'Twisted All My Limbs For You' Cosplay Transitions

Submission 951

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About

'Twisted All My Limbs For You' Cosplay Transitions refers to a cosplay transition TikTok trend set to a song snippet for "The Nucleus of Creation" by Melanie Martinez where users transition from no makeup to full cosplay by pretending to snap their own neck as a snapping sound effect plays during the song, followed by lip dubbing the lyrics, "Twisted all my limbs for you." The trend was popularized on TikTok in late February 2023 after Martinez posted a teaser for the song on the app.

Origin

On February 19th, 2023, musician Melanie Martinez shared a snippet of her song "The Nucleus of Creation" on TikTok,^[1] garnering over 17.6 million views in a month (shown below).

@littlebodybigheart
𓆇 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖚𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖚𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𓆨

♬ original sound – Melanie Martinez

On February 23rd, TikToker^[2] @lightning.mcquef posted a video where she pretends to snap her neck as the cracking sound effect plays, garnering over 500,000 views in three weeks (shown below, left). On February 25th, TikToker^[3] @nemo_drag posted a video where he similarly pretends to crack his neck over the sound, then transitions to full drag makeup, garnering over 3 million views in three weeks (shown below, right). This is one of the earliest known videos doing the trend.

@lightning.mcquef Okay but like I think im onto something if anyone does it tag me I wanna see#trending #melaniemartinez #newtrend #newtransition #fyp #foryoupage #melaniemartinezedit #portalsbymelanie #AXERatioChallenge ♬ original sound – Melanie Martinez

@nemo_drag Replying to @ashlum666 ♬ original sound – Melanie Martinez

Spread

The trend spread over the following weeks, with many TikTokers basing their cosplay off of a pink alien that appears on the upcoming album by Melanie Martinez "Portals."^[7] On February 27th, TikToker^[4] @xowiejones posted a video following the trend, garnering over 2 million views in two weeks (shown below, left). On March 3rd, TikToker^[5] @endomarf posted a version of the trend that garnered over 53 million views in a week (shown below, right).

@xowiejones 2 of them in loops | ib: @lightning.mcquef ♬ original sound – Melanie Martinez

@endomarf This makeup took me almost 4 hours.. #melaniemartinez #portalsmelaniemartinez #portals ♬ original sound – Melanie Martinez

On March 7th, TikToker^[6] @zaruchinator posted a comedic version of the trend where she transitions to James Charles cosplay, garnering over 3.9 million views in a week (shown below).

@zaruchinator Hi sisters 😛 @James Charles ♬ original sound – Melanie Martinez

On March 13th, TikToker^[8] @azzakabazzas posted a version of the trend where he transitions to The Last of Us cosplay, garnering over 1.2 million views in under 24 hours (shown below).