Taro Yoko Tells People to Stop Complaining About Cosplay and Fan Art

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NieR and Drakengard creator Taro Yoko is known for just speaking his mind, and a recent series of blurbs from the blessed man have stirred up some discussions.


The developer was browsing fan art and cosplay from NieR: Automata (as he frequently does, and loves doing) when he noticed an image that looked like character 9S fighting off a bunch of 2B copies. He thought it was one person that took multiple photos and combined them somehow – to his surprise it was several 2B cosplayers.

He followed up by saying that he doesn’t post links or actively retweet cosplay or illustrations because he wants to avoid sending weird people to their account. He noted that he will post things if they professionally cosplay or do illustrations, as getting exposure helps their career – saying that’s a standard practice at their company.

He concluded by saying there are tons of people who complain about cosplay and fan art people are producing.

“Even if the illustration is bad, or if the cosplay looks entirely different from the character, they still make me happy,” he said. “These fans do it because they basically just like to do it, so onlookers should just shut up and stop complaining. That’s what I think, at least.”

How do you feel about Taro Yoko’s comments on the fanart and cosplay community? Should drinkers of the haterade stuff it and simply let people have fun? Sound off in the comments below!

NieR: Automata is now available for PC and PlayStation 4. In case you missed it, you can find our thorough written and video review for NieR: Automata here (we highly recommend it, it was our 2017 GOTY as well as our community GOTY pick!).

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