When we published “Cosplay Conventions as Big Business” on the blog, we were fully expecting the Kosupure Maru people to drop by to air their side — much like the KPP and OOR fans did on our “Challenge to Philippine J-pop Fans”.

However an anon comment clued us in that instead of leaving their comments on the blog, the KM people have started personally flaming one of our readers, who just tried to be helpful and share our post with them. Talk about shooting the messenger — they went as far as comment on the OP’s body type and cosplay choices in a slew of ad hominem attacks that had absolutely zero relation to the points outlined in the blog.

The exchange of ideas gratuitous flaming raises additional concerns. First of all: just because someone posted a link, it doesn’t mean that they wrote the contents of the post; you’d think that with the omnipresence of the FB Share button the Kosupure Maru people would be able to distinguish that from a personal status message. Common sense: not so common after all

Second of all: if you are thin-skinned, then organizing events is not for you. Organizers are always under fire for what they did/what they didn’t do/what they are supposed to do. If the KM team members are unable to take criticism then its best for everyone that they find a more suitable line of work — sheep-shearing, for example (farm animals are not very critical of your work ethic).

Lastly: making personal attacks on people who criticize you is a sure sign of your (lack of) maturity. Make valid points when arguing — don’t resort to name-calling such as “Fat Miku” or “Fat Lacus” While we encourage cosplayers to find characters to suit their physical characteristics, in the end the choice is with the person, and other people have no business telling them what they can and cannot cosplay.

Regardless of how well (or how NOT well) the Kosupure Maru people handled the reactions to their event, we are less inclined to believe anything they say — that the event was a success despite the cancelled activities, that the organizing team gave it their best effort, and that opposing opinions including ours did not count, because of one thing: they are clearly doing it for the money, and not the love.

How else would you explain their group having a banner ad where they are basically “renting out” cosplayers for private parties and other non-anime events?

As always, please direct concerns to the comments box. Thank you.