WHEN it comes to creative genius in cosplaying, look no further than Durban North resident, Justin Walter. The 35-year-old was one of the standout cosplayers at this year’s Comic Con Africa.
The popular international convention was held at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand, with thousands of fans bringing to life their favourite characters from pop culture.
This year, Walter decided to bring to life one of the characters from his favourite PC games, Arthas Menethil, a fictional character from the strategy game, Warcraft. He also created Arthas’ weapon, a 6 foot tall hammer called ‘Light’s Vengeance’.
So impressed were the judges at Comic Con, that Walter was awarded first place in the armour division. It was a massive step-up for the local resident who placed third in the same division for his impressive Groot.
“I knew I had to step things up this year. In all I spent more than 200 hours working and creating the Arthas suit. Warcraft III is one of my favourite games of all time and growing up, I absolutely loved it. They recently announced they would be remastering the game under the name Warcraft III: Reforged. a reimagining of the game. I loved the design of Arthas and his armour, I knew then that’s who I wanted to be at this year’s Comic Con. Overall I was incredibly happy with my progression and my goal is to make it to the masters division for cosplay and one day represent South Africa at an international comic con,” he explained.
Walter makes his costumes using Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam and this year used foam clay for the lion heads on the belt, hammer and hand guard.
Speaking on the reactions he got from the crowd, Walter said he couldn’t have asked for better praise from fans of the game and pop-culture fans alike.
“People absolutely loved the outfit, especially the hammer. I think everyone wanted to hold it and pose in photos with it. I think their reactions made it all worth it.
“Getting praise from fans of the game was fantastic because you know you’ve created a costume as accurately as possible, which is a huge achievement in the cosplay world. One of the coolest moments for me was swapping weapons with a cosplay artist who played Spawn. He held on to my hammer and I got to hold on to his M134 Gatling gun which was pretty awesome,” he said.
For his Groot costume Walter placed third place in the armour division at last year’s con and also won the Green Leaf Award for using recyclable materials in his Guardians of the Galaxy inspired suit.
Walter also praised events like Comic Con Africa and ICON Durban for helping grow the cosplay community.
“I’ve seen the growth in Durban and across South Africa. The cosplay community is growing so fast. I see so many new faces at cons and it makes me happy to see more and more people dressing up,” he said.
Walter has also started an Instagram page to share his cosplay journey with the world. Follow him on @gammablastcosplay.
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