I think this is owing to several factors. First of all, cosplay is inaccessible many people who cannot afford the time and energy that it takes to immerse oneself in a hyper-specific storyworld/franchise let alone assemble elaborate costumes for the hyper-real attention to detail that is often associated with cosplay. The TikTok nestled above is incredibly accessible for several reasons. Rather than being pinned to a very specific time period (the #malonemob’s 40s-50s vintage-core look), JJ projected a much broader period range for the mafia look. He is at once Baby Face Nelson (1920’s, dead by 1934), Al Capone (more legendary in the 30’s to heavily influence films in the 40’s-50’s), “Bugsy” Siegel  in his later years in Las Vegas, and even a young Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone. And although The Godfather was set in 1945-1955, the aesthetic of that film and sequels fueled the up-to-present-day gritty naturalism look most associated with modern ‘crime family’ dramas, distinct from the Silver Screen glamour of the Film Noirs that influenced them. (We can later see how this time period in the #mafiaoc broadened further to present day mafia costuming once popular TikTok personalities The Croes Brothers and The Neffati Brothers began to join in and collaborate with several key creators (while also amping up the production values for a more cinematic appeal at the same time.))

Employing the sample ‘kill the king,’ in a fashion similar to other cosplay TikToks, but in an ultra-accessible vague mafia world (as opposed to a particular franchise) that spans a century from real life mobsters to one of the most popular genres of all time (with myriads of sub-genres) while also situating himself as the Mob King, JJ presented a more seductive invitation than the one Randall offered a month and a half earlier. Rather than a call to action of ‘join my mafia family,’ JJ challenges the viewer: ‘Either join me or take me down,’ and ‘You are either with me or against me.’ The flit of his eyes towards the left of the  frame is also an invitation for the viewer to participate and be recognized as a henchman marching alongside in duet (in the same inviting manner to the one Maeve employed in the TikTok that Vain Virgo dueted in Part One where she cast eyes off screen). While this marching alongside to present as a ‘united front’ for a cause was already popularized on Tiktok either in simple duets or long duet chains (‘march against cyberbullying,’ ‘march against Trump,’ ‘march for Trump,’ and so on), for narrative-driven TikTok the duet march has the same effect as the team Power Walk first popularized by the film The Right Stuff, which is now employed in nearly every superhero franchise to this date.

via GIPHY

For many on TikTok outside of the cosplay community, the challenge was an easy one to accept: grab a few things from the closet to evoke a ‘look,’ put a noir filter on one’s smartphone, and bring a lot of attitude as the key ingredient (and all without having to adhere to any implied socially-understood cosplay RPG etiquette for interacting or having to create an elaborate backstory beforehand). All anyone had to do was embody ANY mafia archetype — with so many to chose from! — in 60 seconds or less.

By late September to early October, #mafiaoc started to trend well outside cosplay TikTok with Gen Xers (and older) who had survived the ‘Satanic Panic’ associated with D&D in their youths (and for whom cosplay wasn’t the ‘thing’ it has became for later generations) joining in on the fun.

Very quickly, you now had two camps of #mafiaoc participants — the casual ‘player’ who likely had limited RPG/cosplay experience to have a bit of fun with it AND the hardcore roleplayers/RPGers and TikTok personalities now weaving their pre-established ‘mafiafamily’ storylines, or starting ones, into JJ’s ever expanding mob-family thread (that was now being increasingly mistaken as the progenitor when rather it had become the most popular nexus from many).

Even red.trunks himself resurrected Randall on August 27th (the same day that is credited as JJ’s first appearance) in — plot twist!– as a demon to duet with JJ in this TikTok two days later. Here we see Randall ‘negotiate’ a price for his services with JJ while commenting on the ‘cross-over’ (in the comment thread): ‘The man who started it and the man who brought it back to life.”

Somewhere along the way, major collabs between key cosplayers and TikTok personalities began to develop in now what was beginning to be seen as the ‘main mafia storyline’ with JJ in the center. To what extent this had been calculated or organized in advance, from the outside, is hard to say. In this interview with Caoimhe Morris, the collab between her character Frenchie (JJ’s bodyguard) and JJ started practically incidentally, taking even the popular cosplayer by surprise.

By early October, however, the collabs were getting much more serious with cross-over appearances of popular mafia characters meeting in ‘meatspace’ to be featured in clips with high production values, prompting many to start referring to #mafiaoc as a much anticipated upcoming “Netflix Film” (via wishful thinking). At this time we also see some light evidence that some of the #mafiaoc TikToks might have been received brand sponsorship, but no substantial proof to confirm without further digging or getting in contact with those in the know.

#Mafiaoc began to peak in October and November, while still fairly popular in late December of 2019. I think this is owing to the fact that the casual players mentioned had had their fun and moved on. However, the hardcore players were, and still are, roleplaying their characters in ever-expanding storylines and complicated mafia families. While some of this came from splintering and off-shoots of activities that arose from what became to be seen by many as the ‘main’ storyline with JJ as a fixture, there were also many #mafiaoc storylines wholly independent of that thread, even predating it, that have gone on to live very complex lives.

I wish to wrap this section up so that we can leave Clapdaddie behind and move on, as many of the key-creatives have managed to do, to focus on some of the more pioneering storytelling techniques some of the key creators have explored. As mentioned in my Content Warning, loosely based collaborations in an open and shared storyworld are often messy at best. While agents of change can activate a communal response to protect its members at large against predatory behaviour, what happens to a shared storyline when a key player has been ousted from the community?

In narrative this can be solved a few ways. Some threads, closely once associated with the JJ character, chose to kill him off (off screen) and continue the storyline under the hashtag #Virago (although this has generated some legitimate criticism as expressed downthread in this reddit for too closely aligning Clapdaddie’s “very real actions into plot fodder”).

Others simply removed JJ from their narrative threads altogether to ‘reboot’ their threads. Or in the case as the popular Croes Brothers (in which JJ, as a character, was never essential to THEIR storyline, but can been seen rather as part of a cross-promotional activity with Clapdaddie to boost shared audience numbers) easily shifted the focus back to their own thread. We can see in the TikTok below how easily they were to just move on, in advance of the Clappdaddie and Infernumasylum controversy that exploded late March of this year, now under the banner ‘Blood Brothers’ rather than #mafiaoc — which had been the real focus of their storyline from the outset all along.