| Heroes of Cosplay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Starring | See below |
| Narrated by | Mike Bratton |
| Composers | David Vanacore (Vanacore Music) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Lauren Brady Dave Caplan Mark Cronin |
| Producers | Tanya McRae Summer Oakley Kate Aquillano |
| Cinematography | Steve Russell Mike L. Taylor Dan Farnam |
| Editors | John Babinec Phil Habeger Raiko Siems |
| Production company | 51 Minds Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syfy |
| Release | August 2013 (2013-08) – 2014 (2014) |
Heroes of Cosplay is a 2013Syfy channelreality television show co-produced byMark Cronin, Courtland Cox and Dave Caplan of51 Minds Entertainment.[1] The show's first season's six episodes follows nine cast members as they compete incosplay events at various conventions across the United States, attendingWizard 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] 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).
| Season 1 | Season 1.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Chloe Dykstra |  Y | Y |
| Holly Conrad (Commander Holly) | Y | Y |
| Jesse Lagers | Y | Y |
| Jessica Merizan | Y | Y |
| Riki LeCotey | Y | Y |
| Yaya Han | Y | Y |
| Becky Young (Aktrez) | Y | |
| Monika Lee | Y | |
| Victoria Schmidt (Scruffy Rebel) | Y | |
| Carl Martin | Y | |
| Indra Rojas (FantasyNinja) | Y | |
| Katie George | Y | |
| Meg Turney | Y | |
| Miguel Guifarro (MiggyJagger) | Y |
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 ofAnime 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 ownerNBCUniversal 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.[citation needed]
Despite the controversies surrounding it, the first season achieved solidNielsen ratings, being watched by some 1 million viewers,[11] and a mostly positiveMetacritic score of 66.[12] Jeff Jensen ofEntertainment Weekly gave it a B+[13] and Allison Keene ofThe Hollywood Reporter called it "a worthy journey into a world few may be familiar with."[14] TheNew 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]