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[Buddycat]

Originally Posted by Kaijugal

They're NOT alone at Costume Con. There are many of us who are involved in Anime Cons and Anime Costuming, and we're all very open and welcoming. I know there are some bad apples who are a drag or at worst just plain rude, but they are only SOME of the people at Costume Con. It's the same at any con. There are people who are horrible everywhere. Nobody can fix that because you can't fix stupid.


As for the repeated comments that Costume Con is Cliquish, I think all cos have groups of people who know each other, (and come to that con every year for that reason). I think it's unfortunate that that's making people feel left out however.

Costume Con may seem cliquish at first, but it's just we know who we know and fall into old habits.

When we say hi to people or compliment them on their costumes, it's up to them to decide wether to get to know us or not, we are happy to extend the olive branch of friendship, it's up to others to take it.

New people have to meet us half way.

Couldn't have put that last bit better myself! Thanks!

[Kaijugal]

Originally Posted by von Drago

Make you a deal - if you want the ribbons we'll pay for them. Then you don't have to add them to your budget, consider them sponsored. Maybe we can even get the SLCG to sponsor them but at the very least Bruce & I will. We think this is important (obviously).

Wow! That would be COMPLETELY TERRIFIC!!! Thank you for the kind and generous offer!

Woot!

P.S. Thanks for the concise editing in the previous post Buddycat, I tend to be a bit.... freeform. XD LOL!

[von Drago]

Originally Posted by Kaijugal

[color="Green"]Wow! That would be COMPLETELY TERRIFIC!!! Thank you for the kind and generous offer!

We believe strongly in this - You (& CC32) are most welcome.

And we have extended the offer to CC30 & CC31. I think this might become our regular thing

[CapsuleCorp]

I suppose the quality of panels is also one of those things you really can't control from con to con - but that goes for all cons, really. People can propose panels and volunteer to run them, but it all comes down to execution and there's no con that is exempt from execution fail.

There may be a slightly higher expectation out of CC, though, because it IS so small for one, so specialized for two, and so populated with veteran costumers who have a lot of expertise to share for three. If CC is going to be (rightfully) billed as a conference where you will learn a lot of specific things about the craft of building and wearing costumes, there's sort of an implied onus to actually follow through with quality programming. But that sort of thing is up to the current year's con chair, isn't it? Or the concomm, whoever is in charge of scheduling programming and making sure the panels have panelists. I suppose the rest of us can only really give good feeback about what we liked and didn't like and pass that on to the next year's concomm, or get off our duffs and volunteer to hold some panels. Something I know I personally need to start thinking about, now that MACS has four years of hosting the costume panels at Geek-kon - there's no reason our local costume experts can't share their knowledge at CC. We just have to get over the intimidation factor.

[stardust462]

Originally Posted by Sarcasm-hime

So, any suggestions on what exactly should be included in this proposed 'primer' (besides what has been discussed above)? I'm working on the CC32 website and was thinking of something very similar, a "It's my first CC, what should I expect?".

I think a good description of what each of the four contests are is key, and also any other contests (doll, hat, quilt, etc.). On CC29's website it's just the rules listed. Rules are helpful, but sometimes come up short as to what a new person can expect in the contest. People who attend anime conventions likely have a good idea of what to expect for the F/SF Masquerade, except that workmanship judging is done in the green room where at anime cons they're often done earlier in the day at a specific time slot.

Because Historical, Future Fashion Folio, and Single Pattern are different, examples of what people enter these costumes with would be very helpful. When I went to CC27 I had do idea that someone could do "Historical Interpretation" for an entry. Also an example of documentation could be helpful also. Picture examples of FFF and SP entries would be a great way to show how those contests work. I think SP is a really great contest for new members to enter.

I would also explain what a Con Suite is, since most anime conventions don't have those. Maybe have a "New Member Social" in the con suite on one of the days so new members can ask questions and meet new people.

[Kaijugal]

Originally Posted by stardust462

People who attend anime conventions likely have a good idea of what to expect for the F/SF Masquerade, except that workmanship judging is done in the green room where at anime cons they're often done earlier in the day at a specific time slot.

I would also explain what a Con Suite is, since most anime conventions don't have those. Maybe have a "New Member Social" in the con suite on one of the days so new members can ask questions and meet new people.

Actually all our anime conventions do workmanship judging the way it's done at Costume Con. ^_^ but still it does bare mentioning in the masquerade FAQ's. .


I DO love your idea for the New Member Social in the Consuite as I was kicking around doing a Costume-Con ambassador program with a new members meet up of some kind after reading this list. I never thought of using the consuite. Hm.

Cheers!

[supergeekgirl]

Deleted. I posted, but I realized that any more of trying to make a point via web post is like arguing whether the cat in the box will be dead or alive.

[von Drago]

Originally Posted by Kaijugal

I DO love your idea for the New Member Social in the Consuite as I was kicking around doing a Costume-Con ambassador program with a new members meet up of some kind after reading this list. I never thought of using the consuite. Hm.

Cheers!

I love this idea too. Totally has to happen.

[Dokudel]

Hello I like to saw that this was my first Costume-Con. I have been going to anime cons since 2001 and as I got older I started to branch off into sci-fi, comic, steam punk, and gaming cons. I am always the type to try out new events and any place to wear a costume at. I have read about CC for many years but finally attended my first one this year.

I will say that I was expecting a bigger turn our maybe 1,000 attendees? I did like the family friendly enviorment once I actually got to see what the con was like. I did come with a couple of friends who are hard core anime con goers and they felt out of place at the con. (They are also more of the anime con goer sterotype but they like to cosplay at any event they can get a chance at.) I definently had a good time once I knew what to look for attended about 5 panels, went to the friday night social and entered the masquerade(I was wearing the red vinyl business suit like outfit, but my character was from a anime series.)

I think the only thing that was different for me was that hardly anyone really dressed up in the hall ways. I was expecting to take pictures of a lot of crazy stuff in the hallways but finding out everyone brings out there A game to the masquerade. Overall it was a fun experience for being a CC newbie. If I attend future CC I wouldnt bring the group of friends I invited, I would either go by myself or bring along people that appreciate things besides anime and that genre.

[Sarcasm-hime]

I would be willing to give a shot at revamping the Costume-Con.com site, unless someone more proficient would do it? My skills are fairly out-of-date but I can navigate a CSS template pretty well.

[Buddycat]

Originally Posted by Sarcasm-hime

I would be willing to give a shot at revamping the Costume-Con.com site, unless someone more proficient would do it? My skills are fairly out-of-date but I can navigate a CSS template pretty well.

Talk to Karen D. For a while, she supposedly had someone lined up, but nothing came of it.

[Buddycat]

Originally Posted by Dokudel

I will say that I was expecting a bigger turn our maybe 1,000 attendees? I did like the family friendly enviorment once I actually got to see what the con was like.

I suppose it's not something that a con wants to promote (Hey! We're a small con!), but we always hope for bigger numbers. The average size ranges from 200 - 300 most years, with an occasional spike because of the region the con is in that year. Some of the factors for why it's smallish is because of what others have said - it's not in their town, the perceived expense (even though Kaijugal says that even anime cons are starting to get more pricey), and the convention only has one focus. There are no media guests, no programming opposite the major events, no 24 hour video room, etc. But as you alluded to, most people like the level of intimacy with a con this size. After going a few years, everyone pretty much knows each other on some level, and many friendships are struck up.

What it does offer is the opportunity to meet fellow costuming fans from across the continent (we can say that 'cuz we gots Canadians!), learn techniques in a way the Net can't offer, see some of the best examples of costuming on the International level of competition, and become a part of a special community of folks with the same interests as you. Once someone "gets" it, they're hooked. Sounds like you are. Welcome. Introduce yourself, next time you're at a CC.

[von Drago]

Originally Posted by Sarcasm-hime

I would be willing to give a shot at revamping the Costume-Con.com site, unless someone more proficient would do it? My skills are fairly out-of-date but I can navigate a CSS template pretty well.

Karen readily admits that the site(s) need help & she doesn't know how to do that. She'd probably be thrilled to hear from you.

[gamergirlx]

As this years webmaster, I want to say that many of the descriptions of events and stuff I had to make up on the fly and tried my best to do research on to describe them which took me hours of work of searching posts and mentions of previous events.

I had only been to one costume-con in the past, and still do not have a total understanding of all the events that occur. I emailed most of the heads of events for descriptions asking them to describe the events as if they were talking to someone who had never heard of the event. I really never received anything back.

I was told to call people. However working overnights, unless people want a phone call in the wee hours of the morning, I'm not awake during "normal" awake hours. So email is my primary source of communication.

Also, I really didn't receive anything but random updates to post until the last 3-4 months before the convention, when I got busy running my own local convention's events which was a few weeks before costume-con. So I can say literally, leading up to costume-con I had no social life, and didn't even have time to finish a costume for myself.

I think in general, there's a lot of assumptions of the regular attending members of costume-con that everyone already knows what happens there. But if you are new and have interest, getting information about it is like pulling teeth. And there are significant differences about how same-named events are run at US anime cons and at costume-con/worldcons.

Also, there's such an emphasis on Cosplay vs Costuming. For most of us "cosplayers", it's all costuming. We just call it "cosplay" because it's the term that's used at the conventions we attend (mine being mostly anime conventions). And even in cosplay, there are different "flavors" to the definition of cosplay, other than how the term was coined.

I think among the "cosplayers" that attended from the US, most of which I know personally, there was the feeling that costume-con has a "good ol' boy" feel to it.

Another thing is that it might have been easier to garner members from the "cosplay" community 5 years ago. However, the majority of our conventions' members now-a-days are under 18, and usually only attend conventions with their parents or with a permission slip. Anime cons members are typically getting younger. As of the past few years, the ability to buy costumes online cheaply has affected the costuming trend at said cons. A good number of "cosplayers" buy their costumes instead of making them, so a conference on costuming techniques and workshops really holds no interest for them, unless they are attempting to make the jump. I think for a lot of cosplayers, the attention garnered by wearing a costume is the main reason for wearing it, not the satisfaction of being able to make it.

[khenemetset]

Originally Posted by gamergirlx

A good number of "cosplayers" buy their costumes instead of making them, so a conference on costuming techniques and workshops really holds no interest for them, unless they are attempting to make the jump. I think for a lot of cosplayers, the attention garnered by wearing a costume is the main reason for wearing it, not the satisfaction of being able to make it.

You put this more eloquently then I was going to put it. The fact of the matter is most cosplayers are in it for the attention, the being fawned over, the people spazzing over the characters, the connection they make with other fans of said character and that's not something they're going to get at costume con. They might get comments about how cool a costume is but it's not the near hero worship they'd get at an anime con. That's not the case all the time, but for the most part it is.

The only thing I've noticed about CC recently is that the panel and workshops are less than stellar and there's not enough of them in the course of a day. I remember at CC 25, which was my first one, I had trouble attending everything I wanted to attend, I enjoyed having LOTS to attend and the last several I've been too there was really nothing of note that I hadn't already attended at CC 25 or of what was there it was something I had no interest in at all. And this year, while I didn't attend, looking over the program offerings it honestly made me glad I had to cancel going because there was nothing in programming that grabbed my interest at all. Of course, I know programing depends on what people submit and who can run them, but I'd like to see programming on par with CC 25.