Looking at the side event for Origins "Build 5 different 100-point Golden Age teams, disallowing non-figure game elements other than standard objects and equipment objects that begin the game attached to a character. No team can share any of the same game elements."

Are bystanders considered figures (is that even an offical game term because I couldn't find it in the rulebook)? Can you play bystanders in this event? Figures that create bystanders and be able to create them?

"Figure" is not an official game term, no. The only thing it could technically mean is "character", and bystanders are characters, obviously.

Normally, this would be an "ask your Judge" situation, but I imagine that would be difficult considering its an event at a con. The best advice I can give you is bring a backup plan and ask the Judge running the event before it starts.

Of course, the cynic in me just wants to tell you to not bother trying to play in an event set-up by someone who can't even use proper game terms in their event rules/description.

I am not sure why they changed the wording this year. I actually use their side event language from last year for my store's "limited" events:

I guess it is possible they literally meant "figure with a base, no bystander" but I would have to agree with LJ and go with "figure = character = bystander" but also have a backup plan just in case.

Yeah, that might be what they meant. Except the problem with that is there are plenty of bystanders that have "figures" on them. So if they meant "no bystanders" and someone shows up with H.E.N.R.Y. or something, people are going to be upset. Not everyone would even think to ask for clarification, and in this situation, pretty much no one is actually able to.

I just find it absurd that someone running a side event at a major convention can't be bothered to take a little care when scheduling and posting the information for it. They might as well just have posted a "Silver Age" event, without any further information.

Leaving rules for an event like this open to interpretation makes the entire event unfair for everybody involved, because not everybody is going to have the same understanding of the build restrictions. Some people are going to read "non-figure" as "anything without a sculpt", some will think "no bystanders", others will think "no Resources/Special Objects/etc.". Are generated bystanders allowed? Who knows.

Its lazy and ridiculous. Lazy Judges/TO's are something of a sore spot for me. Either put in the (minimal) thought and effort to do the job, or stop wasting other peoples time just for a few free plastic superheroes and an ego boost.

/soapbox

This is pretty common for Con Events. The write ups for last year were a headache.

But I will say that the judges that actually run the event (who are not always the ones that write them up) do a stellar job being as fair and common-sensey as possible. Their main priority is that everyone has fun. So the event is almost always fun.

The advice given- bring a back-up plan- is good advice. Check with the judge early.

For what it's worth, I read it as no bystanders. But I've been wrong before.