Strathmore cosplayer recognized among the top costumers in the world

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Autumn Desjardins, a cosplayer originally hailing from Strathmore, along with her partner, Conor Anderson, have cemented themselves among the top cosplayers in the world.

The pair claimed second place overall at the 24th World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan, July 31 to Aug. 2, and were also awarded the prestigious Brother Award, recognizing their craft in sewing. 

“With the 40 countries represented there, we placed second in a combination of costuming and skit. We had to do both in order to get that second place overall,” said Desjardins. “The Brother Award, which is selected by the Brother representatives there – they are a company which makes a lot of different machines, but in particular, sewing machines. The company started in Nagoya, where the competition is held, and has been sponsoring it for a very long time.”

She explained in order to be qualified for consideration of the award, the pair were required to place among the Top 4 of the 40 represented countries at the event for their craftsmanship in sewing and were subject to an additional judging process by the company’s representatives.

Desjardins added she and Anderson went into the competition doubting the possibility for themselves to be considered for the award at all, let alone being selected as recipients for it. 

In order to qualify to compete at the World Cosplay Summit, Desjardins and Anderson travelled to Montreal in 2025 to compete against 10 other teams from across Canada.

The characters the pair recreated were Akira Gunji and Sho Tenkubashi from the manga series, Tokyo Aliens. The shonen (young man) series follows high school student Akira as he discovers Tokyo to be a destination spot for extraterrestrial travelers.

“What makes these costumes a little bit different is that the lights in the costumes also tell a story with the skit. The lights move and animate depending on what we are doing, as well as there is a code sequence in our jackets that play throughout the skit and they actually interact with our performance,” said Desjardins. “When I punch my partner, the lights go from my coat into their coat and set off this reaction which is really fun. We had to learn a lot of different things, including electronics, sewing techniques, molding and casting, and so many more just to make these costumes happen.”

Desjardins and Anderson have previously competed in the likes of the C4 in Amsterdam, the Gamers8 festival in Saudi Arabia, and the Masters of Cosplay in Florida. This was their first foray into competing at the World Cosplay Summit, having been an ultimate goal for Desjardins since 2012. 

Following a break from competition appearances for at least a year, Desjardins laughed, she intends to step into the spotlight once again, this time recreating a character from the manga series, Witch Hat Atelier, aiming to enter the Polymanga in Switzerland, or the Nordic Cosplay Championship in Sweden. 

“The other thing we are hoping to move on to is a lot more educational content, especially on the interest of fight skits. A lot of people want to do them but do not know how to do them safely. My partner is certified with Fight Directors Canada (FDC) and has learned how to do it safely (so) that makes it okay to fight and no one is at risk,” she said. “In electronics, for myself, I find that getting started in electronics is really difficult. A lot of the tutorials are written by people who have been in electronics for 20 years, so what seems simple to them is very not to everyone else. I’m hoping to make that entry a little bit easier.”

Beyond the scope of the WCS as a competition, Desjardins excitedly shared the experience as one of a major cultural exchange, meeting cosplayers from around the globe, and participating in a host of events leading up to taking the stage.