18 Cosplayers Who Came To Slay At Nairobi Comic-Con

From Tony Stark to Hermione Granger, Kenya’s most stylish comic book and fantasy lovers showed out at the country’s fourth annual convention.

Some of Nairobi’s most dedicated sci-fi aficionados, comic book readers, and anime fans showed up and showed out this weekend for Naiccon, the city’s answer to the hugely popular San Diego Comic-Con, which took place July 20–23.

Naiccon organizer Thomas Imboywa told BuzzFeed News that he and his friends planned Kenya's first comic book convention in 2014 because they weren’t able to travel to the US to participate in Comic-Con there.

I'm at Nairobi's Comic Con today and it is so LIT with Afrofuturist cosplay realness 🖖🏿🌍

“We couldn’t make it to SDCC, but we thought: Let’s try to build our own and push our own content, and have fun while we do it,” he said.

Imboywa also wanted to create a platform to celebrate and promote stories from the continent. He said people from Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, and Rwanda traveled to Kenya to promote their graphic novels and artwork at Naiccon this year, and that others from Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe also showed a keen interest in attending.

Black Panther is coming out in February, and there’s a lot of interest in it because it’s different,” he said, referring to the upcoming addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its almost all-black cast. “How much more interest would there be if it was homegrown stuff?”

“How many African mythological stories have you heard of, or folklore?" he added. "We have so much content in terms of Africa that we can dish out.”

Rebecca Kiarie, who's on her third time at Naiccon, told BuzzFeed News that the convention provided creatives and gamers on the continent a unique space to express themselves.

“We’ve been TV watchers, we’ve seen other conventions, but we’ve never had one for ourselves,” she said. “And it’s been fun as hell.”

As with its San Diego counterpart, one of the biggest draws of Naiccon? The cosplay! Here are some of the best examples that BuzzFeed News saw while walking the floor:

1. This stylish of interpretation of Scooby-Doo's Velma.

2. This adorable Minion.

3. This dynamic Daredevil and Tony Stark duo.

4. This Todd Ingram lookalike.

5. This Red Riding Hood realness.

6. This nod to Naruto.

7. And this one!

8. This whole entire squad.

9. This very smart Agent Jemma Simmons look from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

10. This cosplayer who kept it classic as a steampunk plumber.

11. This brooding Brook from One Piece.

12. This sister and brother who went as Sakura Haruno and Monkey D. Luffy from Naruto and One Piece, respectively.

13. This very dedicated Kaonashi from the classic Spirited Away.

14. This Joker, who took his role VERY seriously.

15. This super-cute Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter.

16. This Darth Vader who was definitely feeling the power.

17. This nobleman who came with all the right accessories.

18. And this Generation of Miracles squad who came to do anything but play.

Topics in this article

Skip to footer