Comic Con Africa belongs to cosplay – Gadget

Cosplay stole the highlight at Comic Con Africa final week. No matter what you have been doing, whether or not gaming, purchasing or exploring, unbelievable costumes surrounded you and introduced famed characters to life.

The spotlight for a lot of was the Championship of Cosplay, the place one of the best of one of the best competed throughout 4 classes: Masters Champion, Champion of Needlework, Champion of Armour, and the general Comic Con Africa Champion.

This 12 months’s total champion title was awarded to Madelein Myburgh, @maddie_final.cos on Instagram, for her breathtaking portrayal of Furina, a personality from Genshin Impact. The competitors celebrates craftsmanship, creativity, and efficiency, turning the primary stage right into a showcase of months, typically years, of dedication.

Myburgh’s meticulously crafted costume and complex design work earned her a R10,000 money prize and, much more thrilling for many cosplayers, a coveted spot within the 2026 Cosplay Central Crown Championship of Cosplay, full with return flights and three nights’ lodging.

Myburgh will journey to London to signify South Africa because the Comic Con Africa champion, competing in opposition to high cosplay winners from PAX Aus in Australia, Paris Manga in France, Japan Weekend Madrid in Spain, C2E2 within the United States, and UniCon in Latvia.

Telkom VS Gaming cosplay and gaming

Telkom VS Gaming added to the cosplay buzz with a contest that invited members to painting characters from the Telkom VS Gaming universe: the gaming guru Mobile Mo; the content material queen Vibey Val; or the tech wizard S-Tech. Lufung “Fufu” Mdauwas, as Vibey Val, received the title and took residence R10,000.

The vitality didn’t cease at cosplay. VS Gaming delivered high-stakes esports motion throughout 4 main tournaments. The Masters Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) event headlined the weekend, with the Top 8 groups battling for R300,000. Bravado Gaming dominated the grand ultimate, sweeping Kitsune Esports 3–0 to take first place and R150,000.

Bravado has lengthy been a cornerstone of the native esports scene and has taken South African esports to the worldwide stage. One of the crew’s current efforts was Project Destiny 2.0, a world marketing campaign that concerned establishing a base in Serbia and competing in opposition to a number of the world’s greatest. While not each mission has gone as deliberate, their constant ambition continues to push the area’s aggressive scene ahead.

The Rocket League Championship topped Team Jika My Baby as winners after they defeated Team Poney No Jutsu to say the highest prize of R25,000 from the R62,000 pool.

The High School Esports League (HSEL) rounded out the weekend, with St John’s College taking the CS2 ultimate for R45,000, defeating the 2024 champions, Parklands College. Curro Durbanville received the Rocket League ultimate for R45,000 from the R180,000 prize pool.

“The final LAN events showcase the talent of some of the country’s best players and teams,” Johann von Backström, Telkom VS Gaming senior supervisor for content material and gaming, advised Gadget.

He stated the HSEL, a grassroots league that started about 5 years in the past, serves as the start line for a lot of aggressive avid gamers. From there, younger gamers typically progress to the Masters tournaments and, in some circumstances, even compete internationally. Some might finally return to the scene as coaches, guiding the following era of highschool groups.

VS Gaming’s presence went past the aggressive finals. Attendees might dive right into a Free-to-Play Zone, the place informal gamers battled for each day prizes in Telkom Plus cell video games. The EAFC Free-to-Play Zone supplied a extra social expertise, from one-on-one matches to 32-player event brackets, all in a king-of-the-hill format.

For racing fans, the Openserve Sim Racing Zone offered two high-end racing setups with each day competitions and a R10,000 money prize for the quickest lap of the weekend.

The Telkom Smart Home expertise showcased linked residing, that includes good TVs, cameras, and automatic lighting and vacuums. In partnership with Samsung, the Mobile Arena supplied cell gaming challenges, a Gemini AI cosplay photograph sales space, and leaderboard prizes.

*Jason Bannier is a knowledge analyst at World Wide Worx and author for Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky at @jas2bann.