PICTURES: Comic con event pulls in the crowds at Eden Court

Highland Realms Comic Con is a huge success at Eden Court Inverness

ByRamsay Banks- ramsay.banks@hnmedia.co.uk
Published: 18:00, 19 October 2026

A new comic con event has debuted in Inverness, a panelist calling it “one of the best conventions I’ve ever been to.”

Highland Realms Comic Con took place at Eden Court on Saturday, with fans of comics, films, anime, video games and more flocking to the venue dressed their favourite characters.

Art vendors, a range of panelists and special guests, as well as a cosplay competition made for a lively day.

Organisers Abigail and Rob Carey, who spoke last month about their high hopes for the event, were delighted with how it turned out.

Abigail said: “It’s been really great. We’ve met our initial footfall goal which is fantastic.

Rob added: “We’ve been super stoked to have so many people engaging with all the workshops and gaming sessions that were going on upstairs. We basically had everything booked out the entire day. There were really good vibes from everybody.”

A sentiment echoed by many attendees on the day was that, in times past, such an event like this would only have been available in the central belt or Aberdeen.

Abigail, who comes from the US, got the idea to change that after she and Rob moved to the area.

“When we moved up here to Inverness, we were a little surprised that there wasn’t something like this her,” she said.

“It seemed like there was a creative and geeky community, but nothing to bring those people together. We wanted to try and bring them together and create a community of geeky people.”

A comic con event, for many, is a place to let loose without having to worry about being seen as strange or out of place, and the opportunity was grasped with both hands.

Rivers Knight and Emma Donald met while performing cosplay, and have since tied the knot. The pair hosted the awards ceremony for the best cosplay.

Rivers and Emma also hosted a panel of their own, and urged those who want to get into the hobby to shake themselves free of the “cringe” label.

Rivers said: “We’ve been doing conventions for about 13 years, nine years together, and this is one of the best conventions we’ve ever been to. For a debut event that’s more than we could ask for.

“We’re trying to get as many people into cosplay now that it’s more of an OK thing. When we grew up people were bullied for liking anime and cosplaying, but now it’s so accepted.”

Emma added: “It’s so amazing to see so many young people getting started off with cosplay.

“It can be such a fun, fulfilling hobby, so it does make me hopeful for the future. Don’t be afraid to act a bit cringe, so to speak.”

One of those dressing up for the day was Martin – otherwise known as the Loch Ness Ghostbuster.

There are a collective of Ghostbusters groups around the country who channel their love for the characters and stories into doing good in the real world.

He said: “It’s a wider community of people who are part of the fandom and like to spend their time giving back into their local communities.

“For example, attending the Highland Children’s Unit at Raigmore Hospital on Halloween just to ensure that those little ones, by being in hospital, don’t miss out on a holiday.

“We take the examples of fictional people we look up to and respect. We use that as a benchmark to how we conduct ourselves and try to make the world a little bit of a brighter place.”

Looking to the future, Abigail and Rob are already planning how they can do it all again next year.

“It something we really, really, really want to do.” Abigail said. “We need funding to make that happen. This year we did it off an investment that we made. We’ve been able to use the money from ticket sales and vendor sales to make this function, but we want to do more. We want to go bigger.

“We’re looking for sponsors and want to become a Community Interest Company in the near future which will hopefully open up some funding routes for us. If we can get that funding, next year’s a definite.”

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