As topic name. Currently some official outfits that range from "slightly different" to "radically different" are strewn all over. Some have tags exist, but their names aren't particularly catchy, like kourindou tengu costume or agatha chris q outfit (touhou). Others don't exist at despite the prominence of the outfit, like Aya's brown suit, and are only vaguely described in the character tag. Some are just alternate outfits, like Yukari's purple dress or tabard. Should they be tagged in any way? Or left as they are?
As far as i know, they don't have any particular fan name. Usually Aya's suit is called "her Forbidden Scrollery outfit", since she appears in there wearing that.
Touhou wiki states to add the additional copyright if the image makes a direct reference to it. For example, Wily Beast and Weakest Creature gets tagged for an illustration if gameplay elements are present or Reimu is wearing her outfit from that game, so I think that should be the case for every other outfit, print or game-wise. Of course, this should only be the case for unique outfits appearing once, but then there are cases like kourindou tengu costume that are worn by several, and should remain as its own gentag.
Unfortunately, the "tag the originating copyright" policy for distinct Touhou outfits contradicts the general "don't tag Touhou art with copyrights" policy, so things like Kogasa's WaHH outfit very often go untagged with the proper copyrights. Copyright tags are certainly a lot more reliable than gentags, but Touhou needs a lot of cleaning up concerning outfits.
The problem here is that, for example, Yukari appears in both her dress and tabard in multiple games and spinoffs. Tagging every post of her in a tabard as imperishable night would be plain wrong, cause tag bloat, and cause confusion. Searching for a tag related to that outfit doesn't work either - the character may be wearing only part of the outfit or it may not be tagged at all (shameimaru_aya jacket brings 5 times the amount of results of shameimaru_aya suit_jacket, despite the latter being in the wiki and all.)
The problem here is that, for example, Yukari appears in both her dress and tabard in multiple games and spinoffs. Tagging every post of her in a tabard as imperishable night would be plain wrong, cause tag bloat, and cause confusion. Searching for a tag related to that outfit doesn't work either - the character may be wearing only part of the outfit or it may not be tagged at all (shameimaru_aya jacket brings 5 times the amount of results of shameimaru_aya suit_jacket, despite the latter being in the wiki and all.)
I fully agree, but creating new tags for costumes is never simple and always results in a drawn out argument. This case is especially complicated, as none of these outfits have official names, and not all of them are limited to a single media. Simple ones at least can just be "character_(copyright)", such as tatara kogasa (wahh), but then how do we tag Yukari?
I would support new tags for these, but I don't expect it'll go forward without resistance.
In a way, these outfits more than deserve their own 'altskin char tags' when compared to all the gacha ones, because they are:
Visually distinctive.
Often require complicated tags to narrow them down (far harder than some gacha ones that are technically equivalent to two tag searches if we ignore missed tagging of outfits) and possibly multiple searches.
Have their corresponding individual outfit element gentags severely undertagged because most of them were uploaded before those gentags exist, and tagging used to be less rigorous anyways.
Have far more examples than some of the <30 gacha altskins.
I don't necessarily think it is the best idea (because of potential autocomplete flooding, plus generating noise for chartag count searches), but if we're going to continue blanket-creating gacha altskin tags (however minor), then these alternate outfit more than deserve their own "chartags" already. Problem is coming up with the names, because most of the Touhou ones don't have any. Though name of the Touhou game or work seems good enough (but might cause people to also tag their corresponding copyrights).
Related are the Nanoha characters, which do have official names for their barrier jacket costumes. So, like... I dunno, fate_testarossa_(sonic form), fate_testarossa_(impulse_form), fate_testarossa_(true_sonic_form). As a bonus this doesn't clog up autocomplete except for fate/prototype because the various fate/ copyright series are highly populated and "fate_t" only has fate_testarossa without any other potential conflicts.
Though overall I'd say we need to be conservative with regard to this. Not every single alternate costume should get their own tag; only the more distinctive ones that have enough examples and are likely to be searched.
So Nanoha ones I am less sure about because her alternate "costumes" are more similar with regard to each other (except that adult Nanoha one with the skintight black 'shirt' under white bodice combo, though not sure if that one is Aggressor or Exceed Mode) and Takamachi_* being guaranteed to clog up autocomplete for all the Tak*s.
