the masquerade is a huge joke

[sakaki]

OK now that i'm not hungover any more i have to say something about the masquerade.  WTF is going on??? This year was such a freaking joke it is not even funny. So it looks like the judges were giving awards to everyone who did anything but a skit, like it's some kind of talent show. Oh, girls were dancing with their butts hanging out. Clearly that's good enough for Best in Show!!!! Oh, a Doomfist (WTF is Overwatch doing in the contest anyway??) did a flip. That's good enough for an award!! And the Space Marine got nothing and it looked amazing!! If non anime things got awards why didn't he?? This thing has become such a joke with terrible costumes winning the biggest awards. No wonder the good cosplayers stay outside and just take photos.

[rawien]

I could be wrong, but I think non-anime cosplays can compete as a skit only, so that is probably why an Overwatch something won. I do admit those costumes are pretty intricate... There also were a handful of awards given (as listed in the Fanime booklet) so maybe that's why "everyone" got an award? I agree in general though that anime-specific (Asian-origin/inspired) should be the only cosplays judged as listed on the website...but as last year was any indication - "if someone wants to compete in a non-Asian-origin/inspired, then why turn them away?" - it was totally not fair.

Also, to point out that the "good cosplayers stay outside and just take photos" - it's probably because it eats up a majority of the evening - a 3 hour masquerade event, is actually more 4+ for those participating.

I know you're not happy, but I'm kinda glad I didn't compete this year. Maybe next year will be better??

[Amanojaku]

OK now that i'm not hungover any more i have to say something about the masquerade.  WTF is going on??? This year was such a freaking joke it is not even funny. So it looks like the judges were giving awards to everyone who did anything but a skit, like it's some kind of talent show. Oh, girls were dancing with their butts hanging out. Clearly that's good enough for Best in Show!!!! Oh, a Doomfist (WTF is Overwatch doing in the contest anyway??) did a flip. That's good enough for an award!! And the Space Marine got nothing and it looked amazing!! If non anime things got awards why didn't he?? This thing has become such a joke with terrible costumes winning the biggest awards. No wonder the good cosplayers stay outside and just take photos.

The only thing I agree with you on is that the Masquerade was bad, but not for any of the reasons you listed.  I don't care about butts or non-anime costumes winning.  What made it unenjoyable for me were the hosts.  Annoying, and not funny.  I didn't care for their shtick at all, and never have I missed Ric Meyers more than I did during this year's Masquerade.

[sakaki]

@rawien In the past they didn't allow non-anime costumes. Of course i last competed a while ago so stuff maybe changed since then? The rules don't seem to allow it though. Go figure?

@Amanojaku Nah dude the problem with crappy judges is that the quality of the show will be brought down even more. Look at this year and how there were so few entries. I haven't competed since 2013 because nothing has ever gotten better (thought about it in 2016, then thought better of it). And i can tell you in 2013 there were a ton of amazing entries. Having novices win Best in Show with crap costumes DOES effect everything. Also not much motivation to enter when it sounds like most of the winners got $100. They had better prizing in the past.

I was mixed on the hosts. It seemed like some people enjoyed them. They were ok, not really much different from last year. And i mean at least they were better than some past shows (sorry Wendell).

[Amanojaku]

@Amanojaku Nah dude the problem with crappy judges is that the quality of the show will be brought down even more. Look at this year and how there were so few entries. I haven't competed since 2013 because nothing has ever gotten better (thought about it in 2016, then thought better of it). And i can tell you in 2013 there were a ton of amazing entries. Having novices win Best in Show with crap costumes DOES effect everything. Also not much motivation to enter when it sounds like most of the winners got $100. They had better prizing in the past.

I was mixed on the hosts. It seemed like some people enjoyed them. They were ok, not really much different from last year. And i mean at least they were better than some past shows (sorry Wendell).

Ah, I see.  Yeah it did seem a little short on entries this year.  I hadn't been to the Masquerade in a number of years so it was my first time seeing these hosts.  To my surprise though, most people did seem into it.  Were they being themselves, or the characters they were dressed as?  It felt like I was watching a bad fan dub.  Either way, I didn't get it.  Maybe I'm just too old to enjoy whatever it is they do lol.

[Barnes]

Regarding the hosts...if you're gonna cosplay as the middle finger potatoes of Pop Team Epic, you need to be raunchy or crude and unpredictable, to say the least.
The hosts were way too tame as far as I could tell. They could have chosen a different duo to work as >_>

[Angelx624]

I haven't been to the Masquerade in years. I've heard it's been going downhill for the past couple years or so. I haven't even checked it out in a while. :/

I do kinda miss competing in skits, but idk when that'll happen again. ._."