In October 2011, Wisconsin set a cosplay world record by gathering 425 people together in the one spot, all of them dressed up as someone else from a video game. It's a record that didn't stand for long.
The world mark is, pending an in-the-mail approval from Guinness, now held by Melbourne, Australia, with 470 souls standing around in the city's Federation Square in costume over the weekend.
Which is pretty impressive considering it was raining.
Note the claimed 470 cosplayers hasn't been confirmed independently yet. So the final number might be shaved back a little. While we wait for Guinness' nod, then, let's watch an excruciating dance number.
If you're interested, here's the criteria the 470 people had to adhere to for the record to stand:
1. All participants must be dressed in costumes representing characters from video games.
2. Characters from other media such as films, television, books and comics are acceptable; however these must have been featured in video games before any subsequent appearances in other media.
For example:a. Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared in a video game in 1991, prior to subsequent television and comic book appearances; therefore Sonic qualifies for the attempt.
b. Batman first featured as a comic book character in 1939, prior to his first appearance as a video game character in 1986; therefore Batman does not qualify.
3. The eligibility of the characters to be considered for the attempt remains at the discretion of Guinness World Records.
4. All participants must be in position simultaneously and remain so for a minimum of 10 minutes.
5. A loud start and finish signal recognised by all participants must be used. Two experienced timekeepers (e.g. from a local athletics club) must time the attempt with stopwatches accurate to 0.01 seconds.
6. All participants must wear the costume for the entirety of the attempt.
Melbourne Breaks The World Cosplay Record (And Solid Snake Dances To Dubstep) [Kotaku AU]