It’s been a rough few years for cosplay. There’s just something about attending a convention or expo in costume to motivate you. Take away those events and it’s a lot harder to maintain focus and stoke passion in the pastime. Things can go one of two ways as a result. The first is that people give up, and move onto a new hobby. Or, when they receive the opportunity to cosplay again, they embrace it with everything they’ve got.

Having not had a chance to cosplay at a local convention since FanCon 2019, Capetonian cosplayers clearly chose the second route: bringing their A-game, enthusiasm and famously positive, encouraging spirit to the first-ever Comic Con Cape Town (which also saw the involvement and return of FanCon), which was held at the CTICC from 27 – 30 April.

Apart for the daily Casual Cosplay Competition (for kids and adults), and their own coastal Sew-A-Thon challenge, Comic Con Cape Town 2023 included two major cosplay competitions. The first, on Saturday, was the Ubisoft Cosplay Challenge where cosplayers were encouraged to portray their favourite Ubisoft video game character, for a chance at winning their share of R20 000. This contest was won by Mauritian cosplayer FredWolf Cosplay, who appeared as the title character of action adventure Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Other contestants embodied figures from For Honor and the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

On Sunday, the Comic Con Cape Town Regional Championship of Cosplay took place on the main stage. While the 2023 prize money wasn’t as impressive as the Ubisoft Challenge, the Regional Championship is ultra-prestigious and comes with other major benefits, like the overall winner receiving a fast pass to the stage finals of the Comic Con Africa Championship of Cosplay in Johannesburg later this year. The regional winner also won flights and accommodation to attend the big continental cosplay contest finale in September – with the CCA champion going on to compete against the best cosplayers in the world at C2E2 in Chicago. And South Africa has an exceptional track record when it comes to cosplay on that specific stage.

Anyway, there was plenty of jaw-dropping talent on display during the Sunday on-stage finals of the CCCT Regional Championship. The overall winner was Nicola Zoe Andalis whose meticulous sewing and construction resulted in a spot-on depiction of vampire Nadja from horror comedy series What We Do in the Shadows. Nicola also won Best Prop. And as one final piece of trivia, Nicola is the older sister of Luke Andalis, AKA Ludus Cosplay, the previous Regional Champion, who topped CCA’s competition and went on to place 2nd globally at C2E2. Cosplay talent clearly runs in the family.


The full award winners’ list for the Comic Con Cape Town Regional Championship of Cosplay for 2023 is as follows:

  • Regional Champion of Cosplay: Nic Zoe Andalis (as Nadja from What We Do in the Shadows)
  • Regional Masters Champion: Isola Cosplay (as Black Belle from Red Dead Redemption 2)
  • Regional Needlework Champion: Creative Chia (as SSG Skin Xayah from League of Legends)
  • Regional Champion of Armour: Life’s A Glitch (as Lagertha from Vikings)
  • Regional Best Wig: Mittelelfcat (as Geralt from The Witcher)
  • Regional Best Prop: Nic Zoe Andalis (for Nadja’s Doll from What We Do in the Shadows)
  • Regional Best Newcomer: ktl cosplay (Cubone from Pokémon)
  • Regional Most Creative Techniques Award: Jaechild Cosplay (as Nidus from Warframe)
  • Regional Green Leaf Award: Mari Moller (as Battle Suit Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon)
  • Regional Judges’ Favourite: Mimic from Unicorn Fun Land (as Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk 2077)

Now, with the serious, competitive stuff out the way, here are more cosplay highlights from the inaugural 4-day Comic Con Cape Town (and you can read our thoughts about the event as a whole here).