What Is Cosplay? BlizzCon 2023’s Best Used The Most Surprising Materials
On November 3-4, BlizzCon made its triumphant return to the Anaheim Convention Center and cosplayers were not, ahem, playing around. The best BlizzCon cosplay was definitely worth writing home about, but if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’ll be asking “what is cosplay”?
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If you don’t know what BlizzCon is, it’s a two-day-long convention to celebrate all things Blizzard Entertainment, the video game developer behind titles like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo and more, and believe us when we say there are plenty of beautifully designed characters and worlds from which cosplayers can draw inspiration.
The best of the best cosplayers stood up on stage in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena during Community Night to showcase their skills in construction and creativity across three categories: Master Crafter, which celebrated the cosplayer who mastered two or more crafting techniques, such as leatherwork, embroidery, etc; Colossal Creation, which highlighted excellence in large-scale fabrication; Epic FX, which allowed cosplayers to show off their special effects skills; Dynamic Duo, which presented the best of couple costumes; and lastly Best in Show, which crowned the best of the best. So what exactly is cosplay? Allow us to explain.
What is cosplay?
Cosplay, a portmanteau of “costume play,” is a hobby where individuals dress up in costumes and accessories to represent a specific character from a wide array of sources, such as anime, manga, video games, movies, TV shows, comic books, and more.
It’s disputed whether cosplay actually originated in Japan or America, but the term “cosplay” was coined by Nobuyuki “Nov” Takahashi, the founder of the anime publishing company Studio Hard, in the early 80s to describe the costumes he saw when he traveled from Japan to attend WorldCon in LA.
Cosplayers often meticulously design, create, or purchase costumes to resemble the chosen character as closely as possible, sometimes even imitating their mannerisms and behaviors. The community is incredibly diverse, with participants engaging in different aspects of the hobby. Some focus on crafting intricate costumes, while others concentrate on accurately portraying characters through makeup, props, and acting. Additionally, there are cosplay competitions where participants display their costumes and performances, often judged based on accuracy, craftsmanship, and showmanship.
Cosplayers often spend months making authentic costumes and acting in character. They are usually experts on the characters they are portraying. Cosplay is a growing industry. For some, it’s a hobby. For others, it’s a year-round profession. Many cosplayers regularly make between $100,000-200,000 per year. There are four levels of cosplay in competition: novice, journeyman, master, or professional. The levels are based on the complete costume, makeup, speech, and mannerisms.
Best BlizzCon cosplay
BlizzCon 2023 had some truly great cosplayers, which were narrowed down to the best of the best during Community Night. The awards went as follows:
Best Mastercrafter at BlizzCon 2023
Best Mastercrafter went to Oshley as Denathrius—the creator and the former leader of the realm of Revendreth in World Of Warcraft—who said her favorite part of the project was her protective wear. The whole costume took three years! “I just love making armor,” she said. “Everything is handmade because I take such pride just building it completely from scratch and doing those tiny little details. I just love armor making so, so much and just the intricacy helped challenge me a lot which is what I seek in every cosplay.”
Best Colossal Creation at BlizzCon2023
The winner of the Best Colossal Creation at BlizzCon 2023 was Tiffany Gordan in cosplay as Lilith; the antagonist of Diablo IV and the demonic Daughter of Hatred. Dressed in a costume that took five months to create, Gordan said she “really enjoyed painting, doing all the patinas and working with paprika and salt to give a little spice to the cosplay,” she explained. Lilith’s epic wings were something particularly challenging. “I had to make them to be able to fly here [on a plane], so that was a little tricky. They’re a little heavy but they’re not too bad.”
Epic FX at BlizzCon 2023
The winner of the Epic FX title at BlizzCon 2023 was Anna Hogan as Jana Proudmoore, one of the finest mages in all Azeroth and the most powerful human sorceress alive in the World of Warcraft universe. “Working with fur is so much fun, it’s so fluffy and my dog loves it,” she said. The sword was the hardest part, she said, explaining that she used a vape pen within the structure so that it created a smoke. “It has a vape addiction,” she joked.
Most Dynamic Duo at BlizzCon 2023
Lauren and Neil Brasfield as Kor’kron Dark Sharman, the seventh boss encounter in the Siege of Orgrimmar in World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria. “We worked on the same part at the same time,” explained Lauren. “We started with the helmet because that was the hardest and if we could do that, we could do anything.” Neil said making the helmet was his favorite part of the costume construction, which took a total of 800 hours to complete. “The silhouette is so amazing; anyone who has raided Siege of Orgrimmar will see this and think, ‘Oh I remember that’.”
Best in Show at BlizzCon 2023
Best in Show, unsurprisingly, went to Tiffany Gordan as Lilith. “I just want to say thank you so much. This is my first BlizzCon and you’ve all been so wonderful here,” she said. On her Instagram, Tiffany shares all her blueprints with her fans so they can recreate her cosplay at home. “I got to meet so many of my online friends in person as well as make new ones and this was just amazing. Everyone was just so supportive the entire weekend and most everyone I met was super friendly,” Gordan wrote on Instagram. “As for the contest, thank you so much to the @blizzard judges as well as a huge thanks to the backstage crew of the show for helping me in Lilith through all the small areas.”
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