I had the pleasure of meeting Gillian Foxglove at PAX East last year and hanging out with her alongside a few others at one of the after parties the convention was having. I'm like 90% positive she was cosplaying Gaige from Borderlands and that of course made me want to dive into some of her previous cosplay work. Obviously I was insanely amazed at her craft to be bringing you this feature today. With Gillian also being heavily involved in the TTRPG/Board Game community, it's natural that she fell in love with Baldur's Gate 3 much like the rest of the world did. One of the characters--Dame Aylin--has an incredible character design and seeing Gillian post progress photos as it was being done for MAGFest this year was awe-inspiring. I had to double check the photos I found to make sure I didn't get it mixed up with Katsucon due to the same venue. In any case, let's gush over this shall we?
The character as a whole is more akin to a Valkyrie design with the wings added on her back. I mean Gillian just looks fully set for battle and could probably kick all our asses (here's hoping she gets the chance beat up Amouranth in the upcoming Creator Clash! 0-0) with this gear on. From these images alone I can't even tell what she has underneath as a base so that the armor fits comfortably on her. You got a golden white wig on that's poking out from her helmet which itself has wing like points on the side in addition to a middle point. The silver in the armor is mixed BEAUTIFULLY together with golden outline trim and my favorite shade/type of deep blue.
Gillian stated online that around 500 hours was spent on Aylin's construction and I wholeheartedly believe her. There's a sort of collar poking out of the main breastplate when you get to that portion. Also I should add that most of the blue sections are adorned with an intricate (and sometimes different) silver pattern. Even her gloves have that blue/silver combo! The breastplate is mostly silver with various etchings and designs added into it along the golden trim that traces the outline.
As you travel down the chest piece, the sides have the blue and silver I mentioned earlier and there's even a more sea like green/blue shown that's underneath a tabard which travels down to between her legs briefly. The tabard is full blue with gold sides and a crescent moon dangling at the bottom upside down. The shoulder pieces look to be layered up and Gillian's arms are full coated in a chainmail base before the gauntlets are placed/strapped on her. The sea-esque colors can also be seen very briefly along her footwear. Like the shoulders, these also look layered up and include all the colors that this cosplay makes up. My guess here is that some boots are acting as a base with the pieces placed on top. The wings coming out of Gillian's back are of course symmetrical to each other and look to be attached via a harness that's worn like a vest.
If I were to give a best guess, lots of craft foam and Warble were used as part of the cosplay's overall construction. AND THE PHOTOS MAN!! Gillian worked with AmiePhotos and the shots to me have this shining light/glare feel to them. If you know Aylin's backstory in the game, then you'll know that it's pretty perfect. I really love the shot that's directly above you. The cool tones are highlighted and that blur effect is genius. I love the torso section of the armor with its blue/silver, Gillian poses like the rockstar that she is OH and her sword is absolutely massive. Full great-sword style with a change in color from gold to silver as you reach the blade tip. The shots look to be taken just outside that one area of the Gaylord and they're just *chef's kiss*.
Gillian has an incredible website that I implore you all to visit if you want to see more of her cosplay work, streaming stuff plus merch store and more! I'm beyond happy to have met her and look forward to seeing what she makes next. Would love to get her on my podcast as well this year :)
