With DragonCon 2013 looming close, and the final push to finish a new costume and brush up my old ones, I was looking forward to SyFy channel's new show called "Heroes of Cosplay."
Several days ago, my friend Todd B Lacey had asked on Facebook if we thought he could be a Hero of Cosplay. I read his question when he first wrote it, knowing he must be referencing the show, and I thought "He sure does a LOT of really good creative cosplay - Maybe so!"
Then I thought - gee, I sure know a LOT of Cosplayers who are really awesome at what they do.
Like Red Dragon Lord & Red Dragoness
http://red-dragon-lord.deviantart.com/
Like The Chainmail Chick.
http://thechainmailchick.deviantart.com/
Like Marzipan Cosplay
http://www.cosplay.com/member/105827/costumes/
There is a whole slew of others - mostly of the people I go to conventions with, and that is the only place I get to see them. I'm lucky that my job as a Henna Artist brings me to these places. I love it so much, I even go to DragonCon even when I'm not working there. My youngest has discovered cosplay, and recently won junior division 1st Place at ConTemporal 2013 as a Steampunk Minion, crossing the Minions from Despicable Me with the Steampunk genre.
We do it because it's FUN. We do it because we enjoy the creativity. And who doesn't get a buzz when you make someone smile? My biggest cosplay buzz is wearing my Faerie costumes, and that 3 year old little girl who is absolutely enchanted when I sprinkle her with Faerie Dust glitter.
I saw several posts, and one particular post by the The 501st Legion and others about the REAL Heroes of cosplay - the ones that wear costumes, portray characters, and use that power for GOOD - like cheering up the kids in children's hospitals.
Then I saw the show (finally) and came to my conclusion.
If the show was about actual construction, design, and resourcefulness, I would enjoy it. If it was about creating the character, about taking the time to understand the history of the character, about inventing the character, about learning new skills to create the things you need for the character's costume? It could be a good show.
But what I saw was pettiness and that typical TV "drama" crap that is everywhere it doesn't belong. It's on everything from landscaping shows to cooking shows to the freakin' Weather Channel. It's not necessary, it's not "Real Life", and it's certainly not MY reality. I hope it's not yours.
In the first show I saw more than one reference to how fitting to the female "model" of slenderness and BOOBS is the only way to do cosplay as a girl (WTF? Don't get me started.) Are you telling me that people above a certain size can't cosplay? Well, at least Totoro won a prize in the contest covered on the show. Ha.
One segment showed how they were going to created a full bust model of a girl in order to make horns that went on her forehead. Really? Overkill much?
Over and over I heard references to how much money people spent, and how you spend MONEY to do this, and how much MONEY you could win (like, wow, a $1000 grand prize!) Sure the money would be nice, but they made it sound like it was going to equal The Price Is Right of old.
Some of the funnest costumes I see at conventions are the least expensive - there is an entire group of costumes made from painted cardboard boxes.
Speaking of money spent (or in this case, not spent)... my cosplay focus is on Creativity. And Thrift. And Fun. My best Faerie dresses are made from clothing from the thrift store re-sewn and cobbled together. The teeth for my Purple Minion costume are made from a Mr. Clean sponge, glue, and paint.
I will admit to spending money on the Faerie Wings I wear. They are handmade by another artist who makes wings so skillfully I'd rather give her the money to encourage her wing-making behavior, because she is AWESOME at making wings. Allyson Barlow of Little Wing Faerie Art is amazing.
So overall? They sure have a lot to live up to for this show.
Hate it already? There's even a petition on Change.org entitled "Heroes of Cosplay: Either change the show to represent Cosplayers well or get rid of it entirely." I signed it.
The article on the SyFy network's page is a good read: http://www.syfy.com/heroesofcosplay/episodes
I hope it gets better. There is so much COOL stuff about cosplay that should be shared.
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