Emerald City Comic Con 2024: Link (Breath of the Wild)
** 2nd Place: Cosplay Central Crown Championship BEST IN SHOW **
Have I mentioned that I’m a Zelda fan? I haven’t played every game in the franchise…I have a hard time sitting still enough, long enough, to play through most games. Of the games I’ve completed Breath of the Wild is my favorite. Considering I love glowing swords, intricate bows and arrows, and special effects, I’m honestly surprised it’s taken this long to cosplay Link.
⋆✴︎˚I haven’t had an official photoshoot for this cosplay yet˚✴︎⋆
If you’re thirsty for all the details about how I made this cosplay, check out my competition build book hyperlinked below. I’m a detailed record keeper, so this book is full of WIP images, explanations, reference art, etc. For the judges, I also created a pop-out for quick reference, which is included below.
My goal with this cosplay was singular: reliable wearability. I wanted to be able to (1) put on the cosplay by myself, (2) wear it comfortably on a convention floor, and (3) not stress about things going sideways. I was mostly successful. I can get this cosplay on in about 15 minutes without any assistance from a handler and the shoes (which I fabricated) have orthopedic foam insoles.
⋆✴︎˚Seriously, I need to book that photoshoot˚✴︎⋆
I focused on growing my craftsmanship skillset for this build: making clean pieces, producing reliable, functional special effects, incorporating thoughtful textures, and engineering with mechanical ingenuity. Link has a lot of gadgets in the game, so it took some time to figure out what I wanted to build and then how to make it. 90% of this cosplay worked flawlessly, but I had a catastrophic failure with the soles of the shoes (which I sculpted) when I was on the convention floor. I’m so grateful for my community of makers – while I was panicking, in tears, and about to melt down, the folks in cosplay repair fixed the problem. They were/are AMAZEBALLS.
⋆✴︎˚Tunic, belts, and accessories, oh my!˚✴︎⋆
I was accepted into the ECCC Crown Championships of Cosplay; an achievement in an of itself. The cosplay talent in my part of the country is staggering – it feels really special to be able to share the stage with so many other incredible builders.
Photo Credit: Girl with the Blue Hair Photography
I was the first person to walk the stage, which was nerve wrecking – I know somebody has to go first, but it’s a tough gig. I choose to bring my Master Sword and it worked perfectly – lighting up right when I hit my center pose. And I walked away with 2nd Best in Show.
⋆✴︎˚ECCC 2024 Crown Championship Contest Winners˚✴︎⋆
⋆✴︎˚Outside the show, grateful and exhausted˚✴︎⋆
It took over a year to build this cosplay. It was some of the most intense design, engineering, and iterative work I’ve ever done (really, you should read about it in my build book). Yet, considering the complexity of the cosplay, it’s surprisingly comfortable to wear – and I plan on wearing it a lot in the future.
⋆✴︎˚I love all the LEDs that are incorporated into this build˚✴︎⋆
⋆✴︎˚｡⋆. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. .⋆｡˚✴︎⋆
