I can not believe I was so hyped for ICON CGC just a few weeks ago and now here we are two weeks after the fact! I figured I better make some time and actually talk about my own personal experiences from it. Otherwise, another week would pass before I realise it. Please note that this is an image intensive post, so it may take a while to load.
I had originally planned to skip Friday, as I did not want to miss too many days from work. Especially considering I had a day off for GeekFest last month. Thankfully I have a really awesome boss who had assumed I would be having the day off. So, I had the day off, well most of it. I needed to leave during the day for work and then I went back after I was done. I was gone for about 3 or 4 hours.
Friday
Finding the Red Roman Shed had been interesting. I am so glad that I asked at the main gate where it was. If I had not I would have been walking all over to try and find it. The day was on the quieter side with few cosplayers. It was the perfect day to browse the stalls and chat to the people manning them. (I managed to talk for a good hour to some of the people manning the Comic Con stand.)
Once I had arrived back at the con I sat and listened to two panels which just really got me hyped up for World Cosplay Summit (WCS). So happy and proud that SA is the first country in Africa to participate.
Saturday
Saturday was a great day with a ton of cosplayers. I was really happy at the heavy emphasis on anime specific cosplay. My family came through for a couple hours and I spent more money than I had anticipated. Overall it was a great day where I managed to talk to a couple of the cosplayers and walked around with some people I had met at GeekFest.
Seeing the badge collection on my bag, Benjamin, a cosplay gave me two of his badges. He is such a sweetie. I hope we will meet again – we met as GeekFest this year and now he has moved making ICON his last ‘Gauteng’ event for the foreseeable future.
Sadly the WCS stage time had been postponed until Sunday but that just meant more time for me to walk around and capture photos of more cosplayers. After the con had closed for the day there was a small meet up. I was really glad I could join and experience a casual and amusing atmosphere with everyone.
Sunday
I spent more money, indulged in some amazing hot chocolate and had a rather awesome experience. I met with a fan and avid follower of All About Anime which was a pretty amazing experience for me. We spoke about a ton of anime and I still need to get back to him regarding a couple questions he asked.
I enjoyed the Cosplay competition and all the contestants. I just wish that there had been more and that each person had spent a little more time on stage.
Some of the really epic cosplays I managed to get photos of during the weekend!
Please click here to get all of the cosplay and cosplayer details.
Come Monday I was exhausted and my legs and feet were sore, but it was well worth it! Let me know if you would like to see my haul from ICON CGC 2018. Otherwise, that was my experience. I had no idea what to expect and for my first ICON experience, I really enjoyed it.
All About Anime and Manga 