Dragon Con is known for its celebration of fantasy, science fiction, arts, comics, gaming, and so much more. It's one of the largest events in Downtown Atlanta, and this labor day weekend was no different, bringing in over 80,000 attendees, many of whom donned amazing and intricate costumes. Cosplayers filled the halls of the five host hotels and walked the streets for five days of events, parties, and photo shoots.
Our favorites could be found at the gaming tracks, and we've compiled a list of our top picks. These are some of the best video game cosplays at Dragon Con 2018.
All images listed were used with cosplayers' permission. Support them by following available links.
(Photo: Irradiant Cosplay)
Photographer: World of Gwendana)
Angel Griuffian offered one of the best Overwatch cosplays as McCree at the convention. Her costume consists of the classic BAMF belt, poncho, and cowboy hat. She's also rocking his weapons of choice, a revolver and stun grenades. The actress/cosplayer is also using a custom arm prosthesis and bionic hand, similar to the beloved gun slinger's.
She states, "I’m so happy I got the opportunity to #cosplay another awesome badass limb different character. As a person with a limb difference, it’s always exciting when there’s a character that 'looks like me' on tv, film, video games, and comics."
Angel is an advocate for representation of amputees in media and uses this cosplay to show her appreciation of inclusive games like Overwatch.
Check out her cosplays and other work at her Instagram.
(Angel Griuffian: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/aannggeellll/)
These dedicated Destiny fans gathered at Dragon Con to celebrate and share their intricate cosplays. Each one created sets of detailed armor for the con and fit into the three classes: hunters, titans, and warlocks.
Darren (left), expressed how the Destiny community, made visiting Dragon con "feel like coming home every time."
They look like they've stepped right out of the game with customized helmets, cloaks, shields, pistols, and rifles. All four have their own unique color scheme while still being authentic to the game.
These cosplayers deserve a victory cheer emote for their meticulous work.
(Cosplayer: Davdia - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/davdiaz01/)
Artist and cosplayer, Annie Dean, reminded players of one of the best PlayStation exclusives by That Game Company, Journey with her Dragon Con cosplay.
In just two weeks, what began as scattered red cloth in the dining room soon turned into this carefully crafted costume. Her cloak, mask, and hood are identical to the iconic traveler and emulate every detail of the character. Despite the Georgia heat, she pulled off this costume well.
We look forward to seeing more work from this artist at future cons. See her cosplays and artwork in the link below.
(Cosplay and Image: Annie Dean - https://www.instagram.com/annie.dean/)
Warframe has a massive following of players, one of which could be spotted a mile away at Dragon Con. This colossal "Golden Warrior" could be seen above the crowds with his hefty golden armor and red accents. It's surprising that the cosplayer could even move underneath the weight of his plated armor while carrying a heavy weapon, a guandao, as well.
Though the suit is massive, the cosplayer himself was incredibly tall, making him the perfect candidate for this Warframe costume.
Crowds erupted in cheers for this Pac-Man costume at the video game costume contest, despite the fact that he was in the audience as a viewer rather than a contestant. The judges questioned why he would not enter the competition himself with such an elaborate and entertaining cosplay. He simply responded with a built-in Pac-Man game over sound effect, creative miming, and the flashing LED glowing ghost on his chest. Instead of joining the stage, he enjoyed the show from the seats, but he received just as many photo op request as the contestants after the show.
It's unsurprising that we found this cosplayer roaming the isles of classic arcade games, considering the run and gun arcade gameplay of Cuphead.
Fans will immediately remember the dreaded King of Dice as a formidable opponent when seeing this con-goer and have flashbacks to rage inducing deaths at his hands.
The cosplayer recreated the the antagonist's 30's cartoon style look with white gloves, large eyes, and a cartoony grin. He even emulated his gestures and movements from the game as he strolled through the arcade. We're just happy he's posing for photos instead of shooting a deck of cards at us.
The con was filled with some amazing sets of armor, including this Dark Souls Silver Knight costume. Kyle, the designer and cosplayer, crafted this piece over multiple months of rigorous work. The process required shaping foam, which was dipped in plastic. Finally he sprayed it with filler primer and began sanding for hours.
Kyle enjoyed his time as this dreaded enemy from Dark Souls and loved the reactions from players who recalled dying from his bow in Anor Londo.
Along with his amazing Dark Souls cosplays, Kyle performs as a knight in jousting tournaments at renascence festivals.
See more of his work on his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolfkingmusic/
What better place for a Sidon costume than the Georgia Aquarium. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild fans were thrilled to see their favorite shark prince brought to life and walking past creatures of the sea. The prince of Zora is a positive and supportive companion for Link during his journey through Hyrule, quickly making him a fan favorite. This cosplayer does the character justice with her detailed makeup, shark headdress, and Zelda garb.
Married Makers, a cosplaying duo, both work with 3D printing to create high-quality props and armor -- like these Diablo 3 Crusader and Hunter costumes. Each costume is impressive from a distance, turning the heads of attendees and video game fans around the con, but when closely examined viewers can notice the fine intricate designs of the armor pieces. The sheer volume of these costumes and the attention to detail put these cosplayers on the top of our list. Check out their other work and props at the following links.
(Married Makers: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/marriedmakers/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marriedmakers/ )
Jennifer, an artist and cosplayer, surprised us with her incredible talents using makeup, body paintwork, and costuming that brings the cartoonish and harsh lines of Borderland's art style to life. Her cosplay of Gaige, a high school student who created the dangerous robot, Deathtrap, caught many Dragon Con goers' attention. This is just one of Jennifer's many cosplays that utilizes her art and makeup skills to recreate memorable video game characters.
(Cosplayer and Image: GoldVesterCosplay - https://www.instagram.com/goldvestercosplay/ )
These Dark Souls and Bloodborne fans teamed up to recreate one of the best and most recognizable memes.
Celestial_Requim (right) wears a custom suit as the Atorias the Abyss Walker and holds hands with his fellow Dark Soul's cosplayer, Johnny Goodwill (Sunlightofastora).
Johnny, an artist, prop maker, and cosplayer is in a full set of armor as an Elite Knight from Dark Souls. Abyss Walker watches in jealousy as his disloyal Elite Knight eyes a Hunter Bloodborne cosplayer, Antique_Doll.
All three put countless hours into their detailed and intricate costumes of leather, chainmail, plated armor, and weapons. Not only do they don some of the most interesting costumes at the convention, but they also had one of the best collaborative photos.
Check out their work at the following Instagrams.
(Elite Knight - John Goodwill: Sunlightofastora -https://www.instagram.com/sunlightofastora/ )
(Abyss Walker - Celestial_Requiem - https://www.instagram.com/celestial_requiem/)
(Hunter - Antique Doll - https://www.instagram.com/antiqued_doll/)
Another fitting display for the Georgia Aquarium were these little sisters and big sister Bioshock cosplays. The cosplayers accurately depict the eerie, atom collecting, little sisters of the undersea world of Rapture. Big Sister, the protector of the little sisters, is also quite detailed with needles at her arms and a deep diving helmet. The three garnered quite the applause at the aquarium's costume contest, and it was well deserved.
One of the most challenging cosplays to pull off from Overwatch is Bastion, but this cosplayer took on the challenge. He handmade his massive omnic suit with Ganymede, Bastion's bird companion, on his shoulder. The cosplay is equipped with an internal cooling system and working LED's, which shift between colors to express his mood. His back carries Bastion's large turret and his right arm is also a gun. We were shocked when this costume didn't win at the video game cosplay competition, but it definitely was a crowd-pleaser.
This towering Anthem cosplay is one of the first of its kind and definitely one of the most impressive costumes at Dragon Con 2018.
Cosplayer Elliot, from the couple cosplay group, Irradiant Cosplay, attracted tons of attention with a massive bright yellow Javeline suit from the upcoming EA and Bioware game, Anthem. Bioware even showed their appreciation of the costume by reposting the images on their Instagram.The third person shooter RPG is set to come out in February 2019, but this costume made players even more excited for its release.
Irradiant's carefully crafted gear and elaborate suit make the it one of our favorite video game cosplays. We can't wait to see more from this cosplaying duo.
(Photo: Irradiant Cosplay - https://www.instagram.com/irradiantcosplay/
Photographer: World of Gwendana -https://www.instagram.com/worldofgwendana/ )
This year's Dragon Con brought talented artists, fans, and cosplayers together to celebrate multiple facets of nerd culture including film, literature, comics, TV series, video games, and more.
We're all sad to see the convention come to a close but are excited for what the next year will bring. We'll be anticipating more amazing costumes from various player based communities in the meantime.
Thank you to all the wonderful cosplayers and artists included and not included in this list.
Published: Sep 5, 2018 10:15 pm