Pageant season?

[Shixam]

So, I've gotten used to this time of year being "pageant season" in the dolling community. Usually by now Miss Doll Europe's opened up and there's been some talk about a few other pageants opening up later in the year. This year, MDE's opened up, but I haven't heard much talk about other pageants, and it worries me a bit. I haven't been entering pageants for very long, and have really enjoyed them when I have, but pageants seem to be dying off recently. A lot of them are no longer elimination pageants, and last year it seems like there were quite a few problems with some not finishing for whatever reasons. And I know Miss Doll International didn't open at all last year, and I never heard why.

And now it seems like there's a lot less talk about future pageants, even if it is early still, than there usually is. I know I plan on opening up The People's Pokemon Pageant (let me just sneak that little plug in there) and taking over running it for this year, but I haven't heard of any other pageants opening up for sure.

Has anyone else heard about plans for pageants this year? Or do you plan on opening up your own? And who's reserved a country for MDE so far?

[Keke]

Woo pageant season! I'm excited! I've reserved Austria in MDE.

[Phoenigette]

i want more pageants to open so bad. i want to ennnnttttttttttttter

[Shixam]

I'm excited too! Also, because I didn't mention earlier, I got San Marino this year! 8D

And ditto, Debb. I wanna enter soooooooooo many more.

[mokia]

I would run another if I expected to get entries.

[Gwen]

I'm doing UK for MDE xD
And yeah there was some good ones last year that I didn't enter because it was my last year doing my Associate's and I was really focusing on my degree :C I loved Alternamodel and I was gonna enter Apoc but then school ate my life OTL.
I hope new pageants open up. I'd love to see them and try to enter. D:

[Helyn]

Pageants are a big commitment. So I think a lot of people just can't be bothered anymore. Real life is just too demanding.

If I'm going to commit then I have to make sure that I am inspired by all rounds and that the deadlines are long (since I only doll on some weekends). And I can't be bothered with all the elaborate demands that are made like include backgrounds or doll your character participating in her favourite sporting event in her favourite colour and holding a bottle of water and blahdy blah blah (even more annoying when the example doll doesn't reflect the demands).
I preferred the original pageants eons ago. Casual, swimsuit, formal. Maybe a few restrictions like winter casual or favourite colour swimsuit but more than that and it takes the fun out of it for me.

[mokia]

See I think most casual, swimsuit, formal with no other stipulations are really really boring. That's not very inspiring to me. I love ones that have interesting themes that I can spin my own way. This is why I like such pageants as OTR, Apoc, Battle Royale, PPP, TSP, etc.

[Shixam]

I'm kinda the same as Moki, except its not that I find them boring. MDE is the most similar to that now, and it's the hardest for me to do because it requires paying lots of attention to fashion, and I'm not really a fashion person. It's still fun for me to enter. I just have a hard time coming up with ideas unless I can find my own twist to add to make it fun. I do a lot better on the less traditional ones because its less about fashion and its easier for me to get ideas.

[Helyn]

For me, it's only boring if I have boring ideas.
It's just how I roll. I start with a tiny spark like "I want to use blue" and grows from there. I love that growth but all the limitations and stuff stifles it and I normally end up unsatisfied.

[Becky-RanRan]

I've never entered a pageant before :O but i would definitely consider giving your pokemon one a go

[Shixam]

Sweet! \o/ Pageants are pretty fun, even if they get competitive and time consuming. You should consider MDE too. =)

And Helyn, I think I'm just getting what you're saying about making it boring this year. I wasn't excited about my MDE entry until I decided I wanted to attempt making some boots with patterns. And then I couldn't wait to get started on it, and I'm pretty proud of what I have so far.

[OKami_hu]

I did well on the Murder pageant last time, and I already picked this year's color... XD I'm kinda disappointed that the Steampunk didn't happen last year... And on the Character pageant, there were too many too good ppl competing. It's less fun if I'm sure that I don't have a chance. =/ I might try something SW related this year... And maybe if the Mythology pageant happens, I'd consider doing something.

I just hope a few of those WILL happen...

[Pinstripe]

I've never entered a pageant before because they always seem like a huge commitment to me. Especially since I tend to pop in and out of the dolling community. Normal contests I can handle, but pageants scare me away.

[Lilly]

Pageants! I'm such a failure when it comes to pageants, I make super epic entries (at least I think they're epic) and end up not making it past the first round. I really do have the worst luck when it comes to pageants. <.< I have this love hate relationship with pageants lately, especially with the huge disappointment I've had over the last several years. I've made a bargain with myself not to enter pageants anymore, simply because they're so daunting, now (like with what Helyn said) that they're demanding such elaborately detailed backgrounds.

Also, Laura and I ran Battle of the Forces last year, and it failed big time! We got only a few entries, and the few people who did enter didn't follow through with the 2nd round and it was really disheartening to say the very least. We thought that our pageant was different, but apparently being different isn't enough to grab people's interest. But anyhow, it's nice that MDE is still going strong after all these years!

Good luck to everyone who is entering MDE this year!

I shall be lurking, and watching how well you guys do.

[Parker]

I have this love hate relationship with pageants lately, especially with the huge disappointment I've had over the last several years. I've made a bargain with myself not to enter pageants anymore, simply because they're so daunting

I only entered two pageants. I completed one, but the scores for the last round never got posted and I then entered OTR thinking it would be easy to keep its pace. But I ended up sick of rushing my entries and trying to fit my ideas into what the judges' expected. So no more pageants for me. Which sucks a bit because I actually like the idea of having some basic description and working from that, but at the same time I tend to stress a lot over deadlines.

It's frustrating. I hate pushing myself but if I don't do it I'm upset because I failed my own expectations, which are winning, of course. I'm competitive, but I'm also insecure, which is a terrible combination in life, let alone contests. And I get pissed if I don't meet my own standards.

But anyhow, it's nice that MDE is still going strong after all these years!

Good luck to everyone who is entering MDE this year!

I shall be lurking, and watching how well you guys do.

It's funny though, I wanted to stay away from pageants after the OTR fiasco, because I needed some fresh air. But seeing people's WIPs has made me get in the mood and I'm CCing entries like crazy. Thank God people are taking this as advice and help and don't mind my being nosy and picking at their entries *crosses fingers*

[Lilly]

It's frustrating. I hate pushing myself but if I don't do it I'm upset because I failed my own expectations, which are winning, of course. I'm competitive, but I'm also insecure, which is a terrible combination in life, let alone contests. And I get pissed if I don't meet my own standards.

Ditto!

It's funny though, I wanted to stay away from pageants after the OTR fiasco, because I needed some fresh air. But seeing people's WIPs has made me get in the mood and I'm CCing entries like crazy. Thank God people are taking this as advice and help and don't mind my being nosy and picking at their entries *crosses fingers*

Heh, I think sometimes we need to take a step back and take breaks from pageants just so we can recover from the stress and pressure, because let's face it with the looming deadlines, it feels like rushing our entries causes us to lose the quality in our dolls, and we end up hating them in the end because if we had had more time to finish them properly they could have been totally awesome.

It's cool that the dollers are taking your advice Parker! I cringe thinking that if I gave CC, that it wouldn't be taken, and that I would get slapped in the face, "How dare you CC my doll, I wasn't asking for your advice!" so I tend to keep real quiet, and only CC if they genuinely asked for it. It seems like dollers have really grown up, and that CC isn't as taboo as it used to be.

[Phoenigette]

I took a year off from pageants, but I think i'm back, baby!

[Keke]

But seeing people's WIPs has made me get in the mood and I'm CCing entries like crazy. Thank God people are taking this as advice and help and don't mind my being nosy and picking at their entries *crosses fingers*

You're CC is awesome. I love it. I think I've learned more from your CC in that one topic than I have in years. lol

[Shixam]

@Okami: I'm hoping the Murder Mystery Pageant runs again this year too. I didn't do it the first year, and I would have done it last year but was trying to limit myself pageant-wise, so I ended up judging instead. If it runs this year, I'm definitely entering, though, with a pretty pink entry.

@Pinstripe: Yeah, the commitment can be an issue. Either last year or the year before I wasn't able to finish any of the ones I entered. I did better last year, though. It helps if they have the deadlines for all the rounds up before they're actually open so you can think ahead about how busy you think you'll be and if you'll be able to do all of them.

@Lilly: With the elimination, I think it helps now that there have been a lot of non-elimination pageants. So no matter how you do you can always go through to the next round. And not many really require backgrounds. As far as I remember, Apoc was the only one that had them last year. With others, they're optional usually and some, like MDE, don't allow backgrounds on the entries. When they're allowed but optional, they just help add something to the entry.

And I remember Battle of the Forces! I was thinking about entering it, but was trying to limit myself on pageants after I hadn't done so good with committing to them the year before. Or else I probably would have. PPP didn't do too well last year either, but I really love Pokemon and the pageant, so I want to give it at least another chance. Hopefully more because I've already got some ideas for future years XD

@Parker: The last two years I've been thinking of entering OTR. I didn't want to do it the first year because I wanted to see how it worked, and then it seemed like too much for me to handle when this last year opened up. Plus, it felt like all the pageants had JUST ended, and there's a point in the year where pageants become tiring. They're great at the start of pageant season, but I remember one year EVERYONE seemed to open one up and they were everywhere and running for the entire year. It was just too much for me. I would have been happy to never see a never pageant again at that point.

So there's definitely a limit. Plus, everyone needs to find their own balance, I think. My first year I did alright, I think. Then the year after must have been the one I just mentioned above, and I seemed to want to enter every single one. I remember the day I finally said, "Screw it. I'm dolling something for me." I made little dolls of Rapunzel and Flynn from Tangled. It felt like a breath of fresh air and like my sanity was returning to me. So ever since then I've tried to watch how many I enter, and it's actually why part of me is glad pageant season seems to be slow this year.

And I've noticed you CCing people in Rehearsals. I've been reading all your posts, even if they're not in my topic because you give really nice explanations, and I figure they might come in handy sometime if I can remember them. XD

[the black dahlia]

I'm entering MDE for the first time ever and I'm super nervous. I've never done a pageant before and I'm stepping out of my comfort zone to enter with something that will probably be nitpicked at for being too 'ethnic' or something. I've been buying way too many high-fashion wardrobe pieces lately that've inspired me to enter.

[Nevere]

I adore pageants and am sad to admit that real life does get in the way, but I'm eying this Pokemon pageant and marking the page for later.

As for the others... MDE intimidates me a little bit (I like them a little more fictional), but I'm keeping my eyes open for others!

[mokia]

What's funny is that with me new job I could legit run a pageant now, but I'm still scared from last year when I got no entrants. That and I'm not sure what I would do. I wanted to do apoc, but not as many people are into it cause of the bkgs.

[Gwen]

Maybe make backgrounds optional? D: I would love to see more pageants open
I really hope TSP opens this year *nudges Bree gently* XD

[Mai]

I'm just a pageant watcher,I love seeing other people's creative takes on what is called for in a specific round. Although I like to look, I don't think I'll be entering any. My artwork is not good enough to be competitive in those things.