Heroes of Cosplay

Last Thursday night was the season finale of Heroes of Cosplay. I've been putting off reviewing this show for awhile, because I didn't have much good to say about most of the people on the show, and I would like to keep this blog classy. However, once the final episode has aired, I've gained more insight to the people featured on there and so I have a much more well rounded review to give. Overall, it's a very interesting show and I learned a lot about cosplay, such as costume construction, fabrication, materials, and performing skits.

Left to Right: Yaya, Jessica, Riki, Monika

I originally thought this was going to be more like Face Off where a group of contestants would have a weekly competition where the worst cosplayer would be kicked off. This show is actually more of a docuseries where each episode revolves around a specific convention's cosplay contest. The people the show follows is a little different each week, but mostly revolves around the same ones. Yaya Han is in every episode and she is typically the judge in every competition.

There are many highs and lows to this show and many moments where I really hate the cast interspersed with moments that I love them. Almost all the outcomes to every contest are disappointing, but I think that lends to the authenticity of the show. Just because these people are on camera doesn't guarantee them a win.

If I had a more exciting life, I would probably hate this show along with everyone on it. But like I mentioned in my Fangasm article, I really have nothing better to do than watch shows about nerds because I live out in the middle of nowhere.

There are people I do respect on the show. My favorite would be Chloe Dykstra who got a very deserved win on the next to last episode for cosplaying the Mechromancer from Borderlands 2. During the beginning of the season she really advocated for cosplay to be more inclusive, saying that people of all genders, body shapes, and races should be able to cosplay anything they want. If I were Gatsby, I would tell her, "You're worth the whole damn bunch."

 

Another favorite moment of mine was in the season finale when Jinyo used Peter Mayhew to propose to his girlfriend, Victoria. Say what you will about the couple, I cried a little. Mostly because she was wearing a Star Trek uniform to a Star Wars panel.

 

I've always been interested in cosplay (I've even started a costume recently), but this show taught me never to do it competitively because competition sucks the fun out of everything.  I give this show a C-. If SyFy ever decides to make a second season of this show, there are a lot of improvements to be made.

Fangasm - Jersey Shore for Nerds

If you know me at all, you know I don't take anything seriously. I do have a passion for geek culture but when people give geeks a bad name - I'm truthfully not bothered by it. That is why I can enjoy shows like Big Bang Theory, King of the Nerds, Heroes of Cosplay, and the new SyFy series, Fangasm, that premiered this past Tuesday.

The best way to describe this show is a Nerd Jersey Shore. Seven nerds from all across the country were chosen to live in a house in L.A. to compete for an internship for Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. Each episode, they are given a task to complete by co-founder of Comikaze, Regina Carpinelli. When they are not working for her, the contestants have free reign to do whatever they want.

In the first episode, Regina Carpinelli puts the housemates to the task of getting the public to sign a petition to make May 25 Nerd Appreciation Day. Like I need another day of the year I can't go to the bank. Anyway, the housemates get all nerded up to roam the streets of L.A. to get people to sign a petition. They find a bar that is having a burlesque group wearing generic superhero outfits, so they decide to campaign there. Of course, we get to hear a diatribe about how this objectifies women and perpetuates the "fake geek girl" stereotype (something I promise I will never mention again).

In their free time, the housemates go to a comic book store to compete for a chance to have dinner with George Takei. Even though the contest is open to the public, one of the housemates eventually wins and ends up bringing George Takei back to the house, where everyone pretty much has a nervous meltdown.

In the end, this show is so bad, it's good, and then occasionally goes back to bad. If you live somewhere that has no nerd or gamer events at all whatsoever, then this show might fill a hole in your heart. If I didn't live in the middle of nowhere and wasn't bored out of my mind, I would absolutely skip this show.

New Cosplay Ideas

Recently, I've decided to get back into cosplay. I've truly only cosplayed one time and I was a Silent Hill Nurse for a Halloween party. The pictures I took of myself were horrendous, but in person the cosplay wasn't so bad. If you're fortunate enough to be my Facebook friend, you can see them in what I believe is a Halloween 2009 album.

I've been watching Heroes of Cosplay on SyFy a lot lately, and it's making me want to cosplay more, and to not cosplay lazily. I have quite a few ideas swimming around in my head and I'm not sure where to start, so I'll give you a list of some characters I'm very deadset on cosplaying.

1. New 52 Poison Ivy
I'm not against showing skin in cosplay, but this Poison Ivy is...more respectable? I'd be happy cosplaying new Poison Ivy, old scantily clad Poison Ivy. I just like how this makes her look more like a super villain instead of a stripper.

2. Leixia from Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur is truly the only game where I have ever bragged about my skills and Leixia is who I kick everybody's ass with.

3. Purple Heart from Hyperdimension Neptunia
Hyperdimension Neptunia is a very interesting JRPG I played on PS3 a couple years ago where the girls represent different game consoles. I came up with the idea to cosplay her because I wanted something Japanese/Anime to do if I were to go to a more anime focused convention.

 

4. Kotobukiya Bishoujo Mystique
I love Kotobukiya Bishoujo figures, but this is one of my favorites. I have every statue, including this one, on my Amazon wishlist. I think what draws me to doing Mystique is I can paint myself blue and make a lot of Tobias from Arrested Development jokes.

Back in this post here, I talked about how badly I wanted to go to conventions and hadn't been to one yet. My boyfriend and I are both interested in cosplay and we've had some debate over whether or not we should compete or just cosplay for fun and pictures. I used to think we should compete locally only, but now I agree with my boyfriend that we should just do it for fun and pictures. I also said that I didn't want to reveal who I was going to cosplay as, but I've changed my mind about that too. All of these four ideas have been done before. I just need to get some experience making costumes before start anything too creative. I'm ok at using a sewing machine, but I think I could do a really good job with hair and makeup. I'm super excited to get started on some cosplay and I'll be showing my progress here on the blog. Let me know in the comments of any good East Coast cons to go to!