If you're into World of Warcraft, Starcraft, or Diablo cosplay, then the only event on your mind is BlizzCon's annual costume contest. BlizzCon is the official convention for Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind three insanely popular game series. It happens to be one of the most anticipated fandom conventions of the year, second only to San Diego Comic-Con, and certainly on par with Penny Arcade Expo. Tickets sell out quickly, meaning only a small (but lucky) percentage get to attend, much less compete in the costume contest.

Alltern8.com's Kelly Rowles recently had a chance to interview the winner of the 2009 BlizzCon costume contest, Lorraine Torres. Her winning costume was inspired by The Mistress of Pain, a concept boss design for Diablo 3. She was drawn twice by Artist Vic Lee, the first of which was introduced in July of 2003. This first version depicts her as a half spider-half woman in a crazed expression with some very sharp teeth. In this rendition of The Mistress, she seems to emanate a similar sexual undertone the creatures in "Aliens" possessed; the most prominent example being the location of her pincers.

The version Lorraine chose to depict was the one introduced in BlizzCon 2008's art gallery. In this new rendition by Vic Lee, he still depicted The Mistress of Pain as a half spider-half woman, but newly clothed in Gothic Victorian regalia, newly fashioned headdress, and a calm but haunting facial expression.

Below is Part 1 of the interview with Lorraine, and you can see more of her amazing cosplay work at her MySpace page: myspace.com/rainyiacosplay. Part 2 of the interview can be found by clicking here.

Kelly Rowles: Lorraine, how much cosplay and costume experience have you had? Have you been sewing and creating since you were little, is this a recent development, or something in between?

Lorraine Torres: I don't actually have as much experience as you may think. This is if you consider that I've only completed 3 costumes ever. Even from a young age, I have always been very creative and have done everything from drawing, painting and sculpting, to graphics, web design and even music. But sewing was a new creative avenue for me and the challenge of creating costumes was just the catalyst for me to try it out.

I discovered cosplay back in High School, but didn't get dedicated to it until about two years ago; mostly because it was expensive. In the scheme of things, I would say it's a fairly recent development, but one that I intend to continue and expand upon.

KR: What was your first cosplay costume?
LT: My first ever cosplay attempt was a character called Rabi en Rose from the Anime "Digi Chararat." She was a bunny eared, short skirt wearing character. It was my first true attempt at sewing any form of clothing and I'm pretty sure is showed! Haha!

KR: Had you entered cosplay/costume competitions before? Do you have any other wins under your belt?
LT: I have! Back in 2008 I won Judges Favorite in 501st Legion's Costume Competition at Megacon in Orlando, Florida. The costume [that] won this particular competition was my Night Elf Druid costume. I later took that costume to BlizzCon 2008 to compete, but didn't place. I wasn't upset though, I came out of BlizzCon 2008 knowing I needed to make some changes if I was to place in their costume competition.

KR: Was BlizzCon 2009 your first con? If not, how many had you attended before?
LT: Blizzcon was probably my fifth or sixth convention. I've been to a few others such as Megacon, Dragon Con, Anime Festival Orlando, Metrocon, and Janicon; some of which I've attended multiple years in a row.

KR: What made you want to attempt The Mistress of Pain costume?
LT: In truth, The Mistress of Pain was not my first choice in costumes. The decision lay between The Mistress of Pain and Caldeum Noble woman; both of which were from Diablo 3. I chose The Mistress of Pain for three reasons. First, I felt that she was far more recognizable than the Caldeum Noble woman. Second, her unique design and limited artwork available made her an enticing challenge for me; I couldn't resist. My third reason was purely aesthetics; this character just looks incredible and I felt that if I produced this costume just right, I'd at the very least place at BlizzCon 2009.

KR: How long did it take to make?
LT: The costume took over the course of a year to make and I was literally working on it until the day of the competition, but I don't mean a year of solid work. I was juggling the production of the costume, life and work. I'm a flight attendant at a major airline and throughout the production process I was living back and forth between my base in New York and my true home in Orlando. It was incredibly challenging to get the costume made while traveling back and forth.

I would estimate the costume having over 1000 hours put into it. It would have been considerably less if misfortune hadn't struck. The corset portion of the dress you saw in the competition was not the original version. Because I had to work and travel back and forth, I would take portions of the costume with me to work on while I was away from home.
In this particular occasion I took the original corset with me on a trip and if you can believe it, I forgot the bag with the corset inside in the hotel lobby. I had a fellow crewmember bring the corset to New York, but that was the last I heard of it. The original corset was stolen from me. This was a major set back, both time-wise and financially, as the materials I used on the original corset were very expensive. In total the corset was probably worth $250.00; it was a terrible loss. All of my friends were incredibly supportive throughout this ordeal and I finally got motivated and produced a second version.

The spider leg portion of the costume was, for lack of a better word, a nightmare. I mean, you see the legs in the drawing and you think, "piece of cake!" I assure you they were no piece of cake. I literally have over two dozen concept drawings of how I would achieve the legs and abdomen. To name a concept I was considering, originally I wanted the legs to move up and down as I walked. Let me be the first to say that I'm no engineer, nor do I have any technical prowess of that nature. So it was scrapped as an idea, like many other concepts that followed.

I finally decided to consult friends in this matter; two heads are better than one and whatnot. It was a few suggestions later from buddies Lindsay and Holly that I was finally able to produce a conceivable concept.

The final product you saw on stage was the culmination of blood, sweat, tears, a little faith and countless sleepless nights. It also would not have been possible without my trusty assistants Ryan, Andrew and Chris. The costume in its entirety, legs and all, was never tested before going on stage and would be the moment when months of well thought out theory would be put to the test; it was truly a leap of faith that it would hold together properly and I thank my lucky stars it did.

KR: How much did the costume cost to make?
LT: I'm actually not sure how much the grand total was. I would estimate that it ranged between $900.00 and $1,200.00 [US dollars]. It sounds like a lot, but this was in small "as needed" increments that made spending that amount of money less painful.

KR: Did you have help, or did you construct it all by yourself?
LT: The entire costume was made by my own hand, and I have all the scars and burns to prove it! Haha! I did receive help on the day of the convention from my friends Lindsay, Ryan, Andrew and Chris with keeping me awake to finish the last details of the costume and for assembly for the contest.

Part 2 of this interview can be found by clicking here.