Is this really cosplay? I thought this was the standard female uniform for the people Noel worked for. If Mai had started working for the same branch of the Librarium that Noel worked for, her uniform would have looked like this. Also she is wearing panties, if you look closely you can see a black rim of the waistband.
By that reasoning there shouldn't be a Noel Vermillion cosplay tag. Noel is the only named character who has used that outfit so it seems fitting to add it. And according to Makoto, Mai never joined the NOL military after graduating. The outfit Mai is shown wearing as an adult is quite different. As far as underwear goes I don't see a waistband. Noel is always implied to be without panties, her creator has actually issued instructions that Noel is never to be illustrated with panties on, so it fits with the outfit.
Eryops said: By that reasoning there shouldn't be a Noel Vermillion cosplay tag.
The artist himself didn't write anything about cosplay. He just questioned if Mai was going to become playable soon. So the uniform could very well just be him imagining Mai as a part of NOL.
Eryops said: According to Makoto, Mai never joined the NOL military after graduating.
Yes, she disappeared. But Makoto wouldn't necessarily know if Mai had joined another branch of NOL later or joined as say a member of the counter intelligence.
Eryops said: The outfit Mai is shown wearing as an adult is quite different.
No, again that outfit was just how her creator imagined she might be dressed later. Since Mai hasn't appeared in the game as a playable character yet, we really have no way of knowing how she would be dressed. Hopefully though she wont be dressed as she was depicted in that SINGLE extra image. because that outfit was awful.
Eryops said: Noel is always implied to be without panties, her creator has actually issued instructions that Noel is never to be illustrated with panties on, so it fits with the outfit.
This is entirely irrelevant. Basing the assumption that Mai isn't wearing any panties based on that she is cosplaying as a character that shouldn't be wearing any panties does not prove anything, in fact it is a fallacy. If we go by the cosplaying theory, then by your line of thought if Mai was wearing underwear then she wouldn't be cosplaying as Noel? That said, there are plenty of Pixiv artists that draw Noel wearing panties.
Eryops said: As far as underwear goes I don't see a waistband.
Look at the edge/end of that slit. You can clearly see a dark pantyline there. It is small, but it is definitely drawn.
Most images with the Noel Vermillion cosplay tag is that uniform. The tag is used to represent it. And that line looks too small and too high to interpret as underwear to me. If that were the case, she'd be having a wedgie from hell.
The "Standard Uniform" argument only works if we were getting fanart of female grunts all wearing the same thing by the fandom, otherwise there is no need for that kinda tag in the first place.
As stated, Noel is the only named character to wear that Uniform and any character wearing said Uniform is enough for a cosplay tag.
So both of them just happen to be cosplaying the same person? No, it is obvious that while it is used to show cosplaying at times -- it can also be used to show us these characters dressed in the standard NOL uniform. Again read what the artist wrote... he questioned when Mai was going to be playable. I.E putting her in a NOL uniform could be seen as him visualizing her appearing like that.
Tetsamaru said: The "Standard Uniform" argument only works if we were getting fanart of female grunts all wearing the same thing by the fandom, otherwise there is no need for that kinda tag in the first place.
But Noel is wearing the standard female NOL uniform. Another graduate from the NOL academy wearing the same uniform would not be cosplaying by any stretch of the imagination. It would only be sort of cosplaying if the character wasn't a NOL member or say a male wearing a female uniform.
Tetsamaru said: As stated, Noel is the only named character to wear that Uniform and any character wearing said Uniform is enough for a cosplay tag.
So then if other female NOL soldiers are shown wearing the same uniform in future games, the cosplay tag will be removed from some images then? And maybe changed into "cosplay_(NOL_soldier)"??
