WITH the tagline ‘gotta catch ’em all’ and the pop culture icon that is Pikachu, there is little doubt that Pokémon has had an impact on generations of fans.
In Durban North, one need not look any further than cosplayer, Justin Walter.
Justin, his wife, Angela, and daughter, Chloe, recently brought a few of the iconic characters and Pokémon from the series to life with their cosplay for this year’s Comic Con Cape Town.
Justin helped fashion the clothing to accurately depict characters such as Ash Ketchum, Misty and Brock. Using EVA foam he also created Pokémon creatures like Togepi, Butterfree, Psyduck and Geodude.
His daughter, who dressed up as Ash, won best dressed in the kids con competition while Walter had the honour of judging the masters division competition.
“As soon as I heard the comic con event was happening, I knew I had to get to Cape Town. There hasn’t been a cosplay event since comic con 2019. I knew there was a masters division competition, that I would normally enter, but I felt with a short time period I couldn’t create a cosplay worthy of entry. We decided, as a family, to do some casual dress-up.
“I got the idea to bring the Pokémon characters to life because I’m watching the original series with my daughter. We wanted to celebrate that with a special cosplay and when she said she wanted to be Ash, I knew then how to bring other iconic characters to life around her. Pokémon has influenced multiple generations, an experience that I now share with my daughter,” Walter said.
Justin added that he was asked to judge at this year’s comic con masters division.
“The organisers kindly asked me to judge because they knew I was coming down there and not competing. It was quite an honour as I’d never judged before. Judging my peers and people I look up to in the cosplay community was an amazing experience. It was definitely a lot of fun and seeing Chloe win was just fantastic,” he said.
Those familiar with Justin’s incredible work know he has brought various other comic book characters to life, such a Batman and Groot.
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