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September 12, 2025
In this new edition of Side Quest Sessions, we explore the world of life-size replicas and cosplay builds for experiential activations. At WAYPOINT, bringing game assets into the real world isn’t just about fabrication—it’s about crafting unforgettable moments where fans can embody their favorite characters, wield iconic weapons, or interact with massive statues that anchor events. From armor and props to interactive installations, these projects blend creativity, engineering, and passion for gaming culture. Watch the full episode 7 here.
In the wider fan world, cosplay covers everything from hand-built costumes to community meetups. At WAYPOINT, we partner directly with publishers and developers to bring game assets to life for marketing and fan experiences—think trade shows, pop-ups, premieres, and community events. That might be a full wearable character, a hero prop, or a show-stopping statue that anchors a booth. The goal is the same: extend the game into the physical world so fans can embody a character, wield a weapon, or snap a memorable photo they’ll share.
Every replica starts with references: concept art, approved 3D assets, and visual style guides. From there, our in-house 3D team sculpts in tools like ZBrush and Maya, refining forms for real-world scale and wearability (what looks epic on screen might not let a human bend an elbow). After approvals, we move into prototyping—often 3D printing hard components, engineering interlocking parts and hidden pegs for clean assembly, and combining rigid armor with tailored fabrics for mobility and comfort.
For a launch activation, we translated Inarius’ celestial armor into a wearable build: gauntlets, chest/ back plates, leg armor, and flowing cloaks—finished with painting, weathering, leatherwork, and protective coatings. Casting and flexible resins come into play depending on durability needs. When possible, we fit to a known model (shoutout to Jesse & Nick!) to dial in proportions, comfort, and on-site performance.
For large show anchors—like our nine-foot Chocobo—the workflow scales up. We’ll combine CNC-milled foam and select 3D-printed elements to nail detail, then cast in lightweight epoxy resins for durability, transport, and longevity. Edges are blended, seams vanish, and the finish team takes over for paint and protective coats.
Engineering matters at this size. We’ll design welded steel frames rated for real loads (e.g., a mountable saddle for photo ops), test stability in software and on site, and build carpeted, heavy-duty crates that protect your investment across venues—or oceans.
Experiential = touch points fans remember. We’ve built interactive booths (like a Man of Medan scare-photo room with pneumatics, flicker lights, and instant prints), mountable creatures (Chocobo; Guild Wars 2’s griffin), and camera-driven AR scenes that drop attendees into the game without a greenscreen (depth cameras FTW). These activations drive shareable content, opt-ins, and line-worthy moments that justify the booth space—and make your lobby centerpiece later.
Both sides are essential, with different priorities:
Developers = guardians of the IP. They provide deep reference, lore-accurate feedback, and art direction (shapes, colors, proportions).
Publishers/Marketing = owners of the activation brief, timeline, and budget. They push toward launch-critical dates and audience impact.
The sweet spot is doing both: hit the date and honor the brand. On recent projects (including a physical translation of an in-game Hearthstone item), close loops with the game’s artists let us solve real-world constraints while staying unmistakably on-brand.
The show floor always has surprises (union elevators, anyone?). Planning avoids most of them:
Structural engineering for rider weight, handholds, and repeated use.
Transport reality (crate specs, access paths, door/ elevator clearances).
On-site repair kits (epoxy, paints, hardware) for fast fixes.
Model fittings and mobility tests for wearables.
Quality tiers chosen to match lifespan—touring piece vs. one-off stunt.
And after the show? Many pieces tour or retire to studio lobbies—we’ve had proud moments spotting our work on display at partners like Bandai Namco.
Plan early. Big statues need ~7–8 weeks of build time (shipping not included). Coatings cure on their own schedule.
Design for durability. Choose materials and finishes for touring, not just day one.
Engineer first, decorate second. Safety, internal frames, weight ratings, and mounts come before paint.
Fit the performer. Known measurements = better mobility and on-camera presence.
Crate like a pro. Heavy plywood, carpeted interiors, labeled hardware, and smart rigging protect your crown jewel.
Replicas and cosplay builds transform fans from viewers into participants—and that’s the heart of experiential. When they can wear the armor, mount the creature, or step into the scene, your brand leaps off the screen and into a memory. If you’re considering this for your next activation, bring us the idea early, and we’ll help you scope the timeline, materials, and engineering to make it legendary.
If you prefer reading here is a full transcription of the episode:
Sean:
Hey everybody, welcome to SideQuest Sessions. This is our episode number 7. We've taken it outside today. We're in the nice, warm Santa Monica sun. I've got my sunglasses on because I'm being irradiated at the moment. I'm here with Joe, our Creative Director from Waypoint.
Joe:
What's up everybody?
Sean:
Nice to see you, Joe.
Joe:
Nice to see you.
Sean:
We are recording, like I said, number 7. And today we're going to talk about cosplay life-size replicas for the video game industry. A refresher, like we always do. Our company, Waypoint, has been around for a little over 15 years. There's just over 50 full-time people working in our shop and across three different departments. And those are, in no particular order, creative. We make all the marketing assets. Collectibles, where we do all the physical items, merchandise, like collector's editions and so on. And e-commerce, where we stand up white-label, direct-to-consumer e-shops for video game companies. All right. Joe.
Joe:
Yeah.
Sean:
Thanks for being here yet again.
Joe:
My pleasure.
Sean:
Willing or not, you're always welcome.
Joe:
Thank you. Thank you.
Sean:
We are going to talk about projects that we worked on, why we do them and so on.
And let's just get us started with what do we mean by life-size replicas and cosplays in terms of our company and our industry and our agents. What are we talking about when we say that?
Joe:
Yeah. So when you're talking about cosplay, it can mean a lot of different things. And there's certainly a fan side that we'll talk about. But for us, it means when we're contracted or hired or contacted by one of our partners to bring something from the game to life. And this can be an item, a weapon, a full set of armor, or a character or creature itself. So it can sort of mean any of those things. But we're working with the people who made the game or published the game to bring one of those things.
Sean:
Okay. So cosplay is something that you and I are really familiar with. But it's the act of costuming yourself or getting in character with a video game character, usually one that you're really into or you're passionate about. There's like a big movement about cosplayers and cosplay events. And we even have these, the term is casing, but they're like outdoor battles where everybody's all dressed up.
Joe:
Yes.
Sean:
And so this has given us and other companies the idea to make or to do cool marketing activations, experiential activations. Exactly. Using cosplay stuff. So I think the significance of cosplay in the video game industry is pretty high. Like it's a thing.
Joe:
Definitely. Yeah. I mean, the first thing that probably comes to mind for everyone is San Diego Comic Con, right? I mean, when you think about going dressed up to a convention, a lot of times that is considered cosplay or meets cosplay. But there's also tons of events all around that people get together based around their favorite game or their favorite characters or franchise.
Sean:
It's like it's like bringing the game into the real world. So there's something to be said about that. You spend a lot of time playing a game and this is your chance to to have something to touch and hold, just like our collector's editions. But in this sense, you get to be the character or wield that weapon or whatever it is that you're into.
Joe:
Right. Yeah, totally.
Sean:
So when we go about doing these things, what's the process? Let's think of recently we did something for Diablo 4's launch and we had to produce costumes for one of the main characters.So walk us through the steps of how we got from, hey, this is a good idea, all the way to we're at the baseball stadium with the outfit.
Joe:
Yeah, for sure. Well, before I do that, I just want to take a sec to talk about the two sides a little bit. Like on the one hand, you mentioned the fandom and people sort of loving their favorite games, bringing those into the real world. Like on that side of things, there's a huge community that sort of just needs creativity about these things. So these are a lot of like hand constructed costumes, people that are really into it, have been working on their outfit, maybe for a convention, maybe for a gathering. And then the other side of that is sort of what we're getting into now, which is from a marketing standpoint, like how can these things be used and leveraged for marketing or just to service the fans of the game? And so this is where we see it pop up a lot more in things like experiential activations, trade shows, gaming trade shows, conventions, and even sort of just like pop up parties and events.
Sean:
Right.
Joe:
If you're a publisher hosting an event for Summer Games Fest, you might want to include something like this. And we'll talk about some of our projects that involve that later. But yeah, so this whole side of it that we're talking about today as an agency is very much inspired by the fandom creativity side. We're taking our cues from that and the way that fans love to do that.
Sean:
Right on. Right on. So walk us through the ideation process all the way to, you know, getting the item done. How does it happen? Just let's pick an example because it's such a vast landscape of possibilities. Let's just pick one project like the Diablo.
Joe:
OK, so first we'll talk about Diablo, which is more like a cosplay outfit. And then I also want to talk about statues and sort of like set pieces as well. But for the Diablo project, so there's a character, Inarius, who is a fallen angel, I believe, from the Diablo franchise.
And we were asked to bring this character to life for a real world marketing activation. And so with our team, we first started looking at concept art and, you know, maybe the character appears in a new way in the game that's about to launch right around the corner. In this case, it was Diablo 4. We got our hands on everything we possibly could in terms of references, 3D models, basically like 3D models on the Internet from the developers, whatever was available.
And we kicked things off with our just as a concept. Right. So we made some sketches.
We figured out what pieces of the costume we could make. There's a part in there where you have to think about any adaptations or adjustments that might be necessary in order to get it to actually be wearable by a human. Because a lot of things in video games, they look great, but aren't always the most functional.
You might not be able to bend your elbow or something like that.
Sean:
That reminds me of when we made the sword for Galahad and the Order in 1886. We had the 3D model of the sword.
And when it came time to work with the blacksmith, his name was David Baker. He was like, this sword couldn't even get through butter. It was too thick.
It was like a brick of a sword. And so there's some modifications that need to be made to adapt digital items or in-game items into the real world.
Joe:
Absolutely.
So once we sort of figure that out, we have some sketches that we share with the client and get their initial feedback that we can start the actual sculpting process. So this is where our in-house 3D team is working with programs like ZBrush and Maya. Maybe it's a little more hard surfacing, but usually we're sculpting in ZBrush.
And we're basically making an exact replica relatively to scale, maybe not the scale of the game, but just scale of a human. And we're just working on plain grayscale 3D models first. After that, we get to start prototyping, which is pretty cool.
So we get approval on those models. We look at our set of pieces and then we determine, okay, we're going to 3D print these, for example. That's a very common method we use for just like a single one-off production.
And we say, hey, do these pieces need to be broken up in any way when they fit on the 3D printing platter? Are they going to assemble? We sometimes have to make things like pegs or things that lock into each other in order to get the completed piece to sit right. And then we started 3D printing them and we can do tests by putting it on our armor if it's a chest piece. So specifically this Inarius one, I think it had gauntlets, some gloves, really awesome front and back chest piece armor.
And it had two sort of like leg pieces and then cloak-y fabric stuff as well. So it was a combination of like hard metallic armor-looking stuff and then some cloak and drape-y fabrics.
Sean:
Right on.
And so the whole process you're describing, it's kind of similar to another project that I remember. We did a life-size Chocobo statue for Square Enix years ago for E3. And those were giant foam blocks cut out on a CNC machine.
We couldn't make a single piece because it was so big. It was nine feet tall. And so we had to make chunks of foam blocks that we then joined together and plastered over the top. And so something else we did there was a maquette. We made like a miniature version and that helped us get approval. You could see it done in real life.
It was 3D printed and we did a maquette.
Joe:
Just a mini prototype first.
Sean:
Yeah, that's right.
And we were able to send it out. So we didn't have much time on the Diablo project, if I remember.
Joe:
So, you know, it moved pretty quick.
And so, like I said, that one was once we got all those pieces finalized. And, you know, sometimes we're not using the 3D print itself for the final costume. It can sometimes be like a flexible 3D printed resin.
Sometimes we do cast stuff and make a mold. But after we get the actual pieces, then there's painting and finishing, right? So, again, the references come out from the actual game. We work with a couple of different really talented artists who are able to apply those final coats, paint, do detailing, whether that's like additional leather work, rivets, like sealing the final coat, right? So it's protected and lasts for a while.
And then, you know, fitting, basically. So sometimes with these cosplay costumes, I do want to mention, like, it's good to know the model ahead of time, the cosplay actor or actress ahead of time, so you can make sure you're sizing your outfit correctly. It's not one size fits all.
Sean:
These two are great. It's actually a couple, a married couple named Nick and Jesse. And not only are they avid cosplayers that I discovered at South by Southwest in Austin.
Joe:
Awesome.
Sean:
But they're also great makers. You know, they're really capable. They can work with leather and foam and all kinds of materials. So shout out to Jesse and Nick. Thank you.
Joe:
Thank you, guys.
Sean:
They did a fine job. And Nick was the model.
The husband was the model. And so he's a big guy, thank goodness. And when they were designing or fabricating, I should say, the cosplay outfit, they had the model there on the spot. And so she knew his measurements quite well.
Joe:
Hundred percent.
Sean:
Yeah.
And so you were talking about statues and materials and foam. So if we want to go down that road a little bit, talking about giant statues, the process is similar, but on a large scale. And there's a couple of different ways you can go about it. The first one, I would say, is for like a really high quality result. You would maybe 3D print a few pieces and then do milled foam to sort of like sculpt out these large scale pieces that all assemble together. And from those initial sort of cuts and scopes that you make, then you would cast it in a lightweight resin.
And then sort of put it all together, sand away any lines so you can't see like the seals or seams. And then go about painting and finishing it. So that's one way.
You can also just use the foam itself with a hard coating and then paint over it. So there's like sort of, and then there's just, you know, you can just do a 3D printing as well. But the downsides, I guess, with 3D printing are that it's like heavier, less durable.
Same with just using the foam hard coated. And so if you're able to do like a full epoxy resin cast version of it, it takes a little longer. But in the long run, it's lighter, it's easier to ship around and more durable.
Sean:
And size limitations. You can't make something enormous with a 3D printer. It's not practical to do it.
Joe:
Totally. You need to break it down into small pieces. But yeah.
Sean:
All right. So we've got the costume, the cosplay outfit done. The experiential activation goes well.
Sometimes it doesn't. Yep. The real world contains lots of many, many, many surprises. And so once all that's finished, you know, one of the things that I always was surprised at is what happens to that stuff after? Like what do we do with those things? Do you even know where Inarius' costume is at this very moment?
Joe:
I do not, actually.
Sean:
He's in my closet. Okay, nice.
Joe:
Yeah, sometimes we're asked to hang on to it. Like Waypoint itself is asked to hang on to it. Sometimes it travels around and it's like on tour, basically, like a rock band. It's popping up at different trade shows and festivals and events. But I would say the most common result is it ends up in the lobby of a video game company on display.
Sean:
I know what you're talking about. The other day we went to see one of our cherished clients, Bandai Namco, over here in California. And when we walked into the lobby, security was pretty tight. And we noticed as we stared up to the mezzanine, one of our creations was right there.
Lo and behold, it was the Elden Ring hot friend, hot boy, depending on who you ask.
Joe:
Yeah.
Sean:
And it was quite a proud moment for us.
Joe:
Yeah, that was a really, really great project. I loved that one.
Sean:
How we collaborate with developers and publishers, both sometimes, when we work on these kinds of projects.
And so, for example, you mentioned the word approval a few times back there. Yeah, of course. So what is the involvement of the developer or publisher when we're making a life-size statue, for example?
Joe:
I'd say two things. One, and most importantly, and creatively, they are linked to the source material. So as the creators, sometimes, of the IP, they're going to be able to give us the best references. They understand the character through and through, not just visually, but what it represents. And the other one is more just brand continuity. Everything that they put out, they need to make sure is up to their standards and in line with how this character, this thing, has been presented throughout the life cycle of their brand or date. So we're looking to them, more of the business-y people over there, looking for brand continuity and their brand managers help with that.
But on the creative side, the closer link we can get to their concept artists, their 3D artists. It's really exciting to get their feedback on what we're working on, because they're the really passionate ones designing the game that people love.
Sean:
Yeah, that reminds me of something we're working on right now, which we can't talk about in detail, but it's for a game called Hearthstone.
And we're producing an in-game item in the real world.
Joe:
That's right.
Sean:
And we have the blessing, the curse, working directly with the artists that are heavily involved in that game.
And so they knew their stuff inside out. We noticed they were really high-end talent over there at Wizard, obviously.
Joe:
Definitely.
Sean:
And the feedback that we got was pretty intense.
Joe:
Intense and cool. And also, it's nice when you're working with pros like that, because they do understand limitations of physical real-world items.
They've made plenty of toys and figurines and replicas before. But it was really nice to get feedback from them, from someone who was very close to the game, that gave very specific details about the form, shapes, colors, just speaking our language, basically.
Sean:
And it's nice working with the developer.
Working with the publisher is really different. The difference between those two, where this kind of work is concerned, is one is more on the marketing side. Like, I have this marketing activation, I have this budget, I want to get it done. And then the developer is more on, hey, I got to protect my IP. I don't want you guys messing it up and looking off-brand or out of character.
Joe:
Yeah.
Sean:
And so we have really different types of feedback from publishers and developers.
Joe:
Right. And in different goals with how they want to use something.
Sean:
Yeah, like get it done quickly for the publisher and get it done right for the developer. Pretty much. That sounds good. That sums it up.
Joe:
It's nice when we get to do a little bit of both. We try to deliver on both.
So an experiential activation could be anything from a booth at a conference or a trade show. For example, E3 or Gamescom or one of those, where the publisher will rent out a space and erect a giant booth or a small one and come up with cool experiential activations. And what that means is it's something you can experience.
You can go right up to a statue of the character and take a picture with him or her. You can go into one we did for Man of Medan for Bandai Namco. We made a photo booth.
So it was like a 10 by 10 room. And you would go in there and a canister would puff air in your face. The bejeezus out of you.
And then the camera would take a picture. The lights would flicker. And there was sound.
And then it would take your photo and the photo would print out. And so we designed and developed and fabricated and set up and ran that whole operation. And just talking about it is tiring.
That was a good one. And so that's an experiential activation where you can go in and experience it. And activation means people are going to go there and maybe you have to give your email.
You're going to sign up for something. And then you'll enter into the marketing database. This will help the promotion of the game.
So that's what an experiential is.
Joe:
Yeah. I like to think of it as a touch point for your audience when they're physically with you. And it can be as simple as a little collect all three pins at our booth today. And then people trade them around. Or we've been seeing a lot of the interactive photo booths.
Or we've been seeing, I think there was one at, where were we? Where they had the big Overwatch thing in the lobby when you went into the convention.
Sean:
And the cameras in the semicircle.
Joe:
Yeah.
And so there's like a 360 camera and it would put you into the background of a scene. And it had like a green screen sword that turned into like a crazy weapon when you get your picture printed out. So AR is still a part of this interactive photo ops for sure.
Sean:
Yeah. For the giant Chocobo, that's what we did. We didn't have the ability or we didn't want to have a green screen in the background.
And so we got a depth sensing camera. Similar in some ways to Kinect, but also different. And so it was able to key out the background.
And we were able to put the visitor or the consumer who was on top of our giant statue into the game. And so we encountered a lot of problems in the real world with the lighting from the roof was shining in a way that screwed us all up. And we made it work in the end. But those activations are really neat. And putting yourself into your favorite game is something you'll stand in line for. And give the marketing folks your email for, I guess. So experiential activations are...
Joe:
I think just getting that photo emailed to you at the event to have your memory from when you went to PAX or whatever. It's a nice way to get a thing to commemorate the event. Or if you have those characters floating around taking pictures with them.
It's a good keepsake.
Sean:
Totally worth the wait.
Joe:
Yeah.
Also, sorry. The other point I wanted to make about that is it's part of what makes those video game trade shows so amazing to some extent. When you walk in the lobby, you see the castle from the game that you love. You see a giant dragon. For the fans showing up to those, not so much people doing business-to-business activity and having meetings. For the fans, that's a worthy investment just for them to experience that.
Sean:
Are you trying to make a contrast between you and I?
Joe:
No.
Sean:
Am I the business one here?
Joe:
No way.
Sean:
All right.
You're a fan too. I get it. Let's talk about some technical stuff.
When we were doing the giant statue that was mountable, we did that for a few games. The Chocobo, for sure. We also did it for...
Joe:
Guild Wars 2. Thank you.
Sean:
Guild Wars. Thank you. That was a griffin.
There were some things to consider insurance-wise, safety-wise. Totally. People climbing up on something and being six feet in the air, it turns out, there's some things to keep in mind.
One of them was the load-bearing weight of that structure. The fabricator we were working with, who was in Temecula here in California, recommended we do a welded steel frame. We had these 2x2 or 3x3 metal square posts.
We welded them all together like a skeleton. That would allow over 450 pounds of gamer to get up there and sit on there and be completely safe. I remember that was what it was rated at, but he explained to us even almost 1,500 pounds could be supported on that structure.
Yeah. It supported another griffin on top. We could put a chocobo on the griffin.
Doing that research ahead of time and checking all the boxes comes in really handy. One of our statues had, on a saddle, there's a grip for you to grip onto the saddle and swing your foot over. The metal structure, unfortunately, didn't make it all the way up through that thing.
It was mostly resin and so on. After half a day, it just popped right off. We had to do some pretty serious damage control.
Thankfully, we've learned those lessons.
Joe:
That was maybe my first time mixing epoxy on site. No, I'm sorry.
Sean:
I'm a powerful substance.
Joe:
I like it very much. When you're talking about what it's rated for, there's structural engineering that goes into this that you wouldn't really consider.
When we make a small-scale statue, we pretty much think about can it stand on its own, but this is a whole other ballgame. We're doing simulations. We're doing computer models to test the structural integrity. Then actual welding, like you said, in a steel frame inside. That was just the core skeleton of this thing. You've got to consider people getting on it. My favorite, and then like you mentioned, some parts that weren't as sturdy as others that we had to do some repairs for. My favorite part, when we're talking about things to consider, is that this thing didn't fit in the elevator at the convention center. One of the union workers suggested cutting its head off to get it into the elevator.
Sean:
I've never seen a grown man cry to my face.
Joe:
I was still pretty young and green at the time. It was one of my first shows. I was like, is he seriously considering this?
Sean:
He was.
Joe:
I was ready to jump in front of it and save it. Good times.
But we ended up angling it. We got it in.
Sean:
All right, Joe. Let's wrap things up with some advice. If you're a publisher developer that wants to undertake an experiential activation that contains a giant statue or a cosplay outfit, what advice do you have for her?
Joe:
First thing, and I know this is difficult for people planning their schedules at different times of the year, but come as early as possible with this idea to whoever's helping you fabricate it. I would say most a giant statue can be condensed from what I'd say is like eight weeks, seven to eight weeks for the build alone, not including shipping.
So this is not, especially giant statues, not one of those things that we can make everyone stay late for a couple of days and get it done. Like we usually do on some other projects. It's a process. Things take time to dry and coatings. It's real intense fabrication. So try to allow minimum, give us some me time. That's all I'm saying.
Sean:
Sure. That's what you said last week as well.
Yeah. Please be early.
Joe:
And then the other thing I would say is especially if this game is going to stick around for a while and you're going to use it multiple times, like go for the high quality option that will last. There are temporary solutions that have a shorter shelf life or lifespan, but that's maybe not something that's going to be 10 years in your lobby as the crown jewel of your game in your studio.
Sean:
Yeah. And get a carpeted crate and for God's sakes, don't use, you know, a quarter inch plywood, you know, use the three quarter inch stuff because the crate's going to go all over the place and could even go on a boat across the ocean. And you, you'll really regret it if you don't.
Joe:
Yeah. Protect your insurance.
A lot of times, you know, like you're looking at the price of that and you're like, I can save there, but it's not the case to just save some money. Now we're sure.
Sean:
Yeah.
All right. Joe, thanks again. Appreciate your time.
Thanks for tuning in, everybody. See you next time.
Joe:
See you next time. Bye.
