Judge's Notes
Overall, the level of cosplay was quite impressive. There were a number
of easy picks for certain awards, but a large number of costumes that
were very close in the running. Judges were told to score commissioned
costumes on a tougher scale than those made at home or with someone's
help. Likewise, there were a great deal of costumes that looked great
from a distance, but a closer inspection revealed poor construction with
fraying material, sloppy seams, or missing details. Those little touches
can be the deciding factor for an award. The biggest factor had to be
the reference picture. Unless we had a reference image to compare the
costume with, the scores typically ran lower - afterall, we can't guess
how well the costume matches the original without seeing it. I would recommend
making it a requirement for future contests. I'm speaking to myself here
too as we forgot to provide a reference image for one of ours.
There seemed to be some controversy regarding who made certain costumes
and whether cosplayers who've won before should be scored differently.
I don't think it is relevant how many times a person has won with different
costumes. It should be based entirely on the level of craftsmanship and
the "spirit" put into it. There are some costumes you can look
at and know how much that person loves that character or costume design
because of the effort they put into it. The idea is to raise the level
on costume construction, and I think this year's Megacon did a good job
at that.
Cosplay On Stage
There were some entertaining skit performances. Some that had a lot of
time put into choreography and practice, some that were more off-the-cuff
in delivery, while others commanded a rather gross reaction *cough, extracting,
cough, cucumber, cough* from the audience. In any case, it was fun and
I enjoyed seeing it front row. Below is the largest group award
winners from Shaman King. With the popularity of anime, I wouldn't be
surprised if cosplay became an extracurricular activity offered in high-school.
Why one day, it might even become an Olympic sport. Here's hoping.
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