01. About those things that I was unfortunately arrested when I was cos
Although people have not yet found a way to enter the two-dimensional world, many ACG enthusiasts have learned to "do the opposite" and use cosplay to turn themselves into "two-dimensional" in order to fulfill their small wishes.
For coser, the more his costumes, props, and makeup are restored to the character, the more he can be satisfied.
Unfortunately, not everyone can accept nearly 100% reduction, especially some characters that are incompatible with the real world or are easily associated with various negative information, which often cause displeasure among passers-by and even disrupt public order.
At this time, the police, who are the guardians of the city, have to deal with it, so there are the following ironic pictures:
People have lost their feet and horses have lost their hooves, and the lucky people of the super high school level will also have the unfortunate day of arrest;
Who would have thought that the Rockets, who had been the villain for decades, would lose at the hands of the three-dimensional police; I wonder when the trio would recover their good feelings after this "arrest"?
The police and the strange thief are inseparable, and since Joker dares to walk on the street, the police with a sense of justice will naturally not turn a blind eye;
Joker, who was also arrested, and we are all More Flamenco, even if he is in the Shibuya street that can accommodate multiculturalism, the strange dress can not avoid the risk of being greeted by the police;
Of course, the American branch is not much better, he who represents terror, naturally it is impossible to gain freedom in the free United States;
However, the real puzzling point is that even the old enemy of the American Joker, Batman, has been arrested, presumably this scene has broken the hearts of many DC fans;
Speaking of the "arrested" thieves, we have to mention our little brother Wu Evil, as the grandson of the old nine-door dog and the fifth master, the head of the Wu family, he still has to obediently capture in front of the police uncle;
In fact, many times, "super-powered people" cannot escape the arrest of the police. For example, Dante, who shined in the demon world and the human world, was also defeated in the real world under cold handcuffs;
Even in the kingdom of Arendelle, you are the Ice Queen who can summon the wind and rain, and you may be escorted into the police car by the police before casting the spell;
Also the "Queen", the heroic spirit of Great Britain also caused panic among local tourists because of the "gun" walking around the beach at will, and had to ask the police to stop it;
Police: We're trained and we don't laugh...
Unfortunately, not every scene of coser arrest is as dramatic as the above.
As early as May 4, 2020 (Star Wars theme anniversary designated by Star Wars fans), a woman who cosified as a stormtrooper was violently arrested by the police, causing quite a stir in local social circles.
This woman was originally an employee of a Star Wars theme bar in Canada, and on the same day she dressed herself as a Stormtrooper at the request of her boss to interact with Star Wars fans, but because of the special dress of the Storm Soldier, both masked and armed, she was mistaken by many unsuspecting passers-by as an outlaw, so she called the police and asked the police to come and respond.
When the police arrived in front of the woman, they immediately asked her to disarm and crouch down to facilitate the search; however, embarrassingly, due to the limitations of the armor, the woman could not successfully complete this action, although she explained to the police that she was only imitating the role in Star Wars, but the police, who still did not understand the reason, took compulsory measures to press the woman to the ground, which eventually caused the woman to be injured in the process of struggle.
Admittedly, realistic cos can indeed bring some surprises to the audience of the work, but for passers-by who are not aware of the cos circle and its works, too weird costumes and props can easily cause panic among them.
In fact, there have been some cases of "coser killing (injuring) people", so in some countries or regions where malicious injuries occur frequently, these cosers are easily regarded as "terrorists", ranging from inviting them to the bureau for tea or physically clashing and causing casualties.
Therefore, the "coser arrest" is not all a small episode that can be laughed off, and there are still many questions worth thinking about behind it.
02. Why catch coser?
At the end of 2020, an American coser named Mary Anne Oliver (Mary) became popular on the Internet and became the target of a group of netizens.
Since 2016, Mary has been active in short video platforms, gaining 1.6 million fans with hot and exquisite cosplay and sexy hot dance, and is also a little famous in the European and American cosmospheres.
Usually, in addition to updating cos photos and videos, Mary will also upload some tutorials on makeup to teach fans how to restore the two-dimensional character. The popular roles of the national team's 02 and clown girls are all within her cos range; in addition, her most enthusiastic works are the "Projectile Theory" series, before and after, she cos-crossed the Enoshima Shield, Monaka, Sin Wood Honey Orange and other roles;
Those who are familiar with this work have probably found that these characters have some sick elements, and in the plot, they are indeed stained with the blood of many people.
Perhaps influenced by these characters, Mary often used walls stained with red or pink paint as a backdrop when shooting cos videos.
(It is worth mentioning that in "Projectile Theory", the color of blood is pink)
At first, fans thought that Mary simply liked the characters whose experiences were a bit special, and naturally did not substitute their experiences on the coser. However, what fans never expected was that in 2021, a document exposed by the local court completely broke their illusions.
According to the documents, on January 17, 2021, Mary invited six friends to a cocktail party at her home and watched the TV series "Gotham" based on the "Batman" series. As the party progressed deeper, Mary and several friends also launched a drunken madness and began to make a small fuss.
Just then, Mary pulls out the pistol that her ex-boyfriend left for herself, and because her ex-boyfriend mentions that the gun does not have bullets, Mary and her friends play with the "toy" without any worries. Among them, a friend named Helen had a whim and asked Mary to "shoot" herself with this pistol.
At this time, Mary was already drunk, naturally she would not check the magazine of the gun, and after Helen issued an invitation, Mary did not hesitate to shoot her in the head. But what no one present expected was that the gun was not only equipped with bullets, but also loaded without their knowledge.
Helen, who was hit by a bullet at close range, naturally fell down immediately, and although Mary and her friends did first-aid measures at the first time and sent her to the hospital for rescue, it was still a lack of surgery. Helen eventually died of her injuries.
After the incident, although Mary was arrested by the police, because she voluntarily handed in bail, she only needed to wear electronic shackles to move freely. After restoring her "free body", she quickly returned to a normal life, wearing makeup, updating cos videos, and continuing to circle fans, until the court exposed the case, fans realized that the coser was actually a murderer, and never showed a trace of flaws and guilt.
As things fermented, some netizens dug up more black material: Mary once used "You are bleeding... Red means I love you" song as background music for the video; she always shows her sick breath when shooting "Blood Wall"; in one location, she and her friends sat directly on the tombstone without permission from the cemetery manager to take pictures...
At this point, many netizens have expressed trepidation, thinking that Mary is not in the cosmopolitan, but uses the role of the sick petite to show the inner distortion.
Although Mary's ending was scolded by netizens to the point of sale, and eventually still had to accept legal sanctions, people also realized that cosplay, as a way to change her appearance, is likely to become a fake face, or cover up the inner ugliness, or show their emotions. So much so that people can't see through coser's original intentions.
Coincidentally, on October 31, 2021, the eve of Halloween, a knife-wielding arson occurred on the Tokyo subway line. The 24-year-old suspect, dressed as Gotham Joker on the same day, wounded people with knives in a subway car, and most tourists had to climb through the window to escape due to the narrow doors.
In the end, the incident resulted in 17 injuries, 3 of whom were seriously injured.
After that, the suspect also ignited the combustible materials he carried in the carriage, and smoked indifferently in the unmanned carriage, sometimes looking around, sometimes showing a strange smile, like a Joker in DC.
After the incident, the police promptly arrested the suspect, according to the investigation of the man was unemployed before committing the crime, the motive of the crime is suspected to be due to the work is not smooth and retaliate against the society.
It is precisely because of the above precedents that the general public naturally raises their guard against some suspicious people dressed in disguise. Gradually, in some subculturally developed areas, unwritten rules were laid down that it was necessary not to dress up in public places.
Taking Japan as an example, although Japan is an extremely tolerant country for subcultures and the main front of cos culture, cosers will hardly carry out cosplay activities in public places with many people, and if they really need it, they must obtain permission from the managers of public places in advance to avoid misunderstandings among general tourists.
The reason why the above-mentioned suspect who committed the crime in the subway did not attract the attention of passers-by in advance was because the day of the murder was on the eve of Halloween, and a large-scale cross-dressing event was being held on the streets of Tokyo, and the suspect saw this and carried out a simple disguise to imitate Joker's criminal activities.
In fact, even without these bloody examples, cosplay activities should be based on the premise of not disturbing public order, causing public misunderstanding or panic, after all, after dressing up, "you" is no longer "you", but a maverick, incompatible with the real world character.
Although the original intention of most people is to meet their own spiritual needs, there is indeed no shortage of malicious people who use their faces to do evil, and many times it is not a bad thing to be more vigilant.
03. Conclusion
Of course, the characters are fictional, and everything they do in their respective works is fictional, and the coser's evil deeds cannot be equated with the characters or blamed on the characters. In the end, it is man-made, and people with real malice never care about disguise.
It is just that it is helpless that these criminals in the name of coser have finally stigmatized the behavior of cos, making ordinary people treat those who really love cosplay coldly, and causing an embarrassing situation of "tragic arrest" one by one.
I sincerely hope that these misunderstandings can be gradually solved with the development of cosplay culture, and form a perfect management mechanism, so that cosers can play others in public, and also let the general tourists have a strong interest in cosplay.
This may be the best way to get cos to remove stigma.