The best of QuakeCon cosplay

Not only is Yes Man, a modified securitron in Fallout: New Vegas, one of my favorite side characters, but this costume is one of the most impressive pieces of engineering I saw at QuakeCon. More of a puppet than a costume, Yes Man is balanced on a large single tire and piloted from behind by a puppeteer. 

I love a lot of little details about this Goon cosplay—especially when the cosplayer did a spot-on recreation of the Rage 2 box art. Smears of color, spots of paint and blood, torn cloth and chains: it's a lot of layers that make up one good costume. Plus, her hair looked sturdy enough to stab someone. 

The only set of Power Armor I saw all weekend was also a shining example of the form: dirty, rusty, and clunky beneath a spiffy, cherry-red paintjob. This armor looked extra dangerous armed with a heavy-looking Super Sledge. 

There were a few Doom Marines, Doom Slayers, Hell Walkers, and other demon-slaying protagonists walking around QuakeCon, but this one was the best. Not only is he suitably filthy and dirty, but the cosplayer shaved his head in the iconic zig-zag haircut. That's full commitment to the bit, and I respect it. 

This Nukatron, which appeared in the Nuka World add-on for Fallout 4, is not only an extremely impressive costume but it won the grand prize at the QuakeCon cosplay contest. Its creator is John W. Stout: you can see more here Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

This cosplayer nailed the look of Nuka-Girl's crop-top space suit and glass bubble-helmet from Fallout 4. The combination of pin-up girl style and retrofuture costuming really sum up the attitude of the Fallout universe. 

Commander Keen is an id Software deep cut from 1990, but it still gets some love from fans every year at QuakeCon. The costume is deceptively simple, but little details—freckles and the horrified expression—make it great. 

This costume gets extra points for speed: the Marauder is a new enemy in Doom Eternal, which was only just revealed in detail at E3 in June.

Unlike all of the other characters, cosplayer Yvonna Lynn didn't focus on a single character or even a single game. Each quarter of her costume represented a different game from a different Bethesda studio: Morgan from Prey, Emily from Dishonored, Frau Engle from Wolfenstein, and Nyx from Quake Champions. Creative!

You can view Yvonna Lynn's website here.