I know that the voiceovers done for the Red Queen (Yaya) and Cheshire Cat (Monika) were done by UK based cosplayers and one of them was a past participant of the World Cosplay Summit and European Cosplay Gathering which are huge competitions.
Thanks for answering that. Glad it was done by Cosplayers and not part of the Heroes' or Syfy team.
I do wonder if they got permission to use their soundtrack, though. It's just weird that the show is up front about what the cosplayers do and don't do with their costumes, except a few things.
For instance, I wondered about the smoke and lighting effects on the dragon. I admit to being blown way at how flawless that came off and the overall effect. I was not expecting it and thought it was about the best part of their show.
But then I remembered all the other episodes when they showed us the cosplayers (and their roommates) stressing and working on getting the effects to work. But this time around, they showed us nothing of the struggle that went into such an elaborate system. I would think that would be pretty prominent in the build - much more so than how to carve wood texture.
I'm not saying they didn't do it themselves, I'm just surprised that if they did, we weren't shown any of them building it. Maybe it's a secret.
I have been in a situation similar to the Heroes of cosplay.
One Halloween I wore my Taskmater costume to the college costume contest.
I won first place.
I had all the girls from cosmetology come up to me and say,
"You stole this win from us. You only won because you bought your mask for your costume!"
I was pretty shocked. This was my first win in costume competition, and I had people hating on me because I put a lot of effort into my build?
Besides what others have pointed out about the other contestants not having the same time to prepare their skit, there was another difference to your situation and what happened on the show.
I'm assuming you were part of the college? Then you were part of the community and not coming in from the outside.
Since I really never got into the contest aspect of cosplay (wow, I've switched completely from calling it costuming I guess...) I have no idea about contest expectations... or if anyone will travel from con to con to con just to enter contests like this or if they stick to a few of their favorite cons where their friends go.
In that Kansas City contest it seemed from the crowd reaction "Out of towners" that they are not used to it and certainly not with a television show in tow. In reality, all conventions are fair game to any cosplayer who wants to enter a contest, so the complaint could have been turned into 'hey, our convention might grow next year with better costumes because we have been featured on tv!'
And it might have been taken that way by more if the contest had been more fair.
I totally get that this show needs the contest aspect in order to have a finale at the end of the episode because the genuine con 'high' of meeting new people, posing for photos, sharing techniques and being wowed by everyone else does not translate well to an hour long plot line. Though I too give credit that they did try to show that aspect of cosplaying within the girls group on the show this time as well - it just would have been more authentic if they were not fighting with the local people.
So the issue is that the TV show is hurting and cheating people who had to sign a release so they could enter a contest they had been preparing for all year; people who have no other con they go to except that one. I guess the lesson is if you are entering a contest and asked to sign a release you can be it's not going to be a fair contest anymore and might just be better opting out.
I still think this show has some real potential to benefit the community... as I said by expanding competitions into something more theatrical and entertaining but also with some tweaks they could support other costumers not on the show.
For instance, if they do another season show some positive interactions of the cast with other costumers at the cons. Less time fretting, working on costumes in the hotel rooms and more out on the floor, posing for photos with others, being supportive, asking people not on the show (be it other contestants or just on the floor) how they built their costume. Show that cosplay is a community that cares about more than contests and cliques.
