Cosplay Rules

We invite all attendees to show their costume ideas, known as cosplays, at HarmonyCon! Cosplaying helps bring out the creative talents that people have to a welcoming event space of all creative minds. If you are unsure whether any piece of your cosplay violates policies, the Safety team will be able to assist you with making sure you are all set! With that in mind, we want attendees to follow the policies for cosplays as listed below:

All cosplays must comply with local laws and venue rules.
Any attendee cosplay that can be mistaken for local law enforcement titles (e.g. Sheriff, police, SWAT, etc.) will be required to remove these items from all convention spaces.
All cosplays must be considered rated G (also considered family friendly). Cosplay items must not include any vulgar or offensive words or symbols. Cosplay items must not include or represent any kind of discriminating, hateful, heavily controversial, or political ideas or organizations, which include but are not limited to the KKK and Nazi. For areas of the body that a swimsuit would cover, the cosplay must cover those areas well and not present any kind of lewd or offensive innuendos.
No bare feet (for your health).
No sharp points or edges (e.g. spikes).
No live steel (e.g. swords, knives, or other edged metal objects).
No lights of high intensity that can hurt or damage people's eyes, such as flood lights or lasers.
No real firearms, including realistic replicas or disabled models, even if it includes an orange tip. All artificial prop weapons must be obviously harmless and nonthreatening to the average attendee. All artificial prop weapons must be inspected by the Safety team to be visually peace-bonded before being in the public convention space. Any prop weapons without proper peace-bonding identifying tape/zip-ties must be brought to the Safety team to be inspected as such. Regardless of policy, the following items are also considered prohibited from the event entirely: crossbow guns, paintball guns, dart guns, BB guns, Airsoft guns, and functional water guns (even if peace-bonded).
No projectiles of any sort are allowed, which include, but are not limited to Nerf darts, "ninja stars," silly string, arrows, and foam balls.
Avoid oversized cosplays that can unnecessarily take up space (especially another seat in a panel), obstruct views during any panel or event, hinder your ability to move comfortably in our spaces, or cause tripping hazards.

Please understand that the Safety team or leadership of HarmonyCon will have final say on whether a cosplay item is acceptable. Any cosplay items found to be in violation of these policies will be confiscated and released back to the attendee once the attendee is departing all convention spaces. If another offense happens with the same or similar cosplay item, the attendee will potentially be banned from the convention for obvious noncompliance.