Citizen journalism is by no means a new phenomenon, although it’s grown exponentially with the rise of social media. Similarly, cosplaying isn’t new — it can be traced back as far as the 1930s — but it’s also seen a stark increase in popularity thanks to social media. All of this brings us to this TikTok, in which a Comic-Con attendee in full monster makeup recently reported on an assault that took place on a train in the Bronx. This is clearly the future of journalism.


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The video, which is captioned “New Yorkers Attack Pedofile 4 Train Bedford Park Everything Happened in Front of Me,” opens on people walking down a train station platform and yelling before cutting to a clip of Morrigan69official in full Cherri Bomb cosplay. Cherri Bomb is a sinner demon from Hazbin Hotel, an animated series produced by A24. She explains to viewers, “In case you guys are wondering why I’m not at Comic Con yet, there’s like these two old guys fighting. One hit the one that touched the little boy instead of waiting for the cops, and we all just want to leave, but it’s nice to know that people took everything into their own hands.”


“The guy was on the tracks, this train is still sitting here, and the police have not gotten here yet,” she continues. “Meanwhile, I’m sitting here looking crazy. I’m glad they stomped his ass. Let somebody touch my child, you going in the trash too.”


Based on her terrifying costume, I believe she means that wholeheartedly.


People were in awe of the chaotic nature of the video, commenting things like, “Wait so much is happening omfg,” and “I had to scroll back up cause I thought the video changed.” Several people had trouble processing the video at all, with one writing, “I’m ngl my brain is still not processing it’s been like three minutes” while someone else said, “I skipped ahead to see an explanation and thought I was hallucinating.”


In response to one commenter, OP demonstrated her fearless commitment to journalism and said, “I was not prepared to record, but it had to be done.” You have to respect it.


My main takeaway from this is if journalists want more eyeballs on their stories, they should consider sporting elaborate costumes while delivering the news. If nothing else, it would bring in an entirely new audience of cosplayers excited to see Satoru Gojo or Harley Quinn deliver the news of the day.