What kind of cosplay questions are allowed?

Question

Anime.SE has the cosplay tag. So far, it has been used for:

1. Series identification (Are questions regarding cosplay or anime-related items still on-topic?)
2. Conventions
   • Why do cosplay competitions require prerecorded dialogue?
3. Item identification
   • What kind of glove is being shown in the following pictures, and why is it nearly always a knife user who wear this style of gloves? (tag removed from the question)
4. Item specification
   • What are the dimensions of the State Alchemist pocket watch?
5. Fact checking
   • Is this ring merchandise with a red seal and gold "忍" emblem exist in Naruto? (also tagged with merchandise)
   • Why is whatever side Todoroki's fire on always switch outside of the Anime (closed as unclear)
6. Where to buy
   • https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/59450/gilgamesh-clothing-in-fate-stay-night-andzero (closed for shopping recommendation)
   • https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/66522/where-can-i-get-a-real-obito-mask-not-a-plastic-one (self-deleted)
   • Where can I find the outfits for an Ensemble Stars! group Cosplay I want to do?
7. Character recommendations
   • https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/48080/what-popular-anime-titular-characters-wear-a-large-backpack (closed)
   • https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/67071/what-anime-character-wears-a-puffer-vest-gilet (closed)
8. Making cosplay outfit
   • https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/53237/sewing-and-painting-clothing-pvc (closed)
9. Video of dance cover
   • I’m hoping to do an Ensemble Stars! group cosplay and I wanna see if we can learn the full dance of at least one of the group’s songs (closed as opinion-based due to another factor)

Previously, there was already a discussion about this in 2012: Are Cosplay-related questions on-topic?, but the scope is not really clear. Can we clarify the scope of this tag more clearly?

Answer 1

Honestly I feel like this answer from SingerOfTheFall is still relevant here.

If you consider it, these aren't questions about any background relevant to the shows, characters or anything like that - they're more about the projection of it into a different medium. Some of the more nitpicky circumstances around specifications around certain goods or certain items might be answerable by someone with extensive knowledge of Anime, but we haven't retained enough of those experts around to accept the hit.

But I can also read the room a bit and I see that the room is pretty empty right now, so now's a good time for a check-in. Do we want to try to answer questions like this?

If we do...

• We'd want to define parameters. We can answer only certain details, but not certain other details, for instance (we're not going to get answers to within a unit of measurement but would be willing to provide a rough estimate)
• We're OK with identification questions on cosplayers. Sometimes, a cosplayer could take a variant of a character and do a cosplay on that.
• We're OK with questions about choreography to a degree, but we acknowledge that we'd be asking the questions only in the context of the anime.

If we don't...

• We'd need to be explicit about why we're not allowing this. Is it due to lack of ease of answerability, lack of interest, or is it not just a good fit for the Q&A model?
• We'd need to figure out if there was somewhere else that someone could get their answer, even if that meant off-network.
• We accept, once more, that the moderation activity towards this topic comes at the cost of more activity on the site.

Personally speaking? I can't answer questions about cosplay, and while I have a passing interest in it, I'm no cosplay expert. It's almost like they could benefit from their own community. But hey, not much we can do unless we spun one up over in Area 51.

Answer 2

Posting this a historical reference since we were discussing this on the site chat.

This indeed need some reasoning.

9. Video of dance cover

Seems something that would actually depend on the specific scope. Dance COVERS would probably never be really on-topic unless they manage to get enough fandom around them to get their own standing. For example, some Miku Miku Dance choreography have reached a meta-official status.

That said, if someone is searching for actual official choreography from an anime, especially the ones with a musical central theme (Love Live! etc) then the purpose probably does not matter. The only remaining question is if you want to accept questions about the official dance steps to an anime/manga song.