Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Chatsanami, a Scottish variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime in general en 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 fate! 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.
Speaker: No! it doesn't well she had the pointy teeth what was that about she looked like bilbo when he wants the ring back She turned into... I just want the lightsaber one more time. Parasite says, no, you will get back into your office and work. No, says the man in Zoom. yeah Trousers are for the working man.
Speaker: You're bursting into your hotel room. Honey, we need to go. Leave the kids. You can milk an audition. Oh
Speaker: That's the worst thing you've ever said on any of the episode episodes. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out at our website, chattsanami .com, as well as all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly...
Speaker: Stay hydrated.
Speaker: Have you ever just sat there and wondered how something you've been waiting for for ages has just suddenly crept up on you? Because I don't know about you, Pandalurians, but for me, 2026 has been a total blink and it's over year. We've covered several Comic -Cons in Glasgow, achieved numerous milestones, and even had an award nomination. But there's one particular event that stood out to me, and it all began on the 6th of April this year when I crossed paths with the Highland Realm Comic -Con account. Their mission?
Speaker: To bring a convention to the Highlands is the first of its kind. Not gonna lie, I was immediately intrigued, albeit flattered as well, when they said they had heard my work with the Fan Frontier Comic Cons and wanted me to be a content creator for them. After talking to the couple behind the convention and learning more about it, the more I wanted to go. just one slight issue. The convention itself would be all the way over in Inverness, which according to Google, is roughly 170 miles from Glasgow. Or, in a more sensible metric, is apparently 294 ,086 red pandas in a row. the more you know. But after mulling it over and asking my friend Martin McAllister and my partner Miss Tsunami if they wanted to go as well, well, you probably know what they said based on the title. So off we went to pack for one of the craziest Comic Con experiences yet, and a journey that I can safely say qualifies for our travel and food series, Chow Tsunami. After picking up Martin from his home, we made our way up the A9 towards the con, briefly stopping off at the House of Brewer for some coffee, and for me, one heck of a chicken and chorizo. that genuinely I could write a poem about. For anyone who's seen Twin Peaks, it is exactly like that scene where the character Dale Cooper fawns over that cherry pie. I should point out at this moment as well that neither myself nor Martin are sponsored by them, but if anyone knows how to make that happen, then please let us know. Bye, digress. After arriving at our hotel on the Friday, we headed out briefly to say hello at Eden Court and see how things were going. Honestly, when we got there, it was a hive of productivity. If you haven't listened to my interview with Abigail and Rob, the founders of Highland Realms, then I would definitely recommend it because they put their absolute all into this convention, but with the stage set, a plethora of vendors setting up. and the performance of the musical Grease playing in the building itself, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the big day. But after all the hype and build -up from April, how did the convention go? What did we and the Chatsunami team get up to in the day? And what surprises awaited us? Well, without any further ado, grab your Highland snacks as we dive into this very special episode of Chowsunami. So the day finally arrived as we walked from our hotel to Eden Court, picking up a coffee and pastry from the cafe Grain and Grind, which, if you're in Inverness, I would highly recommend it. Sufficiently caffeinated, Martin and I went our separate ways, as he was going to be on stage for most of the day to host a number of brilliant panels, and while he went off to set up, I decided to explore the con and bumped into a few familiar faces, including the one and only Loch Ness Ghostbuster himself, Martin. Not McAllister, the other one. Seriously, a huge shout out to him and the work that he does. Definitely go check him out because I really need to get him back on the show. I also bumped into a few others, such as Grant Plew once again, this time to buy a Darth Revan charm. I also talked to Mura Sakoni about the con itself and bought Helldivers 2 sticker sheet from them. And finally, I got a, and I can't emphasise this enough, an amazing Big the Cat sticker from the store. taste for the theatrical, and to all those artists that I usually bump into in the con, I am super sorry that I didn't get the opportunity to say hello to you, but I genuinely hope it went well. I've said it before, but visiting the Artist's Alley is by far one of my favourite parts of these cons, and it was amazing to see so so many talented artists out there en masse. There are also a few other honourable mentions, but I'll save that for later. Honestly, it was great speaking to those folk. In the meantime, as we pass by the Silent Auction, which had an absolutely spectacular range of things to bid on, Misunami and I went for a first gander as we set our sights on the first panel of the day, which was hosted by Liam of the Highland Paranormal Group. A really fascinating talk by the way, and he was such a friendly guy. If what they do sounds like your cup of tea then please go check them out. And of course after that we just had to stay for the next one, which was the Comic Creator panel hosted by Martin, and featured creators such as Etienne Vers Studios, Hesitant Doodle, and Galactic Figuramas. I cannot stress enough how brilliant these three did, as well as Martin with his hosting. In terms of panels, it was an absolute 10 out of 10 highlight for me honestly, but of course we had some more convention work to do which meant that we unfortunately missed both the cosplay panel as well as Martin's talk with the House of Dragonfolk, but I do have it in good authority that he absolutely killed it out there with that one. With that being said, there was one thing that happened to me that I genuinely never expected to happen. But before I go on, I just want to shout out the Wild Highland Kitchen, who were outside Eden Court in a row of food vans near the waterfront, and they served by far some of the greatest haggis -loaded fries I have ever had in my life. I also had to be wary, mind you, as I was pretty sure that there was a seagull eyeing them up in the distance. Seriously though, whoever thought up the idea of having those food vans there was a genius. But once again, I digress. After Miss Tsunami and I headed back to Eden Court, I came across something that, as I I said before, I never expected a fellow content creator under the name of ThePanicBandit on TikTok came up to me to say how she loved the podcast and if she could get a photo with me. And I'm being deadly serious when I say this, but that has never happened before. The last time something similar like that happened was when the cosplayer Camerice in EpicCon came up to me to say hello. As daft as it sounds, it honestly means a lot having these interactions, and it somewhat felt validating that they went out of their way to say hello. to me so, once again, if you're listening, thank you so, so much. But after that nice interaction, we did some more exploring within the con, and I'm going to say it now, the place was packed. And I mean that in all the best ways. There was a healthy flow of con -goers, cosplayers, and curious Eden court -goers all in the one area, and that was great. I also want to shout out the tabletop sessions that ran throughout the day, and from what I heard, they went off really well. It was a brilliant idea for Highland Realms to actually establish these spaces as it allowed congoers to bond over their favourite tabletop games. Sadly, I didn't have much time myself to check them out, but I still think they're always great to have. And speaking of great, after doing so many panels, Martin and I finally got time to link up and explore the convention together before the final two panels debuted, that being Tartan Tabletop, hosting it as always with a live D and &D session, and then finally the wrestling panel, hosted by myself and Billy from the Scottish Wrestling Network. Not only Not only was it super cool to meet Billy in person after all this time, but it was really cool co -hosting the panel with him, and interviewing the guests such as Martin themselves, as well as RJ Cash and Arkham from Combat League Wrestling. If you actually want to view the panel in its entirety, then head over to the Scottish Wrestling Network channel. And after the con came to a close, Martin, Miss Tsunami and I decided to finally the little relax together and discuss our thoughts on the date. But what did we really think at the time? Well, that sounds like a job for
Speaker: Hello everybody and welcome live from Highland Realms Comic Con. It is the end of the day. It is probably six o 'clock. I don't have a watch on me. I can't tell the time. No, it's half past something somewhere. Yeah, today we have been so busy with Highland Realms Comic Con, which as I told you before, I think in one of the previous episodes, I cannot believe that Highland Realms is finally here and now it's finally gone. Where's the time gone? I know, and even... yesterday we were like oh you know it's gonna be a long day yeah and it has been a long day especially for you especially for me we'll get into that but yeah i'm now sad it's over it's been a long day and i'm like i can't believe it's done yeah it feels like two minutes ago we sat down at the main stage for the first time it has been eight hours and we're sitting outside eden court now it's getting dark i'm devastated i'm devastated because i've had such a fun day it's so wild yeah because yeah you did the highland paranormal one you did the cosplay one as well and the comic panel which was is absolutely fantastic. Yeah, no, I loved that panel. Three really incredible artists, just really in depth. And like, I had such a great feeling of, I don't want this to end. And I also got to interview the puppeteers from House of the Dragon. Oh, that's so cool. And that was the same way I'm looking at the watch and it's like, people in the crowd still had questions. I still had questions and the time's ticking and it's like, oh, can we not have another half hour? Keep going. But no, what a day. I'm sure you'll be posting all the sort of links to various people. I don't want to start naming people because I will forget someone because it's been such a jam -packed day for me. But yeah, everyone's been fantastic. Every panel went off without a hitch. Cosplay competition was amazing. And yeah, we had our very first live panel to wrap up today. We did, yeah. I got filmed twice. That was another first because, as I said before, I got a DM back in April, would you believe? Because I was looking it up last night. I was thinking, when was it they reached out? And it was April 6th. And they're like, oh, yeah, it would be really cool if, you know, Chats and Ami could be involved and, you know, reporting on it as a content creator. I was like, oh, that is so cool. As you said, it's just... baffling that now it's here what is also baffling is there's a lot of chat tsunami people who have reached out to me because they come from this area of the country and i was genuinely like really there's a venn diagram like a circle but that was the thing though because my partner the lovely miss tsunami and i we are waving to her in the background but yeah we were coming back from lunch and someone called i think it was the panic bandit who does speed running content on tiktok came up to me and was like oh can i get a photo and everything if you're listening to this huge shout out to you but also you're the very first person who's ever done that to me in a comic even in epic even in koyo kaiju whatever no one has come up to me and been like can i get a photo it's like you'll give me a thumbs up and go great even spoke to grant again grant blue there was just so many people i kept bumping into and i got to meet just loads of again amazing people on the artist alley but went upstairs around the corner there was a silent auction as well honestly, as you said, I just, I can't believe how it's already over. And it's been such a great day, all the people you mentioned there, but what a community. Absolutely. We were joking about it earlier, but we're beginning to know everybody at these events in terms of vendors, in terms of panellists and stuff. Yeah, that is scary. Like, literally, I was turning around corners going, know them, know them, know them, put a sticker over there. But it's like, what great fun, and like, for a Comic -Con this size, it's not being a small Comic -Con by any means, but we're beginning to notice people, we're beginning to recognise people, as opposed to like, these gigantic levels of when you get slouches. people you can't recognise anyone oh yeah yeah but this has been such a great day in terms of like the vibes have been really good yeah we've been approached by a lot of different people today and spoke to tons of different people I was obviously on the panels all day what did you get up to because this is the first time we've got up yeah it actually is by the way because I kept texting Martin I knew he had the Highland Paranormal one he had the comic one and you were like okay I'm off at X time and I text you and I was like oh you're free now and you're like nope no I have more work to do no it's honestly been a fantastic day because as I said I stayed for the first two panels, got a lot of amazing pictures and things. Went down to the, it was like the food stalls outside of Eton Court. It's just like a row of them at the waterfront. By the way, can I just say, and I'm not just saying this because the people from Inverness will be listening to this. Your city is beautiful, genuinely. You look down and, you know, it's like the castle and everything at the top of the hill. And it's just the scenic, you know, thing. It's as if I've never seen water before. And the sun. Yeah, what was that? Big ball of fire. Yeah. After that I ended up, well my partner and I, we ended up going through the artist alley as I said I caught up with Grant there was just so many there was a few that I was talking to I finally met the Loch Ness Ghostbuster as well because what was really funny was initially he didn't click because he was looking at me and I said can I take a photo of that and he went yeah yeah sure and he looked down and then he looked at me and went
Speaker: Is that it? And I was like, yeah. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I said that to him. I said, Martin? And he was like, is that it? You know, the Spider -Man pointy? But no, it was incredible to meet him as well. Got to meet Billy from the Scottish Wrestling Network as well. Because we've done two episodes, well, one episode in Chats and Army, one episode in his podcast. And it was so cool to see him as well. As you said, it's so cool to see all of these people that, you know, we've either spoke to online or seen in the distance and everything. It's honestly incredible. But yeah, that's... It's mainly what I did. I did that thing, what I do usually in cons after. I went to the panels and things. Yeah, I just kind of wondered. And I'm like, what am I going to do today? You know, I bought some comics. I bought some stickers and things. I'm just trying to think of anything else. But that was mainly it. Again, that's what I love about doing these events. It's the community as well. And I just want to shout out the organisers of Highland Realms, Abby and Rob. Huge shout out to you, because I know you'll probably be listening to this. Probably. yeah It would be weird if they weren't.
Speaker: They're as weird as they are. Yeah, I'm going to have a word with them after this to be like, listen, I called you out.
Speaker: You're going to have to listen to this. But honestly, they put on a fantastic con, especially this is the first con of its kind. This is the first Highland Realms. And honestly, may there be many more, whether it's at Edencore or elsewhere. They've done a fantastic job for their first year. Absolutely fantastic. That's all I can really say. What about yourself? What are your final thoughts, Martin, just about it? Absolutely. No, just to echo what you've said, they've done an amazing job putting this together. Yeah. For a venue that hasn't really ran this kind of show before, they've put some graft into getting it together. And the amount of things, because this is, for me, I think a Comic -Con really now hinges on how much is there to do. Yes. And a big thing today were those panels, those workshops, and all the stalls. Eden Court itself is, like, a phenomenal venue. Yes. And the Bishop's Palace part was really cool. They got, like, the 501st in. The puppeteers and stuff were doing stuff on the table, the workshops. Just really everyone, it's like there's a lot of people doing stuff. And, yeah, just fantastic for them. Everyone at Asphalt has had a great day from, like, the working side. Everyone's had a great day. Yeah. Yeah, I don't really know what else I can say. Do you know what else I can say? Yeah, do tell. So, obviously, Comic -Con, fantastic. What did you think of House of Brewer? Let's talk about House of Brewer. I know this is audio only, but I'm getting a side -eye from my tsunami scene. Saying that she loved it and... She loved it, yeah. Under threat. No, I'm only kidding. For legal reasons. For legal reasons, sponsor us, House of Brewer. All I'll say is, I always go in, and don't get me wrong, it's always kind of pricey when you go in and everything, but I still love you. There was some things where it's like, hmm, do we need a God knows how heavy thing of salmon? £56 worth of salmon. Are we going to take that to the hotel? Answer, no, we didn't. But all I'll say is, and I can't believe I'm saying this about the House of Brewer, I got a banging, and I'm going to say this emphatically, I got a banging chicken and chorizo. It is one of the best pies, honestly. Like, I was crying, like, driving up. Cheers of joy, happiness. Island Realms Con is over. It's time to go back to House of Brew. I feel like there's going to be one person from House of Brew listening going... So you went to House of Brewer and the only thing you liked was the pies? No, honestly, jokes aside, it is a fantastic place and a fantastic shop, but yeah, honestly, this day has been brilliant, as you said, and just to kind of wrap up, to meet all of the vendors, the artists, the performers, being on a panel for the first time, which, yep, having my photo taken for the first time. You are now a live panelist. Exactly, yeah, I can put that on my CV now. And that was the funny thing, just one thing I want to touch on quickly, is that when I was talking to them, artists usually when they go to Epic Con and their things it's like I won't see them for a couple of months after the fact but what I found funny was next week we were at KoyoCon through in the Glasgow SEC and that was the thing well as of this episode it'll be tomorrow but that was the thing it was like talking to them saying oh yeah I'll see you some other time and it's like wait are you going to KoyoCon yeah okay I'll see you next week so yeah no it's been absolutely brilliant I cannot praise it enough it's been an absolutely amazing experience and really this is the first Chatsanami retrospective for a con where it does fit into a chow tsunami because we've travelled, we've had a banging pie from House of Bruce. I was the only one by the way so yeah as you said we are away to basically de well debrief I suppose de what's the word de stress we're about to chill out and eat some food we're about to go for dinner so yeah thank you all so much for listening and yeah huge shout out to everyone we met at Highland Realms Comic Con and if you're out in the Glasgow area we will see you tomorrow we will see you tomorrow see you tomorrow at KoyoCon at one o 'clock oh yes are we allowed to talk about this yeah yeah so tomorrow we will be hosting a anime quiz panel well I say that Martin will be he'll be reading out the questions I will be giving judgmental looks behind him so legal reasons that is a joke don't ban me from the con but yeah no that's gonna be fantastic so one o 'clock tomorrow one o 'clock tomorrow the great big anime quiz there is prizes to be won there is chat tsunami stickers to be had be there or be rectangular what
Speaker: But unfortunately for past Martin, we did not go back to the House of Brewer, instead opting to go the scenic route. It was here we took in the majestic view of Loch Ness via Fort Augustus, stopped by Fort William, and drove by the scenic peaks of Glencoe. I said this to them when we were travelling back, but we are seriously so lucky to not only have these kind of places in Scotland, but also to have had the opportunity to travel through for the con. And honestly, I don't know what I expected when I travelled up to Inverness. After all, it had been a while since I had properly been in the city, and what I was met with was a warmth from the people there who could not have been friendlier, and a waterfront that was absolutely gorgeous to walk along. Mind you, I was definitely too preoccupied in the morning to properly acknowledge it all, but in the evening, at the risk of sounding like a tourist when the sun set and everything lit up, it was almost magical. As for the con itself... I also wasn't sure what to expect with it being the first of its kind in Edencore. I mean, come on. We've all heard the horror stories of people thinking they can slap a con together only for them to become viral online for all the wrong reasons. But this wasn't that. Highland Realms came from a place of love, where a couple had a dream to create a sense of community for those in Underness. And by God, did they pull it off. Do you know what I love about these types of cons? It's always seeing how happy the con -goers are. How cool it is to talk to them. passionate artists, and the platforms that the panels provide to creators. And what's even more amazing is, as far as I can see, the consensus was that the con was a success.
Speaker: The last few months have been such a whirlwind for the podcast. As I said before, there have been so many highlights for the show, and Highland Realms is practically the cherry on top of this. So once again, a huge shout out to Abigail and Rob for not only hosting one heck of a convention, but absolutely killing it. Here's to Highland Realms 2. Revenge of the Red Panda. Or maybe just Highland Realms 2 would do. All joking aside, what a wild year it's been. I cannot wait for what 2027 has in store and - more importantly, what the crew at Highland Realms has planned. Here's to another fantastic year. But with that being said, did you go to the convention? If so, what did you think of it? Share your thoughts below so and let us know. But as always, thank you all so much for listening to our summary of Highland Realms. Tomorrow, Orton McAllister and myself will be over at the Glasgow SEC for KoyoCon, so be sure to say hey if you're passing by. But if you would like to listen to more of our episodes, then you can indeed check us out on our website, chatsanami .com. as well as all good podcast ups. A huge shout out to our Pandalorian patrons, Robotic Battle Toaster, Ghostay, and Cryptic1991. Thank you all so much for supporting the show. And if you would like early access to episodes, as well as a whole plethora of bonus content, then you can check us out at our Patreon page at patreon .com forward slash chat tsunami. But as always, thank you all so, so much for listening to this episode. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
