Heroes of Cosplay Premiere Review

First of all I want to mention that I hate reality tv. That being said I think that the way the cosplayers and cosplay community is depicted is all in the editing and production of the show not necessarily what cosplay is really about. The producers and directors show you what they want to show you. Drama gets interest not positive vibes. So lets get down to business.

Heroes of Cosplay is a reality tv show on SyFy. It features a few cosplayers that are competing in a convention as well as the judge, Yaya Han. The premiere episode is focused on 5 cosplayers gearing up and competing for the Wizard World Portland costume contest. One of the cosplay couples, two ladies, that are best friends, made costumes of their D&D characters, a guy did Vault Dweller from Fallout 3, a lady went as Merida from Brave, and another attempted Lulu from Final Fantasy X. 

D&D Ladies

Vault Dweller

Some of these cosplayers were really rude and nasty to their partners but I suppose if you tried hard enough you could find the same thing in my own household. The show opened up with the narrator saying that the cosplay world is a cutthroat business which I never knew that until hearing that so it's obvious that is what they're going for on this show. They show people stressing out, getting mad at each other, making costumes at the last minute, pretty much just showing the ugliest possible side of making costumes and being a cosplayer. I'll be honest even Yaya Han seemed like a bitch at times. We've met her on a few ocasiond and she has never seemed other than a wonderfully nice person. If there's anything good that I can take away from the show it's that most of these hardcore cosplayers have a support group such as their spouse and their friends that help them. The other side of this coin is that maybe this does show a darker side to cosplay such as these cosplayers treating their partners or spouses like crap under stress which is practically a constant for these kind of cosplayers and the competition that they have amongst each other. Do they want to know what each other are making because they are just curious friends or to size up the competition? One of the girls stayed out late drinking the night before the competition and even though her friend made sure she got home ok she didn't wake her the next morning when she knew she needed to finish her costume. Was that edited out or did she let her competition and friend fall short?

I Think Not

The image that this show creates is that cosplayers are greedy, cutthroat people only looking to get cash prizes and recognition. I'm not saying that this doesn't exist but I feel that most cosplayers do it for the fun and love of the characters they're portraying. That's why I do it when I have. I don't know if this show will follow all of these same cosplayers for the entire season, feature different cosplayers each episode, or a little bit of both. There wasn't anybody I was really rooting for but there was definitely at least one person I was rooting against. Whatever this show is going for I don't like and would not suggest. There's plenty of YouTube videos cropping up everyday that really convey what cosplaying, cosplayers, and what the community is truly about. I would suggest watching all of those before you even think of watching this show.
Verdict: PASS