FANIME WEAPONS POLICY 2006

[ovtrlan]

<.<  >.>  <.<  I'm not staff, but I can share personal experience from last year.

A) The rules are based on judgement, and everyone's judgement is different--and sometimes the same person will change their mind from year to year based on what they've seen happen.

B) My friend was last year's most popular Sephiroth. ^_^ (it's the wig, I tell you!)  He had a 6 foot real sword and was made to tie it to his back as well as the regular zip-ties.  It messed up his costume and made walking awkward, especially since the sword is longer than he is tall, but it was the only way they'd let him carry it around.  He once drew it, out in front, to help make a video, but since got in mass tons of trouble because that violates California law.

C) I also saw ten-foot cardboard Inuyasha swords. :D  Honestly, how can you secure that to a costume?  It's huge!  But they were still peace-bonded to remind the owners not to bop people on the head with them.

D) Last year I carried a wooden baseball bat... That's a weapon, my friends, 3-4 feet long.  They peace-bonded it only after a lively debate among the staff and a LOT of questions about whether I could possibly, in any way at all, wear it as a costume piece instead of carrying it.  I think the deciding factor was that I have a bad leg and mostly use it as a cane. XP  Not sure if they'll let me do that two years in a row (which would suck, because I'd have to use the stupid crutches, but there you have it).

Ah, yes. My Kevin and that wig. I had to cut it up....@.@ It was so dead....so now it's my Kadaj wig! Oh, are you planning on going to Fanime, then, Fountain?

And Kevin's in Colorado now, so I'm moving in a few days.

[VisualCat]

erm, question.

I'm going as Reno from FF7 AC...and his weapon is a nightstick. Now, i'm going to be making mine out of a plastic lightsaber and spray painting it. As it's a hand held prop, would that cause a problem or should I fashion a holster for it?

[ovtrlan]

I'd be safe and make a holster, just in case.

[perv]

If I had a wooden Master Sword that was rounded at the edges, would that be acceptable? ???

[clawmaster]

OK since peace bonding has been increasingly becoming more and more silly every year I thought it would be appropriate to show that ALL ANIME CONS MUST RELAX ABOUT WEAPON POLICY. Even the penny arcade guys had problems this past sakura con.

(from http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/04/02/)
Nested Ironies
Wednesday, April 2 2008 - 12:00 AM
by: Tycho

I don't have solid data, just my own year-to-year experience, but it feels like gaming cosplay has been on the rise since we first started attending Sakuracon. The Team Fortress 2 crews you've seen showcased on the gaming blogs are one of the newer ones, but Valve seemed to rule the crossover space this year: there were several Chells as well, as well as Aperture Science Technicians, their Weighted Companion Cubes in tow. These cubes were sometimes literally in tow, hoisted up on crates for easy transport. There was even a GlaDOS.

I kept my distance.

The more insular the group, the richer the jargon - Scientology is the ultimate example, of course, but strange things grow in any hidden place. I always thought bedwarming had a nice ring, for example. I have actively tried to mill lingo useful and appropriate to the gamer consciousness from the moment this venue became operational. Anime culture obviously has a lot of Japanese cross-pollination, so many of the words I learn at these things (like "hakama") just mean "hat" or something. But there is also con specific language that deals with particular customs, like Peacebonding.

When a weapon is peacebound, it is marked with a pink ribbon that substantially diminishes its drama and gravity. This signifies that you have entered into a contract with the convention not to draw steel and gut another attendee. This is solid policy, and we support it, because we bring our guts with us to this show. The policy continues: you can kill a person with almost anything, if you really put your mind to it. Technically true, but but now things are a little scary. Now you're starting to consider the very real danger you are always in. It gets lighthearted again quick, though, because you realize that the policy is being applied to virtually any object, granting it a malevolent connotation. When Robert was serving up ice cream, I noticed that they had peacebound his ice cream scoop. I saw one grimoire with the pink strip applied, which - given its perpetually shrieking cover - seemed pretty sensible. But a medic's healing gun? A weapon that "shoots" life? No, now we've come full circle. The train has left the station, and is en route to Crazytown.

(CW)TB out.



and this is the penny arcade booth serving up ice cream with a peace bonded ice cream scooper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGw4pg3g2JU

[Lonelykangta]

i hope this wasn't asked before but 4 pages >>, any who Im going as Haku from Naruto and i have Senbon (basically kabob skewers) they are made of metal, would i have to have them peacebonded somehow or should i paint the tips a bright orange @_@, hope you can answer. thanks.

[Trumby]

OK since peace bonding has been increasingly becoming more and more silly every year I thought it would be appropriate to show that ALL ANIME CONS MUST RELAX ABOUT WEAPON POLICY. Even the penny arcade guys had problems this past sakura con.

The thing with peace bonding is any weapon-like prop has to be peace bonded, because that is an agreement between the convention and the attendee that they aren't going to be brandishing the prop, hitting people with it, etc. So yes, everything (even a healing gun) has to be peace bound in that respect. Where things start to get silly is when your props have to literally be bound to you.  There's no point in having the prop if you can't pose with it.

I personally like Sakura-con's prop policy, as it still allows stage (unsharpened) steel and even live (sharpened, with an edge, etc) steel if it is bound into a scabbard and can't be taken out without breaking the bond, and therefore con policy. Sakura-con also had peace binding forms for us to sign saying we were going to follow the rules of peace bonding and all, which legally covers them in the event of someone breaking the rules.

[luckyends]

i am in agreement with the posing thing its getting out of hand if its wood your not alowd to have it not tatched to your body

[Yukari Kaiba]

i also agree that the weapons policy seems to be getting unclearer every year. last year was ridiculous - i had brought a katana to use for my Byakuya cosplay and had already taken the liberty myself of zip tying into the sheathe and was just hoping to get it zip tied again to show i agree to the weapons policy. but i ended up having it tied to my belt and it not only made for limited posing but made it very comfortable to sit.

[clawmaster]

OK since peace bonding has been increasingly becoming more and more silly every year I thought it would be appropriate to show that ALL ANIME CONS MUST RELAX ABOUT WEAPON POLICY. Even the penny arcade guys had problems this past sakura con.

The thing with peace bonding is any weapon-like prop has to be peace bonded, because that is an agreement between the convention and the attendee that they aren't going to be brandishing the prop, hitting people with it, etc. So yes, everything (even a healing gun) has to be peace bound in that respect. Where things start to get silly is when your props have to literally be bound to you.  There's no point in having the prop if you can't pose with it.

I personally like Sakura-con's prop policy, as it still allows stage (unsharpened) steel and even live (sharpened, with an edge, etc) steel if it is bound into a scabbard and can't be taken out without breaking the bond, and therefore con policy. Sakura-con also had peace binding forms for us to sign saying we were going to follow the rules of peace bonding and all, which legally covers them in the event of someone breaking the rules.

even a ice cream scooper?

[ewu]

FYI: http://www.fanime.com/about/policies

Its up now

[Yukari Kaiba]

ok so even if we have a sword peacebonded into the sheathe its still not ok? bummer D: now i have to go make a sword >< oh well.

[luckyends]

oh so one of the things i have run across is if its made out of wood then you have to have it atatched to your person this goes for swords as i know but i have a stylus that is 3 feet long and made out of a wooden dowl will that have to be peace tied and if so atatched to my person? cuase that would realy just suck

[vasher]

Ok, so it looks like we won't need anything tied onto ourselves this year?  As long as it's a fake sword/staff/whatever, or an obviously fake gun with bright colors, then we should feel free to walk around with them (with the little zip ties on) and pose with them?

So scabbard/holster not needed?

[Trumby]

OK since peace bonding has been increasingly becoming more and more silly every year I thought it would be appropriate to show that ALL ANIME CONS MUST RELAX ABOUT WEAPON POLICY. Even the penny arcade guys had problems this past sakura con.

The thing with peace bonding is any weapon-like prop has to be peace bonded, because that is an agreement between the convention and the attendee that they aren't going to be brandishing the prop, hitting people with it, etc. So yes, everything (even a healing gun) has to be peace bound in that respect. Where things start to get silly is when your props have to literally be bound to you.  There's no point in having the prop if you can't pose with it.

I personally like Sakura-con's prop policy, as it still allows stage (unsharpened) steel and even live (sharpened, with an edge, etc) steel if it is bound into a scabbard and can't be taken out without breaking the bond, and therefore con policy. Sakura-con also had peace binding forms for us to sign saying we were going to follow the rules of peace bonding and all, which legally covers them in the event of someone breaking the rules.

even a ice cream scooper?

If it were being used as a prop, yep. You could still do some damage with an ice cream scoop..as silly as that actually is <.<

Sad that I can't bring my rapier for my pirate costume (metal..but no edge) :(