Convention Rant: ASTL 2010 Cosplay discount rules

Ok, so I've been going to cons for a long time, and I have NEVER been as insulted by a set of rules as I am by Anime St Louis's (ASTL) cosplay discount guidelines...

In my opinion, this is turning into some sort of Cosplay Nazi group... Below, I will quote from ASTL's website their rules, and my responses to each one. My responses are in bold.

"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. "

Actually, a lot of those "lazy" cosplays are people without much money to spend on costumes, or individuals who have made their own costume who jsut aren't very experianced yet.


"•DO NOT COSPLAY L and leave your hair flat. That's insulting!"

I can agree with this one somewhat, lazy L's get on my nerves too, but you have to understand that not everyone has 200 bucks to spend on a costume, so L is a safe bet, and good for first time cosplayers because it is easy. Not every can be SUPER COSPLAY #1 and the mediocre cosplays make us appreciate the great ones even more. To deny one L cosplayer a discount is MORE of an insult, in my opinion.

"•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."

I actually talked to ASTL staff about this one, and their response is that they are trying to weed out "generic" cosplay. First off, a lot of those "generic" school girl costumes are expensive, and there is NO reason why, since it is a costume, that it should not get the discount. A lot of school girl cosplay looks the same, so how is ASTL staff going to enforce this? Either no school girls get the discount, or all of them should. This is simply a matter of "I either like or don't like your costume."

"•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."

First off, its rude to call YOUR PAYING COSTOMERS Narutards, even if they are. Second off, there are tons of RPC (Roll play characters, for those of you who don't know) that pay a lot of money for their costumes, and are great characters. My RPC, named Lawliet, is a furry character loosely based on L from Death Note. I payed over $1200 for a full fursuit of my RPC. ASTL staff tried to write this one off on me by saying "if you bring reference art, you get a discount for OCs and RPCs" when I asked them about it. However, not all people have these items for their RPCs and OCs and if they have a costume, again, it is cosplay. I can understand if their "costume" is regular street clothes and them not getting it, but if it is OBVIOUSLY a costume, there should be no issue at all on whether or not they get the discount. Again, this comes down to "I either like or dislike your costume."

"•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."

This is simply worded rudely. Seriously? Is ASTL staff in middle school? You should never act like you are better than your attendants... Its condescedning and quite rude. Most people do not attempt to get discounts with just cat ears... Cat ears are an accessory, not a costume. But if it is part of a costume it should count. I see tons of cosplay lolitas who wear cat ears with their costume, and its totally cute.

"•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."

Woah Woah Woah! Let me qoute that again, "Memes will not result in insta-ban (yet)." Why on EARTH would you even THINK about banning meme cosplays!? Meme cosplays are PART of the CON EXPERIENCE!!! Every con I've ever been to has had meme cosplays, and they are almost always popular with other congoers, becuase THEY ARE FUNNY!!! Banning people because you don't like their costume is childish and immature. Unless the costume violates convention rules, (nudity, profanity, ect.) there should be NO reason to ever ban them. Agian, "If I don't like your costume you get banned!"

"•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."

I don't have much to say on this, except if you are OBVIOUSLY wearing a costume, it should not matter who or what you are cosplaying from.
"•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."

But how are you going to enforce your other rules this way? If you are just bringing your costume, how do you know they are really going to wear it? How do you know its not someone else's costume? How are you gonna justify this rule with the one directly below it?

"•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."

But you JUST said its ok to come out of costume if you can present your costume... Way to contradict yourself...

"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 "

This last paragraph is also rude and insulting. There are tons of awesome OCs and RPCs out there, and saying that they are below anime cosplay is simply insulting. Also, no one cares if Ashley doesn't like L cosplay, because tons of others do, and being Registration Chair does not give you the right to talk down to people who cosplay things you dislike, nor does it give you the right to declare OCs and RPCs as bad cosplay. Cosplay does NOT mean "Anime Costume Play." It means "costume play." And that means, all costumes, whether it be Inuyasha, L, America, Captain Planet, Jareth, Darth Vader, Snake's Ass, Mudkips, Furries, lolita, school girls, maids, OCs or RPCs.

Lawlipop