Cosplayer Problems: "Alodia" and "Myrtle"

Before anything else, I must say that I have nothing against the people who will be mentioned later in this blog entry.



From what I have seen and experienced in being a cosplayer, cosplay fan and cosplay enthusiast, I have seen one consistent 'problem' arising in Philippine cosplay. Namely, being called 'Alodia' or 'Myrtle'.

Don't get me wrong, I love Alodia and Myrtle. They brought cosplay into mainstream and they really do fabulous cosplays.

But for those people who aren't really into cosplay or are total newbs at it, they call us 'Alodia' or 'Myrtle'. You can half-expect that when there are cosplay photos posted on the internet. To them, it's synonymous to cosplay. To us, it's not. It irritates me, to be honest.

The Philippine Cosplay Queen: Alodia Gosiengfiao as Mirai Suenaga

"Shouldn't you be take it as a compliment that you're being compared to the Cosplay Queen?"
It may be a compliment to other people, but for me it isn't. I appreciate the fact that they think my cosplays are nice, but please don't compare me to my idols. But I want to emphasize that 'Alodia' or 'Myrtle' isn't synonymous to 'cosplay'. It doesn't mean that whenever you see cosplay, it's automatically 'Alodia' or 'Myrtle'. Sure, I'll accept such things like 'You look like Alodia' or 'You're just like Myrtle'. But calling me as either one of the two will cost you your life.

These things were pretty mild until one guy on Facebook insisted that it's not called as 'cosplay' in the Philippines. He said that cosplay in the PH is called as 'Myrtle'. Dafuq, right?

The Cosplay Princess: Myrtle Sarrosa as Rena Grand Archer of Elsword

I know, it'a a stereotype. But it doesn't feel good to be called like that, because each of us have our own identity that changes from con to con. We're not Myrtle. We're not Alodia.

We're cosplayers.