Metrocon 2026 The Journey of Excitement

John M. Delia Jr
2 days ago
7 min read

Now entering my sixth con, this year’s was another phenomenal escapade at Tampa’s long-time running Metrocon Convention, that as usual went above and beyond the con goers’ expectations. Here you can undertake the many panels, live performances, cosplay opportunities, and actual events you can truly experience while travelling through the many levels this center has to offer. Success is a challenge to continue to achieve year after year, but this outcome has been stellar for more than twenty-four years. Encountering all the realms through music and dance, all the workshops, gaming, shows, and contests gives everyone something to do throughout the three-day gathering.

During the weekend I was able to undergo many different fun and exciting areas of content, including some of the Metrocon based happenings. These ventures consisted of the Metrocon Live, Kaiju Big Battle, the Special Guests, the opening and closing ceremonies, and Bayside Live, MetroMassive Magical Girls Ball and Edgeravers, Metrofest, the Fire Show, Dream / Fight Live Anime Action Spectacular, Metro Rock Live, the Masquerade Treasure Hunt, Live Concerts, Tampa Metropolitan Improv and the Cosplay competitions. The ones I had the privilege to attend included a remarkable accomplishment from the dancers for this year's Fire Show: Stars of Crimson, Flames of Gold. As they compete in a ritual and battle that flaunts the meaning from the World of Eden where they reveal the famine and sickness that occurred during the tribute to the gods to try and lift the curses sent upon them. This mind-blowing artistic demonstration from the cast as they fight, and parade fire through the air to simulate the circumstances these people went through. For the third year the Kaiju Big Battle was heavily attended and was a full success. This type of pro wrestling has exploded out to become a nationwide circuit throughout the United States, traveling around to entertain its followers. With events scheduled all over including the Cuban Club in Tampa's Ybor City on September 5, 2026. In the Exhibit Hall I was able to catch Bayside Live as they presented all kinds of unique performers displaying their talents reenacting their favorite personalities with singing and dancing ranging from groups to single presentations including some marvelous acts. Finally, Metrofest which is produced by Next Stage entertainers who perform dances and other routines based on the many Anime themes they express. The efforts by the cast were magnificent and worth seeing. This is an occurrence that you would want to see next year if you were not able to catch it this year.

Another area that was admired was the Gaming section of the con, such as Metrocade, the LARP Dungeon, Tabletop games, the Cafe, and Cosplay Central. This year's Metrocade area hosted by Save Point, was a very popular option that included many console game systems, arcade games, and daily contest events. Roaming through this crowd was fun seeing all the competitors enjoying their time on one of the consoles, competing with or against other con goers. Now moving into the domain of tabletop games, a new company, Old Tavern games, hosted this year's role-playing contest area and they did a good job. The area started off slow on Friday but by Saturday all the tables were full, and the many showdowns were in full swing. I did have the opportunity to take one of the role-playing strategies and had a delightful experience through a more modern version of a dungeon and dragons style game. Later I spent a lot of time in the Mythic Adventures LARP Dungeon which was outstanding again and of course went above and beyond giving the Metrocon patrons a terrific crusade through their prison of evil. Here is where you get to combat against Orcs, Ghosts, Ghasts, Goblins, Witches, and Ghouls as you act as one of the many variations of specialties, such as, a fighter, rogue, mage, and healer. My pursuit through this dungeon was fantastic every time I went through this wonderland. It is so amazing how they turn a large convention center room into a place of peril. Things were much different this time around, because I also volunteered to help be one of the monsters for a group of chosen heroes and later helped on a member run. It went even further when I helped take down the props they used and saw how much work it takes to put on an excursion like this. It is definitely worth taking on this expedition into the world of Live Action Role Play. Moving on, the Mirai Maid Cafe is an experience that includes food, drink, performances, and interactive involvement for an extra cost that allows the visitors to get an original understanding. Lastly, there is Cosplay Central which is a location where you can take a picture of yourself in your cosplay outfit with one of the seven different background settings. You can also fix your makeup and repair your costume. Here is where you can meet some of the high-end cosplay costume makers and designers and ask them questions on improving your ideas for your creation. They also had on display twenty example costumes of many famous characters in the Anime realm that were done perfectly well. It was a fun journey through this area to see everyone enjoy their time either doing photographs or learning new techniques from the professionals.

The quest continues when you enter the dominion of the panels where you get to come across many different types of options, for instance, meetups, gameshow style, sing-a-longs, dance-offs, tribute, and educational style of learning and enjoying your favorite anime. Some of the popular panels consisted of information, interactive, and game type format. The most remarkable was what the Entertainment Stew organization had to offer. This group had sixteen panels over the weekend that went deep into philosophical strategies in the world of Anime. Instructed by two teachers of the year in Florida (Sam and Derrick) and a team of well-educated fanatics (Josmar) their sessions are built toward a certification in the world of Japanimation. As they covered a variety of many different topics that included audience participation ranging from ideas about Godzilla to the world of One Piece. They flawlessly tied these ideals in with science, anthropology, fashion, philosophy, history, and food. On the other spectrum, A Writer's Guide for Constructing a Scene was a brilliant educational view on writing and how you can get started to begin your own career as a writer. The presenter does a tremendous job explaining steps on writing structures to help you develop a scene. By including details on how the scene creates each level until it is shaped beautifully, he uses the example from the court scene in A Few Good Men with Colonel Jesup, which beautifully demonstrates what is needed to be written. From there we enter the Blizzard 35th Anniversary Community Celebration by Dark Lady Cosplay. Keira is a professional cosplayer who has represented blizzard on many occasions. She discussed the history of their video games such as. Diablo, Warcraft, HearthStone, Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm, The Lost Vikings, and Overwatch. Here is where she continued with a wonderful exchange talking about the many different digital games and also went on to introduce some of the new releases that will come out next year. As I went deeper into the con, I came across the Ghost Stories with Ghost Kings, and it was a fascinating evaluation on Japanese methodology and how it relates to Anime. Using the many stories that have been around for centuries and going through the many supernatural beings, ghosts, spirits, and strange entities. The two panel hosts represented Japanese gods as they explained the origins of the dark tales using Daoist Cosmology. Finally, I was able to attend the Godzilla 101: Crash Course on the King of the Monsters which was an interesting review of the Godzilla movies throughout the years. From suits to makeup dealing with the advances of the films to the current releases we see today. Covering details on decisions made and villains introduced that kept this iconic franchise alive. His mediocre examination also includes how the United States was introduced with the release of the 1956 film that was based on the Japanese version of 1954. There were a few other panels I was able to catch, and they both were good to see, Intro to Airbrushing for Cosplay by Dan of Spraygunner and Published Authors- Real Advice for Writing/Editing/Querying.

This year if the special guest and voice actors were not on the main events stage they were located specifically in the Exhibit Hall, which I found exceptional. This is where they were either signing autographs or having discussions on the hall stage. When they were up in front of us, they talked many different topics, a few I was able to see were the Bleach Voice Actor Panel with AJ Beckles, Keith Silverstein, and David Vincent, where they had a review on their backgrounds as voice actor, and deeply spoke about changing of the voice tone and expression between the many different characters they have portrayed. Next was a panel on What Twenty Years of Content Creation Will Do to You by Caleb Hyles. He goes through his experiences over his many years in the industry and discusses his life's voyage through the creations of covers of original music, sketch comedy, and home movies. Lastly, the Anime Heroes and Villains Voice Actor Panel hosted by Jonah Scott, Caitlin Glass, Anaris Quinones, and Joshua Waters was a wonderful way to hear how your favorite voice actors feel about the villains and heroes they portray. Here is where they take some time to answer many questions about their favorite hero/villain, personality traits, relationship to the character, where they feel that their personal alignment will fall in anime, and much more.

There was also many cosplay opportunities at this shindig, like I mentioned earlier, Metro Cosplay Central, plus the competitions (Cosplay Performance Showcase, Junior Cosplay Showcase, Craftsman Championship, and the Hallway Contests), and last the usual chance to dress up as your favorite character and unveil yourself throughout the location. You also get a chance to see the items and artwork for sale by the many vendors in the exhibit hall. This occurrence is one of the largest attended every year in Tampa and brings many dressed up individuals trying to show off their talents with the interesting costumes that help bring out the best parts of the con. Every year the developers always include an excellent set of show pieces that bring in the crowds, along with firsthand experiences, and talented educators to help teach us about the world of Anime.