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

Abstract

Growing up in Australia, one of my earliest memories of what I would come to understand to be animewas the unmasking of Zoltar on Battle of the Planets, the dubbed, recut and greatly sanitised versionof the late seventies anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Each week Battle of the Planetsfeatured a team of five young superheroes in birdlikecostumes, defending Earth against the latestmonsters and schemes unleashed by the evil forces of Spectra and Spectra's sinister fieldcommander, Zoltar. Throughout the series, Zoltar remained a sexually ambiguous figure, somewherebetween feminine and masculine. This ambiguity centred on Zoltar's lipstick, purple uniform, flowingcape and horned cowl, all of which kept his/her true gender virtually unrecognisable. The liminality ofthe character carried over to Zoltar's race as well, for while what little we could see of Zoltar's faceappeared Caucasian, the Asian actor Keye Luke voiced the character. Then, in Episode 60, TheAlien Bigfoot, Zoltar is briefly unmasked to expose long blond hair and feminine features.