Catmoo Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Most of the best entries are group entries. I won't be entering if there are group entries and the rest of us won't either. We're coming as a group. Think it's a pretty poor idea to cut out groups, personally. Must say I don't really mind as nobody ever cosplays as anyone similar to what I do so I never have a group, I kinda like the fact that it'll be single people only as then people are judged on their costumes :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aflame Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 i was thinking maybe hatsumi from hot gimmick aflame xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enty Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Have just read through all the posts and am not sure why group entries are being stopped. Why does it make a difference if a group of people go on stage or a single person? Surely its quicker for 50 people in groups to go on stage than for 50 people as singles. or am i missing something here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 (edited) Most of the best entries are group entries. I won't be entering if there are group entries and the rest of us won't either. We're coming as a group. Think it's a pretty poor idea to cut out groups, personally. I'm asuming this is a typo as it was in the last post you made about groups not being allowed, as what your stating is most entries are groups and you won't be entering and neither will anyone else even if groups were allowed. i would like to point out what the competition is about, i'm not stopping you from coming as a group and attending the event as a group and gettng your photos done as a group, i'm only stopping you currently entering the competition as a group as it's not based on a performance, or how many people you can get to dress up as characters and maybe even act out a scene from the show ect...yes it's fun but not everyone will know what you are doing and they're not really necesarry for the competition, it's about what outfit you've created, your acheivement, your pride and joy for that show and you will be judged on Accuracy, Craftsmanship and Resemblance same as the previouse events which is why a picture is needed for the judges to compare. you will be asked how long you've been costuming for, why you chose this outfit and how long it took you to make. you can still video your skits that you have created in your group with your own recording equipment...most phones these days have this ability, also you have to undertand that the judges mainly the celebrity ones will not have a clue what your doing and why and are only intersted in the outfit which is what your there to be judged for. Honestly yes it is a fun thing to do and some of the audience will know what your doing and will laugh but some will also not have a clue but they will all be there for one thing and thats to see the creation that you have put time, effort and money into, they will cheer you on and will want to take photos of there and after the event which you may then by all means have as much fun as you want with reinacting stuff or messing around, but personally i like to keep stuff like that for Anime Theatre....which does give me an idea about group stuff for the future, i shall discuss this with showmasters and see what happens. Ladyd if i go as some one from amanga book would i have tobring the book with me so you know who im dressed as ? aflame xx to enter in order for the judges to compare you would need a reference picture of the out fit when you sign up, you can easily do this by either photocopying a specific picture in the book or look online for a pic and print that out. Coloure pictures are encouraged for better costume reference however if this is not possable and your only able to supply black n white this is fine. Wiv wot u said...could work. I do enjoy cosplaying but other than my reason of doing my costume wiv my Lucius its also coz I dont really like going in on my own and tend to get alil stage fright. Oh well. May just not enter for now until everything has been sorted out. seems like the better option for me personally. if your to scared to come on stage by yourself it's not uncomman, sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and take a chance, i still get nervouse when i'm doing it but it's also a buzz esspesially if you find out you've won something for your efforts which is the main point in entering the competition, thought the choice is entiarly up to you. Edited February 9, 2008 by Ladyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haruka Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Some of us can't beat the stage fright though. That's why Phoenix and I will be rather hesitant to enter with group entries struck out. We're also entering as a group because, as friends, we worked together on these costumes. We want to enter them together, not separately. What stops our costumes being judged for accuracy, resemblance and craftsmanship whilst we're in a group? I'm honestly rather curious about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naurarwen_fangorn Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I think I'll just pass and hide in the cornor instead. Seems like a good plan to me! Hehe oh well. As soon as the group are back on let me know n I'll enter. Thanks hun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 Some of us can't beat the stage fright though. That's why Phoenix and I will be rather hesitant to enter with group entries struck out. We're also entering as a group because, as friends, we worked together on these costumes. We want to enter them together, not separately. What stops our costumes being judged for accuracy, resemblance and craftsmanship whilst we're in a group? I'm honestly rather curious about that. i know that Emily allowed groups, but as i have stated from the begining this is a fresh start, i'm now the one who's creating this event from scratch and some things i feel needed to change, i'm sure if you were doing a job, you would do things your way and change a thing or to that you felt needed to be done maybe for the better...you never know untill you try. it's not up to me to cure stage fright, it's up to me to run this event how i see fit and to the best of my ability sorry i can't please everyone. and what stops your costumes from being judged as a group atm is the amount of prizes available, hence why i have stated groups may come back but i have yet to know the prize situation 1st and i won't know this untill a few events have passed, and thats the truth. if you have any issues with my decision regarding disallowing group entries for the time being i suggest you take it up with showmasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legolassie Malfoy Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 First of all no offence but some ppl need the group entries. Because like myself, my friend Emma and I cosplay as Lucius and Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter and generally wen we do these costumes we do it together. Also if u read some of the other posts other group cosplays have been organised such as : Order of the Phoenix, Rocky Horry Picture Show, Black Hawk Down, general Harry Potter, Peter Pan, X-Men and many others. The skits I'm not too bothered as I tend to just walk on and pose thats about it. But I do love watchin the skits. Shouldn't u be asking cosplayers wot they want?? Any questions?? I couldn't enter with you any more as I'll be one of the judges. From a judging point of view its easier to judge a single person rather than a group. I think groups could feature in the furture but how they are awarded and judged will need to be looked at. In the seconds I'm judging for the time means I can't see all the people featured in the group. At least with a single person I feel I'll be able to judge them better. I agree with what everyone is saying and you all have valid points. At this stage I will agree with Jackie on this one and not have groups for the time being. Mainly from a prize/judging point of view. Groups I know can be a popular part of cosplay but so can individual enteries. I think a seperate group comp and indiviual comp could be looked in the furture but for now I leave the cosplay in LadyD's very capable hands. Stage fright and get us all. But its a comp and there will be good prizes. So I think a little stage fright can work with you and will be worth it. I do think its a shame that some people who decided not to enter as a result of the groups being dropped. That of course is up to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naurarwen_fangorn Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 awwww u cant leave me now daddy malfoy. they should let u enter the comps that u dont judge. its only fair. same for LadyD she should be allowed to enter is she isnt judging Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 awwww u cant leave me now daddy malfoy. they should let u enter the comps that u dont judge. its only fair. same for LadyD she should be allowed to enter is she isnt judging heh i wish it were allowed but being a resident judge means you have to give up that right, i can't enter any either, i mean apart from judging as well, and MC'ing i have everything else to worry about so it just wouldn't be possable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady of The Realm Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 It just seems so unfair that a few of us have worked really hard on a group entry, and all of a sudden it's been a waste of time!!! This totally sucks, I don't mind saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 It just seems so unfair that a few of us have worked really hard on a group entry, and all of a sudden it's been a waste of time!!! This totally sucks, I don't mind saying. i don't mind you saying it sucks because personally to you it does, but its hardly unfair, you should think positive for a change, you can still enter your costume and you can still do stuff as a group for the entire day at the event just not as part of the competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anime_Angel Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I don't know what everyones problem is??? if you enter on your own, if you win, you don't have to shair your prize lol but if your in a group and come in at 3rd place and win a £20 voucher, you'll have to shair that lol But still, entering on your own is much better than a group^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 14, 2008 Author Share Posted February 14, 2008 I don't know what everyones problem is??? if you enter on your own, if you win, you don't have to shair your prize lol but if your in a group and come in at 3rd place and win a £20 voucher, you'll have to shair that lol But still, entering on your own is much better than a group^_^ yeah the sharing the prize bit is annoying which is what i try to avoid, also i just think people are used to group entries...they just have to adjust, with many places that have new management come new rules and that's just how things go, it's not like they're ignoring the majority and suggestions will be heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mich Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Ok, so any of this happening at LFCC 08? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 Ok, so any of this happening at LFCC 08? hello darlin, havn't spoken to you in a long time. LFCC 08' should be having a cosplay competition, keep an eye on the website for updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legolassie Malfoy Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 awwww u cant leave me now daddy malfoy. they should let u enter the comps that u dont judge. its only fair. same for LadyD she should be allowed to enter is she isnt judging Forgot to mention that I'm now a resident judge. So I won't be entering for a while. I don't mind really after 15 years of cosplay competeing is occasionally nice to take a break from competeing. Good luck to you if you do enter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mich Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Ok, so any of this happening at LFCC 08? hello darlin, havn't spoken to you in a long time. LFCC 08' should be having a cosplay competition, keep an eye on the website for updates. Ok, thanks Hun, will do....I always love watching the comps, and might enter for one of the days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) Wait a second (i'm a non-mother tongue-english speaker, so i want to be sure i understood right)... Are you saying that - groups are not allowed to enter the cosplay competition? If i got it right: That is lame, honestly... I'm part of a belgian cosplay event organisation (the Belgian Cosplay team), and we know from experience that groups are most often the most interesting to have on stage... Brings dynamics to an event .... Lone stage-frighten cosplayers, just passing on some music tends to become quite boring after a while! Groups (in a reasonable number on stage, of course) brings some action, as they allow *interaction* between people on stage... hard to do a skit alone, really (done that and frankly it's boring - what if your character has no definite "pose" or is no martial artist??)! I've been a judge also in several events (as i'm a cosplayer for 20 years now) and i always preferred to see groups to individuals. We have some special rules that applies to judging the groups (like the homogeneity of the group, the quality of the interactions, qualty of the costumes, if there's an effort in ALL the costumes, and so on)... and frankly it never "slowed" down any of our events to have groups in them! My best ever win was the first prize we got in Paris for our Strawberry Shortcake group... and we were 14 on stage...and we had a standing ovation for our skit... far from "boring", apparently! It is stated on the website that "personal characters" would be allowed... unless it also changed??? If it's not the case, it seems that our participation to the cosplay contest at CM Midlands will not be possible, which SUCKS really! (we planned to show our 2 fursuits, as personal characters)..... Cause i don't see where it fit in the categories you state on the first post of this thread.... Also you say it "slows" things down to have groups... I've been to several CM event and, honestly, it's not like you have 200 cosplayers there... At LFCC, we were about 30 at max! And imagine that there was 2 groups of 5 in the lot... that leaves only 20 individuals to go on stage.... and that's pretty quickly done!... I would understand if it was like in "Japan E xpo", in Paris which each year has between 200 and 250 cosplayers attending... and even *they* have a "group" category (and WITH skits and performances for them!)... so? Just some hints, really...from someone who's in the "business" for more than 2 decades (ok, i'm old..) *sigh* Edited February 18, 2008 by Cookie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurkFox Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 *waves a little flag that says "Go Cookie!" on it* I fully agree. Even if we didn't have skits, it would still be a lot better to have groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Yes. In "our" masquerade rules, it's MAX 1min 30sec on stage per "individuals" and MAX. 3 minutes per group IF they want to do a skit. So think about it.. 3 minutes max when you have 10 people on stage.. would be 10x 1mn 30sec if they were "individuals"... You even gain time! And no one is forced to do a skit... I wouldn't, even as a group...(well not this time at least)... So what you think about: OK for groups, but no skits for groups? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyd Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 Are you saying that - groups are not allowed to enter the cosplay competition? That is lame, honestly... I'm part of a belgian cosplay event organisation (the Belgian Cosplay team), and we know from experience that groups are most often the most interesting to have on stage... Brings dynami to an event .... Lone stage-frighten cosplayers, just passing on some music tends to become quite boring after a while! Groups (in a reasonable number on stage, of course) brings some action, as they allow *interaction* between people on stage... hard to do a skit alone, really (done that and frankly it's boring - what if your character has no definite "pose" or is no martial artist??)! I've been a judge also in several events (as i'm a cosplayer for 20 years now) and i always preferred to see groups to individuals. We have some special rules that applies to judging the groups (like the homogeneity of the group, the quality of the interactions, qualty of the costumes, if there's an effort in ALL the costumes, and so on)... and frankly it never "slowed" down any of our events to have groups in them! My best ever win was the first prize we got in Paris for our Strawberry Shortcake group... and we were 14 on stage...and we had a standing ovation for our skit... far from "boring", apparently! It is stated on the website that "personal characters" would be allowed... unless it also changed??? If it's not the case, it seems that our participation to the cosplay contest at CM Midlands will not be possible, which SUCKS really! (we planned to show our 2 fursuits, as personal characters)..... Cause i don't see where it fit in the categories you state on the first post of this thread.... Also you say it "slows" things down to have groups... I've been to several CM event and, honestly, it's not like you have 200 cosplayers there... At LFCC, we were about 30 at max! And imagine that there was 2 groups of 5 in the lot... that leaves only 20 individuals to go on stage.... and that's pretty quickly done!... I would understand if it was like in "Japan E xpo", in Paris which each year has between 200 and 250 cosplayers attending... and even *they* have a "group" category (and WITH skits and performances for them!)... so? Just some hints, really...from someone who's in the "business" for more than 2 decades (ok, i'm old..) *sigh* not at the moment they're not, i never stated this was a permanent thing, and i've already covered were starting from scratch. i have already stated what stops your costumes from being judged as a group atm and that is the amount of prizes available, hence why i have stated groups may come back but i have yet to know the prize situation 1st and i won't know this untill a few events have passed. please read previouse posts carefully before replying as no one likes repeating themselves. if a character has no pose then make some up, your going to be asked questions about your outfit anyway. i've been cosplaying for 7 years and a professional full time event coordinator for 4 but no one except showmasters really cares about a persons experience. personal costumes are allowed they will be placed under the 'origional idea' catagory, i have updated the 1st post so people now know what the current catagories are. the fact of the matter is this Groups are not allowed currently (they will come later), this is starting from scratch as if there never was a competition before, there is room to grow and things will be added in the future, you have to start at the bottom and expand slowly to get to the top, if you put too much in at the beginning what have you got to offer later on AND your just going to fall. Yes. In "our" masquerade rules, it's MAX 1min 30sec on stage per "individuals" and MAX. 3 minutes per group IF they want to do a skit. So think about it.. 3 minutes max when you have 10 people on stage.. would be 10x 1mn 30sec if they were "individuals"... You even gain time! And no one is forced to do a skit... I wouldn't, even as a group...(well not this time at least)... So what you think about: OK for groups, but no skits for groups? i have done the math i just need to figure out numbers of contestants 1st when at the event, i'm not going to pre-ditermin something unless i'm sure on how many people actually apply. groups and no skit could work but still unable to do much at all with prizes atm, i'm trying to find sponsors right now so i can get groups back in and give decent things to the winners. i'm not against groups it's just not a good idea to have them where we stand atm....and when i do bring them in i think it's best just to have a maximum of 3 or 4 people no more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Well... As for the prizes... You says it's cash for the firsts and goodies bags for the runner ups.... Cash is easily shareable within a group and also the goodies bags are... (We always has to share the prizes in our goups and it always went well- even when we won a dvd player, a single one. Went to the person having decided to make the group in the first place. Her idea, her prize, and there was never any discussion about it) But i got your point. No group is no group. Count me out. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgejedi88 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Hi guys and gals...Ive read this thread with interest and about the new approach. I guess its that 'new broom sweeps clean' scenario with a new person leading the way, so all praise to LadyD who is obviously striving to bring something new and fresh to the cosplay events across the board for SM - not just at GMEX. Thats a big challenge but Im sure LadyD will overcome! However, I have to say that IMHO its disappointing that things that obviously seemed to work well (certainly at GMEX) seem to be getting dropped from what Ive read, rather than built upon. Emily did a great job at the last GMEX with the groups and kept it flowing nicely and is to be congratulated for her efforts. I dont think any of us who do cosplay or costuming do it for the money though or worry about 'splitting' the prize too much (although of course its nice to get something as recognition in what is afterall a competition!). As a costumer myself, IMHO I'd say that we do it for the love and the passion of our interests and the friendship that it can bring too at events - its something to aim and aspire to for many who sometimes struggle to find the courage to stand on the stage portraying their favourite characters. Friendship, support and confidence follow. It brings us together under one roof where we can work together on costumes, support each other, help each other build costumes and express our interests together without fear of ridicule so we can have fun and take our thoughts away for a brief period of time from our daily lives. But we tend to do this as groups, mostly... I will just say, as one of the panel members that judged the event last time on the Saturday at GMEX, alongside Legolassie Malfoy, I personally thought that the groups worked great and looked awesome. Their interaction impressed me and brought life to the characters which helped me when judging. Just my 2p.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurkFox Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 (edited) I don't do cosplay for the prize and our group won a prize at C12 - we were just happy to come third, I couldn't even tell you who has the giftcard because it was so unimportant. So really, you could give me a pat on the back as a prize and I'd be happy - what were the other reasons for not having groups, apart from the prize thing? ((P.S. Excuse me, why was my other post deleted? I didn't swear, I wasn't rude... What rule did I break?)) Edited February 21, 2008 by TurkFox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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