What we know about the intergalactic streetwalker

https://archive.fo/qVGP1

Timeline of events:
One night, about two years ago, OP is cleaning up his car dashboard in the driveway, clearing rust off the bottom. [Opening post & #21780863]
OP has his phone on hand and is using the light of the car to work on it, but the timer goes out. [#21781770]
OP continues working, since all he's doing is scraping rust from the dashboard, he decides that he doesn't need light that much and doesn't stop to turn it back on.
OP hears a loud bang, thinks it's a raccoon, and decides to take a picture, hoping the sudden flash will frighten it away.
OP looks at picture and sees an ayy.
OP turns on flashlight, no ayy to be seen. OP doesn't mention whether he noticed noise while looking at the image.
A couple days later, someone claims that they were responsible, but OP is not convinced. OP does not explain the relation of this person to him, it seems as though it may have been a random person that somehow knew about the incident. This would suggest a prank.
Fast forward to a few days ago. OP is told by a friend that /x/ might want to see the picture. [#21782150]
Anon begins a thread on /x/ with the alien picture a little while later, for some reason in a lower resolution than the original.
OP thread rapidly explodes with replies, garnering over a hundred responses in just a few hours of being posted. A few anons reported a sense of paranoia looking at the image, while others called certain details of the image into question.
OP clarifies a few points, anons in the thread notice this version is lower resolution, and ask that he post the original version. [#21781288, #21782914, #21781744]
OP is unable to connect the phone to either the Internet or another device, due to water damage. The phone appears to be a Samsung S3, with a five megapixel camera. [#21782936] It may also be a Google Nexus, a phone released eight years ago.
Anons in the thread call shenanigans, and OP takes a picture of the original resolution version that he cannot transfer, and posts it to the thread. [#21782936]
After some anons question the image based on this picture, OP uploads a gif that shows him moving the camera around the image, resolving most of the criticisms. [#21783225]
Thread continues exploding with activity until hitting bump limit, and a new thread is created.
OP appears in new thread, stating that he will hire someone from Craigslist to help him transfer the image. [#21786286]
Thread continues exploding with arguments on the authenticity of the photo, and a series of new threads is created where OP has yet to appear. An individual claiming to be OP stated that the phone was stolen from him, but did not provide a timestamp, thus we can assume for now that this post was probably just an imposter.

Don't be a faggot, OP! Deliver!

CRITICISMS VS COUNTERPOINTS:
1. The alien appears to be a flat, cardboard cutout.
* Objects illuminated by flash in a dark environment can have a similar appearance to a cardboard cutout, especially with a low quality camera. Furthermore, this alien appears to have some level of detail, especially in the eyes. Nothing like it has been found online, and OP would have probably had to pay a fair amount of money to get this prop just for the sake of a hoax.

2. The alien is coming out of the hood of the car.
* This is a shadow caused by flash.

3. There shouldn't be a shadow on the hood, because the camera is at the same level as the light.
* The phone may have been held sideways for the picture, placing the light beneath the camera lens.

4. The alien has no arms, and an obscenely wide body.
* The alignment of the car is covering most of where the arms are separated from the body, and the alien appears to be leaning in. It was described as tall by the OP, who said that after looking at the wall behind, he determined it was about  8' in height. Furthermore, high-contrast versions of the image reveal where the arms are parting. The wall behind is the same color, making it difficult to tell where the body's edges are.

5. The alien's arm ends before the driver's side window.
* It is possible that the position of the alien is such that the arm would not show in the driver side window, especially if it was leaning forward. It is also possible that distortion has eroded the edge of the arm, and that it is present but seamlessly blending into the wall. It is possible that this has something to do with why the image is cropped, but an anon posting to the second thread illustrated the perspective in a fairly logical way. [#21787857]

6. The alien's arm is clipping through next to the driver's side window.
* OP stated this is a car he is restoring, and it appears as though it is painted blue in that spot. This might be the paint chipping off, revealing the similar color as the alien underneath. It may also be artifacting.

7. The alien's face is asymmetrical.
* Most species on Earth are prone to being slightly asymmetrical. Human faces are rarely symmetrical, though we do not usually perceive this. It also appears as though the picture may have been taken just as the alien flinched, possibly affecting the eye closest to the flash first. This would match with the creature's surprised expression.

8. There's no reason that an alien would approach a person working on a car.
* OP was working under the dashboard and thus would likely not have been visible. The alien may have been curious as to why a seemingly empty machine was making noise, or was taking a closer look in an attempt to learn about human technology. This explains why the alien appears to be leaning in. In most cases, humans take pictures only after sighting an anomalous thing, and it is possible that the alien believed it would be easy to make a quick getaway beforehand. When OP suddenly took the picture, the alien was not suspecting it, thus why it appears to be surprised.

9. No one works on their car in the dark.
* OP stated that the only time he had to work on the car was at night [#21780778], and the timer on his phone light went out [#21781770]. Because all he needed to do was scrape the underside of a surface, he didn't bother to put the light back on. The low light may have been enough to allow sight of dark patches, but not a clear view of what was outside the car.

10. No one waits two years to post a picture of alien life.
* OP says he did not previously know about 4chan, strangely enough [#21782150]. He decided to post the picture at the recommendation of a friend.

11. OP has severely downplayed the importance of this image, which seems to indicate a fake.
* Certain cultures are desensitized to the existence of creatures like aliens or monsters, and accept them as reality, treating them like neighbors that you should just steer clear of. Alternately, admitting the image is a big deal may also have frightening implications for OP, given that he was visited by extraterrestrial life without even realizing it. He may be so convinced of the unlikelihood that he is unexcited about the image, though his first post ended with "Honestly, I think it's real."

12. An anon in a previous thread stated that he saw the image before.
* Many alien images are handed around /x/ and it is possible the anon was confusing it for another. Later in the same thread, after OP posted pictures of the car in the original image, the anon who stated he previously saw the image admitted he may have been wrong about having seen it. [#21781200]

13. Why did he take a picture instead of turning on the flashlight?
* The flashlight would have apparently taken more time than just taking a picture. OP hoped the flash of the image would be sufficient to frighten the source of the sound, not knowing what was outside the car.

14. It is suspicious that the phone is unable to transfer the image.
* The phone is probably quite old. The two suspected models for his phone, Samsung S3 or Google Nexus, came out in 2012 and 2010 respectively. If OP purchased his phone around this time, the phone could be up to eight years old. The phone allegedly received water damage as well. Multiple users of S3 have had problems with connecting to external devices after a few years.

15. There is no eyeshine, despite this photo apparently being taken in the dark with flash.
* Alien physiology would differ from humans and animals on Earth. A different layout of the anatomy of the eye could cause this not to occur.

16. The collarbone goes all the way around.
* This may be a reflection of the steering wheel. It may not be wrapping around but only appear that way due to distortion, particularly as it blends into the shadow of the neck.

17. The anatomy of this being is very similar to Earth lifeforms, despite appearing to match a stereotypical description of aliens.
* It need not necessarily be an alien, and it is possible that extraterrestrial life follows very similar rules to Earth, or that the structure of most space-faring civilizations is similar to humans.

18. The picture of the higher resolution version appears to extend behind the alien's head.
* OP addressed this by posting a webm of him rotating around the image [#21783225]. If this was a simple mistake on OP's part, it wouldn't make sense for him to make a webm where he shows off this mistake. The reflections on the window implies the figure is a real 3D object, or that the OP is good enough at digital manipulation to create that effect. There's no reason OP wouldn't just edit it and then post a webm of the edited version. It's possible that this part of the picture is distorted, as OP seemed to be alluding to with this webm. The area has some kind of reddish-brown saturation as he zooms in, perhaps merely because of pixelation.

19. There was no reason that OP should have posted it in a lower res, this was probably to avoid the image being detected as a fake.
* We can't disprove this. OP does have a phone that appears to be within an age range of 6-8 years, and this adds credence to his argument that the phone is broken, thus he cannot transfer the image. Getting a hi-res version would allow the image to be analyzed.

20. There is no reflection of the flash on the window.
* It seems as though there is a reflection on the forehead, on the steering wheel, and in the eyes. The picture was not taken indoors, so the flash may not have caused as strong a reflection.

21. An older car wouldn't have a timed light.
* It sure would! [#21788427]

22. OP knows how to timestamp, despite claiming to be new.
* He was informed how to timestamp after not knowing how [#21785048, #21785052, #21785058]. This claim also doesn't really add much to the story, so there's not much reason for OP to lie about it.

23. The head near the eye on the left side appears to be disjointed.
* This could just as easily be distortion or a shadow, impossible to say without the original. It appears to be symmetrical, though, implying that it is a biological feature.

24. The mouth is blurry, yet the rest of the image has clear and defined edges.
* It could be distortion in this area, though the appearance of the mouth is similar in appearance to the Photoshop airbrush, suspiciously. If the alien were moving its mouth at the moment of the photo, this might make the blur appear. Dirt or a smudge on the window could also account for this. Other lines in the picture appear to be blurred as well, which makes sense if OP merely lifted his camera and took a quick snap, as stated.

25. The eyes of the alien are extremely large, and should reflect more light, even without eyeshine. They appear to be smaller eyes that were sized up.
* It is possible that they reflect less light due to absorbing a high amount of it.

26. The image is too perfect, it ought to have more blurring and it's strange that the alien is in that specific pose just at the time of a picture.
The image is not without blurring. The alien appears to have tripped and fallen into the car, then looked into the sudden flash, corroborating OP's story that there was a loud bang that caused him to lift his phone and take a photo.


SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS VS COUNTERPOINTS:
1. The eyes appear too realistic to be fake, they reflect light and emotion like real eyes would, he appears to be very surprised.
* If the figure in the picture is a plaster mold, glass eyes would be possible. They could be a very detailed drawing, or animal eyes that have been resized to fit the face.

2. There appears to be veins and musculature under the skin of the alien.
* The image is too low resolution to be certain about the realism of these details. They may be painted, or even Photoshopped. There is no way to check that these details are edited in, because the OP gave us a picture of a picture, which is unedited in itself and thus appears unedited when inspected with analysis tools.

3. The image is unsettling and hard to look at, and seems to cause fear and nausea in some people.
* This happens every time there is an alleged supernatural picture, due to suggestion. In this case, the picture is of a gray, which is an archetype known to cause a great deal of guttural fear for many people. A fake image can render an emotional response just the same as a real one. The figure is leaning over, has unnatural proportions, is distorted, and is in strange lighting that causes it to appear almost like a painting in the real world.

4. The image is consistent with eye-witness reports of aliens.
* This doesn't really prove that it's real so much as it verifies that if it is faked, it was faked by a person who was intimately familiar with stories of close encounters. Given that this was posted on /x/, that isn't unlikely.

5. The image is intricately detailed and seems anatomically accurate.
* It is strange that a being from outer space has anatomy that parallels ours. This being has strangely human-like anatomy below the head.

6. The asymmetry of the being adds realism, because most beings are not perfectly symmetrical.
* Eyes are easy to fudge the angle of. It is quite easy to assume this supposedly realistic asymmetry is actually just a mistake on the part of the artist.

7. The strange flat-but-not-really appearance of the alien supports the story that it was taken in darkness.
* A cardboard cutout or window decal could look flat too. In addition, there's no guarantee it isn't simply a 3D object that had a picture taken of it with flash in the dark.

8. The reflection of the window is laid over the alien's face too well for it to be faked.
* This would happen if the alien were a 3D object such a plastic mold, not just if it were an organic being.

9. Nothing like the alien in the image has been found being sold anywhere online.
* The OP could have commissioned someone to create it, be a very talented artist that made it himself/have a talented prankster neighbor, or bought it from a local shop that doesn't sell its products online.

10. The image is unedited.
* The picture given to us is not the original, it is a picture of a picture, because the phone that he took it on is broken. There is no way for image analysis tools to detect edits on this image, because the picture itself is not edited, but the picture that is pictured could be. In addition, even if we had the original, a plaster mold or cardboard cutout would not cause the image to appear edited.

11. The QAnon countdown has ended and he alleged this is the time when alien life will be revealed.
* This only carries weight to those who follow QAnon.

12. The photo closely matches the account given by OP, appearing to be stumbling forward, having fallen into the car, which would have caused the banging noise heard by OP. [#21787857]
* If OP knew what story he was going to tell while crafting the image, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that he'd do so in a way that would match his planned background information.