Comic Con Astana has announced the results of its international cosplay competition, where participants transformed into characters from games, films, series, and other popular universes. Sixty-four finalists from over 20 countries competed, according to infohub.kz.
According to the competition's press service, the first day of the festival drew more than 16,000 visitors, a record for the opening day in the event's history. Over four days, Comic Con Astana attracted over 76,000 attendees.
The grand prize of 4.5 million tenge went to Russian cosplayer Frau_Haku, who was named "Champion of the Comic Con Astana 2026 Arena." Her winning look was Lae'zel in Reaper's Embrace armor from Baldur's Gate 3.
First place and 2.3 million tenge were awarded to Russian cosplayer Horn, who portrayed Eredin Bréacc Glas from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Second place and 1.6 million tenge went to Astana resident Gol.D.Moon, who dressed as the Hunter from Monster Hunter. Third place and 1.2 million tenge were claimed by the Astana team "Muzhitskoy Dozhd" (Men's Rain), who appeared as Adeptus Astartes from the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Special awards were also presented. In the "Superhero of Comic Con Astana" category, the team "Te Samye" (Those Very Ones) from Astana won 1 million tenge for their portrayal of the "Black Rabbit Brotherhood" from Lies of P. A family from Almaty, dressed as Baba Yaga and Vasilisa, received the "Superfamily" prize of 800,000 tenge. The Serbian team Baby Sitters, who presented Battle Queens from League of Legends, won 800,000 tenge in the "Avengers Assemble!" category. Cosplayer Staayshia from Temirtau, whose Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games was chosen by the audience, received 600,000 tenge in the "Crush of Comic Con Astana" category.
In 12 other special categories, winners each received 600,000 tenge. Awards were given for technical skill, originality, costume craftsmanship, and stage performance. Judging by the costumes, participants clearly came not just to take photos in character; many turned their performances into real shows.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle reported that Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, known for his role as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, spoke with journalists during Comic Con Astana 2026. The actor arrived a day before the press conference and had time to explore Astana.