About that New 52 Batgirl Variant Cover

I tried not to comment about this but of course, I failed in avoiding the comments section. It saddens me that some people cannot do better but express their opinion by calling others names. I prefer to let others know what I think in hopes that maybe they'll see another perspective. I'm not expecting anyone to change their opinion but here's mine.

From a marketing perspective

In an article from Bloody Disgusting, Zac Thompson argues that while "variant covers are for avid fans", this particular one is "tonally inconsistent and it's not very empowering". The New 52 Batgirl is just simply not for the people who were fans of the Joker or The Killing Joke. New 52 Batgirl variants should be for Batgirl fans and therefore should have a cover presenting how much of a strong character Batgirl is.

I don't buy the whole "this cover shows her suffering and how she overcame it". No. It doesn't show how she overcame it. To me, it looks like she's completely dominated by the Joker that there is nothing left for her to do but tear up and fear for her life. The emotions are captured so well that I could feel the fear in her eyes and I, as a woman, imagine myself in her situation and feel for myself too. Is that empowerment? I don't think so.

I'm not being conservative. One of my favorite movies is The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. Heck, I love David Fincher movies. But do we see any movie posters depicting how violent those movies are? I haven't. For Lisbeth Salander of Dragon Tattoo, *SPOILERS* she was sexually assaulted as well. Raped, to be blunt. Despite the recurring moments in the book and movie about how she was repeatedly taken advantaged of, the promos and ads made for the movie, depicted her as the independent, self-sufficient person that she is.

I admit that I might be missing a reference but what reference is the cover really trying to make? If we're talking about the part that Joker sexually assaulted Batgirl, then it was successful. But is that really what Batgirl is about? This New 52 Batgirl, specifically. Like I said, I don't think that the series is for the veterans. Nor was it for people who are completely okay with girls getting sexually abused as long as they move on from it. The title was recreated to have a youthful tone and attempts to get away from the sexist and obscene nature of comic books. Just like Rich Johnston from Bleeding Cool argued, by the end of the day, the real problem is that it disrespected the reboot itself.

I also understand that this is a variant cover and that only "real" fans will be interested in it. Aside from the fact that the New 52 Batgirl is not really for the veteran fans, the comic industry is still...well, an industry. I understand that it's humiliating to have all these references dumbed down for newer audiences when some people spent their lives becoming an expert on it. But then again, an industry cannot solely depend on their existing fanbase. They have to keep expanding. That's just the way businesses work. And if all these veteran fans feel left out with all these reboots and new comics coming out, then welcome to the story of our lives. For once, this industry is trying to cater to newer audiences. For once, we're the ones who don't feel so left out.

Bottom line is, they created the New 52 to attract new audiences. The decision not to release this cover is not because they are weak. In fact, I think it's the opposite. They are sticking to their game plan of catering to newer audiences by creating a comic with an upbeat tone. And since this cover violates that goal, it's no good. It was simply, the wrong cover for the series.


From a personal, as-a-human-being, perspective

Whenever I form an opinion on something, I start with putting myself in the shoes of the other side. I understand why the hardcore fans are so enraged that this cover that referenced The Killing Joke they know so well didn't make it to the shelves. Yeah, it was a nicely drawn cover. Sure, it might have been a really amazing homage to The Killing Joke. But I wonder if they have put themselves in the shoes of the people who felt uncomfortable with it?

And for those who argue that pulling out this cover is "censorship", I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that by NOT pulling out this cover, they are censoring the people who are asking others to be sensitive of such issues. The artist of the cover, Rafael Albuquerque said it best himself that "Freedom of expression cannot be limited only to what you like or want. Freedom must come with responsibility." I'm sorry to those who wanted to own this cover but that's just the way it is. Sometimes you get what you want. Sometimes you don't.

I think, the best way to think about this is to put yourself in it. Or someone you know. Maybe your daughter or your niece. If not, then reverse the whole thing. Let's have a middle-aged woman in the place of the Joker threatening the life of a young boy. Of your son, or nephew, or little brother. I, for sure, can already taste something unpleasant in my mouth.

So what now?

I totally agree with Teresa Jusino of The Mary Sue about how this particular cover is the one way to portray Batgirl's past with the Joker without suggesting the horrendous things he has done to her.

In this cover, Batgirl isn't threatened. She's fighting back. She's not crying for her dear life. She is erasing Joker's print on her and putting that away to confidently don the cape and responsibility of being a superheroine.

As for Rafael Albuquerque, the artist of the controversial cover, I respect him with all my heart. I am extremely grateful that he had the heart and mind to understand why some people didn't like the cover. I also admire him for being able to put away this cover. I think it shows his confidence that he's not a one trick pony. If he was able to create an amazing cover for Joker fans, then he can certainly do so as well for Batgirl fans.

Outfit of the Day: Corporate Salander

It's been a while since I last posted an OOTD! This is actually from a Little Tokyo date I had with a very good friend I had about two months ago. My hair looks a lot longer than this already. Haha.

I love leatherette things A LOT. But what I like better is mixing it with rough or coarse textures such as lace or knit sweaters. Also, I love how versatile leatherette clothing is. I was really into punk rock when I was a kid and that really influenced my fashion choices. As I grew up, I decided to become more adventurous by trying out different looks and I'm glad that leatherette exists. With it, I can go for a Dragon Tattoo/ Nana look or I can totally look like a contemporary company boss. Haha.

After lunch, we went to Kinokuniya, just to look around. I ended up buying a Persona 4 Golden Animation charm blind box though. I'm usually bad at these things but I got Naoto's arcana card this time! That's already so much better than what I was expecting! 

Because I'm cheap, I always prefer validating for parking instead of paying the fee. The fee for this certain plaza in Little Tokyo can go up to $8(?). That's like 3 packs of Japanese snacks! So whenever I go to that plaza, I prefer shopping for $15 worth of groceries to avail the 2-hr. parking validation. I have no problem paying for food.

So here's one of those situations. My friend and I went in with the goal of spending enough to get the validation. Me, the person without any control at all, ended up spening $30. On just snacks. #bye

A Response to Ahotaku's "Cosplay Realities You Have to Accept"

I'm extremely busy with school and it's been a while since I blogged. I have barely any free time anymore but I believe that today's topic is worth responding to. I stumbled on this article about cosplay "realities" and it made me extremely concerned. I'm glad that there's a response to it written by Jessica Walsh which I agreed to wholeheartedly, otherwise, my response would be a lot longer than this.

This blog post originally started as a comment to Ahotaku's post which was written last year but still manages to stay relevant anyways. I realized that it was getting longer and I'm unsure of her settings. I don't want my response to be filtered out. I can say that some of the points she brought up have some truth to them. The problem is, she's presenting it like it's a fact which it wasn't. I think that's dangerous because she would sound reasonable at one point and then express inconsideration in the next couple of sentences. I could see why there are a lot of people who agree with her on the comment section. I have to admit that I agreed with her to some extent but I was aware that the huge part of her argument is hateful, discouraging and discrediting. 

Here are some things I found extremely displeasing about her entry: 

When I read this, I hoped that in exchange for asking people to respect her opinion, she would present her two-cents in a respectful manner as well. This was not the case.

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I understand that there are people out there who just throw a costume on and end up looking horrible. I agree that's annoying especially if you're one of the people who spend the money and take the time to look good. But when I see a cosplayer who's appearance is not up to my standards, I just look away. I always think that I am in no position to assume how much work they put into their costume. Just because it looks unappealing to me, doesn't mean that they have not worked on it. Maybe it's their first time sewing something. Maybe the wig is too small or too heavy that it keeps slipping off their heads. Maybe their skin is reacting differently to the makeup they used.

Alright, let's say that person really did not put any effort at all. So what? Just look away and forget about it. Enjoy the convention by filtering out the cosplayers you find unappealing. I don't see how commenting on those people and talking crap about them is going to do anything aside from the fact that it just makes you disgraceful for being mean to someone.

Going back to the quote above, the most disturbing thing about it is that she's okay with people being discrediting or unappreciative. However, she finds people, who made effort but are unsuccessful in looking attractive, very offensive. Make-up can only do so much and losing weight (or gaining it) is not that easy. Should it stop you from enjoying this hobby? Absolutely no. 

Cosplaying is not a job. If a company hires someone to dress up to promote their product, then that's a different story. Point is, cosplayers are not getting paid for their efforts. They spend their own money and time on making their costumes. They are not obliged to fulfill anyone's expectations. They are attending the convention just like everybody else.

I put it this way. I'm into fashion and when I see someone on the street dressed in an ensemble that I think didn't look good for him/her, it doesn't ruin that fashion for me. So how can a bad cosplay ruin a character you love? 

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THIS. This should have been the focus of the post instead. Being able to appreciate something instead of hating on the whole thing.

I commend Ahotaku if she really does this. What I don't understand is that if she feels that keeping remarks to herself is the way to do it, then why didn't she advocate that? Instead, she tolerated the mean people in the community.

People are judgmental. We all know that. In fact, I am guilty of the same thing she mentioned above. I judge people, but only in my head. Instead of focusing on the bad, I would compliment them on the good. Or if it's really bad, I would offer some advice on how to make it better.

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In this quote above, she talks about how some certain characters call for certain features like a buff build for Cloud etc. Instead of telling cosplayers to give up because they cannot exactly look like a character, why not educate the "OTHER PEOPLE" not to hate too much? 

It seems that she's coming from this point of view: The world is harsh so in order to protect yourself, just hide in a corner and not show yourself to anyone. I don't think that's the way to go. I think that the world is harsh and we should keep making an effort educating ignorant people so that we can live in a world with more kindness and respect. We should make effort to change society towards progress instead of tolerating hate.

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Cosplaying is a hobby, just like she said herself. I have hobbies for my own enjoyment. When I cosplay, I cosplay for myself. When I draw or read books or blog, I do it for myself. I don't understand why she makes it sound like it's all about pleasing an audience.

"Vicious"? How is being confident about yourself and not caring about the haters a "vicious routine"? I think hating on people is the vicious routine here. 

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I'll give the part in bold some credit. Personally, I do my best to find a character that I would look good cosplaying. But that's my personal choice. To people out there who don't care and just want to cosplay a character they're in-love with, kudos to you!

I'll also give her credit for naming some characters that would work on people with specific features. She should have done more of this than advising people who aren't "pretty" to just give up.

"You're doing yourself more harm than good"? Maybe. We all know that putting yourself out there is hard and just like Jessica Walsh said in her post, even if you're Jessica Nigri or Yaya Han, people are going to find something to hate on. You cannot please everyone. So, I can kind of understand this statement but I don't think it's guaranteed that you're only going to destroy yourself if you put yourself out there. I wasn't very confident with myself either. I thought people would not like my cosplay at all because I'm too short or tan for the character or because I'm not pretty enough. But no, there are still people who appreciated my cosplay and that helped me to become much more confident.

"You're doing other people more harm than good"? This one just did not make sense to me. How can bad cosplay do other people harm? Does seeing things you don't like cause eye cancer now? Because if that's true, then I should've died already with all the badly directed films, carelessly coordinated OOTDs, and poorly written books that I've seen.

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I honestly think that haters are going to hate no matter when and where you are. In or out of the cosplay community. But that does not mean that we should tolerate them.

I believe that the world is harsh because people can be ignorant and unhelpful. I'd like to think that Ahotaku wrote this post in order to save people from the drama of being bashed by haters. However, instead of taking the side of haters, I would rather educate them that cosplayers do it for passion and that con attendees should not feel entitled to "good" cosplay. It's all subjective anyways. Some people do care about someone's weight or face. Other's just want to see a character they like cosplayed. Some are just amazed that a cosplayer even pulled off a crazy prop.

Also, if there's anyone who deserves to be shamed, it's those people rude enough to express their hateful remarks out in the public. Those people do not contribute anything to the community or to the society. At least, cosplayers who took the time to attend the convention in costume achieved something. Whether it's learning how to sew or meeting people who like the same things they do, that's a great deal more productive than people who just hates on others.

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There is a difference between being rude and honest. And just because you don't want to sugarcoat doesn't mean you're free to disrespect someone. It's not one thing or the other. You can be honest and still be helpful and respectful. To me, a criticism's function is to point out and correct what was done wrong. If the "criticism" was in no way helpful, then it's just being rude.

To better illustrate what I mean, here's a breakdown:

What I understood from the post 

The cosplay community is judgmental and harsh so if you're not pretty or don't have the money or don't know how to make props and costumes, then you're not welcome here. Expect to be hated on and if you cannot deal with that, then don't even touch this hobby. If you are strong enough to brush off haters, you're committing a crime to this hobby anyways because really, this is just for the pretty, light-skinned, and not-fat people.

Sugarcoated

Everything is going to be fine and you're beautiful no matter what and everyone's going to love your cosplay!

How I would have written it

Putting yourself out there is a hard especially if you're just starting and trying to look like a stylized character. Here are some links to tutorials and work-out routines that might be of use! [insert set of helpful links]

Also, it's normal to come across people who might not appreciate your cosplay but that's ok! The cosplay community is huge and I'm pretty sure you will find a group of people that you have a lot of common with.

See the difference? I'm not all for sugarcoating either but that doesn't mean that the only way left is to be mean and discouraging. I took the time to write this because I believe that she's doing a disservice to the cosplay community by making it sound that it's an elitist group of deliberately unmannerly people. That is not entirely true. Yes, haters do exist and they are everywhere. But so are amazing people who are educated enough to know that they are much better than judging someone for how they look.

Don't hate. Appreciate! And don't be discouraged! Cosplay and have fun! 

And if you're going to Anime Expo, come by and say hi to me at my booth (table details to be shared later)! See you there!