Is there life after Goddess?

With the community currently abuzz by Alodia quitting cosplay, I find a lot of people swearing off cosplay forever because their idol did the same. She is known in the cosplay community as the media-labeled Cosplay Goddess (via her Glode Telecommunication endorser stint).

I find it sad really, because to me it goes to show that the hobby/interest was always second to them. But its their choice and I wont stop them from doing so. But if there is any silver lining to the whole thing, it brought up to light issues that had always been suspected but never discussed: was cosplay really your genuine choice?

Reactions from her quitting had opened up a can of worms. Many commentators had implied that they only cosplay because she did, because they were inspired by her, and so on. Idolizing is not uncommon, although with the hobby, it sure is strange to realize that a whole lot of people cosplay not because they love the characters they emulate, but they love a fellow cosplayer. If they used cosplay only as a means to attract her attention or find an excuse to get close to her, I'll never know.

As I read back and forth the comments publicly posted on her social network account, I am not surprised at the amount of apathy and rabidness these skirmishes produce. Ive encountered my share, but in fairness to some of her fans, I do encounter those who are intelligent, rational and well-meaning ones, and now are even my trusted friends. Respect:quid pro quo, as the saying goes.



So now that she's gone, what happens then? What happens to cosplayers who look to her for inspiration and try to follow her footsteps, a path not everyone in the cosplay community agrees on. Will they try to copy her modeling and showbiz career, which in more ways than one, had created a confusing vacuum on how to correctly define her belief on cosplaying. Perhaps the very nature of her career had forced her to simplify or modify the meaning of cosplay to suit the showbiz industry's needs. It gave the opportunity of some individuals to create the confusing term of being a "professional cosplayer", a term promoted heavily by parties interested in creating a group term to separate themselves from the "regular and traditional" cosplayers. As far as I'm concerned, she has not publicly labeled herself as such, but feel free to correct me on this matter.

Now that she voluntarily left the community, what happens to the fans who are involved with cosplaying? To them its a sad day for cosplay: some say its no longer fun, others say less photographers visiting cons looking for her, the rest mention that fewer cosplayers will be attending and that the popularity of cosplay will suffer. It is probably true for those multitude of disappointed fans everywhere.

As for those who made the hobby their first choice, life goes on as usual.