Heroes of Cosplay (2013) s01e11 Episode Script
Wizard World New Orleans
1 Tonight on Heroes of Cosplay In New Orleans, they have a group competition, and they've asked me if I could host it.
I feel like I have to do something really crazy.
Whoa.
This con is all about redemption.
I'm really gonna put my heart and soul into this, 'cause this is a costume that I've wanted to do forever.
Oh, [Bleep.]
.
This is gonna be the actual Captain Hook Hook, but it's a claw.
Oh, yeah.
That looks awesome.
I still have to make my dress, all of my accessories, and my sandals.
You might have to start thinking about going onstage without me.
Are you serious? New Orleans, how you doing tonight? I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
I hope that I can bring that presence to the stage and sell Shazam.
The next stop for our Heroes of Cosplay is New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tens of thousands of comic book fanatics converge at the massive Wizard World event to celebrate the best in pop culture.
This is no ordinary convention.
There will be not one but two costume contests.
More than 200 of the country's most talented cosplayers will enter, and the competition will be fierce.
In Atlanta, it's just 10 days until the New Orleans con, and Yaya and Brian are already feeling the pressure.
So in New Orleans, I will be judging their costume contest, but New Orleans actually has two contests.
So the next day, they have a group competition that'srequires skits, and they've asked me if I could host it.
New Orleans comic con is going to be crazy busy for me.
I am judging the individual costume competition, and I'm hosting the group competition, which means I need two new costumes.
- Do you remember lineage II? - Mm-hmm.
There's one that I just fell in love with her, but it's really, really crazy.
- Oh, my goodness.
- Yeah.
Her name is Enira.
She is called The Banshee Queen, so she's kind of, like, fairy queen of the underworld.
I am just obsessed with her design.
I think the only way that I can achieve this silhouette and be accurate is if I learn to walk on stilts.
If I don't have the stilts, it's not gonna have that beautiful flow dramatic effect, yeah.
In my entire 15 years of cosplaying, I have never, ever built a costume around stilts, but I'm so intrigued and excited about the possibility of learning something new that I am up for the challenge.
That's pretty intense.
In Los Angeles, Holly, Jessica, and Chloe are planning for the Wizard World New Orleans group competition.
Well, we actually should figure out what we want to do.
Let's do something weird.
- We're in New Orleans, baby.
- Let's get crazy.
- Let's flaunt it.
- Let's get crazy.
All right.
Let's do something weird.
When I was in grad school, I did a lot of research on Peter Pan.
Maybe Peter Pan is this metaphor for aging, mortality.
What better place to do something not just, like, traditional cosplay, but just something that's almost an original design by us.
I like this.
Okay, wait.
You love Guillermo Del Toro, right? I do.
I do.
So what if we did it, like, in the style we did Peter Pan in the style of Guillermo Del Toro? Like like Peter Pan's labyrinth! - Oh, my God.
- That'd be awesome.
Did you just make that up right now? That would be such are you serious? - Maybe.
- Peter Pan's labyrinth.
It's my grad school research and Guillermo Del Toro, who is one of our favorite directors.
He makes movies like Pan's Labyrinth, Pacific Rim.
He puts an awesome creepy spin on things, which I think is great.
Last year, we had the honor of designing a creature suit for one of his projects, and he actually wore it.
It was an amazing experience.
Who would you want to be? I want to be Peter Pan.
Who would be Wendy? I guess I could be Wendy.
I just want to do something scary.
Like, really scary.
I could crossplay as Captain Hook.
Guillermo Del Toro always makes movies with monsters in them.
So our idea is making Captain Hook into a monstrous character between worlds.
Are we good? Is this our plan? We're going to New Orleans? We're gonna be Peter Pan? - Cosplay.
- Yeah.
It's gonna be awesome.
In Austin, Texas, Carl is exploring a local costume shop for supplies for his next costume.
He's planning to compete in the individual competition at Wizard World New Orleans, which is just eight days away.
Oh, man, these are nice.
At the last convention, I was the mannequin from Silent Hill, and I didn't do so well.
Whoa.
I have no idea what I'm even looking at.
I feel like this con is all about redemption.
I'm looking to do a costume a cosplay.
I'm thinking about doing the comic book character Haunt.
All right, cool.
Haunt is an image character from comic book.
He's very venom and spawn-like.
It's very sinewy and lots of muscles and things.
- Mm-hmm.
Okay, cool.
So I'm looking to get some really good materials for that.
For the face anyway, I think that it would definitely be cool to make some prosthetics for the nose and then paint it up with black and white makeup.
I'm being ambitious again, but hopefully it works.
- Thank you very much.
- Yeah, no problem.
- Good luck.
- Okay.
In Portland, Jesse is going to Guardian Games to hang out with some cosplay friends and talk costume ideas for New Orleans.
The Portland League of Geekery is a group of cosplayers in Portland.
We build costumes together, share and swap ideas.
The idea I have in my head, I think you'll be pretty excited about.
I think I can pull off Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit.
Thorin Oakenshield is the king under the Lonely Mountain.
His costume is super, super detailed.
There's all these little parts and intricacies that I absolutely love as a fabricator.
I want to showcase all of that.
- Are you doing that in metal? - I think so.
How many layers does he have on? So best I can figure, there's an outer tunic, armor, a waistcoat, and then this fur coat.
Nice.
What do you think? Do you think I can pull off old Thorin right there? Definitely.
In queens, New York, Miguel is just beginning work on his costume for the Wizard World New Orleans individual competition.
Hey.
Hey, man.
Yes.
For New Orleans' Wizard World, I say I bring Shazam.
That looks amazing.
I chose to do Shazam from Injustice.
It's a video game.
Shazam is Superman's enforcer, and he gets things done.
In designing Shazam, Miguel is taking lessons he learned from making a previous costume.
Because I already made Nightwing, if I did something like that, now I know what to do and what fabrics to use.
So I'm thinking I'll stick with the vinyl, and I'm actually gonna use a different type of leather 'cause this leather was too thin.
I have a lot of work to do to get this costume right.
In Miami, I dropped the ball.
Are you sure you didn't just run out of time to paint 'em? Hopefully, I can recover in New Orleans.
- Yeah, so we'll see.
- Okay.
I'm pretty confident that it'll be finished.
Yeah.
In Atlanta, Riki and Katie are meeting to discuss their plans to compete in the group competition.
So we're both gonna do Soulcalibur for New Orleans, right? Yeah, yeah.
Riki and I have been friends for a while, but this will actually be the first time that Riki and I are competing in a group together.
Competing as an individual is different from competing in a group.
Groups can be really fun, but they can also be a little bit more stressful.
Let our cosplay powers combine.
Ahh, ee.
Hello.
- Hi.
- Hey! What are you guys doing over in this neighborhood? How are you, my ladies? - Good, how are you? - Oh, my gosh.
I decided to drop by and see what Riki and Katie are planning for New Orleans, and I brought Indra along as well because she's hunting for inspiration.
We're thinking about competing in the group competition as Soulcalibur characters.
- Oh, wow.
- That's awesome.
So I'm gonna do Sophitia.
Sophitia is a very elegant and beautiful character, so I'm really excited to try and make something really pretty but also really strong.
I picked Tira just 'cause I like the design, punk renaissance costume that she has.
It's kind of cool to do something different.
Normally, I do prim and proper characters.
- Are you going to New Orleans? - Yeah.
Are you gonna compete in the solo competition? I actually don't know.
Well, then you should totally join us.
- Yeah.
- Do you want to? You won't be in separate contests if you, you know, are in one group.
Yeah.
I think if Indra pushes herself competing in a group competition like New Orleans I think it would be good for her.
We could have a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead.
- Do it.
- Yeah.
I guess that'd be cool.
Yeah.
Yay! I am super excited to be competing with Riki and Katie.
I've always wanted to do Soulcalibur, and Hilde is actually on, like, my bucket list of costumes that I want to finish.
All right, so it's decided.
Soulcalibur group.
I'm so excited for you guys, yeah.
- Ohh.
- Yay.
You know there's a skit required, right? - Required? - Yep, yep.
If you do this group competition, you have to do a skit.
If we finish the costumes, and if we have time, then we'll come up with a skit.
I really think that we should have, like, at least something just in case.
I mean, if we're gonna spend so much time on these costumes trying to, like, get the best that we can, like, out of it do you have music? Do you have Yeah, I think we can do a choreographed walk-on 'cause that's like it's something that's not a skit, but it looks good on stage.
I'm worried that Riki and Katie aren't concerned about the skit.
We're really, really short on time, and I'm kind of rolling with the punches.
Bring it in for an Atlanta bomb.
- You guys ready? - Atlanta bomb, yeah.
And - Boosh! - Boom! Fricking nervous.
What if I fall? Oh, you'll be fine.
Whoa.
I don't know if this is gonna work.
I'm putting a veto on metal right now.
New Orleans, let me hear you.
Listen to that crowd.
I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
In Atlanta it's just 5 days out from Wizard World New Orleans.
Not only does Yaya have her upcoming con commitment, but she also has a new business opportunity to help expand her brand.
It's a possible role in a web series.
- Hi, I'm Yaya.
- Dave Di Pietro.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Same here.
Museum replicas produces all kinds of amazing armor and period costume pieces, but I'm here specifically to talk to them about the web series they're producing called Archangel.
You guys have an amazing space.
We're really excited to have you here today, because we have this Archangel project, as I told you on the phone.
He's basically our Batman of the steampunk victorian era.
Yeah.
And we're asking you to play the villainess.
Her name is Jasmin Synn.
She is the warlord of London.
She controls London from her sky ship.
I get a sky ship? You get a sky ship.
And a throne, I might add, so What? I get a throne? - Holy cow.
- That's pretty awesome.
Rather than just, you know, ask you to be in this movie Yeah.
We thought maybe if you could design the costume itself.
Wow.
To be approached by museum replicas, one of the biggest costume companies in the USA, that is a huge deal for me.
As Yaya heads into the studio, she gets a sneak peek at the Archangel character on her way to discuss creative direction with the lead designer.
Let's talk about these feathers.
Something that comes up and flares to maybe frame the back of your face and come down around.
Right, I kind of like that it's asymmetrical.
Seeing ideas for this Jasmin Synn costume has me feeling like when I first started designing.
If I'm able to get started on this costume quickly, there might be a chance I could even finish it in time for the comic con in New Orleans.
Okay.
You want to shoot for that then? I would love to shoot for that.
- Fantastic.
We're excited.
- I love that idea.
I'm so excited about this.
In Los Angeles, Chloe, Holly, and Jessica begin designing their creepy Guillermo Del Toro-inspired Peter Pan costumes.
Holly is working on Captain Hook, while Chloe will be Wendy.
For Jessica, it's Peter Pan.
- It's starting to look similar.
- Oh, yeah, it's really cute.
You know, it's starting to come together.
And then you got your leather shoulders and stuff too.
Yeah.
My interpretation of the character Peter Pan is that he's dressed in his christening gown.
And he's covered in cobwebs and leaves because he has to survive in Neverland.
Look, you can see that I pinned things.
So it's kind of like right now this is just a rough Oh, yeah.
That looks awesome.
For my Captain Hook claw that's gonna look like a monster claw Mm-hmm.
I kind of just made it, like one giant, like, Kaiju Claw.
So this is gonna be the actual Captain Hook hook, but it's a claw.
So 4 inches divided by four pleats equals 1 inch per pleat, which means each pleat is 1/2 inch.
And science just happened.
Whoa.
I want to make sure Wendy looks very innocent and ethereal and almost angelic.
So I am going to hand sew an antique Edwardian Nightgown.
But sewing is not one of the things that I do very well.
- Did you sew it together? - Yes.
- Oh, no.
- It's okay.
It happens.
In Austin, Carl begins work on a new costume for New Orleans, the antihero Haunt from the popular comic book series.
I'm gonna have to sculpt the entire torso piece from here down to the abs.
So you have to have a very basic knowledge of muscles.
I'm really stressed right now.
I decided to use a high-grade silicone for this, which I've never used before.
Oh, [Bleep.]
.
Need to make sure that it looks right, so I'm worried.
With Wizard World New Orleans only a few days away, Yaya is tackling her biggest challenge yet.
Not only she making two complicated costumes, but for Enira, The Banshee Queen, she is learning to walk on stilts.
Fricking nervous.
What if I fall? Oh, you'll be fine.
Make sure everything is really nice and tight.
Okay.
I'd rather not have circulation Than fall.
Enira is a queen.
She is imposing.
She is tall.
So the only way to do her justice is to be on stilts, but I have no idea what I'm doing.
Holy cow.
I feel like Bambi taking his first steps.
Every time you, like, lift your foot, you're lifting, like, 5 pounds or something.
It's like having big weights on you.
[Bleep.]
.
Okay.
In New York, Miguel goes over the final plans for his Shazam costume with his girlfriend Gina.
As much as I would like it all to be leather Okay.
We need to make that out of spandex so I can have mobility.
For my Shazam costume, I'm making the bodysuit out of leather, pleather, vinyl, and spandex.
I'm not sure how yet to do the collar.
It's looking so solid though so far.
But the problem is right now, we just have to flatten this part out.
Okay.
I only have tonight to finish this, but I feel like I can pull it off in time.
We can definitely iron that out.
But I definitely need to restitch, 'cause, look, some of the stitches broke.
Okay.
So we need to do that.
In Portland, Jesse is on a mission to sculpt the small plate metal pieces to create the armor for his Thorin Oakenshield costume.
We'll have to cast hundreds of pieces to fill out the armor correctly, and to get that done right, I'm going to have to start by carving each one of those out of Clay.
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo Once I have the Clay forms, I'm going to have to cast those in silicone, and once the silicone's dry, I'm gonna pour them in metal.
Pulling off Thorin Oakenshield is a really wonderful way to up my game.
In ottawa, I made the Mandarin's rings out of pewter.
New Orleans is a great opportunity to showcase everything I can do.
For this costume, I'm gonna put together metal, leather, and even fur, and just bring it all in.
- Hey, you.
- Hey.
So, uh I don't know if this is gonna work.
Why? Well, here, hold out your hands.
That's that's gonna be really heavy.
Yeah.
After casting several pieces in pewter, it's pretty clear that this is just gonna be too heavy to wear.
I'm putting a veto on metal right now.
I don't want to wear that and 900 layers of fur and felt and everything else.
I feel like I sort of took on too much.
I just can't even think straight anymore.
You might have to start thinking about going onstage without me.
Are you serious? New Orleans, how you doing tonight? This crowd is so damn loud.
It's a little nerve-racking.
I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
Back in Atlanta, Katie, Indra and Riki are busy on they Soulcalibur costumes.
They are competing on day two of Wizard World New Orleans in the group competition.
What are you working on now? Well, I'm working on what is essentially her, like, shoulder straps, you could say.
Okay.
It's what connects the costume from you know, to this side to this side, and what holds up the chiffon.
For my Sophitia costume, I need to make a belt, a dress, lots of accessories, and a sword and shield.
This is gonna be pretty cool though.
I'm excited to work with you guys.
I just wish it weren't under, you know Dire circumstances.
We'll be fine.
With Katie, she is a perfectionist.
She wants to make sure everything's done and done right, so she can kind of fall behind because of that.
Yaya mentioned a skit.
All we'll do is, we'll do a choreographed walk-on, which is essentially where we just plan out our movements on stage, make 'em very theatrical.
I've only ever done one skit ever.
- Really? - Ever.
- Yes.
- No, no, it's fine.
It's fine.
I've got this.
I've got this.
Katie suggests for us to do an elaborate walk-on instead.
I don't know how serious she's taking this.
Yeah, I think, like, the idea of a skit is, like, recorded dialogue and, like, props and backgrounds.
No, we don't have time for that.
Wow.
In Portland, Jesse realizes the pewter armor pieces he has made for his Thorin costume are far too heavy, and with only one day left before Wizard World New Orleans, he must think of an alternative before it's too late.
I'm gonna have to switch out and use resin.
It's not what I really would like to do, but it's gonna be what's gonna make the costume created correctly.
The resin that I'm gonna use is gonna set in white, which means I'll have to paint it and I'll have to weather each piece to make sure that they look like they're metal.
Meanwhile, in L.
A.
, while Jessica is out picking up last-minute supplies, Chloe and Holly continue working on their Peter Pan's labyrinth costumes.
- This dang dress.
- It looks amazing.
Oh, thank you.
Look how nice those pleats are.
Oh, thank you.
So I just have to sew across here, add the flutter sleeves, hem it, and then hopefully all I think it'll be done.
Well, I have been working on the headdress, and it's pretty much done, but I put a ship inside of it.
Oh, that's awesome.
Oh, yeah, look at that.
So you can kind of see, I put, like It's just so cool.
It looks like it's riding on the waves of feathers.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I want to kind of take a different twist on Captain Hook, and what we're doing is, we're really designing a really big headdress with a lot of feathers, a pirate ship on it, something really impressive and big to show the judges that this character means business.
I'm thinking today I might make the shoulder pads and kind of blowtorch some candles on a foam shoulder and just kind of see what happens.
So we just have to get to work.
All right, shall we? Yeah, let's do it.
I am having so much fun with Holly and Jessica, but I'm a little insecure about my skill in sewing.
I don't want to be the weak link.
There we go.
In Atlanta, while Riki and Indra are making progress on their Soulcalibur costumes, Katie is falling behind.
I still have to make my dress.
I still have to do all of my accessories and my sandals.
How are you guys doing? Oh, I did finish my chest piece though.
Oh, yeah, you should check out her chest piece.
- Whoa.
- Check it out.
- That is intense! - She's been holding out.
- Yay.
- That is intense.
That looks sort of, like, soft.
Is it worbla? Yeah.
For the Hilde armor, I am using worbla, which is a thermal plastic.
It's almost like cardboard in texture.
I am also using some of my leftover fabric from the Ahri tails that I did before.
I had to, like, paint everything 'cause I didn't have, like I don't sleep.
I don't sleep.
When I see Indra's costume, I was, like, really impressed.
I have so much left to do.
I am not feeling good about this, guys.
Like, how not feeling good? I'm just frustrated 'cause, you know, will it hurt the team if I look so bad and so rushed? We'll figure it out.
You guys get your costumes done.
Then, you know, then maybe you can help me, but I'm not gonna take away from your costumes.
I don't think it's very realistic for the girls to finish their costumes and then help me finish mine.
I know how much work is left, and there's no way it'll be done before we leave tomorrow.
If it gets to that point, then you might have to start thinking about going onstage without me.
Are you serious? Oh, yeah.
It's the night before Yaya is set to leave for New Orleans, and she's falling behind on her two elaborate costumes, the Jasmin Synn creation for the web series, and Enira for hosting the group competition.
Hey, Brian? Yeah.
Can you come in one second and just tell me what you think? Normally, when I debut a costume at a convention, it is for myself.
But this time, the Jasmin Synn costume is for the web series Archangel, so I have a lot more pressure on me to get the costume right.
I'm so brain-dead, I can't even tell anymore.
Ugh.
I'm so tired.
All right.
So this one's good.
- Yeah.
- Nearly done.
- Mmhmm.
- What about Enira? Really, the only things that are finished are the sleeves and the corset.
I started on a bunch of things, but I just don't know if I can finish it all.
Like, I feel like I sort of took on too much.
I am incredibly stressed and anxious.
There is a lot of pressure on me to host the contest, but Enira has the most pieces out of any costume I've ever made.
I just can't even think straight anymore.
And the convention center is already packed with talented cosplayers and fans.
The individual competition is just hours away.
- Hello.
- Hi.
At the hotel, Yaya arrives bright and early Thank you so much.
With Miguel and Carl close behind.
Hey, pretty boy.
Do I even want to know what's in the box? You do want to know what's in the box.
Is that what second place looks like? Oh, no, this is what first place looks like.
Oh, okay.
I just got here to New Orleans, and I finally see miggy.
His mohawk looks fantastic as always.
We want to help each other in this contest because we didn't do so well at the last one.
I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately.
I can tell, like, the bags under your eyes.
I have a whole bunch to get done before the competition, and I'm kind of stressing out a little bit.
Let me just get something to drink, and I'll meet you up in the room.
Yeah, yeah, I'll see you up there.
I'll see you there, man.
Holly, Jessica, and Chloe check in a day ahead of the group skit competition, but before they finish their costumes, they head up to visit their Portland pals.
- Hey, good to see you.
- The whole gang has arrived.
- The whole gang has arrived.
- Yay! What's going on? What costumes are you guys making? We're doing Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit.
- Oh! - From The Hobbit? - Yeah.
Yeah.
- Are you serious? That's so cool.
The armor bib's, like, over there.
What? - Whoa.
- Oh, my God, dude.
Wait.
Hold on.
Is this all cast resin? - Wow.
- Yeah.
Look how many there are.
Oh, it's I know, it's so cool.
- Can we touch it? - Yeah, of course.
- I already am touching it.
- Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
- Yeah.
- That's awesome.
Have you guys met Carl and Miguel yet? I think so.
They were down in the lobby, right? - Yeah, mm-hmm.
- Those were those two guys? - They're like the Wonderkids.
- Really? Like, they they're really talented.
But they're like, they're young, but they're, like, super talented.
- They're new.
- Yeah.
So you've met them before? How were their Yeah, Carl made a giant nine-arm costume in Miami.
He was hunched over the whole time.
Holy [Bleep.]
.
- And he was it was big.
- Intense.
- It was like this.
- It was intense.
He had to have an office chair, and he was like Yeah, that's what he looked like.
Kudos to him, man, 'cause he was in pain.
He owned it, yeah.
That makes me a little more worried about running up against them tonight.
The nerves are setting in.
This is a big costume, and hearing about the competition doesn't really help that much.
Speaking of going onstage, as of right now - Get to work.
- I got a costume to build.
- Yeah, you work.
We'll go.
- We'll see you later.
- We'll get out of your hair.
- Good luck tonight.
- Bye, guys.
- Yeah, good luck.
Bye, guys.
All the high fives.
Back in the room, Yaya is preparing for two competitions.
With her Enira costume unfinished and still in pieces, she puts on Jasmin Synn to judge the individual competition, which is quickly approaching.
You excited about today? You know, this is, like, an original costume that I designed.
So it's not a popular character.
There is a lot of pressure on me for the Jasmin Synn costume to be well-received, because the web series would get a big boost from the promotion of it, and museum replicas would distribute this costume worldwide if they liked it.
I'm just thinking, "what if the fan reaction is really cold?" Like 'cause they don't recognize it.
Yeah, like, what if they're just like, "eh, okay.
" All right, baby, this is as good as it gets.
You look amazing as usual.
Thank you.
I'm really happy that Jasmin Synn is very well-received on the con floor.
Just, like, such a big fan of yours.
Thank you.
Back at the hotel, Miguel and Carl suit up, confident their costumes will make a lasting impression with the judges.
Yeah, totally going to the ball.
It's important for Miguel and I to redeem ourselves on this one.
We have to go at it 100%.
I love my costume.
It couldn't have come out better.
I can't wait to just bring it on that stage.
If you need any help, just let me know.
My Shazam costume is literally the best thing I've ever made.
It is fantastic.
It feels great.
I'm just pumped.
You are sexy.
Ah! With only minutes to go, Jesse hurries to transform into Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit.
Pulling out Thorin Oakenshield as a costume really encapsulates our skill set all in one costume.
It's one of my favorite costumes to date.
- You're gonna rock it.
- Your hard work too.
With all of the heroes now in costume, the cosplayers are lining up, and the contest is about to begin.
Backstage, I'm feeling pretty good about my costume, but I'm still a little worried, a little stressed.
New Orleans, how you doing tonight? I am your host, Eric "The Smoke" Moran.
New Orleans, let me hear you.
Listen to that crowd.
This crowd is so damn loud.
It's a little nerve-racking.
I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
I'm already sweating pools of just sweat.
But I am excited, and I just want to nail it.
It's competition time at Wizard World New Orleans, our individual competitors are suited up and ready for battle.
Coming to the stage, your first judge, Ryan Frye! Ivy Doomkitty! The Green Ranger himself, Jason David Frank.
She is one of the baddest cosplayers around.
I give you, ladies and gentlemen, Yaya Han! Are y'all ready to see the first contestant? Coming to the stage, War Machine.
Deathstroke.
From The Hobbit, Radagast The Brown.
Lots of stomping.
Lots of stomping.
Stage presence for this costume is very, very important.
I need to really grab the embodiment and make sure that it's just Thorin screaming out and resonating to the entire audience.
Next up, here's Thorin Oakenshield.
Quick question for you.
How long did that take? Lots and lots of time.
Probably 200 hours, maybe a little bit more.
Wow.
I'm feeling really, really good about this, but it's anybody's game at this point.
There's a lot of stiff competition here.
Here's Lady Loki.
The Evil Green Ranger.
I'm really trying to kind of redeem myself at this con.
Backstage, I'm feeling pretty good about my costume, but I'm still a little worried, getting a little sweaty.
Like, I have to psych myself out, you know, just shake it up.
I still haven't actually figured out what I'm doing up on stage yet.
Here's Haunt.
I'm walking down the stage.
I strike a couple poses I definitely can't do in most of my costumes, and I feel amazing.
I feel great.
How hot is it in that costume? It's actually one of the most comfortable costumes I have ever made.
I can I can do squats in this.
Oh! There you go.
Awesome, thank you.
Let's give it up.
The Haunt! Whoo, that felt good.
The Doctor's Worst Nightmare on Bourbon street.
Harley Quinn.
The mysterious creepy Arkicide.
The cosplayers of New Orleans have really brought their "A" game.
There are a lot of amazing costumes on stage.
The Dalek! Have you seen the doctor? There are a ton of doctors.
Children of Gallifrey will be exterminated! I've been waiting backstage for a long time, and I'm tired.
And I hope I hope that I can bring that presence to the stage and sell Shazam.
Coming to the stage, Shazam, Captain Marvel.
I step onstage, the crowd erupts.
Everyone's screaming, "Shazam!" And I'm focusing, and I'm just bringing the essence of how bad-ass Shazam is.
I'm feeling good.
I took everything I learned the hard way from Miami, applied it tenfold, and I'm just grateful that I was able to show I know what I'm doing, and I'm the boss right now.
Right now, the judges are gonna be breaking it down, and they're gonna be deliberating.
When judging, I'm looking for a combination of great craftsmanship and performance.
So the decision is incredibly difficult.
I really liked the Harlequin with the big, giant hammer.
She just came out, did a great performance.
I was thinking the Lady Loki.
Yeah, I had Lady Loki on mine.
- She put on a good show.
- Yeah.
They both did.
- Thorin.
- Yeah.
I really liked Thorin.
That really stood out to me.
But I thought it's not as, I guess, flashy.
You have a good point there.
Arkicide was pretty impressive.
Arkicide was cool but looked kind of like, "Oh, okay, I'm a "I have a body suit, I have all these bot pieces, and then I'm gonna put some lights on it.
" I'm totally crossing all fingers for everyone.
Like, there's so many great things about each of our costumes in different ways.
Yeah.
What do you guys think of Carl's Haunt costume? I did like the fact that he did put forth the effort to have everything sculpted.
And he layered silicone over a body suit, which is, you know, a fairly advanced technique.
Honestly, I've seen some better Daleks.
However, that voice.
Everything was fabricated by hand.
That took some time.
God, I'm so nervous.
I can't contain my nervousness, guys.
Miguel's Shazam costume.
I liked it.
I did like that he did use different types of material to fuse a costume all together as a whole.
And with all the armor pieces, but he was able to move really well.
Yes.
So do you guys feel like we've made a decision on the winners? Do you feel like we picked winners? - I think we're good.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yep.
- All right, let's go announce.
Contestants, are you ready to find out who's the winner? Here we are.
Moment of truth.
You guys ready? I don't know what's gonna happen.
I just I hope we do well.
The honorable mention that I chose was Doctor's Worst Nightmare.
Congratulations.
Hi, next up, my honorable mention.
It will go to Shazam! Get it, boy, get it! Wow! Look how well he moves in that suit.
I'm so excited.
Screw the stairs, I leap onstage.
This is my time to shine.
I'll take it.
Shazam! Recognition from Yaya, that's a big deal.
It just shows that I was able to bring it hard.
All right.
For the honorable mention Radagast.
You're my favorite wizard.
Well done.
I picked someone.
I've been at costume contests a long time, and I've never seen the green ranger present himself in that light.
The way you presented it, that's where I decide my honorable mentions go to you.
The best male hero, we decided on And Jesse and Carl await the judges' final decisions.
For best male hero, we decided on Thorin.
Congratulations.
There was a lot of really, really, really damn good costumes, so to have all the judges say that you're the best one out of 'em, it's cool.
Congratulations.
Getting that validation is awesome.
And from here it's just onward to bigger and better things.
The best female hero Liz as Hawkgirl.
No more trickery.
Show thyself.
Lady Loki, you have won best female villain.
For best male villain Arkicide.
You got it.
You got it.
Congratulations, man.
Looking good.
All right, now who's ready for best in show? It was unanimous Heart's beating.
Heart's beating.
Getting a little sweaty.
Between the four of us, and we decided on The Dalek.
No one will be exterminated tonight.
- Whoo - Hoo! When I didn't hear my name called, I was close to tears.
I was.
But at the same time, I know that I did my best work.
And I am completely happy with my costume, and I am excited that my friends won.
Hey, guys, great job.
- You did good.
- I thought you were gonna win.
- Ino, I thought - No, no, it's okay.
I was just happy that the guys won anything, okay.
I think it's only a matter of time before Carl's on that winners' podium as well.
Man, but I wanted you up there with us.
It was great to compete against Jesse.
He is such a high-caliber cosplayer.
Now I'm just relaxing and waiting to see what the girls bring to the next competition.
- Let's go celebrate.
- All right, man, absolutely.
- I think drinks are on me.
- I think drinks are on you.
Okay.
While the guys were off at the individual competition, the girls were hard at work finishing their costumes for tomorrow's group competition.
But they decided to take a break to find out how the guys did in the individual contest.
- Hey! - Hey.
- Oh, my goodness! - Look at these winners.
- What? - Oh, my God.
You're holding an award.
Yes.
Yes, indeed.
Whoo, that's awesome.
We all decide to come back to the hotel and celebrate the boys' wins.
Dude, the contest, these guys kicked ass.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah.
I was really nervous to go onstage just hearing, like, how big the crowd was.
This guy got an honorable mention.
- By Yaya.
- That's awesome.
'Cause he was awesome.
It feels great that everyone's congratulating me about winning.
I am a little bummed because I know how much work I put into it.
Carl has a lot of potential.
Through this experience, he learned a little bit of humility, but I think he has a great attitude towards this.
All right, guys.
Well, I'd like to propose a toast to the boys.
Tomorrow, it's all about the ladies.
- Yeah! - To the boys.
It's all about the boys tonight.
Has concluded, but wizard world is far from over.
Day two features the convention's biggest event, the group skit competition where team Los Angeles and team Atlanta go head-to-head, and Yaya hosts the show with her most challenging costume to date.
Enira might be the most ambitious costume I have ever attempted.
Yaya han! No, no! Hello, I'm not ready.
Please cut the music!
I feel like I have to do something really crazy.
Whoa.
This con is all about redemption.
I'm really gonna put my heart and soul into this, 'cause this is a costume that I've wanted to do forever.
Oh, [Bleep.]
.
This is gonna be the actual Captain Hook Hook, but it's a claw.
Oh, yeah.
That looks awesome.
I still have to make my dress, all of my accessories, and my sandals.
You might have to start thinking about going onstage without me.
Are you serious? New Orleans, how you doing tonight? I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
I hope that I can bring that presence to the stage and sell Shazam.
The next stop for our Heroes of Cosplay is New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tens of thousands of comic book fanatics converge at the massive Wizard World event to celebrate the best in pop culture.
This is no ordinary convention.
There will be not one but two costume contests.
More than 200 of the country's most talented cosplayers will enter, and the competition will be fierce.
In Atlanta, it's just 10 days until the New Orleans con, and Yaya and Brian are already feeling the pressure.
So in New Orleans, I will be judging their costume contest, but New Orleans actually has two contests.
So the next day, they have a group competition that'srequires skits, and they've asked me if I could host it.
New Orleans comic con is going to be crazy busy for me.
I am judging the individual costume competition, and I'm hosting the group competition, which means I need two new costumes.
- Do you remember lineage II? - Mm-hmm.
There's one that I just fell in love with her, but it's really, really crazy.
- Oh, my goodness.
- Yeah.
Her name is Enira.
She is called The Banshee Queen, so she's kind of, like, fairy queen of the underworld.
I am just obsessed with her design.
I think the only way that I can achieve this silhouette and be accurate is if I learn to walk on stilts.
If I don't have the stilts, it's not gonna have that beautiful flow dramatic effect, yeah.
In my entire 15 years of cosplaying, I have never, ever built a costume around stilts, but I'm so intrigued and excited about the possibility of learning something new that I am up for the challenge.
That's pretty intense.
In Los Angeles, Holly, Jessica, and Chloe are planning for the Wizard World New Orleans group competition.
Well, we actually should figure out what we want to do.
Let's do something weird.
- We're in New Orleans, baby.
- Let's get crazy.
- Let's flaunt it.
- Let's get crazy.
All right.
Let's do something weird.
When I was in grad school, I did a lot of research on Peter Pan.
Maybe Peter Pan is this metaphor for aging, mortality.
What better place to do something not just, like, traditional cosplay, but just something that's almost an original design by us.
I like this.
Okay, wait.
You love Guillermo Del Toro, right? I do.
I do.
So what if we did it, like, in the style we did Peter Pan in the style of Guillermo Del Toro? Like like Peter Pan's labyrinth! - Oh, my God.
- That'd be awesome.
Did you just make that up right now? That would be such are you serious? - Maybe.
- Peter Pan's labyrinth.
It's my grad school research and Guillermo Del Toro, who is one of our favorite directors.
He makes movies like Pan's Labyrinth, Pacific Rim.
He puts an awesome creepy spin on things, which I think is great.
Last year, we had the honor of designing a creature suit for one of his projects, and he actually wore it.
It was an amazing experience.
Who would you want to be? I want to be Peter Pan.
Who would be Wendy? I guess I could be Wendy.
I just want to do something scary.
Like, really scary.
I could crossplay as Captain Hook.
Guillermo Del Toro always makes movies with monsters in them.
So our idea is making Captain Hook into a monstrous character between worlds.
Are we good? Is this our plan? We're going to New Orleans? We're gonna be Peter Pan? - Cosplay.
- Yeah.
It's gonna be awesome.
In Austin, Texas, Carl is exploring a local costume shop for supplies for his next costume.
He's planning to compete in the individual competition at Wizard World New Orleans, which is just eight days away.
Oh, man, these are nice.
At the last convention, I was the mannequin from Silent Hill, and I didn't do so well.
Whoa.
I have no idea what I'm even looking at.
I feel like this con is all about redemption.
I'm looking to do a costume a cosplay.
I'm thinking about doing the comic book character Haunt.
All right, cool.
Haunt is an image character from comic book.
He's very venom and spawn-like.
It's very sinewy and lots of muscles and things.
- Mm-hmm.
Okay, cool.
So I'm looking to get some really good materials for that.
For the face anyway, I think that it would definitely be cool to make some prosthetics for the nose and then paint it up with black and white makeup.
I'm being ambitious again, but hopefully it works.
- Thank you very much.
- Yeah, no problem.
- Good luck.
- Okay.
In Portland, Jesse is going to Guardian Games to hang out with some cosplay friends and talk costume ideas for New Orleans.
The Portland League of Geekery is a group of cosplayers in Portland.
We build costumes together, share and swap ideas.
The idea I have in my head, I think you'll be pretty excited about.
I think I can pull off Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit.
Thorin Oakenshield is the king under the Lonely Mountain.
His costume is super, super detailed.
There's all these little parts and intricacies that I absolutely love as a fabricator.
I want to showcase all of that.
- Are you doing that in metal? - I think so.
How many layers does he have on? So best I can figure, there's an outer tunic, armor, a waistcoat, and then this fur coat.
Nice.
What do you think? Do you think I can pull off old Thorin right there? Definitely.
In queens, New York, Miguel is just beginning work on his costume for the Wizard World New Orleans individual competition.
Hey.
Hey, man.
Yes.
For New Orleans' Wizard World, I say I bring Shazam.
That looks amazing.
I chose to do Shazam from Injustice.
It's a video game.
Shazam is Superman's enforcer, and he gets things done.
In designing Shazam, Miguel is taking lessons he learned from making a previous costume.
Because I already made Nightwing, if I did something like that, now I know what to do and what fabrics to use.
So I'm thinking I'll stick with the vinyl, and I'm actually gonna use a different type of leather 'cause this leather was too thin.
I have a lot of work to do to get this costume right.
In Miami, I dropped the ball.
Are you sure you didn't just run out of time to paint 'em? Hopefully, I can recover in New Orleans.
- Yeah, so we'll see.
- Okay.
I'm pretty confident that it'll be finished.
Yeah.
In Atlanta, Riki and Katie are meeting to discuss their plans to compete in the group competition.
So we're both gonna do Soulcalibur for New Orleans, right? Yeah, yeah.
Riki and I have been friends for a while, but this will actually be the first time that Riki and I are competing in a group together.
Competing as an individual is different from competing in a group.
Groups can be really fun, but they can also be a little bit more stressful.
Let our cosplay powers combine.
Ahh, ee.
Hello.
- Hi.
- Hey! What are you guys doing over in this neighborhood? How are you, my ladies? - Good, how are you? - Oh, my gosh.
I decided to drop by and see what Riki and Katie are planning for New Orleans, and I brought Indra along as well because she's hunting for inspiration.
We're thinking about competing in the group competition as Soulcalibur characters.
- Oh, wow.
- That's awesome.
So I'm gonna do Sophitia.
Sophitia is a very elegant and beautiful character, so I'm really excited to try and make something really pretty but also really strong.
I picked Tira just 'cause I like the design, punk renaissance costume that she has.
It's kind of cool to do something different.
Normally, I do prim and proper characters.
- Are you going to New Orleans? - Yeah.
Are you gonna compete in the solo competition? I actually don't know.
Well, then you should totally join us.
- Yeah.
- Do you want to? You won't be in separate contests if you, you know, are in one group.
Yeah.
I think if Indra pushes herself competing in a group competition like New Orleans I think it would be good for her.
We could have a brunette, a blonde, and a redhead.
- Do it.
- Yeah.
I guess that'd be cool.
Yeah.
Yay! I am super excited to be competing with Riki and Katie.
I've always wanted to do Soulcalibur, and Hilde is actually on, like, my bucket list of costumes that I want to finish.
All right, so it's decided.
Soulcalibur group.
I'm so excited for you guys, yeah.
- Ohh.
- Yay.
You know there's a skit required, right? - Required? - Yep, yep.
If you do this group competition, you have to do a skit.
If we finish the costumes, and if we have time, then we'll come up with a skit.
I really think that we should have, like, at least something just in case.
I mean, if we're gonna spend so much time on these costumes trying to, like, get the best that we can, like, out of it do you have music? Do you have Yeah, I think we can do a choreographed walk-on 'cause that's like it's something that's not a skit, but it looks good on stage.
I'm worried that Riki and Katie aren't concerned about the skit.
We're really, really short on time, and I'm kind of rolling with the punches.
Bring it in for an Atlanta bomb.
- You guys ready? - Atlanta bomb, yeah.
And - Boosh! - Boom! Fricking nervous.
What if I fall? Oh, you'll be fine.
Whoa.
I don't know if this is gonna work.
I'm putting a veto on metal right now.
New Orleans, let me hear you.
Listen to that crowd.
I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
In Atlanta it's just 5 days out from Wizard World New Orleans.
Not only does Yaya have her upcoming con commitment, but she also has a new business opportunity to help expand her brand.
It's a possible role in a web series.
- Hi, I'm Yaya.
- Dave Di Pietro.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Same here.
Museum replicas produces all kinds of amazing armor and period costume pieces, but I'm here specifically to talk to them about the web series they're producing called Archangel.
You guys have an amazing space.
We're really excited to have you here today, because we have this Archangel project, as I told you on the phone.
He's basically our Batman of the steampunk victorian era.
Yeah.
And we're asking you to play the villainess.
Her name is Jasmin Synn.
She is the warlord of London.
She controls London from her sky ship.
I get a sky ship? You get a sky ship.
And a throne, I might add, so What? I get a throne? - Holy cow.
- That's pretty awesome.
Rather than just, you know, ask you to be in this movie Yeah.
We thought maybe if you could design the costume itself.
Wow.
To be approached by museum replicas, one of the biggest costume companies in the USA, that is a huge deal for me.
As Yaya heads into the studio, she gets a sneak peek at the Archangel character on her way to discuss creative direction with the lead designer.
Let's talk about these feathers.
Something that comes up and flares to maybe frame the back of your face and come down around.
Right, I kind of like that it's asymmetrical.
Seeing ideas for this Jasmin Synn costume has me feeling like when I first started designing.
If I'm able to get started on this costume quickly, there might be a chance I could even finish it in time for the comic con in New Orleans.
Okay.
You want to shoot for that then? I would love to shoot for that.
- Fantastic.
We're excited.
- I love that idea.
I'm so excited about this.
In Los Angeles, Chloe, Holly, and Jessica begin designing their creepy Guillermo Del Toro-inspired Peter Pan costumes.
Holly is working on Captain Hook, while Chloe will be Wendy.
For Jessica, it's Peter Pan.
- It's starting to look similar.
- Oh, yeah, it's really cute.
You know, it's starting to come together.
And then you got your leather shoulders and stuff too.
Yeah.
My interpretation of the character Peter Pan is that he's dressed in his christening gown.
And he's covered in cobwebs and leaves because he has to survive in Neverland.
Look, you can see that I pinned things.
So it's kind of like right now this is just a rough Oh, yeah.
That looks awesome.
For my Captain Hook claw that's gonna look like a monster claw Mm-hmm.
I kind of just made it, like one giant, like, Kaiju Claw.
So this is gonna be the actual Captain Hook hook, but it's a claw.
So 4 inches divided by four pleats equals 1 inch per pleat, which means each pleat is 1/2 inch.
And science just happened.
Whoa.
I want to make sure Wendy looks very innocent and ethereal and almost angelic.
So I am going to hand sew an antique Edwardian Nightgown.
But sewing is not one of the things that I do very well.
- Did you sew it together? - Yes.
- Oh, no.
- It's okay.
It happens.
In Austin, Carl begins work on a new costume for New Orleans, the antihero Haunt from the popular comic book series.
I'm gonna have to sculpt the entire torso piece from here down to the abs.
So you have to have a very basic knowledge of muscles.
I'm really stressed right now.
I decided to use a high-grade silicone for this, which I've never used before.
Oh, [Bleep.]
.
Need to make sure that it looks right, so I'm worried.
With Wizard World New Orleans only a few days away, Yaya is tackling her biggest challenge yet.
Not only she making two complicated costumes, but for Enira, The Banshee Queen, she is learning to walk on stilts.
Fricking nervous.
What if I fall? Oh, you'll be fine.
Make sure everything is really nice and tight.
Okay.
I'd rather not have circulation Than fall.
Enira is a queen.
She is imposing.
She is tall.
So the only way to do her justice is to be on stilts, but I have no idea what I'm doing.
Holy cow.
I feel like Bambi taking his first steps.
Every time you, like, lift your foot, you're lifting, like, 5 pounds or something.
It's like having big weights on you.
[Bleep.]
.
Okay.
In New York, Miguel goes over the final plans for his Shazam costume with his girlfriend Gina.
As much as I would like it all to be leather Okay.
We need to make that out of spandex so I can have mobility.
For my Shazam costume, I'm making the bodysuit out of leather, pleather, vinyl, and spandex.
I'm not sure how yet to do the collar.
It's looking so solid though so far.
But the problem is right now, we just have to flatten this part out.
Okay.
I only have tonight to finish this, but I feel like I can pull it off in time.
We can definitely iron that out.
But I definitely need to restitch, 'cause, look, some of the stitches broke.
Okay.
So we need to do that.
In Portland, Jesse is on a mission to sculpt the small plate metal pieces to create the armor for his Thorin Oakenshield costume.
We'll have to cast hundreds of pieces to fill out the armor correctly, and to get that done right, I'm going to have to start by carving each one of those out of Clay.
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo Once I have the Clay forms, I'm going to have to cast those in silicone, and once the silicone's dry, I'm gonna pour them in metal.
Pulling off Thorin Oakenshield is a really wonderful way to up my game.
In ottawa, I made the Mandarin's rings out of pewter.
New Orleans is a great opportunity to showcase everything I can do.
For this costume, I'm gonna put together metal, leather, and even fur, and just bring it all in.
- Hey, you.
- Hey.
So, uh I don't know if this is gonna work.
Why? Well, here, hold out your hands.
That's that's gonna be really heavy.
Yeah.
After casting several pieces in pewter, it's pretty clear that this is just gonna be too heavy to wear.
I'm putting a veto on metal right now.
I don't want to wear that and 900 layers of fur and felt and everything else.
I feel like I sort of took on too much.
I just can't even think straight anymore.
You might have to start thinking about going onstage without me.
Are you serious? New Orleans, how you doing tonight? This crowd is so damn loud.
It's a little nerve-racking.
I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
Back in Atlanta, Katie, Indra and Riki are busy on they Soulcalibur costumes.
They are competing on day two of Wizard World New Orleans in the group competition.
What are you working on now? Well, I'm working on what is essentially her, like, shoulder straps, you could say.
Okay.
It's what connects the costume from you know, to this side to this side, and what holds up the chiffon.
For my Sophitia costume, I need to make a belt, a dress, lots of accessories, and a sword and shield.
This is gonna be pretty cool though.
I'm excited to work with you guys.
I just wish it weren't under, you know Dire circumstances.
We'll be fine.
With Katie, she is a perfectionist.
She wants to make sure everything's done and done right, so she can kind of fall behind because of that.
Yaya mentioned a skit.
All we'll do is, we'll do a choreographed walk-on, which is essentially where we just plan out our movements on stage, make 'em very theatrical.
I've only ever done one skit ever.
- Really? - Ever.
- Yes.
- No, no, it's fine.
It's fine.
I've got this.
I've got this.
Katie suggests for us to do an elaborate walk-on instead.
I don't know how serious she's taking this.
Yeah, I think, like, the idea of a skit is, like, recorded dialogue and, like, props and backgrounds.
No, we don't have time for that.
Wow.
In Portland, Jesse realizes the pewter armor pieces he has made for his Thorin costume are far too heavy, and with only one day left before Wizard World New Orleans, he must think of an alternative before it's too late.
I'm gonna have to switch out and use resin.
It's not what I really would like to do, but it's gonna be what's gonna make the costume created correctly.
The resin that I'm gonna use is gonna set in white, which means I'll have to paint it and I'll have to weather each piece to make sure that they look like they're metal.
Meanwhile, in L.
A.
, while Jessica is out picking up last-minute supplies, Chloe and Holly continue working on their Peter Pan's labyrinth costumes.
- This dang dress.
- It looks amazing.
Oh, thank you.
Look how nice those pleats are.
Oh, thank you.
So I just have to sew across here, add the flutter sleeves, hem it, and then hopefully all I think it'll be done.
Well, I have been working on the headdress, and it's pretty much done, but I put a ship inside of it.
Oh, that's awesome.
Oh, yeah, look at that.
So you can kind of see, I put, like It's just so cool.
It looks like it's riding on the waves of feathers.
Yeah, that's awesome.
I want to kind of take a different twist on Captain Hook, and what we're doing is, we're really designing a really big headdress with a lot of feathers, a pirate ship on it, something really impressive and big to show the judges that this character means business.
I'm thinking today I might make the shoulder pads and kind of blowtorch some candles on a foam shoulder and just kind of see what happens.
So we just have to get to work.
All right, shall we? Yeah, let's do it.
I am having so much fun with Holly and Jessica, but I'm a little insecure about my skill in sewing.
I don't want to be the weak link.
There we go.
In Atlanta, while Riki and Indra are making progress on their Soulcalibur costumes, Katie is falling behind.
I still have to make my dress.
I still have to do all of my accessories and my sandals.
How are you guys doing? Oh, I did finish my chest piece though.
Oh, yeah, you should check out her chest piece.
- Whoa.
- Check it out.
- That is intense! - She's been holding out.
- Yay.
- That is intense.
That looks sort of, like, soft.
Is it worbla? Yeah.
For the Hilde armor, I am using worbla, which is a thermal plastic.
It's almost like cardboard in texture.
I am also using some of my leftover fabric from the Ahri tails that I did before.
I had to, like, paint everything 'cause I didn't have, like I don't sleep.
I don't sleep.
When I see Indra's costume, I was, like, really impressed.
I have so much left to do.
I am not feeling good about this, guys.
Like, how not feeling good? I'm just frustrated 'cause, you know, will it hurt the team if I look so bad and so rushed? We'll figure it out.
You guys get your costumes done.
Then, you know, then maybe you can help me, but I'm not gonna take away from your costumes.
I don't think it's very realistic for the girls to finish their costumes and then help me finish mine.
I know how much work is left, and there's no way it'll be done before we leave tomorrow.
If it gets to that point, then you might have to start thinking about going onstage without me.
Are you serious? Oh, yeah.
It's the night before Yaya is set to leave for New Orleans, and she's falling behind on her two elaborate costumes, the Jasmin Synn creation for the web series, and Enira for hosting the group competition.
Hey, Brian? Yeah.
Can you come in one second and just tell me what you think? Normally, when I debut a costume at a convention, it is for myself.
But this time, the Jasmin Synn costume is for the web series Archangel, so I have a lot more pressure on me to get the costume right.
I'm so brain-dead, I can't even tell anymore.
Ugh.
I'm so tired.
All right.
So this one's good.
- Yeah.
- Nearly done.
- Mmhmm.
- What about Enira? Really, the only things that are finished are the sleeves and the corset.
I started on a bunch of things, but I just don't know if I can finish it all.
Like, I feel like I sort of took on too much.
I am incredibly stressed and anxious.
There is a lot of pressure on me to host the contest, but Enira has the most pieces out of any costume I've ever made.
I just can't even think straight anymore.
And the convention center is already packed with talented cosplayers and fans.
The individual competition is just hours away.
- Hello.
- Hi.
At the hotel, Yaya arrives bright and early Thank you so much.
With Miguel and Carl close behind.
Hey, pretty boy.
Do I even want to know what's in the box? You do want to know what's in the box.
Is that what second place looks like? Oh, no, this is what first place looks like.
Oh, okay.
I just got here to New Orleans, and I finally see miggy.
His mohawk looks fantastic as always.
We want to help each other in this contest because we didn't do so well at the last one.
I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately.
I can tell, like, the bags under your eyes.
I have a whole bunch to get done before the competition, and I'm kind of stressing out a little bit.
Let me just get something to drink, and I'll meet you up in the room.
Yeah, yeah, I'll see you up there.
I'll see you there, man.
Holly, Jessica, and Chloe check in a day ahead of the group skit competition, but before they finish their costumes, they head up to visit their Portland pals.
- Hey, good to see you.
- The whole gang has arrived.
- The whole gang has arrived.
- Yay! What's going on? What costumes are you guys making? We're doing Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit.
- Oh! - From The Hobbit? - Yeah.
Yeah.
- Are you serious? That's so cool.
The armor bib's, like, over there.
What? - Whoa.
- Oh, my God, dude.
Wait.
Hold on.
Is this all cast resin? - Wow.
- Yeah.
Look how many there are.
Oh, it's I know, it's so cool.
- Can we touch it? - Yeah, of course.
- I already am touching it.
- Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
- Yeah.
- That's awesome.
Have you guys met Carl and Miguel yet? I think so.
They were down in the lobby, right? - Yeah, mm-hmm.
- Those were those two guys? - They're like the Wonderkids.
- Really? Like, they they're really talented.
But they're like, they're young, but they're, like, super talented.
- They're new.
- Yeah.
So you've met them before? How were their Yeah, Carl made a giant nine-arm costume in Miami.
He was hunched over the whole time.
Holy [Bleep.]
.
- And he was it was big.
- Intense.
- It was like this.
- It was intense.
He had to have an office chair, and he was like Yeah, that's what he looked like.
Kudos to him, man, 'cause he was in pain.
He owned it, yeah.
That makes me a little more worried about running up against them tonight.
The nerves are setting in.
This is a big costume, and hearing about the competition doesn't really help that much.
Speaking of going onstage, as of right now - Get to work.
- I got a costume to build.
- Yeah, you work.
We'll go.
- We'll see you later.
- We'll get out of your hair.
- Good luck tonight.
- Bye, guys.
- Yeah, good luck.
Bye, guys.
All the high fives.
Back in the room, Yaya is preparing for two competitions.
With her Enira costume unfinished and still in pieces, she puts on Jasmin Synn to judge the individual competition, which is quickly approaching.
You excited about today? You know, this is, like, an original costume that I designed.
So it's not a popular character.
There is a lot of pressure on me for the Jasmin Synn costume to be well-received, because the web series would get a big boost from the promotion of it, and museum replicas would distribute this costume worldwide if they liked it.
I'm just thinking, "what if the fan reaction is really cold?" Like 'cause they don't recognize it.
Yeah, like, what if they're just like, "eh, okay.
" All right, baby, this is as good as it gets.
You look amazing as usual.
Thank you.
I'm really happy that Jasmin Synn is very well-received on the con floor.
Just, like, such a big fan of yours.
Thank you.
Back at the hotel, Miguel and Carl suit up, confident their costumes will make a lasting impression with the judges.
Yeah, totally going to the ball.
It's important for Miguel and I to redeem ourselves on this one.
We have to go at it 100%.
I love my costume.
It couldn't have come out better.
I can't wait to just bring it on that stage.
If you need any help, just let me know.
My Shazam costume is literally the best thing I've ever made.
It is fantastic.
It feels great.
I'm just pumped.
You are sexy.
Ah! With only minutes to go, Jesse hurries to transform into Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit.
Pulling out Thorin Oakenshield as a costume really encapsulates our skill set all in one costume.
It's one of my favorite costumes to date.
- You're gonna rock it.
- Your hard work too.
With all of the heroes now in costume, the cosplayers are lining up, and the contest is about to begin.
Backstage, I'm feeling pretty good about my costume, but I'm still a little worried, a little stressed.
New Orleans, how you doing tonight? I am your host, Eric "The Smoke" Moran.
New Orleans, let me hear you.
Listen to that crowd.
This crowd is so damn loud.
It's a little nerve-racking.
I'm so sweaty, you know.
I'm just really nervous.
I'm already sweating pools of just sweat.
But I am excited, and I just want to nail it.
It's competition time at Wizard World New Orleans, our individual competitors are suited up and ready for battle.
Coming to the stage, your first judge, Ryan Frye! Ivy Doomkitty! The Green Ranger himself, Jason David Frank.
She is one of the baddest cosplayers around.
I give you, ladies and gentlemen, Yaya Han! Are y'all ready to see the first contestant? Coming to the stage, War Machine.
Deathstroke.
From The Hobbit, Radagast The Brown.
Lots of stomping.
Lots of stomping.
Stage presence for this costume is very, very important.
I need to really grab the embodiment and make sure that it's just Thorin screaming out and resonating to the entire audience.
Next up, here's Thorin Oakenshield.
Quick question for you.
How long did that take? Lots and lots of time.
Probably 200 hours, maybe a little bit more.
Wow.
I'm feeling really, really good about this, but it's anybody's game at this point.
There's a lot of stiff competition here.
Here's Lady Loki.
The Evil Green Ranger.
I'm really trying to kind of redeem myself at this con.
Backstage, I'm feeling pretty good about my costume, but I'm still a little worried, getting a little sweaty.
Like, I have to psych myself out, you know, just shake it up.
I still haven't actually figured out what I'm doing up on stage yet.
Here's Haunt.
I'm walking down the stage.
I strike a couple poses I definitely can't do in most of my costumes, and I feel amazing.
I feel great.
How hot is it in that costume? It's actually one of the most comfortable costumes I have ever made.
I can I can do squats in this.
Oh! There you go.
Awesome, thank you.
Let's give it up.
The Haunt! Whoo, that felt good.
The Doctor's Worst Nightmare on Bourbon street.
Harley Quinn.
The mysterious creepy Arkicide.
The cosplayers of New Orleans have really brought their "A" game.
There are a lot of amazing costumes on stage.
The Dalek! Have you seen the doctor? There are a ton of doctors.
Children of Gallifrey will be exterminated! I've been waiting backstage for a long time, and I'm tired.
And I hope I hope that I can bring that presence to the stage and sell Shazam.
Coming to the stage, Shazam, Captain Marvel.
I step onstage, the crowd erupts.
Everyone's screaming, "Shazam!" And I'm focusing, and I'm just bringing the essence of how bad-ass Shazam is.
I'm feeling good.
I took everything I learned the hard way from Miami, applied it tenfold, and I'm just grateful that I was able to show I know what I'm doing, and I'm the boss right now.
Right now, the judges are gonna be breaking it down, and they're gonna be deliberating.
When judging, I'm looking for a combination of great craftsmanship and performance.
So the decision is incredibly difficult.
I really liked the Harlequin with the big, giant hammer.
She just came out, did a great performance.
I was thinking the Lady Loki.
Yeah, I had Lady Loki on mine.
- She put on a good show.
- Yeah.
They both did.
- Thorin.
- Yeah.
I really liked Thorin.
That really stood out to me.
But I thought it's not as, I guess, flashy.
You have a good point there.
Arkicide was pretty impressive.
Arkicide was cool but looked kind of like, "Oh, okay, I'm a "I have a body suit, I have all these bot pieces, and then I'm gonna put some lights on it.
" I'm totally crossing all fingers for everyone.
Like, there's so many great things about each of our costumes in different ways.
Yeah.
What do you guys think of Carl's Haunt costume? I did like the fact that he did put forth the effort to have everything sculpted.
And he layered silicone over a body suit, which is, you know, a fairly advanced technique.
Honestly, I've seen some better Daleks.
However, that voice.
Everything was fabricated by hand.
That took some time.
God, I'm so nervous.
I can't contain my nervousness, guys.
Miguel's Shazam costume.
I liked it.
I did like that he did use different types of material to fuse a costume all together as a whole.
And with all the armor pieces, but he was able to move really well.
Yes.
So do you guys feel like we've made a decision on the winners? Do you feel like we picked winners? - I think we're good.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yep.
- All right, let's go announce.
Contestants, are you ready to find out who's the winner? Here we are.
Moment of truth.
You guys ready? I don't know what's gonna happen.
I just I hope we do well.
The honorable mention that I chose was Doctor's Worst Nightmare.
Congratulations.
Hi, next up, my honorable mention.
It will go to Shazam! Get it, boy, get it! Wow! Look how well he moves in that suit.
I'm so excited.
Screw the stairs, I leap onstage.
This is my time to shine.
I'll take it.
Shazam! Recognition from Yaya, that's a big deal.
It just shows that I was able to bring it hard.
All right.
For the honorable mention Radagast.
You're my favorite wizard.
Well done.
I picked someone.
I've been at costume contests a long time, and I've never seen the green ranger present himself in that light.
The way you presented it, that's where I decide my honorable mentions go to you.
The best male hero, we decided on And Jesse and Carl await the judges' final decisions.
For best male hero, we decided on Thorin.
Congratulations.
There was a lot of really, really, really damn good costumes, so to have all the judges say that you're the best one out of 'em, it's cool.
Congratulations.
Getting that validation is awesome.
And from here it's just onward to bigger and better things.
The best female hero Liz as Hawkgirl.
No more trickery.
Show thyself.
Lady Loki, you have won best female villain.
For best male villain Arkicide.
You got it.
You got it.
Congratulations, man.
Looking good.
All right, now who's ready for best in show? It was unanimous Heart's beating.
Heart's beating.
Getting a little sweaty.
Between the four of us, and we decided on The Dalek.
No one will be exterminated tonight.
- Whoo - Hoo! When I didn't hear my name called, I was close to tears.
I was.
But at the same time, I know that I did my best work.
And I am completely happy with my costume, and I am excited that my friends won.
Hey, guys, great job.
- You did good.
- I thought you were gonna win.
- Ino, I thought - No, no, it's okay.
I was just happy that the guys won anything, okay.
I think it's only a matter of time before Carl's on that winners' podium as well.
Man, but I wanted you up there with us.
It was great to compete against Jesse.
He is such a high-caliber cosplayer.
Now I'm just relaxing and waiting to see what the girls bring to the next competition.
- Let's go celebrate.
- All right, man, absolutely.
- I think drinks are on me.
- I think drinks are on you.
Okay.
While the guys were off at the individual competition, the girls were hard at work finishing their costumes for tomorrow's group competition.
But they decided to take a break to find out how the guys did in the individual contest.
- Hey! - Hey.
- Oh, my goodness! - Look at these winners.
- What? - Oh, my God.
You're holding an award.
Yes.
Yes, indeed.
Whoo, that's awesome.
We all decide to come back to the hotel and celebrate the boys' wins.
Dude, the contest, these guys kicked ass.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah.
I was really nervous to go onstage just hearing, like, how big the crowd was.
This guy got an honorable mention.
- By Yaya.
- That's awesome.
'Cause he was awesome.
It feels great that everyone's congratulating me about winning.
I am a little bummed because I know how much work I put into it.
Carl has a lot of potential.
Through this experience, he learned a little bit of humility, but I think he has a great attitude towards this.
All right, guys.
Well, I'd like to propose a toast to the boys.
Tomorrow, it's all about the ladies.
- Yeah! - To the boys.
It's all about the boys tonight.
Has concluded, but wizard world is far from over.
Day two features the convention's biggest event, the group skit competition where team Los Angeles and team Atlanta go head-to-head, and Yaya hosts the show with her most challenging costume to date.
Enira might be the most ambitious costume I have ever attempted.
Yaya han! No, no! Hello, I'm not ready.
Please cut the music!