Last weekend, the Harrisburg Comic & Pop Con took place at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. Both days included a cosplay contest: the Cosplay Craftmanship Contest on Saturday (August 23) and the Cosplay Masquerade on Sunday (August 24). The former was for cosplayers who had crafted their costumes themselves while the latter was open to everyone. Both contests had impressive turnouts, leaving the judges with the difficult decision of selecting who went home with an award. The highest honor available for each contest was Best in Show, and this title was ultimately bestowed upon two very different cosplayers!
The Best in Show winner for the Craftmanship Contest was a Pennsylvania cosplayer named Connor (@ratsuni_ on Instagram), cosplaying the character Arlecchino from popular video game Genshin Impact. After their victory, I had the opportunity to ask them a few questions about their costume:
How long did it take you to assemble this costume?
90 hours, roughly. Give or take, probably a little bit more, but, I keep it to a low 90.
Did you make all of it?
There’s some pieces that I took from the original cosplay. I had a premade cosplay that didn’t fit me anymore. And in my size, it was sold out. I needed it for a convention, so I was like, f*** it, I’ll just make it. So there are small details that I didn’t make. […] There’s the little bit in the spine that I took completely off it. But for the most part, it’s handmade.
And [the weapon] is handmade?
Yeah.
How are you feeling about winning Best in Show?
I am… I was actually just telling the judges I’m a little baffled because I was not expecting it at all.
How long have you been cosplaying?
10 years. Actually, this year would be year 10.
And have you done a contest like this before?
I have. Yeah. I’ve competed in Harrisburg Comic Con’s contest before. In 2023, I got an Honorable Mention, I believe. I completely skipped last year. But I also compete outside of other conventions.
Is this the highest award you’ve ever gotten?
Oh yeah. Well, kind of. I competed in Carlisle Comic Con. I was actually just saying it to some of the other contestants earlier, but I kind of, even though it was a win, I feel like it was a little… It feels like I didn’t earn it because the competition was so little. Literally, the judges straight up told me, when I first walked in the room they knew I was the winner. Like, before I even discussed it. So I’m like, it’s a win, but it’s not necessarily A WIN. I overestimated the crowd.
But still! This was a big one, though. The best fish in a really big sea.
Yeah! I mean, the Carlisle Comic Con one technically is a Best in Show, ‘cause they just did first, second, third, and craftsmanship. They didn’t have any, like, direct categories. So, technically I now have two Best in Shows, but I don’t really consider that last one. This one is s*** I definitely worked for.
Do you have anything else you want share?
Pretty much, I guess just a little message to all the baby cosplayers: I did not start off looking how I do now. My skills were not as good. I was hand sewing on my floor in my bedroom three years ago, and now I’m over here winning Best in Show. So, it’s possible to improve. And I don’t think that you should compare yourself with others. And if you compete and you don’t win, you definitely shouldn’t get upset ’cause sometimes other contestants are gonna look like, they’re gonna have small details that you can’t see. They have a little bit that you’re not seeing, and that’s what got them to win.
As for the Cosplay Masquerade, Best in Show went to a young boy cosplaying… Andrew? His vest, name tag, and Four State Comic Con t-shirt allowed the audience to infer that “Andrew” was a real person who worked at the convention. While this seemed to be an inside joke amongst the con staff, it was clear that this “Andrew” person played an important role on the team based on his involvement in both cosplay contests and his on-the-ground visibility throughout the weekend. Despite his busy schedule, I was able to ask him a few questions about his award-winning mini me:
This was a surprise? You didn’t know this was happening?
Oh I had no idea what was happening. Not a clue.
So who is this boy? How do you know him?
So he is the child of one of our staff members. He’s been helping the past year now, I think. His name’s Hunter. Really good kid. But he obviously can keep a secret. Because, I found out that my my wife was looking for my badge last night. So, apparently, it’s been in the plan for a little bit of months [unintelligible]. So they were, I’m hard to keep secrets against, but they did it.
So who’s the real Andrew? Who are you? What do you do here?
I’m one of the owners. I do a lot of the programming, kind of layout, and I have two other partners, Brian and John, who do various other things too. But we’ve been running this convention and Four State in Hagerstown for, well next year is 10 years. It’s actually our 10th anniversary for Four State.
Do you have a favorite out of the Four States?
I guess I had to say PA because I live there.
Anything else you’d like to add about the cons?
I’m always super impressed with all of your support and everything that we get. So, we thank you to everybody that has supported us over the years, and we’re going to continue doing that.
You can read the interviews with Harrisburg Comic & Pop Con’s 2024 Best in Show Cosplayers here. Tune in next August to see who takes home the gold in 2026!
