What is Cosplay?

Cosplay, short for "costume play", is an art form in which participants wear costumes (often elaborate and painstakingly detailed) and accessories (in the case of World of Warcraft, accessories often include weapons) to represent a specific character. Cosplayers usually gather at public events such as Blizzcon.

Although Cosplay originated in Japan, it is becoming increasingly popular in western culture. Some cosplayes portray a character of the opposite gender (this is know as crossplay). Besides World of Warcraft characters, it is common for cosplayers to dress up as characters from Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Porter, and from Japanese animes. The appearance of cosplayes at events is a popular draw for photographers, who upload many of these photos to the internet. Cosplayers pose for photographers in designated areas, and random people are discouraged from touching cosplayers without permission. Some cosplayers specialize in sexual roleplay.

Warcraft Cosplay?

In WoW cosplay, women usually cosplay as night elves and blood elves because they are attractive and viewed as very desirable by both males and females. Cosplayers sometimes dress up as famous NPC's (non-player characters) from WoW, such as Tyrande Whisperwind and High Inquisitor Whiteman, or as generic class/race combos such as night elf priests.

The most popular costumes (based on anecdotal evidence) are blood elves, followed closely by night elves. Manu people like to dress up as their characters. The most popular place to find Wow cosplayers is the annual Blizzcon event, in which hundreds to thousands of cosplayers attend. The Warcraft franchise has tremondously many loyal fans, and many show their dedication in the designs of their costumes.

Blizzcon

Blizzcon (short for Blizzard COnvention) is a yearly convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. The first Blizzcon was on October 28-29, 2005, and this year's Blizzcon will be held on October 22-23, 2010. About twenty thousand fans attend Blizzcon every year. Each guest receives a bag with a World of Warcraft in game item. In 2005, Murky the Murloc pet was given out; in 2006, the Murloc costume that players can dress their character as; in 2008, the polar bear with a riding murloc; and in 2009, Grunty the Murloc Marine pet was given out. It is currently unknown what the 2010 Blizzcon goody will be.

In 2010, the price to attend Blizzcon will be $150, but one can watch the online livestream for $40. One of the many reasons why Blizzcon is so popular is because there is a lot of attractive female cosplayers dressed as World of Warcraft characters. There are contests for the best costumes and the best dances. Other atttraction include Q&A panels with Blizzard developers, social events for fans and developers to meet each other, and previews of new and upcoming Blizzard games and tournaments. Blizzcon is held at the Anaheim Convention enter in Anaheim, California, from 10am to 10pm for two days (usually Friday-Saturday). All of the World of Warcraft expansion packs have been announced at Blizzcon. Blizzcon is broadcast on DirectTV and live internet stream. All purchasers of the live internet stream also recieve the exclusive Wow ingame item.