A medieval knight, a storm trooper and a superhero all walk into a convention centre. On Saturday morning, thousands of pop culture fans gathered at the Dublin Convention Centre in cosplays of their favourite characters to celebrate Dublin Comic Con. Some attendees did not dress in reference to specific fictional characters, but instead in more general costumes. Sarah Doyle and Charlotte Rose Keating were dressed as ghosts and were both novices to the event. Damien Pollock from Cork cosplayed as a 'Punk Buster' for the event. Photograph: Tom Honan Lisa Paver from Banbridge, Co Down, dressed as Poison Ivy at Comic Con. Photograph: Tom Honan “I only experienced Comic Con before in San Diego and I’ve always wanted to come here – it is an absolute blast. Look at all these characters every where,” said Keating. “It’s a bit like Disneyland – you go in and you want to see it all and do it all.”Tickets for the event start at €52, but add-ons such as costume items, guest signatures and selfies can bring the prices for the attendees well north of that. The appeal of attending the two-day event for many fans was not to see the celebrity guests, which this year included Elvira: Mistress of the Dark star Cassandra Peterson and long-time Guillermo del Toro collaborator Doug Jones, but to socialise and make friends.Charlie Bibby from Wexford dressed as Spiderman and Vin from Cardiff dressed as Nicole from Zenless Zone Zero at Dublin Comic Con. Photograph: Tom Honan Nathan Condren from Tallaght as Saul Goodman. Photograph: Tom Honan Nathan Condren, who was dressed as Saul Goodman, the dubious fictional lawyer from TV shows Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, said that he believes the attraction of Comic Con lies in “the sense of community”. He began attending in 2022 and has attended every year since.“Everybody knows each other, it’s great. You come here, you have the craic and when you leave you’re upset that it is not still on.”The seasoned Comic Con goer had advice for newbies. “Don’t be nervous. Don’t be afraid to socialise. Everybody here was in the position that you were in. Get out there and make yourself known and have as much fun as you possibly can.”Mother and daughter Sadbh and Molly O’Brien had travelled down from Louth to enjoy the event, dressed as comic book characters Poison Ivy and Superboy (specifically from the 1990s, and not to be confused with Jon Kent, but rather Conner Kent, explained Molly). Valerie Counsell (right) from England alongside Comic Con attendees in Dublin on Saturday. Photograph: Tom Honan It was both of their first times attending the event and Molly said that the decision for both of them coming to Comic Con was due to her mother seeing how happy cosplaying made her. “The week prior to Comic Con she saw me go to a cosplay picnic and she realised that a cosplay community is truly where I belong. They are so many people here like me, so many individual thinkers and it is like ‘wow’.”According to organisers, the gathering draws around 20,000 attendees over the course of the weekend.Dublin Comic Cons runs bi-annually with spring and summer shows offering an opportunity for fans of comic books, movies, TV shows, video games and pop culture to meet.Wayne Tickner (left) and Roger Dawson of the Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland and the group for Fragarach Medieval Combat Club at Comic Con. Photograph: Tom Honan For others, the event presents a chance to promote their sport, as was the case for competitors of Medieval Armoured Combat which is sometimes referred to as Buhurt or “Medieval MMA”. Rekkr Marksson, is the founder of the first medieval combat club in Northern Ireland, known as the Knights of North Down. Playing a series of demonstration matches outside the Dublin Convention Centre, Rekkr Marksson said that demonstrating outside the building is “the best way show people what we do”. The sport is growing in popularity in Ireland, as can be seen by the Dublin Fragarach Medieval Combat club sending Ireland’s first women’s team to the International Medieval Combat Federation world championship in July of this year. “Basically this is the historically accurate, modernised version of what you would see in a Knights Tale with Heath Ledger in it,” said Rekker. When asked about the armoured get up, players quickly explained that this was not cosplay or a costume as the armour must be inspected to make sure it is of a medieval knight’s standard. “We do have authenticity checks. We also have check on the weapons to make sure they are not too sharp, or too thick or too thin. We have regulations to make sure that fighters have the most safety they can.”