COSPLAY Melee on Syfy - First Season

Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

After looking at that preview it's all about rushing to get it done to build tension, and whatever conflict they can toss in there for fake drama. Just like every other "race the clock" reality show. I doubt there will be time to learn anything significant. At most they'll toss out elementary or common sense advice and pretend they just gave you a secret.

If they really are banging those costumes out in two days, that would be the only actual impressive thing.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

QUESTION:
I wonder if any CosPlayers from "COSPLAY Melee" are members here??

Speak up we'd like to hear from you. :)
.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

Thoughts as I'm watching:



Since when is GotG a Space Opera?

Is that regular craft foam that they're using? I've never managed to get it to keep it's shape by heating it. Am I not getting it hot enough, or are they using something other than regular craft foam?

Wait, the headdress went? I thought top one was between hers and Xavier's!

Star Trek guy felt way more Star Wars than Star Trek.

UGH, boob plates...

I do like that this is very much presenting cosplayers in a more positive light, cosplaying to become a stronger person than they were as a child. Much different take than HoC, in which it was mostly about promoting egos.

Okay, yeah, his outfit looks basically nothing like Star Trek.

Xavier definitely fits in the universe the best. Probably the only one that I could have figured out the universe for without being told.

Xavier was obviously the winner. It was built up to be him from the start, with all of the editing focusing on how much he had done while the other two were far behind.



Overall, it's a good show. With only 4 competitors each week, we are seeing more of the builds than on Face Off. I think I'll definitely keep watching this one, at least until AoS starts up again in the same time slot.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

Dessa, I agree on every point, except the head dress girl. While it looked metal, which was well done, the lack of a back, and simplicity compared to what everyone presented made that an easy decision.
 
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Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

I also watched last night.
My thoughts are:
I like the fact that they are given a few days to do there costumes, so it's not an over the top rush job, but they are given limits.
Having a quick critique part way though, helps them improve there build is good too.
It seems they have their own camera guy as well, this is good too, so they will capture a fair amount of each build and we see a good
part of the whole project from each of them.
I wonder if they are limited to materials on hand there in the shop or can the ask the producers to send a runner to Home Depot or
the Dollar Store to pick something up? Are they allowed to go to the store themselves during the two night down time to get materials
they will need for the next day?
I guess Cosplay uses a lot of foam material because it is light weight, comes in various thicknesses, easy to cut, shape, glue and takes
paint well and not too expensive.
Even though the production had to move things along, it gave a pretty good overview of of the entire process.
Having "physical props" as well, adds to the uniqueness of the show.
No computer added design, 3D printing or Laser cut panels. It gives them a chance to show good hand eye capabilities while using
actual hand and power tools.

I think the best part is they all only have one chance to win the contest and must bring there "A" game to the bench,
that way we see a new set of players the next episode.
Over all, considering it is a reality style set up, I liked it and will watch again.
Just not sure about the judges though.....Christian Beckman is good however, he has history.

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Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

I enjoyed it. I also thought the girl that got cut after the first challenge got robbed due to her concept.

Both the StarTrek and GOTG helmets were a bit sloppy. I thought the older dude was gone for sure.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

I was wrong. They did focus more on the construction instead of the drama. I have never worked with foam so it was very interesting to see multiple projects.

One thing bothered me. Not all cosplayers want to be on stage or win a contest. Yes we are attention-******. Nobody wants to go unnoticed, but what would a con be without your fundamentals, stormtroopers, starfleet , space marines. One of my favorite costumes was Colonial Marine waking up from hypersleep; OD boxers, towel/toothbrush, dogtags, Sulaco hat and those little wired sucker things all over my chest. It was morning-wear at dcon one year but had a great effect. Alas, this is theater, so it has to be over the top.

It's a good show. Really highlights the talent and technique of the contestants. It also shows that it really isn't that hard. It will probably encourage more people to try new things.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

QUESTION:
I wonder if any CosPlayers from "COSPLAY Melee" are members here??

Speak up we'd like to hear from you. :)
.

Hey, Garrick here. I'm a contestant and my episode is on April 4th.

The show was blast! They really wanted us to focus on making the best possible costume and did everything they could for us to make that happen. I'm hamstrung by my NDA, so I cant really go into detail about the interactions with the crew, supplies, etc. BUT I would say that if the time crunch challenge sound fun to you, try out for next season!
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

Hi Garrick,
Thanks for speaking up :)
It really looks like being a contestant would be an interesting experience and a lot of fun.
I am more of a "prop maker" and not so much a CosPlayer, even though I did a BORG costume many, many years ago.
I tied for first place against another Borg.
My Borg rendition was patterned after HUGH Borg and my competition was a Movie Borg.
I'm more of a "practical" prop maker.

I do have a question however, I hope you can answer. If not, I understand the NDA.
If you have a very specific need to help bring your creation to life such as materials not readily available, like fabrics, plastics, paints, greeblies,
electronics, lighting, animatronics, ect, how are you able to get what you need if they do not have it there in the studio?
Can you do a little bit of shopping in the evening prior to the next days shoot schedule?
Do you get what I'm saying?
SyFy can't have everything you may need on hand there in their fabrication shop.

Thanks for anything you can share :)
propmaster2000
.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

Hi Garrick,
Thanks for speaking up :)
It really looks like being a contestant would be an interesting experience and a lot of fun.
I am more of a "prop maker" and not so much a CosPlayer, even though I did a BORG costume many, many years ago.
I tied for first place against another Borg.
My Borg rendition was patterned after HUGH Borg and my competition was a Movie Borg.
I'm more of a "practical" prop maker.

I do have a question however, I hope you can answer. If not, I understand the NDA.
If you have a very specific need to help bring your creation to life such as materials not readily available, like fabrics, plastics, paints, greeblies,
electronics, lighting, animatronics, ect, how are you able to get what you need if they do not have it there in the studio?
Can you do a little bit of shopping in the evening prior to the next days shoot schedule?
Do you get what I'm saying?
SyFy can't have everything you may need on hand there in their fabrication shop.

Thanks for anything you can share :)
propmaster2000
.

What I can say is that the show did take input from the contestants on supplies & did their best to get what everyone asked for. It wasn't a 100% guarantee that you'd get what you wanted, but they did very well. That being said, I think everyone on my episode had to "make do" with what was available on at least one part of their build.
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

I agree...this show was way better than Heros of Cosplay by far...it seemed that maybe the producers took advice from the viewers...I reviewed the other show with suggestions...Run more like Face Off and Forged in Fire....Nicely done SYFY....

And yes I do feel that the girl that made the Headdress style piece was robbed of a chance to complete a full outfit by the Brit...I didn't like the design as I and all have seen before....other than that a nice viewing experience, new cosplays each week, with new ideas.....

Looking forward to next week and week 4 for your turn Garrett....nice to connect a face to a name....Good Luck
 
Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

Hi
Hi Garrick,

Thanks again for your perspective from the inside.

Hopefully as time goes on and they keep producing new shows, maybe there inventory will grow as well and there will be
more supplies and build materials to choose from. A bigger budget to work with.
Looking forward to your episode as well :)

Also, if you still have contact with the producers, tell them you are hearing some positive feedback for the way
the show is being handled. (Based of course on S1/Ep01).

.


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Re: COSPLAY Melee on Syfy March 21st.

More news:
I came across this on Facebook and thought I would Cut and Paste here.
It is some insight from another contestant on Cosplay Melee. It provides more
information on how SyFy seems to be working with the contestants to satisfy there
supply needs:

Thank you Jessie for this :)
<snip>
Jessie Pridemore Official
March 22 at 2:55pm ·
I hope you guys enjoyed the first episode of #cosplaymelee! Now that the first episode has aired, I'd like to answer some common questions that were asked as well as explain the process!

First off, hi! I'm Jessie, you guys probably know me better as RuffleButt. I streamlined my social media after doing the show. I'm in episode 6, which is airing on April 25th. It's called Animelee... I wonder what our theme is! Each episode is 4 different contestants. There are two rounds; a prop round, where there is an elimination and the final full costume round where one contestant will win $10,000. Each episode is a different theme and we create a character based on a world within that theme. I don't want to give mine away, but if you follow me, it wouldn't be that hard to figure out.

We are normal cosplayers like the rest of you! Some of us do more professional work at times, but for the most part, we spend sleepless nights crying over our sewing machines like everyone else. We answered the casting call that was put out. Nothing super fancy. The cast is super diverse and I'm really excited about it. We all have different backgrounds, skills, reasons for being there. While it is a competition show, I think you'll find you have more in common with us than you think. The process was pretty long. At the end, 24 of us were selected and they tried to group us based on our skills. So lots of sewing in my episode!

We sent in lists of what we wanted in the shop, like materials and tools, and the production complied with what they could. If you'd like to see our workshop, you can see it here: http://www.tested.com/…/602459-inside-syfys-cosplay-melee-…/
In the end, we were not prepared for what was in store and even thinking we knew what we wanted was not enough.

We had 8 hours for the prop and "two days" for the whole costume build. Keep in mind, this was not like a normal cosplay situation where we just wouldn't sleep if there was a con coming up. So there was about 24 hours total filming us JUST crafting. Doesn't include interviews. So a LOT makes it to the cutting floor. I'm hoping Syfy​ adds more videos online. That would be cool
FACE_WITH_COLON_THREE.png
:3
Seems similar to Faceoff! Well that would make sense since it's the same production company! Prize seems low? Every episode is different contestants. You have a much higher chance of winning and only need to compete in one episode.
If you applied for next season, good luck! You'd be surprised how much work you can get done when you have no distractions like cell phones and computers.
Hope this answered a lot of your questions!
<snap>

.
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Live comments on episode 2:

Blech, GoT. Dun like the series.

The prop limitation is new from last week. Probably do make sure they're different from each other, considering it's all based on the same series.

If his sword works, it'll be cool.

The Dragon Shield idea is cool.

Liked the design of the crossbow, but I agree with her that it wasn't done.

Ooo, lights in the Shield.

I think Edgar might be out, with their comments that it wasn't very GoT.

That's neat for the bow cording, using fabric.

Hmm, interesting making them potentially change their entire concept halfway through is kinda evil.

AAAAAA!!!!! NOT MORE BOOB PLATES!!!!!

Dang, Flail-girl's outfit is cool. I don't think they added in sound effects for her stomping, either.

Not so big on Crossbow-girl's outfit. I dunno if it's accurate to the show or not, but not as big. Although... did she make her boots into hooves?

Another one that I don't know how accurate is, but I don't care for it personally.

Watching the judging, I think Flail-girl is gonna win.

Yup, Flail-girl won. It was pretty obvious.



Looking at the similarities in the editing of both her and Xavier last week, I'm gonna see if I can predict the winner based on the editing next week.
 
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