Today marks the beginning of the 2012 Olympics in London. To celebrate this event, we are officially starting sign-ups for the third annual Comic Olympics. The Comic Olympics are an annual competition in which the artists of Pokéfiction make sprites comics which are judged against each other. Only sprite comics are allowed. Other types of comics, such as hand-drawn comics, will not be accepted as they are too difficult for us to judge against sprite comics. Since sprite comics are by far the most popular form of comic on the forum, this is the form that is used for the Olympics. If you want to learn more about how to make sprite comics, you can read the comic guide in the new Pokéfiction Manual, which was released just today. This year, the third annual Comic Olympics will have a very special theme which will be explained shortly. To sign up, all you have to do is post in this thread and you will be added to the list.

This year's Comic Olympics have a very unique theme. Throughout the competition, the participants will be making their own mini-series. In the past, each round of the Comic Olympics has been separate from both the previous round and the next round. The rounds used to be completely distinct. This year, this is not the case. Each of your entries will be just one part of a continuous story that will span the whole competition. For this reason, we suggest that you think carefully before you make your first issue. Once you have submitted your first issue, you will not be allowed to scrap your story and start from scratch. Each entry will be a continuation of your last entry. The style of your comic is up to you. It could be plot driven, emotional or humorous, just make it stand out! Of course, only the two finalists will have the chance to complete their stories in the competition. However, if you are eliminated you are welcome to finish your series outside the competition. You are even welcome to post the remaining issues in the Comic Olympics thread if you so wish.

When the Comic Olympics begin, we will release a standardised template for you to use. However, this is not compulsory. Having a template you made yourself [6-12 panels] will get you extra consideration and it might just mean the difference between winning and losing. With that said, this is just for brownie points and having an impressive story is much more important than making a custom template. Custom sprites are allowed, as are sprites from the Pokémon franchise. However, you are NOT allowed to use custom sprites which you have already used in your own comic. If you want to use one of these sprites, then you will have to make some sort of change to it first. This competition is about making a series that is separate to your normal comic so you cannot use the template, characters or canon of your comic. Just to avoid confusion, you do not need your own comic to enter the Comic Olympics. At the end of each round, the judges will chose one participant to be eliminated while the rest will proceed to the next round. When there is only one participant left, this participant will join Shiny and Zoroark in the list of Comic Olympic gold medalists.

The themes for the round will all be released in advance to help you plan accordingly. We will base the number of rounds on the number of competitors, so it's important that we don't see too many people not submitting any entries for a round. We accept that this inconvenience will always play a part in these types of competitions to some extent, but we ask you to try your best to get the entries done. Remember, a sub-par, rushed entry is better than nothing at all. If you think that you might be unable to make an entry, do not say so in this thread. If this happens, then the other contestants will get a free pass to the next round if and only if they make an issue of their own. If they know that they are safe, then they will not invest much effort in their issue so it is best that any no-showers do not reveal that they might not be posting an issue. We want the contestants to be constantly making issues to the best of their abilities.

The amount of time you have for each round will be longer than the previous two years. This is so you can (optionally) make more issues for your series. For example, the theme for the last round is 'Make a Finale Issue'. When the penultimate round ends, the finalists might want to make a couple of issues to build up to the finale. After all, it would be difficult to make an entire series with just one issue per theme. You can post as many issues as you want in this thread to progress your plot. However, only one issue will considered when we judge the entries. For instance, if there is a round which requires contestants to introduce a new character, one of the contestants might make an issue to build the plot up to the point at which the next character is introduced, then post another issue which introduces the character. However, the only issue that will count when we judge the entries is the issue in which the characters are introduced. This will be sent to the judges by PM, while the non-compulsory issues will simply be posted in this thread by the contestants.

The themes for the rounds will be released once sign-ups have finished. We will describe all the themes in detail as soon as the competition begins so the participants can plan their plots accordingly. Obviously, we need to know how many people will be participating before we decide how many themes there will be.

1. "dintinct"? New word I haven't heard of yet?

2. YAY IT'S STARTING FINALLY I WAS ABOUT TO EXPLODE WAITING

3. No, I'm not entering BUT I will be watching. Like a hawk.

4. Now I WONDER where that logo came from~ xD

5. Still offering a prize to the WINNAR if they want it (what do you mean I forgot to mention it last time shush you I'm saying it now).

6. GOOD LUCK to all who enter! <3

quote Vast

Shiny
Is Comic Olympics in comic form?
I'll join, is there a form to fill out?

There's no form to fill out. Just state in this thread that you want to join.

We will be making an issue at the end of each round to announce who is eliminated. However, we will be announcing the themes in writing. The reason for this is that we will announce all of the themes at once so you can plan accordingly.

...am I allowed to join, even though I won last time?

If so, count me in. >:3

I'll join, I lost in the first one (anyone remember SypherTheGamemaster?) But I've gotten better so I'll try again this year!

I would like to attempt this.

Okay, I'll join ^^

Now GuitarMan91...