Judging Calico Mixies & MPCs:(this guide was originally written by Raavyn of GK Petz, she has since given permission to use this guide on TPA.)Please sit down and wait while all the images load! Think happy, Calico-thoughts!
Judging Calico Mixies & MPCs:
Please sit down and wait while all the images load! Think happy, Calico-thoughts!
Think you know how to fairly judge these little guys? Think you know, My Little Pony? Well, I have news for you! Uh. You don’t? Yes, you don’t. I know you don’t, because I have a folder full of MPCs (Meezer-Pointed Calicos) and Calico mixies, all perfectly posed—but I don’t show them. You know why? Because of the horrible, horrible injustice of the world of pixel-posed cats! Yes, you heard me! I said injustice! And pixel! And—also, world, but where was I? Yes—I’ve seen many a perfectly posed MPC be placed—not second—not even third—but down to those horrible, horrible words of HM! Honourable mention? What’s so fricking honourable about your fetish for Tabby’s slim legs, you pervert?
Luckily (?), you have dear old Raavyn here to show you how to avoid making your MPC-loving friends come banging on your door, writing ‘HM’ in blood on various pieces of furniture. Firstly, drop all prejudice. Tee hee, I’m talking about prejudice in various types of pixel cats. Maybe the root of the problem is prejudice. Maybe it’s stupidity. Maybe it’s Condoleezza Rice, we’ll never know. However, I do know that for my sanity, and for the sake of A Happy And Peaceful World, these poor creatures need to start being placed fairly. They pose a little differently than the norm, as I’ll run through.
#1: The tail.
(It’s that thing at the very end, if it’s all too confusing!) Most MPCs, like dear ole Simba here, have a vaguely Orange-Shorthair looking tail. It’s not quite big and puffy, like conjunctivitis, and then it’s not too slim and whip-like, like dominatrix gear. It’s somewhere in between, the lost soul. I like to think of it as a little feather-duster. But where was I? Yes—this is as far as this tail will curve. It is a perfect tail for a MPC (Well, you know, I suppose I sound a little conceited seeing as I posed him myself, but dammit, I know what I’m talking about!) You can subtly see when this type of tail is curved, or not.
This tail, for example, is not perfectly curved. Can you see what I mean? The difference is more subtle than it is with those little whippy tails of the Tabby, where it’s about as subtle as a kick in the crotch, but you can definitely see it when you know what to look for.
However, it’s not always that simple. The world of posing little pixel cats rarely is, you’ll find. Some MPCs, you see, they have what appears to be like a Tabby tail, but, in fact, won’t curve quite as far over the back as those little Tabbies will. Give them a break, will you? Not everyone is as flexible as those damn Tabbies.
Now, while the eyelids on this particular fellow are hideous (We’ll get to that later), the tail is perfect. Yes, that’s as perfect as those Tabby-like-tails will go on a Calico—it’s quite like the feather-duster tail; the difference between a good, bad and perfect tail is more subtle here, but if you look carefully, you’ll be able to see. I’ll provide a few more pictures of tails like these, one with the traditional Calico “kink” (Put the handcuffs down, I mean the curve.)
All of these tails are perfect—some of the alignment is pretty bad (We’ll get to that later as well) and the eyelids could make a judge cry, but the tails—which we are looking at—are brilliant. Yay, tails. On with our last tail conundrum—the case of the very-fluffy-tail. It’s very easy, so we’ll look at it last. You can tell very easily when a fluffy tail is bent. Sweet Lord, can you. Here’s an example of a fluffy-tail-gone-bad:
I’m very sorry for inflicting that on all of you. Now, for the good fluffy tails (starting with a slightly bad one on the end, just to, er, trick you) :
As with before, the eyelids and alignment here are variable, but the tails are all perfect. The fluffier tails are pretty much as simple as the ones we looked at first, and tails, in general, are the easiest and most obvious part of judging MPCs fairly, as it is with all cats. Now, on to the most difficult part, the part that made me want to throw various objects, write a posing manual, as well as ‘HM’ in blood, on one particular judge’s door.
#2: Front Leg Alignment.
Yes, you groan. We know, you say—look as if it’s one front leg, most important part of posing, blah blah blah, Raavyn, do you think I’m an ignoramus? Well, it’s funny I should pretend you asked me that, because, if you squint very carefully, you’ll notice the cat in the picture is… a Tabby. And there’re Maine Coons. The most crucial part of judging a MPC, or a Calico mixie is the following: a lot of the time, there are extra pixels. There is unavoidable: Calicos have large paws and different legs to a lot of breeds. They pose differently to these ‘clean-cut’ cats; Siamese and Russian Blue mixies often have similar problems, except with lack of pixels. Except we’re talking about MPCs. Yes.
This is a perfect pose—okay, well, the eyelids aren’t exactly perfect, but only pedantic old women like myself would mark that down. You see that tiny cluster of orange pixels near the front paw? This is natural. Bred cats, particularly mixies, often have flaws like this (Thanks, Ubisoft)—it is still a perfect pose.
Apart from the eyelids (I was in a hurry, dammit!), this pose is pretty much perfect, also. There is another tiny cluster of orange pixels near the white chest, as you can see, it’s a little darker, but again, this is unavoidable. I’ll even zoom in to show you what I mean, with the first picture:
Simba's pose (the first one) is preferable to the second one.
I think maybe this is the main reason that MPCs are being placed unfairly—people don’t know about this. ‘Tis normal! Why, if you keep placing MPCs with lovely poses (I’m sure people are better at posing them with even eyelids than I am) so poorly, I’m sure they’re going to end up writing to Dolly, or Cleo, with letters entitled: “Are my legs normal?”, the poor dears.
#3: Eyelids.
Bruise here, he has perfect eyelids—he also has a perfect pose, as you can see, now that I’ve explained about the cluster of pixels near the front paw. As everyone knows, with Calicos, eyelids are a problem-they like to pose with uneven ones. Some of them even look like they’re PWI (Posing While Intoxicated.) Another important part of judging Calicos is the “sad” eyelid issue—Calicos are happy. This is unnatural—the judge instantly knows that you’ve used the love potion, and me? I’d pretty much instantly disqualify it in my mind, or place it HM. I’d even prefer dramatically uneven eyelids to “sad” ones. Equally, Calicos shouldn’t have “angry” eyelids. They’re happy—not sad, not pissed, just happy—even occasionally drunk. Don’t you love them?
Here are some good examples of eyelids—it’s pretty much impossible to get perfectly even eyelids (I know some people use the “surprised” method—but I prefer even eyelids, or even slightly uneven to “surprised”, wide open) So the important thing to remember here is to be fair, not pedantic. The cat on the end has a very good pose in terms of eyelids—if I was matched with that and a perfectly posed Maine Coon, I might even place it higher—it takes a huge amount of effort to get Calico eyelids that even. Don’t repay people who take that much time by snubbing them; they’re obviously nerds in need of pity. Like me, per se.
#4: Hind legs.
Doesn’t a line of perfectly posed MPCs make you feel tingly inside? Or is it just me?) Anyway, this is basically part of posing all cats, not just Calico mixies, so I won’t linger. Space between the hind legs is completely beside the point. More space the better? Doesn’t matter at all—if the front legs are aligned (With that cluster of pixels that can sometimes appear), the hind legs will be as far apart as they can be while still having a perfect pose. Calico mixies in particular, as well as Persians, don’t seem to have much space. So just don’t worry about it, you know? Hind legs—um—schmind—legs.
#5: A few bad poses.
Just to get a bit of perspective (Not all MPCs are fantastic.. just 99%!) here are a few bad poses:
(In the first two pictures, the alignment is off. In the last, the eyelids are a bit too uneven.)
Wrap-Up:
Calico mixies, and MPCs (Which are basically Calico mixies, I s’pose. Hmm) pose differently to purebreds and hexies; they have natural faults that need to be taken into consideration. There are many little quirks that not many judges know about; I didn’t even know the exact reasons for some of these after a few solid years of judging, and the sage words of a fellow cat-poser. Hell, they’re difficult to pose, and they’re difficult to judge—but that doesn't mean they should be snubbed for quick-fixes like those damn Paris Hiltons of the cat world, Tabbies. Calico mixies are like—er—Michael Jackson. There’s something a little off, and maybe you’d be happier if you didn’t see them. But Tabbies don’t make the world go round, my friend! No—wait—they do. But MPCs are still important.
I wrote this guide to enlighten people to what took me a very long time to learn-I haven’t aimed it as an attack on unfair judging or bias at any particular forum, mainly because it hasn’t happened to me at any particular forum—it’s happened to me at every forum I’ve ever been at, as well as website posing shows. It seems to be a common misconception, and it was one that I really wanted to attempt to fix, because I love Calico mixies, and I love MPCs. Nor have I had it to try to big-note myself; I didn’t know most of this until I was told, and I’d had a lot of experience judging shows—and frankly, a lot of my poses still stink. But that doesn’t mean that yours have to.
Credits:
Huge thanks to Ratqueen, who explained to me about the pixel issue, to which before I wasn’t privy. Also, thank you to Joker, who first brought my attention to bias in judging. Most of the catz used in this guide were bred by me—some, however, were hexed by Kale, of Forever Autumn Petz (The lovely black and white Maine Coon), Myth, of Immortal (The little minx of a Tabby), and also FlamingIce, of Petz Mirage (The lovely Calico I stuck in a horrible pose.) Every other hexie was hexed by yours truly.