Scotiacon 2025 - Magical Mayhem
Feb. 17th, 2025 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeThe tabloid press in the UK had taken an interest in Scotiacon leading up to this year's event. An article in a Scottish tabloid the Sunday prior had kicked things off. This was a rather benign if inaccurate account of proceedings, largely based on a literal reading of the con's terms and conditions, which were displayed on their website. However, with blood scented, the UK nationals started to circle. As the week progressed, it was fascinating to watch ever more extreme interpretations of our community being 'exposed', with us of course having no recourse to redress the balance. By the time Thursday had rolled by, one newspaper were calling us animal rapists, which was basically an invitation to vigilantism. This made me quite wary as I was not staying in the main hotel and I wanted to wear my feminine gear between venues. 'Welcome to the trans experience', Ada Wolf expressed on Bluesky, which was a very sobering comment based on the circumstances. The charity was forced to pull out, fearing the backlash, while I was left frustrated by the fact that these vultures were tarnishing our inclusive community with the most scandalous lies. A more balanced BBC report on the con, which was published on their website on Friday and featured in the Scottish local news the subsequent Monday, assuaged some of my fears but with the far-right in the ascendancy in the United States, I fear there may be more of this to come. Considering it was such a joyous weekend despite all this, I really worry that everything that is good about living could be taken away. Attacks on trans people in the US suggests attacks on gay people aren't far behind, and the fear is they'll gun for the fandom too. I hope not, but I'm hardly feeling optimistic.
I arrived in Glasgow very late on the Thursday following a mammoth five-and-a-half hour journey from home. Leaving the house for the first time since the break-in wasn't as fraught as I had feared, while even my ADHD was behaving somewhat. On the way down to the railway station, I decided to avail myself of the generous McDonald's offers we had received in the post, going for a cheeseburger medium meal for just £2. This kept hunger at bay, although I did have a packet of peanuts with an overpriced bottle of Black Sheep during my hour-long wait at Preston station. This in itself was annoying as the previous West Coast Mainline train was running six minutes late, which means I could have caught it had I not been booked on a specific train. The fact I couldn't, along with the lack of joined up thinking in terms of train timetabling, meant I was stuck in The Upper Crust bar listening to dodgy ABBA remixes while drinking overpriced beer lusting for time with my friends, most of whom had made the pilgrimage north the day before. I don't know why I don't just do this myself, although sacrificing early arrival does give me one day of annual leave with which I could do something else. The train journey itself was fine, and I ended up having three beers, although I had failed to realise the sheer distance between Preston and Glasgow, that part of the journey taking two-and-a-half hours.
We were about ten minutes late into Glasgow Central, meaning I had a very narrow window to catch the last trains to the Exhibition Centre. Finding platforms 16 and 17 proved to be tricky, while I didn't realise I had to pick up my tickets from a machine, but the inspector was kind to me. Then it was a case of checking in then running over to the main hotel hoping they hadn't stopped serving beer. Fortunately, this was before midnight and they stopped serving at something like 2am so I needn't have worried. The rest of the evening was spent chilling and chatting with the likes of Seadragom, Bluejay and Blacksnip before heading to bed shortly after 3am. We even got some crisps and free Tunnocks snowballs from the hotel reception upon our return.
There was very little in the way of panels, meaning this was very much a social con. The 21 pints of Guinness I drank tell their own story, with the Guinness in the main hotel being poured rather expertly. The main panels I did do were all in Orkney, the tiniest of tiny rooms and wholly unsuitable for a con of nearly 1,700 people. I had wanted to go to Birdy's Cheese and Wine gathering in this room, but I had gotten there late and thus was turned away. I ended up being a bit shirty with Bishop here, but it had been something of a fraught evening, as I will get to. Amethyst Mare's two writing panels were in here too and she was feeling somewhat shaken as her events had been cited in the libelous tabloid articles I have previously mentioned. I have written about this on my own website but suffice to say that she was as engaging as ever. The Writing Furry Erotica panel on the Friday was over-subscribed, meaning I had to stand at the back in my dungarees and pink wings, while the Sunday standard writing panel was full to capacity too. The latter ended up being more like a round table where everyone discussed a range of things, the only negative being the bitterly cold air generated by the air conditioner. I had turned this off on the Friday evening.
As the con was so large, it was no surprise that the queues were massive, meaning I barely did any of the events. I didn't even make it to the Dealers' Den - despite really wanting to visit The Book Badgers on the Monday - due to the length of the queues. It was for this reason that we ended up watching The Closing Ceremony in Doveux's room before he, Wolfie and Psythu went off to The Big Lebowski for dinner. I was due to head up to my father's on Monday night and so decided to skip it, while I also had some personal fun with an ABDL friend of mine arranged. Speaking of personal fun, I also had two wonderful pony play experiences too. The former involved bondage and drone play, while the latter was the usual milking scene but with additional insemination too. Both were incredibly hot while I finished a creditable fifth place on the water sports tally too, which wasn't too shabby considering I didn't have a room in the main hotel.
One of the events I did end up doing was the Open Mic as I happened to spy Swifty sat on a table at the back as I walked on by. Having not yet spoken to him, I decided to join him and we ended up spending the next few hours watching the talent on stage. Doveux ended up doing one of his comedy sets, which was largely focused on his recent veganism, but Swifty was prattling on about tracker mortgages so I couldn't hear the whole thing clearly. There was a wonderfully drunk couple who sang Seal's 'Kissed By a Rose' - more like 'Pissed By a Rose' - one of whom seemed to just act as physical support for the other. There was a fair share of guitarists too. It was a fun evening albeit one tinged with sadness as I don't have the confidence to get up on stage myself. As Swifty pointed out as he invited me to the karaoke the following night, everyone in the Fandom is so supportive that if you can't do it here, when can you do it? He had a point, but sadly I don't really have the confidence to get involved.
On Friday, I picked up my Lupestripe kigu from Manex, which I had ordered at ConFuzzled. As the weather was so bitingly cold and I was a little scared about wearing my fem gear in public - despite the numerous kind offers from friends who offered to walk me to and from my hotel - I ended up wearing it around the con space on Saturday. It is snuggly warm, indeed too warm for indoor spaces really, but it certainly assuaged any worries of being cold outside. One of the reasons I brought it on the Saturday was to show it off at Manex's photoshoot at 6pm. This was immediately after one of my fun sessions and before I was due to meet Durian for birthday cake, which she was having on the main corridor overlooking the bar as part of her birthday celebrations. At the Manex shoot, I met her roommate at Pawsome, and once the picture had been taken, I scuttled over to the balcony to partake in cake. After this, I was due to head out to dinner with Doveux, Procyon, Psythu and Wolfie at Soul Food Kitchen, a vegan Korean restaurant about 15 minutes walk away in Kelvingrove. Caught between going in feminine gear or my kigu - the thought of leaving the con space hadn't crossed my mind - I opted to go in my kigu on account of how cold the walk was destined to be. Everyone else was properly attired so I ended up getting a lot of weird looks, not least in the restaurant itself. Still, it was a really nice meal of vegetarian haggis while Procyon and I swapped beers as he preferred the stout while I wanted the IPA.
We returned back to the hotel at around 8:30pm, which meant we caught the second half of Drums and Roses. This was a high octane celebration with furs dancing along to the popular tunes played with bagpipes and drums, accompanied by traditional highland dancing. It was a raucous event with a real buzz, and I couldn't help but think of Entei-rah, who I knew loved this event. Scotiacon was a con he had regularly attended, ever since the early days of the event in Inverness a decade ago, and I think this year may have been the first one he had missed. Therefore, it was particularly cruel that we found out about his passing in the middle of this party. The sheer swing in mood, from overwhelmingly positive to grief-stricken was quite a ride, and we ended up cancelling most of our evening plans as a result. We told whoever we could as we plodded out of the main hall, deciding we needed some time aloe to regroup. Fortunately, we were amongst friends, so Wolfie, Procyon and I headed to Doveux's room to share beer, memories, and a little gallows humour. It was probably odd for Procyon, who hadn't known him as long as we had, but it felt the right thing to do, at least until we could come to terms with the loss. By 11pm, we felt able to face the world again, but it was for this reason we missed Birdy's Cheese and Wine event, amongst other things.
The con itself was very social heavy and we spent a lot of time in the bar. This enabled us to catch up with quite a few people, including Huskyteer on the Sunday evening, with whom we had a two-hour conversation over dinner. I introduced her to many of my friends and we had a nice chat about a range of topics. It was certainly the longest I'd ever spent speaking with her.
This was the second year we had been to Scotiacon and with my father now living an hour away from the event, I suspect it'll become a regular fixture going forward. It was a really great con, with so many friends attending, while it was also remarkably cheap too. Even the food in the main hotel bar wasn't too badly priced for what you got. With a range of cool things around the con, including the bleep machines which dispensed achievements I didn't particularly understand, I am glad we attended this year. Indeed, we even extended our stay by another night, although Wolfie only stayed over as I felt bad about messing my father around too much. Next year, I think I'll do the family visits before the event so I can stay for The Dead Dog, even though this year Wolfie missed it too as he needed to take a friend to A&E. Still, we should be back next year with any luck for 'Howl at High Noon', following what has been a fantastic event this year.
I arrived in Glasgow very late on the Thursday following a mammoth five-and-a-half hour journey from home. Leaving the house for the first time since the break-in wasn't as fraught as I had feared, while even my ADHD was behaving somewhat. On the way down to the railway station, I decided to avail myself of the generous McDonald's offers we had received in the post, going for a cheeseburger medium meal for just £2. This kept hunger at bay, although I did have a packet of peanuts with an overpriced bottle of Black Sheep during my hour-long wait at Preston station. This in itself was annoying as the previous West Coast Mainline train was running six minutes late, which means I could have caught it had I not been booked on a specific train. The fact I couldn't, along with the lack of joined up thinking in terms of train timetabling, meant I was stuck in The Upper Crust bar listening to dodgy ABBA remixes while drinking overpriced beer lusting for time with my friends, most of whom had made the pilgrimage north the day before. I don't know why I don't just do this myself, although sacrificing early arrival does give me one day of annual leave with which I could do something else. The train journey itself was fine, and I ended up having three beers, although I had failed to realise the sheer distance between Preston and Glasgow, that part of the journey taking two-and-a-half hours.
We were about ten minutes late into Glasgow Central, meaning I had a very narrow window to catch the last trains to the Exhibition Centre. Finding platforms 16 and 17 proved to be tricky, while I didn't realise I had to pick up my tickets from a machine, but the inspector was kind to me. Then it was a case of checking in then running over to the main hotel hoping they hadn't stopped serving beer. Fortunately, this was before midnight and they stopped serving at something like 2am so I needn't have worried. The rest of the evening was spent chilling and chatting with the likes of Seadragom, Bluejay and Blacksnip before heading to bed shortly after 3am. We even got some crisps and free Tunnocks snowballs from the hotel reception upon our return.
There was very little in the way of panels, meaning this was very much a social con. The 21 pints of Guinness I drank tell their own story, with the Guinness in the main hotel being poured rather expertly. The main panels I did do were all in Orkney, the tiniest of tiny rooms and wholly unsuitable for a con of nearly 1,700 people. I had wanted to go to Birdy's Cheese and Wine gathering in this room, but I had gotten there late and thus was turned away. I ended up being a bit shirty with Bishop here, but it had been something of a fraught evening, as I will get to. Amethyst Mare's two writing panels were in here too and she was feeling somewhat shaken as her events had been cited in the libelous tabloid articles I have previously mentioned. I have written about this on my own website but suffice to say that she was as engaging as ever. The Writing Furry Erotica panel on the Friday was over-subscribed, meaning I had to stand at the back in my dungarees and pink wings, while the Sunday standard writing panel was full to capacity too. The latter ended up being more like a round table where everyone discussed a range of things, the only negative being the bitterly cold air generated by the air conditioner. I had turned this off on the Friday evening.
As the con was so large, it was no surprise that the queues were massive, meaning I barely did any of the events. I didn't even make it to the Dealers' Den - despite really wanting to visit The Book Badgers on the Monday - due to the length of the queues. It was for this reason that we ended up watching The Closing Ceremony in Doveux's room before he, Wolfie and Psythu went off to The Big Lebowski for dinner. I was due to head up to my father's on Monday night and so decided to skip it, while I also had some personal fun with an ABDL friend of mine arranged. Speaking of personal fun, I also had two wonderful pony play experiences too. The former involved bondage and drone play, while the latter was the usual milking scene but with additional insemination too. Both were incredibly hot while I finished a creditable fifth place on the water sports tally too, which wasn't too shabby considering I didn't have a room in the main hotel.
One of the events I did end up doing was the Open Mic as I happened to spy Swifty sat on a table at the back as I walked on by. Having not yet spoken to him, I decided to join him and we ended up spending the next few hours watching the talent on stage. Doveux ended up doing one of his comedy sets, which was largely focused on his recent veganism, but Swifty was prattling on about tracker mortgages so I couldn't hear the whole thing clearly. There was a wonderfully drunk couple who sang Seal's 'Kissed By a Rose' - more like 'Pissed By a Rose' - one of whom seemed to just act as physical support for the other. There was a fair share of guitarists too. It was a fun evening albeit one tinged with sadness as I don't have the confidence to get up on stage myself. As Swifty pointed out as he invited me to the karaoke the following night, everyone in the Fandom is so supportive that if you can't do it here, when can you do it? He had a point, but sadly I don't really have the confidence to get involved.
On Friday, I picked up my Lupestripe kigu from Manex, which I had ordered at ConFuzzled. As the weather was so bitingly cold and I was a little scared about wearing my fem gear in public - despite the numerous kind offers from friends who offered to walk me to and from my hotel - I ended up wearing it around the con space on Saturday. It is snuggly warm, indeed too warm for indoor spaces really, but it certainly assuaged any worries of being cold outside. One of the reasons I brought it on the Saturday was to show it off at Manex's photoshoot at 6pm. This was immediately after one of my fun sessions and before I was due to meet Durian for birthday cake, which she was having on the main corridor overlooking the bar as part of her birthday celebrations. At the Manex shoot, I met her roommate at Pawsome, and once the picture had been taken, I scuttled over to the balcony to partake in cake. After this, I was due to head out to dinner with Doveux, Procyon, Psythu and Wolfie at Soul Food Kitchen, a vegan Korean restaurant about 15 minutes walk away in Kelvingrove. Caught between going in feminine gear or my kigu - the thought of leaving the con space hadn't crossed my mind - I opted to go in my kigu on account of how cold the walk was destined to be. Everyone else was properly attired so I ended up getting a lot of weird looks, not least in the restaurant itself. Still, it was a really nice meal of vegetarian haggis while Procyon and I swapped beers as he preferred the stout while I wanted the IPA.
We returned back to the hotel at around 8:30pm, which meant we caught the second half of Drums and Roses. This was a high octane celebration with furs dancing along to the popular tunes played with bagpipes and drums, accompanied by traditional highland dancing. It was a raucous event with a real buzz, and I couldn't help but think of Entei-rah, who I knew loved this event. Scotiacon was a con he had regularly attended, ever since the early days of the event in Inverness a decade ago, and I think this year may have been the first one he had missed. Therefore, it was particularly cruel that we found out about his passing in the middle of this party. The sheer swing in mood, from overwhelmingly positive to grief-stricken was quite a ride, and we ended up cancelling most of our evening plans as a result. We told whoever we could as we plodded out of the main hall, deciding we needed some time aloe to regroup. Fortunately, we were amongst friends, so Wolfie, Procyon and I headed to Doveux's room to share beer, memories, and a little gallows humour. It was probably odd for Procyon, who hadn't known him as long as we had, but it felt the right thing to do, at least until we could come to terms with the loss. By 11pm, we felt able to face the world again, but it was for this reason we missed Birdy's Cheese and Wine event, amongst other things.
The con itself was very social heavy and we spent a lot of time in the bar. This enabled us to catch up with quite a few people, including Huskyteer on the Sunday evening, with whom we had a two-hour conversation over dinner. I introduced her to many of my friends and we had a nice chat about a range of topics. It was certainly the longest I'd ever spent speaking with her.
This was the second year we had been to Scotiacon and with my father now living an hour away from the event, I suspect it'll become a regular fixture going forward. It was a really great con, with so many friends attending, while it was also remarkably cheap too. Even the food in the main hotel bar wasn't too badly priced for what you got. With a range of cool things around the con, including the bleep machines which dispensed achievements I didn't particularly understand, I am glad we attended this year. Indeed, we even extended our stay by another night, although Wolfie only stayed over as I felt bad about messing my father around too much. Next year, I think I'll do the family visits before the event so I can stay for The Dead Dog, even though this year Wolfie missed it too as he needed to take a friend to A&E. Still, we should be back next year with any luck for 'Howl at High Noon', following what has been a fantastic event this year.
