Thousands of creatures and characters in Downtown Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Creatures and characters crawled the streets of Downtown Tampa over the weekend as more than 15,000 anime enthusiasts flocked to MetroCon.

At a convention like this, costumes are key.

We saw several notable costumes at the Tampa Convention Center including Elphaba from Wicked. A girl wore green gloves with black nails attached, so she didn’t have to spend time painting her hands green.

Another person dressed as Blitzo from Helluva Boss. Their costume grabbed our attention with the details of red and white face paint and elongated horns.

A woman, teaching a panel on Lolita fashion, explained to us how she concocted her Mario Party-inspired “Boo-zette” costume.

“The crown was 3D printed and then glued onto a clear headband,” said Lisa Morgan.

“The details are everything because you don’t know who could come up to you and recognize you and want to get pictures with you,” said Jamez Wade, dressed as Blitzo.

People spend months, and some all year to prepare for Metrocon.

“I started this back in August,” said Emma Mahon, dressed as Elphaba.

Once inside- there’s a whole world of possibilities.

Metrocon attracts people from all over the globe.

“We offer a lot of live events that a lot of other conventions don’t have,” said Heidi Craddock, Metrocon Operations Manager. “So we have a fight show, we have a fire show, we have an interactive masquerade ball on Friday night.”

Millions of dollars are pumped into the local economy from this event which more than 15,000 people attended this year.

“We are a PG-13 con so everybody is safe to come,” said Craddock.

Instructive panels, games, and character contests were all included in the fun.

If you missed this year’s Metrocon, don’t worry. Craddock said they have already started planning for next year.

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