Masquerade
[1]WonderCon 2012 Masquerade
Celebrating the Amazing Art of Costuming:
The 9th Annual WonderCon Anaheim Masquerade
Online Registration for the Masquerade is now closed. Please check at the Masquerade Desk onsite at the Anaheim Convention Center to see if any Masquerade slots are still available. The Masquerade Desk is open Friday, 12:00-6:00 PM, and Saturday, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM, and is located in Lobby A/B outside the Exhibit Hall.
From the earliest days of literary and movie fan conventions—beginning with the first World Science Fiction convention in 1939—the wearing of costumes has been an increasing part of these celebrations of the arts. It’s hard to turn a corner at WonderCon Anaheim and not be treated to the sight of someone in a costume, just as one can’t take even a brief stroll through the Exhibit Hall without being surrounded by countless images of costumes on posters, book covers, original art, and collectible toys. In recognition of this ancient yet always fresh popular art of adorning the human form, and of the clever talents of our attendees, WonderCon Anaheim once again presents a special evening dedicated to giving costumes the spotlight they deserve. But what you’ll see is much more that just a display of costumes, as characters are brought to life in imaginative presentations of character, drama, comedy, mock battles, and more.
The 9th annual WonderCon Anaheim on-stage costume competition, otherwise known as The Masquerade, will be held at 8:30 PM on Saturday in the Arena at the Anaheim Convention Center. The event is free to participate in, or to attend; only a valid 3-day or Saturday WonderCon Anaheim badge is needed. Note that this is not a dance or party, but a show on a large stage. Doors will open for audience seating at 8:00 PM, although the line for choice seating will start forming well before then. The event will run a bit over two hours. Video cameras and giant projection screens will provide close-up viewing for all in the audience.
[2]WonderCon 2012 Masquerade
As always, many of the impressive costumes crossing the stage will be re-created from movies, TV, comics, fantasy, Japanese anime, games, or history; others will be original designs from the clever imaginations of our attendees. If you've crafted a costume, we invite you to sign up to participate and share your creation and talents before our large audience, and perhaps take home a trophy or other prize as well.
Special entertainment will be featured during the judging intermission, including a special encore show by the Saber Guild performance group. This year their elaborately costumed and choreographed light saber battle will feature a steampunk Star Wars theme, giving an original twist to the familiar movie series’ costumes and weapons.
The Master of Ceremonies will again be the entertaining five-time Hugo Award–winning artist and writer Phil Foglio. For many years Phil, along with his wife Kaja, have created, published, and contributed to a variety of comics, art, and games in the science fiction and fantasy genres (and especially in recent years, the steampunk genre), through their company and website StudioFoglio.com. You can find him and his many Girl Genius creations at his booth in the Exhibit Hall.
No flash photography is allowed in the Arena, but cameras and video recordings are permitted for nonprofit, personal use only. A separate photo area is provided outside the Arena where contestants will pose after their stage presentations; and flash photography is permitted there. Photographer spots are limited, so interested persons must sign up at the Masquerade Desk ahead of time.
Costume entries must not have been purchased or otherwise commercially obtained; they must be of original construction or show significant modification of preexisting materials. This is a show of craftsmanship, not shopping ability, and all costume genres are welcome, as are all levels of experience, from the novice to the seasoned convention costumer. After an intermission for the judges to select the best entries, winners will return to the stage to receive trophies and prizes in a variety of categories.
[3]WonderCon 2012 Masquerade
Complete information and rules are available here (click to download) [4] and will be available onsite at the Masquerade Desk located in Lobby A/B, outside the Exhibit Hall A limited number of contestant slots are available, so interested costumers should sign up as soon as possible, and may do so until 7:00 PM on Friday or 2:00 PM on Saturday. No new entries will be accepted after that time. There will be an optional but recommended “Orientation for Contestants” from 11:00 PM until noon on Saturday in Room 201ABC, where a practice stage will be available.
Trophy categories will be Best in Show, Judges’ Choice, Best Re-creation, Best Original Design, Best Workmanship, and Best Presentation.
In addition to the special WonderCon Anaheim trophies, other generous prizes bestowed by various companies will include:
• Frank & Son Collectible Show of the City of Industry, California, “the first and last stop for all your collectible needs” will present a $500 cash prize to the entry they deem as the audience favorite.
• DC Comics will award a very special DC Direct Collectible item to what they deem as the best re-creation of a DC Comics character or characters, as selected by a DC Comics representative.
• Lucasfilm Ltd. will present a special Star Wars prize of collectibles selected from the Lucasfilm Licensing Archives, awarded to what they choose as the best costume entry from the Star Wars universe.
• Things From Another World, “the world's premier retailer of comics, toys, collectibles, and pop-culture geek goodness,” will present a $250 gift certificate for their website, TFAW.com, to what they deem the best comic book-related costume.
• TME: That's My Entertainment will award $100 to the best movie representation, plus $100 to what they deem as the people's favorite. Courtesy of their parent company, The Testmarket Evolution.
• Femme Fatales, the hit TV show inspired by graphic novels, pulp fiction, and film noir, and which recently debuted on eOne Home Video, will award the entry with the best “empowered female protagonist” a prize of $150, plus a special edition DVD of Femme Fatales: The Complete Season One, plus an autographed show poster and collectible trading card set.
• GEEK magazine, the bestselling magazine devoted to popular culture, technology, music, gadgets, movies, comics, and everything geek (available at newsstands and digitally though Apple, Kindle, Nook and GeekExchange.com), will award to the best movie or TV character a digital subscription to GEEK, a copy of the latest issue featuring the cast of the hit TV series Revolution, Paradigm headphones (valued at over $100), plus a prize package worth $500 from GEEK magazine advertisers and sponsors!
If you are having problems seeing the schedule as embedded on our website, please try loading it directly at http://wonderconanaheim2013.sched.org/ [5]. Mobile users may wish to use the mobile My Schedule app at http://wonderconanaheim2013.sched.org/mobile [6].