Comic-Con Cape Town kicked off in scintillating fashion on Freedom Day, with thousands of cosplay and comic geeks ready to nerd out on top-of-the-line installations, contests and first-person encounters with Hollywood stars.
Comic-Con Cape Town: Here’s a recap on Day 1
The Cape Town International Convention Centre 2 (CTICC 2) was jam-packed with two floors of festivities.
On the first floor, scores of pop culture fanatics crowded the aisles, eagerly browsing the large catalogue of international and local stalls which hosted a range of products, from RPG collectables, and prized anime action figures, to larger-than-life artistic works sold by original creators in the Artist Alley.
The mainstage opened up with Hugo Lambrecht’s orchestra performing Star Wars theme songs and later hosted spotlight sessions with Hollywood stars Tati Gabrielle, Ross Marquand, and Kat Graham.
Away from the intriguing chatter on the mainstage, Capetonian cosplay enthusiasts drew most of the attention with creative renditions of their favourite characters.
Here are some of our top picks on Day 1:
While the main stage did meet expectations on Day 1, the atmosphere on the gaming floor was electric!
This is where the country’s top gamers gathered for a day of friendly competition hosted by several sponsors. Telkom’s digital gaming league held knockout FIFA 23 and Forza tournaments and gave out thousands in cash prizes.
Toyota also hosted a popular gaming area with an assortment of prizes up for grabs.
‘Cape Town in poll position to become the world’s prime events destination’
Taking it all in was the City of Cape Town’s mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, who struggled to hold back his excitement when reflecting on the potential economic impact of such a monumental occasion.
“These events are great for our economy. We’ve had an incredible run of events since January [2023], our ministriel carnival, the Cape Town carnival, T20s, golf championships, we’ve got the Netball World Cup coming, we had Formula E, it’s just been an incredible season for events and all of that really does amazing things for our economy,” Smith said.
Smith also confirmed that Comic-Con Cape Town will not be impacted by rampant loadshedding, which, barring no further unforeseen breakdowns at Megawatt Park, should remain sustained at Stages 3 and 4.
“When we have major events we do exempt an area from it. So, with the stadium events you can’t have the stadium run the risk of sitting partially in darkness. So, we do create exemptions around major events. It’s too risky to have a large number of people congregated in one space,” Smith added.
Comic-Con Cape Town: Here’s what to expect on Day 2
Day 2 of Comic-Con Cape Town will resume on Friday, 28 April 2023 with a full schedule of action-packed festivities on the mainstage, the Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF), StreamerCon, and the Artist Alley.
Some of the festivities to look forward to include:
- Spotlight session with Tati Gabrielle on the mainstage @ 10:00;
- Kat Graham session @ 12:00;
- Cosplay celebrities Leon Chiro and Elizabeth Rage meet-and-greet @ 15:30
View the full schedule here.