Cosplay Competition at WasabiCon, Jacksonville (October 10, 2026)

The biggest draw at Jacksonville’s largest anime convention, WasabiCon, was the Cosplay Competition, in the main event stage. Before the show, the staff happily threw out WasabiCon swags, including light sticks and water bottles. Then after show, the Wasabi Video and Photo crew came on stage to take a picture of the massive crowd.

Like many costume contests, the cosplayers have two or three poses, then followed by a question about their costumes and/or the character. I was surprised to see so many Chainsaw Man (or rather Chainsaw Men) … I know the anime and manga are popular, but weird to see so many cosplayers. I suppose it’s easy to do, you need a white button shirt, skinny black tie… and a chainsaw head. Maybe some fake blood.

So below are just some of the costumes. I didn’t include all the entries, because I had the costumes in other photos and/or if they were the winners of the competition.

Best in Show winner gets over $500 in cash and prizes, along with free entries to next year’s convention. I think Fearne Calloway (from Critical Role) was the main winner. Other awards included craftsmanship (I think the Squirrel girl got the award for her tail), detail work, and stage presence (I personally thought the Freddie Mercury cosplayer should have won).

I really thought that was really cool to see an obscure evil Deanna Troi (from the Mirror Universe) as a cosplay. The reference may have been lost on the younger audience.