SyFy's Heroes of Cosplay
- Thread starter Art Andrews
- Start date
joeranger
Sr Member
OK, just watched all four episodes. It is cool to see CosPlay getting some buzz. It will make conventions more exciting. Very entertaining, very scripted. Duh!
My thoughts? It is not about winning a contest. Everybody who has ever competed in a costume contest knows that they are fickle.
They do understand the fact that some people think they are going to make a living doing this and get all crazy.
50,000 people go to a con. A small % dress in costume which is still a large number. It is about expressing a fantasy. If I want to be a white guy doing "Blade" , I will be Blade. Short Predator, go for it.
For me, it is about seeing the eyes light up when people see you and ask for a photo. I could never win a contest, but I make a lot of people happy.
The winning "best in show" is like 1% of a con. Think about dogs. Do we only like Westminster show dogs or will a mutt who snuggles with you make you happy?
My thoughts? It is not about winning a contest. Everybody who has ever competed in a costume contest knows that they are fickle.
They do understand the fact that some people think they are going to make a living doing this and get all crazy.
50,000 people go to a con. A small % dress in costume which is still a large number. It is about expressing a fantasy. If I want to be a white guy doing "Blade" , I will be Blade. Short Predator, go for it.
For me, it is about seeing the eyes light up when people see you and ask for a photo. I could never win a contest, but I make a lot of people happy.
The winning "best in show" is like 1% of a con. Think about dogs. Do we only like Westminster show dogs or will a mutt who snuggles with you make you happy?
mdb
Sr Member
Yeah, I've been looking at reactions and sadly it's reflecting very negatively on contests, which is hard because I've dedicated the last 6 years to making the biggest cosplay contest here a rewarding experience regardless of my inability to offer a lot of flash or reward for effort. I feel it a bit personally as well as on behalf of the people who have supported me so much in all that time too!
Contests are not all the same. Not in any way shape or form. No one should ever take the experience of one and expect all to be applied to all. I've entered online, in person, and in three different countries and never had the same experience, ever! I tend not to talk too much about those experiences (too easy to identify the others involved) however they have shaped how I treat the contest I have some degree of control over.
So my advice is always: never ever enter expecting a prize. Even following the rules (the contract) you never know who is actually judging and why nor who is entering.
Contests are not all the same. Not in any way shape or form. No one should ever take the experience of one and expect all to be applied to all. I've entered online, in person, and in three different countries and never had the same experience, ever! I tend not to talk too much about those experiences (too easy to identify the others involved) however they have shaped how I treat the contest I have some degree of control over.
So my advice is always: never ever enter expecting a prize. Even following the rules (the contract) you never know who is actually judging and why nor who is entering.
Sandman0077
Sr Member
Finally watched episode 4. I hate Monika with a passion now. What a b****. I don't care who defends her and says its all part of how they edited it and its taken out of context. Exactly what context would call for you to tell someone that they suck at costume making and they aren't on your level. That they would be the last person you would ever group with. I don't care for Becky's past dealings, but she's trying to get better and reaching out for friends and she gets shot down like that. **** Monika.
And Jinyo's girlfriend. Again being ungrateful for him doing 75% of her costume for her. What is her deal dude?
I have no idea what Crabcat was thinking doing an internet cat memesical. Hysterical about the fake puking though. Makes me wonder why she even bothered getting an attitude with the security guard if it was all fake. Probably for the drama.
Yaya STILL leaves a bad taste in my mouth. How does anyone like this person?
I actually miss Jessie. At least he wasn't complaining every second of the day. I don't understand how these people got cast. It's like they found Yaya and just took down a list of her personal friends. Except Jessie and Chloe. More Chloe please.
And Jinyo's girlfriend. Again being ungrateful for him doing 75% of her costume for her. What is her deal dude?
I have no idea what Crabcat was thinking doing an internet cat memesical. Hysterical about the fake puking though. Makes me wonder why she even bothered getting an attitude with the security guard if it was all fake. Probably for the drama.
Yaya STILL leaves a bad taste in my mouth. How does anyone like this person?
I actually miss Jessie. At least he wasn't complaining every second of the day. I don't understand how these people got cast. It's like they found Yaya and just took down a list of her personal friends. Except Jessie and Chloe. More Chloe please.
Bandit-Jedi
Sr Member
Philly
Sr Member
You can buy cosplay supplies at FYE stores and all over the net now premade. It's gone mainstream these days. YOu can even get costumes premade, my girlfriend made hers all by hand and still does and they always look better.
clonesix
Master Member
The format makes costuming look like a spin cycle of costume contests that you try to win, for the sake of earning a living, or the hope of job prospects. As such, no one seems to be having fun, and we never really are introduced to any reson why people would do this. Ther is no mention of the anime characters, story line, or the player's connection to it.
Once again, I think we, the RPF, are the toughest judges...
Once again, I think we, the RPF, are the toughest judges...
JediG60racer
Sr Member
jonny5
Sr Member
If this were played out, we'd have to expect special guest Miley Cyrus to
appear on the show and not only judge, but also win the contest she was judging.
appear on the show and not only judge, but also win the contest she was judging.
I have no connection with the cosplay community but I must say this thread alone has provided me with more insight and education about the medium and the community than any contrived television series or documentary could ever do. I'm more hooked on this thread than the show.
To me as a newbe to cosplay, I feel that its sad to feel that you need drama in your show to attract viewers, I watch the show mainly for the info, costumes and watch the cons, so in the future I can decide which one to go to, already planning Oregon,Washington and San Diego next year....I hope they bring back the show next season with a differant statagy for the viewers.....like digging into the real making of costumes....not so much drama....that is just my opinion....Mike
Guri
Sr Member
Mikid, I have wanted that for Project Runway since the show aired. These reality shows are not meant for anything other than entertainment. '
I don't know why someone doesn't realize that shows that are a combination of competition and what you see on Home Improvement channels and Gardening Channels would be really, really interesting. Don't just have high stakes, high pressure, short timeline competitions meant to inspire drama - show us talented people using their own skills and methods of doing something in such a way that we can learn from them! It might not be an instant hit with the masses (which I think every producer feels they need to have) but it would win itself loyal followers and create a larger fanbase over time.
Has anyone seen the Big Brain Theory? They are close to doing that - pitting engineers with various skills on two teams against each other to solve engineer problems.
I don't know why someone doesn't realize that shows that are a combination of competition and what you see on Home Improvement channels and Gardening Channels would be really, really interesting. Don't just have high stakes, high pressure, short timeline competitions meant to inspire drama - show us talented people using their own skills and methods of doing something in such a way that we can learn from them! It might not be an instant hit with the masses (which I think every producer feels they need to have) but it would win itself loyal followers and create a larger fanbase over time.
Has anyone seen the Big Brain Theory? They are close to doing that - pitting engineers with various skills on two teams against each other to solve engineer problems.
Kord Industries
Member
Exactly this. The short deadlines are my biggest gripe with all these shows. Sometimes it's stunning to see what the "contestants" can do with such little time, but I can never help wondering what they could have done with a more reasonable amount of time to account for just a little bit of trial and error. Roy from FaceOff is a great example of this. He's has big, ambitious concepts that often times incorporate mechanics into his designs that he doesn't really get the time to polish up.
What makes the (seeming) unwillingness to do this even crazier is that there is an incredibly successful show that does exactly what you said. It's called Mythbusters, and it's outlived almost all of these heightened-drama competition shows for ten years now.
I hadn't heard of Big Brain Theory, though. Definitely going to check that out.
Sandman0077
Sr Member
They should just call it 'Genius of Cosplay: Jinyo'.
I agree the time deadlines are the reason we're not seeing more costume construction on the show. The contestants are being shown 'making' costumes they've already made so they can have them done in 2 weeks. We're seeing them 'buying' fabric or holding a cast piece but we're not actually seeing much building because (most) of these costumes were already built a year ago.
If they were filming new episodes right now, I'd rather see them decide they are going to a Con in Feb 2014 and actuall see them spend 5 months building something awesome and elaborate. Not pretending to re-make existing costumes.
I know in the first episode Victoria was actually making a new version of an older costume from scratch and with limited time didn't get it finished, but I don't think there was one shot of her cutting fabric, sewing pieces together, seeing progress go up on a dress form. A build montage for those actually doing the work would go much further than stretching out the drama of an embroidery machine breaking for 8 minutes.
Or spending 10 minutes on the drama of buying the D&D horns instead of making them, but not showing one second of Holly and Jessica actually sewing their costumes or making their accessories.
If they were filming new episodes right now, I'd rather see them decide they are going to a Con in Feb 2014 and actuall see them spend 5 months building something awesome and elaborate. Not pretending to re-make existing costumes.
I know in the first episode Victoria was actually making a new version of an older costume from scratch and with limited time didn't get it finished, but I don't think there was one shot of her cutting fabric, sewing pieces together, seeing progress go up on a dress form. A build montage for those actually doing the work would go much further than stretching out the drama of an embroidery machine breaking for 8 minutes.
Or spending 10 minutes on the drama of buying the D&D horns instead of making them, but not showing one second of Holly and Jessica actually sewing their costumes or making their accessories.
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Sourdoh
Sr Member
I, sadly, have watched my last agonizingly stupid episode of this frightfully awful show. I hoped for a show that has some content other than drama and false jeopardy. I wanted to see real people actually making costumes and competing in real contests that actually occur at conventions. What I got was a bunch of contrived character who are probably not like their non-show counterparts at all, and quick cuts of people pretending to build costumes. I will watch this thread and hope I hear of some things changing on the show, but I am not supporting the thing by watching one more misbegotten episode hoping to see it improve.
MFP 2020
Sr Member
It occurs to me that the reason the show is so bad is that the producers are trying to shoehorn cosplay/costume making/[whatever your preferred term is] into this existing "reality TV" format at all costs. They neither understand nor appreciate it for what it is; only for what they think they can make it into. They have no emotional investment in the subject and their apathy is on display every week, sadly. "It's the latest thing. Let's exploit it for a quick buck and move on." 
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