There would be many factors which would leads to an end of the Cosplay Convention.
The notion of someone showing up in costume with a real weapon is part of our day to day nightmares and I’ve stripped more weapons off attendees who were attempting to use those weapons (usually knives) than I like to think about. So… as one of the people charged with the safety and well being of people at con, here are a few of the things we do to make the space safer for everyone. And you would also love the
Cosplay Costumes at cosjj.com Nothing is perfect, no matter who we might cosplay as, con security aren’t super heroes, but the things below are all actions that convention safety and security may take in various combinations to make the space as safe as we can for everyone.
Policies
It starts long before the first day of con with a clearly written weapons policy that lets cosplayers know what is and what isn’t allowed. Different cons may take different approaches to their weapon policies. Some cons forbid all weapon props (cosplayers hate this, we know, I promise.) Some cons will forbid all firearm props, some cons will forbid any firearm prop that looks too realistic. Policies need to be communicated well in advance of the convention to give cosplayers time to prepare a costume that can be rules compliant. That said, people still show up at con with things that violate policy. Con policy should also make clear what happens to those weapons. Some cons will simply instruct cosplayers to return an item to their hotel room or vehicle, others will confiscate the weapon until the end of the convention. This is something that, again, should be made clear in policy.
Peace Bonding
Peace bonding is a really old security tradition that has its roots in requiring people secure their swords to their sheathes so the sword cannot be quickly and easily drawn. At con, it is frequently a requirement that all weapons, swords, guns, giant wizard staves, etc, be peace bound.
Peace bonding of weapons may or may not render the weapon unusable but it serves an important purpose for security walking the floor. Convention attendees are frequently required to have their weapon props peace bound by convention security which gives us an opportunity to inspect them. Things that are real or too realistic will be rejected and the attendee will not be allowed to bring the prop into convention space.
When security is on the floor, an attendee whose weapon is not peace bound is someone security is going to intervene with. Most often this simply involves escorting the person to registration or wherever they need to go to get their weapon inspected and bonded, some times security may do it on the spot, but it’s a visual way for security to pay attention to things.
I’ve worked cons that used color coded peace bonds so security can spot things that look peace bound but haven’t actually passed con staff’s eyes, cons that used custom ribbon (branded with the con logo) for peace bonding and other methods as well. The short of it is, those bright and colorful zip ties are part of keeping real guns out of con space and giving us an opportunity to intervene if a person carrying a weapon is seen on the convention floor that doesn’t appear like it should be there.
Trained Security
Many larger conventions will contract with large, professional security agencies. Smaller conventions may work with a volunteer security force but even those security forces can be surprisingly well trained (my night detail one year were members of the local Sheriff’s posse.)
I was working security for NDK in 2001, eleven days after 9/11, and not far from where the Columbine High School massacre had occurred two years prior. Our head of security conducted one of the most memorable security training sessions I’ve ever sat in. He started with a review of local laws regarding use of force and what we could and could not legally do as security personnel, then reviewed convention policy for how we were expected to handle ourselves. Then, he hauled out a backpack and from that backpack produced something like this:
He then asked us, from across the room, to tell him if it was a real weapon or a prop weapon. It didn’t take long for someone to say “It’s an Airsoft gun, the tip is orange!” So he reached into his backpack and pulled out one of these:
And he asked us if we still thought the gun was Airsoft. Then he pulled out a series of smaller weapons, pistols, knives and what I hope was a training grenade. Then he asked us how many backpacks we expected to see that weekend.
Training didn’t stop there and I’m not going to bore you with all the details but do know that the professionals working security for these events prepare for exactly the sort of scenarios this question asks about and discuss how to respond to them well ahead of the convention.
The tools of the trade
Some conventions may employ metal detectors though truthfully I haven’t seen it often (kind of impractical.) That said, convention spaces frequently have security cameras for monitoring, security staff will carry radios for response coordination, we carry keys that let us move through parts of the building not accessible to the general public so we can respond more quickly to incidents and we absolutely keep our eyes open.
In general, it’s my sincere hope that most people at con never do anything more with con security than pose with us for a photo. I prefer being the guy helping a lost child find their way back to their parents, or reuniting frantic con attendees with lost cell phones and wallets to conversations that involve sending someone back to their hotel room to put a well crafted prop away but that’s part of the job too.
And I know that
deadpool wade wilson cosplay costumes is loved by many cosplayers. Sometimes the sword is not allowed to take in.
Convention security tries hard not to disrupt the con. A lot of the time, we’re fans too and we understand that no cosplayer wants to go without their character’s signature arsenal in the multitude of photos that will be taken at con. Each and every con needs to create rules they feel are appropriate to their event about what kinds of props will be allowed into convention space but the intention is always to make the con the safest space we can for everyone to have fun.
