FANS, phasers and FUNKO.

Comic Con returned to Bolton today with more than a thousand geeks and gamers showing up for the event.

Stalls filled with FUNKO pop vinyl figures, comics, artists, decorations and cosplay accessories filled the floor in the Macron stadium's Whites hotel.

North West Comic Cons organiser Paul Prescott, aged 40, was pleased with how the event had gone.

He said: "It's been a successful day and we've had a good turn out and a lot of families, which is great. We've had a lot of families and cosplayers."

He said about 1,200 people came to the event, down slightly from last year. Mr Prescott said he already had plans to bring the event back in September.

At 2pm cosplayers had the chance to show off their hard work in a cosplay competition which was won by a man dressed as Cohen the Barbarian from Terry Pratchett's Colour of Magic.

Blodwen Harwood, aged 25, from Bolton attended the event as Lust from Full Metal Alchemist, she said: "I come every year.

"I go to Manchester MCM and here, I think this year it's just as good as MCM. In Bolton you have loads of merchandise stalls and the area is used well and there's more variety of stalls. MCM was full of anime T-shirts, it was all the same things but each stall here is different and the stall holders are really friendly."

Upstairs away from the bustle of the convention floor Andy Spencer's Retro Computer Museum had set up around 20 games consoles dating from 1978's Atari 2600 to 2001's Xbox.

They were filled with gamers as young as three taking the chance to try out a retro games console.

Mr Spencer said: "It all started in my garage and in 2012 we became a charity.

"We come from Leicester to support Paul at all his North West Comic Cons. We just bring a selection for people to play on and it's always busy.

"There's a lot of nostalgia for some people but we had a little girl and she picked up a joystick and played. That's not nostalgia, that's just good games."

Mum-of-three, Rachel Turner had come to the event with her husband and sons.

She said: "They're really into superheroes and this is perfect for them and they are into computer games too, so's my husband.

"I used to be a gamer but I don't have the time anymore."

Comic-creator Steve Tanner of Time Bomb Comics enjoyed his day in Bolton after travelling from Birmingham for the convention. He said he had been attending conventions for the last 30 years and had seen them grow from a 'boys club' to inclusive family events.

He said: "These events used to be all comics and all male. It was rare to see a woman.

"These days it's so much more open and there's so many more female creators coming in and producing their comics. It shouldn't be for one type of person it should be for everyone.

"Pop culture has brought in a lot more people who share an interest in the fantastic and there's a cross pollination. Someone can come because they like Star Wars but at the show they see other things from different kinds of geek culture."