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The Cosplot - Continuing Cosplay Plotline: "THE RIVALRY"

Anime Boston has a continuing storyline uniting its cosplay programming. This plotline consists of a series of performances by Anime Boston attendees as well as staff, in costume and in character, enacting skits, competitions and battles to create a story connecting the Anime Dating Game, the Masquerade, Catch the Barrel and Cosplay Human Chess. Some of these events are skit performances or game shows, while others are team competitions between groups of cosplayers such as Ninjas, Pirates or Shinigami. Each separate event is complete in itself, but attendees or audience members who watch or participate in all the events get to watch their favorite characters progress and help their favorite teams to victory. The participants and events of the plotline are partly decided in advance, but the actual winners of competitions and rivalries are determined by the participants and the audience, live, as events progress. This plotline began in 2007 and will continue in 2008, overseen by the Masquerade Director and the Cosplay Gameshows Director (Ada Palmer aka. K-san).

If you simply wish to participate in a single event, such as Cosplay Chess or the Anime Dating Game, you should fill out an application for that event and if your character fits well with the Continuing Cosplay Plotline, then you will automatically be contacted about participating. If, on the other hand, you are interested in helping in many events, as well as in planning and organizing the Continuing Cosplay Plotline, then you should not only apply to the individual events, but also fill out the Continuing Cosplay Plotline Application. Those who apply to participate in the Continuing Cosplay Plotline will be expected to exchange frequent e-mails with the Cosplay Gameshows Director and other participants before the convention and to commit considerable time and effort to preparing these unique events. Failure to keep in contact or to meet deadlines will result in your removal from the Continuing Cosplay Plotline roster.

Last year’s plotline events in brief:

For many years the infamous rivalry between Ninjas and Pirates has spread chaos through the anime world. In 2007 the evil Ninja organization known as Akatsuki organized a Ninja/Pirate Peace Treaty and called on representatives from both sides to sign a scroll pledging to bring peace to the halls of Anime Boston to be ratified at the Masquerade on Saturday night. Meanwhile, certain members of Akatsuki invaded the Anime Dating Game run by the Ouran High School Host Club and broke a priceless mother-of-pearl inlaid Nintendo Wii. At a brief trial overseen by Phoenix Wright, it was decided that Akatsuki had to pay the Ouran High School Host Club back 5 million dollars by the Masquerade that night.

At the Masquerade, the Ninja and Pirate representatives met to ratify the treaty, but Akatsuki revealed that the supposed treaty scroll was really a Ninja Recruitment Scroll, and everyone who had signed it had unknowingly committed to become a Ninja. The Pirate representative retaliated by trying to take the Masquerade Director Risa Hawkeye hostage, when dozens of Ninjas rushed onto the stage eager to fight the Pirate. Disgusted by the unfair overpopulation of Ninjas relative to Pirates, Hawkeye called on Anime Boston to pass the Pirate Protection Act declaring Pirates an endangered species and forbade all Ninjas (or any others) to fight Pirates until the Pirate population had a chance to rebound. She also proposed a new rival for the Ninjas to fight: Alchemists! Meanwhile, Akatsuki failed to pay back the Ouran High School Host Club's 5 million dollars, so they were forced to perform a strip tease on stage.

The next morning at Cosplay Human Chess "Angst vs. Sugar", many Ninjas showed up eager to fight Alchemists, but Soy Fong appeared to present a demand that Shinigami be made the Ninjas’ new rivals instead of Alchemists. Roy Mustang, speaking for the Alchemists, decided to let the Ninjas’ new rivals be determined by which team, Alchemists or Shinigami, had done better at Catch the Barrel and in-the-halls competition between Ninjas, Pirates, Alchemists and Shinigami which had been going on all weekend. When the results of Catch the Barrel were read, the Shinigami had trounced the Alchemists and nearly defeated the Ninjas. Roy Mustang was outraged and demanded a rematch, so it was decided that at the end of the Chess match the audience should cheer for which team they thought deserved to be the Ninjas’ new rivals, Alchemists or Shinigami, while the losing team as punishment would have to accept an ignominious rival: the Ouran High School Host Club. In the end, the audience chose the Shinigami as the Ninjas new rivals and Tamaki of the Ouran High School Host Club bribed Roy Mustang by offering him hot chicks and in return Roy not only accepted the Hosts as Alchemists new rivals but declared Tamaki’s Sugar team the winners of the "Angst vs. Sugar" Cosplay Human Chess Match.

So, as it stands now, the rivalries are Ninjas vs. Shinigami, Alchemists vs. Hosts, Pirates are protected as an endangered species, and the evil Akatsuki are still plotting their next strike...
Nothing else is yet known about what will happen in 2008, but the rivalries are sure to continue and events are certain to tie into the two 2008 Cosplay Human Chess Themes: Good vs. Evil and Kids vs. Grown-ups!

Application details:

Individuals applying to the Continuing Cosplay Plotline must have costume(s) of character(s) pertinent to the ongoing story, or who would make good cameo or additional characters, or fit well with the Chess themes (Good vs. Evil and Kids vs. Grown-ups). When you apply, you will be asked to list all the costumes you have at your disposal and the administrators will select those most useful for the plot. All costumes are acceptable, including commissioned costumes and costumes also used in other events including the Masquerade, but all costumes must comply with the Anime Boston Weapons’ Policy and must be legal in the state of Massachusetts. The more costumes you include, the more likely you are to be accepted to participate. Not all who apply will be selected. Priority will go to experienced cosplayers, especially those who have participated in other cosplay events at past Anime Boston conventions, particularly Cosplay Human Chess and the Anime Dating Game. Minors applying must submit a participation permission form signed by a parent or guardian. The application cutoff for participation in the Continuing Cosplay Plotline is February 1st 2008.

Cosplay Events Information

• Anime Dating Game
• Catch the Barrel
• Cosplay Human Chess
• Masquerade