SyFy's Heroes of Cosplay

Art Andrews · May 28, 2014

joshvanrad said:
This is really what grinds my gears about the show. I would much rather watch a show where cosplayers all had like 3 months to make a KILLER costume. I am no TV or marketing genius, so I don't know how viewable a show like that would be or how it would be pulled off. I'm just saying that I would rather watch "video documentaries" of people making really awesome costumes with a realistic amount of time.

I am going to assume that all comes down to production timing and budget. It would be very hard to keep up with and send out a film crew repeatedly for updates and to keep all the "stars" on track. It would be more realistic and the results would be more impressive, but I think the constraints of the show itself make this hard to do. The other thing, and this is not meant as a slam, is that the show places very little value on quality of costume outside of Yaya's costumes, which are all already made. They talk about odd things when judging like "did you make the undersuit by hand?" while ignoring glaring issues, but I have to believe that is being pushed by the producers who still don't really seem to understand what we do and what is valuable and what is not.

If there is any benefit to this approach, I think it lowers the point of entry for new people as they see this and think, "It only takes a week. I can do that!" The fact is, a week long build is not going to give that impressive a result, but if that is what it takes to get them hooked, I am all for it.

I know Lafiel (Riddle), NeobiZero (Jesse), CommanderHolly (Holly from crabcat) have commented previously in this thread. Here is to hoping we will hear more from them as the season progresses and don't forget, whether you love the show, hate the show or fall somewhere in between, in a number of ways it does represent us as a community and we do have a lot of people from our community participating in it.

clonesix · May 28, 2014

I hate the whole "this is to WIN a contest" part of the show. Half the word "Cosplay" is "PLAY," and that is what I would rather see as the focus: Playing, group projects, and having fun.

I watch home improvement shows at home, and the premise is: someone has an issue with their (biggest investment) home and doesn't know what to do. They form a plan, gather a team, work together, and solve the issue, bask in their new found love of their home. It is a very simple process that the viewer can follow and learn from.

If they did the same with cosplay, and toss out "Heros" part, you would have a group of friends, who come together after their other commitments (work, family, commuting, house chores, etc. to form an idea, make a plan, learn new skills, work together, and a payoff. The payoff is seeing the project come together and the crowd reactions to the project. The viewer gets to watch an idea go from a sketch to reality through the combined efforts of the team.

joshvanrad · May 28, 2014

Art Andrews said:
I am going to assume that all comes down to production timing and budget. It would be very hard to keep up with and send out a film crew repeatedly for updates and to keep all the "stars" on track. It would be more realistic and the results would be more impressive, but I think the constraints of the show itself make this hard to do. The other thing, and this is not meant as a slam, is that the show places very little value on quality of costume outside of Yaya's costumes, which are all already made. They talk about odd things when judging like "did you make the undersuit by hand?" while ignoring glaring issues, but I have to believe that is being pushed by the producers who still don't really seem to understand what we do and what is valuable and what is not.

If there is any benefit to this approach, I think it lowers the point of entry for new people as they see this and think, "It only takes a week. I can do that!" The fact is, a week long build is not going to give that impressive a result, but if that is what it takes to get them hooked, I am all for it.

I know @Lafiel (Riddle), @NeobiZero (Jesse), @CommanderHolly (Holly from crabcat) have commented previously in this thread. Here is to hoping we will hear more from them as the season progresses and don't forget, whether you love the show, hate the show or fall somewhere in between, in a number of ways it does represent us as a community and we do have a lot of people from our community participating in it.

I can behind all that! It certainly does bring exposure to a still underground culture. It's great to see it on TV.

I'm not sure if this is what you were getting at, but this is kind of how I see it- For those people who fall into the low entry category, who are thinking they can bang out a costume in a week, it sets an unrealistic standard. For some people it could be discouraging to realize it takes a TON of time and a fair amount of skill to pump something out that is going to be AMAZING. That was my realization when I first started Boba, and I was kind of bummed when I realized that the costume wouldn't just fall together. However, you're totally right- if people get the bug from a little big of exposure that's great. It worked for me. The con costume contests that I've been to so far have people who put at least a year into their costumes. At least in the winners circle. If a person has poured that much time and effort into a costume they deserve to win. Nothing against the contestants of HOC, they do great work for the time they're given, but the average person can't expect to win a contest with a weeks worth of costume.

Regardless, of the criticism I may have of the show, I still think it's a really cool show. It's a good way to learn some extra techniques here and there and you can see some really cool costumes.You can count on me to remain a viewer of Heroes Of Cosplay.

mistymills · May 28, 2014

See, I think the opposite. If I had never done any of this before and I watched this and went 'Wow, it only takes a week to make that! Just to be safe, I'll give myself a couple extra days' and then realized the hard way that it doesn't take a week*, I'd be pretty irked.

(*Insert my usual 'No, this graphic I just designed did not take me 'five hours' it took me five hours and fifteen years of experience.')

I can see people getting very frustrated, which is part of why I wish the show showed more of the actual crafting and gave even more of a hint of the how-to within the confines of the show itself.

That said, I haven't seen last night's episode yet so they may have remedied that? At least they have the supplemental videos to offer if not, but I'd prefer a bit more within the show itself instead of a separate thing.

- - - Updated - - -

(Also, I wish they showed more of the type of people who cobble together costumes instead of make them from start to finish. The show makes it look like you MUST be a professional level seamstress to even attempt cosplay and some of my best costumes have come from putting together things or having a friend sew something for me to modify it. I can't sew, but it doesn't stop me from doing some awesome cosplay.)

joshvanrad · May 28, 2014

mistymills said:
(Also, I wish they showed more of the type of people who cobble together costumes instead of make them from start to finish. The show makes it look like you MUST be a professional level seamstress to even attempt cosplay and some of my best costumes have come from putting together things or having a friend sew something for me to modify it. I can't sew, but it doesn't stop me from doing some awesome cosplay.)

This.

It can be a total pain in the butt having to source items and use found items.

mistymills · May 28, 2014

I didn't mean require it. I meant show people who have done that and/or not discourage people from being able to. An example of it is the disdain of 'Oh. You didn't MAKE your bodysuit? You bought one?' in a previous episode. Yes, it's supposed to be competition level, but to me, it kinda makes cosplayers look like elitist a-holes, and most are not like that and even in most competitions they don't really care if you made the outfit or had a friend do the sewing on it for you. It makes it look like if you can't sew, you can't join in the fun.

Volpin · May 28, 2014

NormanF said:
Is there much money to be made?

Not at contests, no. You could argue that it gives you "exposure" but one Kotaku article will reach a larger audience than a dozen conventions.

NormanF · May 28, 2014

mistymills said:
I didn't mean require it. I meant show people who have done that and/or not discourage people from being able to. An example of it is the disdain of 'Oh. You didn't MAKE your bodysuit? You bought one?' in a previous episode. Yes, it's supposed to be competition level, but to me, it kinda makes cosplayers look like elitist a-holes, and most are not like that and even in most competitions they don't really care if you made the outfit or had a friend do the sewing on it for you. It makes it look like if you can't sew, you can't join in the fun.

I remember that episode. I do not cosplay and have only ever made one costume for a Halloween thing at work, but it seems that this could easily be taken to ridiculous levels. I remember on one of the American Chopper competitions Jesse James gave the Teutles a hard time because they used a lot of purchased parts for their chopper and I have been super critical of "you did not make everything yourself" type comments ever since. To keep this on topic, how far do you take it? Do you have to make your own cloth and thread?

I am enjoying this season so far because I know it is not a "how to" show and it is not aimed at people who already make stuff. But it is still very misrepresentative to people who have no idea what goes into this stuff.

EyeofSauron · May 28, 2014

well to be fair, ive seen people on here who could build something like that megaman in a day. i dont know if he actually expected to win anything.
personally i think the golden angel thingie shouldve won, with all the engineering going on, i mean did you see that unfolding bow? that was the best thing ive ever seen. also, the unfolding wings

im pretty sure skull kid won because they knew the character, as where the angel thing was from some anime.

Apollo · May 28, 2014

:lol Wow, People are still watching this crap?! :lol

Guri · May 28, 2014

We caught an episode of this season last night. There seemed to be a lot less personality drama, which was good. I like seeing people get along.

It was so odd when the She-ra costumer asked for advice from Ga-ga and all they showed her saying was to 'do your best'. Wha? She had to have said more than that...

I also get that they only have a week, but to have SO much to do in the hotel is really strange. It makes me wonder if they don't require them to wait just to create tension.

therealjustin · May 28, 2014

It did seem to be a lot less dramatic and staged compared to the first season. I actually enjoyed watching it.

AJTaliesen · May 28, 2014

clonesix said:
That said, I was entertained by most of it, but I kept asking myself "WHO are they pitching this to?" Are they trying to give the TV-Zombie culture one-more thing to sit and "Armchair" Ridicule? Are they trying to give their creative viewers a peek inside the competitive world of costuming? Are they trying to promote costuming? Because they didn't really contribute to any of this. Are they trying to create some kind of "Real Housewives of Cosplay"?

Reality TVs biggest plus is also it's biggest minus. It's cheap to make, but that also means it's often made without a great deal of thought.

Generally though, the goal should be to capture the demographic it's about, and entice in others. American Chopper or Top Gear UK are gold standard examples. Same with mythbusters. A lot of bikers loved American Chopper (it's suffering from a bit of old age these days), but it was also engaging enough to draw in lots of viewers who've never so much as sat on a bike, let alone tried to custom build one.

The shows that depict their own niche as interesting and something the audience would like to be a part of tend to do better. You can still have drama (Like Paul Sr and Jr fighting), but ultimately when watching half the time I think "I should do some work on my bike after this episode."

I kind of hated King of the Nerds for this reason. It wasn't a bad show, the drama was interesting, some of the personalities were good, and there's always room for more Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong...but ultimately after watching it, I didn't feel like I wanted to be more a part of that group. If anything it made me kind of embarrassed for my own demographic.

As for actual reality...in general my impression is that most reality shows are more scripted than the average Sci fi movie. At least in movies we know that actors occasionally ad lib.

CelticRuins · May 29, 2014

Guri said:
We caught an episode of this season last night. There seemed to be a lot less personality drama, which was good. I like seeing people get along.

It was so odd when the She-ra costumer asked for advice from Ga-ga and all they showed her saying was to 'do your best'. Wha? She had to have said more than that...

I also get that they only have a week, but to have SO much to do in the hotel is really strange. It makes me wonder if they don't require them to wait just to create tension.

It's all staged. I know Indra who was the She-ra and she's an excellent costumer and fabricator. It was proven last year that everything was staged to boost up tension. Not going to speak for all of the costumes, but I know the ones that are based out here in the East have had their costumes for a while. It's kinda a big 'DUH' when you've seen those costumes at Dragon*con 2-3 years prior...*eye roll*

Still won't watch this show, even if Indra, Crabcat and Jesse are interesting. I'll watch their builds on their own personal FB's if I have to.

Guri · May 29, 2014

CelticRuins said:
Not going to speak for all of the costumes, but I know the ones that are based out here in the East have had their costumes for a while. It's kinda a big 'DUH' when you've seen those costumes at Dragon*con 2-3 years prior...*eye roll*

Ugh... I thought they remade them for the show... but if what you're saying is true (and I believe you when you say you've seen those exact costumes all ready) all the 'making' is make believe and all those individual pieces that are not even close to finished in the hotel room are literally just props for the show so that it looks like they are waiting until the last minute to put it together and paint everything.

Not going to watch again. I can handle a bit of tweaking of reality here and there to edit it more interesting, but that is just all staging and lying.

The time in which they can make these and how was the ONLY thing I was interested in, which is why I was disappointed that we didn't get to hear any good advice from Ga-ga - I wanted to see her opinions on how to go about it and see how her advice would be carried out. I thought they just edited it out, but what could she say to tell someone how to make a costume that was already made?

I'm going to just stick to Face off and Jim Henson's...

mistymills · May 29, 2014

I know last season there was a controversy about a dress that had been seen before, but it had been something like 3/4 rebuilt for the show after they learned better techniques or something.

joshvanrad · May 29, 2014

Wow, this news really kills the appeal for me...

Kevin Gossett · May 29, 2014

Let me preface by saying I'm in no way affiliated with the show, but I think there is a misunderstanding here. Some of the costumes have been done before, but they were redone for the show. Case in point: the Tron dress Jinyo and Victoria made on the show. It was a dress they had made previously, but had to remake it because of multiple issues with the original (paraphrasing a statement by Jinyo himself here)

Randall Pink · May 29, 2014

nevermind

Probe Droid · May 30, 2014

There still needs to be less BS and more showing the players actually making their costumes. If the producers don't want to further propagate the cliched notion that this is just a bunch of nerds playing dress up, they need to show how talented and dedicated these people are and how much meticulous work goes into creating their costumes. That's what the show should highlight.

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