Behold, the greatest World of Warcraft cosplay ever

If there was one huge downside to BlizzCon 2021 being entirely online, it was that thousands of fans didn't get to experience the distinct joy of walking through the Anaheim Convention Center surrounded by some incredible cosplay. But even though the show was digital-only, Blizzard still held its traditional cosplay contest, and this year's winner wasn't just the best cosplay at the show—I'm pretty sure this is the most impressive cosplay I've ever seen.

You can see a video of the cosplay above, which is of Bolvar Fordragon, a Warcraft paladin with some very dry skin. He's one of the central characters in the new Shadowlands expansion and most well-known for sitting on the Frozen Throne after players finally killed Arthas, the Lich King, in Wrath of the Lich King. Here's a screenshot of Bolvar as he appears in game, and here's one of Blizzard's official art renderings of him just so you can compare.

Hartigan, the mastermind behind this costume, did an incredible job capturing all of the little details, like the smoldering flames that lace Bolvar's skin. Hell, the costume even puffs out wisps of smoke. That's nuts.

Over on Hartigan's YouTube channel, he explains that the costume takes 12 minutes to assemble and required 26 days (638 hours) to create. The muscle suit, armor, and hammer are all made with EVA foam, foam clay, upholstery foam, and latex and LEDs for the fiery glow. The end result is astounding—I was convinced the smoke was just a special effect added in post and not, y'know, real smoke.

I could gush about how good this cosplay is all day but I think you just have to see it for yourself. If you want, Hartigan's Twitter account has a lot more details and videos of the costume.

With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.