Hello Guild Wars 2 fans! PAX Prime 2015 has come and gone, and having been there, I can honestly say I was floored by the amount of dedication some of the fans in the Guild Wars 2 community show to the game. Many players flew to Seattle, Washington, for the convention just to swing by the Corsair booth and chat with the devs, but some people took even more steps to put smiles on the faces of both the fans and the developers of Guild Wars 2. These, of course, were the cosplayers. While there weren’t as many Guild Wars 2 cosplays as I had hoped there might be, the cosplayers that did decide to embrace the game truly impressed me, which is why I am going to showcase a few of them below!

Enayla Cosplay

To kick things off, let’s take a look at a rather jaw-dropping project by Enayla Cosplay. She put together a spectacularly accurate and meticulous asura outfit complete with (and I was astounded when I saw this!) a full-sized, to-scale golem counterpart! Moreover, she could even climb inside it!

The golem in question is the Massively Impressive Golem (MIG), which is involved in numerous quests during the asura personal story. According to her Facebook page, Enayla constructed the golem from multiple pieces of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA foam) set around a PVC pipe base. The construct had to be moved in pieces and assembled on location, making it all the more impressive that the display went relatively smoothly and without incident. Her armor, which also happens to be a highly impressive and well-crafted item, is the medium Inquest set from the Crucible of Eternity dungeon. Additionally, she wielded a Ley Line bow complete with shimmery blue aura!

Enayla’s entire PAX cosplay setup is a stunning work of art and a heartening display of dedication to Guild Wars 2 and its community, and I sincerely hope her work inspires more cosplayers to come out to conventions and share their art and love of the game with us.

Pineapple Overseeing Officials [POOF]

Among the most dedicated members of the Guild Wars 2 community at PAX were several members of the guild Pineapple Overseeing Officials [POOF]. After parading around the PAX show floor with a replica Guild Heroes Banner that guild co-leader Alex handmade herself the previous year, [POOF] unveiled their main event at the Guild Wars 2 community party on Friday, August 28th. As a gift to ArenaNet, Alex carved and painted an astoundingly exquisite replica of Caithe’s Bloom Dagger, typically wielded by Destiny’s Edge member Caithe. The photo below is of [POOF] presenting the dagger to the ArenaNet employees at the party.

“There was definitely a moment of realization when I was browsing through the wardrobe at all the sword and dagger skins that Caithe’s dagger was the only correct answer. It was simple enough to finish in less than a week, and it was part of the massive reveal that leads into Heart of Thorns,” says Alex, recounting her inspiration for the project. The dagger took Alex 14 hours to make over the course of four days. Alex has also compiled full galleries of her journey creating both projects, which can be found here (banner) and here (dagger).

[POOF] currently plans to return to PAX Prime next year, possibly in even greater numbers! While they have not decided what to make for the developers next year, the discussion is ongoing, so keep an eye out for something extravagant from [POOF] at PAX Prime 2016!

Seattle Cosplay

Another spectacular cosplay effort at the convention was that of Seattle Cosplay (Anna). Her setup featured a superbly detailed set of light Luminescent armor, which is a variation of the Carapace armor set that is attainable through a series of lengthy in-game achievements and collections. She wields a Verdant Dagger, and tops the entire outfit off with a purple commander tag. According to Anna, the outfit took her three months to complete, and is based on her necromancer.

The Commandos

Finally, we have the commando duo Josh and Michael. Huh? Commandos? But those doesn’t have anything to do with Guild Wars 2! In truth, the commando is more heavily tied to the original Guild Wars than it is to Guild Wars 2, but does have ties to both games. The commando profession was released by ArenaNet as their 2011 April Fool’s joke. Concept art and information detailing how the profession would work in Guild Wars 2 were released by ArenaNet, and they actually placed a quest chain in the original Guild Wars that allowed players to take on the guise of a commando. The commando wields modern weaponry such as riot shields, advanced firearms, and grenades.

Not pictured are the swords that Josh and Michael created to go along with their outfits. One of them wielded what appeared to be a Chaos Greatsword, while the other wielded a large wooden Twilight, one of the three legendary greatswords in game. At the community party on August 28th, the duo managed to get their Twilight signed by most of the ArenaNet staff and guests present.

Cosplay really is a significant part of the Guild Wars 2 community. It’s one thing to gawk at the incredible fashion setups players come up with in-game, but to see them brought to life tangibly is a completely different experience. With nothing but great things on the horizon for Guild Wars 2, I am very confident that the growth the game community is going to experience over the next year will lead to even more Guild Wars 2 cosplayers at conventions the world over!