gfest2001conventionreview

    Every year my family and I make our way to the biggest gathering of kaiju fans in the United States. And every year we're not dissapointed. This year was no exception. J. D. Lees, publisher of G-Fan magazine headed the organization of this years convention. From what I could tell, everything went smoothly and the convention was a great success. It was great to get back to Chicago this year after two years out in California. If you had extra time, it was worth going into downtown Chicago. We used our time there to visit the Field Museum and see the awesome T-Rex, Sue. (click here for pictures) The convention returned to its roots this year in more than one way. This year the con was held at the Raddison Hotel in Arlington Heights. This is the same hotel where it was held for the first two years, back in '95 and '96. It was decided that like the first couple of years, G-Fest needed to return to a fan based structure. Therefore, the number of special guests was decreased from the previous year and the number of fan presentations was upscaled. That's not to say that the special guests weren't worth seeing. The line up this year included Shinichi Wakasa, Robert Scott Field, Bob Eggleton, and Greg Shoemaker. Robert Scott Field has been a returning guest since '99 and he was very helpful as always this year. Not only did he answer questions about his experiences in Japan, but he also provided excellent translations during Wakasa's sessions. Shinichi Wakasa was very entertaining and informative. He provided a lot of great info on his experiences working at Toho Studios. He was responsible for creating the spectacular suits seen in films such as Godzilla 2000, G X M, G vs. Space Godzilla, G vs. Destroyah, G vs. Mechagodzilla '93, and Mothra 3. Bob Eggleton is an incredible artist and was on hand throughout the convention to talk about and show off his work. Greg Shoemaker, creator, editor, and publisher of the fanzine Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, was this years recepient of the Mangled Skyscraper Award, seen here. He was given the award because of his major efforts towards keeping the Japanese sci-fi fandom going in America through his magazine.
     Some other major events at this year's con included movies at the Loews Woodfield Cinema just down the road, the costume and video contest, dealers room, and model and art show.
     The major movie to be shown this year was Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla '93. It was the dubbed version. The theater was a nice one, and it was great to see what many think is the best movie of the Heisei series with so many other fans. The other movies shown this year included Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla and Godzilla '54. Also, movies were shown continuously throughout the three days in a seperate screening room.
     The costume contest was stacked this year with great suits. There were enough entrants that it was broken up into adult and youth categories. The youth suits were very amusing and creative. They included monsters such as Godzilla and Anglilas, as well as human characters. The Xian and Mothra fairy were very nice. The adult category was just as large. Each of the suits was very impressive. They included Mechagodzilla, Mechani-kong, Rodan, and Godzilla. There were also human characters this year. My brother and I were Goro and Rock-San from Godzilla vs. Megalon, and there was also a Black Hole Ape.
     Following suit, the video contest provided some stunning visual treats. The six videos shown used a variety of techniques, including live action, stop motion, and computer graphics. Fans got to see things such as Godzilla vs. Gamera, Rodan attacking jets, Godzilla used for a marriage proposal, and even Godzilla vs. the American Godzilla.
     In a league of its own was the model and art show. There were tons of kits present of all shapes and sizes. The level of detail and hard work was present in most of the entries. The artwork was very stunning as well, depicting a varitey of scenes from the movies and many fantasy battles. The model demos were very well presented and provided the audience with a wealth of good information. One of the biggest fan draws of the whole convention was the dealers room. The line was huge as it stretched down the hall. Once inside, it was obvious why. There was a great setup this year with a huge variety of merchandise. Everything you could imagine was on sale, including models, toys, posters, clothing apperal, books, cds, etc. etcs.
     In my personal opinion this show was spectacular. I had the most fun I've ever had at this convention. I owe that to the friendships I've made throughout the past five years of attending conventions. I personally liked the gettting back to the roots idea that allowed for more one on one fan interaction. It was pointed out that the last two years seemed to have a lack of organizations, but this year, with J.D. back at the helm it seemed like things were better than ever. Hanging out with friends, meeting new ones, buying thos highly sought collectibles, entering contests, it was all a blast. I only wish that it came more than once a year. I send out a great thanks to everyone invloved in making this conventions as entertaining as it was, and I look forward to seeing all of you there next year.