The secret Superheroes who live next door to you

You’ve seen them in the movies: the caped crusaders who defend cities like Metropolis or Gotham, but did you know there are heroes, villains and other characters living right next door to you in the Eastern Cape?

They belong to a group of people who share the hobby called “Cosplay”.  According to Wikipedia the term "cosplay" was coined in Japan in 1984. It was inspired by and grew out of the practice then-known as fan costuming at science fiction conventions, beginning with the 1st World Science Fiction Convention inNew York City in 1939. It comes from the words “costume play” and refers to any costumed role playing of characters drawn from various places, including films, TV series, anime, cartoons, comic books, video games and the like.

This weekend the cosplay community of the Eastern Cape came out in force during the annual fan convention called Con.Ect where the cosplay competition inspired huge creativity. Characters this year came from a variety of sources, including Alien, Star Wars and Final Fantasy, anime series like Tokyo Mew Mew, Naruto and Tokyo Ghoul, and games like Warhammer and Super Mario.

Take a close look at the photos and you may recognise friends or neighbours you didn’t know had a heroic alter ego! They are creative and interesting and they live among us.