Geek that I am, I am interested in this new show. I wanna see great new costumes wonderfully executed, hopefully modeled by hot chicks. Yay Cosplay!
This new seriesis not the standard competition format. We don’t have teams officially competing, being judged, and then being eliminated. Rather, this series follows various inviduals and groups who tour the comic convention circuit and participate in the cosplay competitions at those conventions for prize money.
First is Yaya Han, a popular cosplayer who now gets asked to help judge the competitions. She prepares an elaborate costume every week just to wear and show off and demonstrate her skills and qualifications to sit as judge.
Okay, the costumes are interesting, and the effort going into them is neat. It’s fun to watch the work, and fun to watch them bring it together. It’s also amusing to watch as the show spends all their time following the handful of people, only to see none of them win at the end.
What’s less enjoyable is the manufactured drama, and editing to focus on tension and stress and conflict. Yes, there’s drama from trying to put together an elaborate design in a week, but the editing seems to focus on making the competitors appear as whiny and bitchy and obnoxious as possible.
This week there was some controversy over some comments made about cosplay and costume choices. One element were remarks made about choosing what to cosplay to fit your body style. I get that a strong element of cosplay is dressing up to be the character you want to be, regardless of how you actually look. If your audience is yourself, you’re just doing it to have fun pretending you’re superman, then go for it. But if your audience is the crowd of other people, then it does make sense to filter you cosplay choices based upon your body type and how your costume will be perceived. I’m a fortyish chubby guy with small arms. Now I suppose I could dress up like Superman. But consider cosplay as a visual medium, would my attempt come off to other people like a good Superman?
Think of it like casting a movie, where the audience will be paying $7 to $12 to see the results. Is this going to be instantly recognizable as the Superman they know and love, or is it going to come off like some overweight geek in his underwear? Part of the element of cosplay, especially cosplay competition, is to accurately replicate an iconic image. Seems to be body type plays a role in accurate replication.
The other comment was Yaya’s remarks about one of the other competitors, Monika Lee. Monika apparently was discovered and tutored some time back by Yaya, and Yaya is a personal friend. Monika decided she wanted to go as a sexy steampunk Poison Ivy. Her mom freaked out at the pictures of the costume design, because it’s racy and revealing. Mom called Yaya, who met with Monika to discuss the design.
It seems like there was some either poorly stated remarks, or even moreso, remarks edited to paint a different story than intended. The remarks appear to be chastising Monika for choosing too sexy of a design. But listening closely, that isn’t what Yaya said. In fact, Yaya is known for her own sexy costumes, and has a very large bosom that she doesn’t mind displaying herself. Rather, her concerns were that Monika was being directed to focus more on being sexy than on any skill or craftsmanship or creativity in the costume design. Throw something together that looks kinda similar but is sexy, versus carefully recreate a concept or artistically craft a concept to convey the character.
Anyway, Monika’s Steampunk Poison Ivy was entered in the competition, but didn’t win anything. It drew negative remarks from Wendi Pini (of Elfquest fame), who was also judging. The thing is, the costume itself isn’t bad. But I can kinda see Yaya’s complaint about focusing on being sexy rather than on being an artistic outfit. She could have, for instance, used a textured fabric with ivy elements in the bodice, and otherwise accentuated the outfit more to tie in to the character. But the biggest problem (and Wendy’s remark) was not the outfit itself, but that Monika put no effort into the character’s attitude. When she walked out on stage, she was basically Monika in a costume. She put no effortinto personifying Poison Ivy, to displaying confidence and sexiness. She just stood there. It didn’t have any life.
Contrast that with the execution of Merida from Brave the previous week. That woman not only had the dress and the large red wig, with the bow and arrow, she took on a Scottish accent. She even went to an archery range to be instructed in how to stand and shoot to make sure she carried off the pose well. When she walked out on stage, she took on the confidence and pose and became Merida. That stood out in her performance. Monika’s Poison Ivy was lifeless.
Anyway, I’m watching, but the show has issues.
Looking at the schedule of conventions for the first 4 episode, it seems they are moving towards the summer. Wizard World was in January, and the next 3 (Emerald City Comic Con, MegaCon, and Anime Matsuri) are all in March. Next week’s Planet Comic Con was in April, so I’m hoping they end up at AX in July for the finale. Its the biggest anime convention after all!