At 5 PM on July 11, just as I finished my work on the first day of this year's Bilibili World and was slowly making my way to Line 2 subway station amidst the crowd, almost all the group chats on my phone were repeating the name of a Korean cosplayer from the Brown Dust 2 booth: "Yasal."
You say you haven't played Brown Dust 2 and don't know Yasal? No problem, these are minor issues. Because Yasal has already demonstrated through her actions what transcends language and nationality—human "great" love. Given that this matter is somewhat complicated, I'll start by posting pictures directly.
Specifically, what Yasal did on the Brown Dust 2 stage that day was actually very basic—as an officially invited cosplayer, she simply stood on stage and completed a series of duties, including runway walks and fan photos.
As for why Yasal became popular across the internet otaku culture circle in just one afternoon... it is because she was truly very dedicated during her work. According to various videos and images shared by netizens and officials, Yasal not only continuously changed poses and expressions following the camera but also interacted closely with lucky fans who won the chance to take photos with her.
Even if viewers wanted to take photos from hard-to-spot corners, she would promptly catch the signal and cooperate, striving to provide a good experience for every visitor,堪称“又有机制又有数值”的“无敌选位”。
Honestly, when I saw various group chats spreading this information wildly in the subway station, my feelings were quite complex. On one hand, I realized that I, being at the Bilibili World venue, seemed to have inadvertently witnessed the birth of a hot meme; on the other hand, I felt very regretful—why did I have to sleep in that day? If I had gone to the venue earlier, maybe I could have taken photos of Yasal too.
Moreover, this feeling of regret has been attacking me (and probably everyone else who thinks similarly) until today. The reason I say this is that on the second day of the convention, no matter how early you went, it was useless.
Because Yasal was "banned"—on the second day of the convention, she never wore cosplay costumes on stage again but instead wore the booth staff uniform and went to the merchandise sales area next to the stage.
The reasons for this phenomenon remain diverse and inconclusive online. However, the widely circulated explanation is that "someone used reporting methods to directly cancel Yasal's appearance qualification for the second day."
Furthermore, this rumor of "reporting" initially pointed the finger directly at other domestic cosplayers who appeared alongside Yasal on the first day, claiming that peers reported her out of dissatisfaction with her "involutionary" behavior.
Although this widely circulated photo looks somewhat subtle in terms of composition and character expression, it must be clarified that the claim of "peer reporting" is actually just a rumor. Shortly after the public opinion发酵, the two cosplayers behind this photo issued a statement, explaining that their expressions at the time were due to strong stage lighting, and that they had a good relationship with Yasal off-stage.
What made this claim more convincing was the message posted by another Chinese cosplayer, "rikko Liangliangzi," who was positioned on the right half of the stage on the first day. At 9 AM on the second day, she was still posting on Weibo saying, "I will participate in the performance today," but just a few hours later, she was also unable to participate in the Brown Dust 2 booth's stage activities and could only wait in the lounge for people to come take photos for "stamp collection."
Finally, "rikko Liangliangzi" commented that she had asked the exhibition staff, and indeed, both Korean cosplayers, including Yasal, were unable to appear on stage due to reports.
Although the claim of "peer reporting" was debunked, the storm caused by this photo, captured at an opportune moment, did not subside but instead intensified. The most prominent manifestation was the new meme formed under the comparison of performances between domestic and Korean cosplayers: "Feels like 'Home-style Chicken' isn't as good as 'Korean Fried Chicken.'" This metaphor even directly caught the attention of the official Bilibili account of Home-style Chicken, which likes playing CS.
Subsequently, under the comparison between Chinese and Korean performances, the discussion about "what is the main job of a stage cosplayer" was brought to the forefront, becoming the hottest topic in recent days. Besides the relatively mainstream voice on Bilibili that "stage cosplayers should learn from Yasal," completely opposite views emerged on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Weibo, which we all enjoy seeing—arguing that Yasal's behavior is not worth encouraging because it would force stage cosplayers to engage in more self-degrading acts during commercial activities.
Furthermore, some Xiaohongshu users stated that to "prevent such slippery slope phenomena" and maintain the "existing environment of the Cos circle," they had reported the actions of the Brown Dust 2 booth officials at this Bilibili World. When introducing this action, they referred to Yasal as "flj"—generally, these three letters are considered an abbreviation for "welfare girl."
But ironically, after some digging, people discovered that Yasal's accounts on X and Instagram only contained photos similar in scale to the outfits worn at this exhibition. While these photos highlighted Yasal's figure, they did not contain any explicit content.
Moreover, on Yasal's personal page, there is absolutely no sales channel for "custom private photo packages" as commonly perceived for "welfare girls." Therefore, labeling Yasal as a "welfare girl" does not align with reality.
Judging from Yasal's performance after changing into staff uniforms later in the convention, her charm was far from what the opposing comments on Xiaohongshu claimed, merely "relying on revealing clothing and bold behavior." During the following two days of the event, Yasal, dressed in staff uniforms, still attracted a large number of fans with her friendly attitude and cooperation with cameras—her popularity was even higher than when she performed on stage on the first day.
Meanwhile, besides her rising popularity, people also discovered an "unknown" side of Yasal—under continuous high-intensity work with little rest, Yasal's eyes were filled with bloodshot veins. Even so, during the last day's activities, Yasal did not let these unfavorable factors affect her应有的风采,可以说把“敬业”二字发挥到了极致。
Moreover, the reason Yasal was able to deliver unexpectedly outstanding performances at the Brown Dust 2 booth was not only due to her own hard work but also because of the "platform"—an important factor. Both Yasal and "Berry," another Korean cosplayer at the Brown Dust 2 booth, belong to a professional cosplay performance team in Korea called "RZ COS."
The X homepage of RZ COS shows that besides Bilibili World, they are also participating in a Korean exhibition called "Incheon 2025 Creative Media Industry Expo." It can be imagined that Yasal's professionalism was honed through countless such exhibitions.
Therefore, regarding the phenomenon of significant differences in performance between Chinese and Korean cosplayers at the Brown Dust 2 booth, rather than personal attitude issues, I tend to believe that the amount of offline event experience is the fundamental cause of this difference. As for why it escalated to such a large extent, it is because there have been numerous incidents of female cosplayers expressing extreme gender-controversial statements in the so-called "Cosplay circle," leading people to develop a "dark forest"-like vigilance against "eating while smashing the pot."
In fact, at this year's Bilibili World, besides the "Korean support" led by Yasal, there were also many friendly and interactive Chinese booth cosplayers, such as "Zouluoyao ZLY" and "Yike Xiaotuniang," who received recognition and love from the audience.
Their images at the booths were undoubtedly far from the notion that "booth cosplayers rely on revealing clothing and bold behavior to gain popularity." "Zouluoyao ZLY" wore the normal "Tianxuan Ji" cosplay outfit at the ASUS booth; "Yike Xiaotuniang's" Pikachu pajamas had nothing to do with accusations of "revealing" or "boldness."
Ultimately, based on facts, whether it's the "Korean support" Yasal or the "domestic players" like "Zouluoyao ZLY" and "Yike Xiaotuniang," the reason they are recognized as "professional" is not due to so-called "pandering to men with boldness," but because as booth cosplayers, they have the awareness of being part of the entire booth IP and genuinely want to do their jobs well, assisting organizers in providing a good experience for fans who came specifically to support them.
What Yasal's sudden fame brought to people's attention, besides the originally niche mobile game Brown Dust 2, was the professional qualities that booth cosplayers should possess—and this is precisely why people support her now.
Now Yasal has nearly 600,000 followers on Bilibili