Heroes of Cosplay

Heroes of Cosplay
Starring See below
Narrated by Mike Bratton
Composer(s) David Vanacore
(Vanacore Music)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 12
Production
Executive producer(s) Lauren Brady
Dave Caplan
Mark Cronin
Producer(s) Tanya McRae
Summer Oakley
Kate Aquillano
Editor(s) John Babinec
Phil Habeger
Raiko Siems
Cinematography Steve Russell
Mike L. Taylor
Dan Farnam
Production company(s) 51 Minds Entertainment
Distributor Syfy
Broadcast
Original channel Syfy
Original run August, 2013 – present
External links
Official website

Heroes of Cosplay is a 2013 Syfy channel reality television show co-produced by Mark Cronin, Courtland Cox and Dave Caplan of 51 Minds Entertainment.[1] The show's first season's six episodes follows nine cast members as they compete in cosplay events at various conventions across the United States, attending Wizard World Portland, Emerald City Comicon, MegaCon, Anime Matsuri and Planet Comicon.[2] The series was renewed for a continued season 1 (officially "Season 1.5") in 2014, with a few new additions to the cast and will primarily be set in Los Angeles and Atlanta areas.[3][4] Second season, billed as "season 1.5", features events outside the United States: Arte Cosplay 2 in Buenos Aires, Argentina (episode 7) and Ottawa Pop Expo in Ottawa, Canada (episode 8). As of February 2015, no news regarding a followup season has been released to the public.

Cast

Season 1 Season 1.5
Chloe Dykstra Green tick Green tick
Holly Conrad (Commander Holly) Green tick Green tick
Jesse Lagers Green tick Green tick
Jessica Merizan Green tick Green tick
Riki Lecotey Green tick Green tick
Yaya Han Green tick Green tick
Becky Young Green tick
Monika Lee Green tick
Victoria Schmidt (Scruffy Rebel) Green tick
Carl Martin Green tick
Indra Rojas (FantasyNinja) Green tick
Katie George Green tick
Meg Turney Green tick
Miguel Guifarro (MiggyJagger) Green tick

Reception

Heroes of Cosplay was criticized by some for allegedly grossly misrepresenting cosplay,[5] humiliating and frustrating the cosplayers who were not part of the show's cast but were attending competitions at the series' featured conventions,[6] and hurting the community.[7] According to Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network, the show is "just a really terrible, manipulative, mean-spirited reality TV series that completely misrepresents the entire hobby and craft of cosplaying, makes cosplayers look like a bunch of backstabbing harpies and generally does a disservice to the already widely-misunderstood world of people who just like making costumes and showing them off at silly nerd conventions."[8] Syfy and its owner NBCUniversal Cable were also accused of having used photographs of cosplayers without the permission of the photographers, one of whom threatened to sue.[9][10] The second half of the first season (1.5) had an overhaul of the presentation formatting for the show with more emphasis on the crafting, group work, skit competitions and less manufactured drama.

Despite the controversies surrounding it, the first season achieved solid Nielsen ratings, being watched by some 1 million viewers,[11] and a mostly positive Metacritic score of 66.[12] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+[13] and Allison Keene of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a worthy journey into a world few may be familiar with."[14] The New York Post writer Linda Stasi gave the show 3 out of 4 stars but questioned whether cosplayers are "confused;"[15] Stasi's article upset some readers.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Michael, Perry (2013-07-07). ""Heroes of Cosplay" Coming to SyFy With Chloe Dykstra, Holly Conrad, Jessica Merizan « Nerdist". Nerdist.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  2. ↑ "Planet Comicon - Part 2 | Episodes | Heroes of Cosplay". Syfy. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  3. ↑ "Syfy Extends Season 1 of ‘Heroes of Cosplay’ With Order of Six Additional Episodes - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  4. ↑ "Syfy Extends Breakout Hit 'Heroes Of Cosplay'". ScienceFiction.com. 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  5. ↑ Hanson, Brian (2013-09-03). "Seven Reasons Why Heroes of Cosplay Is Terrible". Topless Robot. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  6. ↑ Moran, Sarah (2013-09-18). "More ‘Heroes of Cosplay’ Drama – Last Night’s "Villain" Speaks Out". nerdbastards.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  7. ↑ Gallagher, Luke (2013-08-21). "Sexuality vs Talent – Why Manufactured Drama on Syfy’s ‘Heroes of Cosplay’ is Ruining Cosplay". nerdbastards.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  8. ↑ Bertschy, Zac (2013-09-10). "5 Things I Learned From SyFy's "Heroes of Cosplay"". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  9. ↑ "NBC Accused Of Using Cosplay Photos Without Photographer's Consent". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  10. ↑ "Cosplay photographer is set on suing Syfy's Heroes of Cosplay Nerd Reactor". Nerdreactor.com. 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  11. ↑ "There's a Villain of Cosplay now! Yarrrrrr!". Two Geeky Nerds. 2013-03-23. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  12. ↑ "Heroes of Cosplay - Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic. 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  13. ↑ Jeff Jensen (2013-08-23). "Heroes Of Cosplay review Review | News Reviews and News". EW.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  14. ↑ "Heroes of Cosplay: TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2013-08-13. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  15. ↑ Stasi, Linda (2013-08-05). "Syfy looks at world of make-believe reality in ‘Heroes of Cosplay’ | New York Post". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  16. ↑ "MTV Geek – Cosplayers React To NY Post ‘Heroes of Cosplay’ Review". Geek-news.mtv.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.

External links