their evil intent and veer into victim blame-y behaviour (major reason why the true crime community is toxic) isn't even funny. Sometimes, the person you thought you could trust can be the most dangerous person imaginable. I also think what helps is that myself and Cat have experiences with abuse so it might be worth looking into how those with experience describe their abuse and the behaviour of their abuser. There's no shortage of testimonies out there. Just do research into the psychology behind it when it comes to victim and abuser and the rest should fall into place fairly easily. That's all I can recommend. - RJ

[ihopesocomic]

Hi, so I'm making a character tab in TV Tropes of your comic. Can I use the "Mane Four" moniker for the four main characters?

Yep, do whatever you want. We don't even own that moniker. My Little Pony was out here calling their main cast "Mane Six" long before IHS ever became a thing. lol And for future reference, nobody needs permission to maintain the TV Tropes page. Just go right ahead and contribute if y'all wanna. - RJ

[ihopesocomic]

Since were all gonna die theres one more secret i feel ineed to share with you. I did not care for storms hair. /ref

You're just salty you can't rock it like she can, anon. c: - RJ

[ihopesocomic]

Small question, I remember that it was mentioned that Quiet is younger than Adamant (but do correct me if I'm wrong). Since they are littermates, does this mean that Adamant and Quiet are twins?

We never confirmed whether Quiet was the younger of the two. I always imagined she was the first born personally. And yea I think that would make them twins. - Cat

-

To be fair, you can still have the older and younger kid when it comes to twins. I knew a set of twins who were born on different days, for example (one born at 11:45PM and his twin didn't come until half an hour later - past midnight for the following day - which meant his brother was technically a day older lol).

Also, turns out we did confirm Quiet was the youngest so yep: guess that means she's the youngest. lol - RJ

[ihopesocomic]

I think my favorite moment in the comic(or at least recent pages) is Hope defending Fade. Because it's not just as simple as her telling the hyenas to leave him alone. She's hurt, she's almost been killed twice now in the last few minutes, she has a gaping wound, she had no idea the hyenas weren't even going to attack her so she was willing to fight them off for Fade

AND SHE STILL DID IT

She couldve gotten hurt or killed and she still protected him because it was the right thing to do

I love Hope I swear someone give her a bandaid and juice box

SHE'S A GOOD BEAN! She couldn't just let him possibly get killed. He's just a pathetic little guy. - Cat

[ihopesocomic]

Are Hope's cheek tufts in the latest panel intentional to look like her aunt? Cuz I love that

Nope, she's just a bit scuffed up from the fight and hasn't had a chance to tidy herself up but she does develop tufts like Clever as an adult. c: - RJ

[ihopesocomic]

I absolutely adore that Amber is straight, because as a trans person myself, seeing straight trans people in media feels so rare. They need representation too!

Thank you so much. It's why we're always discouraging people from turning Amber and other straight trans characters gay because like you say, they're very low on the ground in media.

But yes, Amber is totally the type to go gaga over the guys and have boyband posters up on her walls and shit and we love her for that. lol - RJ