Where there's a games convention, there's cosplay, and where there is cosplay, there is the Kotaku 'Shop Contest. One look at the Bumble wampa being escorted by Imperials on Friday, and I knew it'd be grist for our challenge today.
I know we did a cosplay gallery a month ago with Comic-Con, but there are two really good images here, plus plenty more in McWhertor's cosplay gallery, should you want to use them. I will even allow callbacks to the Comic-Con cosplay so there's another 13 source images. But I'm really hoping most of you will bring the funny with these two.
Source Image: Prisoner transfer from cell block 1138?
Source Image: Girl cosplaying as Game Boy.
This is the tale the shamans tell, in the camps of the orcs when the night is deep on the world and dawn is far away:
1. Create your 'Shop.
2. Upload it to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. It's stupid simple. No account is necessary.
3. This is very important: You must use the URL of the image itself. In imgur, this is the second URL it gives you after you upload the image. It's under "Direct Link (email & IM)"
4. At the beginning of the comments roll, click "Start a New Thread"
5. To the right of your name, select "Image."
6. Paste the imgur URL in the image URL field. It's the field that says "Image URL."
7. You can add editorial commentary if you want, but then just hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, paste the image URL as a comment.
8. This is important: Keep your image size under 1 MB. It will not upload to comments if it is over that size. What's more, we're getting reports that if your 'Shop is more than 1000px tall (vertical), it won't upload. If you're getting the broken-image icon, try resizing to a smaller dimension.
As an added inducement, I want to let you know I do star commenters who send in worthy/funny submissions - whether or not they're chosen for the final 20. This may not happen immediately. I usually start rounding up a gallery by the middle of the week. This is my subjective call, but I do want to recognize as many contributors as possible, and show gratitude for making this such a popular feature on weekends.
Now, Gentlemen, start your 'shopping!