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Comic-Con Africa 2019

  • Leigh-Anne as Lady Blaze Queen of Hell 

The event of the year took place this past weekend at Comic-Con Africa 2019 from Saturday the 21st all the way to Heritage day, Tuesday the 24th of Septemeber. It was a super awesome experience and I had a great time at the event.

If you know me, after the success of CCA2018 my world revolved around Comic-Con Africa – It was like waiting for Christmas or my birthday and has become a huge part of my identity. This year I planned to soak up the geek at CCA for only 3 days out of the 4 day weekend but I had so much fun on day 1 that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attend every single day!

CCA2019, saw the con in a new venue Gallagar Convention Centre that was a lot bigger than last year. This year we got more; a dedicated kids section called KIDSCON, and designated halls for gaming (tabletop and electronic), the artist’s alley, and the main stage area with lots of stalls and other areas in between. We also had some pretty rad international personalities such as William Shatner, Nolan North, and Troy Baker as well as Daniel Gillies to name a few.

There was so much to do and see at CCA2019 and despite making it to all 4 days I did not manage to see enough! There were times where I wished my superpower could be splitting into two people just to cover more ground. Though the things I did see were super cool and the friends I made through the year leading up to CCA added to my experience.

  • FOCCA Meet-up

At the start of each day, I got to hang out with the Friends of Comic Con Africa at the FOCCA Meet-up. Finally seeing friends I had made from behind a computer screen – chatting to them and having fun made the experience worthwhile. I must have spent the majority of the time at the con just bonding with others that like the same things as me.

  • Ziyaad and Bill

Another highlight was meeting Ziyaad from Awali Comics. I have been fangirling over Awali for months and it was awesome to meet him and just chat about art and comics. I got my hands on issues 1 – 6 of Siri Watu with each one signed of course. I also saw the legendary Bill Masuku (who was hard to catch) and picked up my pre-order of Captain South Africa also signed. I saw these guys as well as some other local artists at a panel I caught which was one of my most memorable con moments. These guys are inspirational and maybe one day I will be up there with the greats!

It was awesome to play Boet Fighter again (I attended a beta test a few weeks ago) and was pleased with the improvements such as health and life pick-ups which were not included in the beta testing. I didn’t get much time to play anything else – the gaming area was massive and I wished I had taken the time to test out some other games but this is something I will improve on next year.

  • Boet Fighter

Like I said earlier, I did not plan on attending all 4 days. I had a hiccup with my contact lens on Day 2 and couldn’t see or do much. The Cosplay Hospital was an amazing idea and although I wasn’t cosplaying I was able to use the saline solution that was available in the kit they had to fix any cosplay mishaps. With Day 2 – not going as I had hoped, I wanted to attend Day 3 but didn’t have any tickets. At this point, my CCA Fairy God Mother (Thank you!) came through for me and helped me out with tickets so for my come back I decided to bring back Budget Mermaid from last year.

  • Cosplay Hospital to the rescue

The night before, I attended CCA2018 I made a triton and painted shells on a t-shirt for a bit of Disney Bounding. I didn’t plan on wearing this again (as I often wear it to the gym: triton not included) but I ran out of clothes so I thought it would be fun! And it was, I still received compliments from people on my outfit and the triton even though the paint is chipping one year later – So, I think budget mermaid is here to stay. I also picked up a dinglehopper bow to match my outfit at Frockabilly by Cherry Lisa and a pin that reads ‘mermaids don’t have thigh gaps.’

  • Frockabilly Lisa
  • Akasha, Fred and Leigh-Anne

For the most part, I scoured the stalls looking at the cool things that were on offer. With my teeny tiny student budget, I made the decision to only get what I absolutely wanted and that was the CCA19 exclusive Funko Pops. I first went in for Wonder Woman and Thor but ended up also buying a Kakashi for Player 2. By the end of the last day, I still had some money burning in my purse and the SSGSS Goku [Kamehameha] on my mind so I ran over to GammaTEK SA and grabbed the last one.

Player 2 took a page out of my book and made an arc reactor the night before and walked around as Tony Stark! So proud!

There was a lot going on over the 4 day weekend and I really loved hanging out with friends, taking pictures at the F.R.I.E.N.D.S couch or at the WWE stand and KFC stand. I also got a cool new CCA mug and was gifted a Daenerys Funko Pop and Joker cushion by my two awesome friends to add to my haul. I also met my favorite Lord Beerus (Gene Daffue,) my fellow mermaid Enslien Erasmus and Leigh-Anne Knipe who did an outstanding 3 cosplays (this girl’s my inspiration!) I also met my fellow admins from the FOCCA group which was lovely and got to spend time with my favorite admin Jonathan Harding (Fandom is Awesome.)

I didn’t have much time to see everything and I was sad to miss the cosplay competition. You might also be wondering why I didn’t mention much of the international stars – well for me I really found that I was starstruck by local artists and cosplayers I met at the event and that’s what made it special for me.

  • Zaid (ZHM Entertainment), Inses Nobre and Poliana Nobre

CCA2019 was a success in my books I had so much fun and even though I live down the road it was like a mini-holiday for me. A much-needed break. Of course in no way was it perfect some of my gripes were with the ventilation and walkways which were super narrow especially in Hall 3 (which Jonathan also talks about in his post on CCA19: Comic-Con Africa 2019 – in Review.)

Living in JHB and frequenting other conventions has also left me familiar with many of the vendors so to an extent I would have wanted more awesome hard to get merch obtained by CCA themselves (if possible). This is a minor though as my broke ass could probably not afford anything but still, some friends expressed frustration with the offerings.

As an artist and someone who spent most of her time in the artist alley, I would have liked a place for us to draw and purchase some epic art supplies. So maybe, if CCA is reading this – this would be an awesome a place to chill for a little while and draw. Like a play area for adults with booze, art supplies and drawing paper!

Other than this the con was great! I made a lot of memories and had an awesome time and am so freaking pumped for next year – I have even started watching cosplay tutorials to up my game. I will also like to personally plan my strategy better – Jatin Dayaram was the happiest person I saw after he got his PS controller signed .

  • Jatin with his PS4 controller signed by Nolan North and Troy Baker

To end this one-off I would like to say thank you to the organizers and the people who made this so special! Even if you weren’t mentioned by name you made my weekend.

  • Padwan cosplay, Carol Weaving, Managing Director of Reed Exhibitions Africa
  • Got a selfie with Carol Weaving

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How to make Wolverine Claws

Logan Cosplay

A few months back I managed to score tickets to the screening of Dark Phoenix with the awesome people at Comic Con Africa. I wasn’t going to dress up but- I do enjoy the last-minute scramble and decided to make a pair of Wolverine Claws as a fun craft. What was awesome about this project is that I made do with what I had around the house and ended up with something cool in the end. 

Template



First thing I needed was a stencil, and my good friend Pinterest does not disappoint. All I did was search ‘wolverine claws’ and printed the outline on a A4 sheet of paper. I then cut this out and traced it on cardboard. 

Cutting template



I used a regular cardboard box I had laying around in my garage – this was remanence of the move I did earlier this year. After tracing my pattern onto the cardboard I used scissors and a box cutter to cut the blade pieces out. But I wasn’t satisfied with the build, I found the cardboard a little too flimsy. So I went scouring the house once again to look for some better material.

Tracing template



I found an old drawing pad that had pretty sturdy cardboard at the back so I decided to give this a try. I repeated the process of tracing and cutting, but the cutting part was a pain! Craft scissors and a box cutter are probably not the tools for this but after a lot of suffering, I managed to gather 6 freshly cut pieces for my claws. To refine my work I used a high grit nail file to file down the edges and make them smoother, sandpaper can also be used but I fond this was an easier tool. 

Testing the fit



According to my pattern, the claws had two holes at the base to accommodate a handle. In order to make the holes in the cardboard, I chose to use a soldering iron that burnt the perfect sized holes into the claws. This can also be done by poking a hole with a knife and using a skewer to make it bigger. 

Making Holes



The next step was to paint the claws, first with a base coat- I used basic acrylic paint in black for the base and topped that off with a coat of silver acrylic paint. I did not see the need to prep the cardboard I chose to use, as it wasn’t too absorbent but you can use a coat of gesso to prep most items you want to paint on. I also did not seal the claws in either but a varnish can work if you want to seal the paint job in. I let that dry overnight before getting back to work on it the next day.

Base Coat



In order to make the handles I used two bamboo skewers, that I broke in half to make four pieces. I trimmed the edges as best I could with a scissor and filed the uneven edge. I then used the soldering iron once again to burn the edges so that no one gets a splinter. I then assembled my claws by sliding one claw in at a time onto two skewer pieces. After they were put together I used hot glue to hold everything in place and painted the handles black.

Painted Claws

I absolutely loved this little art project! Player 2 got to wear them and the claws received many compliments and I am going to be making more pairs for friends but I will be upping my game and will be using some sturdier materials in the future. 

Logan Cosplay



For myself, however, I decided to do a Storm inspired makeup look:

Thank you for checking this post out. I hope you liked it, let me know what your thoughts and if you would try this out for yourself?

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Disneybounding – Princess Jasmine

Disneybounding – where I can pay homage to my favorite characters with the clothes and accessories I already have in my closet! It definitely is a dream come true.

Where it originated:

I discovered Disneybounding a little while ago while watching a Buzzfeed video. This trend originated from the Disney theme park ban where anyone above the age of 14 is not allowed to dress in costumes.

The ban makes sense though, as Disney cast members are kitted out in costumes and this eliminates any confusion that might occur. Fans, still wanting to dress up as their favorite characters without violating the park rules came up with Disneybonding.

What is Disneybounding:

Disneybounding alludes to your favorite character through clothing and accessories that use the same colours or garments related to a specific character. Items like a purple top, green leggings, and shell earrings as to reference Ariel is an example of this – I have actually been Disneyounding before I knew what it was. I wore this combo for a Disney on Ice Show back in 2016 or last year, when I went as a low budget mermaid (Trident incl.) to Comic Con Africa.



The awesome thing about Disneybounding is that you can do it on a budget. For me cosplay has been so out of reach due to my student budget and Disneybounding has allowed me to be part of that world, without needing splurge. I use what I have in my closet and it’s nice to get compliments from other fans who know which character I am trying to emulate.

Disneybounding Jasmine:

With the screening of the new Aladdin movie I knew I wanted to use the opportunity to dress up like a princess. I luckily had a blue Indian skirt my mother got me a few years ago (that I had yet to wear.) I paired this with a simple white top and a blue and white cardigan. I choose to wear a gold pair of pumps that matched the jewelry.

For the jewelry, I went with a headpiece that I bought a few years ago when it was in fashion – this is why I never throw anything out you never know when it will be useful again! I also used gold earrings and necklace. I added body jewels, the same ones I wore to CCA last year to complete the look by placing them on my chest.

Finally, if I can’t bound I make sure that my makeup hints to the character but because I was already looking like a princess I wanted to keep it simple.

I extended my eyes with Ashes from my UD Naked Heat palette, to make it look more almond shape like Jasmines. I then used Fierce (Bad Habit Athena palette – the gold shade) over my lids. Jasmines makeup seemed quite simple in the animated movie but I wanted a pop of gold to complement the rest of my outfit. I highlighted the corner of my eyes with the AB Glow palette to make it stand out, before placing Daring (Athena) over the top.

I then swiped Epic (Athena) from the corner of my eye to midway above the gold just for added sparkle. The final touch was Jasmine’s striking eyeliner, I also added some kajol under my waterline and a hint of blue under the corners of my eye for a little bit more colour.

I was quite pleased with how my outfit turned out. I received a lot of compliments on it and le boyfriend also joined in by wearing one of his kurtas.


Disneybounding has allowed me to join in on the fun without having to spend too much and I feel less left out. It has shown me I don’t need epic cosplays to be noticed or have a good time. Bounding also doesn’t have to stop there – you can pretty much bound any character out there.

Have you done any bounding? Tell me in the comments below or let me know what characters you would like to bound

Thanks for stopping by!