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Episode Recap: War Games
The cosplayers must take inspiration from video games to create a character set in futuristic warfare.
In this week’s Cosplay Melee…IT’S WAR!!
Video game war, that is! For Phase One, each contestant will choose their favorite bellicose video game, and build a weapon for their character. Not only must this weapon fit in the aesthetic and mythos of their chosen game, but it must be a part of the character’s exoskeleton – they have to build it into their bodies!! (Or, make it look like that’s the case.)
Steven loves his kids, and Destiny, so he creates a plasma cannon for his warlock necromancer character as fast as he possibly can. Becka has always been drawn to Star Trek, so her character, One, hails from the Star Trek Online universe. She is a creator and a destroyer of life with an orb that can harvest and transform all of the energy and knowledge in the universe.
Cait has a quick 'n’ dirty style of crafting costumes, so she throws together a flame thrower from Overwatch with no measuring at all. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to take her to Phase Two. She is eliminated. Josh LOVES armor, and is known in the cosplay world for his detail work on all things warlike, so he lets his creativity fly and wins this phase! His prize is first pick of three different LED packages. Oh, did we forget to mention that the characters will have to dazzle with the lights on as well as off?
The judges told Becka that they’d like to see more detail in her work, so she focuses on that. But she’s getting a little antsy, since she has to finish all of that stuff – runes, detail painting, shading – before she lays down her lights. She has a cool idea for a visor with lit-up bars that shift as if measuring the atmosphere around her, but LeeAnna tells her to make sure she can see in that thing!
Josh is so psyched to be fleshing out this character, based on Liberty Prime from Fallout, a massive character with soft teal lights illuminating his exoskeleton. Christian, who has designed characters for Fallout, gives Josh a huge burst of energy when he tells him he’s on the right track, aesthetically. Approval from on high!
Steven created an eerie skeletal mask for his necromancer character. When he dons it, blue lights peer out from the eye holes, and his long, white wig glows with an otherworldly halo. Although some of his armor is not as complete as Josh’s, the transformation from gentle papa to puppetmaster of the dead is so remarkable, and downright scary, the judges award him the win! He’s going to take that cash prize and treat his family to a well-deserved vacation.
