Before 2024 San Diego Comic-Con fades in the rear view mirror, I want to share some of the things I have learned and experienced about SDCC over the years.
I attended my first DSCC in 2017. I had intended to go in 2016 but my husband planned a surprise trip to Scotland in honor of our 53rd wedding anniversary!
No complaints because I had a grand time. Don’t want to get distracted from my mission, but here’s a few photos to explain why I chose Scotland in 2016.
We visited the stand in for Craigh na Du. A lovely, quiet, tree-covered mound with a lot of sheep. In the distance you can see Loch Rannoch (photo, left), the site where Claire and Ned Gowan (ep 105) quote from the poet John Donne.
Next is the shop window where Claire contemplates buying a pair of vases (ep 101). The site was supposedly Inverness but the filming actually took place in the village of Falkland in Fife.
I stood on a picnic table to create this short video of Culloden Battlefield and Drumossie Moor. The building in the distance is the Visitor’s Center. The video was actually made in 2017 as my daughter and I returned to Scotland one a year later! 💙
So, now you know why I didn’t go to the 2016 SDCC. I have been to every SDCC since then except during COVID shutdown.
The following is a short history of this fantastic event.
The first SDCC was held in 1970 with 100 attendees! Now, the attendance is well of 135,000 people, annually. These are attendees with badges or press passes. Many more people gather outside the venue to participate in associated events and activities.
Today, SDCC is held in the beautiful San Diego Convention Center. It is the long building to the right of the palm tree-lined boulevard and is located near the waterfront. It is huge – 2.6 million square feet of floor space. This year, it offered over 2,000 hours of comics, anime, gaming, discussions, workshops and other events relating to the popular arts.
The exhibit hall part is 460,00 square feet of floor space with over 1,000 exhibitors. Aisles are always packed with attendees buying all types of merchandise associated with the Comic-Con genre.
SDCC even spreads onto nearby buildings outside the San Diego Convention Center.
This year, I attended several panels, walked the exhibit hall, visited various exhibits, met with friends, and spoke with attendees.
But, one of my favorite parts of SDCC is the cosplay! What is cosplay? According to Wikipedia, the term “cosplay is a portmanteau of “costume play;” it is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character.”
And, believe me, cosplayers take their characters very seriously!
The following are some of my favorites!
This is Ruby Rhod from “The Fifth Element.” Many claim he was the original influencer! You may not know, but Prince was originally cast for this role but withdrew because of costuming issues so the part went to Chris tucker.
And, my personal favorite: Day of the Dead character. I now wish I had asked to photo the back of her magnificent hat. It was covered with flowers, skulls, candles, and other symbols. Stunning costume! 😍
This is my final post of 2024 SDCC. Saying farewell until next year with shaka sign (hang loose) from me and my longtime Comic-Con buddies, Jody and Jim from Hawaii.
Time for the third installment of my 2016 Scotland Outland Immersion tour. I hope you stay with me because this blog contains gobs of sights and sites! It also uses book quotes but these come from Diana’s first two books which have already aired; thus, they don’t seem like spoilers but there will be alerts if you want to skip. Off we go!
Inside the Visitor Center a man of arms stood before an impressive array of weaponry (Photo A). Apologies for the blurry photo; hands were shaking – after shock from the square “immersion room” (2016 Scotland Outlander Tour -Part 2)! The table before him held a flintlock musket, small cauldron and ladle for making musket balls, basket-hilted broadsword, targe and dirk. Apparently, 18th century muskets had a variety of firing mechanisms but the one displayed was a flintlock.
Tying in with Outlander (always!), Captain Randall’s leather lash bore lead plummets rather than knots; very effective in producing maximum damage (Starz season 1, Opening images)!
BOOK QUOTE: Skip if you don’t want to read the next two book excerpts about Jamie’s flogging. Psst: I know of no one who regrets reading Diana’s fabulous books. Unlike the Starz episode, in Outlander book, Claire hears the awful truth of the scourging from War Chief, Dougal MacKenzie.
A few minutes later, Randall came out, the whip tucked under his arm, and the lead plummets at the tips of the lashes clicking softly together as he walked.
He had surveyed Jamie coolly then motioned to the sergeant-major to turn the prisoner around to show his back.
Dougal grimaced. “A pitiful sight, it was, too—still raw, no more than half-healed, wi’ the weals turned black and the rest yellow wi’ bruises. The thought of a whip comin’ down on that soreness was enough to make me blench, along wi’ most of those watching.”… “You’ve seen a cat play wi’ a wee mousie?” Dougal asked. “ ’Twas like that.
We spent some time with the arms man as he proved very knowledgeable. More about weaponry later in this blog.
Hugh Allison, our excellent tour guide, worked at Culloden Visitor’s Center for years and was a fabulous wellspring of information. He believes the Battle of Culloden to be a true civil war.
Why? Because each side was a composite of followers. Jacobites, lead by Prince Charles Edward Stuart, were mostly Scottish Catholics and Episcopalians but also included a detachment of Englishmen as well as Irish and Scots units supplied by the Kingdom of France. These men were committed to restoring the house of Stuart to the British throne. British Government forces, led by the Duke of Cumberland (son of King George II), were mostly Protestants, but also included Scottish Lowlanders and Highlanders, Ulstermen (northern Ireland), German Hessians and Austrians. These were Loyalists to the House of Hanover.
One of the more fascinating displays at the Visitor Center is a large table of Culloden Battlefield. A video display, it offers a birdeye view of troop positions and movements during the confrontation. Loyalist troops are signified by red dots – the Jacobites, by blue. I hope you take the time to watch the battle unfold in this amazing re-telling of that fateful hour!
Did you have trouble following the video? If yes, the next map shows position and distribution of Jacobite and Hanoverian forces at the battle’s start (Photo B). After losing many Jacobites to cannonade, Prince Charles orders his forces to charge the Loyalist lines.
Photo B
Dougal, Rupert and Angus demo a Highland charge in Starz episode 209, Je Suis Prest. “I am ready” their body language screams! A charge did scare the be-je suis out of foes!
The Highland charge probably derived from older Celtic fighting styles in which one side rushed forward to break through a foe’s battle line. After the advent of firearms, men at the front were totally commitment because they faced the first volley of musket fire! Speed was also critical, so Highlanders preferred charging downhill on firm ground; they also dropped clothing from the lower body for greater freedom.
Once in musket range (60 yd), Highlanders with firearms discharged their weapons creating a smoke screen. Expecting a return volley, they immediately dropped low to the ground for protection. Firearms were dropped and blades were drawn as men screaming in Gaelic ran the final distance to the enemy line. Face-to-face, Highlanders took sword and bayonet points on the targe while delivering an upward blade into the opponent’s torso.
BOOK QUOTE: If you must, skip the next quote from book two, Dragonfly in Amber. Jamie explains the emotional rush of a Highland charge:
“Ye hear a shout, and of a sudden, you’re running. Slow, for a step or two, while ye free your belt, and then your plaid falls free and you’re bounding, wi’ your feet splashing mud up your legs and the chill of the wet grass on your feet, and your shirttails flying off your bare arse. The wind blows into your shirt and up your belly and out along your arms.… Then the noise takes ye and you’re screaming, like runnin’ down a hill yelling into the wind when you’re a bairn, to see can ye lift yourself on the sound.”
The sad conflict was over in less than an hour (some claim 40 minutes) during which 1,500 and 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded. The Jacobite charge indeed broke through the British lines but odds were against them on that fateful day. Here are the main reasons for their defeat:
Hanoverians outnumbered the Jacobites 9,000 to 5,000.
Jacobites were poorly armed compared with Redcoat muskets, artillery and horse.
Charlie ignored his commander’s advice to stick with guerrilla tactics. This day, he ordered his troops to meet the Loyalists head-on.
Jacobites were exhausted following a forced all-night march in full gear to and from Cumberland’s camp near Naim. Their attempt at this night-time raid failed.
Hanoverian artillery decimated the Jacobites as they bravely awaited Charlie’s command to charge. Charlie was waiting for government troops to advance first! What was the man thinking?
Culloden’s uneven, flat and marshy ground plus hunger and fatigue rendered the Highlanders’ favorite tactic – the Highland charge – unsuccessful.
Because Jacobite and Loyalist lines were not parallel (Photo B), the lower flank of the advancing Jacobite line struck the Hanoverian line first. Unfortunately, this gave the remaining Loyalists’ line needed time to deflect the oncoming charge.
Redcoat tactics called for each soldier to bayonet the exposed side of the Jacobite to his right instead of firing at the enemy dead ahead. The Jacobites expected one volley of shots and then to take the Redcoats in hand-to-hand combat.
Photo C, a poignant painting of the conflict by David Morier, is titled: “The Highland attack on the Grenadier Company of Barrell’s King’s Own Royal Regiment.” Commissioned in 1746 by the Duke of Cumberland, himself, it reputedly used members of the regiment and Highland prisoners as models.
Photo C
Leaving the Visitor’s Center, we moved onto the Battlefield (Photo D). The entire field was silent, desolate and imbued with a feeling of futility. A chill wind blew over the moor as we silently walked the finely graveled path. It felt akin to the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand), on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, US. Time travelers, indeed! Gulp.
Photo D
Some distance to the left of of the above pathway, a distant line of blue Scottish flags marks the Jacobite line (Photo E).
Photo E
Red flags mark the Loyalist’s line (Photo F).
Photo F
Various memorials dot the landscape such such as this poignant wooden bench with plaque (Photo G).
Photo G
A wee fresh-water spring easily could have been missed (Photo H).
BOOK QUOTE: In Dragonfly in Amber, Roger and Bree visit Culloden Battlefield. Roger comments on this tiny well of water:
““This is the place they call the Well of Death.” Roger stooped by the small spring. Barely a foot square, it was a tiny pool of dark water, welling under a ridge of stone. “One of the Highland chieftains died here; his followers washed the blood from his face with the water from this spring…””
Photo H
A nearby stone marker identifies the spring as “Well of the Dead” and the site where chieftain of the MacGillivray Clan fell (Photo I).
Photo I
Further along the path stands a stone monument commemorating the Jacobite’s attempt to restore their rightful monarch to the British throne (Photo J). Only fitting that Scottish gorse crowns this mighty stone pillar.
Photo J
A plaque at the base of the monument speaks for itself (Photo K); ‘nuf said:
Photo K
The same monument appears in Starz, episode 105, Rent, as Claire and Frank visit Culloden Moor; trying to reconnect on honeymoon number two. Different time of year, so the gorse is not in bloom. By tradition, when the gorse is out of bloom, kissing is also out of season. Of course, Jamie isn’t there so Claire doesn’t get any kissy-face time. Sad face.
The next marker broke my heart. Someone had left a pink tulip honoring the fallen men of Clan Fraser (Photo L). Several such tokens rested at various markers. Tears welled – lungs swelled!
BOOK QUOTE: In Dragonfly in Amber, Bree asks Roger who might have left floral tokens at the stone markers? Roger responds:
“Visitors.” Roger squatted next to her. He traced the faded letters on the stone—FRASER . “People descended from the families of the men who were killed here. Or just those who like to remember them.”
Visitors? That would be you and me! Some friends tease me for being emotional about this story, but I care about these characters. They are my friends. And, I don’t think I have mentioned it before, but I have Scottish ancestors, so the whole experience feels quite personal. This is my final photo of Culloden. Time to go!
Photo L
Leaving Culloden, we encountered a spectacular railway viaduct spanning the Nairn River (Photo M). Built in 1889, the Nairn (Culloden or Clava) Viaduct is the longest masonry viaduct in Scotland: impressive and graceful!
Photo M
Speaking of Clava, we soon arrived at a large grassy field containing Bronze Age standing stones (Photo N). Properly termed Prehistoric Burial Cairns of Balnuaran of Clava (whew), the name is often shortened to just Clava Cairns. A cairn is a human-made pile or stack of stones and the word comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn).
The site includes three cairns erected some 4,000 years ago. Build of countless smaller round stones, the cairn is stabilized by an outer ring of larger stones. Outside each mound is yet a larger ring of individual standing stones. I touched several but, nada. Och, I’m still here!
BOOK QUOTE: Diana writes about the Clava Cairns in Dragonfly in Amber. Here, Roger and Bree speak (Hope ye read the book!):
“I’ll have to go sort this out,” he told Brianna. “I’m afraid it might take a while.” “That’s okay.” She smiled at him, blue eyes narrowing to triangles. “I should go too. Mama will be back by now; we thought we might go out to the Clava Cairns, if there was time. Thanks for the lunch.”
Photo N
Two of the cairns are passage graves each with an pathway linking inner and outside worlds (Photo O). Both originally had cap stones but these had slipped away leaving the inner chambers exposed. All the stones have settled over the years as the Cairns are now 1-2m (3-6 ft) in height but were originally 3m (10ft) tall. Passage grave cairns are believed to be burial chambers. I won’t use an apropos quote because it skips far ahead to book seven, An Echo in The Bone. But, suffice it to say, a burial cairn debuts in this volume.
Photo O
Standing inside one inner chamber, I was struck by the care taken to fill gaps between stones. These were stunning and evocative creations (Photo P)!
Photo P
The site even has it’s own split standing stone! Our tour guide, Hugh, stands beside split slabs holding a photo of Diana Gabaldon peeking out at us from between the halves of the same stone (Photo Q)!
BOOK QUOTE: Claire describes the split stone at Craigh na Dun. Here, from Outlander book:
The tallest stone of the circle was cleft, with a vertical split dividing the two massive pieces. Oddly, the pieces had been drawn apart by some means. Though you could see that the facing surfaces matched, they were separated by a gap of two or three feet.
Heading toward Beauly, we stopped by an old graveyard where we photographed the top of Beaufort castle (Photo R) peeking through the greenery. Located in Beauly, the estate was the home of Lord Lovat, Jamie’s grandsire.
BOOK QUOTE: Diana writes about Beauly and Lord Lovat in Dragonfly in Amber!
And in the morning, he had gone first to Charles, to tell His Highness that he and I would ride alone to Beauly, accompanied only by Murtagh, to convey His Highness’s respects to Lord Lovat, and his request that Lovat honor his promise of men and aid.
Photo R
I was enchanted because the old graveyard features it’s own guardhouse! I wrote about these structures in Anatomy Lesson #34 “The Amazing Saga of Human Anatomy”. Erected by families, they housed family members or hired guards to protect deceased loved ones from grave robbers! I was so charmed, I forgot to take a photo but found one of a guard house (sometimes, they were towers) at Kilmorack’s old Kirkyard (Photo S)!
Photo S
Notice the tall, capped stone wall in Photo S? Such walls are pretty common in the Highlands. I thought them very beautiful. Jamie pauses before bounding nimbly over such a wall in Starz episode 211, Vengence is Mine! You know, the episode Diana wrote? Skirts aflying! Caped crusader – Highland style!
Next, we visited Beauly Priory, the remains of a monastic community probably founded in 1230 by monks devoted to poverty, chastity and obedience (Photo T).
This magnificent ruins was once used by Lord Cromwell, was visited by Mary Queen of Scots and was the ancestral burial ground for chiefs of Clan Lovat (Frasers). The grassy grounds are sprinkled with beautiful trees, one is at least 700 y.o.!
There was a small chapel in Beaufort Castle, to serve the devotional uses of the Earl and his family, but Beauly Priory, ruined as it was, remained the burying place of the Lovats, and the floor of the open-roofed chancel was paved thick with the flat tombstones of those who lay under them. It was a peaceful place, and I walked there sometimes, in spite of the cold, blustery weather.
Photo T
Color and workmanship of rock and masonry walls were absolutely stunning (Photo U)!
Photo U
Its peaceful interior appears exactly as Claire describes it (Photo V), complete with stone slates, carvings, and sarcophagi.
BOOK QUOTE: Here, Claire reads from a plaque in the Priory (Dragonfly in Amber); it remains (so to speak) one of my favorite quotes from any of Diana’s books:
Lady Sarah Fraser lay at her feet, the lady’s stone surmounted with a skull atop crossed bones. Hodie mihi cras tibi , said the inscription. Sic transit gloria mundi. “My turn today, yours tomorrow. And thus passes away the glory of the world”.
Photo V
In Starz episode 208, The Fox’s Lair, Claire unexpectedly encounters Maisri, Lovat’s seer, at a small church. Here, she learns Lord Lovat’s future fate at the hands of a hooded axman and, that upon occasion, individual futures can be changed!
BOOK QUOTE: Claire describes the scene in Dragonfly in Amberalthough in the book, they meet at the Priory.
One afternoon, a few days after the scene in the study, I walked through a gap in the ruined Priory wall and found that for once, I didn’t have it to myself. The tall woman I had seen outside Lovat’s study was there, leaning against one of the red-stone tombs… I made to turn aside, but she saw me, and motioned me to join her. “You’ll be my lady Broch Tuarach?” she said, though there was no more than a hint of question in her soft Highland voice. “I am. And you’re … Maisri?”
At day’s start, Hugh met us in full Highland regalia. We didn’t learn the reason for this wonderful transformation until later that afternoon when we arrived at a large white farm house, one that probably looks more like the book version of Lallybroch than did the TV version (Photo W).
Photo W
As we sipped tea and munched scones at this “Lallybroch”, Hugh treated us to a demonstration of Highland weaponry including pistol, targe, dirk and broadsword. Some historians posit that only officers and gentlemen were equipped with all these weapons. Common Highlanders were more likely to bear pitchforks, Lochaber axes, scythes and pistols. After Culloden, Cumberland reported that there were 2,320 pistols recovered from the battlefield, but only 190 broadswords!
Hugh holds a horse-shoe nail pistol, so named because its inventor, the Flemish blacksmith Thomas Caddell (1646), found the surest metal for barrels was gleaned from horse-shoe nails (Photo X). He melted, hammered, bent, and twisted the metal to form the barrel. These small pistols were made in pairs for each hand. Holy-moly! Two-handed Scottish sharp shooters!
Photo X
Horseshoe-nail pistols fired 3/4” lead shot…. large enough to leave a major hole (Anatomy Lesson #35, “Outlander Owies! – Part One”)! The lead shot was about the size of this one (Photo Y). After firing the single-shot pistols, Highlanders dropped them and blades were drawn.
Today, surviving 17th and 18th century horseshoe-nail pistols are quite desirable. Christie’s has a Thomas Caddell pistol available – listed price £7,250 ($14,239)!
Photo Y
Hugh demonstrates a magnificent Scottish basket-hilted broadsword (Photo Z). There were different types but this one is double-edged and was wielded with one arm. A metal basket encloses the sword grip. In Scottish Gaelic, broadswords were called claidheamh mor or “claymores.” At close quarters, a broadsword was the ideal weapon for fighting soldiers armed with long, unwieldy muskets.
The basket was not only beautiful, it was functional. The basket protected the hand. Difficult to appreciate, but the basket bears a curved metal hook on one side. A competent swordsman used the hook to halt the descent of an opponent’s blade thus protecting his sword arm.
Photo Z
I could be mistaken, but such a hook might be visible on Jamie’s broadsword (red arrow) as he surprises Ross at the thatched-roofed kirk (Starz episode 211, Vengence is Mine)! Broadsword in Jamie’s left hand; dirk in his right.
A piece of red cloth cut from a Redcoat’s garment was stuffed into the basket hilt before battle. This bright flag served as fair warning to other Redcoats: This Highlander has taken down your brothers in battle before (Photo AA). Be afraid! Be verra afraid! (see the metal hook?)
Photo AA
This is an interesting video demonstrating how the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword was gripped. The demonstrator’s sword has protective bars instead of a hook:
Back to Hugh. The targe is a shield which was a major offensive and defensive weapon for Highlanders (Photo BB). During the 1745-46 Jacobite Uprising, a shieldwright of Perth made hundreds of targes for Charles Edward Stuart’s army, so these were probably plentiful.
Targes are made of two very thin layers of wood (e.g. oak) joined together with small wooden pegs The grain of one layer was set at right angles to the other forming an early plywood! The front was covered with tough cowhide, and embossed with metal medallions affixed with nails. Medallions were decorative but also functional, adding strength to the targe. While working at Culloden, Hugh experimented with the targe and found the medallions could deflect lead shot and musket balls – protective as well. Very functional embellishments!
Many targes had a central brass boss into which a long steel spike was screwed; the spike was used to stab or rip an opponent (Photo BB). The back of the targe was covered with deer hide and equipped with sturdy handle grips. Purportedly, some Highlanders also added Redcoat fabric to the back of the targe, a personal reminder of their fierceness.
Photo BB
In the targe hand, a Highlander also gripped the dirk such that part of its 12-16” blade protruded beyond the rim of the shield to deliver a backslash. Dirks, or dorks (yes, an unfortunate alternate name – haha!), were a long kind of dagger, broad in the back and sharp at the point. Jamie’s dirk is serrated on one side in the above image where he almost skewers puir Ross.
Many dirks bore a metal knob on the hilt end. With a forceable downward thrust, the knob was designed to crack an opponent’s skull.
Dougal and his dirk swore fealty to his Laird although it must have been a challenge; he had to drink some stiff stuff afterwards (Starz, episode 104 The Gathering). Check out the knob on the dirk’s hilted end.
BOOK QUOTE:Outlander book reminds us:
Dougal drew his dirk with a flourish and sank to one knee, holding the dirk upright by the blade. His voice was less powerful than Colum’s, but loud enough so that every word rang through the hall. “I swear…
Fully armed, the 18th century Highlander was a formidable warrior! Equipped with sword, dirk and targe, he blocked bayonets with the targe, stabbed and ripped with the spike, slashed with the dirk and and then deliver an upward torso thrust with broadsword.
A quote attributed to John Hume (brother of David?), describes such men:
“Thy [the Highlanders] always appeared like warriors; as if their arms [weapons] had been limbs and members of their bodies they were never seen without them; they traveled, they attended fairs and markets, nay they went to church with their broadswords and dirks.”
Go Jamie! Lethal Weapon, Highlander style! (Do you see the dirk in his targe hand?)
If none of this leaves you impressed, I will close with a quote written by Highland soldier, Donald McBane, who saw nearly half a century of military service in the late 1600s and early 1700s.
His first battle, however, was against other Highlanders:
“The McDonalds came down the hill upon us without either shoe, stocking or bonnet on their head. They gave a shout… then broke in upon us with their Sword and Target, and Lochaber Axes…. Seeing my Captain sore wounded, and a great many more with heads lying cloven… I was sadly affrighted…. I took my heels and run thirty miles before I looked behind me.”
