SyFy’s latest competition reality show, Cosplay Melee, aired episode five last week, and the final sixth episode airs tonight!
For more details on the hosts and show format, check out my write-up about the premiere of the series.
First off, let’s meet the contestants from episode five–Aaron, Tuwanda, James, and Dhare. The theme of the episode was “Super Heroes.” For the first challenge, each contestant had to build a chest piece with their custom character’s symbol on it. Aaron went with an armor/steampunk combo for his futuristic Xero, Tuwanda went more traditional by going the spandex route (finally some sewing!) for her peace-loving and spreading Harmony, James went with a red and blue armor and shield look for troubled-youth-gone-vigilante Guardian, and Dhare also went full armor for his kitty avenging Wyldcat.
At the judging, Tuwanda was eliminated. I was really disappointed because she was the first contestant to really show some sewing chops. I can’t even get my stretch jersey sewn right and she had impeccably sewn spandex AND lighting in her chest piece. I was really looking forward to seeing a full super hero cosplay from her. Aaron got dinged from the judges for not having finished his weathering and for not having a perfect circle in the middle of his chest piece. Dhare and James both had practically 100% finished chest pieces and great foam fabrication and the judges decided that James was the winner.
The challenge for the full build was to finish their character’s full armor while adding a unique element based on the choosing of a comic book. Aaron chose Batman and received “utility belt,” Dhare chose Daredevil and received “mask,” and James chose Superman and received “cape.” As the winner of the challenge, James was given the choice of keeping his item or swapping with one of the others. Despite having never made a cape before, James kept it to push himself as a cosplayer and maker.
Aaron managed to pull together an entire costume despite the judges’ worry that he was way behind. He did a great job considering how far behind he seemed although the judges still had a problem with his chest circle.
James came out with a complete, amazing armor build and one of the best looking capes I’ve ever seen. He really did a spectacular job, and I really thought he was going to win when he came out. It seems the judges’ biggest issue with his cosplay was the white undersuit, because apparently they didn’t think red, white, and blue were good colors for a superhero. Uh, what? I guess they’ve never heard of Captain America or the several dozen other heroes who wear those colors.
Lastly, Dhare came out and ended his runway walk with a knee landing which apparently still hurts. His armor also looked amazing and, at that point, I really didn’t know who the judges would pick between James and Dhare as they both had really terrific builds of comparable quality and completeness and they both did a great job on their character’s story and meeting the challenges assigned. But, in the end, the judges chose Dhare and his pebble technique as the winner.
Check out this exclusive clip from tonight’s episode the contestants suiting up for the final runway walk. While there aren’t explicit spoilers, you can probably figure out who got eliminated in the first challenge from the clip so be aware!
The final episode of the season airs tonight on SyFy (you can also get episodes on Amazon if you don’t have cable or satellite). I’ll be back next week with a final recap, some more interviews, and some ideas I have for next season (and who knows, maybe they’ll accept my application and I’ll actually be ON the next season).
