Tampa Man Celebrated for Cosplaying as Himself at Metrocon

Adam Glooch of Tampa swept all the major cosplay competitions at this past weekend’s Metrocon at the Tampa Convention Center, including the Metro Cosplay Championship, simply by portraying himself.

“Hey, look at me! I’m a champion,” he said, holding his trophies. “Not bad for a guy just hanging around downtown and checking out girls dressed like Japanese cartoon animals, eh?”

Glooch said it didn’t occur to him to even enter any of the contests until a woman dressed as Futaba Sakura approached him and complimented his look.

“At first, I wasn’t sure how to react. Usually, if a woman engages me in conversation it’s at the laundromat and she’s telling me to get out of her dryer. But she said, ‘hey, great look; you’re really nailing that pervy creep vibe. Who’s your character?’,” he said. “Thinking quickly, I just said some gibberish that sounded vaguely Japanese and was probably really racist and she said, ‘I’ve never heard of that. I’ll check it out.’ The next thing I know, I’m on stage and getting prizes!”

He said he’s now considering following the cosplay circuit and competing across the nation, maybe even internationally.

“I don’t know if anyone has ever gotten a prize for looking for girls to think about when they masturbate later but if anyone has ever deserved one, it’s probably me,” he said.