Meh.
For me, the interesting stuff was seeing how the protagonists actually planned put together the costumes, planned the skits, and the breadth of competition and what the other teams and individuals did. That was all awesomey goodness. Y'know, the actual doing of cosplay.
The uninteresting (or positively repellent) stuff was all the drama. Oh, the drama. The DRAMA. Backbiting. Dissing. Sudden dire illnesses and injuries. Worries (repeated, repeated worries) about "career" impact if the famous former cosplay champion didn't make a favorable comeback. The faux confrontations. The trash talking.
It was like watching Pro Wrestling, only with a comic book and video game motif. Oh, wait …
Not planning on seeing another season, if it gets picked up, unless they really change their approach.
Heroes of Cosplay | Syfy
The official website for Heroes of Cosplay.
I was actually impressed by how little drama there was compared to other reality competition shows I've seen. Of course, I would have preferred a straight documentary, focusing entirely on the costume-making.
Compared to other "achievement competition" reality shows of the sort we usuall watched, it seemed to have much more noise to signal.
Well, I'm comparing it to the ones I must endure at work. I don't voluntarily watch any others.
Yeah, I watched this show and, like you, thought the process was interesting, but was really turned off by the "manufactured drama".
That's my gripe with the whole "reality" genre, actually.
I realize they think they have to make it "compelling", but that's not "reality" for most of us.