Halloween costume contest

deserthunter

deserthunter

Well-Known Member
I went to a Halloween parade and contest sponsored by a local radio station this year wearing my alien suite. Overall it was fun, however the judging for the costume contest was a joke. There were so many well made costumes, yet the ones they picked as winners were the weakest and not very well made. I spent most of the day taking pictures with people as well as the other well made ones. You could see who the obvious crowd favorites were. I always wondered as to who does the judging. The well made costumes with the best details were not even considered. Anyone else have any stories from costume contest this year. Please post
 
Welcome to the real world. Circa 1997 I had a Desert Trooper costume. It was accurate down to the deactivated MG42 I was carrying around. Guess who won the contest? A lady bug. Her costume was a red saucer sled on her back with hardly anything on her DD front. Crowd favorite.

In 2003? I won a costume contest in my Jango Fett costume against a group of guys who did an amazing job as KISS. I was blown away with the level of detail and over all presentation of their costumes. When I won, the crowd was on my side but I split the money with the KISS guys. We both knew it was going to be a toss up and had a good attitude.

If I were judging a costume I would look at:

-Complexity
-Originiality
-Layers of media. IE Metal work with leather work with sewing with a light and sound system and professional quality make up etc
-Overall presentation. Does it look like it did on the screen?

I would try not to get sucked in with 'flavor of the day' costume.
 
Sorry your experience was disappointing - are you going to join the RPF costume contest?

It is very cool you got to see so many in great costumes that night, though! I would love to have locals to hang out with in costumes, but we barely have time for our kids events let alone go out and find adult costumers...

Contests around here that we go to are mostly for kids and they have been incredibly fair lately - meaning the home made, creative costumes are getting the attention and recognition more than store bought. (One of the winners was a barbie in a box, another was a huge working camera) The Police Department sponsored contest is especially good at getting the kids out to parade so that residents can watch them walk through the street with sirens and what not!

One weird experience we had was Trader Joe's had flyers up for a contest on Halloween, no time, just date... I supposed it was going to be one of those: take a photo to post on the wall and contact the winners later, but when we got there nobody, not even the manager on duty, had a clue how the contest was supposed to be run.

So they just said my son won and let him pick out a bag of cookies. Very bizarre.

My son is 12 so he is old enough to know it's not as much about the prize, it's about knowing people have seen and appreciate your hard work, so he was grateful but had this 'huh?' look on his face when the manager told him he won.

- - - Updated - - -

Lear60man said:
When I won, the crowd was on my side but I split the money with the KISS guys. We both knew it was going to be a toss up and had a good attitude.
Click to expand...

Very cool of you!
 
Just like everything else it's about taste, I don't know it you saw this years First Annual Halloween Bash on the hub network but they picked one winner from each state and they competed in 6 different categories, category winners got a trophy and $1000. One of the six winners got named best in bash and won $25,000. My 7 year old son won for Kentucky and him and I got a all expense paid trip to LA for 5 days to film the show. There was no age limits so adults were competing against kids they made a big deal saying they only get judged on costumes and judges were Martha Stewart, Coco Jones and Hal Sparks. We would Love to see the score cards we all didn't agree with their picks lol my son was pretty crushed. My son was a little sheltered and it was hard for him to accept that he didn't win. The whole time I kept telling him it's about the experience, the fun, and we already won. But he's a kid still hard on them. they waited to take his "promo pics" until after they told him he didn't win and then all the kids were crying. Not the smartest choice. My point is that don't loose sight of why we make our costumes, winning is great but it's not why we do it. It makes us happy, and it's in our blood. Don't let politics make you loose site. By the time we left my 7 year old and I were working on plans for next year, he wants another shot. So I'm glad that he didn't let this stop him and he was truly happy about the whole thing. He wanted to buy me a new car and when he was crying telling me that he couldn't because he didn't win. I told him, that it's just money, and things. We we gained a experience, knowledge, and memories that money could never buy.
 
I do it for fun. My kids always like the costumes I make for them. I was just amazed that even if I was not considered there were some beautiful costumes very well done that should have placed. This was mine.

DSC_0951-420x630.jpg
 
Well, that's a crazy, awesome costume so I'm sorry you didn't win. I couldn't even find a kid friendly contest to enter my kids in. So I was disappointed for a different reason. :)
 
I've never been able to find a kid friendly costume contest for mine either. We are kind of of limited here in El Paso, TX. Most of them are in crappy bars which I've gone to before and had a bad experience so I try to stay away from them. We are so behind the times here. Most supplies or makeup have to be bought on line. HD, Lowes, and Hobby Lobby sometimes have stuff in limited supply. I was going to enter the contest here but I got most of the body parts from a member here so really could not pass it off as my own creation.
 
I had the same experience this year having participated in the costume contest at the local mall hosted by a local radio station as well. I had the same exact thought as who is judging the contest and what is their experience. I feel that they should consider someone who is familiar with costuming ie: fabrication, crafting, sewing, etc. It was such a disappointment when they picked out a store bought costume entry a couple of years back but it's somewhat a little better this year. But your Alien suit looks awesome! I think it's nepotism to be frank.
 
We'll my experience with Halloween costume contests I usually don't enter. Usually a store bought drunk idiot making a fool of himself wins, or a half naked wan in a bikini or painted boobs does. No eye for talent or artistic abilitly is observed for judging. I went to comikaze convention yesterday and my tmnt Raphael was mobbed by people and media. I even had and interviewer mention it was the best representation of the turtle he has ever seen. I entered a few online contests and haven't won a thing yet. I entered on the rpf, crossing my fingers!
 
Awesome Chestburster! Love it :)

I empathize with you deserthunter. I had a souring experience this year at a contest and have had many in the past.

Short story, one year as a homemade Cobra Commander (that I posted in the cosplay showcase thread) I lost first place to a guy in a cardboard box robot costume that had a few working lights on the front & a transistor radio because buddy brought 40 of his closest friends with him to the bar that night.

Longer story, this year I actually ran into a fellow member here at the bar downtown and we were pretty much thinking we had first & second place in the bag for the night. Here's both of us, I was the Red Skull, he was Hellboy:

photo_zps1a0aebb9.jpg

However about an hour or two into the night, this walked in....a fully functional AT-ST, with moving guns and....with Ewoks hanging off of it :(

IMG954384_zps23de4c46.jpg

Now, I absolutely recognize the time, effort and talent that went into the AT-AT and Hellboy. I didn't mind losing to either one of them at all because the Hellboy was just perfect and the AT-AT was a fantastically executed idea. The thing that burned me was we easily had the 3 best costumes in the bar, however for the $1,000 contest the bar's staff handed out tickets to people they felt had the best costumes during the night, then at 1am they called everyone with a ticket up to be judged in groups of 4 simply by crowd response. I unfortunately got put up there with Hellboy in the very first group and didn't stand a chance. I didn't even move on to a further round :cry
 
Same thing happened at the Halloween contest i went to. I was in my Mandalorian costume and was swarmed with people taking my pic and asking how i put it together, come award time a bunch of store bought costumes won. There were 9 prizes too. The thing that bothered me most though wasn't necessarily that i didn't win so much as none of the really good costumes there placed. Two of the winners were wearing generic rented gorilla suits! Blew my mind...
 
i love your costume, deserthunter!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. Yours is very nice also

Here are some of the better costumes. Were not considered either.
sonic.jpgtanto.jpg


Here are the winners. Pretty weak!!
fat winners.jpgkiss.jpgwinners 2.jpg

Poor zombie make up. Kiss which was pretty much just black pants with silver material glued on. No boots, guitars, drum sticks. The Gene Simmons top looked store bought. The kids were just wearing black sweats. The lady was just black pants and shirt with make up. The two girls definitely store bought, I guess pirates or gypsies.

There were a couple other really good ones I did not get pictures of.
 
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I've been to the KLAQ parade these past couple of years, last year I wore my Iron Man Mark 6 to the parade and even though I didn't win I had a great time; just seeing the reaction from the kids was worth it more than winning.
2012110295111249.jpg

This year I decided to go in my TK armor with some local 501st members but unfortunately they couldn't attend and I was the only one. I believe I saw you in your alien costume but didn't get any pictures. If any one is interested in more pictures here are some from our local newspaper website Photos: KLAQ Halloween Parade in East El Paso - El Paso Times Media Center

I do agree with you, we need more costume contests and the better costumes rarely win. Here's the costume I made just for fun that won me the local universities costume contest as well as a trip to Vegas from another costume contest.
1425449_420547814733719_1927471445_o.jpg
 
I had fun taking pictures, and there was a ton of them. Got invited to several parties too. I wore my TK armor several years ago to the parade didnt win then either. I did carry their banner with another guy dressed as a santrooper. They told me to come buy the station the next day. Gave me a crap load of CD's. Some not even released yet. So that was pretty cool. They are suppose to have an online contest too. That one one has more catagories, so I will see how that one goes.
 
Well online contest went better. Ended up being a finalist. But how can you compete against these?army guys.jpgfreddy.jpgkatiana.jpg

There were a couple other they had posted. but I think these were just the best.
 
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