Florida’s largest anime, video game convention returns to Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - MetroCon was back for three days of fun at the Tampa Convention Center, where a record amount of people showed up for live performances, shopping, and other activities.

MetroCon is Florida’s largest anime and video game convention.

"It’s just a place where you can come and cosplay, and have fun with your friends, see shows, have events, get one-of-a-kind items from the merchant hall, it’s great," said Heidi Reeves Craddock, MetroCon’s executive director.

A lot of work goes into bringing people’s favorite anime, comic book, or TV show characters alive.

"A lot of our training starts around April, but sometimes we can start as early as November the year earlier, so we’ll start a process of picking characters, selecting seeing what’s popular and what fans would really like to see portrayed in a live performance," explained Tim Hynish, a performer and fight consultant for MetroCon. "A lot of the fans will get to see their favorite pop-culture, anime, and video game characters portrayed by our performers in costume up on a chess board that we will provide, and they will start a process of this chess game between these opposing sides and instead of a piece just getting removed when one of the kings calls it, a fight will be performed instead."

MetroCon was held at the convention center July 15-17.

LINK: For more information about MetroCon, visit https://metroconventions.com/.