Convention: ASTL is Looking Better

Yesterday I emailed Anime St. Louis's con chair about the way their new cosplay discount rules were affecting fanbase. Today I log on and see that their rules have been changed. I believe that my email is what caused this change. My email to ASTL is posted in a note on my Facebook, for those who want to read it. It is entitled, "Email to ASTL con chair regarding their cosplay discount rules and staff activity in forums."

As you all know, I posted a thread on their cosplay rules, and what was wrong with them. I will repost their old rules for conveniance.
"COSPLAY DISCOUNT GUIDELINES
Here we go. Cosplaying is becoming quite easy today. But people are also making a lazy effort to cosplay to get the discount. If you don't want to get turned down for the cosplay discount (still no guarantees), here are the do's and don'ts.
DO NOT COSPLAY L and leave your hair flat. That's insulting!
DO NOT COSPLAY A SCHOOL GIRL and forget what school you go to. School girl is only tolerated if you are cosplaying from a specific school or academy. No made up schools please. Bring a picture if you're scared of being turned down.
DO NOT COSPLAY RPCs. There are enough Narutards running around. Last thing we need are girls claiming they are from the leaf village and they are trying to rebuild "Sawcy's" clan.
DO NOT COSPLAY WITH *JUST* NEKOMIMI. Cat ears do NOT make you a magical shiny-desu cat girl that everyone knows and love. Don't know what anime/manga you're from with just ears alone. Denied. DO NOT COSPLAY *ANYTHING* ORIGINATING FROM 4CHAN. Memes will not result in insta-ban (yet). But you'll have to pay the full price if you want to bring the lulz.
DO BRING A REFERANCE PICTURE! Even if you know you're a shoe in, some one at registration might not think so. Bring your picture and hush them into silence.
DO BRING A COSTUME! If you're just trying to check in as fast as possible, you are allowed to present your costume and be on your way.
DO YOUR HAIR AND MAKE UP! You may think it's not worth it--but not putting an effort towards getting that $5 dollars off is insulting.

It's a privilege not a right and it is earned not just handed out. Anime St. Louis has been pretty lenient over the years with the discount. But it's time to put a foot down for those who have given it their best as cosplayers only to be put in the same category as OCs, RPCs, Lazy Ls, and cat girls. Let us march into the new era of actually caring who we cosplay as, rather than "I'll pick L because he's easy way to get $5 bucks off." As you can see he's not my favorite :D
With Love,
Ashley Lovings
Registration Chair "


Their new rules are as follows.

"COSPLAY DISCOUNT GUIDELINES
Below you will find the rules for our cosplay discount for 2010.


•L: L's cosplay is one of the simplest out there, a white shirt and jeans. Because we want to avoid folks showing up in only that to gain an easy discount, we ask that L's applying for the cosplay discount come with their hair styled/costumed to look like the character's hair. Make-up for the eyes can also help.


•Schoolgirls: If cosplaying a schoolgirl, please avoid doing so with just a generic outfit. The closer you are to resembling a character from an anime or to your costume looking like a Japanese school uniform, the better. If you're unsure about your costume, bring in a reference picture you used to make your costume to help us in making our decision.


•Lolita: Gothic Lolita is allowed.


•Accessories: Wearing cat ears and a tail while wearing what you would normally wear on an average day will not count as a costume. We feel that it is only wearing accessories. This counts toward many of the popular items sold/seen at conventions, including an Urahara hat, Bleach Captain haori, ninja headband, or Akatsuki cloak. It needs to be a full costume.


•OCs and RPCs (Original characters and role play characters): This rule can be a little tricky, so bear with us. As these are characters that are your own, the rulings for them may be strict, and we ask for your patience when decisions are made. Some guidelines are as follows: -Bringing a reference picture of the character, while not a guarantee, can help you. -Your character cannot be in just casual clothes, or a-like set-up as stated in the "Accessories" rules. This also includes rave outfits.


•Other pop culture influences: We're not about to turn away Darth Vader, because he might choke a staff member. Costumes influenced/from other pop culture icons are allowed, but we won't be giving the discount to things originating from 4chan. This includes Pedobear, Anon, etc. Anime did not originate from 4chan, so yes, Mudkips are allowed.


•Original costume designs: Original costume designs are welcome, but to help make the process faster, please follow the statement below.


•If you are concerned that you won't qualify for the discount, please send an e-mail to animestl@gmail.com and zayane@gmail.com with a description of your costume and a picture of it. Doing so will also make the process for you quicker as we will have seen your cosplay ahead of time.


•Note that these rules are subject to change at any given time, and Anime St. Louis has the right to allow or deny the discount based on our rules. We apologize to those who think they are strict, but we feel that as our event becomes bigger, we need to begin creating guidelines in order to make registration easier and faster as well as to avoid those that wish to gain a discount without effort. This discount is a privilege, not a right. We wish to keep the discount for years to come as cosplay and costuming in general play big roles in events like ours, and we wish to fully encourage it. We thank you for your patronage and can't wait to see what you have planned. Thank you."

As you can see, these new rules are much more polite and actually make more sense. The condescending attitude is gone, and no more types of cosplay are being insulted. I hope this is a step forward for ASTL and hope that since these issues have been brought to the con chairs attention that ASTL will grow and continue to be a good convention for the St. Louis area.

An apology was also issued on the forums by Staff member Doublej. "...we have changed the cosplay discount rules for better clarity. We apologize for the confusion they caused and if anyone was insulted by their tone."


Lawlipop