STRUCK FIRST: Danielle Beaulieu + Jechts as Lady Liadrin and Illidan Stormrage!

Photo by David Ngo

Struck First gives you a first look at a cosplay just as it's been debuted/had its first photoshoot. Cosplayers have been kind enough to let me have a first crack at analyzing the cosplay by providing me with brand new pictures.

Arguably one of the most ambitious cosplay groups I've seen so far, Knights of the Ebon Blade just debuted this month at BlizzCon. Coming from mastermind illustrator Zach Fischer, dozens upon dozens of beloved Warcraft characters were re-imagined as servants to the Lich King. As such, I wanted to take this month (and possibly December) to highlight some of my favorite cosplays that were a part of this group. Due to the sheer number of people I have, these will be done in pairs. For my next set of cosplayers, you better believe Danielle Beaulieu got in on this group alongside the mega talented Jechts who I shared here a long time ago with his genderbend Zarya! You've got some titan status characters with Danielle as the Blood Elf Paladin Lady Liadrin, and Jechts as one of the original edgelords, Illidan Stormrage! Kicking this post off, Danielle is rocking a common design style for female elves in this kind of armor. That's definitely not to say her cosplay is less badass because of it, far from it actually!

You've got a bright red wig styled up in a ponytail with long ears poking out from the sides. Danielle is also rocking some pretty long eyebrows, and the bangs on her wig go down to about the neck piece. Getting into the armor from there, you'll automatically see that red, black and purple are the main players when it comes to color. The shoulder pieces are massive mainly with the spikes poking out on the ends. The choker/neckpiece has a red resin stone placed in the center and this becomes a reoccurring part of Danielle's cosplay. Throughout her armor are many cracks which were filled in with red, I don't know how much of it lights up but a good portion (if not all) does which goes to show how much work she put into this.

Photo by Mineralblu

Danielle's arms are fully covered with a bracer that has more size on the more visible side. You can also see hints of a red glove which she used as an underside base. Danielle's fingers are all clawed up in purple in case you were wondering. The breastplate has those red cracks I mentioned earlier alongside a skull smack dab in the middle. The cups are painted a shiny shade of metallic purple. Getting to her pants area, it looks like Danielle is wearing WoW themed leggings as a base which honestly fit with the pattern and design. Then the armor comes in like a giant mash of plating.

The belt has giant pieces of hip armor on the sides. These pieces have red markings and amazing detailing with the shading on ends. Similar to the breastplate, an even larger skull takes center stage protecting the lady bits. Belt straps can be seen connecting this belt to her leg armor. The armor here also has straps of course to hold them in place. Fur lining can be seen poking out from underneath, and I currently have one good shot that shows the explosion of red that takes up most of her legs. And yes, they most certainly light up! The main part features spikes poking out from the sides, and what's covering her shoes is actually very minimal. Some of the photos show the colors beautifully and Danielle is just such a queen you guys AHHHH I LOVE HER <3.

Jechts as Illidan is a whole different story though. The cosplay itself was so massive that he was unable to wear it for long so the shots of that came from a cell phone. Lots of effects and makeup to get the famous Demon Hunters facial features. The horns are absolutely massive and look to be attached to the long snow white wig that Jechts is wearing. A piece of black cloth is seen covering his eyes but you can see some purple poking out so I'm wondering if he could actually see out of that. For his chest and exposed arms, it looks as if a muscle suit was used along with it being etched with blue runic markings.

Jechts has a gauntlet on for each hand and with his signature Warglaives, you could almost say they each were one fully connected piece. All the purple you see in the shots are LED work and were placed within his gauntlet, the weapons and his massive belt. The belt has an intense skull design as its center buckle, fur was also used for the underside and lining. Draping down from the buckle is a tabard like piece with an emblem in silver and LED purple in the center of that!

The Warglaives are some truly incredible pieces of work, each with a skull in the middle and blades etched up in purple with light seeping through. Foam and Worbla have to be some of the materials used in their construction! ALSO as I'm writing this, I learned that the face is actually a mask created to stay on his face, the horns are attached to them at the top but can easily be hidden by the wig :O. Lastly, Jechts has the wings at a little lower placement but they're supported by some mechanism on the back. They look to also be done in the same material that the chest portion was done in. Traveling all the way down to his legs and feet, Jechts is wearing simple baggy purple pants and hooves were created for his feet with some armor seen right above them. The hooves have that wooden texture formed in and it looks so damn good! Check out all the pics down below!

Photo by David Ngo

Photo by Charles Lan Photography

Both Danielle and Jechts are INSANELY talented individuals and taking part in a group like Ebon Blade is incredible and a sight to behold. Both did such a killer job on their cosplays and you just NEED to follow their work if you're not already :D

https://www.patreon.com/DanielleCosplay/

https://www.instagram.com/jechts/

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