This yeah I actually got to watch most of the cosplay (something I don't normally do) and so I actually have an opinion on it for once!

First I guess I should address the controversy involved in our decision to focus cosplay (like the rest of the convention) on just anime characters. Anime Punch since we started has tried to focus as directly on anime as possible. Of course we do have one or two video game/ fanculture panels, but for the most part we do a very good job at staying on target.
We do get a fair amount of flack for this though. There are a lot of people who like to tell us how wrong we are for doing it this way, or how hypocritical we are for having video game rooms (though somehow I think they would be MORE pissed if we didn't) etc etc.

Well, to clear up a common misconception, this has nothing to do with us disliking anyone. We're not pissing on the kingdom hearts crowd, we're not trying to rain on the jpop peoples parades. We're not trying to belittle anyone. This has nothing to do with what we dislike. It is all about our conventions focus (AKA what we do like) and that is anime. We get a lot of people telling us how WE should run OUR show (which typically ends up being "exactly like every other show"), and to those of you who want us to be another cookiecutter con, I'm sorry, but it ain't going to happen.

(Incidentally, I got an email from an angry furry the other day who, under the impression that we are banning furries, said something like "so if Furries aren't welcome at your con, what's next, trekkies? Storm troopers? Harry potter fans? Klingons?". First, I didn't realize klingons and trekkies were different groups. Second of all, someone didn't do their research!)
On that note, I should probably make a big statement here saying I don't care what fancultures you're a part of, whether a trekkie, or a storm trooper, or a gamer, or a furry, or whatever else outside of the con, as long as you show up looking for anime, you're welcome at anime punch!"
-I have to say that because a lot of the furries seem to get the impression that we don't want them there even if they don't wear their fur suits, which is just retarded. People need to stop being such bitches sometimes!

But anyhow, this is getting kind of rambley. At anyrate, yeah, we are an anime con, we're going to focus our cosplay on anime too. We'll be pretty forgiving about it, but we got as many compliments on it as we did complaints, so get used to it, it's going to stay that way. Just another anime punch tradition! No, we're not going to kick you out of the halls for being dressed as Yuna, and yes, people are going to complain about this until the end of time, but honestly, I don't want bitches at anime punch, so if you're so horribly offended by our right to self determination, then I'm glad you're not coming to the con to fill it with your negativity.



So yeah, I am not sure where this post was originally going, so I'm going to end it now, and talk about the cosplay contest itself in my next post.

Part 2: This time with less ranting!

So the cosplay contest.

Setup for it went great, and we were ready to go on time. The only two glitches were that A) Someone had the fantastically stupid idea to close video one (which was packed and showing Dancougar Nova, a show we had subtitled ourselves) so that we could move more chairs into cosplay, and B) there was a slight hum in the sound system that took a while to isolate.

Tom, Brad, and I decided that we should have some big into skit to cosplay, but weren't really sure what to do. A few minutes before show time Tom comes up to me and goes "Mike, you need a black hoodie! Trust me, this will be awesome". So I go track one down, and come back (more or less show time) and they tell me the plan... sort of.
So we go out there, and I only have a vague idea of what's going on, and it ended up being awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoA4AD8Gs28 for a sample.

After that there were the skits. I ran out during skit 1 to get some of Mike Thorns famous Curry, and came back to find that the audio for skit two had gone awol somehow. I'm really still not sure what happened with that, no explanation has reached me yet. The girl was a total sport though, and she, Tom, Brad, and I stalled for time by screwing around and stuff. She took it really well, and is actually pretty good on a mic (when she did start talking I almost thought she was pre-recorded, she was so proficient at using the microphone). Eventually she told us she didn't really need her soundtrack, that she just needed someone to do sound effects for her, so I did that and she did her skit.

Past that it was fairly eventless. I was somewhat disappointed with a lot of the skits, but there were also some decent ones. The One Piece group had a damn solid skit, as did Anne Packrats (which I just kept thinking was about to end because it had so many punchlines!). there were two Akatsuki dance skits, one of which was pretty entertaining, one of which was somewhat painful, both of which used "I'm Blue" by Eiffel 65 for Kisame. Duellin Dan is getting better at writing skits, and his went over fairly well. I think we're going to need a new rule against using the "skit" time as open mic time though. There is a time and a place for standup, and we DO have an open mic session in the atrium. Honestly I was expecting the skits to be a little edgier, but overall it was a pretty decent cosplay. Really any cosplay that the audience stays into is a good one, so I guess that means we were a total success!
The walkons we did in a "models on the runway" style again, which seems to go over well. Awards were fun to dish out, especially giving one prize to a 9 person group. I hope they work that out. I didn't hear back from them, so I guess they were happy with it. Then again these days it seems like if people are unhappy with us they don't bother telling us, but prefer to just rant online after the fact. If there are any people from that Akatsuki group here, let me know! Tom and Brad did a pretty good job hosting it, and I think if there are no objections I'll have them do it again next year, though if anyone has any opinions on that subject I'd love to hear them.

I should also give a big thanks to our judges, Codi, Cori, and Brian, who basically worked 8 hours straight without food or breaks to get all the contestants judged and what not. They did a great job, and took great pains to do be as fair as possible. I shouldn't have to mention how difficult it is to be a cosplay judge, especially at a convention where everyone has really great costumes. Making the decision as to which few people get special nominations isn't a job I would want to have, and so they deserve a little extra respect for having to take that burden onto their shoulders!

I guess my favorite line from the whole thing would be Sanzo from the pirate group saying "Um, I joined this crew under the belief that we'd be raping women"

Afterwards I got one complaint from a girl who was pretty upset that she didn't win. She was pissed, then in tears, then pissed again. I sat down with her to try and calm her down, and eventually she was ok. She thought that the only reason she didn't win was because she was from Chrono Cross, which really had nothing to do with it. Apparently the Resident Evil swimsuit cosplay group is complaining online somewhere that they got screwed out of a swimsuit cosplay prize for the same reason, but again, that has nothing to do with it (plus video game costumes are completely legit for swimsuit cosplay! Since you can't find that anywhere else anyhow, there is no reason to limit the entries since it's already different enough as is!) If anyone knows anyone in that group let them know that they didn't win because other entries were better, and that's that. Maybe next year I'll add a group award to swimsuit cosplay, since we had two groups this time (The afore mentioned ResEvil group, and a Lupin III group).

At anyrate, I'm sure I'll get a lot more bitching about our "arbitrary and oppressive cosplay rules" so expect me to comment more on them in the future!

-Michael