As you might know last year's contest was HUGE... I mean it! Huge!
There were amazing performances and amazing costumes, well not just amazing, as I said I will repeat: HUGE!
I believe that's why there were some changes from the Official World Cosplay Summit 2010 Regulations.
First of all the performance time limit has been changed:
"Please strictly adhere to the time limit of 2 minutes and 30 seconds. (Be aware that this is a change from WCS 2010)"
Another really crucial change is the new weight limits:
"All equipment, costumes and props for the Cosplay Championship performance are limited to a maximum weight of 40 kilograms combined for both performers."
And more detailed weight and size limits about the stage-props:
"All large props set on stage before the Cosplay Championship performance begins are limited to a maximum weight of 10 kilograms. Prop dimensions are limited to 2100 millimeters in height, 2100 millimeters in width and 900 millimeters in depth."And yes, even the number of props to be set on stage is now limited:
"All large props set on stage are limited to a maximum of 3 items. Dimensions of smaller props carried onto the stage must be relayed to WCS head office in written form and accompanied by photographs."
And... we can no longer ship anything to Japan! T-T
Which means we have to fit everything in our baggage >_<
"You are required to bear the cost of any overweight luggage charges when shipping costumes and other items. It is not possible to send them to Japan by air or ship beforehand."
As a plus though we might now use the mega-screen!
"Use of the large background screen for video images is permitted. The background video or image(s) should be created by the performers; it is not permitted to use trademarked images or video."
To clear things up they made a rule explaining that the props on stage and video are not going to be judged!
"The 3 props on stage and background video will not be subject to evaluation by the judges."
Here is the list of the detailed judging criteria:
"Each judge of the cosplay championship can award 10 points for costume, 10 points for performance, and 5 points for faithfulness to the original work, for a maximum total of 25 points. .
1. Performance (10 points): level of performance, inventiveness, entertainment.
2. Costume (10 points): design, faithfulness to the original characters costume.
3. Fidelity to Original (5 points): level of faithfulness of the performance towards the original story and characters."
If you would like to read more, here is a link to the complete Official WCS 2011 Regulations.
