Costume Rules

All costumes cannot be dangerous to others or the wearer.

All costumes must be decent enough to be worn in a public area.  If it cannot be worn at a public pool, in front of the eyes of the whole world (Would someone please think of the children!) it is not decent enough for Tekkoshocon.  Sure, pasties and thong would garner you that well-sought after attention, but do you really WANT that kind of attention?  And by "attention" I mean getting asked to leave the con floor so you can change.

-- Underwear is not a costume.  Period.
-- Please do not wear outfits that are so tight, revealing to see-through that it leaves nothing to the imagination.
-- T-shirts or bodysuits decorated to appear as the naked human form are not allowed.  The exception of course is male "muscle" shirts.
-- No sexual paraphernalia, toys or accessories may be carried or worn.  We don't care how "ZOMGYAOI" it is.

Suitable foot-covering must be worn at ALL times.  All footwear must provide the wearer with a hard, stable sole over the entire base of the foot.  Rollerblade and heelies are not allowed to be worn in the convention center but may be carried.

If a staffer asks you to make any change to your costume, or to leave the convention center to put on more suitable clothing for any reason not addressed here, you must do so.

Props must follow the general "Don't be stupid" rule.  There is no size limit on props but if it is so large or unwieldy that you are purposefully or accidentally causing harm to fellow attendees or property you will be asked to remove it from the con floor.

Have fun cosplaying at Tekkoshocon VIII!  And remember, friends don't let friends become a Tekkoshocon rule.

Weapons and Props Policy

1) Don't be stupid.  Examples of weapon and prop stupidity include, but are not limited to:

Not having a weapon safety checked by a member of Public Safety at their office.  If we find a weapon or prop not safety checked, we will ask you to go and have it checked.

NO LIVE STEEL.  If it can hold an edge, bringing it into a space with a bunch of hyperactive convention attendees seems to be the near pinnacle of stupidity.

Any replica gun MUST have an orange safety tip.  If you get into a shoot-out with the police, and have only a toy gun that they think is real, that's stupid.

Projectiles of all kinds (darts, air, vomit, etc.) are prohibited.  We've had some incidents in the past, and do not want to confiscate airzooka, nerf guns...or be forced to call an exorcist again.

Props should be made out of materials that make it difficult to impossible to bludgeon someone to death with.  I realize that cosplayers are loathe to bash someone about the head with a prop they've spent time working on, but still, needs to be said.

If you buy something at one of our fabulous dealers that violates these rules (like a sword, knife, particle accelerator, Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, life-size Alphonse Armor, etc.) take it DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOTEL ROOM OR CAR.  Do not pass GO.  Do not collect $200.

We have a two strike policy on most prop offenses (Baseball has a trademark on 3 strikes that doesn't expire until 2035).  If you are found being stupid in regards to your prop, we will ask you kindly not to be stupid.  If you are still being stupid with your prop, we will take it away for the remainder of the con.  So please...PLEASE don't be stupid.  That makes us angry, and you wouldn't like us when we're angry.

Hall Cosplay Contest

The Hall Cosplay Contest is a contest where cosplayers are judged solely on the craftsmanship of their costume. A panel of judges will privately interview you and inspect the construction of your costume. Awards for the Hall Cosplay Contest will be given at the Masquerade half time. A list of winners and any awards not claimed at the Masquerade will be available in Con Ops until the end of the convention. Awards not claimed during the weekend will not be mailed to winners.

 

1. All entrants must have a valid Tekkoshocon 2010 membership badge (of any level) for the full weekend or the day they are competing. Staff, Guests and Press are not allowed to compete. Panelists, Vendors, and comp'ed badges are allowed to compete.

 

2. You do not have to pre-register for Tekkoshocon VIII to register online for the Hall Cosplay Competition. (Online registration for Cosplay events will open up on February 20th and close either when all spots are filled or on April 4th, whichever comes first.) All spots are on a first-com first-serve basis.

 

3. You must have made the costume you are competing in the contest. You can have the costume modeled by someone else if you are the creator, but you will be the one talking to the judges.

 

4. You may only compete in one entry in the contest. Choose either Friday or Saturday to compete. Being part of a group entry counts as one entry. You may not enter the same costume in both the Masquerade and the Hall Cosplay Competition. You may not enter a costume that has won a previous major award for craftsmanship. You may not compete in the Hall Cosplay on Saturday and be in the Masquerade.

 

5. Each entry is given 5 minutes of time with the judges. You will be timed and warned at 4 minutes and stopped if you go over your limit.

 

6. Group entries will be accepted with a maximum of 5 members in a group. Over this number, and it's hard to judge fairly within time limits. A group entry still get 5 minutes for judging so use it wisely!

 

7. Your costume must be from a source that is relevant to the theme of the convention. This includes but is not limited to, anime, manga, asian video games, manhwa, j-rock/pop/visual kei, tokusatsu, and asian live action. Kingdom Hearts characters competing must be the original characters created by Square Eenix or the re-designed Disney ones. Examples:Roxas, Heartless', Ansem, Xigbar and Halloween Town Goofy can all compete but Belle, Tarzan, Tron characters and Alice cannot.

 

8. Your costume must be based on an official design. Fanart designs, original characters and interpretations of game sprites (like Navi from Legend of Zelda) that have no official design are not allowed to compete.

 

9. Arrive at least 5 minutes early for your appointment, if you miss your appointment time you will be disqualified unless there are spots left over, then you will be placed in the next available appointment slot.

 

10. Entrants may choose to participate in the Cosplay Fashion Show at the Masquerade. These people will be assured good seating at the Masquerade!

 

11. You may compete in a skill level higher than you are actually in, but you may not compete lower than your skill level. We encourage you to challenge yourself! If a group consists of members of differing skill level please ask the judges or cosplay coordinator for advice on what skill level you should compete at. Lying about your skill level will result in an automatic disqualification and banning from ALL future Tekkoshocon INC. cosplay events at the discretion of the coordinator.

A breakdown of skill levels in Hall Cosplay

Youth - Entrants 15 years of age and younger who have participated in the construction of their costume. Young fans donning costumes that are not made themselves must compete at the skill level of the person who made the costume and that person must be present for judging.

 

Novice - Anyone who has made 4 or less costumes and/or won less than 2 major awards for craftsmanship.

 

Journeyman - Anyone who has made 8 or less (but more than 4) costumes and/or won less than 5 major awards (but more than 2) for craftsmanship.

 

Craftsman - Anyone who made 8+ costumes and/or won more than 5+ major awards for craftsmanship.

 

Closet/Found - Anyone who has put together their costume from bought items (like, Wal*Mart, your existing warddrobe or thrift stores, not commissioned or eBay'd).  There will be a limited number of appointment spots for Closet/Found cosplay.

 

Major awards are awards that are considered "best of" or "best in". Honorable mentions, joke awards and judges' awards do not count towards your skill level. Masquerade awards that are not based on craftsmanship at least in part, do not count. Performance awards do not count.

 

Coordinators and judges reserve the right to bump you up in a skill level category if they feel it is better suited to your abilities and rearrange skill levels depending on turnout.. Best in Show awards and masquerade awards where the entrants are judged on craftsmanship (not solely on performance) count toward your skill level in the Hall Cosplay Contest.

 

Entrants in the contest will be given information about where to go and when once they sign up.

 

At-Con registration for any open spots not filled with online registration for the Hall Cosplay Contest can be done at the location indicated in the program book. Times for sign-up will be announced as the con draws closer and also published in the program book.

Cosplay Masquerade

The Masquerade is an event where cosplayers perform for their fellow fans onstage, competing for awards, prizes (one of them being up to 4 free weekend passes to Tekkoshocon 2011) and (limited) FAME!

 

1. All entrants must have a valid Tekkoshocon 2010 membership badge (of any level) for either the Weekend or Saturday. Staff, Guests and Press are not allowed to compete. Panelists, Vendors, and comp'ed badges are allowed to compete.

 

2. You do not have to pre-register for Tekkoshocon VIII to register online for the Masquerade. (Online registration for Cosplay events will open up on February 20th and close either when all spots are filled or on April 4th, whichever comes first.)

 

3. In order to win Best In Show, the majority of your team must be judged for craftsmanship. In order to be judged for craftsmanship you, or a member of the competing group must have made the costume(s). The person who made the costume must be present and a part of your entry. Closet cosplay that has not been significantly altered/tailored and commissioned/bought costumes cannot compete for craftsmanship.  However, commissioned, bought and closet costumes CAN compete for general and performance awards.

 

4. You may only participate in one entry in the contest.

 

5. Each entry is given a time limit of 4 minutes. There is no exception to this time limit. Going over time will not only disqualify you from any awards, you risk having the emcee hilariously interrupt you and kick you off stage.  He's looking forward to this, so please, don't tempt him.

 

6. Skits that have won awards previously at Tekkoshocon or any other convention may not compete. Costumes that have won a major craftsmanship award at another con cannot be judged for craftsmanship in the same class it has already won in.

 

7. The majority of the costumes in a skit must be from a source that is relevant to the theme of the convention. This includes but is not limited to, anime, manga, asian video games, manhwa, j-rock/pop/visual kei, tokusatsu, and live action dramas and movies. Kingdom Hearts characters competing must be the original designs created by Square Eenix to be counted as "in the theme of the convention".

 

8.The majority of costumes must be based off an official design. OC's, original designs, fanart, non-asian sources etc. can participate as long as they are the minority. If you are planning to have these kinds of characters in your skit, you must get approval from the coordinator.

 

9. You cannot compete the same costume in both the Masquerade and the Hall Cosplay. You may not compete in the Hall Cosplay on Saturday and be in the Masquerade.

 

10. You must be able to attend the Masquerade rehearsal. Time and place for this will be announced closer to the convention (and sent to the participants that pre-registered online for the Masquerade) and be published in the program booklet.

 

11. All content must be rated PG-13. If it's not allowed to be said on non-cable TV, it can't be said in the Masquerade. Other content can be a little hard to police such as sexual references, violence etc. If you feel your skit might tow the line of what's acceptable, please email the coordinator. We wouldn't want you to put a ton of work into a skit and not be able to compete it or get DQed for one lousy reference.

 

12. You may not participate in both the Fashion Show and the Masquerade.

 

13. Walk-ons are not permitted in the Masquerade. You may choose to participate in the Hall Cosplay Competition and/or the Fashion Show instead.

 

14. Pre-recorded dialogue is highly-recommended (but not mandatory) unless you are actually practiced in speaking onstage unmic'ed. We cannot guarantee any microphones will be available to you. Play it safe and pre-record!

 

15. Audio must be edited for length and content before the convention. Please give us your audio on a CD with it being the only track on the CD in MP3 or WAV format. We are not responsible for lost CD's. Bringing a backup version is always a good idea as well, a flash/thumb drive serves well for this. There's always one or two entries every year who's CD's do not work. Don't be those guys!

 

16. You may compete in a skill level higher than you are actually in, but you may not compete lower than your skill level. We encourage you to challenge yourself! If a group consists of members of differing skill level please ask the judges or cosplay coordinator for advice on what skill level you should compete at. Purposefully lying about your skill level will result in an automatic disqualification and banning from ALL future Tekkoshocon INC. cosplay events at the discretion of the coordinator.

A breakdown of skill levels in the Cosplay Masquerade

Youth - Entrants 15 years of age and younger.

 

Novice - Anyone who has been in 4 or fewer masquerades and/or won less than 2 major masquerade awards.

 

Advanced – Anyone who has been in 5 or more Masquerades and/or won more than 3 major masquerade awards.

 

Major awards are awards that are considered "best of" or "best in". Honorable mentions, joke awards and judges' awards do not count towards your skill level. Masquerade awards that are not based on craftsmanship at least in part, do not count. Performance awards do not count.

 

Major awards are awards that are considered "best of" or "best in". Honorable mentions, joke awards and judges awards do not count towards your skill level. Coordinators and judges reserve the right to bump you up in a skill level category if they feel it is better suited to your group/entry and rearrange skill levels depending on turnout.

 

If you are not competing for craftsmanship in the Masquerade, you may omit from your skill level, awards you have won purely on craftsmanship and only include awards based on performance.

 

Entrants in the contest will be given information about where to go and when once they sign up.

 

At-Con registration for any open spots not filled with online registration for the Masquerade can be done at the location indicated in the program book. Times for sign-up and craftsmanship judging will be announced as the con draws closer and published in the program booklet.

 

By entering in the Tekkoshocon 2010 Masquerade you agree to allow your skit to be recorded and displayed online and in public and private viewings.

Cosplay Fashion Show

The Fashion Show will take place during the Masquerade. It is a non-judged exhibition of costumes. You may enter any type of costume into this event. Original designs and designs that aim at our 2010 theme of tokusatsu/special effects shows are especially encouraged. Entrants in the Hall Cosplay Contest who wish to participate in the Fashion Show may! Entering the Fashion Show will ensure you a great seat at the Masquerade!

 

There will be a limited number of spots open for the Fashion Show and are first-come-first-serve. Signups will take place online before the con when other Cosplay event registration opens. All leftover spots can be claimed at-con at the Info Desk near Main Events.

 

If you have any questions regarding any Tekkoshocon 2010 Cosplay events, please contact the coordinator at cosplay@tekkoshocon.com.

 

 

We look forward to seeing all the awesome costumes and skits you guys bring to Tekkoshocon VIII!!

 If your question does not appear above, please contact the cosplay coordinator at cosplay@tekkoshocon.com with your question.