Sci-fi and superheroes galore at latest Telford comic con - in pictures

The convention took over the Telford International Centre this weekend. It meant the convention square was full to the brim with pop culture merchandise and thousands of costumed punters, who had been drawn by a star-studded guest list which included two incarnations of Doctor Who.

David Tennant and Matt Smith both appeared on Saturday to sign autographs and pose for photos, while the Doctor's erstwhile assistants Catherine Tate and Alex Kingston stayed throughout the weekend.

Actors from the pantheon of Marvel's cinematic universe were also popular, though dozens of names from franchises including Star Wars, Supernatural, Harry Potter and Jumanji all had their fans.

The voices of Super Mario and Ash Ketchum, Charles Martinet and Veronica Taylor respectively, also appeared.

Fans could join in regular Super Smash Bros. games on a big screen on Sunday and cosplayers revelled in celebrating each others' creations.

One costumed man was asked to stop for photos every few minutes on Sunday and drew knowing grins from many more people. Dan Gillespie dressed as Sgt Nicholas Angel, Simon Pegg's character in the British comedy Hot Fuzz, complete with swan.

The Telford Takeover was his 13th convention of the year and he travelled all the way from Aberdeen for it.

"Seven hours and about three trains each way," he said with a wry smile when asked how long the journey was.

He is a seasoned convention attendee and the Nicholas Angel costume was his second of the weekend, having come in Scottish Star Wars garb the day before.

In all he has about 60 costumes and said attending cons is an expensive hobby.

But he said that having missed the chance to see R2D2's actor Kenny Baker before he died in 2016, he didn't want to regret not taking other opportunities to see his favourite guests.

He had a handful of celebrities in mind he was hoping to see so that he wouldn't be disappointed if one dropped out.

"Zachary Levi, Michael Rooker, Josh McDermitt, David Bradley, John Ross Bowie, they're the main ones that I came for," he added.

"Weirdly none of mine have cancelled this time. Normally you lose one or two especially close to the event.

"I love comic cons anyway. All the extra stuff, cosplayers and that sort of thing, is a bonus.

"I think purely because they've got about 76 guests it's quite packed in here which I don't like all that much.

"[But] having the shops and restaurants just a couple of minutes away is great."

Katy Piontek and Hannah Paley formed an impromptu double act dressed as Disney's Frozen sisters Anne and Elsa respectively.

Katy came from Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire while Hannah travelled from Cardiff.

She said: "I think because you have more space it's better for getting autographs and things but they're really missing their cosplay zone this time.

"There doesn't seem to be one or you can't find it, it's a bit sad."

Hannah said: "There's definitely more room to look at stuff, a reasonable number of stalls.

"It's a pretty decent moderate-sized con."

Callum Garbutt came from Mexborough in South Yorkshire cosplaying Silent Bob of Kevin Smith's films, complete with a fake cigarette.

He said: "Saturday was a bit hectic, a bit more hectic than I would have liked. I think the staff were a bit overwhelmed with the turnout they got.

"Today's a lot better, it's a lot more chill today."

Mark White came from Anglesey and was dressed for the occasion in a festive jumper sporting the Ghostbusters logo.

"I've been to quite a few back in Wrexham," he said.

"It's very well organised, there's more room to move about than there was in Wrexham so it's a bit better than that.

"For me mainly there's a few guests, the Superman guests.

"We went to Wrexham in April and they had that tropical storm which was a nightmare and we all got soaked. It's nice to see it in an inside venue and it's not too far from Wrexham really."