STRUCK FIRST: Stella Chuu + Kate Sarkissian as Stellagosa and Valeera Sanguinar!

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 part of 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. Round 2 starts now and I've got Stella Chuu and Kate Sarkissian as Stellagosa and Valeera Sanguinar respectively!

When selecting the cosplayers I wanted to write about for these posts, I definitely looked at cosplayers who I knew would create something special, some based on the characters they selected, and some new faces to give some variety. Stella is a mainstay I've talked about before but Kate is someone brand new to the blog HOWEVER I've definitely seen her work before in the community. That being said, let's start with Stella! With a character sharing her namesake, Stellagosa is someone I was introduced fairly recently with getting back into WoW. She's a lost member of the powerful Blue Dragonflight and was seen in the Legion expansion. While many of the Ebon Blade designs are chock full of dreary/intense armor, Stellagosa's design is more gorgeous and elegant. The drawing for instance had the sleeves imbued with SPARKLES!

Stella did replicate the sleeves with a light purple fabric that's also see through. This fabric is also seen in parts of her chest area. You've got a beautiful purple neckpiece with silver patterns and a loop which connects to the main dress. Speaking of which, the dress also has the silver patterns in a V shaped part along with a rich shade of purple that's placed on top of the see through fabric I mentioned earlier. One of the main things about this design has to be the skirt which has armor like pieces around her waist and hips. This is done in a blue fabric with silver along the trim.

As you travel down the dress, it begins to devolve into multiple layers of various colors and fabrics. Stellagosa absolutely falls in the "cool" spectrum of colors. Light blue, dark blue and purple are the mainstays here. You've got a sinister looking skull as the center buckle where the hip pieces meet. Part of the dress also turns into what look like dragon scales down the middle and I LOVE the sparkly light blue areas of this dress.

Various beads hang from the belt and Stella has some killer blue lines on her shoulders, the flames you see in the design above were replicated on a smaller level for her. Stella also is rocking a blonde wig with elven ears and a circlet for headgear. Her contacts look to be that cloudy white style that cosplayers use to mimic the "no eyes" look/trance that some characters go into. Quickly wanna mention that the sleeves while they have the see through style, on top of them are blue fabric with that same look of silver lines/patterns on them. This is truly a gorgeous cosplay and Stella just looks so gorgeous!

Photo by CVP Studios

Kate Sarkissian's character Valeera however has more armor along with being even skimpier as a whole. DANG FEMALE ROGUES! Valeera I knew mainly from Hearthstone but she certainly appears to be a well known BElf in Warcraft lore. Color scheme wise, it's a lot of gold and blood red much like Jessica's Sally. Immediately, you're hit with giant shoulder plates that have multiple thorns sticking out and curving inward/upside down. Foam is possibly how these were accomplished, as Kate's gauntlets, leg armor and belt seem to have been done in the same fashion. The hood is beautifully done with lots of gold woven into the red fabric.

 Gold acts as a trim in many parts of this cosplay. The cape is seen in most of the shots and has a tattered look on the bottom with holes inserted/created. Green is also another color shown but mostly that Fel Demon shade (most of you hopefully know what I mean by that) in gemstones inserted into the armor pieces. The gauntlets are layered up on top of one another as are Kate's rockin boots <3. The chest section has flaps covering up some skin but leaving the sides/underside exposed. A belt is seen to help secure it in place.

Photo by David Ngo

The chest piece is also connected to a neck portion which looks to be part of the hood! In classic Rogue fashion, Kate's got dual wielding daggers in that green shade. I'm willing to bet these were casted in resin based on how they look in some of the shots. I also don't know if these glow in the dark but I wouldn't be surprised if they did in the slightest. She also has a KILLER white wig that has long bangs in the front but then pokes out the back of the hood in a big ponytail. Around her waist, Kat has a belt that looks to have armor involved along with fabric draping down from the side. Centered up as the buckle is a skull done in gold. Lots of the green gems stand out in some of the shots as they're placed in prominent positions. Kate also just had a photoshoot in Valeera right after BlizzCon so no doubt I'll update this post with pics even after this goes live! Check out the other pictures down below!

Photo by Eventual Photography

Photo by Mineralblu

Photo by Mineralblu

Photo by Dave Yang

I instantly fell in love with these gals and their creations the second photos started popping up. Stella already I know is one of the hardest working and dedicated cosplayers I know. Kate having now properly written about, is someone I really wanna both meet and feature on here more so apologies if it's taken me this long to share her! DEFINITELY check both of these ladies out with the links below, you won't regret it :)
http://stellachuu.com/
https://www.patreon.com/k8sarkissian

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