About
Sailor Bubba is the nickname given to a bearded man often seen at anime conventions dressed as the female protagonist Usagi Tsukino from the 1992 animated television show Sailor Moon. He gained much online notoriety among fans of the show and popularized the style of cosplay known as “crossplay,”[1] in a similar vein to Man-Faye.
Origin
According to an article on the anime news blog Threat or Menace,[2] Sailor Bubba made his first appearance at the 1999 Anime Central convention in Chicago, Illinois and participated in the event’s masquerade costume contest. (shown below).
Spread
Photographs of his costume at the 2004 Anime Central were posted on Deviant Art. [4] That year, Anime Central began selling Sailor Bubba bobblehead dolls (shown below).[10]
On November 16th, 2005, Metafilter[5] user aburd submitted a post about Sailor Bubba. On December 2nd, a YTMND page titled “Sailor Bubba!” was created, featuring a photo of the cosplayer accompanied by a looped clip from the 1998 alternative rock song “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies. Additional YTMND pages were made in 2006 and 2007.[7]
On November 14th, 2008, a Facebook[8] page titled “Sailor Bubba” was launched, highlighting notable pictures of the cosplayer. On June 27th, 2010, an actor dressed as Sailor Bubba appeared in Season 3 Episode 3 of the television drama series Leverage (shown below).
On May 23rd, 2012, a photo of Sailor Bubba was submitted in the comments section of a thread titled “Greatest Cosplay Ever” on the /r/funny[11] subreddit (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[2]Threat or Menace – Confession of a Con Staffer #1: Enter SAILORBUBBA! / 8/11/2011
[3]Sebby.org – Anime Central, April 19-21, 2002
[4]Deviant Art – Sailor Bubba
[5]Metafilter – Sailor Bubba / 11/16/2005
[6]4chan BBS– 4chan at Anime Central
[7]YTMND– Results for Sailor Bubba
[8]Facebook – Sailor Bubba
[9]Meme Generator – Sailor Bubba
[10]bbboy.net – Cosplay Links
[11]Reddit – greatest cosplay ever