[Manly Biceps]

The 2011 Edition of the Atlus-O-Weenie contest was our best ever. It was also out closest contest ever, with the difference between 1st and 5th place being a little over 100 votes. When the dust cleared and all the chads were undangled we finally had our 2011 champion...

Judy Quach, dressed as Elizabeth from Persona 3, won the hearts, minds, and votes of the fans. (As for what she’s going to do with all those hearts, who knows. It’s quite a few hearts.) Thus begins her reign as the Atlus-O-Weenie Queen for 2011.

Joining her atop the podium are the winners in all of our special categories:

Julie Ha was voted as the winner of the Best Catherine-themed costume. Her depiction of Catherine, the Coquettish Cat, earned her top marks. Christine Pena's portrayal of Katherine was a close 2nd.

Stanley Taylor adds “Best KOF Costume” to the list of awards Joe Higashi can claim with his victory. It was looking tough there at the end between he and Willow Piper’s excellent portrayal as King (even including lose poses), but the Muay Thai fighter emerged with the championship.

Jamie Lynch didn’t have to hold an evoker to our heads to summon up a victory in the Best Persona-Themed category. Once again, in a year of tightly categories, this entry edged out Katie Cloche’s Margaret by the slimmest of margins.

The 4 Winners selected by random means were:

Alison Nieves, dressed as Stocke from Radiant Historia. The staff was bowled over by the attention to detail in the costume.

Joseph Gall, dressed as the puzzle piece from Pieces, made sure to read the rules thoroughly and noticed that obscure titles would likely catch the eye of the judges in this category, and he banked on it. It paid off, as nobody on the staff was around when this title was released.

Alexandra Hase dressed as Leona from Metal Slug and King of Fighters XIII will take home a prize for her detailed portrayal.

Shushan Song came out funky fresh with her amazing Midnight Venus outfit. Her outfit wasn't as sparkly as the outfit that Rachel Schultz entered, we've found that it's never a good idea to argue with a random number generator.

There were so many more entries that the staff liked, so we're all happy that we're able to give out Steam codes for Rock of Ages to everyone who entered a valid costume.

“We would like to thank all the entrants for being such devoted fans of our work that they willingly go out and dress up as characters from our titles,” said Clayton S. Chan, Project Lead and Organizer for the 2011 Atlus-O-Weenie contest, “It’s always a real treat to see that there are people out there who are getting so much enjoyment out of our titles. We look forward to you wowing us again in 2012...provided the world doesn’t end.”

Some helpful tips for entrants on the forums who are plotting their shot at the title next year, and want to get an insider edge:

Make sure the images you submit are oriented correctly. We can't rotate them after you submit your entry.

Make sure that your images are nice clear shots. There's a resolution limit on the pictures, so if people can't easily see the detail on your costume, they might not be as impressed.

Try and have no more than 1 shot that features someone other than yourself in the photo.

Congrats, thanks, and good in the 2012 contest!