7/23/2009 EDIT: Deadline for auditions and meme

6/24/2009 EDIT: FAQ section and prizes

Alright everyone, it's time for COOKING WARS to officially launch! As you probably already know, this new tournament is being hosted by my good friend ~ToxicToothpick and myself, along with a few other super neat people.

WE WOULD BE FOREVER GRATEFUL IF YOU PIMPED US OUT IN YOUR OWN JOURNAL. <3

This will be the main journal for the OCT, covering:
>> Premise
>> Judging
>> Rules
>> Regulations
>> Auditions
>> Prizes
>> FAQ (when the need arises)

So without further ado:

PREMISE
COOKING WARS is a culinary-themed original character tournament, inviting you to enter your original character(s) and have them face off against an opponent's character(s).

In order to make it far in this war, your character needs to have the drive to surpass all the competition and take his or her rightful place amongst the esteemed (and enraged) staff at ANGRY KITCHEN CO., the company funding this tournament. They're a bit understaffed at the moment (i.e. there are two of them) because none of their employees have been able to take the heat and were forcefully asked to GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN. Apparently the AKC chefs, Eugenie and Navy, are too "intense" for most people. It is up to your character to out-cook, out-class, or plain old beat the crap out of their opponents in order to impress the judges and get the job of a lifetime: being a high-ranking member of one of the most profitable (and feared) culinary teams in the world. Does he or she have what it takes?

JUDGING
COOKING WARS, as of now, has two judges:
Eugenie Marline De Chauffe, by ~ToxicToothpick
Eugenie is a highly-esteemed chef, despite her age, and she is first and foremost concerned with your culinary skills. She is a hard girl to please, and doesn't take lightly to comments or criticism about her age, height, or lack of chest. Whatever you do, DO NOT touch the stuff in the pot on her head.

Justin "Navy" McNasty (you will call him Navy if you know what's good for you), by myself
Navy is a terrible, horrendous cook who put the ANGRY in ANGRY KITCHEN CO. quite some time ago, and no one has been able to oust him since. Naturally, he's more impressed when an opponent is beaten through physical or mental means. He has a few similarly-colored assistants running around the kitchen at all times.

These two judges will be diligently monitoring your character's performance throughout the tournament, and possibly giving advice if they take a shining to you. It is important to note that while Toxic and myself will be using them as mouthpieces for our own judging, you are not required to use them in your entries. They're merely there to add some depth to the tourney if you're looking for some.

RULES

1. Beat your opponent
2. Keep it semi-worksafe
3. Be entertaining
4. Have fun

Not too hard, huh?

REGULATIONS

1. While you don't have to make cooking your main thing, you should be prepared to fight in a cooking environment. It would behoove you to have cooking on the brain at all times.

2. No fan characters please. However, if you can manage to make them original enough (so that we can't tell they're from any one fandom) go ahead and submit them.

3. The main focus of this tournament is to have CRIMINAL LEVELS OF FUN. Try not to make your entries too serious, or your plotlines too heavy. Also, don't draw your entries out for pages and pages and pages. We'd be much more smitten with a short, hilarious entry than a long, boring one. In short: BE FUN.

4. You can enter more than one character (like a main chef with some assistants) but make sure you can consistently draw all of them. Also know that your opponent is only required to use your main entrant. Same goes for you if you're paired against someone with a million characters.

5. We'd prefer visual entries, but if you REALLY BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and you are a PHENOMENAL WRITER WHO IS WITTY AND CONCISE AND ENTERTAINING, then go ahead and FORCE us to accept written entries.

6. There will be a "dish" that your character must complete (or prevent your opponent from completing) by the end of each round. Think "secret ingredient" from Iron Chef. Dishes may or may not include cakes, soups, salads, steaks, fish, etc. Know that you can complete this dish in absolutely any way possible. If you want to beat the crap out of your opponent and then go buy one at the store, do it. If it just MAGICALLY shows up at the end of the round, that's fine. If you want to devote the whole round to making the dish, good on you. This isn't a regulation so much as another device you can use or abuse in any way you see fit.

AUDITIONS

AUDITIONS START TONIGHT AND WILL CLOSE AUGUST 20TH.
We will take 16, 32 or 64 competitors, depending on how many entries we get.

1. Create a reference for your character(s) that includes:

a. A full-body reference picture (colored, preferably) of anyone of importance
b. Pictures or sketches of any weapons, accessories, forms or sidekicks you think are necessary for your opponent to know about.
c. Some basic information, including age, height/weight, reason for wanting to be a member of the ANGRY KITCHEN CO staff, favorite food, cooking/battling style, background information and anything else you think is important
d. Anything else you feel like putting down

(Make sure you clearly designate your main fighter if you're entering a group)
(Remember originality is key!)

ALTERNATELY: You may use the official Cooking Wars meme as your reference sheet.

2. Draw up a short introduction comic where your character(s) are approached by the judges for some reason and asked to join the tournament. Maybe your character's family signed them up, maybe they've been working for this opportunity their whole life, maybe they're just really angry at the world, maybe there was a horrible horrible mistake...try to be creative with this approach! This is the only time you're REQUIRED to use the judges.

PRIZES

1st prize: 1 year sub, full body/full color commissions by ~ToxicToothpick and me, sketch by *dark-velox, Full colored picture of the winning character with another character of the winner choosing by ~Fluna

2nd prize: 3 month sub, full body/black and white commissions by ~ToxicToothpick and me, sketch by *dark-velox, Lineart of the runner up character with another character of the runner up's choosing by ~Fluna

3rd prize: bust/black and white commissions by ~ToxicToothpick and me, sketch by *dark-velox, sketch of character with another character of third place's choosing by ~Fluna

We are looking for more people to donate prizes if they have the time, it would be much appreciated!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. DOES MY CHARACTER HAVE TO BE HUMAN?
>> No, your character can be absolutely anything you want it to be, as long as you can make it work.

2. WHAT IF I WANT TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER AS MY MAIN FIGHTER?
>> That is perfectly acceptible, just know that drawing a ton of characters all the time can be a hassle for some people, and your opponent won't be blamed for only using one of your characters in his or her entry.

3. WHAT IF I WANT TO ENTER A WHOLE SHITTON OF PEOLE?
>> Also fine, just make sure you actually use them. The answer to the previous question applies to this as well.

4. CAN I MAKE A CANNIBAL CHARACTER, COOK MY OPPONENT, (INSERT SOMETHING GRUESOME HERE)?
>> Yes, but try not to make it horrendously graphic. I kind of have this irrational fear of vore and such, so the more gruesome you make your entries the more nauseous i'll get. Toxic, however, is usually fine with that kind of stuff. :I (good ol' physical violence, on the other hand, is perfectly fine~!)

5. HOW DO I SUBMIT MY ENTRY?
>> I thought this was self-explanatory, but I guess not. Just make sure you get your ref and intro to me by NOTE some time before the deadline. Toxic checks the COOKING WARS folders in my favorites gallery pretty often, so rest assured we will both see your stuff.

6. WHEN IS THE DEADLINE AGAIN?
>> AUGUST 20TH.

7. CAN I TEAM UP WITH SOMEONE?
>> Sure! As long as you work well together, that's perfectly fine.

8. IS THIS LIKE THE WORKING MAN'S OCT?
>> NO. We would appreciate a little more effort for this one, ohoho. (but look out for a possible Working Man's 2 in the future~)

Will be updated when there are more questions to answer!


COOKING WARS MEME:

AUDITIONS AND INTROS RECIEVED SO FAR:
Auditions >> [link]
Intros >> [link]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!

- and

PS I need someone who's good with CSS to help me change the background color in this journal to yellow :U