The colourful cosplay of Comic Con Cape Town 2025

Cape Town is one of the great cosplay hubs in South Africa, with both an active community and hefty amount of talent that has already represented, and won accolades for, the Rainbow Nation overseas. Which means Comic Con Cape Town, now in its third year, is one of the best place to sight, snap and interact with local cosplayers.

CCCT 2025, held from 1-4 May, was a special treat for the cosplayers as well, with the shift of Cosplay Central from Hall 1 to the CTICC2’s concourse. The change in location provided an ideal set-up with good lighting, plenty of space, and a whole Cosplay Hospital and Make-up Station courtesy of Checkers’ MediRite Plus, and Essence, along with a branded background to pose against. Most days also included special themed cosplay gatherings, for the fan-favourite likes of Arcane and Genshin Impact.

In addition to twice daily casual competitions, CCCT 2025 was home to three cosplay contests of a more seriously competitive nature, two of which are sending their winners to Japan and Europe later this year. First up, on the Saturday of the con, WeCosplay SA facilitated the local qualifiers for the invitation-only World Cosplay Summit, and Season 13 of the Extreme Cosplay Gathering (ECG). Both of these contests have a strong performance component, setting them apart from other, more costume-centric judging.

Winning the WCS qualifier, and heading off to Japan in August, is Jessie Jestar and James, thanks to their Elden Ring skit. Meanwhile, Pamikin (who was one of last year’s WCS representatives), made history as the first South African to represent SA at the upcoming ECG World Finals in Paris, France. She won on the basis of her performance as Vanille from Final Fantasy 13. Finally, Laniatitania received the special recognition of being named Judges’ Favourite for her portrayal of The Last Airbender’s Ty Lee.

Sunday afternoon, the final day of the show, gave con attendees the annual Comic Con Cape Town Cosplay Competition, where local entrants of all skill and experience levels showed off dozens to hundreds of hours of work (AKA literal blood, sweat and tears). Fortunately, there were plenty of categories to reward these cosplayers’ efforts.

Best Prop: @lunara.cosplay101, The Lord of the Rings
Best Wig: @mralienation_cos, Genshin Impact
Best Makeup: @fae_violetcosplay, Arcane
Green Leaf Award (for recycled materials): Tina Tailgate, Ghostbusters
Judges’ Favourite: @fae_violetcosplay, Arcane

Masters Champion: @frostykity, Batman & Robin
Advanced Champion: @sonic.zee.cosplays, Genshin Impact
Journeyman Champion: @minaripari, Lollipop Chainsaw
Novice Champion: @doomy_03, American McGee’s Alice

Needlework Category:
1st Place: @quality_koaliz, Hollow Knight
2nd Place: @chrisincostume, Elden Ring
3rd Place: @president.poverty, Genshin Impact

Armour Category:
1st Place: @amanita.cosplay, Beserk
2nd Place: @lunara.cosplay101, The Lord of the Rings
3rd Place: Meraichi, Solo Leveling

Overall Champion of Cosplay: @geekigear_cosplay, Dune

Now it’s time to celebrate all the cosplayers of Comic Con Cape Town 2025, whether they were up for braving the stage or not. As usual, if you spot yourself in the galleries below, and would love the original high-res image, email noelle(at)pfangirl.com.

As a side note: With CCCT 2025 sold out, and the floor space very busy, we obviously only managed to capture a fraction of cosplayers who attended over the con’s four-day duration. Some notables spotted, but not shown below, include a superb Bo-Katan and fellow Nite Owl; towering Space Marines; Tinker Bell wielding a giant dandelion; Marge Simpson; several Minecraft villagers and Chicken Jockeys; an excellent G.I. Joe Snake Eyes; Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; and even Muriel from Courage the Cowardly Dog.

Did you attend CCCT 2025? Were there any cosplays that stood out for you? Reply in the comments or in response to this post on socials.

You can also check out our cosplay galleries for 2024 and 2023.
And for some “animated” action, watch the annual Primal Nerdz Cosplay Music Video.