Dainiy, 18, was among thousands of people who filled a recreation centre in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for the international pop culture event which is helping to break stereotypes about the Islamic kingdom.
The three-day festival of anime, pop art, video gaming and film-related events is part of a government initiative to bring more entertainment to Saudi Arabia which bans alcohol, public cinemas and theatre.
Unrelated men and women are normally segregated in Saudi Arabia, where restaurants have separate sections for "single" men and families.
Comic Con had different male and female entrances but inside the darkened hall, where conversation was drowned out by rock music, there was barely room to move, and men and women were side-by-side.
The line to enter stretched for more than 100 metres (yards) when the event opened in mid-afternoon.
Some young men were dressed in the costumes of their favourite Japanese anime characters but most wore Western clothes.
A thobe, the traditional long white Saudi robe, was a rare sight.
"You're free here," said Dainiy. "You are yourself."
He said he wore the horse head because it is a character on the channel he operates on YouTube, one of the many popular Internet platforms where Saudis live much of their lives to escape from the strictures of a rigid society.
Reyad Ateyah, 22, arrived with the orange hair of anime character Ichigo Kurosaki and said he welcomed the recognition of this sub-culture.
"It's given us a chance, people like us who like cosplays and anime and comics, and movies," he said through a white mask with oversized teeth and red stripes.
In contrast, most women at the event wore traditional black robes and head covers.
But Mwadah Abdul Aziz, 23, and her colleagues manning a booth, added something new: a cute woollen cap in the shape of a bear.
The team were selling Japanese-style drawings on notebooks and other items that also incorporate Arabic writing.
Some young men were dressed in the costumes of their favourite Japanese anime characters but most wore Western clothes.
A thobe, the traditional long white Saudi robe, was a rare sight.
"You're free here," said Dainiy. "You are yourself."
He said he wore the horse head because it is a character on the channel he operates on YouTube, one of the many popular Internet platforms where Saudis live much of their lives to escape from the strictures of a rigid society.
Reyad Ateyah, 22, arrived with the orange hair of anime character Ichigo Kurosaki and said he welcomed the recognition of this sub-culture.
"It's given us a chance, people like us who like cosplays and anime and comics, and movies," he said through a white mask with oversized teeth and red stripes.
In contrast, most women at the event wore traditional black robes and head covers.
But Mwadah Abdul Aziz, 23, and her colleagues manning a booth, added something new: a cute woollen cap in the shape of a bear.
The team were selling Japanese-style drawings on notebooks and other items that also incorporate Arabic writing.
@Saudicomiccon We are ready
