The show must go on!

[indigo_league]

POKEMON CONTEST SPECTACULAR!

Come one, come all! A long and proud Hoenn tradition has finally made its way to the Johto-Kanto peninsula: Pokemon Contests!
Enjoyed by breeders and battlers alike, Pokemon Contests are a chance to show off a Pokemon's moves and skills away from the battlefield. So get yourself and your Pokemon all dressed up and start coming up with routines that are sure to be crowd-pleasers!



SO HOW'S THIS GOING DOWN?
ICly: An EV news broadcast will announce the upcoming Contest Spectacular in Celadon, where interested trainers can go to either watch the contest or sign up to join. Characters will then have some time to choose which Pokemon they enter with (just one per trainer!) and practice an act or routine to perform, until the 18th when the performances begin!
OOCly: This event is, essentially, a light writing contest! All participants will submit a written description of their contest entry (including both details about their Pokemon's appearance/costume as well as the act itself). On the 21st, submissions will close and players will vote on their favorites!

TIMELINE:

January 13th: The EV News broadcast announcing the event!

January 18th-20th: A log for the Contest will be posted on the 18th, with a pre-posted section for submitting entries. ICly, all participating trainers will have arrived in Celadon, checked in and received their scheduled time and day, and the Contest will begin! Performances will run each of the three days from noon till 7.

January 21st-24th: ICly, the event will be over and characters may head home or stay in town as they please! OOCly, this will be when everyone casts their votes! The winner(s) will be announced after midnight on the 24th!

THE DETAILS
WHAT WILL EACH CONTEST ENTRY CONSIST OF?

There will be three required sections:

1. A chosen category (Cute, Cool, Tough, Clever, or Beauty)

2. A description of how the Pokemon and its trainer are dressed and groomed-- costumes are HUGE in Pokemon Contests, so don't be afraid to let out your inner fashion designer!

3. A description of the act that they present to the audience and judges onstage. The act should feature or be structured around the use of a specific Pokemon move.

The "Costume" section should be kept between 100-500 words, while the "Act" section can be anywhere between 100-1000 words. No one should feel pressured to meet the maximum wordcount; it's just there to make sure that there's plenty of wiggle-room for creativity!

HOW WILL THE ENTRIES BE JUDGED/VOTED FOR?

During the voting period, each player will cast six* votes. One for what they feel is the best entry in each of the five categories, and one for whichever entry they personally liked the most! Each category will have its own single winner, and the Grand Prize for best entry overall will have tiers of first, second, and third place.

As this contest will be decided by the players, it ultimately just comes down to voting for whatever you liked the most. However, a couple of things should be taken into account while casting your votes:

How well do the costumes match the act?

How well do the costumes and act combined match the category they picked?

But ultimately, the most important thing of all is whether or not you felt the entry was creative and fun to read!

When all the votes are cast, "Grand Prize" will go to whoever got the most votes, second place will go to whoever got the most after them, etc. For the individual categories, the prize will go to whoever received the most votes in that category, UNLESS that person qualified for first, second, or third in the Grand Prize category! In the event that someone who won their category also placed for the Grand Prizes, the "Best in Category" title/prize will go to the next person after them.

*IF MY CHARACTER IS A CONTEST PARTICIPANT, CAN THEY STILL VOTE?

Yes, however they may not vote in the category that they themselves participated in. For example, a character who performed in the "Cool" category may place votes in "Cute", "Tough", "Clever", and "Beauty", but not in "Cool". So, technically Contest participants will be casting five votes, not six.

SO WHAT SHOULD AN "ACT" CONSIST OF, AND HOW CAN WE MAKE SURE IT MATCHES A CATEGORY?

The sky really is the limit here-- in the interest of letting everybody stretch their legs creatively, we're not going to be glued to the video game mechanics. So, an act can be almost anything! A barrel-racing Zebstrika is just as valid as a tutu-wearing Clefairy doing ballet.

An act can be a display of skill, a comedy skit, an athletic performance... we want to see it all! However, as stated above, it should 1. match the category picked, and 2. be structured around a Pokemon move.

For example, the barrel-racing Zebstrika may be using Flame Charge for speed and 'wow' effect, and probably fits the "Cool" category. Meanwhile, the Clefairy ballerina could use Moonlight for atmospheric lighting and be a serious contender for the "Beauty" category!

SHOULD WE STICK TO THE MOVES' CONTEST-TYPES FROM THE VIDEO GAMES?

Yes and no! For anyone not familiar with the "Contest-type" of Pokemon moves, every single move and its corresponding Contest category are listed here on Bulbapedia! Traditionally, every single move corresponds to one of the five Contest categories, and it's definitely a great foundation for people to work off of while choosing their moves and planning their acts!

HOWEVER, as creativity is what this event is all about, we won't be requiring anyone to stick hard and fast to the move-types so long as the act successfully pulls off its category. For example, Mystical Fire is traditionally a "Beauty" move-- but if someone's precious, fluffy little Braixen in a teeny tiny witch's hat uses it onstage to brew a "magical potion" that turns out to be hot chocolate, melting both the snow and the audience's hearts, excluding it from the "Cute" category would basically be illegal.

Follow your heart and let your imaginations run free!

HOW INVOLVED SHOULD MY CHARACTER BE IN THEIR POKEMON'S ACT?

Obviously, a good Pokemon Contest performance involves impeccable coordination between the trainer and their Pokemon. So it's safe to say that the trainer should be involved to some degree. Whether it's directing the Pokemon, helping with props, or even playing a smaller role in the act, the bond between trainer and Pokemon is what will truly make an act shine! However, the Pokemon itself really should be the star of the show. For example, a magic act where you pull your Buneary out of a hat is more about the trainer, but a magic act where your Buneary pulls you out of a hat is about the Pokemon!

HOW DOES A CHARACTER SIGN UP FOR THE CONTEST?

It's fine to handwave the signing-up process-- ICly, they can either sign up in person at the site of the event if they're close by, or submit a video introducing themselves and their Pokemon ahead of time. Anyone trying to sign up on the spot after the performances have already been started will be turned away, though! This stuff takes a lot of coordination!

OOCly, all you need to do is drop your entries in once the submissions officially open.

WHAT KINDS OF ACCOMMODATIONS CAN A PARTICIPATING CHARACTER EXPECT?

Every trainer participating in the Contest will receive free transportation if they require it (an official Fly Pokemon will pick them up, or if they're in Johto, they'll receive a free single-use two-way pass for the Magnet Train. They'll also receive a generous discount on guaranteed lodgings for the duration of the event when they officially check in and get registered. However, it is ultimately their responsibility to arrive on time-- if they show up late with Sawsbucks and miss their own scheduled performance, that's just not cool! Avoid travel stress, get there on Thursday night!

WILL OUR CHARACTERS BE THE ONLY PEOPLE PARTICIPATING IN THIS CONTEST? WHAT ABOUT NPCs?

NPCs and their Pokemon will definitely be participating, and in huge numbers, too! But don't worry; ICly player characters will only be competing against each other, not the NPCs.

There are a number of reasons that the Contest Spectacular was interested in expanding into Johto/Kanto, but a big one was the fact that these are the only regions boasting a population of trainers literally from other worlds! So player characters will be competing in their own special category, which will actually be hyped up pretty heavily by the press. They can expect to draw a huge crowd!

WHAT IF MY CHARACTER DOESN'T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST? WILL THERE STILL BE THINGS TO DO?

Absolutely! You gotta go cheer for your friends onstage, right? While normal attendees will not have their travel costs compensated, it's still a big event that's drawing an audience from all over both regions. In addition to watching the performances themselves, there will also be tons of food carts, merch stalls, games, and even mini professional photo-sets where your Pokemon can dress up in rented contest costumes set up outside the building. Of course, a lot of the merch will feature Hoenn Contest celebrities that nobody has heard of, but still! SWAG!

Contest participants are also free to enjoy all the hustle and bustle if they can tear themselves away from practicing their routines long enough!

WILL MEGA EVOLUTION INCREASE MY STANDING IN THE CONTEST? WHAT ABOUT ENTERING A SHINY POKEMON?

It depends on how well they're incorporated into the act! Remember, the winners will be chosen by ooc popular vote for their creativity, so the entries really won't be judged based on mechanics or who has the rarest Pokemon. Feel free to assume that shinies or Mega Evolution will get a big response from the audience ICly, though.

WHAT WILL THE PRIZES BE?

A Contest Spectacular calls for spectacular prizes! Eight characters total will qualify for a special prize, while everyone else will receive a small participation prize.

GRAND PRIZE: The three top-placing trainers overall will receive a variation on three things! The first-place winner gets all three! Second place may pick two out of the three. Third place may pick one out of the three. All three places will also receive a very impressive trophy!

A Shiny Pokemon of your choice, donated by an NPC breeder who volunteered to team up with the winning trainer(s) and take on the project of breeding a specific shiny for them.

A re-usable TM of your choice, from any generation.

An Ability-Changing candy.

CATEGORY PRIZES: The top-placing trainer in each single category will receive one of these prizes!

Cute: TM 35 (Metronome), a Pink Scarf, and a trophy

Cool: TM 07 (Zap Cannon), a Red Scarf, and a trophy

Tough: TM 82 (Dragon Tail), a Yellow Scarf, and a trophy

Clever: TM 46 (Psywave), a Green Scarf, and a trophy

Beauty: TM 38 (Fire Blast), a Blue Scarf, and a trophy

PARTICIPATION PRIZES: Everyone who participated but did not place will receive these!

A box of the finest Pokeblocks and Poffins

A fancy ribbon for the participating Pokemon to show off

ANYTHING ELSE?

Ask any questions you have here. As an additional note, as this is the first (and hopefully not the last!) contest-style event we’ve tried running, we want to remind everyone to be mature and respectful to one another, win or lose. We’re all here to have fun!

Comments

MOD QUESTIONS

[indigo_league]

Ask us questions regarding this event here!

[meteorman]

What is the ruling on passive abilities? For instance, if someone sent in a Pokémon with Drought or Snow Warning, could that add ~ambience~?

[indigo_league]

We're going to say yes, using Abilities to add some ambiance is allowed!

[bertall]

Another question regarding moves! Would the use of a secondary move (such as 1-2) be permitted to use to enhance the Big Move that the act would be featured around providing they were in the same category? For example, Sunny Day being used to boost Flamethrower/etc?

[indigo_league]

So long as it's clear which move is the primary one, and the secondary one is within the same category, we're going to say this is allowed!

[rambling_runner]

What is the stage like and are there facilities for the performing mons? Like, could a grass type make the stage and the surrounding area bloom in an appeal or is there a tank with cameras in the water or something similar for sea-based pokemon?

[indigo_league]

Reasonable accommodations will be made for all kinds of Pokemon performances! This will probably mean several different stages, such as, yes, a tank for water types or one with soil for grass types. So long as it's something within reason, we want to ensure that people have plenty of room to be creative.

[forsaintcecilia]

Any monetary prize? Some of us are starving artists and could use the cash!

[indigo_league]

Not this time, we're afraid! Just the prizes listed!

But we'll keep cash rewards in mind for the future!