Project Ebon Blade (2018)

Project Ebon Blade is a massive collaborative cosplay and fan art project. Imagined and directed by both Zach Fischer and Chad Hoku (Hoku Props), Project Ebon Blade brought some of the most skilled and renown cosplayers, artists, and prop-makers from around the globe together for a singular purpose; To re-imagine many of the most beloved and iconic characters from Blizzard's World of Warcraft franchise as more sinister undead versions based on the game's heavily favored Death Knight class. The artwork, totaling over 100 unique character concepts and weapon designs, were all created by Zach Fischer between December 2017 and August of 2018. Each character's background and story was carefully considered while designing their new, more macabre aesthetics. Additionally, completely original "Death Guard" designs including variants were also created and made available to the public for those who wished to join the collaboration as a guardian of the projects titular faction, "The Ebon Blade". To facilitate the needs of each cosplayer, the design work was organized and planned out thoroughly, taking careful stock of the time constraints and available resources of each participant. The bulk of the artwork was created live on Twitch in view of the public in order to engage the art, cosplay, and Blizzard communities and build excitement.

Constituting thousands of hours of creative design and artwork as well as tens of thousands of hours of detailed fabrication and construction, the "Champions" of Project Ebon Blade converged on Blizzcon 2018 in Anahem, CA and made their inaugural "March of the Damned" along one of the most heavily traveled footpaths outside the main convention center to the amazement of onlooking convention attendees. The group of over 50 cosplayers made their way to the fountain area in front of the main entrance of the Anaheim Convention center where the group photo above was taken to commemorate the monumental undertaking participants had spent so much time and effort to bring to life.

Since Blizzcon 2018, Project Ebon Blade has inspired additional "marches" and gatherings at conventions around the world, some nearly rivaling the scale of the original. Cosplayers everywhere continue to be inspired to create their own versions of the projects character designs to wear at conventions everywhere. While the main events of the project are over, the project continues to grow and add new designs and additional characters, all created by the projects creative mind, Zach Fischer. Both a coloring book and Art Book are in development ad are expected to be available for purchase some time in 2021.

Below is a growing selection of just a small fraction of the cosplay that Project Ebon Blade has inspired. The collection will continue to grow for as long as the designs continue to inspire!