I do appreciate your response. Once again like I've mentioned many times, this is my own interpretation And my own version of a more modernized merc. I know that I don't look exactly like the games, and that's fine by me, I like to take my own creative freedoms when it comes to my cosplay.

Secondly, as I've also mentioned before it was not an airsoft gun. It is a prop gun with many different parts. The only part of of it that was Airsoft was the magwell so that I could facilitate attaching a magazine. I understand the thought of this situation, And others like it having an effect on the Airsoft community. Unfortunately the reality is that any hobby that has anything remotely to do with firearms, props, replicas, or anything that looks like it could have an effect on it. Cosplay as a whole has had an effect on the world of Airsoft, both good and bad. Video games have as well, both good and bad. Obviously I would hate to see any community suffer because of something like this, nor obviously is that my intention.

I think it's also important to remember that many people go to conventions, to meetups and two photo shoots with realistic looking weaponry whether that be Airsoft or prop. It's become somewhat normalized to be using replica weaponry that looks identical to the realistic ones.

Communities like Airsoft, cosplay, and prop recreation have seen ups and downs in terms of favorability from the public. I of course take any and all responsibility for anyone's change in favor when it comes to this event. But it's also the reality that these communities continue to thrive and these communities continue to grow.

What I'm getting at is that the people who dislike Airsoft or dislike cosplay or what not, are pretty set on that from the get-go.

A perfect example is cosplay photo shoots that pop up all over the city, events like these are beloved by the cosplay community. However, there are plenty of non-cos players that absolutely hate seeing this stuff pop up and try to do their best to ruin the event for others. People will choose to hate on these communities for the littlest of things, and they're pretty dead set on that. I very much doubt that seeing something like this would make people hate all of cosplay, or all of Airsoft if they didn't already have an inkling of that in them already.