Kidults, Assemble! Comic Con Africa is Where Your Fandoms Come Alive #ComicConAfrica

Hi Guys, 

Johannesburg, I have a question for you. Have you ever queued overnight for a Funko Pop drop? Rewatched your favourite anime for the third time this month? Or stayed up until 2 am binge-watching a series? Do you proudly display your LEGO figures next to your work laptop? If you’re nodding along, congratulations, you’re officially a Kidult.

Globally, adults now account for 28% of all toy sales, and they are creating demand for high-end, collectable, and nostalgic merchandise. This trend is growing at over 10% annually and is becoming a full-blown cultural shift. Kidult culture is rewriting the rules of adulthood and blending grown-up responsibilities with a splash of youthful passions, and Comic Con Africa stands at the epicentre of this movement for local lovers of collectables and limited-edition items.

Kidults aren’t hiding in the shadows anymore: they are proudly collecting, gaming, cosplaying, and geeking out like never before. From scouring the internet for that rare Labubu character to stacking shelves with Squishmallows in every size, South African adults are reclaiming the joy of their childhood obsessions and turning them into full-blown lifestyle statements.

This isn’t a phase, it’s a movement, and Comic Con Africa is the one place where it all comes to life.

Whether your office is lined with action figures or your weekends are dedicated to anime marathons, Comic Con Africa is where you belong. It’s the beating heart of geek culture on the continent, it’s the only event where collectors, gamers, Cosplayers, and fans from every fandom collide in a celebration of unapologetic passion.

But kidult culture isn’t limited to toys and collectables. It’s thriving in the world of gaming, too, with Nintendo as one of the most nostalgic gaming brands. Once childhood favourites, franchises like Zelda, Mario Kart, Pokémon and Metroid have become nostalgic cornerstones for adult gamers who now revisit them not just through gameplay, but through collecting figurines, retro consoles, and exclusive titles. These games aren’t just played, they’re cherished. This year at Comic Con Africa, you will find an entire zone dedicated to all things Nintendo.

Comic Con Africa gives kidults the chance to get their hands on exclusive collectibles and immersive experiences. This is the grown-up playground you’ve all been waiting for. And yes, there will be shopping. Lots of it. If you’re hunting down that one elusive figurine or that specific Star Wars collectible, Comic Con Africa is your chance to find it. And with Toys R Us taking over the KidsZone, there’s shopping for everyone.

Comic Con Africa isn’t just an event. It’s a cultural meeting point where childhood memories are reawakened, friendships are sparked in every aisle, and passion is proudly put on display.

So why only tell your kids about the stories you loved growing up, when you can live it with them?

To every adult who’s ever worn superhero merch to a meeting, hunted for that rare comic drop, queued for exclusive collectibles, or gamed till sunrise, Comic Con Africa sees you and is calling you to come joyfully express yourself this August.

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New Year Resolutions - Week 37 Achievements & Failures #TheLifesWay

Hi Friends,

Week 37 - Sat 10 Sep 2022 - Fri 16 Sep 2022

The week started with a party at one of my friend's houses and then the whole week as a merry-go-lucky charm kind of quality attached to it. Why I am saying this so you will be able to know if you read the whole blog post. 

1. Thank You - The counter reached from 19913 onwards to close at 33322 counts. I didn't take it to my daily walks hence the count increase was very slow. 

2. Daily Walking - I only did 12.21 kilometres this week against my weekly target of 20 kilometres. I am getting a little worried about my 1000 km target that seems really far at the end of the year. I think I started marking the total kilometres for the week in my BuJo which led to the decrease as I am always afraid of the final target. I never wrote the same earlier in any of the months. The mental pressure of doing it is much more than the actual effort to do the thing. Don't think just do it!

3. Entertainment - I watched the weekly episodes of the regular web series I am seeing every week. I also watched the movie Brahmastra - Shiva part 1 of the trilogy. I totally loved the same but didn't love the dialogue written for the movie. Never thought that Amitabh Bachchan will be questioned in a language in this much-hyped movie whereas he was properly respected in the movie named Jhund where the actors were from slums or representing slums. The visuals and everything looked really cool and the introduction of characters like Deepika Padukone and Shahrukh Khan was amazing to watch too. I don't know if the language representation of Allahabad is true in terms of being straight forward but in real life, I see that they do respect and language too is soft even if it can be direct. 

4. YouTube - I earned my biggest day earning in terms of YouTube Adsense of USD 2.88 but since the first time, I have never even crossed USD 3 in a single day thereafter. I have also observed that YouTube shorts decrease your earnings for the main long-form video as well so it's better to form a new channel for YT shorts as then you can experiment with your videos. The subscriber though gets increasingly fast on YT shorts so for a small Youtuber like myself with less than 2k subs, I should not plan to introduce a new channel as my channel have only 1500 subscribers. I also attended the first virtual YT Shorts event which was part of 3 series of events scheduled for South Africa. 

5. Contest Wins - I won the Sandton Central Alto 234 contest to go to the Leonardo building and enjoy a drink on the top of the 54 floors. I will surely book the same. I also attended a Lego Launch Event and you can enjoy the video too. I also attended some conferences at Sandton Convention centre and got some goodies from all those events which I shared on my channel. Do check out the random goodies from all these events. I also won the Incredible Connection Jabra contest on Facebook and the goodies will be received in future via courier. 

I also tried the food at The New Delhi Darbar restaurant after a gap of so many years as earlier I never liked the food at the restaurant when I came to South Africa in 2013.  This time the food was really good and also loved the whole experience with the new management. You shall definitely try the same and it's near Benmore Gardens Shopping Mall. I also posted the imaged on Google Maps if you search for the restaurant and already it has crossed many thousand views. 

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #10YearsofTheLifesWay. Support me if you want with USD 10 - https://www.patreon.com/TheLifesWay Namaste!

Lars Silberbauer Joins HMD Global as Chief Marketing Officer @HMDGlobal

Hi Friends, 

HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, announces Lars Silberbauer as Chief Marketing Officer.

Lars will lead HMD’s Global marketing efforts across the entire portfolio of Nokia smartphones, feature phones, tablets and accessories, as well as HMD Global consumer and enterprise services.

Lars will report directly to Florian Seiche, CEO, as he continues to develop its long-term growth strategy for the full portfolio of Nokia devices and HMD Global services.

Lars says: ‘I’m thrilled to be joining HMD Global at such an exciting time. We have just launched a revolutionary new subscription service that aims to change the way we look at phone ownership and the most eco-friendly phones that we have ever created. Consumers are responding to our innovative Circular subscription service with sustainability at its core. I look forward to working closely with the marketing team to continue to drive digital transformation in our marketing operations as we aim to become an impactful digital leader and connect the world without costing the earth.’

Prior to his appointment at HMD Global as Chief Marketing Officer, Lars was leading the Brand, Marketing and Digital teams at International Olympic Committee and was also a former SVP of MTV Digital Studios where he focused on growing MTV’s momentum through digital and social channels. Lars also worked at LEGO as a Global Senior Director where he revolutionised the company’s digital footprint by transforming a brand that had no social media presence into one of the world’s most impactful digital leaders.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #10YearsofTheLifesWay. Support me if you want with USD 10 - https://www.patreon.com/TheLifesWay Namaste!

New Year Resolutions - Week 12 Achievements & Failures #TheLifesWay

Hi Friends,

A quarter of the Year 2022 is almost over and it's time now to look at things from a quarterly perspective there will be a post on the same too but let's focus on what I did in Week 11 where I had a lot of failures for sure as I focussed on playing with Reyansh as he came back from India after 2 months or so. 

Week 12 - 19 Mar 2022 (Sat) to 25 Mar 2022 (Fri)

1. Walking - I didn't go on a daily walk for most of the week and could only achieve 16.4 Kilometers this week for the 3 days I went. I could not go on Friday as I went to a birthday party with family. The overall counter still stands around 260+ kilometres in 12 weeks (Target 240 kilometres) so far so I have something of a buffer to don't think much about these little failures. 

2. Thank You - I completed the 100k Thank You counter for the month and this time it went from 0 to 100k all the way without any reset or something. I am really grateful to Ken Honda for this task that I really enjoy doing. 

3. Audiobooks - I completed Chris Bailey's Hyperfocus: how to work less and achieve more and this has been my 15th book so far in 3 months. I really loved reading all these books rather than listening to them during my walks. Some of them I will revisit in printed editions or on kindle a little later or can refer to them again and again in the coming days for sure. I started listening to Blinkist but didn't find that platform to be much interesting as it's someone's summary or understanding of the book. I started listening to Chris Voss - Never Split The Difference which is really something of a lifelong goal for me too. This is one of the books I would want to buy in real life too and keep it with me all the time. 

4. Entertainment - The only entertainment I had was making the Lego Star Wars - 75242 - Black Ace TIE Interceptor up to the level that I spent the Monday afternoon building it from scratch to finish. It was my first time ever with the Lego blocks and I received them from the NAG team. I built it to the level that at the end of the making process my left-hand thumb was bleeding from the side as I put a lot of pressure to put blocks in place. It's still hurting and a lesson learnt that you have to take care of your hands while building small lego pieces. 

5. Daily Prayers - This week was a failure for daily prayers as I didn't do them for at least 5 days and this is really sad. I have to find time to complete my daily prayers and also Shradha bought some new idols from India and I totally loved them. I was using one idol of Lord Hanuman from Archies gallery which Keisha gifted me way back in 2010 before I went to London and this has been with me for so many years. 

6. Social Media - I continued to schedule the posts on my Instagram and Facebook pages but did not get enough response. I am posting on the channels on a daily basis and let's continue to build it for the whole year and work on the power of consistency. I also have to find some time to create more photo posts from all the photos I have taken over the years. My youtube channel also completed 5000 hours of Youtube watch lifetime which is really great and I am thankful to everyone who watches my content. 

I enjoyed a lot of sweets and things that came from India via Shradha and Reyansh. I also bought a lot of goodies from Amazon.in and Isha Yoga and also those will be unboxed on my youtube channel soon. I have plenty of things that will help me create so many more videos in years to come. 

Cheers!!!

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Mini Me Father's Day Figurines #MiniMe #MiniDad @MiniMeMems #ProductReview

Hi Friends, 

Father is the most important relation that you have within your family. Your father makes or breaks you in your life. 21st June 2020 will be celebrated in South Africa as Father's Day and Mini-Me who masters in creating Unique and Personalised LEGO Gifts for any and all occasions are giving us all a chance to create something for our dad, granddad or anyone we consider as our fatherly figure. You can decorate your own piece by going on the website and adding all kinds of clothes, hairstyles, beard style, and many more features including certain accessories and it comes directly to your address or you can send the gifts to the people around the country. 

Though I am not a collector of stuff like this as it needs a lot of care and maintenance as you might lose the small parts in these creations but they are definitely worth creating for those who love and cherishes the same. Mini-Me gives you millions of combinations to create the look that you want and by the end of the creation the total budget will be around R300 but many pieces are charged less and some are charged high but then you can make your own unique persona. It all depends on the number of pieces chosen and the final delivery charges based on how you want it together? 

Guys, if you like the options I ordered to replicate my father and monkey being myself - please do visit the website and their other social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The pen in his other hands represents his hard work which led to the development of the family to the place where it is today. I really loved the helmet accessory so I ordered the same too. Cheers!!!

Sawubona!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!