I'm a cosplayer. It's something I enjoy doing, I'm not competitive about it, I just do it for fun. That being said, I really respect others who make their stuff from scratch and create something truly amazing, and compete at conventions and the like.
Bearing that in mind, let's talk about this show.
So SyFy decides, hey, nerds are cool now, cosplay is becoming cooler, let's put a show about it on after Sharknado made a metric crap ton of money.
The format of the show is really weird. It's one part documentary, one part reality show, one part competition show, but it doesn't work. And also, there were a lot of really staged drama bits and obvious editing to make some of the people look more bitter about other contestants.
And also, I had no idea who Yaya Han was before this show, but oh my gosh, she was really rude on the show! And of course, we have to keep in mind that this might be because SyFy producers are clearly looking to amp up the drama, but some of the things she said to people on this show were completely not okay.
Especially when Ms. Han berated contestents for running out of time TO PLASTER THEIR HEADS AND MAKE HORNS for a cosplay and going out to buy some horns, and that it made them lesser cosplayers for doing so. I'm not going to lie, a good eighty percent of the things I use in my cosplays came from a store. I've had to modify some things, and I'm working on a "from scratch" cosplay. But to think that cosplayers have ranks, and that buying stuff demotes you, is completely ridiculous.
Also, I had no idea "professional" cosplay was even a thing?
I guess my problem with the show is that it reflects a really tiny minority of the cosplay community that go to really extreme lengths for competitions. If the show were more varied, not only in that respect, but also in featuring more men and other types of women, I might like it a tad bit better.
But yeah, I really don't feel like this show reflects cosplay at all, especially not the great times I've had with it.
-Randi
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