job•ber. n. – performer whose sole purpose is to lose with the express purpose of making their competitors look superior. See professional wrestling terminology.
Despite the fact that jobbers are undoubtedly important in the world of wrestling, as well as all other applications in which jobbers can be utilized, the bottom line is that nobody really wants to be a jobber. Sure, jobbers are still granted exposure, experience, and in many cases actually still paid, but when the day is done, they’re portrayed as losers. Especially at younger ages, nobody wants to be losers.
I watch Heroes of Cosplay. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise given the fact that I still go to occasional conventions, and take hundreds of pictures of people in costumes. I also know most of the Atlanta cast, but that doesn’t influence my opinions of the show or how I feel about the things they say on television, or the things that are depicted as realities that I might question. Also, it’s not like any of them probably actually visit my brog unless there’s a chance that I might have a picture(s) of them.
But I do watch the show. Reasons would be the fact that I enjoy seeing people in costumes, inspiration for places to possibly visit in the future. But it really boils down to the fact that the show is presented like one gigantic trainwreck, injected with gobs and gobs of manufactured drama and false conflicts. Regardless, it’s still entertaining for me to DVR and watch.
Despite the fact that I enjoyed the first season, I have to admit that I was surprised that it got a second season. Not because I thought it was so much of a trainwreck that it didn’t warrant a second season, but in this day and age of television, and the general impatience of the game of ratings and instant gratification, frankly I’ve seen amazing shows get shit-canned in spite of monumental support. Regardless, I was pleased, because it just meant more trainwreck television to enjoy in the future.
So, the biggest difference with season 2 is the fact that many new cosplayers were thrown into the pool of “Heroes.” Some I happen to know, some I recognize, and then a few faces that I have never seen or heard about. At first, I thought that it was a bad idea, because it had the potential to turn the show into a too many cooks in the kitchen kind of scenario, with not enough screen time for all the faces that wanted it.
But in reality, all it did was create a larger roster of cast members to be depicted on camera as defeated, sad-panda, and mopey, when they fail to win any sort of recognition of notoriety from each successive convention they go to.
Since every convention has a finite number of awards and prizes to give out, in essence by adding more people to the cast of HoC, they’ve opened up the door for more of them to be, jobbers.
And the sadist in me finds a sadistic satisfaction in watching people be glorified for 35 minutes every episode, only to be torn down by subjective judging criteria, and end just about every episode in defeat.
I’m not going to lie, out of all the new cast members, it’s the dudes that I enjoy seeing job the most. Not because they’re dudes, and I inherently feel competitive towards other dudes, but it’s their lack of humility and on-screen cockiness that simply makes me want to see them lose, and when they inevitably do, I lean back in my chair, set my beer down, and laugh heartily as the camera shows them trying in vain to hide their disappointment, their eyes speaking bibles full of sore loser-y words.
And truth be it, they simply don’t make that great costumes. What gets me about some of the people on the show is the great lengths they go to, to be unique, which usually results in them picking characters that people either don’t know, don’t give a shit about, or both. Seriously, Mandarin? Haunt? Original shit? The mannequin monster from the shitty Silent Hill movie that made Super Mario Brothers the movie look like an Oscar-worthy film?
SPOILER ALERT: and I thought the best part about it all, was when all of them jobbed to a fucking Dalek “costume.” I mean seriously, there are like 200 Daleks that wander from convention to convention in the United States; they all look the same, they’re nothing unique, but everyone loves the shit out of them, because there’s such a fervent Doctor Who fanbase out there. This, is where I’ve probably laughed the hardest throughout the entire show’s span.
So yes, this season of HoC has been about as entertaining, if not more entertaining, with their decision to add more cast members. With more Heroes available, and the number of accolades not increasing, it just creates more opportunity for more of them to simply be, jobbers.
The Jobbers of Cosplay.
