When it comes to cosplay in South Africa, Johannesburg and Cape Town unsurprisingly are the chief centres, with the largest, most active communities. This isn’t to say there isn’t a lot of passion and talent spread throughout the country. That was abundantly clear this past weekend at ICON By the Sea, Durban’s annual tabletop gaming and comic convention. Local cosplayers – and some visitors from elsewhere – braved the heat of this year’s apparently endless Summer, and brought their A-game to the 2017 event.
Creativity, technical competence and a sense of camaraderie were obvious among the cosplayers. What was most pleasantly surprising, though, was the diversity on display. Age, race and gender were irrelevant when it came to participation. There were kids, adults, family cosplays; even crossplay.
Some con attendees clearly just relished the chance to dress up and let their geek flag fly high. For the more competitively minded, there was a two-day cosplay contest judged by Kate B, Soraya and Noori from the Durban cosplay scene.
These were the category winners at this year’s competition:
Anime and manga: Kelsey Atkins (JinxKitty Cosplay) as Gengar from Pokemon
Gaming: Noelle Adams (pfangirl) as Lara Croft from Rise of the Tomb Raider
Western Pop Culture: Light River Cosplay as Aurora from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty
Best Overall: Kelsey Atkins (JinxKitty Cosplay)
Well done to the winners, and everyone who clearly put in a lot of effort despite Durban’s infamous malaise-inducing humidity.
Allykhat
I could only make it there on Sunday due to issues with work, but thanks so much for the tickets guys. Was really awesome. Ran into some old friends, picked up some merch for my girlfriend (her first con) and a new boardgame for the collection. Was only a Game of Thrones Monopoly this time, starting small for the GF then will work up to the big stuff, haha.
Daniel Hallinan
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/118e849b01a0c052049faa135b695e0841b6cba3b60a29145f55a4be2cd187fc.jpg
This one is AMAZING. As someone who loved the figure this is based on, it’s really impressive to see someone recreate it so faithfully. Seriously, it’s down to a fuckin’ T!
miaau
I LOVE these pictures, seeing people have so much fun.
As a parent, I wonder about the littlies dressed as Joker and Harley Quinn, from a movie they probably are a bit young, technically, to see.