So the drama

[sakon76]

I have been following the debacle that was the World Cosplay Summit on cosplay.com (http://forums.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=65778), and it's really sad. I'm loosely friends (perhaps "colleagues" would be a better word) with the group that got disqualified at AX, and indignant on their behalf, and also loosely friends with Tokyo Kitty, who did get to go (though I've not heard from her since her return), and indignant on her behalf as well. However, I'm finding about half of the reactions on the thread sad. And frightening. I had been considering participating next year, but now I'd be scared of being ostracized or having things thrown at me by the cosplayers in the audience. And in examining that thought, I've come to some realizations.

(1) I would be participating for the experience. Trip to Japan? Lovely and all, but my husband and I are already *planning* a trip to Japan next year. And for the WCS one he wouldn't even be there, which would suck. The subsets of "experience" in my mind would be a) getting better on stage because my cousins got absolutely every scrap of acting talent in the family, and b) if I did get selected, getting to meet costumers from other countries. (As a side note, given their slant, c) I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get selected. I'm overweight.)

(2) Winning is nice and all, but if that's all you're looking forward to in a contest, it's meaningless. Yes, I do like winning prizes (and I'm good enough now that I can manage it), but really? I like the backstage experience better. It's the closest I come to getting to socialize with my costuming peers.

(3) Drama drama drama! While I like many cosplayers, I also freely admit that some are divas. I hope I'm not one of them, and if I ever do become or act like one, I want someone *please* to tell me to knock it off. I feel bad for what happened. I wish it hadn't. Nonetheless, accusing the Japanese of racism or political motivations across the board is ridiculous. The organizers of TV Aichi seem a bit skeevy of the definition of "telling the truth" or "taking care of your invited contestants," which is just plain lamentable and stupid of them. The latter I actually find to be MUCH the greater sin.

So my mind is left with the dilemma "if WCS comes back next year, do I participate, thus 'betraying my peers and friends', or do I bow to group pressure and stay away from the nasty thing?" Fortunately I have almost a year to decide. If they come back.

(And, incidentally, the reason I didn't participate this year? Even if I had won, I could not have *gone*. My one week of vacation has long been allocated to Christmas in England with my husband and in-laws. Next year I get two weeks.)

Comments

[hoshikage.livejournal.com]

I really wouldn't participate. If you want stage and backstage experience, there are MUCH better places to get it. PMX, or better yet WorldCon or Costume-Con, would be far more useful and productive venues for that goal than the farce that is WCS. Why go participate in something that's clearly rotten to the core?

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Can't afford CostumeCon and am not sure I'd want to go not knowing anyone else who'd be there (Costume College was bad enough and that at least was *classes* where I didn't have to interact/socialize), and frankly, the mere thought that I've agreed to be in a WorldCon skit is scaring the shit out of me after what I've heard about mainstream Masquerade audiences. (For that matter, I'm still trying to figure out affording WorldCon.) PMX I'm holding judgement back until I've been to this year's.

The point is it's a second event at AX, which is convenient, currently affordable, and therefore on my attendance list.

[aelfsciene.livejournal.com]

I just spent the last...*checks clock*...four hours going through all of the posts and a couple of ratholes off your link above. I'd curse your name, but it's my own insatiable curiousity that's to blame, and of course a rising sense of injustice that, well, rose throughout the reading. Dunno what exactly happened, but WCS seems like a steaming pile in terms of actual "contest."

I'd be torn were I in your shoes, too--if they really want model-perfect bodies, there isn't much point, but damnit, that's so inherently unfair that it makes me want to organize the thing so that only larger people (not just women!) enter.

Regardless, your costumes are fantastic, and were the thing determined on merit alone, I'd say you should absolutely enter, but, well, tangled messes are never fun, nor bullshit explanations for changed "rules."