MetroCon 2011, Tampa

There's another whole world out there, I've discovered over the years, thanks to my Anime/Manga Fan daughter. This past weekend we headed over to Tampa for Florida's largest Anime convention, MetroCon. If you don't understand it, it could certainly appear to be one giant freak show. But as I've learned, this is a serious fan-based group of kids (and adults) who connect through their love of Anime comic characters.

Now that I think of it, it's really not much different than a bunch of consultants at a Close To My Heart convention wearing silly feathers in their hair, colorful matching outfits, screaming at the top of their lungs over a new paper line or going crazy over a hilarious skit performed by the CTMH staff.

We all have our thing.

While I won't pretend to know all there is to know about the characters you'll see in the photos, I'll share what I do know. Here's just a sampling of some of my favorites.



That's my kid on the right dressed as Len Kagamine, a Vocaloid character. Her friend is dressed as Gir from the Invader Zim cartoon series.


  

Here's the Len character. Yes, he's a boy. Apparently, girls think it's super cool to dress as the boy characters they like best in the Anime world.



The more colorful, the more I was drawn to the characters. I have no idea what these girls are, but they were pretty!



Hello Kitty getting ready for the day.




My favorites seemed to be the girls dressed in this lolita style. Frilly dresses, beautiful hair, and super cute heels. They were selling these outfits at the vendor fair and I loved looking through all of them.




They are always happy to strike a pose when asked for their photo.




Then there's a little darker side. Colored contacts are a big thing here. This girl had "blind" eyes and the effect was eerie indeed.



Not sure who she's supposed to be, but she's was glowing green! (her dad and mom dressed up too.)



Again, I don't know, but he was cool. I noticed that many of these kids made their own outfits by hand. Some where absolutely amazing!



Boy, she was freaky with all those arms. Thanks goodness she crossed her actual arms in front of her, because she was a little risque.



Vocaloids unite!



Day 2 included a whole new costume change. Well, at least a wig change. Here the girls are representing Northern Italy and England from the Hetalia series. (Again, girls dressed as boys = big hit.)

The series presents an allegorical interpretation of political and historic events, particularly of the World War II era, in which the various countries are represented by anthropomorphic characters. 

I like that my daughter enjoys the Hetalia comic series because it not only entertains her, but educates her at the same time. I am definitely going to have to read these myself.



As we walked around the vendor fair, this booth really caught my attention. 



Check out this cool dude running the SteamPunk booth.



A few more SteamPunkers. I think if I were to dress up for one of these conventions this would be MY style of choice.


We had a great weekend. Thanks for indulging me. Enjoy your Monday!


Comments

  1. Cool pics. We have Comic Con here in Ca. My husband went a few times years ago...but never dressed up. They get an amazing crowd...and hotels sell out that weekend.

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  2. One day I'm going to have to go to one of these events. I just love costuming, and the Steampunk booth looked really neat! I bet you both had a wonderful time.

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  3. I should have known that you would love steampunk! I love everything to do with the cultural genre of steampunk, and I should have guessed by your love of grunge and Tim Holtz that you too would love it! I've read a few steampunk novels that are good, and my husband and I are (slowly) turning our house into a steampunk home!!

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