The 2012 year is almost over. Soon, it'll be time to get out those top hats and ring in the New Year. But many you don't want to wear a top hat. Maybe you want to wear something else. Like these folks.
Here is a look back at the year that was in cosplay, sans Kotaku's regular features Fancy Pants and Who Wore It Best.
The Ladies of Mass Effect Cosplayed Out of This Galaxy
Photographer Darrell, aka BGZ Studios, has collected some of the best Mass Effect cosplayers around and shot them, with wonderful results. More »
It's-a Me, Sexy Mario
If you thought porn star Ron Jeremy was the only sexy Mario, you are wrong. There are other Marios, sexy Marios who like to preen and pose for the camera in overalls and with mushrooms and fireballs. More »
Here's Some of the World's Best Cosplayers (Live and In Person!)
Tonight at the Tokyo Game Show, some of the best cosplayers in Japan-and around the world-gathered for Cosplayers' Cure Night.
It wasn't a competition or a contest to see who put on the best outfit (or the best show), but rather, a gathering of cosplayers-and members of More »
This Cat Cosplay Is Either the Cutest Thing I've Ever Seen or the Cruelest
This poor, totally adorable animal! Chinese micro-blogger Toshiya86 uploaded a series of "cat cosplay", featuring her feline Guagua and cardboard. This is the result. More »
Hipster Chell Was Inside Aperture Before You Even Knew About Aperture
When Megan was short on time for her costume for Otakon 2012, this is what she came up with. Hipster Chell. So good. The glasses and beanie may be what first draw the eye, but the kicker is the can of PBR that's powering the portal gun.More »
And Now, This Weatherman Will Read The Forecast In Elvish
It's sort of been unofficial Lord of the Rings week here at Kotaku, hasn't it? Guess everyone's just excited about The Hobbit.
This amazing video shows a weatherman in New Zealand going into full cosplay and reading the weather… in Elvish. More »
Skimpy Outfit Gets Lollipop Chainsaw Cosplayer Asked to Change Or Leave PAX Show Floor
Word is that Jessica Nigri, a big-time cosplayer hired to portray the protagonist of Lollipop Chainsaw, was asked to leave the PAX East show floor yesterday. More »
Zombie Iron Man Thirsts For Brains, Booze
I'd like to think that a zombie Iron Man, retaining at least some small part of Tony Stark, would shamble around searching liquour cabinets and bars. Any brains or human flesh he'd find there would be just a bonus. More »
These Guys Went to the Real DayZ Island, Dressed Up And Took Pictures
Zombie survival mod DayZ takes place in the nation of Chernarus, which sounds entirely made-up, but it's only mostly made up. The geography of the map is actually lifted from a real-world location, around Povrly, in the north of the Czech Republic. More »
It's Not Really Cosplay if You're Naked
Yesterday at an anime festival in Shenzhen, China, a cosplayer showed up dressed as a female spirit. Dressed? Did I say dressed? Silly me.
The cosplayer showed up as the Chinese apparition Nu Gui, but the crowd that gathered was very real. More »
The World's Saddest Cosplay is a Real Downer
If you've ever been to Hollywood, you've seen them: the low-rent "cosplayers" wandering around the Walk of Fame, stopping constantly for photos with those not put off by their often shabby outfits.
These types are the focus of a collection by LA photographer Nicholas Silberfaden, who wanted to use... More »
This Is Probably The Oddest (and Most Awesome) Cosplay Trend Right Now
This week on Twitter, cosplayers have been posting photos with the following theme: "If you put cosplay outfits outside the bathroom, it looks like the character is taking a bath."
Japanese bathrooms are different from Western ones. More »
This Firefall "Cosplay" Kicks All Kinds of Armoured Ass
To help shill their upcoming Firefall, Red 5 Studios is employing two models to play the part of the game's characters at press events and shows. One is cosplayer Crystal Graziano, who Red 5 is also sponsoring for a full year. More »
How One Photographer Conquered Chinese Cosplay
A few weeks ago Kotaku showed you some cosplay photos from photographer Mengjie Luan. Meng, a 29 year-old web editor, has been snapping off pictures of Chinese cosplayers over the last 5 years. More »
Say Hello to the Cutest Master Chief
This shot of the world's cutest Halo cos-player popped up on IGN Deutschland's Facebook feed last night. It was making the rounds at least a few weeks before that. More »
Eerily Accurate BioShock Infinite Cosplayer Gets Job Appearing on Actual BioShock Infinite Stuff
Turns out we weren't the only ones impressed by the "lifelike" imitation Russian cosplayer Anna Moleva could do of BioShock Infinite's Elizabeth. The game's creators, Irrational, were too.
So impressed, in fact, they offered her a job, which means she'll be appearing on stuff like BioShock... More »
This Company Punishes Employees with Power Rangers Embarrassment
A recent thread on various tardy penalties for Japanese companies turned up this jewel: At Japanese IT company ValuePress, employees who are late must dress up in a full body, Power Ranger (née Super Sentai) type outfit. More »
The Official Model for Mass Effect's Samara, Dressed Up As Samara
Today at PAX East, Stephen Totilo ran into a familiar face-Rana McAnear, the actress who provides the official model for Mass Effect's Asari Justicar Samara and her unhinged sex-killer daughter Morinth. More »
Why You Don't Want Realistic Anime Characters. Ever.
Cosplayers are often criticized for using too much Photoshop for studio pics. Eyes are made slightly bigger, waistlines are made smaller, and the end result doesn't reflect reality. More »
What Do Predator, Mortal Kombat, Dragonball Have in Common? This Guy.
This guy is Mike La Jute Blanche. He's a French cosplayer, and holy crap, he is good.
Just look at his work. The outfits and make up are incredibly impressive, and he does a great job of capturing Predator, Dragonball's Piccolo, and Motal Kombat. More »
This Could Be the Greatest Halloween Costume of 2012
It'll be tough to top this! Reddit user rdt156 posted this photo of his friend and his friend's daughter, dressed for Halloween. Dad is a Work Loader from Aliens, and I'm assuming the daughter is baby Ripley? More »
Deus Ex's Sexy Pin-Up Photo Shoot (What?)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution not sexy enough for you? It was for me, (I've always asked for cereal boxes and cigarette smoke, Adam) but not cosplay photographer chrisfkn, apparently. More »
Cat Cosplay is the New Human Cosplay
I don't know how they got this cat to sit still long enough to get the costume on, let alone how many scratches and hisses they took as a result, but it doesn't matter. More »
The Cutest Stormtrooper Halloween Has Ever Seen
So, two years ago, little Katie Goldman was bullied at school because she was a girl who had a Star Wars drink bottle. It was a sad tale then, one which resulted in an outpouring of support for Katie, but nothing then could match the gift she got for this Halloween. More »
Steampunk Princess Peach is in Another Manor House
Should Nintendo ever work up the courage to really mess with the setting of Mario games, there are worse ideas they could have than to have the plumber fighting his way through some Dickensian clockwork castle. More »
Turn Your Face Into A Portal Turret With This Badass Mask
We've seen artist TwoHornsUnited come up with some Portal referencing gas masks before, but this one is even more creepily awesome.
I also get the impression that I would look like a Valve-inspired Transformer if I wore that, and then my brain goes on from there to invent wild action sequences... More »
Well, These Dantes Certainly Don't Like Devil May Cry's Redesign
Reader Eric, a mean Devil May Cry cosplayer (centre, standing), was at the recent ACEN 2012 in Chicago, where he joined some friends in visually expressing their feelings towards Dante's redesign in the upcoming DMC. More »