The first Comic Con to be held on the African continent took place on the 14th to the 16th of September and it was everything one can expect from a Comic Con event. The event was held at the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit and International Convention Centre and completely sold out! There were over 35 000 attendees over the 3 days and every day there was something new to see.
There was a vast spectrum of showcases, stores and events that included a large range of pop culture and entertainment elements across virtually all genres, including animation, toys, gadgets, clothing, collectible card games, table top games, anime, manga, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels. You could even get a tattoo on site to commemorate the event!
Of all these different aspects, there was one stall that had the crowds buzzing from the time that the doors opened in the morning, to the very last minute of the show each day – The Funko stand had collectors rushing to Comic Con Africa so that they can get their hands on that missing piece of their Funko collection. Collectors did not mind standing in an 80m long queue just to be able to come and look at all the characters that were on display.
“Funko gives everybody the opportunity to collect a tangible representation of something that they have a passion for. It is a hobby and a means to connect with like-minded individuals through Pop-culture” – says Zev Cherniak from Gammatek, the distributors of Funko to SA.
Event Exclusives:
There were 4 Comic Con Africa event exclusives that were only available from the event and made for a valuable collector’s item. These characters were King Deadpool, Harley Quinn from Justice League, Hellboy and Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat franchise. The Deadpool exclusive was such a sought after item that it completely sold out within the first 2 hours of the event on the Friday. This quickly became news on social media and this caused even more collectors to make the Funko stand their first stop the next morning!
The Perfect Character
Most of the visitors to the Funko stand knew exactly what character they were looking for! Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool being the most popular followed by Harry Potter, Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman. All of these characters sold out during the event along with many others that completed the collections of so many fans. New lines were packed out every day and some of the serious collectors came by, and stood in the queue, some twice daily, to make sure that they do not miss anything. Special editions and “Chase” units were also available periodically on the shelf and were swiped up as soon as they were packed out because of the rarity of some of these units. Cosplayers frequently populated the Funko stand looking for the character that they were dressed as. This made for some great talking points and great photo opportunities.
Something for Everybody
The range that was available at Comic Con Africa was the biggest the African continent has seen for Funko collectables, and many lines were packed out at Comic Con Africa that has not seen the inside of any other store, ever. On Saturday morning some new gaming lines arrived that made some of the gaming fans really happy. These lines included, Dota 2 , Overwatch Season 4 and Halo. Other popular lines that was less conventional was Anime lines from Naruto and Dragon ball Z and there were also lines from popular TV shows such as Riverdale and Game of Thrones. An oversized Daenerys & Drogon collectable was stacked at the entrance and also sold out very quickly.
A growing Hobby amongst South Africans
More and more people are realizing how much fun it could be to become a Funko collector. Many people that attended Comic Con saw the hype around the Funko stand for the first time and ended up buying the whole collection that they are a fan of, right there and then. Some of the collectors spent over R10 000 on a single purchase! In total, there were almost 8000 units sold during the 3 days of the event! That alone will give an indication that Funko is here to stay and because of the fact that the characters will always stay current, there will always be a new line of collectables to collect for many years to come.
Comic Con Africa was a great success and a memorable event for all of the fans that attended. Funko will be making an even bigger impression for the 2019 event with a bigger range and 10 event exclusives! “Everyone is a fan of something” and Comic con 2019 will definitely have that one thing that you are a fan of.
About Gammatek:
Gammatek was established in South Africa in 1999 and strives to be the leading distributor of Branded Technology Accessories in Southern Africa. The company distributes products that offer an added value proposition in terms of brand value and range and is currently the sole distributors of Body Glove, FUNKO, Boompods, Element Case, Happy Plugs, Jarre technologies, MyKronoz, Mpowered, Plantornics, Ridata, Speck, Snug, Tiggly, UAG, UBTECH ROBOTICS, Wicked, and Whoosh. Gammatek prides itself on timeously offering the latest accessories for all popular consumer electronic devices.
Gammatek was announced supplier of the year, for Vodacom 2010, 2011 as well as 2013 and has won the Vodacom 4U supplier Excellence Award for the past consecutive five years.
For more information on Gammatek’s product range please visit www.gammatek.co.za or follow us on Twitter @gammatek and Facebook.
