Cosplay Code of Conduct

We are excited to welcome you as a cosplayer at the Flame Con Cosplay Competition and Runway! In addition to convention policies, these Guidelines are designed to ensure every participant and attendee has a safe and enjoyable experience at our shows.

Failure to adhere to these guidelines at one of our shows, online on our official social media channels, and in any of our online communities may result in a competition ban from all future competitions at Flame Con and may result in you being banned from attending Flame Con.

If you are confused or concerned about the guidelines below, please reach out to us at EMAIL and we’d be happy to further clarify.

Follow convention rules and respect the rules and instructions of the event staff

This should go without saying, but being in our competition doesn’t mean you’re exempt from rules. This can include but is not limited to mask-wearing, cosplay weapons policies, and convention center-specific rules.

Convention and competition staff will be sure to remind you if you are breaking any convention rules.

Respect your fellow participants, attendees, and competition staff

The cosplay community is diverse and so are our participants. We expect all participants to honor that diversity and ask you to show the same care and respect to your fellow participants, attendees, and show staff that you would like to have received yourself. Harassment behaviors will not be tolerated and you will be disqualified from competing or, in extreme cases, banned from competing further should you harass another participant or attendee.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to, verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion; deliberate intimidation; stalking; following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact; and unwelcome sexual attention.

While these are extreme examples, we ask you to simply be kind. From personal experience, we know that competing can be stressful for everyone involved from you as a participant to your handler helping you to the competition staff coordinating.

Practice good sportsmanship

Whether you win an award or not, we ask that you engage in good sportsmanship habits. Celebrate your wins without putting others down. Likewise, if you don’t win an award it’s okay and natural to feel upset or disappointed, but taking it out on a fellow participant or our judges is never acceptable.

Ensure your cosplay is both physically and visibly safe.

This section is serious. We have a zero-tolerance policy, meaning: If you arrive at our competition with any of the below symbols, physical items, or makeup you will be immediately disqualified from the competition and banned from competing in the future with no further discussion.

Weapons:

Any weapon that could seriously hurt somebody is not allowed. Prop weapons that will be allowed in are at the discretion of convention staff and uniformed security personnel. You should also refer to the Flame Con rules about props and weapons for additional clarity regarding what props are not permitted. Safety is paramount, we will always err on the side of caution. There will be no place to store prohibited weapons on-site. If you have a weapon that is prohibited, you will be asked to discard it or remove it from the premises. Please see the corresponding convention policies page for the show you’re attending for more info on what prop weapons are or are not allowed.

Hate symbols:

Historical costumes can be great, but reminders of unspeakable atrocities are not appropriate, ever. This includes any sort of “ironic” or satirical costumes that reappropriate Nazi paraphernalia and other hate symbols or costumes or gear that toes the line in resembling it.

Blackface:

Blackface and other types of racially imitative makeup will not be tolerated. We know you want to be as accurate as possible in your cosplays, but we ask you to focus that attention on the presentation of your costume as it relates to the source material.

What happens next?

If you see someone exhibiting one or more of these behaviors, please immediately alert the competition staff or convention staff members who can be identified by their pink and black t-shirt. We will address the situation with the offending party and ask them to stop or in some cases immediately ask them to leave. While we’d prefer not to get security involved, we will if necessary.

If you are banned from competition or attending the convention, we will let you know directly. This may or may not happen verbally at the show, but we will follow up with you via email to confirm. If you win an award and we discover you are cheating after the fact, we may publicly remove your title and give it to someone else. We will also ask for your prizes back.

We will not confirm if someone has been banned with anyone other than the person who has been banned for their privacy.

Questions about this documentation can be directed to: EMAIL