Hello there!
It's time for another review/experience blog on a convention! But this time it also comes with the added bonus of being a Cosplay Judge, which is a lot of work I might add.
To start out with, as I want to state in all of my blogs or even videos that have to do with reviews, this is just an honest opinion of my experience at the con, and in no way is meant to trash the organization or group that puts these events/cons together. This is simply what I went through as an attendee or a guest.
So, originally I was asked personally by the staff to be a contest judge, I had asked originally the year prior but the spots were already filled so there was really nothing I could do at that point. But the coordinator remembered me asking about it and reached out to me asking if I would still be interested, which of course I was already planning on asking again, but this connection already crossed that threshold.
I had been a judge for a couple of local cons before so this wasn't anything new to me, but the stakes were higher considering I would be working with two very amazing and well known cosplayers by the names of Mayjeanw and Li Kovacs, both of which I was so honored to even be sitting next to let alone judging alongside them. It was a nice insight to how each cosplayer or cosplay judge goes about judging the contestants of a contest. Mayjean and I arrived before everyone else, both the coordinators (Who had car issues) and Li Kovacs (Stuck in traffic) arrived after us; but it was honestly a good time to get to sit with Mayjean and see how her brain works when it comes to judging a contest. Overall to see how the two worked in their own way was interesting, how to look for seams and details, what questions to ask the contestants, and how they go about answering the contestants when they may have questions.
It's funny because a lot of contestants acted very scared to approach us, which can be very valid, I too have had my fair share of scary encounters with judges from just an intimidating factor to simply being nervous to compete. But to all of those people who competed, I too get nervous to just judge! I am still learning as I go along, and though I know my stuff, rest assured everyone knows their stuff as well and the amount of talent that was there absolutely blew me away!
Things have absolutely changed so drastically from just how I grew up while cosplaying, to simply just a few years. I can definitely tell there was a shift in craftsmanship amongst the cosplay community from before the pandemic to after. The reason I feel I can say I still get nervous judging is because I, mainly have worked with small local cons, but also the last con I judged was before the pandemic; which I am sure a lot of people can agree that so much changed and happened in those years of lock down that really stuck with us. But oh my goodness, the amount of talent from even the rookie category alone gave me such an inspiration boost.
So many contestants that came up talked about the process of how they did things or how they saved money because, let's face it, everything especially in the cosplay community has gotten so damn expensive now. And the amount of cosplayers who came up with new and exciting things that I had never thought of or heard of was just blowing my mind! The amount of dedication these cosplayers had for each of their cosplays was astounding, from whittling their own wooden buttons, to making every petal of flowers on their cosplay, to simply making their own bias tape or having the cleanest invisible zipper. I honestly could go on and on about every single cosplayer that approached me and if this wasn't enough to tell you, it was extremely hard to choose the winners.
Of course having my mother as my handler in the audience definitely was helpful though, especially hearing from her how many people were surprised or not surprised by our decisions. It's also really funny to know that people just outwardly express their agreement or distaste for our choices even when my mom wasn't in a conversation with them. In fact she didn't really even talk to anyone and she told me so many things people said, and it was hilarious. So small PSA for audience members, be careful what you say, our handlers are in fact in the audience with you and are hearing everything you all say.
Also another PSA, just because you see my mother manning my phone for taking videos or pictures of the event; do NOT snatch my equipment from her hands and show her the "Right" way to take videos or pictures. She, nor myself, are professionals at doing videos, we do this for fun, and she is not there to record everything and everyone, she is just there to record me 80% of the time, and the event the other 20%. Please show some respect, not only in the fact that myself and her are doing our jobs, but also out of common curdosy. This was a very surprising and slightly funny thing that she informed me of and I really could not believe that happened to her. Especially with her being an introvert, it made her extremely uncomfortable. Again, she is just doing her job, please do not bother her unless she herself initiates a conversation. I drag her to these events to help me out, please don't make her hate the experience.
ANYWAY! Back to the event itself, it went by a lot smoother on mine and Mayjeans part, but once the coordinator and Li Kovacs were able to make it we were able to get through pre-judging a lot faster. On our part I admit, we let the pre-judging go on for much too long, and I think in future judging that I will be apart of, I want to give everyone the same amount of time to be able to explain things. Being as how this is a small con, I think each contestant should have been timed on our part so that way the math lined up with next events and walk-on performance. This happens quite a lot in cosplay contests unfortunately, and I think there now has to be a rule for events like this even in small capacity. Part of why I say this too is because by the end of pre-judging and the actual walk-on performance, I as well as the other judges had not eaten anything at all. I was so extremely dizzy by the end that I completely skipped the rest of the lip sync competition and nearly skipped signing the contest winner certificates so I could find some place to eat.
This in itself was also very difficult, being as how one of the food places that was there had a technical issue and could only accept cash, so the last place left was the sandwich shop that also ran out of hot sandwiches so you could only by the pre-made ones in the fridge area by the cashier. So all in all food situation was not well thought out at all, but it also seemed like a lot of situations that were out of anyone's control, which sucks for everyone honestly.
The only other downside I can say was that the artist alley/vendor area was very disappointing, at least in our standpoint. As someone who used to be an artist alley coordinator for my local con before they shutdown, I was in charge of reviewing the artists works and placing them in their respective places. This being said, I did in fact see the art that was going to be shown at the event. It's sad to say this because I know these things are simply popular right now and they cater to what is popular in the moment, but my gosh it seemed like every single table had the same exact thing. Genshin Impact, Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel, and cute animals. Which the cute animals weren't a huge issue, but it seemed like the same cute animals constantly. And I can't say it was every artist, there were definitely unique and really cool artists I saw as well, but dang, I felt like all I had to do was go through the tables once and that was it because everything was practically the same. Plus, whoever the artist alley coordinator may be, setting up those tables was rough. One aisle was not even possible for anyone to go through it was too pushed together. We only went halfway because my mom is claustrophobic and couldn't be in that aisle anymore. So overall on all of this, the vendor hall could have been dealt with a little better.
And of course the con itself was super fun, I love going to this con because it is very lowkey and a great place to go for a chill con. It's one day, completely free, which is amazing and the fact of how much they do for just this free event just shows how much they love the community and want to give back. I have been going for years so it is truly an honor that I got to be apart of the event professionally this year. I'm hoping I can be apart of this again in the future, whether being a judge or a guest (Which I pitched the idea to them), I would love to do so again because this community they have built is so fantastic and beautiful. All I can see is great things for this con moving forward, every year is different, and every con has it's slip ups, and all they can do is learn from this and strengthen their coordination for the next year and keep going.
Thank you so much to the staff of Chibi Chibi for giving me this oppertunity, and thank you to anyone who came up to say hello and chat. I truly enjoyed the experience and everyone there, and if you see me in future cons in any way like this or just for fun, please feel free to say hello! I love talking and meeting new people.
Thank you for taking a stroll down the Avenue, and taking the time for reading this! Until the next post!
Artists Avenue Cosplay
If you want to see how the event went in video form, I have a con vlog posted on my youtube channel as well. So go and check that out! I try to post once a month if I can, and your support really helps me out!
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