Before I moved for university I would always see on my friend’s Instagram photos of him at MCM Scotland, Edinburgh comic con and Deecon, a massive smile on his face. He would then message me, recounting his tales of the day, telling me how many people he met, the number of people who loved his cosplay, and all the things he brought. I knew that one day, even if I didn’t live in Scotland, I would go to a Scottish comic con with him.
So, I missed MCM Scotland, I had a comic class that day (ironic I know), and my friend didn’t buy a ticket to Rai-Con in time (he did get tickets to the after party, however). I didn’t let that muffle my excitement.
Waking up at 7 am to get ready and have breakfast wasn’t one of my brightest of ideas, and I was only slightly awake by the time I got on the train, where I had to stand for an hour and a half. The travel sickness that descended upon me during that journey settled into a slight headache, slight enough that most of the time I forgot it was there.
We spent the first few hours looking around, only me buying a few things, before retreating to Starbucks for an hour or so of lunch and writing. The second time around the exhibition hall was a lot more fruitful, well at least it was for the spendaholic of the group (aka me).
That was usually the time that I would be done for the day, mostly out of spending money and exhausted, but instead me and my friends entered an anime and manga quiz (and failed epically at it), literally ran to get a photo with a Loki cosplayer, refuelled ourselves with bubble tea (orange and strawberry yum) and then watched an amazing cosplay competition (I died when a Yurio from Yuri on Ice performed a dance).
After that it was nearing 6 pm, so we went off to find my cosplay veteran friend (Elijah unfortunately wasn’t in cosplay that day), treated ourselves to Zizi, and went to the after party. The friends I had spent the majority of my day with decided they were too tired to dance and so they went to a Starbucks to relax, leaving me and Elijah to attempt to dance away our sleep deprivation (comic con after parties proved to be so much more fun than clubbing is).
All in all, that was probably the best day out, and by far the best comic con, that I’ve had in forever. Everyone at Rai-Con was so nice and talented, the events they held amazing, that I’m already planning to back next year, and working out a way to stay longer at the after party. It was also a day of firsts; my first Scottish comic con (obviously), my first time attending panels and events, and my first time vlogging (though I really need to figure out a more efficient way rather than putting everything up on my Instagram Story).
Until my next con, which will probably be some time next year, I’ll be working off my post-con depression, by trying even more new things.
By Lucy Murray