rAge 2013 cosplay competition: dress to kill

October will see the return of SA’s biggest gaming expo, rAge 2013, and with it comes the ultimate showcase for the subculture of cosplay in the country.

One of the big highlights of the show will be the rAge Cosplay competition and the Artist’s Alley, which is being organised by LegionInk – a South African NPO Community.

“Quality Cosplays take massive amounts of time and dedication and often an equal investment of cash to ensure the best possible results,” explained Ray Whitcher, Co-Founder, LegionInk.

“Cosplayers are more often than not self-funded. They generally sew and assemble their costumes with their own skill and experience. This means that the quality of the Cosplay will grow as the individual Cosplayer’s crafting skills improve,” added Whitcher.

Whitcher also added that cosplay expands beyond video games and is as diverse as the entire geek culture in its entirety.

“Cosplay is as vast as pop culture itself and is pretty ubiquitous in the genres it covers, so video games, comic books, films, board games and anything else you could think of can and will supply source material for Cosplay,” continued Whitcher.

rAge 2012 cosplayers

A sign of this growth has been seen in the cosplaying participation and entrants into the competition at rAge expos.

“The Cosplay event at rAge has grown massively over the past three years, seeing a rise of nearly 100% in entrants with each subsequent competition (it went from 20 participants in 2010, to 40 in 2011 and then to 70 last year). We’re actually expecting well over the 100 mark for this year’s competition and possibly another 50 non-competitive Cosplays,” said Whitcher. “What gets me most excited is that the Cosplayers travel from all over South Africa to attend rAge, which is rapidly becoming known as the biggest Cosplay event of the year,” said Whitcher.

Whitcher also added that you don’t have to be at rAge to take part in the cosplaying action across the country.

“The major centres have several cosplay competitions throughout the year, like Cape Town’s Free Comic Book Day, Jo’burg’s ICON, and Durban’s UMICON. These smaller events can actually function as regional qualifiers, with each competition yielding a top three, who would compete at the rAge Cosplay event.”

Three of the country’s most recognisable cosplayers, Yamaki, KomboKitten (headline image above), and Jiraiya, will be at rAge this year and will be at the NAG Magazine stand where you can catch a photograph with them.

rAge Expo Cosplay 2012

rAge expo and NAG LAN

In addition to the cosplay on show, a huge attraction is the NAG LAN.

Microsoft SA also confirmed that the Xbox One will be playable at rAge 2013. “The consoles will be on display at our stand where gamers can get hands-on with the new controller and key first party titles before the official release in 2014,” said Xbox SA’s Graeme Selvan.

The PlayStation 4 will also be on show, it has been confirmed.

rAge is taking place on 4-6 October. Day tickets are R70 per person, and R120 for the whole weekend.

Dates: 4 October – 6 October 2013
Show times: Friday: 10:00-18:00, Saturday: 09:00-18:00, Sunday: 10:00-16:00
Day ticket: R70 per person (Tickets available at the door)
Weekend ticket: R120 per person
Kids under 6: Free
NAG LAN ticket: R400
Venue: The Coca-Cola dome, Corner Northumberland Road & Olievenhout Avenue, Northgate, North Riding