At this weekend's FLORIDA SUPERCON, more comic and sci-fi fans than Miami's ever seen gathered to meet, greet, and costume play-- 'cosplay' for short.
The event at the Miami Airport Convention Center drew an estimated 20,000 fans and cosplayers from Thursday to Sunday. Attendance rose sharply from last year's crowd of 15,000.
Most of the crowd came from all over Florida, while some fans came from as far away as Denmark and Brazil. The event has been going strong for the past eight years.
The event featured a costume contest, a music festival and celebrity panels. Guests included actors George Takei and Adam Baldwin.
SUPERCON's renown has grown quickly over the past few years, several attendees noted.
Miami's event has developed a reputation for being very friendly, according to cosplayers Amandee Lee and Steven Haring of Port Saint Lucie, who have attended cosplay conventions all over the country.
"The people just seem a lot friendlier. They’re more apt to walk up to you and be like, ‘your costume’s amazing, can I take a picture with you?’ " Lee said of the Miami event. She and Haring entered the costume contest together.
Below are some of our favorite costumes from this year's event:
Credit Patience Haggin
Paying homage to the original "Star Trek" series, Corinne Martin dresses as Captain Kirk and Ruby Mountfort dresses as Bones. Brian Sinclair dresses as Captain America from Marvel Comics.
Credit Patience Haggin
Fans from Miami pose as characters from the Ghostbusters film series.
Credit Patience Haggin
Miami Ghostbusters, a fan group of the Ghostbusters film series, has attended Florida Supercon for the past three years.
Credit Patience Haggin
Brittany Morales and James Henderson of Live Oak, Fla. dress as fauns.
Credit Patience Haggin
David and Sorina Gonzalez of Miami dress as El Chapulín Colorado and La Chilindrina from the Mexican TV series "El Chapulín Colorado."
Credit Patience Haggin
Wade Lidner of West Palm Beach dresses as King Jeremiah from the video game Dark Souls.
Credit Patience Haggin
Travis Scotka of Coral Springs represents Bronies of South Florida.
Credit Patience Haggin
Adrian Valdez and Eduardo Gonzalez of Miami dress as Mario and Luigi, respectively, from the Mario video game series.
Credit Patience Haggin
Kevin Tanis of Miami poses as a Hot Sexy Fire Nun, a character of his own creation.
Credit Patience Haggin
Alexander Long of Hollywood poses as Vash the Stampede from the anime and manga series Trigun.
Credit Patience Haggin
Chris Dayton of West Palm Beach dresses as the Repo Man from the film Repo! The Genetic Opera.
Credit Patience Haggin
Rick Stafford of Orlando dresses as Aquaman of DC comics.
Credit Patience Haggin
Kaitlin Schwartz of Miami dresses as a Tartus from the TV series "Doctor Who."
