Imagine you get the chance to see your favorite Video Game or Anime Character in person. Now envision yourself being that same favorite character and feeling like you are now in their world taking an adventure of a lifetime. Then while you travel through this amazing realm you get to meet others who are experiencing the same. To top it all off your favorite voice actors are also here to celebrate fantastic events that allow us all to be a part of our dreams. Metro Con is back for its twentieth year anniversary in Tampa, Florida to allow us all to rejoice and live out our fantasies.
Once you are there you can fight through a dungeon maze against ghouls, orcs, goblins, and witches where in some cases you barely make it out safely. Then you can plunge into the world of tabletop gaming by taking an imaginary adventure playing dungeon and dragons with a new group of friends and with a creative and fun dungeon master that will bring you into this world. With all this great fun you have been having now you get the chance to see marvelous duels in action and even participate in one yourself. To top it all off there are Vikings afoot who love to take on a challenge and barter their loot in a game of chance that may grab your interest enough that you will travel the world with them. There are plenty of interesting panels, chances to learn and play throughout the weekend, along with getting an opportunity to request that one question you always wanted to ask to your favorite voice actor.
Being an experienced Metro Con goer, I have been through these journeys before. But as I begin to re-join these explorations I find myself wanting to be a kid again and frolic through the fields of fun as I undertake these many exploits. The Dungeon Maze was my first quest and the Mythic Adventure team (LARP – Live Action Role Players) was as professional and realistic as possible for taking place in a convention center. They transported me and many others to a world of danger and medieval times. As a fighting warrior I joined a team of other fighters, clerics, magic users, and rogues that were summoned to help the local tavern get rid of the rat infestation that has taken over the town. Little did we know that these rats were Orcs and goblins sent to capture local townsfolk for evil intentions. Furthermore, during our escapades we had to fight off many villains and try to find our way back to civilization.
My day did not end there and led me to where Critical Hit Games dwelled. There I signed up to play some Dungeon and Dragons, one of their Tabletop Games. These imaginary adventures are so detailed and full of decision making and strategy you have to think quickly. You are placed with a team of other players going on an adventure to save the inhabitants of the town you are visiting. I was charged as a fighter, and joined by five other characters, a barbarian, rogue, druid, wizard, and warlock. The people of the town were having issues with mysterious events happening at the local Mansion of a former wealthy lord. During our investigation the team encountered many creatures and mysterious obstacles that challenged us all to survive.
The Visit to the Merchant Hall is where the many vendors reside and allow the con goer to find things they might enjoy. There are various original artists, like Michael C Hayes, and Custium_designs, that bring their work for all to see and maybe take some of it home to adorn their walls. But among all of this buying and selling of wares is also the many organizations that allow individuals to experience the thrill of being a medieval or viking warrior. Like the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) Clubs, Crossroads Sword”, a martial arts organization that practices Renaissance European Sword fighting techniques. Along with the Sword fighting demonstrations you also have the opportunity to dress up in their safe equipment and fight against an experienced opponent with a foam covered Sword. Also I discovered the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and challenged a Viking for his loot in an ancient game of chance. This group practices the history fighting style similar to the HEMA groups based on specific periods. Other groups included were the many merchants that specialized in selling the equipment used to perform the battles the above groups perform, such as, Fredrick’s Forge, Kraken Swords, and Outer Rim Guild.
There were also many panels, entertainment, metro con created events, Video Game Challenges, and special guests throughout the weekend that kept me entertained. Many of these events were outstanding and worth the time and effort to attend. Experiencing these many panels throughout the weekend found me learning many things from discussions about your favorite Anime series, meeting and playing games with your favorite characters, learning about photography, how tabletop games can inspire learning, creating your own world, how to get a job in gaming, how to create your own V-tubing (Virtual You Tubing) experience, and much more.
The character Anime panels include fun games, such as, role playing, question and answer, and Stop action topic changing acting. Some of the Panels, such as Demon Slayer Shenanigans and Haikyuu Hysteria were good examples of how fun these events can be. They are highly attended with lots of participation from the audience. On another occasion, I went into a panel that was fairly full and was informed that it was canceled because the presenter did not show. When someone from the audience volunteered to teach the class things got interesting. An experienced professional and published photographer, Rob Wayne (https://www.robwayne.me/), started with some basic photography information that included shutter speed, lighting, positioning, presentation to subject, and more. He actually had some amateur photographers along with volunteer subjects that came up from the audience and demonstrated how to take a professional picture. It was very professional and also placed a strong impression on me for a person that can take a situation and turn it into something fun for everyone.
Continuing through the many panels I discovered Derek and Asia (Entertainment Soup) very intelligent teachers who demonstrated how they were able to teach elementary students using tabletop role playing games such as dungeon and dragons to encourage learning and intellectual thought. They also demonstrated how to create a fantasy world podcast using detailed breakdown elements to help build and structure the basic parts needed. Finally, there was James Zinn (BluescarfGames.com, and Shockbyte) who explained and described how to get a job in gaming, including what to contain in your resume, what to know about the company you applied for, and presenting the many opportunities that are on site and remotely available. He also did a panel on how to build, and develop yourself into a V-tubing expert. In this panel he presented the actual characters he designed using voice actors for his virtual experience and talked about what computer components are necessary to perform proficiently.
Also available were many music entertainment opportunities that included a Disney Villains Sing-a-long, the Music of Anime versus Video Games, Video game name that tune, Metro Rock Live, the Masquerade Underground, Random flash dancing, and more. Along the quest were many performances that include popular Anime or Video Game characters like the Human Chess Match and the exploits of many actors performing a comical abridged version of the complete works from Studio Ghibli (Such titles as Nausicaa, Ponyo, Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, etc.). Advancing forward I experienced a few Korean Pop Events that included talented artists from all over (Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, etc) dancing to Anime music KPOP style. Finally I was able to see the return of the Metro con Fire Show, where many talented fire trained artists gave a spectacular themed light show to beautiful Anime melodies music.
Lastly, there were many special guests that attended with the opportunity for any Metro con-goer to attend their panels and feel like you are interviewing these special voice actors like a professional reporter for an entertainment magazine. These events included the Special Guest Unplugged, Farewell to the Voice Actors, and individual Questions and Answer Panels that were offered, for such voice actors as Robbie Daymond, Ricco Fajardo, Alex Organ, Stephanie Sheh, Megan Shipman, Ian Sinclair, Michael Sinterniklaas, and Natalie Van Sistine. The Interview experience was presented in an open question and answer forum, with some guidelines suggested by the voice actors to the audience. Some of the topics asked ranged from what type of dog would you be, to the details involved in pitch and formants (frequency of speech signal and vocal tract). Throughout the many sessions the actors kept upbeat and truly presented themselves professionally and positive to the crowd. Some other interesting topics included what was their experience on set, their visit to Tampa, bucket list items, experiences as director or producer, ultimate roles, favorite topping on a pizza, friendships with other voice actors, famous people they have trained, and favorite music artist and anime film.
In summary the entire weekend was full of great events, fantastic people, excellent and beautiful costumes and an incredible fun experience over-all. I recommend encountering an event like this one sometime in the near future because it definitely entertained everyone who attended.
Final Comment: Since I do have previous understandings at Metro Con I based my grade on how the events were presented and performed, the creativity involved in each occurrence, the amount of new encounters, and my overall experience.
Stars 5 out of 5
Additional Film Information
Event Location: Tampa Convention Center
Event Dates: July 14th through the 16th (2023)
Event Time: 9am till Midnight
Age Group: Ages 8 and up
Ticket Prices: All Three Days ranges from $60 to $80
Website: https://metroconventions.com/
Photos: All Photos by John M. Delia Jr.