Yesterday on our Facebook page, I had shared a video by a cosplayer named Luna Lanie.  In this video, she had talked about the convention and the issue of harassment that she had to deal with this past weekend.  And whenever a video like this comes about, the cosplay community will jump right on it.  As I saw on my personal Facebook, there were people already looking to debunk what happened and discredit her.  In my honest opinion, discrediting and debunking doesn’t take away from the situation, as long as it is valid.

Here is the YouTube video posted by cosplayer Luna Lanie about what happened at Momocon over the weekend:

Also, she posted messages she’s had with convention staffers.

I’ll say this time and time again, you do not have the right to touch a cosplay inappropriately.  Cosplayers have the same rights and respects as anyone else going to a con.  Would you like it if your sister or mom was touched the way that cosplayer said she was in that video above?  No?  I didn’t think so.  If you didn’t like that thought, why would you do that to another female cosplayer?

As someone who has staffed conventions and worked in customer service, I see both sides of this matter.  First off, complaining on social media about the con doesn’t help your case.  Take it directly to the staffers at the convention itself.  I think it’s wonderful that the con chair took time out to talk to her one on one about this, trying to get the situation resolved.  Also, saying that you won’t go back to the con, doesn’t do much.  We all know that almost everyone who’s said that they won’t go back to the con, always do.  And let’s not forget that you felt that going to a photoshoot was way more important than meeting with the con chair in regards to what happened.

Now as for the convention… Con security should not have been harassing her about her outfit at all.  The problem with some gophers/volunteers is that they don’t fully read the rules of the con, they act like they run everything and play by their own rules.  Also, after a few hours, they seem to not care anymore.  It doesn’t help that some con staffers act the same way too.  The con chair should not have said that her outfit was inappropriate, when according to the cosplay head that what she wore fell into compliance of the con.

To be honest, I feel bad for this cosplayer, despite my personal thoughts on this.  She should not have been harassed in any means whatsoever.  But when you make a post or video, putting a convention on blast, it does make me skeptical about what happened.  I also felt that in her video, she shouldn’t have been scantily-clad either.  I feel that it takes away from the seriousness of the video.  If I was a staffer, I would have believed her and helped her to the best of my ability.

Now, I previously said that the con chair acted inappropriately about his comments to Luna Lanie.  But I wonder if he really did say that.  Now before anyone here says that I am “victim shaming”, we all have been in predicaments where we have embellished our own side of the story.  There’s four sides to every story; what he said, what she said, what the public believes, and what really happened.

Now, right after this came to light, another cosplayer stepped forward about what happened to her.  In her video, she didn’t go into much detail, but more of a vlog about her convention experience as a whole:

Some have said that Momocon has stretched thin.  Gotten too big, too fast, not able to fully keep things under control, causing problems like this.  Hopefully the con chair will make a statement about this.  As for the cosplayer, keep your chin up.  Things will get better.  Give the convention a chance to fix the issues.

UPDATE: Sources have contacted me that the cosplayer in question, Luna Lanie has enabled monetizing ads on her video, due to popularity of said video.  I feel that it’s a lack of respect to her fans and the community to make a quick buck off of something like this.

DJ Ranma S

DJ Ranma S is cosplay veteran. He has won numerous performance awards with his friends over the years. He has staffed conventions in the past, ran panels, judged a couple of masquerades, a jack of all trades. He's worked dealer's room too! Running this site is his way of giving back to the cosplay community. He feels that it's his turn to give a future cosplayer their fifteen minutes of fame.

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