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EuroCosplay ban League of Legends Cosplayer for blackface

Deleted member 15428

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
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Alice Livanart's Pyke cosplay caused a lot of controversy ahead of EuroCosplay finals.

The European cosplay competition which was set to kick off on October 25, revealed that they would be removing one of their finalists from the competition after concerns were made about a costume.

Although the cosplayer was not specified in their statement, it later came to light that it was the competition's French representative, Alice Livanart's impression of Pyke that was the cause of disqualification.
The cosplayer was apparently wearing a full-body skin suit to accurately represent the champion, however, it was deemed unacceptable by EuroCosplay, who apologized for any offense caused and disqualified Alice from the tournament.
"We hear and appreciate all of your concerns regarding the costume of one of our finalists. We would like to confirm that this cosplay will not be appearing in the event, and we would like to apologise for any offence caused," EuroCosplay expressed.

Alice had previously won the French Cosplay cup and qualified for the EuroCosplay finals on September 22 with the detailed Pyke costume, which was estimated to cost the cosplayer over €3,000 to complete, according to RTL.

Many cosplay fans shared mixed opinions over the ruling of EuroPlay's disqualification, arguing back and forth over the intent of the costume, however, unfortunately for Alice, it appears unlikely that they will change their decision.
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Terbinator

Terbinator

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Oct 29, 2017
10,191
User Banned (1 week): excusing blackface
Always ban Pyke.

On a serious not, it really isn't. He's practically a spectre in game.
 
PSqueak

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
User Banned (1 week): excusing blackface
i expected literally her painting her skin black, not a full body costume, this is harder you can tell there is no ill intent, but i dunno, can't say i am qualified to weight in.
 
Tbm24

Tbm24

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,150
Um, well, I know very little about this character but from google images he looks dark skinned. To that end, while it may not be makeup(I think?), I'd still count this under wearing the skin as a literal costume in this case. I think the ruling is fair? Idk, part of me thinks this is worse than the typical lazy ass face paint/makeup approach?
 
Kinthey

Kinthey

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
22,249
The character:
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2NEUqTO.jpg


Her cosplay:

p7WYxMF.jpg
 
Hollywood Duo

Hollywood Duo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
41,646
Man that is an incredible costume. I think this is somewhat of an edge scenario because its a full on skin suit and not just painting up your face but if it actually upsets people then so be it.
 

Deleted member 224

Oct 25, 2017
5,629
Yeah, I saw this on reddit. I think the argument is pretty simple. PoC don't paint their faces white when they cosplay as "white" characters like Batman or Superman. So white people shouldn't be doing stuff like this.
 
ShinobiBk

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Dec 28, 2017
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User Banned (1 week): excusing blackface
Tan face at worst.
Come on it was a cosplay and clearly not done in a disrespectful way. It actually looks pretty damn great imo

Ok, nvm I can see how some people get offended.
 

Deleted member 48897

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Oct 22, 2018
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There's a linked tweet in the article that's a doozy.

Pyke is a dead shark thing from the deep ocean Ofc he's darker.
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That makes, like, no sense (and calls to mind the awful tortured defenses of Terraformars considering some aspects of the character's design; at the very least I've never seen a shark that looks like a Gears of War character)

It's an impressive cosplay job, but the skin darkening is gross and it was right to have been banned. Basically what JDSpades said as I was typing this up.
 

Deleted member 17207

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Tbh, while I completely understand the historical context surrounding the practice - I really don't see how somebody doing it for the obvious purposes of cosplay (and this isn't even really blackface as it's not just her face with makeup - it's a complete costume) is bad.
 
halfjoey

halfjoey

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Nov 26, 2017
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User banned (1 week): excusing blackface
I'm not black, but this seems like it should be somewhat acceptable. She isn't dressing up to parody black people or using it for comedic effect. This looks like a respectful 1 to 1 cosplay.
 

Deleted member 48897

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Oct 22, 2018
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Blackface doesn't become acceptable just because you're also painting your arms. I'd say I can't believe people are giving that argument the time of day, but...well, yeah, unfortunately I can.
 
Tbm24

Tbm24

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,150
ShinobiBk said:
Tan face at worst.
Come on it was a cosplay and clearly not done in a disrespectful way. It actually looks pretty damn great imo

Ok, nvm I can see how some people get offended.
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The idea of putting on a literal body suit to look like a different race, even if you made it with love and care and no malice, is fucking creepy. I to this day don't fucking understand this. I think in general people really need to accept that Cosplay should be an homage to a character and game or other media property instead of a race to look exactly like a fictional character, down to skin color.
 
udivision

udivision

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Oct 25, 2017
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JDSpades said:
Yeah, I saw this on reddit. I think the argument is pretty simple. PoC don't paint their faces white when they cosplay as "white" characters like Batman or Superman. So white people shouldn't be doing stuff like this.
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I guess one could ask if it would he fine if she whitewashed the character since this seems to be a suit.

The answer would probably be no.
 
LordGorchnik

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Oct 30, 2017
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User Banned (1 week): dismissing blackface
You can tell a ton of love and care went into making this. I absolutely love the effort put into this and personally don't think it qualifies but I have no say in the matter and respect those who think its bad.
 

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ZmillA

ZmillA

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Oct 27, 2017
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User Banned (1 week): excusing blackface
If white ladies can performance capture for black characters (uncharted) she can wear a full body costume
 
Tiberius

Tiberius

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Oct 25, 2017
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France
Tbm24 said:
The idea of putting on a literal body suit to look like a different race, even if you made it with love and care and no malice, is fucking creepy. I to this day don't fucking understand this.
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She didn't put a body suit to look like a different race but to be faithful to the character, that's the goal of cosplay
 
Daniel Westlake

Daniel Westlake

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Oct 25, 2017
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XandBosch said:
Tbh, while I completely understand the historical context surrounding the practice - I really don't see how somebody doing it for the obvious purposes of cosplay (and this isn't even really blackface as it's not just her face with makeup - it's a complete costume) is bad.
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Because while you might be doing it in what you consider a "respectful" fashion other people use it to mock those with darker skin and the practice has a disturbing history that should not be used for your frivolous enjoyment.

I mean if the best excuse for blackface you can think of is "what about my costumes, I'm actually super nice" maybe you just shouldn't do it
 
Daniel Westlake

Daniel Westlake

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Oct 25, 2017
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udivision said:
I guess one could ask if it would he fine if she whitewashed the character since this seems to be a suit.

The answer would probably be no.
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Are you just like intentionally misusing the term whitewashing?

Hey guess what white people dress up like black characters all the time and it's fine.

Like another poster said this is basically super high-end blackface
 

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Daniel Westlake said:
Because while you might be doing it in what you consider a "respectful" fashion other people use it to mock those with darker skin and the practice has a disturbing history that should not be used for your frivolous enjoyment.

I mean if the best excuse for blackface you can think of is "what about my costumes, I'm actually super nice" maybe you just shouldn't do it
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Why should one be equated to the other? It's pretty damn obvious what is mocking and what's not, and this clearly isn't.

To me that's very much a "glass half empty" view of the world. I'd rather see that fucking awesome costume walking around than not see it because of some crazy fear of offending people when it's not really offensive at all.
 
Tbm24

Tbm24

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Oct 25, 2017
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Tiberius said:
She didn't put a body suit to look like a different race but to be faithful to the character, that's the goal of cosplay
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I think there really needs to be a limit then. You can be faithful to the character, without wanting to also wear their skin. Does that not make sense? Her costume may be a 1-1 recreation of the character. The second she put it on it became offensive.
 
Tayaya

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User Banned (1 month): excusing blackface, prior related infractions
This is 100% ridiculous. The costume is frigging amazing. People making this argument clearly don't understand what "blackface" really is and how it was used back in the cartoons and live shows of the early 20th century. Blackface was a deliberate caricature with exaggerated eyes and lips and is absolutely offensive. This is a case of someone making a costume to honor a character and doing whatever is necessary to achieve the look. Since the face is half covered and there's nothing but accurate-ass cosplay for the parts that aren't covered, there is no way in hell this falls in the same vein as blackface in intent or execution.

If she tried to do something like cosplay Barrett or Balrog/M. Bison, for example, it would be pretty impossible to not offend someone without resorting to some cinema level full face latex mask work - any amount of make-up would definitely come across as blackface for a character like that. The characters themselves already toe the sterotype line and having a white person try to pull them off would be tough if not impossible.

This character technically isn't even a black guy, so.... yeah. She should be allowed to compete.
 

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Wait, it's a full suit then? Like, none of it is her skin, flesh or muscle going by the picture, right? She seems to be going 1:1, as in replicating the character's exact features on her whole body (look at those abs).

If so, I'm honestly not really sure what to think. This is a new one for me. Intuitively, it seems much, much more acceptable than painting your skin, but I'm on the fence.

(well, apart from the fact that her response is completely stupid and insulting, of course)
 
The Bookerman

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User Banned (1 week): excusing blackface
I don't see how the costume it self could be disrespectful but her Twitter comments lack a certain understanding of the situation.
 
Mecha Meister

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Damn this is awkward.

Kilrogg said:
Wait, it's a full suit then? Like, none of it is her skin, flesh or muscle going by the picture, right?

If so, I'm honestly not really sure what to think.

(well, apart from the fact that her response is completely stupid and insulting, of course)
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The Bookerman said:
I don't see how the costume it self could be disrespectful but her Twitter comments lack a certain understanding of the situation.
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This is a full suit and I'm quite impressed with how well it came together.
It seems that she didn't have any ill intent, however her comments on the matter are... Selfish and ignorant to say the least. So I don't know if I can give her the benefit of the doubt.
But at the same time this kind of stuff is considered to be disrespectful to people. To completely dismiss how you hurt people and make them feel, and basically tell them to fuck off is ridiculous. That's the type of shit racists do.

I'm gonna be honest though, perhaps I'm naive but I can't say that I can take offence to this costume on first sight. I'd say it's not necessarily the costume but who's wearing it.
Maybe she shouldn't have worn a mask, and should have coloured the costume to share the same complexion as herself. It still would have looked good even if it shared her own complexion.

Edit - Expanded post and made it clearer.
 
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