Filed under: Arts and Crafts

It's official, BlizzCon 2014's costume contest has opened up its sign-ups. Just like the earlier opening of sign-ups for the Art and Movie contests, there are some interesting prizes here - the top prize is $3500, or $2500 and a 'tribute' in an upcoming Blizzard product. What does that mean?

A tribute could include taking the form of having an NPC, weapon, etc. named after the first place winner.

In addition to that there's $2250 for second place finish, $1500 for third place, $1000 for fourth, and a $250 for secondary winners. Considering how much time and effort people put into their costumes, it's nice to see the possibility of a few people at least getting a little compensation for that. If you're interested in entering this year, head to the official site now.

Episode 6 of Azeroth Choppers is up, and if you've wanted to see some actual work get done on the bikes, today is your lucky day. I'll admit right now, I watch all kinds of TV shows that are about people building things, so I found today's episode to be the best one simply because the bikes are getting worked on. The Alliance bike in particular is starting to look pretty cool -- the armored gas tank and sword handlebars are definitely striking. Of course there's the usual drama of this kind of show - will it get done on time, clashes about what the direction for the build should be, etc - but again, finally we're getting a real sense of what the bikes themselves will look like.

Frankly I'm disappointed at the lack of Samwise's beard in all this, though. I think he should just be in every scene.

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If you spend time on the internet -- which I'm sure everyone reading this does -- then you're well aware that popcorn is no longer simply a food, it's a verb. One that can often be applied to happenings in World of Warcraft. But hey, I'm not here for the verb version, I'm here for the delicious, edible noun.

I've long thought it was a shame that the only place you could get a Bag of Popcorn in WoW was from the arena vendor in Zul'Drak (you have to wave at him--he'll toss you the item). Wouldn't it fit right in at the Darkmoon Faire? Blizzard, are you listening? Anyway, if you're not feeling up to flying all the way out to the frozen wastes of Zul'Drak to get one of these, you can make it easily in the comfort of your own home.

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The new fanfiction forum is in full swing and filling daily with stories from the avid fan-writers of WoW. Nethaera has been helping things along by adding new writing challenge threads about once every two weeks or so. The first of these asked the readers to imagine they were an attendee at the trial of Garrosh Hellscream and to describe what they saw. It's not a competition, but Nethaera did outline a few rules, notably, the writers could not exonerate Garrosh.

It's been fascinating to read the responses. Many feature similar themes and ideas, but there is endless variation on the theme. As I did a few weeks ago with the forum at large, I've picked five of my favorite stories from the thread and listed them below. There are many more than these that deserve attention, but time is short and I am but one person. Please feel free to comment with some of your own favorites, as well!

That bell-like sound? That sweet scent wafting through the air? Ah, that's love. Love is in the Air means it's time to slip that special someone a strategic Heart Candy. It's the thought the counts; nobody can deny that Heart Candies are probably not the tastiest treats in Azeroth. Good thing nobody actually eats them! (You don't, do you?!)

You can pop as many as you like in real life if you whip up a batch here on Earth instead of in Azeroth. Like love itself, the recipe for Love is in the Air Heart Candy is simple yet demanding; you'll knead your heart out for this one. We've also got two tastier and quite romantic treats to share with you today: the delectable Dark Desire and those irresistible Tauren Toenails. Mmmm, chocolate!

The new official WoW fanfiction forum has been live for a little while now, and it's starting to fill up with a variety of stories for the interested reader. There you can find tragic tales of fallen heroes, tongue-in-cheek vignettes, and even some chronicles devoted to filling in the gaps of Azerothian history. Really, even after only a few days of existence, there are more than enough stories to keep a fanfiction enthusiast busy for quite some time.

In the spirit of drawing some attention to the forum as a whole, I've spent some time reading through a number of the threads there and picked out a few of my favorites. Mind you, this isn't necessarily a comprehensive list, because I simply don't have the time to give every single posted tale the attention that it deserves. The ones I've chosen caught my fancy for any number of reasons--the originality of the concept, some aspect of the writing, or the effect of the story. They are listed below in no particular order. Do click on over to check them out, and feel free to add favorites of your own in the comments!

Still not sure what to get that special someone for Valentine's Day? our favorite doodling gnome is here to help by taking your Valentine doodle requests on the forums. So if you're not sure just what to say or how to say it... why not say it with a romantic (maybe) doodle? We can't think of a better expression of affection.

If you want a doodle of your own, head to the forums to request one. But if you just want to see the latest Doodlegnome masterpieces, here are our favorites:

• The traditional Valentine's murloc
• A story of love and toast
• Zarhym's Valentine wishes
• Crithto and Sylvanas' forbidden love

Just remember: Doodlegnome is but one gnome and might not get around to all requests.

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Happy Lunar Festival! Need a little pick-me-up in between visiting your elders? Make your own fortune cookies! There's nothing like making your own Azeroth-related fortunes; our favorites are based on the coins of the Dalaran fountain or the humorous Twitter antics of Angryorc.

Just make sure you get the fortunes all written up and ready to go before you start baking, because making fortune cookies is a fast-paced, hands-on project that will demand your full attention as you cut, bake, shape and cool the little guys in quick succession.

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If you've ever wondered what Jasmine from Aladdin would look like as a blood elf, wonder no more. Thanks to this story on Kotaku, we get to see how DeviantART poster LiberLibelula would design various Disney characters in terms of the races of World of Warcraft, and while some are no real surprises (Snow White as a dwarf lass) some caught me off guard (Rapunzel as a gnome I did not see coming, and I was pleasantly surprised by draenei Cinderella and troll Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire). The art style here is interesting and captures both inspirations well, in my opinion, and it gets me wondering why we've never seen a Warcraft cartoon of any kind.

Frankly, while we're waiting for a Warcraft movie, I've always wondered why we never saw anything like the Diablo III Wrath trailer for the Warcraft setting. Seeing these images only makes me wonder more - we've seen enough comics and graphic novels in the Warcraft setting to convince me a wide variety of animation styles and artwork could work, so where's our Animatrix for WoW?

I've always been a big fan of the DC Animated films (frankly, I think they're better than the live action movies in most cases) and I'd definitely like to see Blizzard do something similar for Warcraft. While we wait, you can always head over to LiberLivelula's gallery and dream.

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Vegans and vegetarians, this is not the Well Fed Buff for you. This week, it's time to talk Thick-Cut Bacon.

I loved bacon as a child, but once I had to cook it myself, I swore off. Popping, sizzling grease and I don't play well together, and so (I naively believed) that was that. But then last year, it was out of the frying pan and into the bacon when I discovered the wonderful world of alternative preparation methods -- that, plus a bunch of really good recipes (like Half a Lovely Apple ... With Bacon) that simply beg to be made on a regular basis.

Got a hankering for some bacon? Let's go over the best ways to cook up some bacon with no fuss (and even with very little mess) and then dig in to a couple of delicious recipes from fellow WoW Insider readers.