Comic Con Scotland
Comic Con Scotland is a fan convention held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland, that celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
History and organisation
Comic Con Scotland began its annual run of events in 2018 after Scottish fans of other events organized by Monopoly Events approached the company's CEO Andy Kleek and requested a similar event to the already successful Comic Con Liverpool but in the East of Scotland. Kleek saw a gap in the market and moved to fill it immediately with a brand new annual event for the people of Edinburgh and its surrounding areas. Like many other events globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, the event suffered cancellation and rescheduling twice before lockdowns in the United Kingdom and specifically Scotland were lifted and the event was able to continue its run with the October 2022 event.Monopoly Events is a Manchester-based event organization company that specializes in events held in the North West of England and Scotland. Along with the Scottish event, they are also responsible for organising Comic Con Liverpool, Comic Con Scotland Aberdeen, Comic Con Wales, Comic Con Manchester, Comic Con Northern Ireland, Comic Con North East, Comic Con Midlands Telford, Comic Con Midlands Birmingham, Comic Con Ireland, For the Love of Wrestling, For the Love of Sci-Fi, For the Love of Horror, For the Love of MMA, For the Love of Cosplay, For the Love of Darts, For the Love of Fantasy, For the Love of Vampire Diaries and For the Love of Anime and formerly Comic Con Yorkshire. There are also plans for further expansion across the UK including organizing Comic Con London, Comic Con South West, Comic Con South East and Comic Con East Anglia in the future.
The first Scottish event ran over two consecutive days and had an 80's and 90's theme subtitled For the Love of 80's and For the Love of 90's and it featured prop builds and guests from shows and films of these eras.
The convention consistently includes celebrity guest appearances from various film, television, video gaming, anime and comic book series including Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Grease, Sons of Anarchy, Back to the Future, Supernatural, The Lost Boys, Cobra Kai, Red Dwarf and others.
The first event in Edinburgh in November 2018 was held in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre or EICC for short in the city centre. The event was spread out across the entirety of the large city centre venue with the traders' hall being held in the large Cromdale Hall area, the celebrity guest area and prop builds in the larger Lennox Suite, celebrity panel talks in the Sidlaw Auditorium and the cosplay competition and masquerade held in the Lammermuir Suite. However, due to the first year attendance being so high and plans for future events which would exceed the capacity of the EICC, the decision was made by Monopoly Events to move Comic Con Scotland to the much larger Royal Highland Centre, an exhibition centre and showground located at Ingliston in the western outskirts of Edinburgh, adjacent to Edinburgh Airport and the A8, allowing for a wider demographic of visitors from around the globe, higher numbers of attendance and ergo, a much higher calibre of celebrity guest, larger prop builds, additional set builds, and a larger trader area.
The convention first ran across one vast exhibition hall called The Highland Hall as one large space. However the 2022 event saw the inclusion of The Lowland Hall, which was joined to the Highland Hall via a covered concourse. This allowed for more props and guests to be accommodated.
The exhibition hall features a large dealers zone selling movie, comic and science fiction related memorabilia, artwork, and collectibles as well as various film props and sets, vehicles from different franchises, a stage for celebrity guest question and answer panels, celebrity guest professional photoshoots and autograph sessions, cosplay events, and other displays as well as a food court area.
In 2018 during the very first Comic Con Scotland hosted by Monopoly Events in November 2018, Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series)|Incredible Hulk] actor Lou Ferrigno celebrated his 67th birthday alongside fellow actors Sam J. Jones, Gil Gerard, Zach Galligan, Sylvester McCoy, Herbert Jefferson Jr., and Ray Parker Jr. where the stars presented Ferrigno with a Hulk themed birthday cake.