Cosplay Competition Rules and Regulations

1) ELIGIBILITY:

Anyone may enter in the Saturday afternoon Cosplay event. Entrants 12 and under will be designated to the Children's competition and must have their parents' permission to enroll, and MUST be accompanied by a legal guardian or relative of age at the show.

2) HOW TO ENTER:

Signup for the Cosplay Contest will begin on Saturday morning at 11 A.M. at Taffeta Darling's booth. The entrants (or group leader for group entrants) will be required to fill out the Cosplay Sign In form. The deadline for entry will be one hour before the competition. The total number of entrants that will be allowed this year will be 40. All entries are taken on a first come, first served basis.

3) COSTUME GUIDELINES (DA RULEZ):

a) No costume is NO COSTUME.

While many characters wear what could be termed "street clothes," a single character in regular, everyday clothing isn't very engaging and thus, will not be allowed to compete. However, if this character is a part of a group performance or elaborate props are involved, then the entry will NOT be disqualified.

b) Body Coverage:

Retropalooza is a family friendly environment and has to adhere to the rules and regulations set forth by both the Arlington Convention Center and the City of Arlington. All costumes need to be tasteful and the barest minimum of coverage that will be allowed at the event will be that of a bikini. What this means is body paint, latex pasties, etc. are not considered adequate body coverage without additional clothing being worn over it. Thongs are not allowed unless covered by shorts, skirts, capes, etc.

c) Contest Guidelines:

COSPLAY IS AN ALL-AGES EVENT. There will have one competition for children 13 and under and then a contest for anyone else entered. The Cosplay choice should be considered a PG-13 rated event at the most. The judgement of what is acceptable is left to the sole discretion of the Cosplay Director and Retropalooza staff. Offensive language of any kind is not allowed, (i.e., racial or sexual epithets, cursing not allowed on network TV, etc.) Sexual humor is not allowed since this IS a family friendly event. If your joke/skit could not be performed at your workplace or in front of your grandmother, then you probably shouldn't perform it at Retropalooza. Be clever, not crass! If you have a question about your content, please feel free to ask the Cosplay staff if it is allowable.

d) Stage Rules:

All entries must be able to get on and off the stage safely. Cast limit: Five person maximum for group entries. For safety reasons, things like confetti, fireworks, glitter, flash paper, rose petals, water and other small messy objects are strictly forbidden to be brought onto the stage area. On stage, non-firing toy weapons will be allowed without peace bonding, but be aware that any "live" weapons will result in immediate eviction from the stage. No food, animals or remote control devices are allowed on stage. No throwing items into the crowd. All stage fighting and general hijinks of a like nature needs to be limited to half speed and quarter strength. One foot must remain on the floor at all times. This means no jumps, leaps or rolls. Climbing onto the stage or leaping off the edge of the stage are both prohibited and extremely dangerous. Time Limits: Each walk-on entry will have 30 seconds to sashay across the stage, pose and depart. Skits have approximately 45 seconds. Costume Credit: All costumes must be made by the entrant(s) or provide credit to the appropriate creator(s) on the entrant's entry form. Purchased Costumes: Purchased costumes (either commissioned, store bought, or eBay costumes) may only make up 50% of the costumes in your group. All purchased costumes MUST be marked as such on your (or your group's) entry form. ••••• Entries using purchased costumes CANNOT win First Place, Second Place, Third Place or judges awards. •••••

4) AWARDS:

The award categories for Retropalooza's Cosplay Contest are as follows:

• First Place • Second Place • Third Place • Best Skit Performance • Most Humorous • Up to Five Judges Awards (to be chosen at the sole discretion of the judges) may be awarded

IMPORTANT!!

Each costume can only enter once within a six month period, so no doubling up and entering the same costume at Retropalooza Houston, Retropalooza Arlington or Retropalooza San Antonio. A single person may enter different costumes at both events, but should they win an award in Arlington, they will not be allowed to win an award in Houston, and vice versa for in the interest of fair play.