At PAX Australia this year a gang of Diablo cosplayers stalked the halls in search of blood. Blood donations, that is. As part of a drive organized by Blizzard ANZ and the Australian Red Cross, they dressed as the various classes of Diablo 3 and encouraged conventioneers to sign up to donate blood. It was very wholesome.
Among the cosplayers was Astrokerrie as a crusader from Reaper of Souls, complete with flail and shield. The set was one she'd made previously, the armor made of foam and Worbla thermoplastic, with stretch fabric for the tabard, and a length of pipe, plastic chain, and a ball for the flail. To update the set to match Diablo 3's season 11 rewards, she added candles to the pauldrons, made from Lumins foam clay and toilet paper rolls.
The original outfit took two months, but she says it didn't feel like work. "I was so hype the whole time," she says, "every time I made any progress it made me more keen to complete the whole thing."
The centrepiece is the shield, and Astrokerrie loves that being a crusader gives her the opportunity to wield one. "Shields just are cool," she says. "They look cool, they protect you. I love big ol' door shields because they are so extra, particularly with the big cross on it like the Crusaders."
The Diablo blood drive was a popular feature of PAX Australia, drawing crowds wherever they went. "Normally I get a few people pointing and wanting to take photos when it's just me on my own," says Astrokerrie, "but times that by four to five characters, all heavily armoured from the same game and its really a sight to see. Group cosplays are the best. It made the whole event so much cooler having all the classes there."
This isn't her only Diablo cosplay, as she's also done a barbarian, nor her first time teaming up with other Diablo heroes—at a convention in Singapore she posed alongside Vera Chimera, a demon hunter. "I'm a big Diablo fan," Astrokerrie says, "and a total sucker for girls in armour. I'd always wanted to make the crusader but held off until I felt I had the skills to pull her off properly. Totally worth it because it's now my favourite cosplay."
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