“Let’s go to Aberdeen!” I said,
“No!”, said Mrs B.
“It’ll be fun!”
“Who’s doing the driving?”, glowered Mrs B.
“Urm, it’s not THAT far is it?”
“Yes!”
This was an epic trip for us, we live on the south coast, near Southampton and we drove all the way up to Aberdeen! I’m pretty sure that we couldn’t go much further without crossing a sea! The gamble was mine and it paid off. Monopoly teamed up with P&J Live and created a brand new convention and it was an absolute cracker. The venue was breathtaking, we couldn’t quite believe the scale of the place. It’s an enormous place, and very new, built just before the pandemic and it’s the largest indoor venue in Scotland. It certainly felt that big when we loaded in. Each day of the event I managed all my 10,000 steps each day, my phone must have thought somebody had stolen it!
As for the event itself, it was lovely. We met John Rhys Davies (Gimli) and Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar) again. John is one of the few guests who takes to the floor and meets the traders, which he did on both days. He was very taken with my duck shirt and Mrs B was a little taken with him! Tim was on good form, we met quite some time ago and it was good to catch up again. We made the weekend for a couple of fans when we sold them our “It’s a trap!” mousetrap piccy and they got it signed by him. It's things like that that make a convention for us.
We saw a few of the usual folk at the event, Solly of SM-artworks and Fish, plus new folk we’d never seen before, such as Sulaco Steel who make the most gorgeous pictures in silhouette out of brushed steel. Of course, we now have one gracing the walls of Brambledown Towers.
According to the Scots trader next to us, Aberdonians are a dour lot, but they seemed quite lovely to us. That might have been something to do with the event, it was a really positive affair. We were relatively close to the stage so we could see what was going on much more than we normally do. The entertainment was hosted by SoCal Val and you couldn’t hope for a more upbeat MC, the panels were interesting and entertaining. It was a refreshing change for us because that’s a side of the con scene that we very rarely get to see.
The cosplay was great with a range of very experienced folk and some first timers. The number of people we met who had never been to comic cons before was pretty huge, which is lovely to welcome new blood into the community, and what a great con to start with. It sets a high bar for future events. One of our favourites was a little witch who brought back her wizarding friends to see us quite a few times, she was magic!
Tracy Cox is a much more experienced cosplayer. We met Tracy online during our 11 o’clock tea breaks and this was the first time we met her and her husband Mark in real life. It’s an odd affair to meet an old friend for the first time, I think lockdown has a lot to do with this unique situation. In one day Tracy did two different cosplays, Cara Dune from the Mandalorian and then a slightly more comfortable Sadie Adler. Both outfits were handmade and both looked pretty much perfect from my point of view, though Tracy is an expert leathercrafter so I’m not surprised.
Overall, the con was a great experience, especially for the inaugural event. We have booked in for the following year already! My only complaint is that Aberdeen isn’t closer to my Brambledown Towers, maybe we’ll have to move?