Tampa Bay Comic-Con 2016, The Best Cosplay!

Who's ready for some cosplay pics??

Kida from Atlantis! She even has her giant mask!

 Femme Daedric Armor from Skyrim!

Yep, iiiitt's... SHOWTIME.

John and I made the short trek over to Tampa Bay Comic-Con last weekend, and once again I was impressed. Though staffers were relatively scarce - and almost no one was checking entry badges - there were plenty of Police around keeping an eye out and checking bags, so crowd control was organized and very smooth. Considering this is a con that averages around 50,000 attendees, that's no mean feat. 

Credit goes to nicely laid out queues, an easy-to-navigate convention space (all the panel rooms were on a single, spacious floor), and surprisingly lovely con-goers.

Seriously, this crowd was one of the nicest I've been around in ages, with so many more families and young kids than I'm used to. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing little kids in costume - and even dressing up to match their parents! - 'til I was surrounded by them.

Let's start with the kid costume that had me literally jumping up and down:

 

ELEVEN!

 (She's from Stranger Things, guys. Watch it.)

All of the Eleven cosplay I've seen 'til now have been her pink dress & wig, so I am THRILLED someone made her water tank suit! (Not to mention this is perfect for the Florida heat.)

 PRO TIP: Always ask the parent before snapping pics of younger cosplayers. And if the kids are a bit older, follow up by asking them, too. Please please DO ask, though; odds are you'll make their day, and let's face it: taking pics from a distance is creepy. (Actually that's true of all cosplayers, but doubly so for kids.)

LOOOVE this Gertie with E.T. Check out the Speak & Spell and bag of Reese's in the wagon.

And while we're talking 80s movies:

Teen Wolf! Ha!

I think part of the family-friendly vibe was a location thing, since places like Miami and the Orlando Convention Center can be overwhelming and hard to get to with little ones. You still have to walk 2-3 blocks for Tampa, but there IS ample parking that's cheap and easy to get to. So that helps.

Steampunk Leia!

I like how this Kylo's glasses match her 'saber:

And I have a whole photo essay on the adorable antics of this little Rey:

... but I have SO many more pics there's probably not enough room for that. Hrumph.

....

....

Screw it, I'm posting 'em anyway. You don't have anything better to do right now, right? :D

 

 So little Rey was very, VERY distracted.

So Rey's 5-year-old sister (I know, because she told me) tried to help by holding Rey still:

This... didn't work.

"WATCH ME ATTACK THE GROUND!"

Note older sis' face while Rey demonstrates how to hold a lightsaber... with her knees:

She's all, "KIDS. Amirite??"

Then older sis realized I was actually taking the picture, and popped on a smile:

I blame the blur on both their moving and my laughing so hard.

OK. Moving on...

Thanks to Suicide Squad there were PLENTY of Harleys - but I like that there was still some variety:

Great Batman/Joker armor, too.

Of course I had to chase down this Monty Python goodness:

"SOME CALL ME... Tim?" (His daughter is the killer bunny!)

Here's Ripley in her Power Loader:

Plus a chest-burster guy. (Hard to see from this angle, I know.)

The Disney/Star Wars mashups were strong this year:

Check out Cinder-Fett's pumpkin thermal detonator. Love details like that!

Belle the Jabba-Slayer and Beast Solo.

And Haunted Mansion Star Wars:

SQUEE!

This lovely lady is Autumn, and she always does some of the best local cosplay. Check out the details!

The top of her umbrella (which has a lightsaber handle, natch) says "R2-QT." And she put buns on Madame Leota. I mean, COME ON. So good.

I'll end there for now, peeps, since my plan to keep these posts around 20 pics just self-destructed. Ha. Stay tuned for SO MUCH MORE, though, because I still have an epic 3 year-old Wonder Woman, daddy/daughter princesses (AW YEAH), lady Killer Croc, thoughts on both DareDevil's Charlie Cox and the crazypants Borderlands-themed aerial stunt show (YES REALLY) and ermigosh how am I going to get these all done before Dragon Con.

Uh, stay tuned to find out?

*****

 

UPDATE: Part 2 is up!