Cosplay Chess at Genericon XXIV

[Replica_Heart]

Hey everyone! Genericon is roughly six months away! That means it's time to start thinking about this year's Cosplay Chess Theme!
I was approached by someone who suggested that we do a Living Vs. the Dead theme for this year, which sounds pretty good to me.
I was also thinking, it would be interesting if this years match had something of a narrative, as if the two combatants in the match are re-enacting a great battle. This year, I would also like to try what I had wanted to do and have an announcer that coordinated between the two sides, partly to entertain, but also to ensure that the pieces are moving correctly and to make sure that everyone is hearing/understanding one another.
My initial thought as for an actual narrative would be of a love story that crosses from the living to the dead. I was thinking that it would be interesting to have Seymour from Final Fantasy X as the King on the Black side, commanding his forces of slavering undead beasts to capture his beloved summoner Yuna. I'd be open to other suggestions if anyone has a paired costume that fits that theme.

At this stage, I would need out of people some volunteers to do a chess match for me again. I'm getting better at chess, but that's not really saying anything at all. DJ, it'd be great if you came back to do the match again, and I'm sure that Mike would be happy to do another match, but there's no pressure for you to do so.

I'd also like people to give some vague consideration to what they might like to do as far as the event. This year, in addition to pieces, I'm looking for one, perhaps two people to act as the two opponents, and an announcer.
Any interested parties can feel free to drop their ideas/concerns/heartfelt entreaties in the thread.


EDIT:
I was also thinking that this year, instead of having everyone but the combatants move off the board, just having the two battling pieces move off the board, and instead do battle center stage. That way, everyone gets a good view of the action, and we save the time of everyone trundling on and off the board/finding their spot/adjusting the chessboard.

[Faust]

I am so up for this! I'll get my costume made as soon as I can!

[Replica_Heart]

I am so up for this! I'll get my costume made as soon as I can!

Hooray! What are you thinking about doing?

[Tohmasuke]

I'm totally up for it again , but I think something other than FF based would be better for a living vs dead theme/capturing a beloved. I'm kinda out of it right now, but I'll post some ideas on some other shows/games that would work for this kind of idea.

Also if you want it to be a love story I don't think Seymour and Yuna are a good pairing, seeing that she didn't really love him. I think you're thinking of more of a starcrossed lovers kinda thing.

[Flipkat]

Given that the con itself has a steampunk theme, what if we went with the slightly broader Present vs Past? Obviously, the living are present and the dead are past. Anybody who doesn't live to the end of their series counts as dead, and classic series are past. Extending the thought to, say, Hetalia: Those who lost the war are dead/past. It'd be a big change from the usual good/evil matchup, since plenty of good people die along with the villains.
The story would be something like: Heralded by the rise of Ren Faires and steampunk, the Past tries to regain control of the Present and live again! (Special bonus appearance by the Lovecraft mythos?) Can modern-day technology win out, or will we all go back to viewing the internet via telegraph?
Ideally, the two board-controlling players would be classic and modern versions of the same thing, like Captain Harlock and Monkey D. Luffy. Maybe we could get Uncle Yo to announce, or some character like Lupin that never goes away, but either keeps making comebacks or has been going strong the whole time.

[Faust]

I am so up for this! I'll get my costume made as soon as I can!

Hooray! What are you thinking about doing?

Sargent Tank Dempsey from Call of Duty: World at War as the head player for the living side, complete with an airsoft thompson to complete the costume. For reference, here's a clip of him:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclus...l-of/51311

[DanceRoseDante]

Chess was so much fun! I definitely want to do it again

Although I'm not sure any of my planned costumes fit the theme very well ^^; I can try to work something out!

[Replica_Heart]

I'm totally up for it again , but I think something other than FF based would be better for a living vs dead theme/capturing a beloved. I'm kinda out of it right now, but I'll post some ideas on some other shows/games that would work for this kind of idea.

Also if you want it to be a love story I don't think Seymour and Yuna are a good pairing, seeing that she didn't really love him. I think you're thinking of more of a starcrossed lovers kinda thing.

I had sort of come up with the idea of using FFX because a large part of the game is Seymour coming back from the dead in order to make Yuna his queen, and to become one with Sin and rule over the living and the dead. I thought it might be interesting to have a re-enactment of the battle between the army of the dead trying to capture the army of the living, was my thought. I mean, I know they're not lovers, it's just that was one of Seymour's goals in the game.

Given that the con itself has a steampunk theme, what if we went with the slightly broader Present vs Past? Obviously, the living are present and the dead are past. Anybody who doesn't live to the end of their series counts as dead, and classic series are past. Extending the thought to, say, Hetalia: Those who lost the war are dead/past. It'd be a big change from the usual good/evil matchup, since plenty of good people die along with the villains.
The story would be something like: Heralded by the rise of Ren Faires and steampunk, the Past tries to regain control of the Present and live again! (Special bonus appearance by the Lovecraft mythos?) Can modern-day technology win out, or will we all go back to viewing the internet via telegraph?
Ideally, the two board-controlling players would be classic and modern versions of the same thing, like Captain Harlock and Monkey D. Luffy. Maybe we could get Uncle Yo to announce, or some character like Lupin that never goes away, but either keeps making comebacks or has been going strong the whole time.

Of course, the problem would be how would you define "past"? Are we talking about old cannons vs. new, or a sci-fi/fantasy split? Besides, considering the turnout that we received as far as applicants, I'm not certain if the board could support a split like that. While Steampunk/Renaissance/old-school sci-fi and fantasy are popular, people tend to enter the cosplay chess as the same old character tropes. I mean, one quarter of the players were from Black Butler, and another Quarter from Axis Powers Hetalia and a hefty portion of people filling in with Kingdom Hearts characters to bolster numbers at the last minute . Few of the players were from outside of anime, let alone cosplaying a classic character. I'm not opposed to it, per-se, it's just that I wonder how many people we could encourage to cosplay to fit the match, and how exactly we define "past" and "present".

EDIT:
That would be great if Uncle Yo was interested in commentating! Would that really be a thing he'd be interested in doing?

Chess was so much fun! I definitely want to do it again

Although I'm not sure any of my planned costumes fit the theme very well ^^; I can try to work something out!

At this point, really the only difference between the two sides are "alive" vs. "dead". Any complicated life statuses could be figured out with too much trouble, I think.

[Shinobihime]

Ohhh, I love Seymour.
*ahem*
Anyways, I think chess can be better than ever this year! It was received very positively last time! I know the plans of myself and a few others, and I definitely would like to participate. Keeping the theme broad will also help when pieces are filled in short notice.
Do we want to make a new board this year? Do we need a group work day for it?

[Faust]

Ohhh, I love Seymour.
*ahem*
Anyways, I think chess can be better than ever this year! It was received very positively last time! I know the plans of myself and a few others, and I definitely would like to participate. Keeping the theme broad will also help when pieces are filled in short notice.
Do we want to make a new board this year? Do we need a group work day for it?

Love your pic, btw.