''Heroes of Cosplay'' is a 2013

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channel

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show co-produced by Mark Cronin, Courtland Cox and Dave Caplan of

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. The show's first season's six episodes follows nine cast members as they compete in

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

events at various conventions across the United States, attending Wizard World Portland,

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and Planet Comicon. 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. The 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, Ontario, Canada (episode 8).

Cast

Reception

''Heroes of Cosplay'' was criticized by some for allegedly grossly misrepresenting cosplay, humiliating and frustrating the cosplayers who were not part of the show's cast but were attending competitions at the series' featured conventions, and hurting the community. According to Zac Bertschy of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

, 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." 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. 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

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, being watched by some 1 million viewers, and a mostly positive

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score of 66. Jeff Jensen of ''

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'' gave it a B+ and Allison Keene of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called it "a worthy journey into a world few may be familiar with." The '' New York Post'' writer Linda Stasi gave the show 3 out of 4 stars but questioned whether cosplayers are "confused;" Stasi's article upset some readers.

References

External links

* * {{Syfy Shows 2010s American reality television series 2013 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings Cosplay English-language television shows Syfy original programming

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links