From September 2 to 4, 2016, Tunis hosted the first Tunisian Comic Con. Born in 1970, Comic Con—short for comics convention dedicated to American Comics—has evolved over time by opening up to other sectors of entertainment. These openings have in no way altered the initial festive and playful aspect, but have on the contrary developed it to result in an extraordinary event. This latter term is entirely appropriate because a Comic Con is an event like no other. Indeed, it brings together continents, erases borders, age differences, and puts passion at its center. Each edition is unique, and the Tunis one is no exception to the rule. From the entrance, we enter another world where dream and reality merge. We are welcomed by cosplayers, more precisely by people who, through patience and passion, have made and then put on the outfits of heroes from Comics, Mangas, and Video Games. Here people live their passion to the fullest. A large stage overlooks the entire space of the exhibition center, itself divided into 4 large spaces named villages for the occasion. From now on we will guide you from village to village and event to event.

Welcome to the immersion!

The Video Games village

The first space dedicated to Video Games was very rich and for good reason, it offered visitors a true journey through time from the beginning to the present day. Thus a place totally dedicated to retrogaming allowed one to see the very first consoles and home computers on which more than one person among you spent hours. Visitors could play or replay the first consoles and the great HITS of the 80s/90s on cathode-ray screens to be totally immersed and this without a DeLorean (back to the future). It was even possible to achieve or repeat “Perfects” in Street Fighter on a vintage arcade cabinet please!

On to the present and even the future because Tunisian developers were waiting for the public to present their creation. One of them had all eyes fixed on him. It was the Tunisian studio Nuked Cockroach which caused a sensation by presenting the final version of its title VETERANS, a MOBA that could well be a future HIT and which the greatest number will play in the months and years to come. Developed on the Steam platform, this 100% Tunisian game is among the most addictive we have seen since League of Legends.

Slightly set back, on a secondary but nevertheless visible stage, the esports tournament was taking place with a ticket for the World Championships in Jakarta as the prize. The cream of the crop of Tunisian players, particularly from League of Legends, was present because the summit is never refused for those who have competition in their blood and have already climbed so much. An electric atmosphere in every sense of the word emanated from this space with machines boosted for the occasion. Armoured Brothers, emerging victorious from this battle, is the team that will fly to Jakarta. Let’s wish them courage and determination! (At the time of publishing this article, the Tunisian team finished in 14th place out of 31 countries and the Tunisian commentator Mouadh Yaacoubi becomes the first Arab and African shoutcaster certified by the IeSF).

Still in the gaming universe, we met a choice VIP guest and not the least since it is Aleissia Laidacker. This name may mean nothing to you and yet millions of people have spent hours, even days, on the games she supervised. Aleissia Laidacker has been a lead programmer at Ubi Soft for 10 years and as such she supervised the entire AI department on the very famous Assassin’s Creed. She was on site for two major speeches and to provide her advice to young people who want to follow her path and become programmers. One of the speeches was about Assassin’s Creed and the other a developers’ round table.

The operator Orange Tunisie, for its part, presented us with a Tunisian-style fighting game. Entitled Hammam Fighters, the game takes place in a Hammam with two women as protagonists who want to dominate the premises. Here is a demonstration:

In this village, we find other developers. Some are still students while others are startups that are already marketing their product. Pleasure and passion could be read on the faces of these young creators. Among these startups and university clubs we found: Tunisia Game Developers, Retrogaming Tunisia, JDATunisie but also a gaming startup PlaceHolder. We invite you to get better acquainted with two of these talented structures:

Computer and video games being among the purest expressions of innovation, it seems natural to us to take you to the High-Tech Village.

The High-Tech Village

The High-Tech Village is a place that piqued our curiosity. Indeed, a giant Coca Cola capsule sat in the village and we were surprised to see that it was actually a virtual reality booth. 3D glasses on our faces and tightly held, we lived a virtual reality experience that turned our senses upside down. We were propelled into another world without leaving Comic Con, all under the gazes of visitors waiting for their turn to live the same experience.

Once we regained our senses, we went to meet Tunisian innovation and there again the surprise was at the rendezvous. Robots, Drones, Connected objects, were there, what’s more in workshops thus usable by visitors. We discovered inventions that impressed us with their quality and their degree of innovation in both robotics and aeronautics. In this field the Aerobotix club particularly marked us because it merges these two fields into a single entity in order to develop as many applications as possible.

Here is our meeting with this club:

We stay in innovation with even more interaction with the public within the fablabs. The latter do not make innovation an exclusive commodity but on the contrary very inclusive and open to whoever wants to create. Here knowledge and equipment are shared so as not to reinvent the wheel for the nth time and push innovation ever further. The Tunisian startup MakerLab is an example in the matter and builds bridges to the future. Here is why!

The operator Orange Tunisie did not come empty-handed and gave us the presentation of its partner FabLab solidaire jeune sciences Tunisie. The operator also sponsored a very talented young comic book artist that could be seen working live during the event.

In addition to schools, some startups had made the trip. One of them specializing in 3D modeling and printing gratified visitors with a custom demonstration. It is only in this place where your body can be modeled in 3D then animated.

The Comics Village

As specified above, ComicCon was born around American comics. Drawing being the oldest art of humanity, it is no surprise that a continental or even global event hosts the 9th art within it. Illustrators, graphic novel authors from the 4 corners of the globe made the trip to show the extent of what imagination can produce. We took a long break to marvel at the creations of papercraft tunisia. All Marvel heroes, Manga and Video Games sculpted with paper and almost at real height. https://www.facebook.com/PapercrafTunisia?fref=ts

This brings us to another major event of the event, namely the cosplay contest. Cosplay Contest?

Born in the late 30s in the United States, the phenomenon truly exploded in Japan. Born from the contraction of the terms Costume and Playing, Cosplay consists not simply of dressing up but of elaborating the costume of one’s favorite comic, video game or manga hero. This one must be as faithful as possible because once put on, the cosplayer must take the same postures as the reproduced character. That’s why competitions are held constantly. Comic Con Tunisia was no exception to the rule and gave pride of place to this competition on its central stage. Watch the cosplayers’ show on video. For the occasion, renowned cosplayers had made the trip. Jad’den and Taldeer, two French cosplayers known not only for their creativity but also for having created Cospl and Craft, the first mutual aid organization for cosplayers in the context of costume making.

We were impressed by the precision, beauty, and work that some outfits must have required. Standing face to face with an Iron Man or a Stormtrooper with the same gestures is truly impressive. A creativity that we found within the Japanese village.

The Japanese Village

In this village we found ourselves immersed in Japanese culture. Indeed, the art of origami was practiced there with a skill that leaves one speechless. Lovers of the empire were able to taste the joys of karaoke and Japanese calligraphy. We crossed paths with people in traditional costumes for the occasion. A bit of Tokyo in Tunis.

At this precise moment, music coming from the central stage attracted us. It was the very famous Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane, singer-songwriter and performer of children’s songs but above all known for the opening themes of cartoons in the Arabic language. I need a photo of this man. This Syrian of Algerian origin was sought after by everyone for photos. It must be said that his songs rocked many a child, and who having become adults do not forget the lyrics of their favorite theme songs.

This event could not have been made possible without the US Embassy in Tunisia. A magnificent stand flying the star-spangled banner attracted the curiosity of visitors.

We will end the story of 3 days as we began it, with our cosplayer friends!