diff --git a/app/logical/tag_name_validator.rb b/app/logical/tag_name_validator.rb
index 85c714fde..b4886f33d 100644
--- a/app/logical/tag_name_validator.rb
+++ b/app/logical/tag_name_validator.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class TagNameValidator < ActiveModel::EachValidator
       tag_name = TagAlias.to_aliased([$1]).first
       tag = Tag.find_by_name(tag_name)
 
-      if tag.present? && !tag.character?
+      if tag.present? && !tag.empty? && !tag.character?
         record.errors[attribute] << "#{tag_name} must be a character tag"
       end
     end
diff --git a/test/unit/post_test.rb b/test/unit/post_test.rb
index c45d83bc3..ef5c02c21 100644
--- a/test/unit/post_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/post_test.rb
@@ -1296,6 +1296,14 @@ class PostTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
           refute(@post.has_tag?("cosplay"))
           assert(@post.warnings[:base].grep(/Couldn't add tag/).present?)
         end
+
+        should "allow creating a _(cosplay) tag for an empty general tag" do
+          @tag = create(:tag, name: "hatsune_miku", post_count: 0, category: Tag.categories.general)
+          @post = create(:post, tag_string: "hatsune_miku_(cosplay)")
+
+          assert_equal("cosplay hatsune_miku hatsune_miku_(cosplay)", @post.reload.tag_string)
+          assert_equal(true, @tag.reload.character?)
+        end
       end
 
       context "that has been updated" do