STRUCK FIRST: Azumii + Sutefaniiroozu as Siouxsie the Banshee and Shandris Feathermoon!

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 took last 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. And so we arrive at the last two gals I selected for my coverage of this extensive group. Today, Azumii and Sutefaniiroozu take center stage as Siouxsie the Banshee and Shandris Feathermoon respectively. It's funny though, these characters I have no knowledge of so legit as I'm typing this, I'm looking up who they are in Warcraft lore XD.

Let's start with Azumii's chosen knight! Aside from apparently being a reference to an English Goth band, Siouxsie the Banshee was a Death Knight trainer seen during the Lich King's expansion. Making her home in the Plaguelands where Death Knights start out upon creation in WoW. Zach's design has full on black and silver for the armor work. It looks a bit traditional with the main breastplate converging into a triangle point at Azumii's waist. At this area, you have what looks to be black fabric outlining the edge and looking tattered. As with all Ebon Blade characters, a skull adorns her belt smack dab in the middle.

Most of the armor pieces have an interesting embedded curvature to them along with that classic layered style. Her shoulders curve downwards with a few spikes poking outward, again in a downward curve. Pieces similar to what's at the bottom of the breastplate are poking out of her shoulders along their bottoms too. Azumii is also rocking a gorgeous cape which has a rectangle shape and form. Purple also is the color of said cape. The leg armor is resting on top of pants which seem to be another common thread across all group members.

There's not a good shot showing Azumii's full figure including the legs but some of its armor can be seen. In addition to how long her cape REALLY travels down too! A smaller skull can be seen resting at the center of her chest-piece. Face wise, Azumii has an interesting crown/headpiece done in silver with a purple gem in the middle. The design reminds me of Mera's crown from the Aquaman comics :D. A gorgeous lavender wig makes up her hair plus dem long eyebrows <3. Some of the shots also have added effects in her eyes! Sleek and dark are words I'd use to sum up Azumii's cosplay as a whole!

Photo by Mineralblu

Up next is Stephanie (Sutefaniiroozu) as Shandris Feathermoon! The Night Elf serves as a General in the Sentinel army and dates back to pre-Warcraft III days. She has a close friendship with the Kaldorei leader Tyrande Whisperwind and has continued to make appearances in WoW's expansions up to the current one with Battle for Azeroth. Compared to Azumii's design, Shandris here is more revealing with a smaller breastplate and a drape for her lower regions. What this does mean though is there's a bunch of small add-ons throughout the whole cosplay. Steph went all out with the purple bodypaint and the facial area is intense so why not start there? The headgear consists of a faceplate with its winged design and silver color scheme. Then you have the wig which is done up in a single giant ponytail. Braces can be seen holding that form intact.

 There's an extensive neck piece which is done in several layers of purple fabric with feathers poking out from the bottom. The breastplate has a cute design with beads draping down at the bottom. Lots of skin is exposed so I imagine that let Steph move pretty easily at the convention? Her arms have various bands wrapped around her with also different gauntlets. One looks more traditional/common where as the other has a more triangular design and includes fur underneath.

The black gloves also have some armor bits on her fingers. Various straps are around her legs and the belt features a bird skull face in the middle as its buckle. Tattered fabric and feathers can be seen in the belt area as well. Like the photos I have of Azumii, the ones of Steph don't show a good look at her leg armor but they're definitely there! ALSO, there's her giant weapon prop. A common weapon for Sentinels is a giant ninja star with varying amount of blades.

Photo by David Ngo

The weapon seen has three blades joined by its center hilt. The hilt itself is dark grey and has pink circles embedded in it. The blades have the same etched pattern and have a pink base underneath the "metal" portion. I don't know if the pink glows as seen in Zach's concept art. Overall though, Stephanie always impresses me with each crazy build like this one and her Colossus build she made back in July. Check out the other photos of these CUTIES! :D

Photo by Eurobeat Kasumi Photography

Photo by Mineralblu

Photo by Martin Wong

Both Azumii and Sutefaniiroozu are some of the most hard working cosplayers I have the honor of knowing. Each of their new builds I learn about excites me and shocks me with the end result. Like DANG GIRL YOU MADE THIS?! They've manage to transform their lives through cosplay and I highly recommend checking their work out down below. Can support them too if you wanna!
https://www.patreon.com/Azumii/
https://www.patreon.com/sutefaniiroozu/

This post concludes my coverage on the Knights of the Ebon Blade group that I set out to do once they debuted at BlizzCon. I truly hope you guys enjoyed my posts on this amazing collection of cosplayers. It was a little disheartening to see how low the post views were for these overall but I just hope that they excited some of you, especially the cosplayers I wrote about in each one. I had SO MUCH FUN writing these and collecting photos. I won't let low views falter my passion in doing exclusive coverages like this. Thank you so much everyone. <3

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