Welcome to HyperCon! Our mission is to celebrate fandom, creativity, and the craft of cosplay in an energetic, safe, and family-friendly environment. To ensure a seamless and secure experience for all attendees, guests, exhibitors, and crew, everyone attending HyperCon must adhere to the following costume and prop guidelines.
The HyperCon Golden Rule: Cosplay is Not Consent.
Respect personal space and boundaries at all times. Always ask for explicit permission before taking photos, recording videos, touching costumes, or initiating physical contact.
General Costume Standards
- Coverage & Decency: Costumes must provide coverage equivalent to standard, family-appropriate swimwear at minimum. Overt nudity, transparent garments exposing private areas, exposed buttocks, or exposed nipples/groin are strictly prohibited on the convention floor.
- Footwear Requirement: Sturdy footwear (shoes, boots, or solid-soled sandals) must be worn at all times throughout all HyperCon event spaces, concourses, and transit halls. Bare feet are not permitted.
- Oversized Costumes & Visibility: Costumes exceeding 7 feet in height or 4 feet in wingspan/width, or those with severely restricted peripheral vision, must have an accompanying handler to assist with crowd navigation, escalators, and door clearances.
- Helmets & Masks: Full-face coverings, helmets, and masks are welcome on the floor. However, you must be prepared to briefly remove or adjust headgear at HyperCon Registration, security checkpoints, or venue entrances for identity verification if requested by staff.
- Hate Imagery & Law Enforcement Confusion: Costumes, badges, or emblems containing hate speech, historical or modern hate group symbols, or realistic uniforms that can be easily mistaken for active, on-duty law enforcement or first responders are strictly barred from HyperCon.
HyperCon Prop & Weapon Guidelines
All props, mock weapons, and oversized accessories must be checked and tagged at the HyperCon Weapons Check Desk (located in the Main Registration Lobby) before entering event spaces.
Prohibited Items (Strictly Banned)
- Real Firearms & Functional Weapons: Live firearms, decommissioned firearms, blank-fire weapons, flare guns, live ammunition, tasers, and stun guns.
- Airsoft, BB & Pellet Launchers: All airsoft guns, BB guns, and metal pellet launchers—regardless of whether they are unloaded, deactivated, or orange-tipped.
- Live Steel & Edged Weapons: Real swords, functional daggers, axes, metal kunai/shuriken, razor blades, sharp metal spikes, or fixed/folding metal knives.
- High-Tension Bows: Real compound bows, operational crossbows, slingshots, or traditional bows with a draw weight exceeding 15 lbs.
- Explosives & Pyrotechnics: Flash paper, smoke bombs, sparklers, open flame, fireworks, and chemical discharge devices.
- High-Powered Lasers: Class 3R, 3B, or 4 lasers, or any hand-held laser pointer exceeding 5mW.
- Hard Impact Bludgeons:Metal baseball bats, iron bars, solid crowbars, or heavy leaded canes.
Permitted Props (Subject to Inspection & Clearance)
- Lightweight Construction: Props built from EVA foam, thermoplastics (Worbla), 3D-printed plastic/resin, cardboard, paper-mâché, lightweight wood (balsa/pine), and hollow PVC piping.
- Sci-Fi Blasters & Toy Replicas: Futuristic ray guns, blasters, and toy firearms (e.g., Nerf, water blasters) provided they are permanently deactivated, unloaded, and fitted with a high-visibility blaze orange tip.
- Decorative & Foam Melee Weapons: Wooden practice swords (bokken) with no sharp edges, foam/latex swords, plastic axes, and hollow light-up sabers.
- De-Tensioned Bows: Prop bows with loose elastic cords or unstrung lines incapable of launching projectiles, accompanied by foam- or rubber-tipped mock arrows.
Peace-Bonding & Security Procedures
- Report to Weapons Check: Prior to entering the Exhibit Hall, Main Stage, or Panel Rooms, take all props directly to the HyperCon Weapons Check Desk.
- Tagging: Approved props will receive a color-coded HyperCon Peace-Bonding Tag (tamper-evident zip-tie or band).
- Keep Tags Intact: Do not remove, conceal, or modify your peace-bonding tag during the event. If your tag is damaged or detaches, return to the Weapons Check Desk immediately for re-inspection.
- Floor Etiquette: Brandishing, swinging, or sparring with props is prohibited in hallways, vendor alleys, and crowded spaces. Also applies to all participants in any of the Game Shows. Posing statically for photos is always permitted.
HyperCon Cosplay Contest & Main Stage Exceptions
- Participants in the official HyperCon Cosplay Showcase & Masquerade may request temporary prop exceptions strictly for their scheduled stage performance.
- Stage-specific routines involving dynamic prop movement must be disclosed during technical check-in and approved by the Stage Director and Safety Crew.
Policy Enforcement
- HyperCon Security and Event Staff reserve the right to inspect any prop or costume at any point during the event.
- Items deemed unsafe must be removed from the venue or checked into secure prop storage for pickup upon departure.
- Non-compliance, reckless brandishing, or failure to adhere to safety crew instructions will result in immediate Multi-Pass revocation without refund and removal from HyperCon grounds.
