I have been participating in ICG Cosplay Masquerades regularly for over four years and they are a subject I have been wanting to talk about for quite some time. I personally am rather passionate about these competitions, and it may be because I have been taking part in them since I was fairly young, but there is a lot of positive experiences that have come along with taking part in them. I recently asked a bunch of my friends, who are avid Masquerade participants, judges, staff or fans, about their reasons for enjoying and regularly participating and we came up with quite a lot of reasons which I wish to summarize and share with all of you. Before I discuss some of the wonderful aspects of competing in masquerades, one may be asking; what IS a Cosplay Masquerade? A Masquerade in the Cosplay World is a workmanship and performance competition for cosplayers that takes place at most conventions. For a competition to be called a "Masquerade" it usually follows the International Costumers Guild (ICG) Guidelines. In Canada these competitions have a few categories costume makers can compete in: Young Fan, Novice, Journeyman, Artisan and Master. Besides the Young Fan division, competitors compete for workmanship or performance (or combined) awards in their division (or overall) and follow a point system to essentially "level up" to the next competition level. Awards are given out based on demonstrated techniques, skill level and other such things. If you'd like to learn more about the ICG guidelines you can find them HERE. I would highly suggest giving it a read if you are wondering how Masquerades work as it can be very confusing when you are just starting out, and of course check out each conventions own set of rules since the ICG's are simply guidelines and each convention has it's own set of unique rules. Now, let's talk about how my peers and I replied about what we enjoy about masquerades: Workmanship:
Performance/Stage:
Some pictures from a few of my Masquerade Performances The Backstage:
Photos from some Masquerades I have competed in; one being from backstage and one from awards with the friends I was participating with The BEST part over all though; the friends and the fun! Some of my best convention and cosplay experiences have happened during the green room time during masquerades, and most of my closest friends are people I have met from the Masquerade community. I have no idea where I would be as a cosplayer, and how different my life would be without these friends so I am VERY thankful to masquerades for being the reason I met these fabulous people. Masquerades are also personally something that drives my work. It's not the awards that does it for me, it's the fun. It's the fun of going on stage with a skit I have prepared. It's the fun of hanging out with new and old friends backstage. It's the fun of pushing myself to create a new costume to impress the judges. It's the over all fun of cosplaying in a setting that is supportive and fair. If Masquerades were a poor experience for me I would not do them, yet I find myself drawn to them year after year, con after con. If winning was what it was all about for most masquerade regulars I doubt they would be competing at the level they are today. You don't win them all, and it takes a while to start winning some titles (it took me about 4 masquerades before my first award), but really everyone wins just based on the experience alone. The people you meet, the creativity you learn about and the entire experience is the real prize in the end.
Cheesiness and realness aside, I would like to know; do you compete in Masquerades? What drives you to do so? What are your favourite aspects of them?
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