Very, very nice! (and murry, too! *blushes*) I think you were robbed of your rightful award at FC, but we all know you truly deserved the prize... Anyway, your friends know, and that's what counts.

Again, congrats on the amazing suit. The newly sewn-in spots add even more vibrancy to an already stunning creation! ^_^

Thanks for the kind words...

Of course, I entered because FC has NEVER given Lance an Masquerade award to his recollection, mostly because they tend to favor cute and toony as a rule.

This year, though, there was a passionate debate among the judges, with a serious discussion of a "special"award (so that it would not displace entrants who made their own suits, which FC also favors, and for good reasons -- beginners need the encouragement). The same situation happened last year, when the quad-suit Toby received an award for its suiter/builder, but this year the judges felt that making additional awards was excessive. They also did a bit of back and forth. After they asked for me to stay suited for the awards, and not calling me, the judges offered the consolation that "well, not everyone can win" (I wasn't even going to ask them about it, but they volunteered this. Guilty conscience, perhaps?).

For myself, I always viewed the award as honoring the builder, not the suiter. It would have been nice to have Lance's work recognized with an award.

Hmm, I thought they had a "Master" category, precisely for professionally made costumes... I know for certain that commissioned suits from a variety of professional costumers have won awards before; they compete in a separate category of their own (which I think is fair--not pitting them against amateur creations), but they do compete. I honestly don't know what happened, and probably never will without raising a drama storm. That is an unfortunate part of the fandom...

Still, it takes nothing away from your stunning suit. It's one of my favorites and presents some of the best fursuit work I've seen in a long time.

Yes, it was entered as a professionals suit...

I personally think that there should be some way to cover the fact that not everyone can MAKE a fursuit themselves. I mean, I dont think there is discouragement in TRYING to build one of your own, but I do think that there is no room within FC's Masquerade Awards structure for such a situation. If they put thier heads together, Im sure Masquerade staff could figure out how to fashion an award that gets sent to the creator but that the wearer picks up. Might be a win-win situation but it depends on how much trouble (vs payoff, whatever that would be in this case) FC staff is willing to take on.

Than again, what about people (I can name at least one gal that has this situation on one of her suits) who have a suit that was built by MULTIPLE creators. That could really get pricey if they had to make an award for each one.

*head spins, falls down*

this suit is lovley. :3

Hee! Just sawz your comment... thanks!

Who made this adorable FURSUIT? =^-^=

Lance Ikegawa made it... he's sooooooo awesommmmm!

COOL and he is AWESOME =^-^=