Brisbane Supanova 2008

Fate/Stay Night Group

I have recently returned from Brisbane Supanova and now that I have caught up on some sleep I wanted to express how much everyone impressed me with their costuming this year. It was so fantastic to meet so many new people and talk (however briefly) about your costumes and experience and I hope some of you will find me and say hello!

As far as my costuming is concerned, you could have seen me running around in a commissioned Japanese school uniform on Saturday (and I got a lot of comments about being Sailor Moon for some reason), or as Dejiko on Sunday for which I still have several articles to write, especially after having a lot of questions about my bells and shoes. I am hoping to get those other articles up as soon as I can.

As one of the judges for Madman’s cosplay competition on both days it was unfortunate that there can only be a certain number of winners. The panel of judges had to deliberate quite a lot on some of the decisions that were made due to the high level of both costuming and performance; however in my mind everyone who got on stage deserved something for their time and effort.

For this entry I thought I would give you an insight into what a judge is looking for and how you can provide them with the best way to evaluate your costume and performance.

1. If you are performing a skit then please utilise the stage – centre front is good! Make sure you give everyone the best opportunity of seeing you.

2. If the judges are to the side of the stage (as we were during the more informal Saturday competition), then please make sure you walk past them. Don’t go too fast as we want to see your costume. If you are encouraged, stop and answer any questions and point out any parts of your costume you think the judges should notice.

3. Be honest if you did not make the costume yourself!! We like honesty and it doesn't necessarily mean you will be precluded from a prize.

4. If you are not performing a skit please make sure you stop and pose for a reasonable length of time. Practice poses that show off your costume, for example, if you have spent a lot of time on a prop or the back of your costume is noteworthy (wings, etc), then you might want to pose with that prominent. Choose up to three poses and stop long enough for photos.

5. Time and practice your skit. Usually there is a two minute limit for cosplay and skits which you should try to stick to. A shorter skit means that the judges won’t get bored, and boring the judges is not a good way to stick in their memories! You can say a lot in 2 minutes.

6. Keep it PG13. And to those Yaoi fans out there... I personally don't find Yaoi to be an entertaining skit!!! Please do something original.

After the competition is over, audience members may want to tell their favourite cosplayer how much they liked their costume or enjoyed their performance. As a costumer myself who has been in these competitions the positive comments are great to hear, but one thing I don’t like hearing is if I should have won over someone else or that you didn’t like the costume that won and thought your favourite should instead. The panel judges are chosen for their expertise in differing areas and have their reasons for choosing one entry over another.

You also don’t know who is listening or who you might offend with a careless comment about another person’s costume. The person you are talking to may be offended if you say you thought the costume which won was bad as it might happen to be their friend. There are ways of telling another person about your enjoyment of their costume without putting down others, and if you remain encouraging then we can hope to see the cosplay at these events reach new heights every year!!

A very big well done from me to every person who put on a costume for this year's Brisbane Supanova and a big thankyou to the organisers for putting on a fantastic weekend!!