Azkaban, the Blood Elf Sackboy

Long before Media Molecule’s Little Big Planet even hit retail, the game’s burlap-skinned mascot Sackboy had already turned into an international figurehead for all things cute. One of the cool aspects of the game is the ability to dress up your Sackperson in a variety of different outfits ranging from cardboard robot to the Monkey King (Journey to the West). And it’s been a habit of the developers to supply download content featuring costumes based on other famous video game or pop culture characters.

Of course, the logical thing to do with such a publicly palatable symbol was to spin him off into merchandise, right? And come the goodies did, but the great thing about having a character made out of stitches and fabric is that it’s relatively easy to create one of your very own!

As yet, Blizzard hasn’t supplied the rights to the likenesses of Azeroth’s greatest heroes and villains, but that didn’t stop one blogger from mashing the two worlds together. As a favor to a close friend, she customized a Sackboy figure to look like one of his in-game Blood Elf characters, and crocheted him a whole Warlock-themed outfit to boot!

The creator, Maggie Wang (who works as a User Interface artist for an unspecified video game company) says this is one of the most involved projects yet:

“ Azkaban wears a full-length A-line robe with gold crochet thread chain trim, an olive cloak with silver border, gold and blue removable gauntlets, and burgundy shoulder pads with black tentacles and gold and red crochet thread epaulettes. I don’t think I’ve ever used so many colors in a single project before in my life.”

This isn’t her first Sackperson, either. Her other customizations include everything from a relatively spartan Spock figure to the totally Spartan King Leonidas. Of particular note to long-time Western RPG fans is The Nameless Sack. If that doesn’t confirm Miss Wang’s serious geek cred, I don’t know what will.

I think it’s high time I got on my girlfriend’s case and forced her to find a good Sackboy pattern. I certainly wouldn’t mind a burlap Amatera sitting on top of my desk in all her sneaky, Roguey, cuddly goodness!

There’s little doubt that World of Warcraft has become a part of all of their lives, and with the handicraft community quickly being co-opted by industrious geeks everywhere, it’s little surprise that homespun wares are popping up all over the internet. Have you ever been tempted to craft or purchase anything for yourself?