Toonami Fan Surprises with Slick TOM 5 Cosplay

TOM 5 might no longer be the host of Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block, but the fan favorite host lives again through some pretty slick cosplay! As part of Adult Swim Con‘s virtual festivities this year due to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Adult Swim held a special Cosplay Cup contest which featured a panel of judges looking over fan submissions. The winner of this contest really went all out with a unique take on Samurai Jack’s Aku, but the other submissions are just as creative like this surprising rendition of TOM 5.0 from one creative artist.

Artist @hawkoko13 (who you can find more from on Twitter here) really took the fans by surprise as well as the judges in attendance for the contest with their take on Toonami’s famous host. What is probably the most hilarious part of the segment (as shared through a clip on Adult Swim’s official Twitter account), however, is the short Naruto run TOM does before entering the screen.

TOM might have been the host providing fans with tons of anime over the years as part of the Toonami programming block, but the host has rarely been seen partaking in many of the memes or bits spawned from its line up. Now with this cosplay, you can officially check that off the list! You can spot the slick TOM 5 below:

Adult Swim announced plans to continue with the Toonami programming block until at least 2023, but unfortunately it will be with a new TOM. Following his death in The Forge (a total immersion event that changed the look of the entire block), TOM was brought back in a brand new body and now hosts the block in that forge as T.O.M. 6.0. Adult Swim Con will also be having an impact on the next Toonami block as well with extra goodies anime fans will want to keep an eye on!

What did you think of this surprise shout out to Toonami’s host? Which was your favorite version of TOM seen throughout the years? Where does TOM 5 rank among your favorites? How do you like the newest version of TOM so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!