For anyone who has never made the trip downtown for it, MetroCon is a three day sprint through everything geek culture has to offer. Anime, video games, tabletop, comics, cosplay, live music, all crammed into the halls along the Tampa waterfront with thousands of fans in costume wandering between them. Walk the escalators on any given afternoon and you will pass entire squads dressed as Mandalorians, One Piece crews a dozen strong, Jujutsu Kaisen sorcerers, and Transformers builds so detailed they practically need their own parking spot. The energy in that main hall never really lets up from Friday morning to Sunday night.
Voice Actors Fans Actually Grew Up With
The industry guest list this year reads like a highlight reel of shows most attendees have been watching for a decade. Caitlin Glass is coming back, and if you know her voice from Winry Rockbell in Fullmetal Alchemist or Princess Vivi in One Piece, you already know the autograph line is going to wrap around the block. David Vincent brings a resume that spans Grimmjow in Bleach, Kento Nanami in Jujutsu Kaisen, and Gilgamesh across the Fate franchise, which is the kind of range that makes for a genuinely fun panel.
Griffin Burns is on the list too, known to Genshin Impact players as Tartaglia and to Demon Slayer fans as Muichiro, and his social media following has turned him into one of the more in demand signings on the circuit lately. Erica Mendez rounds things out nicely for the Hunter x Hunter and Kill la Kill crowd, having voiced both Gon and Ryuko, plus Megumin for anyone who spent last year quoting Konosuba at their friends.
Keith Silverstein is a personal highlight for the Genshin Impact and Overwatch fans, since he voices both Zhongli and Torbjorn, and he also happens to be Hisoka in Hunter x Hunter, which is a wild range to hold in one guest of honor. Newer faces on the roster include Damien Haas, known for Laios in Delicious in Dungeon and his work with Smosh, along with Anjali Kunapaneni, whose credits stretch from Jujutsu Kaisen to Monster Hunter Wilds. The full guest roster keeps growing on the MetroCon website right up until the event, so it is worth a check back before the weekend.
The Cosplay Scene Is Always the Real Show
If last year’s photo galleries are any indication, the cosplay contest floor is where MetroCon separates itself from smaller regional shows. The 2025 Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition produced some genuinely jaw dropping work, full armor Monster Hunter builds with LED accents, towering horned headpieces, and group entries that clearly took months of planning. Best in Show and Best Group awards went to entrants who treated the whole thing like a professional runway, and there is no reason to expect this year’s competition to be any less intense.
This year’s cosplay guest list leans into that same energy. Sara Spookystitch is coming in with over two decades of corsetry and tailoring expertise, DarkLadyCosplay brings a deep specialty in World of Warcraft builds, and Story Teller Cosplay is known around the convention circuit for her resin horn work.
Beyond the Costumes
The exhibit hall and artist alley are worth budgeting real time for. Vendor tables tend to overflow with imported figures, plushies, manga volumes, and trading cards, the kind of selection where you genuinely cannot see it all in one pass. The free play arcade returns as well, packed with Dance Dance Revolution cabinets, rhythm games, and pinball machines that keep lines moving all weekend, and the Carolina Manga Library sets up a quiet reading corner stocked with thousands of volumes for anyone who needs a break from the crowds.
Entertainment programming looks stacked too. Tampa Metropolitan Improv is bringing a full length improv show built entirely from audience suggestions, and Next Stage is back with its idol festival performances that always draw a packed room. Panels run constantly across the weekend covering everything from voice acting breakdowns to gaming tournaments, so there is rarely a dead hour on the schedule.
What to Know Before You Go
Tickets and hotel info are both live now on metroconventions.com, and with the con dates landing at the very end of July into the first weekend of August, hotel blocks near the convention center tend to fill up early. The full programming schedule, exhibitor list, and updated guest announcements are all posted on the site and get refreshed regularly as the event approaches, so it is worth checking back more than once before the weekend hits.
Whether this is a first MetroCon or a tenth, the formula that keeps people coming back is simple. Great guests, a genuinely impressive cosplay community, packed vendor rows, and three straight days of people who love the same shows and games finding each other in one building.
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