I’ve been so busy with cosplay and life I haven’t had much time to post! I’ve been editing and working on this post for quite some time, I’ve just neglected to actually post it.
Continuing with the cosplay theme, I figured I should write a review on SyFy’s show, Heroes of Cosplay. This is my opinion, but I’m going to speak my mind honestly.
I was super excited when I first heard about Heroes of Cosplay. I was especially excited to see fellow cosplayer Victoria Schmidt as a participant on the show. An interview that Ashley Eckstein did with Victoria in her Ahsoka cosplay at Dragon*Con is what first drew me in to the cosplay world a little over a year ago. When I saw Victoria’s Ahsoka, I knew I wanted to create costumes like her. I sat down and watched the first episode of Heroes of Cosplay, but I was sad to see that the show focused a lot on the competition aspect of cosplay and not as much the fun and building aspect of cosplay.
One thing I will say is that Heroes of Cosplay is good for giving non-cosplayers an inside view into the world of cosplay. It definitely showcases the stress (a little too much . . .), but it also shows the choices you have to make, the frustration over things not working out correctly, and the extremes cosplayers go to to try and make something as accurate as possible. It is inspiring to see even a small glimpse of people bringing life to characters, and it especially gives you a great appreciation for the craftsmanship and skill required to build amazing costumes. I think that that those aspects of the show are great.
Heroes of Cosplay really focuses competition side of cosplay. While I think that’s great as I have never experienced that aspect of cosplay before, I wish it showed more of how the artists crafted their costumes, and didn’t show quite as much competition drama. The way the editors frame the episodes make it seem much more like a drama show than a show about costume building.
During the third episode of HOC, I had to turn it off mid episode. The way the editors framed the episode really distracted me from the building process of the costumes.The dramatization went way over the top, and the language used and lack modesty was really disappointing to me and my mom.
I recently saw a review on Heroes of Cosplay that made me want to stand up and applaud the writer. The author pointed out the fact that HOC has been made like a reality series instead of a documentary, which I think is what I really wanted to see. I know I’ve written enough already, but I’m just going to put most of the article up here for you to read because it’s just outstanding. The article was written by Adian Vitti who is a seamstress, costume maker, and cosplayer herself. The original article is on ComicBooked.com. What Vitti describes in her article is more of what cosplay really is, not everything that is depicted on Heroes of Cosplay.
Syfy’s Heroes of Cosplay is not a show about cosplay. It’s a show about drama. It’s reality television in a comic convention setting, but the cuts and the edits, the scripts and the dialogue, that’s not what cosplay is. More importantly, it’s not what cosplay is to me.
Immediately, the show alienates the core community they’re drawing from to begin with. I fought with this for a few days. I tried to think about it objectively and forget the part that it was supposed to be a docuseries and not reality television. I’ve never really been in a situation where I’ve been able to look at a reality show that represents some part of my life that I hold dear. Project Runway, to a certain extent, categorizes some of my life in that I graduated with a fashion design degree, but it’s separated enough from me, as a costume designer, that I could look at it and see the flaws but appreciate the work within it.
The point is Heroes of Cosplay was the first time I looked at a reality show with first-hand experience on what it actually is like at the events depicted. Is this what happens when an Alaskan fisher watches Deadliest Catch? Does he have just as many issues with that show as I do with this one? Is this just what happens when all reality series are made?
I don’t know.
What I do know is this: on the surface, the show seems to be about cosplayers and the costumes they’re rushing to make before conventions. That’s accurate. But the rest of it? It’s so skewed and over-dramatized, and look. I’ve been in the same situations that they have; we all have! I’ve thought it was a great idea to start a costume two weeks before a convention, and had a nuclear meltdown when it wasn’t going according to plan. I have definitely looked like tantrum fodder out of Toddlers & Tiaras and I’ve laid on my bed, limbs outstretched and furiously staring at the ceiling in total, absolute frustration over whatever [craziness] I’m making.
Is that cosplay?
Yeah, it is.
But it’s only one part of cosplay. It’s part of the process, but it’s not every step of the way. You could have spent an hour on each of the contestants documenting the processes they went through for their costumes individually. It could have been the whole series, an individual (or pair) each episode. The pattern-making, the fabric decisions. The anxiety over whether the first muslin test will be good enough or if you’ll have to spend more time making another. The elation over cutting final fabrics and the first assembly of what you’re really, actually making. Like everything else, there’s a ton of trial and error in cosplay. There’s a lot of mistakes and unexpected problems. There’s definitely drama and over-reacting.
But there’s also successes. Not just at the end, but throughout the process. Little things that you put together and hold up and just smile, because finally. Something looks right. The little successes are sometimes the only thing that keeps you going.
Shows like Project Runway have proved that the creative process can be interesting to mass media, whether they’re cosplayers or accountants or both. It’s [frustrating] for SyFy to demean cosplay, to doubt whether the content they have is capable enough to withstand the media and therefore, must be stuffed with scripted filler to engage and add superficial drama.
I want to write about a show on cosplaying. I want to watch how other people assemble costumes, the processes they go through and the ways they differentiate from mine. I want to feel their stress and their anxiety, the worry they’re not good enough. I want to share their joy and their pride when they complete a step or see themselves in the mirror for the first time, wearing everything.
I want it to be inclusive just like cosplay is – a kind of fan appreciation that really, anyone of any skill level can participate in if they want to.
The teenager who’s just discovered anime for the first time and excitedly pieces a costume together from [her] mother’s bedsheets is just as much a cosplayer as Yaya Han, as the guy who slaves away for months in his garage studio, vacu-forming individual armor he first constructed via 3D software on his computer.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, but I hope I’ve done my part in shedding a little light on Heroes of Cosplay from my point of view.
May the Force be with you!
Taria
“Like everything else, there’s a ton of trial and error in cosplay. There’s a lot of mistakes and unexpected problems. There’s definitely drama and over-reacting.
But there’s also successes. Not just at the end, but throughout the process. Little things that you put together and hold up and just smile, because finally. Something looks right. The little successes are sometimes the only thing that keeps you going.”
Apprentice of the Chosen One 
Great post about HOC. I liked seeing them make the costumes, but would have really liked to have seen a series focused on how they made their costumes rather than seeing the competition and drama. Honestly I felt there was too much drama. If there had been two options given to the public, one being a reality type show or a show that documented a cosplayers process to making their costume, I think many people would have asked for the second, at least from what I’ve see online. Maybe syfy will make some of these changes to the show if there’s another season.
There is going to be another season evidently! I haven’t read the details personally, but I heard somewhere that they’re already working on another season. Hopefully they’ll make changes after hearing everything that people have to say. :)
Excellent post. As newbe to cosplaying myself, I was interested in seeing the Heroes of Cosplay show as well. I was extremely turned off and will not bother watching it again, for all of the reasons stated above. Keep on sewing and creating. If you can, look at sewcountrychick.com. She is giving tutorials in pattern draping/making. Very helpful and informative. It’s nice to see young people keeping the art of sewing alive. Good luck and God bless.
Ooh that website sounds amazing! There are some fabulous sewing websites, the trick is just finding them. I will definitely check it out! :)