It’s been exactly a week since I was gracing the rooms of the CCA of Glasgow, venue again for this years Glasgow Comic Con as Merida, Scotland’s best (and I believe only) fictional Princess. This was the third year in a row I’ve been to this event, and even with my move to England getting closer and more inevitable with each working day, it’s the kind of event I would make all the effort for to go to, no matter the cost.
On Friday afternoon, I travelled to bonnie ol’ Glasgow and met up with Adrien and Aranel and we made our way to Settlers Hamilton, a tabletop gaming cafe in Glasgow.
Oh Edinburgh, why can’t you be as awesome as Glasgow and have gaming cafes? I mean, you have me but that’s not awesome enough..
We tried our hand at a game called Evolved, got confused and then tried our hand at cake and tea instead. I always win at cake and tea, the trick is to inhale your food!
It was awesome to see Adrien and Aranel again as although I have them on all forms of social media, they’re the kind of people that you don’t truly appreciate just how fantastic they are unless you’re in their company. Talking about cosplay and games with those two is the easiest way to forget about all the stress of being at home looking after your 15 year old cat, or at work cleaning up other peoples’ popcorn spills.
Friday evening I nervously stayed up, putting on the finishing touches to my Merida cosplay for the morning. It took about a couple of Criminal Minds episodes worth, while Adrien and Aranel were sound asleep in the other room. In the morning, Aranel, being the cosplay director of GCC, made her way to the venue early, while Adrien came and got me later. I was nervous to say the least that day, not because of the competition I would be taking part in later in the day, but because it was the first time I was wearing a cosplay entirely made by myself, without any help. This thing could of fallen apart and I could of been stark naked at a family orientated comic event! But luckily nothing like that happened. The only thing which fell apart was my belt buckle, but it made a great handmade fan throughout the blistering heat of the day.
I got asked for a lot of photos, especially with kids. A little girl came up asking for a photo, and when I asked her to show how “strong a girl she was” she flexed her arm and I did too. There’s something about kids at conventions thinking you’re the bees knees that just makes cosplay worth all the money and agonising sewing stress.
I met up with my friends, Martin, James, Ann and Gus! The first GCC I went to, back in 2013 when I debuted my Fionna the Human cosplay from Adventure Time, was the first time I met Ann, so galavanting around the rooms with her again just feels like a priority on the ‘things to do at GCC’ list, that exists sorely in my mind.
We checked out The Art School venue next door, and met up with the lovely fellow, Neil Slorance of, well, Neil Slorance. If you’ve been following me on any form of social media, you’ll recognise his name. I’m a big fan of his artwork and a big fan of Neil just being Neil.
We also stumbled upon The Big Comic Draw, where anyone could draw something associated with a letter of the alphabet. Of course I had a look around for ‘G’, for my partner Gary’s sake, and this had to be my favourite from the bunch.
My Game of Thrones feels continued that weekend when I ran into some awesome cosplayers. I know I’ve said my favourite thing about cosplaying is meeting kids and how starstruck they get around you, but if I had to pick another reason why it really is the best hobby to have, it’s the brilliant social aspect of it. I was asked to pose in a photo with Sansa (Clodagh), then later talked to Ygritte backstage before the masquerade and wallah, new friends were made!
New cosplay plans were hatched.
Things were bought.
Competitions were lost.
But, things were learnt! Like, don’t leave a big sewing project last minute. But hey, at least I can make a dress from scratch in 5 days.
Sunday was a day full of ponies, far too much Irn Bru ice cream and catching up with old friends and watching John Higgins, the colourist for titles like Watchmen, Hellblazer and The Killing Joke, draw. The work he produced using nothing but a brio, marker pen and tippex was mesmerizing. As was the fact I was watching a man who’s worked on the most famous graphic novels of all time draw right before my eyes.
One of my favourite memories of the weekend was that a fan, Kevin, left me a gift at the cosplay desk. Kevin has been messaging me and liking my posts on my FB page for months and I met him last September during Scotland Expo! He’s so lovely and this gift really made my weekend. Not just because I love Mass Effect and because I’m incredibly materialistic, but because I can’t believe I have a fan!
I sent a pile of signed prints to Kevin afterwards and I’ll be able to thank him in person as we’re both attending Collectormania in August, so I hope he knows just how lovely he is and how much my new N7 leggings mean to me. If my FemShep cosplay from Mass Effect becomes even more of a priority, you have only Kevin to blame…
The post con blues already began to set in on Monday morning, until the realisation that Kitacon was around the corner. Oh well, back to the sewing machine! 
Oh yeah, I was featured on the telly again. Thanks, STV Glasgow!