Tournament Info

• • • What is it? • • •
• SMOCT is an Original Character Tournament. Competitors enter original characters based on the series Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, who then fight each other in a single elimination tournament for the right to make a wish on the Silver Crystal!

• • • Prizes • • •
• Story-wise, your character will receive one wish on the Silver Crystal. They may wish for anything they'd like.

• To read about actual prizes rewarded to the winner of SMOCT (or to volunteer a prize of your own!), please see the prizepage.

• • • How it Works • • •
• From our auditioning pool, we select a certain number of competitors (2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 — the number is determined by how many total entries we receive) to compete in our tournament.

• At the beginning of each round, competitors are assigned a new opponent they must "fight." To fight, each artist or team draws a comic illustrating their character fighting, and eventually defeating, their opponent. • For example, Sailor A is matched up with Sailor B. Sailor A draws a comic of her fight with Sailor B, with Sailor A as the winner. Sailor B also illustrates a fight, but with Sailor B as the winner.

• When the deadline for the round passes, the judges look over the received entries, and decide in each match up who made the better comic. The person who drew the better comic "wins" the round, and their entry becomes canon. • For example, Sailor A draws a comic about Sailor B, and in her comic, pushes Sailor B off a cliff. Sailor B draws a comic, and in her comic, breaks Sailor A's arm. The judges decide that Sailor B told the better story, so Sailor B wins, and her story becomes what really happened. Sailor A becomes a retired competitor (now with a broken arm), and she did not actually push Sailor B off the cliff.

• Additionally, each round will feature a theme that competitors may choose to incorporate into their comic. This theme is entirely optional and does not have to be used—it is provided solely as inspiration and enjoyment of our competitors.

• This process repeats and with each round, the number of contests dwindle until there are only two left. The final round determines the winner of the tournament and this year's SMOCT.

• If you are eliminated from the main SMOCT Tournament, you may choose to enter the Tasks, challenges that may allow you to re-enter the main Tournament in the second-to-final round. If you are interested, please check on the Task page for further information.

• • • Further Information • • •
• Each round lasts approximately 6 weeks (42 days), from start to finish. As many of our administrators are SMOCT alumni, we feel that this is adequate time to produce a comic. The due dates for each round will be announced with the start of each round.

• In order to keep the competition from stalling or dragging out, we will no longer move back deadlines or offer personal extensions for competitors to get their comics in. Please learn to manage your time effectively—use your audition comic to gauge how quickly you work, and then plan accordingly.

• Because of this change in policy and competitors dropping out due to limited time, real-life issues, etc, sometimes the number of competitors may be uneven. If this happens, it may be necessary to have some competitors assigned to a one-versus-one-versus-one round in order to make sure everyone gets an opponent.

• There is no minimum or maximum page limit for your entry—use as many pages as you know you can handle to tell the story you want to tell.

• Your comic may be represented in the following forms: Strips, pages, flash comics, or visual novels. We do not allow literature, sculpture, live action movies, etc — generally, if you could not compare it to a traditional comic, it cannot be used as a round entry.

• Your entry may be done in any style—anime, western comics, chibis; whatever you feel the most comfortable with. Additionally, you may work digitally or traditionally, in color or in black and white, or in comic tones, etc.

• • • Judging Criteria • • •
• Tournament entries will be judged on the following criteria:

•Paneling: Is the paneling clear and does it help tell a dynamic story? Does the paneling make the story easy to follow or does it made the reader unsure of the panel order? Are there any violations on the line of action?

•Story: Is the story clear, concise, and interesting? Is there a real conflict, a beginning, middle and end? Has the text been proofread, or are there typos and misprints everywhere? Is the font or handwriting used for dialog legible, or can it barely be read?

•Character Integrity: Are all of the characters in-character, or have they been twisted to make the artist's character look good? Is the artist's character portraying some Mary Sue-like traits—everyone adores her, everyone agrees with her, she never loses the upperhand and never makes mistakes? If she DOES make a mistake, does she suffer repercussions from it, or does she walk away unpunished?

•Composition: This includes things like fight choreography, inclusion of backgrounds, and overall quality of the comic. • Each criteria mentioned above will be graded using the following scale:

• B: The comic is well done in this area, but some minor changes or additional effort could be made to improve it. Above-average work.

• C: The comic is average in this area. Some changes and a little more effort could be made to improve it, but nothing stands out as being problematic. Average work.

•D: The comic is below average in this area. There are some considerable changes that could be made, or more effort needs to be put in to improve it. There may be one or two major problems in this area. Below average work.

•E: The comic has major problems in this area. There are serious changes that could be made, and requires much more effort to be improved. There may be several serious issues in this area. Unacceptable work.

• Here is an example of how judging would work:

•Paneling: C

•Story: B

•Character Integrity: D

•Composition: C

•Average: C