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You're bound to look sharp in these Earthbound duds

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 27th 2009 at 1:45PM }

We may raise our snobby noses as we pass by cosplayers at conventions, but once a year it becomes socially acceptable for us to embrace our inner theater student and don a disguise. Being people who spend quite a bit of time writing about or playing video games, we tend to err on the side of nerdery when it comes to Halloween outfits (shocking, we know). The folks at Fangamer coax this urge all the more when they release a full outfit of Earthbound's hero, Ness, on their site. Considering the striped "Shirtness," the accompanying "Earth Bounder" (the yo-yo) and the guarantee that it'll arrive before Halloween, the $54.99 asking price seems almost acceptable. Almost.

[Via Kotaku]

Plants vs. Zombies to march in NYC Halloween parade

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 17th 2009 at 5:00AM }

This is a just a warning to any zombies considering joining the New York City Halloween parade. Pictured above are some of the plants that PopCap will be sending to march in said parade. As you -- the zombies -- well know, these plants will most certainly assure your demise. Well, except the wall-nuts. They'll pretty much just stand there and let you eat them, but we love 'em anyway. They're just so damned cute. Dumb, but cute.

TGS 2009: Here's our obligatory cosplay gallery

by Xav de Matos { Sep 26th 2009 at 4:30PM }

When the Tokyo Game Show opens its doors to the public, you can expect two things: hour-long waits to play anything; and cosplay fanatics. Enjoy this collection of images we took while waiting in a line ... and then uploaded while waiting in a line. Where is this line going? Who knows! It's TGS 2009's first public day and we're going to wait here like gentlemen, dagnabbit.

Gallery: TGS 2009: Cosplay Gallery

Jack Black cosplays as Eddie Riggs at VMAs

by Justin McElroy { Sep 14th 2009 at 8:30AM }

Okay, sure, he may have looked ridiculous dressed up as Eddie Riggs at last night's MTV video Music Awards, what with that awful wig and foam arms that would have been laughed off the set of Popeye. And yeah, we know he's got a stake in the project's success, but you have to love Jack Black's commitment to Brütal Legend, one that we wish all big-name celebrities could share when they appear in games of their own.

Seriously though, Jack, let's have a talk about that wig.

PAX 2009: Cosplaying in Seattle

by Kevin Kelly { Sep 10th 2009 at 1:45AM }

In the aftermath of PAX this year, we almost forgot to post one of our favorite event pastimes: a cosplay gallery. We've been too busy slapping on facemasks and hazmat suits to quell the nerd flu outbreaks. There weren't nearly as many people dressed up as last year, but we're hoping that Tycho and Gabe add a full-on costume contest to the mix next year for PAX East or West.

Did you see that Big Daddy costume we posted about? Well, that guy wasn't at PAX ... but we wish he would have been. Still, there were some impressive efforts up in Seattle this year, and you can take a gander at them in the gallery below. And yes, we've included a photo of War's horse Ruin from Darksiders, because he was a mechanical bull who just happened to be wearing a giant, killer horse skin. Cheater.

Anyhow, knock yourself out in the gallery below. After all, we braved a freakin' virus to get these pictures for you.

Gallery: PAX 2009: The Costumes

How to build a Big Daddy costume, in many complicated steps

by JC Fletcher { Sep 9th 2009 at 5:44PM }

Eager to spend a few hundred hours toiling away on some heavy clothes that'll probably hurt like crazy when you wear them, and will definitely make you look like a grotesque monster? Yeah, okay, we are too. This BioShock Big Daddy costume built by master game prop fabricator Harrison Krix is just that great.

Krix thoughtfully provided step-by-step instructions so you can attempt to fabricate your own Big Daddy. It's mostly made from an insulation-foam and cardboard skeleton, covered with expanding foam, with one of those domes from a ceiling-mounted security camera for the head and custom-molded resin details. And then there's ... the articulated cardboard-and-PVC animatronic hand.

Okay, maybe the fact that he's shown how he did this doesn't necessarily mean we can do it.

[Via Sidequesting; Thanks, Dali!]

Cosplay record attempt fails at GamesCom, Guinness believes TGS attempt could 'smash' record

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 24th 2009 at 7:00AM }

If we had a "sad panda" costume, we'd put it on right now for this post. The GamesCom attempt to break the Guinness world record for "The Largest Gathering of Games Characters" failed this weekend -- but it wasn't an "epic fail." Joystiq spoke with Gaz Deaves, Guinness' video games records manager, who told us 311 cosplayers were present, which was 65 short of the record set at London MCM Expo on May 23 of this year.

Deaves explained that once the line was cleared, organizers didn't think it would be fair to keep the folks waiting while they went looking for more people on the show floor -- a good thing, considering the heat already caused our pity meter to go into overdrive for the folks hotboxing inside the Tetris blocks and full Yoshi costumes. The organizer's eleventh-hour change of venue from the South Hall entrance to a random location between two halls in the enormous complex probably didn't help costumed revelers attend the event either.

The next attempt to break the record will likely be London Games Festival or MCM Expo, which have applied the last two years, successfully breaking the record on both occasions. Deaves tells us, "However, the big competitor who has yet to apply is TGS. I expect Tokyo could smash this record; however, until they've been officially counted they can't claim it."

[Image: Koelnmesse]

Gallery: GamesCom cosplay (Guinness attempt)

Cosplayer gathering at GamesCom attempts to break Guinness record

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 22nd 2009 at 10:00AM }

Over 400 cosplayers are expected to gather and break the Guinness record for "The Largest Gathering of Games Characters" today at GamesCom. We were looking forward to telling you if they broke the MCM London record of 376 characters ... but we forgot one little detail: Um, all those people need to be officially counted and that seems to take a really long time.

With a couple Guinness representatives on hand, each cosplayer has to write down the name of their character and respective game. Following that, a photo gets taken and then they get to bake in the summer sun -- waiting for everyone else to be counted. We felt really bad for the Tetris pieces! ~~We'll update when we get the official count.~~

Update: It failed.

Gallery: GamesCom cosplay (Guinness attempt)

Comic-Con 2009: Gordon Freeman and Ezio cosplay

by Kevin Kelly { Jul 24th 2009 at 1:00AM }

During Preview Night at Comic-Con, we spotted two of the best video game costumes so far: Half-Life's Gordon Freeman, complete with Gravity Gun, and Ezio from Assassin's Creed 2. For a minute we thought we'd miraculously spotted former Joystiq blogger (and amateur Gordon Freeman lookalike) Ross Miller, and were set to pounce on him, but thankfully we noticed at the last minute and averted disaster. Click Gordon for a larger version, which includes his employee ID, and head beyond the break for Ezio.

There's more cosplay going on here than at a LARP convention, and we'll be bringing you a lot more. Click through for Ezio and his blades, and stay tuned.

Gallery: Comic-Con 2009: Costumes

Continued →

Bioshock cosplay melts our heart, drains our ADAM

by David Hinkle { Jul 15th 2009 at 5:00AM }

Flickr user deficientatlife has some great shots of a cosplaying duo, featuring the Big Daddy and Little Sister from Bioshock you see above. The photostream even includes some step-by-step photos of how it all came together. Turns out, work is involved. We thought they just cut off your hand, put a big drill on it, and sent you on your way. Shows how much we know!

[Thanks, John!]

We want this Fallout 3 Brotherhood of Steel costume

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 1st 2009 at 11:59PM }

OK, we're sure this has been floating around the tubes for a bit, but we're more than happy to devote some attention to the very cool Brotherhood of Steel costume you see above. Made out of awesome and love (probably some foam and paint in there too), the beautiful homage to Fallout 3 was apparently completed back in March.

After seeing this, we don't feel so bad about losing that auction for the 7'10" Brotherhood of Steel statue. We'd go to work wearing this costume if we could.

[Thanks, Gawk]

Those ears look totally fake: a collection of Zelda cosplay

by Xav de Matos { Jun 25th 2009 at 6:15PM }

Turkish website Nintendocu.com has a gallery of fantastic Legend of Zelda cosplay compiled from various photography websites and gaming events. The primary character in action is Princess Zelda herself, with cameo appearances from Link. In one of the images (above) Zelda and Link can be seen locking lips, which we're pretty sure jumps the shark from "dress playing" lore to "blue" fan fiction. It's especially "blue" if you've got a thing for plastic ears.

[Via GoNintendo]

Silent Hill: Not your mother's cosplay

by Richard Mitchell { May 19th 2009 at 12:01AM }

The word "disturbing" is not often far removed from the word "cosplay." You'll frequently find them situated together in very close proximity, as in: "Look at that grown man dressed as Captain Falcon; that's kind of disturbing." Fairly innocent, right? The connotation we would associate with the Silent Hill costumes pictured above is a little more direct, as in: "Those Silent Hill costumes are disturbing." Given the arc of the franchise though, we suppose that's the point.

Seen at Anime Central 2009 (photos by Judith Stephens) the costumes are frighteningly accurate recreations of the both Pyramid Head and a nurse from the Silent Hill series (and are based on the film versions of those characters by the looks of things). Hit the source link for lots more pictures, and possibly a few nightmares.

Those with weaker stomachs would probably be better served by the Pyramid Head snowman, which is almost cute.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Watch your socks, this Samus cosplay will knock them off

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 12th 2009 at 1:30PM }

Cosplay is a double-edged sword. There's the scary edge, of course, with some less than savvy design work and implementation (if you care to put it so kindly). Then there's the awesome side, the side where we see things like this. Add this blog post to the second category. Frankly, this Samus Aran costume is about as awesome as it gets. We mean that in the true sense of awesome too, as in "to inspire awe." Seriously, if you look at some of these pictures, you'd think they were screenshots from a new Metroid game.

The costume was made by Thaís Jussim, a Brazillian cosplayer who goes by the alias Yuki. She's created plenty of costumes -- which can be viewed at her website -- but this one takes the cake. It weighs about 23 pounds and contains 73 LEDs. Add a Nerf blaster into the arm cannon and it would be perfect.

[Via GoNintendo]

Source - Metroid Database interview with Thais Jussim
Source - YukiCosplay.com

Most realistic cardboard Halo Battle Rifle you'll see today

by Dustin Burg { Feb 16th 2009 at 3:55PM }

In need of a replica weapon for an upcoming cosplay convention? If so, we recommend getting in touch with Cosplay.com member "featherweight," who meticulously crafted the Halo Battle Rifle seen above. From what we gather after looking through his gallery of BR construction photos, the entire replica was built from nothing but sheets of cardboard.

Not only is this Battle Rifle a perfect tool to seduce most Cortana cosplayers, but it's probably an effective weapon to defend a cardboard Earth against an invasion of cardboard Covenant.

[Via halo.bungie.org]