T5W#585-Top 5 Most Unexpected Otakon 2026 Cosplays

Well it’s that time again Dear Readers.  With Halloween just around the corner it’s time to jump back in time a few months to highlight some more awesome cosplays from my favorite con of the year.  This year, however, we’re doing something a bit different.  A lot of the cosplays that make my lists come not just from how well they’re crafted but how they stand out, how out of left field the choices are.  Ergo, the more obscure the better.  And this year, the obscure was everywhere.  I didn’t get a photo but when I learned someone was doing a photoshoot as a character from Code Lyoko of all things, I had no idea that wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg.  So for this years Cosplay Halloween centric Top 5 Wednesday, I’m looking at the wildest, most eye popping cosplays of characters from things you would never expect to see at a con, much less Otakon.  These are my Top 5 Most Unexpected Otakon 2026 Cosplays.

 
#5-Geisha Robot Assassin (Ghost in the Shell 2017)

While it’s not unusual to see Ghost in the Shell cosplays at a con (personally I wish I saw more of them especially because of the new series, but that’s just me, maybe next year?) going with a look from the very divisive movie is a rare thing indeed.  And really, if you’re gonna cosplay anything from that flick, you’ve gotta go with the extremely cool looking Geisha Robot that tries to suck out Michael Wincott’s brain in the beginning of the movie.  The cosplayer even went the extra mile to open the face up like it does in the movie, that’s a whole other level of commitment there.  I don’t like the movie but damn if this cosplay isn’t awesome as heck.

 
#4-Ella (Ella Enchanted)

I’ll admit, I’ve never seen Ella Enchanted.  I know it exists, know that it came out around the same time as Shrek (I think) and it starts Anne Hathaway as a fairy tale bad ass character.  Beyond that, I don’t know much else about it.  So it was a shock to see a friend of mine dress up as Anne Hathaway at Otakon That said, Anne Hathaway’s look from the film is one that can easily be recognized by anyone who at least knows the films title like I do (and yet I assumed some Cinderella variant at first but as soon as she told me Ella Enchanted, my brain went “Wow that’s a title I haven’t heard in a long time.”).  Obscure title, dead on accurate and fun cosplay. 

 
#3-Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)

Abraham Lincoln.  One of the greatest Presidents in history…moonlighting as a Vampire Hunter.  It’s a premise that is so bonkers it could just work.  While the movie could have gone a bit more bananas with it, ALVH still has some fun and creative action and goofy moments when the movie isnt playing everything so seriously.  So color me surprised when a fine gentleman with a top hat, armed to the teeth with an axe and various Vampire slaying accoutrements floated around the main con floor.  Had to tip my hat (in a manner of speaking) to him and compliment his cosplay…and maybe talk him into getting into a quick duel with the guy in the picture way above who I’ll talk about right now.
 

#2-Agamemnon (The Odyssey)

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was one of the biggest movies of the year (currently it’s still my #1 until Dune 3 or Godzilla Minus Zero dethrones it).  One of the most striking visuals they used throughout the marketing of the film is the back of famed Greecian Legend Agamemnon, with a spinal collum as a braid/tail attached to his helmet.  It’s such a striking image and you know which movie it’s from instantly.  I know the image of the guy had been out for over a year or so but I was still wowed that someone brought this cosplay to Otakon two weeks after the movie opened.  It’s almost a dead on replica for how almost Darth Vader level bad ass it looks from the film.  And yeah, like I said, got to have him face off with Abe Lincoln in a duel, no wonder I made that the intro pic for this Top 5.
 

#1-King Baldwin IV (Kingdom of Heaven)

Now this one, this one made me do a double take and really think about what I was seeing.  Was this random cosplayer really hanging around the hotel lobby dressed as the fair but doomed King Baldwin IV from the Ridley Scott epic Kingdom of Heaven?  I had to ask, and even got the character name wrong in the process (sue me, it’s been a minute since I’ve watched the movie-Side Note: The Directors Cut is my third favorite Ridley Scott film after Blade Runner and Alien).  When he confirmed who he was I was speechless and incapable of thought.  How obscure this movie and even the character are that someone would wear it to Otakon just blew my mind and took it a minute to recover.  This year really was a crazy one for Cosplays at Otakon and I freaking loved it.