DATE: MAY 15, 2025
CONTACT: Alexis Hampo, 501-321-2027
HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — World-renowned costume creator Thomas DePetrillo, famous for his Extreme Costumes developed for Hasbro, Power Rangers, Intel and others, will bring his fantastic creativity to Spa-Con, Hot Springs’ comics and pop culture convention, September 19 – 21.
DePetrillo has been making Extreme Costumes for 30 years and Marvel Comics genius Stan Lee declared him Cosplayer of the Year in 2015.
“It’s been a while since the Extreme Costumes team joined us at Spa-Con, and I think this is a perfect year for their return,” Visit Hot Springs Special Events Manager Alexis Hampo said. “They’ve brought robots and Baby Yodas, and I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeve this year.”
Hampo said DePetrillo would conduct a workshop on ” Learn how to make your own cyber arm.”
“Seeing Extreme Costumes’ creations in real life is mind boggling,” Hampo said. “It will make you step back and oooh and ahh for sure.”
DePetrillo started making costumes for Halloween competitions in Las Vegas and then years later discovered the anime community. He focused on his passion for giant robots and started by creating a 9-foot 6-inch Bumblebee then moved on to doing Gundams, Zords and original creations. This led to awards and being hired by Chevrolet.
In 2015 he made his Hulkbuster, which became world-famous overnight and led to Stan Lee’s naming him cosplayer of the year. This led to more awards and DePetrillo being hired by Hasbro, the worldwide toymaker. He had to hire additional people and moved out of his home shop and into a larger space.
DePetrillo has been hired by Power Rangers to build Zords, Hasbro to build Transformers and by Bandai to build a Gundam. He runs a team of talented artists who work out of his warehouse where they build for clients like Jake Paul or Intel. Extreme Costumes is more than a commercial costume shop, it’s a place where artists share skills, learn new techniques and push the boundaries of what is possible for cosplay.
In addition to the Extreme Costumes team, Spa-Con will welcome back acclaimed cosplay duo Cowbutt Crunchies, who specialize in complex couture cosplay and incredible pop culture based designs.
Spa-Con tickets — $35 for weekend passes and $150 for weekend passes — can be purchased at www.spa-con.org.
Previously announced as a special guest celebrity at this year’s Spa-Con was
Zeno Robinson, the award-winning actor who voices Hawks in the “My Hero Academia” anime series.
“Zeno won the award for best voice actor at the 2021 Anime Awards for his work as Hawks in ‘My Hero Academia’ and we’re fortunate to have him as one of our featured guests this fall at Spa-Con,” Hampo said. “Spa-Con has a lot of ‘My Hero Academia’ fans who I think will be excited about his guest appearance too.”
“Spa-Con is going on its ninth year in Hot Springs, so of course it’s going to be a good one,” she said.
For more information contact Alexis Hampo at 501-321-2027.