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Posthuman Drag: Understanding Cosplay as Social Networking in a Material Culture

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posted on 2023-05-17, 19:04 authored by Bainbridge, JG, Craig Norris
Growing up in Australia, one of my earliest memories of what I would come to understand to be anime was the unmasking of Zoltar on Battle of the Planets, the dubbed, recut and greatly sanitised version of the late seventies anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Each week Battle of the Planets featured a team of five young superheroes in birdlike costumes, defending Earth against the latest monsters and schemes unleashed by the evil forces of Spectra and Spectra's sinister field commander, Zoltar. Throughout the series, Zoltar remained a sexually ambiguous figure, somewhere between feminine and masculine. This ambiguity centred on Zoltar's lipstick, purple uniform, flowing cape and horned cowl, all of which kept his/her true gender virtually unrecognisable. The liminality of the character carried over to Zoltar's race as well, for while what little we could see of Zoltar's face appeared Caucasian, the Asian actor Keye Luke voiced the character. Then, in Episode 60, The Alien Bigfoot, Zoltar is briefly unmasked to expose long blond hair and feminine features.

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Publication title

Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in The Asian Context

Issue

32

Pagination

1-11

ISSN

1440-9151

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

Australian National University * Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Gender Relations Centre

Place of publication

Australia

Rights statement

Copyright 2013 Gender and Cultural Studies, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University

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  • Open

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