Niche, hardcore, fighting game enthusiasts this one is for you! With the next iteration of the insane Japanese fighting game "BlazBlue:Continuum Shift" set to release on July 27th, we figured it was only right to highlight some hit cosplays from the BlazBlu universe. Thank god for us, this game is overflowing with hot characters.[nextpage]

Surprisingly enough, BlazBlue:Continuum Shift cosplays are all over! After browsing tons of cosplays of multiple characters, we found one truly worth our readers' time. Behold cosplayer JuliaIsaNinja's hot creation of Litchi Faye Ling:

JuliaIsaNinja caught our attention thanks to her very well tailored, custom costume and uncanny resemblance to the true character herself. 

While 

Dragon Quest IX is finally out! With the release of the latest of the beloved Dragon Quest series now gracing Nintendo DS's across North America, we here at the Kartel are pumped to get our hardcore JRPG on! Though many American gamers are still wary of  JRPG titles like Dragon Quest, we still wanted to kick off the launch of the epic game by highlighting some amazing Dragon Quest cosplays that all types of gamers can appreciate. [nextpage]

After digging through Dragon Quest forums and the usual cosplay sites, we came down to a tough decision regarding which character to feature from the Dragon Quest series: Beloved Jessica from Dragon Quest VIII or Gothic looking Fleurette from Dragon Quest Swords?

 Even though a Fleurette cosplay is daunting with

Woo! It's the month of StarCraft II's release. Unless you've been living in a cave for the last decade or so, you've probably heard of the game StarCraft. With the impending destruction of social lives thanks to the release of "StarCraft II" finally within sight, the Kartel decided to give some cosplay love to one of the world's most infamous titles. Without anymore delay, please enjoy some hot StarCraft cosplay [nextpage]

Allow me to preface this cosplay with the week with this quick expletive: D@MN! StarCraft cosplay is hard to find!

Regardless, after hunting through multiple cosplay forums I managed to find cosplayer Alechan's website. Though completely in Spanish, thanks to Google translator I did indeed find none-other than a decked out, hot, detailed StarCraft

If you've ever been to a cosplay convention, you'll know that the majority of costumes come from Japanese games and cartoons. Still, it's this very fact that makes me proud of the global success and fame of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," an American cartoon. With the release of the movie "The Last Airbender", plus a feature game soon to be out, The Kartel did it's best to find you the best Last Airbender cosplay we could dig up! [nextpage]

While I did manage to find a good number of Last Airbender cosplays from various conventions, the general following and cosplayers of the show didn't have that "zing" of front page material. Ironically, I managed to find this  acparadise.com profile of a gorgeous and almost life-like "Katara" from The Last Airbender

With E3 wrapped up, The Kartel can finally get back to what truly matters in this world: hot cosplay of course. Okay okay, while you may not care as much as me, The Kartel decided to dedicate our weekly hot cosplay to the company that stood out the most to us at E3. No, it isn't Activision, Nintendo, EA, etc. Surprisingly the company booth that shall truly be burned into my mind was Nexon, creators of Maple Story, Dungeon Fighter, and other free-to-play (f2p) MMOs. Fortunately these games also have a ton of hot cosplays![nextpage]

I'm sure our choice to highlight Nexon is raising some eyebrows, so allow me to explain. Nexon is a rapidly growing f2p MMORPG gaming company and the 2010 E3 was actually the company's first appearance EVER at E3. With our writer RaptuousBob offering a review

Cosplays from Konami's Metal Gear are a daunting task. Unless you really fit the part, many fans end up looking like overweight Raiden wannabes and cardboard box Solid Snakes. With the recent release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, it's only natural we went out and found you some of the hottest and most impressive cosplays from the Metal Gear series as a whole! [nextpage]

To really shine out of the millions of the series' fans, a level of cool grace, badassery, and military tact must be captured by the cosplay. That, and everybody in the Metal Gear series tends to be stunningly good looking (the women especially!)

While we typically like finding lesser known cosplayers out there in the cosplay universe to highlight, we just couldn't help it this week. After stumbling upon famous

Fanime 2010 has proved once again how epic 3 days can truly be. An event practically bursting with Otaku, video game, comic, movie, heck even steam-punk (and other "geeks" too!) cultures, we here at the Kartel faithfully waded through the convention halls to find the coolest, funniest, and of course, hottest highlights of Fanime 2010. It's a tough job, but we just love our readers that much! [nextpage]

While to the majority of people, Memorial Day weekend may just be the recipe for some BBQ and beer, to those who know Fanime, it is in fact three days of total fan insanity (and good food/drink too). Famous speakers and rockstars from Japan/US, gaming tournaments, bizarre stores, all night raves, spear workshops, costumes that make Halloween look like a day at the office,

Anime Conventions are typically the go-to place to witness the best and worst cosplayers have to offer. With Fanime Con, Northern California's largest anime convention, right around the corner, and we here at the Kartel are stoked, seeing as many of us live right around the corner! The Kartel has decided to kick off Fanime weekend a little early by highlighting some of the amazing and "risqué" cosplays of last years Fanime Con. Who knows, maybe we can convince you to come too! [nextpage]

Best described as bizzaro universe, Fanime is a great example of nerds flipping around all sorts of social norms. After vigorously searching the web, here's some of our favorite pics from last years event:

No idea which character this is...but she's cute, so win!

Zero

Cosplay is a wonderful thing. Not only does it sever as a great, creative way to celebrate gamer, comic, anime,  culture via creative and fun means, but it's also darn right entertaining. Be it an epicly horrendous failure for lulz, an amazingly jaw dropping work of art, or just effin sexy, we here at the Kartel want to praise cosplayers to the fullest! Take a look at our collection of cosplay highlights found across the web. Hell, there's even some cosplay pics of friends (and ourselves!) 

• Hot cosplay of the week: The Babes of Metal Gear
• Lame videogame cosplay outfits you would never see at FanimeCon
• Hot Fanime Highlights - PART 2
• Hot Cosplay of the Week: Fanime Highlights
• Kartel cosplay of the week: Fanime Con Teaser!
• Kartel cosplay of the week: Elika from Prince of Persia