I searched the forums and couldn't find a thread that discusses this. Right now, I'm tagging images that deserve the alternate_costume or adapted_costume tags with alternate_hairstyle, alternate_hair_color, alternate_eye_color etc. as well if they are applicable.

My question is, should alternate_hairstyle, alternate_hair_color, alternate_eye_color etc. still be applied if the image deserves the alternate_costume or adapted_costume tags? I don't want to overload the alternate features tags if they're meant to indicate more specific changes. I ask because the wiki entry for alternate_costume states:

For a game character, this is a costume other than the standard one that can be unlocked within the game.

By including game characters in the definition like this, this may imply that the character's physical features may also be different, because a vast majority of alternate costumes for characters in games (e.g. League of Legends) also feature different hairstyles, hair colors, eye colors, etc.

It's best if I give an example of what I mean. Let's look at the character in post #1369441 and post #1342801: the former depicts the character with her default costume and her regular hairstyle, hair color, eye color, etc. but the latter depicts the character in an alternate costume with a different hair color and eye color. So should the latter be tagged with alternate_costume and alternate_hair_color/alternate_eye_color?

Even though the wiki does include that sentence, alternate_costume has been nearly exclusively used for fanmade costumes. The same goes for the other alternate_* tags.
In the case of fanmade costumes, you should tag everything that has changed. alternate_costume in this case refers only to the clothes. Use it in combination with the other alternate_* tags if eye or hair color, hair length, etc. has also changed.
If a character has 2 different hairstyles in canon, non of them are tagged alternate_hairstyle.
Some characters who have multiple visually different appearances have multiple character tags assigned to them. I do not play LoL, so I cannot tell you if this would be a good idea here.

I guess it would not be wrong to use alternate_hairstyle for a character in his or her complete costume/appearance A with the hairsyle of costume/appearance B, but I'm not too sure about that.

Okay, thanks for the clarification. Do you have any citations for its usage for fanmade costumes? I agree with you, but I think what you are saying goes against what the wiki entry says. I would never have made the assumption that it's used mainly for fanmade costumes just by reading what the wiki said.

I'm going to change the wiki entry for alternate_costume so that it better reflects what the tag should be used for, because as it stands right now it goes for any different costume other than a character's canonical one. Feel free to undo or edit my change to make the definition more fitting.

Yes, the previous discussion can be found here: forum #52578

Okay, so let me see if I got this right:

• alternate_costume should be applied only if at least the vast majority of the character's attire is original in the sense that it is not something the character wears canonically.
  ** If the character is wearing a canonical outfit usually worn by another character, it should be tagged as cosplay instead.
• Alternate feature tags such as alternate_hairstyle, alternate_hair_color etc. should only be applied if the character in question never has that hairstyle, hair color, etc. in canon regardless of attire.
  ** If the character has a set of alternate canonical features, but is in canonical attire and/or is in a canonical alternate 'skin' or color (a la player_2), leave out all alternate_* tags but possibly tag as player_2 if it's mostly a color swap.

Does that cover everything? I still think the wiki entry for alternate_costume should have the line about game characters either tweaked or removed to make it more specific. I feel that canonical game character alternate costumes (such as skins in LoL) fit somewhere between alternate_costume and player_2, but I'm not sure where to draw the line there.