THE Con.ect Geek Con Gqeberha event, powered by Above and Beyond Productions and Tarryn Light Productions, will be taking place on 21 and 22 October at the Nelson Mandela University Madibaz Indoor Sports Centre.
Attendees will be spoiled with an array of stalls, stage acts, games, cosplay, competitions, and food trucks. Tickets are available on WebTickets or at the door. Children 4 years and under enter for free. Doors open at 10:00 and close at 18:00 on both days.
A special cosplay guest will be attending on Saturday and Sunday – Luke Andalis, aka Ludus Cosplay. This Cape Town-based full-time fabricator and cosplayer has over 12 years of experience in the costume industry. His numerous digital tutorials and educational content have helped many aspiring (and even experienced) cosplayers improve their craft. In addition to doing photo signings, Ludus will be a guest judge for the cosplay competition and provide insight into his cosplay career. Luke was the 2022 first-place crown champion at Comic Con Africa, as well as reaching second place at the 2023 Chicago Cosplay Central Global Crown Championship.
Con.ect is very excited to have Li Lau, Gqeberha’s own bizarre magician, performing on stage on both Saturday and Sunday. Other stage acts will include Natasha Tait’s dance studio, the School of Aikido, Artemis Aerial Arts, Urban Playground Parkour, and songs from our emcee, Tarryn Light. There will be a cosplay masquerade on stage on Saturday and Sunday, and a chilli chip eating contest for the bravest geeks on Sunday, presented by Bay Chillis.
The tabletop gaming arena, hosted by The Den and Unplug Yourself, will be offering learn-to-play opportunities for multiple board and card games throughout the weekend, as well as a Pokémon tournament on Saturday and a Magic The Gathering tournament on Sunday. The ACGL Gaming Hub Area, hosted by the African Cyber Gaming League, will be offering free-to-play Valorant on PC, as well as a mix of console games that will also be free to play throughout the weekend. A keyboard rebuild race will also take place where attendees can win great prizes.
The convention hall will be filled to the brim with over fifty unique geeky stalls that will sell everything pop culture, as well as delicious food vendors indoors and outdoors. Con.ect has teamed up with Treasure Cove Costume Hire again, who will be setting up a pop-up costume shop in the main hall! This means that, if attendees haven’t had time to make or find an outfit, then they can pop into the Treasure Cove store and rent an outfit for the duration of their attendance. Once they are ready to go home, they can return to their costume and change back into the clothing they wore when they arrived.
Dr Janelle Vermaak-Griessel, one of the organisers of Con.ect, says, “The well-known cosplay masquerade will take place on stage at 13:00 on Saturday and 12:00 on Sunday, where attendees can show off their outfits and strut their stuff across the stage. The cosplay competition will take place on Sunday from 14:00, and this is where the serious cosplayers will showcase their costumes. Often these costumes take months to make and are meticulously hand-made with intricate detail to stay true to the source. There are fantastic prizes to be won”. This year Con.ect will be introducing cosplay competitions for tots, tweens and teens on Saturday so that they can show off their outfits as well!
Should attendees believe that they are the most knowledgeable geeks around, then Con.ect suggests they sign up for the geek quiz, hosted by Triple M Productions, that will be taking place upstairs on both Saturday and Sunday. There are great prizes to be won for teams of 6 and we are sure that a fantastic time will be had by all. Another activity that will be happening upstairs on Saturday is a free introduction session to the popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. If you have always been interested in this game, this is your chance to learn!
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