Saturday at Comic Con Africa 2026 had one very simple message:
Personal space has left the building.
Day 3 was SOLD OUT, and Nasrec absolutely felt it.
Every hall was buzzing, every walkway had something happening and occasionally getting from Point A to Point B required the strategic planning normally reserved for military operations.
But weirdly? I loved it.
Because if Friday felt like the perfect day to explore Comic Con, Saturday felt like the day everybody decided:
Fine. We’re ALL geeks today.
And then there was the cosplay.
According to my highly scientific Something Guy method of looking around and thinking, “WHERE DID ALL THESE PEOPLE COME FROM?”, cosplay appeared to increase by approximately 200%.
There were cosplayers EVERYWHERE.
Some were absolutely breathtaking, with costumes that clearly required months of work, planning and a level of patience I simply do not possess.
Some were hilarious.
Some were bizarre.
Some I recognised immediately.
And then there were those magnificent creations that made me stop, stare and think:
What on Earth am I looking at?
I mean that with enormous affection.
That’s the beauty of Comic Con. You can spend six months constructing armour accurate to the millimetre or arrive dressed as something completely unhinged and somehow both approaches make perfect sense.
And remember, Saturday wasn’t even the Championship of Cosplay. That’s happening on Sunday.
This was apparently the warm-up.
Saturday was considerably busier than Friday. Friday had that wonderful sweet spot where everything was happening but you could still breathe.
Saturday sacrificed breathing room for atmosphere.
People were everywhere, but the energy was fantastic.
Busy doesn’t automatically mean bad. Sometimes standing in a hall surrounded by thousands of people who are equally excited about comics, anime, gaming, movies and fictional universes is exactly what you signed up for.
Although perhaps with slightly more deodorant.
Please.
We’re all friends here.
And somehow, after three days, Artist Alley keeps surprising me.
Every time I walk through it, I discover another artist, another print, another bizarre little creation or something else my bank account absolutely did not authorise.
The talent there is ridiculous.
I’ve said it every day and I’ll keep saying it: support these artists.
The enormous activations are impressive, but there is something special about buying something directly from the person who imagined it, created it and is sitting right there watching people connect with their work.
Ultimately, though, Saturday reminded me that Comic Con Africa doesn’t belong to the celebrities or the giant brands.
It belongs to the fans.
The cosplayers stopping every five metres for photographs. The person carrying six shopping bags and refusing to acknowledge their financial decisions. The families introducing their children to characters they grew up loving. The strangers complimenting each other’s costumes. The people passionately debating fictional universes as though international diplomacy depends on the outcome.
Comic Con is weird.
Gloriously weird.
Saturday turned that dial all the way up.
Three days down.
My feet are exhausted. My phone storage is becoming concerning. My bank account would prefer Artist Alley cease operations immediately.
And somehow we still have Day 4.
The Championship of Cosplay is coming.
Considering what I saw on Saturday, I am slightly terrified (in a good way) to see what everyone has been saving for the finale.
