Epic Comic Con – Glasgow – September 2025

This was my first con north of the border and it didn’t disappoint.

The event was well attended and we had a shared space with the Imperial Scottish Garrison (ISG), the UK garrison and the Rebel Legion UK, which resulted in a nice piece of a galaxy from far away.

Friday

Droids came from far and wide, with people travelling from as far as Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William in the north and London, Bristol and Gloucester in the south. I arrived at the SEC on Friday afternoon, after stops in Wigan and Gretna Green for electricity, and spent a couple of hours helping Steve Sloan building up the stand.

By 6pm the stand was ready for the morning and we all headed off to check into the hotels and get ready for the evenings get together, organised by Doug.  That’s when the weekends mishaps started to emerge!

Steve got to the hotel to find that he had booked for a weekend in December, not September, and the hotel was fully booked.  Thankfully Captain Chaos (aka Chappers) came to the rescue, as he had booked a twin room. With that sorted, 30 minutes later, 5 of us piled into my car (its large and black, but it isn’t a taxi, no matter what other’s say!) and we drove back into Glasgow

After some food and Cocktails (other drinks were available), 9 of us were split into 2 teams for a round of Crazy Golf.  Crazy Golf has evolved since I last played, this was indoor, spread over 2 floors with loud music, UV lights and drinks.  Team Mike were the winners and Mike and Steve tied for the best round

A few more drinks later we parted company for the evening and the 5 of us got back into my car and I promptly reversed into a lamppost, breaking a rear light cluster and scuffing the bumper.  The journey back to the hotel was eerily quiet, but the mickey taking resumed at the bar in the hotel.  I was thankful for Steve’s mishap, so I wasn’t the only target!

Saturday

The day started early, breakfast at 7am and off to charge the car, arriving at the SEC at 9am.  Free parking was provided behind the hall, so a few minutes later we were on the stand.

We now had a Murder of Choppers, a pair of balls and a Mischief of mice, to go along with an assortment of other droids, large and small (or far away, i get confused on that topic!). I powered up Chopper  to find that 1 of the hub motors was playing up, so he was going to be static for the weekend, but I still had WBA9 (Yellow & Green 39.1% ALT) to create havoc  with.

The show opened, and the public streamed in.  Doug and John were kept busy with MOT’s, and by mid morning we had Chris’s R2D2, Ewan’s SK-615 out and about and Yee’s balls out on display!

R2-JY was seen getting some Irn Bru, just as any self respecting droid in Scotland should.

The only one who wasn’t having a good time was ET, who kept talking about phoning home.

In the afternoon John, feeling sorry for me, handed over his X20 controller and said I could have a go with his Chopper,

I didn’t need asking twice (after all it is the heftiest Chopper in the UK!) so I was off walking the hall and entertaining/harassing the visitors (as only Chopper can get away with).

As Saturday came to a close we all got together and had the group photos taken.

Before we left for the day, a quick photo was taken and uploaded to facebook for a caption competition! Saturday was wrapped up with a meal a couple of miles away organised by the ISG & Droidbuilders. We gained a droid builder in the evening, with mini Doug doing the rounds.

Sunday

For me, the day started the same as the day before, breakfast and a visit to a car charger.  It’s a shame that Vauxhall put a battery in the Combo Life not too dissimilar to the one I have in my 60% mouse droid!

The show opened at 10am, and it was soon in full swing.  I had another play with John’s Chopper, but the highlight of the day, for me, was having the opportunity to take Steve’s B2EMO out for a spin.  There is so much you can control (you could do with extra arms!) and I don’t think I could ever tire of driving sideways.

Then all too soon the day was over and we started breaking down the stand and loading our cars, ready for the drive home.

Summary

This was a well organised and friendly event, well worth the 730 mile round trip, 3 hours sitting at ev charging stations and reversing into a lamppost.  Many thanks to Doug, Brian and all the ISG, UKG & RL for making us feel so welcome.  Not forgetting the incredible group of droid builders in attendance.  A special thanks to John and Steve for handing over their beloved droids for me to drive around the hall.

The charity pot for the weekend raised around £800 for Macmillan Cancer Research.

This is an event I already have pencilled in for next year.