Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Chatsanami, a Scottish variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime in general interest. Join me, your host, Satsanami, as well as the rest of our Chatsanami team for our takes on these very important pop culture topics. Sir, it's clearly a trap. I accept your place! That three times in the film. Every time that general goes, don't do this one thing, he goes... Do you know what I'ma do? That's exact. No!
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Speaker: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chad Tsunami. My name's Chad Tsunami and joining me today is none other than the absolutely brilliant minds behind the Highland Realms Comic Con coming up. It is none other than Abigail and Rob. Welcome to Chad Tsunami you two. How are you both doing? Thanks. Yeah, good. It's a bit wet here, but ah otherwise, yeah, it's been a good...
Speaker: productive day hi satsu really really glad to be here been listening to a bunch of your other episodes and it's just been absolutely hilarious oozing about expedition 33 or various other things it's been pretty good really glad to be here well honestly all i can say is i'm glad you both have been listening to the more recent episodes because there's been one or two times where i get messages through saying oh i'm listening to your podcast i love the podcast and they send me a screenshot and it's like episode one season one and it's like oh no No, no, no, no, no, but no, no, no. That's the bad times. Go to the better stuff further on. It's like, no, no, we're just going to start at the beginning. So yeah, first of all, a huge thank you for doing that and actually lots listening to that. But yeah, as I was saying there, you both, of course, are the absolutely amazing creators behind the Highland Realms Comic Con, which is honestly, it is something that, am I right in saying, it's been in the works since last year? Yeah, we... ended up weirdly so helping with a a very small little anime convention in Inverness and it was just something I saw on Facebook and went oh can I help and the lady running it said yeah sure it's just me and so I started helping with it that was at the end of May so we started helping at the beginning of May and helped about the last month or so and in that three hour event a little church that wasn't really advertised we ended up with 250 people and there's a real lack. of conventions up here that are more than just a market. And I looked at Rob and I said, I really, I want to do this. I've got a background in convention planning and stuff. And he said, well, take some money out of the savings and put down your deposit. So yeah, we've been planning it since June of last year. I actually remember when I saw your account pop up and everything. And I remember thinking that when you were talking, something you mentioned there, that it's not as common. to have these particular type of conventions up north. Is that right in saying? There's one in Aberdeen, but other than that, that's it up here. And Aberdeen is two and a half half hours from Inverness and even further from places like Thurso. And yeah, the north of Scotland just is sort of lacking in...
Speaker: full convention space or full conventions and as I found out Inverness is lacking in convention space but we're making do with Eden Court it's an absolutely fantastic venue fantastic theatre it's just not quite built for
Speaker: conventions but yeah i think it will still be really excellent. We've basically booked the entire thing, except for the big theatre, which was already booked, and the cinemas. Everything else is ours. I mean, that must be pretty exciting, seeing it materialise like this, because it's one thing, as you were saying, you know, you and Rob together are planning it, saying, oh, this is what we're going to do, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. But again, not to strike the fear of God in you, but how does it feel to see this materialise? I mean, as of recording, we've got another month to go. But yeah, how does that feel, knowing that it's around the corner? Oh, it's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying.
Speaker: but I have a to -do list a mile long that never seems to get any shorter so but I'm really really pleased with the reception we've received when people find out we're doing this we've had quite a few people say, oh, I'm so glad something's going to be up here and that sort of thing. And it's just been a really great reception. And I've had quite a lot of people want to be involved in one capacity or another. That's been really good. No, absolutely. I'm actually really curious because I've got a list of the absolutely fantastic guests and things that you're going to have there. Was it yourself, Abigail, that looked for these particular people? Or were you both doing that as a team effort, looking through, you know, Instagram and things? being like, yeah, the Scottish creator, the Scottish creator. It's mostly me. And then I show Rob stuff and go, ooh, what do you think of this one? And then he either tells me it's a great idea or gives me a weird look.
Speaker: Like, I'm absolutely mad. Hint me as the litmus test. and Oh, you can't be up with that. I mean, to be fair, I've probably shot down more ideas than you that we've accepted. All right. You're my, yeah oh what do you call it? Roadblock. ah
Speaker: I can't tell you how many times I've come up with an idea. And Rob goes, year two, babe. But then again, there's plenty that you've come up with that I've said, that doesn't sound like a good idea. And now when we're so close to the event, we've got so many of those parts incorporated now that that sound really exciting. And I think it's going to work really, really well. I'm definitely not the ah be all and end all when it comes to decisions for this thing. So what you're saying is I was right all along. Wait, this is being recorded. because Yep, for legal reasons. I'm looking at the red panda lawyer on the corner. Yep, for life, it's okay. No, but honestly, it is fantastic to see more of these types of cons pop up in Scotland. Because, I mean, I'm sure you two will probably relate to this as well, that Scotland isn't always the most popular choice of venue because the amount of things that I've seen, whether it's, you know, bands or in particular, really, really high tier guests that come to these types of cons. And it's like, they say, making their first yeah UK debut. And immediately you think off the top of your head, don't you? You think, yep, this is going to be London, isn't it? They're going to London. It's never are like, oh, they're going to Edinburgh or Glasgow. It's like, yeah, 100 % it's going to be down south. And it is it's just, it's great to see more conventions that are going to be popping up here. And as you said, especially up north, I mean, Aberdeen aside, I mean, who goes to Aberdeen nowadays? I don't. I mean, I'm closer to Glasgow, but that's maybe the reason. Yeah, honestly, do you feel, again, not to worry you both, but do you feel that kind of pressure that this is going to be such a great event for Inverness? I want it to be. I really want it to be. I want people to have a reason to come to Inverness and the Highlands in general. It's such an amazing area. And it seems like even when there are things in Scotland, they're all in central belt. and anything north of Central Belt gets.
Speaker: a bit ignored you're entirely right about when something says UK they mean London or Manchester at a push but we moved up to Scotland three years ago and it's such a fantastic area but it's lacking in any sort of geek culture up here. As I've started to plan this, we found loads of little clubs here and there and groups and things like that. But there's absolutely nothing to bring all these people together and create a community. And so that was sort of part of my drive for doing this was to help facilitate the creation of a community see in Scotland of geek culture. And there is a lot of pressure and I think a lot of it's coming from me. directly but there is a lot of pressure to make this the best thing it can be to promote that culture and make people see that they're not alone all those quote -unquote weird things they think no one else likes there's an entire group that's gonna love it no matter what it is so it's a bit isolating all the way up here sometimes and i think having something like this will maybe help
Speaker: to write the word that the weird kids are kind of the best. They're the best kids. Not that I was a weird kid, no. Rob, can you confirm or deny that? yeah I was just chuckling to myself on mute. No, unequivocally, categorically, the nerdiest, most ridiculous person I've ever met. Yeah, we'll get to how we met because that's part of the nerd story. That should be proof enough as to how much of a geek she is. Oh no, you're more than welcome to go ahead with that. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. If you feel okay sharing, yeah. oh Yeah, it's a fun one. It's a fun one. Yeah, go for it. I'll start by talking a bit about Abby's past as well. And please do feel free to jump in. Abby was a baker in the States and ran a business that made novelty baked goods and accoutrements that would be sold at conventions. That was one of the biggest places that she would sell her wares. So it would be all sorts of weird and wonderful themes related to different conventions. And the baked goods might be blue crystal meth, sugar crystals to sell to children at this con. for when freaking bad was a big thing on television. Or it would be Pokemon related cookies that look like Pokeballs or tiny portal cakes, that sort of thing. And it was this really niche, but really well loved. part of the conventions so abby had a business there making and baking cakes i had randomly let's say randomly to start with planned a trip over to san francisco to attend a convention myself and in the con scene vendors and their friends tend to help one another out so in this case one of abby's friends who was vending at a convention in san francisco needed someone's help to be a booth buddy to look after the booth to sell wares and stuff while the other person's busy getting lunch that sort of thing and abby being the good friend that she is agreed to drive the 10 hours that it was from Portland down to San Francisco to help out a friend, Krista, at this convention. So randomly, I was walking around the vendor hall and saw Abby there and we got chatting. And one of the things that Abby picked out first and foremost is that I had mmm pie written on my name tag. I knew from the baking side of things, this is a guy I want to chat to. I had no idea what M 'Pi was beyond that. For context, the original name M 'Pi came from the old Weeble and Bob cartoons on, oh, was it Albino Black Sheep or something? From like 20 years ago. And it's stuck as my online handle ever since. So I was invited to this con because I'd done animations. So I had like my M 'Pi animations written on my name badge and stuff. Not that anybody, anybody recognized me at all. And we ended up. just hitting it off so we chatted for a reasonable time on the first day and it was mostly just talking crap about food and wanting to travel and then just a whole host of geek culture that we were both interested in which shows we were watching games we played and and that sort of thing and i was fascinated by all the stuff that abby had been doing with her business and the geek stuff that she'd made and i was like this is a really cool person so the con was over like three days there was only one more day left so came back the next day and we ended up chatting again for i don't know an hour hour or something like that before my friends dragged us away because we were going down to the Embacadero and going to go and get chowder and go to the chocolate factory and do some touristy stuff in San Francisco so we said our goodbyes but kept in touch and I don't think I was off the phone with Abby for more than about half an hour for the next several weeks including when I flew home and then after that Abby decided it would be a really good idea to fly me back out to Portland so I jumped on a plane and we then spent the next 10 days driving all around Portland down to california we went to a pirate what would you call it abby what was it a festival it was a pirate festival we got dressed up we took on the persona of a pirate and just got absolutely sloshed and merry and had an extremely good time being a pirate followed by a week of travel all all around oregon and then after that that was pretty much us set i think i'd said when we were sat on one of the last nights we were there when we get married i will get the matching geeky tattoo that you have and a couple of years later that's exactly what happened so we've got matching tattoos now as well it's pretty cool and it was just really nice that we met at a convention pretty much 10 years ago now and now it's coming full circle we're giving a convention back so yeah it's just really nice well i hope all the people who you know listen to this episode and if there's any couples that get together in this one that they email you and say well look at that We've done the same thing. I'm not planning on making a dating event, but... Oh, no, no, no. Now, there's a lot of workshops and everything. There's no speed dating. For legal reasons, there is no speed dating of any kind. We didn't get to it before the con. and We had planned on it, but, you know, time just gets dilated into, oh, you've got ages, and then, oh, my God, and you don't have any time. So we didn't get to it, but we are planning to do Speed Friends. so you never know what that turns into that is the thing about these types of cons isn't it that it's just such a social event the amount of people that i've seen that have gone to these events and you know i mean i remember my first con and this was years ago trying to think it's like the dark days before COVID and everything. I'm sorry, lighter days before the dark days. But, you know, it's like you go there and you don't know what to expect to begin with. You're like, is this going to be good? Is it going to be, you know, a bit too weird or whatever? And then you realise that everyone around you is, and I think it's something you mentioned and before, that just everyone is coming together to celebrate their own interests, aren't they? They're celebrating just everything they love about the fandom, you know, whether that is sci -fi or tabletop stuff. It's just, it's honestly such, an incredible experience and can i just say that is an absolutely lovely origin story i just have to say that because you know i don't want to interject every time and be like oh that's lovely but genuinely no that is that's so sweet see on that note though talking about the popularity of geek culture and things because i remember when i was growing up in the 90s and early 2000s and i remember that initially a lot of people were quite reluctant to show their geeky side you know how you got this stereotype of oh it's the nerd who lives in the basement and everything and oh they play Dungeons and Dragons and it was always so reductive but nowadays a lot of this stuff back then whether it's video games or you know whatever it suddenly looked back into being cool again hasn't it? yeah Yeah you still see it every now and then when people consider people who collect quote unquote toys or play video games as being childish unadulting not grown up but Honestly, we as millennials are probably one of the happier generation because we actually give ourselves the space to enjoy the things that we enjoy instead of growing up and going up. No, I'm too old for that now and I have to move on. And I think that's really important. Obviously, we have a lot of horrors to contend with these days for the last decade or so. And life has been a bit harder ah for everyone. and I think we need these escapes.
Speaker: mechanisms these coping things to spend a little bit of time in a world that is either worse than ours or better than ours because either way in one you get an escape and in the other you go oh well it could be worse i guess but i think we giving ourselves that time and space to enjoy our lives and and enjoy the things that i think that's really important and i saw somebody say that they were becoming the person they were at 15 but enjoying it this time and that really sort of struck home I remember being the the nerdy kid the weird kid I was the one who made a cloak with a dragon on the back in my home ec class and wore it around school so and i got eased by the cheerleaders and i sat with the kids who played magic the gathering at lunch but also they were the kids with the most compassion and kindness and openness and i think that's still true the geek community is so except for the rare few who gatekeep things the vast majority of the geek community is so open and accepting of just who you are. And that's so good these days. We need more of that. Oh no, absolutely. What about you, Rob? What are your experiences? See you growing up against geek culture and things. I completely agree. I was the kid that would stay at home and didn't want to go out and play because I had my, i was when the PlayStation 2 was released, we got my cousin's PlayStation 1 and that was the business and getting to play that and the old N64 games around at a friend's house. So we didn't have to go outside constantly. I was known as the geek at school. i was To be fair, it's fairly justified. I was a complete nerd. I was in the all the extra science and extra maths class. So I would spend half my lunch breaks studying even more. And liked it. And enjoyed it. Nerd. We did have some pretty good science teachers in school. We had Dr. Lester, who was, his doctorate was in explosives. He ran the extra science club and it would always be, oh, what do you want to burn today? Or should we make airplanes and fly them and then set them on fire? His was the only classroom in the school that had scorch marks on the ceiling. You knew it was going to be a good lesson when you wanted to. I hope he's still alive and not badly burned from so some horrible school accident. But between that and then being drafted into... of the gifted and talented scheme in Hartlepool, where I grew up. And and to be gifted and talented in Hartlepool isn't particularly gifted or talented, I'll be entirely honest. It's a relatively poor town in the northeast of England. Sorry, can I just jump in a second and say, see if I had a penny for every time that Hartlepool has appeared on the podcast, I would have two pennies, which isn't a lot, but... Who have you talked to about Hartlepool before? Oh, it was Wonko, wasn't it? It was, yes. I remember listening to that episode. I mentioned it ages ago, love, when I said, oh, it's that Susan with the guy from Hartlepool. Wonko's from Hartlepool. Oh, don't worry. I took a screenshot of that message and I showed him it and I was like, look here, your have made it. And he's like, wow, that's great. Do I need to be careful about what I say at this point, don't I? No, no, no, no. You can go all out. All right, all right. Oh, no. I mean, I spent 20 years there. And when I left slash escaped, I felt like I was finally breaking out. But I look back on those times fondly now. I had a pretty good set of early years there and experiences that, you know, other people might not have had. Sketchy as some of them were. No, it's not a bad town, really. I'm just trying to think if there's like a vein diagram between Chatsanami listeners and horrible people. like if they coincide with one another another if there is then genuinely feel free to comment if you're listening from there or you know you think oh it's a great place feel free but I've never had anyone other than Monko of course and yourself but I've never had anyone come up and be like yeah yeah great place 10 out of 10 not after this episode but I'm not sure anybody would say it's 10 out of 10. My early years in Hartlepool, by contrast, were horrific. And I didn't get there until 10 years ago. It didn't help that Abby's pretty much entire experience of Hartlepool was me attempting to sell a house that I'd bought there when I moved to Lancaster not long after Abby moved to the UK. And it got burgled three times. The wall got knocked down. And I think I lost about 11 grand. so And all the copper got ripped out of the house. It was a really, really bad experience. And that was pretty much all you knew of Hartlepool, wasn't it? Yeah. We've got this amazing history and maritime museums and all. It's like a really vibrant place. But I lived in the roughest part when I bought a house because I was absolutely skinned. And yeah, it showed when we went to move out and it got wrecked. It doesn't sound like things have improved since the Napoleonic Wars, I'm going to be honest.
Speaker: I thought it was i was the peak and then it just went down. It just went downhill from there. But you're like, oh, oh my. It was the monkey. It was all the monkey. It was, yeah. That was a very sobering experience. but Learning about that. Yeah, learning about that. And for anyone who doesn't know, and don't worry, I won't get you to go in depth about that. ah Good, good. For any Pandalorians morbidly curious, listen to Wonko and I's Chatsu Cafe episode on it. You won't be the same person after you listen, but I need to share the pain. But anyway, back to something cheater. And partly pulling the Napoleonic Wars, which I have to say is... not a phrase I thought I'd be saying in this episode. but
Speaker: so
Speaker: So I take it there won't be any guests coming down from there, no? Well, no, probably not. I've still got a bunch of friends and stuff that I genuinely said that they'd be interested in coming up, but yeah it's like a six, six and a half hour trip for most of them. And and sadly, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of the people that I have in and around Hartlepool have kids now and to travel up for a one day con was a bit much for a lot of people, which is why we want to make year two even better and have it for more than a day. But that's possibly getting ahead of ourselves. We need to get through year one first before we start talking about what's happening in next. Oh no, absolutely. And I mean, going back to the con, which of course, what I haven't mentioned is that it's happening on the 17th of October. As you were saying before, it's happening at Eden Court in Inverness, which I have to say the last time I was in Inverness, oh God, it must have been years and years ago. The last proper time I was just passing through to get to Ork and then we stopped off. But I must have passed Eden Court before because when you said, oh, it's being hosted. at eden court I was like that sounds very familiar it does seem like a genuinely a great venue because I remember when you reached out and you were like do you want to talk about it in the podcast and everything and come as a content creator initially I was like you know that joke of looking behind you and then looking at yourself and going wait me but are you sure there's not any other podcaster behind me but honestly the more I looked into it it's like you have got an absolutely stacked day ahead I mean you've got the workshops you've got the cosplay contest as well you've got all the guests yeah honestly any of you feel free to take the floor but what can you tell me about what's going to be happening on that day like you say we've got workshops happening we've got like a sort of paint your own tote bag type of thing so it'll be ah a souvenir looking into getting some tote bags that are either printed or embroidered with the con logo that people will then be able to customize for them themselves and take home as a souvenir and then we've got some very clever people coming in to teach bead weaving on little looms that they have 3d printed which is amazing and they've got some patterns for some really cool cuff bracelets with the batman logo wonder woman logo and they've got a bunch of other ones and so they'll be teaching that and some other stuff at their stall which is right outside the workshop room we've also got a zine making con that's the word i was trying to think of a zine making workshop that's going to be a couple of hours and got some fantastic people that are going to teach people to make zines or just, you know, it's open to all ranges of ability and experience. So whether you've never made one or you make them regularly, come on in and make a zine to take home with you. We also have a separate two hour workshops that we're doing. We're also hosting one of our vendors is going to be doing workshops by their booth to make omamoris, which is a Japanese. fortune token so it's a little bit of hand sewing and then she'll give you a fortune and you get to take that home with you as a good luck Talisman. That one is the only one that's not included with the ticket, and that one's £15 per person, but everything else is included. We've also got a full programming schedule. We've got, let's see, Highland Paranormal doing a panel on paranormal in pop culture. We've got a comic writing panel with three very different comic artists. One guy does quite traditional comics. It's Colin Maxwell. He writes for Commando, as well as doing a bunch of historical comics of his own. We've got Sidney McLeod, who is one of our vendors who runs Hesitant Doodle, and they do more sort of modern queer space comics and exploring their own struggles with their gender identity and that sort of thing. And then we have Etienne Kobwabo, who has created Scotland's first black superhero, and it takes place in Glasgow. And so the three of them are going to be on this comic panel talking about... about how they got into the business and what makes them tick.
Speaker: and what they do we also have a panel by the people who are going to be judging our cosplay contest who are essentially professional cosplayers they are absolutely amazing i'm going to be posting a reel in the next few days of them with one of their builds and it's mind -blowing looking at these photos and seeing how they built everything from scratch so they're going to do a panel for us on leveling up your cosplay so whether you're just starting out or you've been doing it for a while and you want to just get into it a little more, they'll be talking about some tips and tricks and things like that. We've got Tartan Tabletop who are doing a live D and &D session and they are hilarious. they are
Speaker: absolutely hilarious basically just dnd improv and it's very funny so i highly encourage anybody who likes to laugh to come to that one we've got the wrestling panel which i believe you are interviewing everyone on satsu and that's got martin mcallister on it as well and billy from the scottish wrestling network this one i haven't announced yet so as of recording you are hearing it first whether this goes out before it gets announced i don't know But we have gotten, it's the contract, the ink is not even dry. We have gotten the puppeteers from House of the Dragon. the people who are ah the dragons on the show. There's two of them. They are coming up from Manchester to do a panel for us about what it was like on the set and how they made the dragons come to life. They'll be sharing pictures and videos and just stories of their time on the show with season three coming out. or how
Speaker: just come out and they'll also be doing a sort of interactive hands -on workshop we don't know the details of that yet we're still working that one out but they're going to be doing a workshop for us and they will be presenting the prizes for the cosplay competition that's fantastic we also have gaming all day we've got ttrpgs and Wargaming. And we've got special guests wandering around like the Loch Ness Ghostbuster. It's going to be a big, full day. We've also got a cosplay photographer. So someone who does their entire job is taking pictures of cosplayers. So they're going to come and do cosplay photography for us on the grand staircase in Bishop's Palace. And that will be £15 per person. And you will get three edited photos out of that. So that's really exciting as well. We're really stoked. get her i kept looking at the list and seeing how more and more was getting added and i'm like you know what whoever comes to this con they're going to be absolutely shattered by the end of it because they'll be running from the artist alley the vendors they're going to be going up to the tabletop part as you said the panels are going to be absolutely fantastic like as you said highland paranormal tartan tabletop which funny enough i've interviewed them on the show before oh have you excellent well i interviewed one of them before but i remember i interviewed them and then i think it was a couple of weeks later martin mcallister and trust me i'll probably be saying that name quite a lot but he was working at a i think it was fantasy con in paisley and they were performing and i thought oh that would be cool you know i really want to see them live they were hilarious as you said but then it slowly dawned on me and i make a show called the time because this is a audio only podcast and don't worry i mean you guys have seen my face with smoke before this is right it's like I was sitting there and off the front and it's like you know in the horror film when you're standing at the back and you know the person's performing and everything and you know what they look like but they don't know what you look like and it slowly dawned on me I was like oh this is a bit weird isn't it also for legal reasons I wasn't in like a hood or anything just standing in the back like yes roll the dice Not after the last time, you know, it didn't go down well. You can really only get away with that once. Exactly. It's like a bucket list thing, you know, one and done. Yeah. No, I did introduce myself when I bought a t -shirt. So I think they were kind of looking at me like, are you the? No. Are you the Chance the Navigator? No, you're not. When there was a Fan Frontiers PowerCon, I remember I went up to an artist and they literally pointed at me and said, are you the podcast guy? The podcast guy. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I said. I was like, I beg your pardon. It's like, well, yes, you're right, but I don't know if word's gotten around that I'm just going around being like, yes, I will buy your sticker. Here's a business card, you know? I'm like, what is going on? But no, as you said, Tartan Tabletop are absolutely hilarious. Yeah, those cosplayers are absolutely... It's just, the more I look at the list, it's like some people that I have talked to and then other people, I'm like, huh, how many people have I had on the show before this? As you were saying, Billy from the Scottish restaurant, Wrestling Network podcast and I, we are doing the wrestling talk with Martin McAllister, of course, who I've known for absolutely donkeys. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to pretend to be like, yeah, I've heard good things about him. I've married him once or twice. Yeah, yeah, it's all right. You know, if I keep up this bitch, he's not going to send me a Christmas card. Yeah, you've also got Arkham from the Combat League Wrestling in Thurso and also RJ Cash. So it's going to be really interesting to talk to them. And I have to say, and this is like, exclusive for you guys as well this is probably one of the first times you know i'll be doing a panel like this and honestly i'm really excited to i mean especially with billy as well he's absolutely fantastic as a podcaster and as a wrestling aficionado as well but i mean as you said again i'm just scrolling through in the background it's just absolutely fantastic what you guys have put together as you were joking kind of in the beginning saying you know you present an idea and then be like oh i don't know if that that's going to work or, you know, maybe try this or that. How many cons do you think there have been where it's like, oh, you know, the dragons from House of Dragons. It's like, oh no, you mean the actors? It's like, no, no, the literal dragons are going to be coming. How many people can say that? We are beyond excited to have these guys. Some folks named Courtney and Callum who are going to be coming up from Manchester and we are absolutely thrilled to be getting them up. They reached out to us, which was even more. exciting because we had kind of without any particular funding this year we had kind of written off having any big names or anything like that. And when they reached out to us, I said to Rob, we have to find a way to do this. We have to. We'll remortgage the house. I don't care. Let's just find a way. But we're super thrilled that we could come to an agreement with them and have them up. And they seem really excited to come as well. And when I proposed the idea of having a workshop, they unfortunately can't bring any of their proper puppets from the show. Those are all HBOs and they can't play with them, but they aren't really sure what they're going to do yet. But they were like, yeah, we want to do something. We want to do something interactive and hands on. That sounds amazing. We'll come up with something. So they're really enthusiastic as well, which is just great. I've got a recommendation for them as well. So they go by Team Blue. Part of that is in modern CGI productions because things get filmed against grass and that sort of thing when they're out doing filming in the wilderness where the dragons are. screens are no good so if they ever have any actors or that sort of thing they'll use different colors and one of the big ones is blue so in all of the shots a lot of the shots that they've sent is the dragon models and like the giant like heads that they've created that uses the basis for the cgi that gets overlaid on top of it are all deep blue and they'll be dressed in blue morph suits us team blue i'm just thinking their cosplay has to be smurfs right they've got to come we've got to say come as smurfs guys invite team blue up the stage just like papa smurf and smurfette Or maybe don't. Maybe don't suggest that, actually. Oh, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. They're going to cancel the contract. Yeah, their train got derailed. Yeah, it was a dragon. That was Gargamel. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. He's always messing with Scottish conventions. I don't know why. Too much blue. I think that's why. One thing that I want to draw attention to, and it's something you've both been very against having in this particular con, is to... Lovely letters. I think you'll know the vowels I'm going to say right now. That, of course, being AI. Now, AI... has been an absolute scourge in the creative spaces. I have ranted about it for absolute hours. I still get nightmares about editing that episode where we talked about AI and it just gets progressively worse. No joke, the episode that I did on it, the raw audio was like four hours. So I had to like chop it down the middle, make it two episodes. And then I was just like, yeah, nobody wants to hear the equivalent of the Return of the King extended edition about my thoughts on it. but again it's like one of those episodes where it's like oh that's kind of bad and then it just gets worse and worse and worse but as a podcaster to be honest you don't really have to be a creative nowadays to go online and then you just see it plastered everywhere it's terrible but i remember years ago it was really really bad in the convention space were you guys the same see when you were going to other conventions did you see a lot of ai pop up and i mean other than the fact that it's absolutely terrible was that one of the things you were thinking that you should definitely be banning this from highland realms 100 100 i'll let rob answer this for the most part because he's our digital alchemist and is way better at spotting ai than i am i do computers
Speaker: But it was day one. We were like, right, no generative AI. Absolutely not. So yeah, I'll let you carry on. Sure, sure. So we attended a bunch of cons ourselves and I'd been watching, interested at the way that generative AI was able to make things. And I'd even downloaded a model at one point to actually see what this thing actually was because I didn't want to pay for OpenAI or whoever else was hosting the model at the time. And then when I actually generated something with this model, it had someone else's copy. copyright on the generated image. And I went, hang on, what on earth is this? This is trained with somebody else's artwork. Someone's spent hundreds of hours on all of these things, put their signature in the bottom, right? And I can see that. generated image because of how this data set was trained and granted that was a crap data set i was using in a very poor model and it was in the early days but now ai is being trained on millions of people's original bits of art and you can generate artwork in any specific person's style and it's just it's awful it's completely against the fantastic creativity of artists themselves of all different genres including voice acting and podcasts that sort of thing which could be ai generated now as well absolutely abhorrent so i started I started looking for this in, well, everywhere. Some of it is obvious, but it's getting less obvious. So that's my job. Abby can't always see what's what, but I will beam on what is an AI generated piece of artwork when we're out and about and say, oh, well, that's an AI menu or that's an AI image that they've used for that. scoff and say oh well we're not going to eat there or engage with that but particularly when we've been to a bunch of cons and it's not every con some cons are good and police it quite well but there's been other cons that we've been to up in the highlands where you'll have original artists that are selling work and on the stall next to them is someone that's selling cheap cushions with an ai generated highland coup on it and it just It feels so cheap and mocking. And it's probably made a fraction of the cost, not just in effort for people to generate, but also in cost. It's probably printed halfway around the world and then sent here. And it's something that we just, we didn't want. And we've been to, like I say, we've been to better ones as well. We've got a fantastic set of markets up here managed. What are they called, Abby? Exclusively Highlands. Exclusively Highlands. And their whole shtick is it's in order to become a vendor at one of these events, you have to create your product in the Highlands. And we thought, oh, that's a really good idea. We want to do something similar. for our artists, our people that are in our market in the same sort of way. We wanted people to come from the Highlands, be creatives, create whatever product that they have and be able to share that at our convention without the risk that they're going to be sat next to somebody that's created something in China or made something using AI. So we wanted it to be similar to that, to exclusively Highlands in that it's uniquely Highlands production. It's very original and authentic. So one of my jobs was when we were getting the application. to come through i would scour through all of the product pictures that were provided to us and it was very clear on our vendor forms and stuff that we do not accept any vendors that use ai generated content so i would go through and say oh we can't have this one but this one's breaking the rules and this one's a bit questionable oh actually this one's in breach of copyright and copied someone else's material it's not technically ai but yeah we can't have that either so it was quite a lot of vetting to make sure that we had the right sort of people but honestly we are so pleased with not only the fantastic vendors that we're going to have coming over 40 now but also the support that we got when we were sharing this message even to the vendors that weren't able to make it this year and are on our lists for next year but just the general consensus was this is really good we want to see more of this we want more people championing the creators that are left in the world so it was just we felt really buoyed by that message from everybody that love for creatives no honestly it's a fantastic thing to hear from you both because i know it's like a very cool take to say ai bad which let's face it It is, but I mean, you're completely right. It is so much harder nowadays to distinguish. See, at a glance, if you look at the fingers and everything, I know that's the joke. If they've got six fingers and their face is all warped, it's like, yeah, yeah, that's AI. But it does seem as if even the bigger cons seem to be pushing back against it because it's kind of unpopular practice and everything. And, you know, you get the other smaller ones as well that have started to turn away from them, which is great to see, but it's almost that. That sense of nonchalantness from, and again, I won't name the particular companies, but there are a couple of big companies I've seen so far using AI for adverts and things, which horrified me because I'm like, oh, I know that brand. And then I was like, oh, oh, I know that brand. There's my brand using the AI, great. I am so glad to hear that, you know, you're creating a space that is showcasing all of these creators, especially from the Highlands as well, you know, because it is so fantastic. Like, this is genuinely one of my favourite parts of going to these conventions where I always make a beeline to the artist's alley and things to see what they have in store and things because, you know, it is, it's these creators that are putting their blood, sweat and tears essentially into this. for highland realms as well especially with yourselves you know as the people that put their passion into these types of events that it really reflects and how people are going to enjoy it i genuinely love going to these events where it is genuinely passionate people that are going out there they're saying this is what we want to achieve we don't want any ai laziness i don't know i just i don't get why you would spend your hard -earned money on something that you could probably type into chat gpt at home and so yeah get yourself By the way, for legal reasons, that is not an endorsement. Don't do that. But yeah, honestly, it does seem as if that this is going to shape up into a fantastic con. And of course, Guy will be, myself, Martin, and the others, we'll be doing like a rundown of the convention. After it's done, of course, that'll be a future Satsu problem. Don't worry. But honestly, between the workshops, between, as you said, the tabletop stuff, the panels, which is going to be great, it looks as if it's going to... to be an absolutely fantastic con and i'm not just saying that because you're let me see yeah your paypal check is just cleared
Speaker: Never gets old, that joke. Except for the person who's binging Chatsanami episodes going, Jesus, it's the fifth time we've said this. I say it way too often. But no, honestly, this seems like it's going to be absolutely fantastic. And I genuinely cannot wait to, you know, go there to see what you've got in store for this. See, before we wrap up, though, is there anything else that the Pandalorian listeners at home should be aware of with this con? So the con is going to be open from 10am on. Saturday the 17th of October at Eden Court in Inverness and the vendors will be packing up around 6 o 'clock PM but we won't be kicking anybody out if they're in and the middle of a game in the gaming sections. We've got Wargaming on and some pretty exciting TTRPGs including a think it's Swedish horror which just called Vason which is going to be epic and hopefully some other ones coming in as well. So if you're in the middle of a game we're not going to boot you out at 6 o 'clock. clock on the dot but I think it's going to be this is our first year and what I really want is feedback. If you come to the con, we're going to send out a feedback form to everyone after the fact. And I would really appreciate you filling out how you felt about it, because I want to make this the best it can be. And I want to make it as good as possible. And next year, we've already got big plans. We need some sponsors. So if anybody wants to sponsor us, yeah, that would be great. And yeah, so we've got some big plans for next year. Oh, and the other thing I just looked up and saw the package. We are having a... silent charity art auction as well so we'll have sort of a little wall with a bunch of art on it that people can bid on and that'll be up all day we've got an amazing stained glass piece that is absolutely stunning of princess peach and we've just got another picture in of a unicorn and cockatrice chicks we've got some other stuff on the way and we're still taking donations for that and you know if you're looking for the unique piece of art and you want to support ARC Scotland who do autism legislation. They work with legislators to help the autistic community. So we're supporting them and we're supporting Highland Pride, two really fantastic organisations in the Highland area area and Scotland as a whole. So yeah, come and bid on Princess Peach stained glass and or donate a piece to the auction. Yeah, or I'll buy it. Do we have room for another stained glass piece? I think so.
Speaker: do We have a stained glass of our lovely dog, a friend commissioned for us that hangs up and it's the best possible. applications, so we need more windows. I suppose the other thing I was going to mention is just that made that a couple of things. For starters, this is Abby's baby. right Abby is pretty much running this con. I am emotional support human alongside the emotional support dog. And she's just doing an absolutely fantastic job. At the end of the day, this is a one man show. And because of that, we don't have corporate overloads. We don't have shareholders or investors or that sort of thing that are telling us which direction we want to travel in. We are pouring our heart and soul into making this as best as we possibly can this year and even bigger. next year and holding our values which are important to us at the forefront of this which is the no ai supporting everybody being completely as inclusive as possible and it's just really good and we're going to keep those values for as long as we possibly can and it's just yeah it's just a really good position to be in and the second thing is just it's really really nice to see everyone's reception to that about the fact that we're championing people's rights and inclusivity and everybody is chipping in to help so whether that is donating artwork for the charity auction thank you everybody that's been doing that whether it's being invited onto podcasts to talk about this cool and exciting new event thank you sassy oh you're very welcome or that sort of thing or douglas donating his time to organize all of the tabletop games our friend douglas who we met through our board game club and he said oh if you need any help and let me know and i was like oh yeah okay i've got a job for you yep so i'm sorry douglas yeah it's just amazing how generous people will be and it's something that sounds like a really good time. Well, honestly, it is absolutely fantastic to see the progress that you guys have made. And I mean that purely from, you know, an outside perspective that you've taken that from this idea of bringing a convention essentially to Inverness, Aberdeen, worth standing, of course. You've brought this convention to Inverness and it is going to be so cool to see it materialise. And honestly, the world, well, Scotland, especially, I was going to say the world, but no, Scotland. especially needs more of these types of conventions because as you were saying before for all the times you know you see people shun these geeky interests and whatever it's amazing to see how you guys are creating this inclusive space for these people who just want to celebrate their geeky interests they want to meet people from the same fandom whether it's express their cosplay which by the way the cosplays at these conventions are honestly so brilliant at times every time i go to these conventions and i look around i'm like oh my god how long and did that take but you know between that between just the essentially and and again not to get too sentimental but just the memories you know these types of events create and genuinely i am so hyped for you guys and i just want to say a huge congratulations you know for getting to this point because it is so cool to see you live your comic -con dream ah Well, thank you. I want to say that I really, really appreciate your support. You've been, since we started chatting about the con months ago, you've been so supportive and I really appreciate that. And Martin as well, he reached out right after you invited him to come with you to the con and said, if you need any hype man stuff. And I went, do you want to be an MC? And he went, yeah, that sounds fun. The two of you have just been incredibly supportive. And it's really wonderful and we really appreciate it. I'm really excited to meet you guys in person after, you know, not getting to in Glasgow when we were there. But you yeah, I think I'm really excited for the day and I'm really excited for the whole thing and to see what it becomes in future years as well. So no, it's going to be absolutely fantastic. And that's not just Martin's optimism rubbing off on me. He's a very optimistic person. He seems it. Yeah, he's a bad influence. You know, first they go. me into streaming then podcasting you know terrible business Again, for legal reasons, that's a joke. Martin, if you're listening, don't beat me up at Highland Realms. Oh, yeah. That guy seems dangerous. Yeah. See, if you tape off an area while he's beating me up, you could charge and say, oh, yeah, wrestling match. match for charity. Again, legal reasons. That's a joke. That's weird. So to wrap up very quickly after that. Yeah. As we were saying, the Highland Realms Comic Con is going to be coming to Eden Court in Verness on the 17th of... october but as of releasing this episode it's going to be happening a week tomorrow which is crazy to think about and yeah you can get your tickets over at www .highlandrealms .co .uk cannot wait to see you guys there who are out there listening if you see me walking around i will literally be probably the only guy walking around with a chat tsunami hoodie as of 2026 no one has bought a chat tsunami hoodie and started walking around i'd be very surprised if they did start doing that but yeah before we wrap up first of all to both of you thank you so so much for coming to london yeah talking about this absolute passion project has been a pleasure listening to where it started and where it's going to end up but before we wrap up where can the amazing panda warriors at home find you know your socials and such so we are on threads instagram and facebook and it is at highland realm cc on all of them i tried to make it as easy as possible so it's the same across all the social and yeah if you would like to listen to more of our episodes then you can check us out on our website chatsanami .com as well as all good podcast apps i also want to thank our amazing pandalorian patrons robotic battle toaster ghosty and cryptic 1991 thank you so so much for supporting the show but if you would like early access to episodes bonus content honestly a whole host of goodies definitely check out our patreon page at patreon .com forward slash chat tsunami this podcast is of course a prime member of the pop -up collective for more information check us out our twitter slash x page at pop -up collect but until next time thank you all so so much for listening to this episode cannot wait to see you all at highland realms comic -con on the 17th of october 2026 i'm just reiterating that it's this year stay safe stay awesome and most importantly stay hydrated
