Well, I'll give this my best shot, because I'm actually writing this almost a year after I went to the convention. What can I say, I'm a busy college student (and also unfortunately a lazy one). First off, I have to say I had as much fun as I've ever had at these conventions this year. It was definately a good show and the fact that I've been making more friends every year to hang out with has made it a very fun event to look forward to. Each year when I show up, I have many people to look forward to seeing and we have a blast. The group I hang out with likes to make frequent trips over to the Japanese Shopping Center. Having it so close to the hotel is rather enjoyable. It's obvious that being able to look through a Japanese mall and eat our fill of Japanese cuisine in the food court meshes well with the theme of the weekend being Japanese Monster Movies. The area also has a lot of good restaraunts and a pretty decent sized mall just down the road. All in all, this is a great place for this convention to take place.
This year's theme was Kaiju of Kawakita, as Koichi Kawakita was one of the special guests. Mr. Kawakita was just as interesting this time around as he was in 2000. His major contributions to the Kaiju genre have given him all sorts of information and stories to provide the fans during his sessions. There's a seperate page for him found in the G-Fest 2000 section of this webpage. Hariken Ryu, also known as "Hurricane", was another of the special guests, and new to the G-Fest scene. Hurricane was very entertaining in his sessions. Check out his section, linked above, for more info on his convention exploits. And as always, Rober Scott Field was on hand as both a special guest and a constant help in running the convention. A nice addition to this year's convention was the introduction of a show exclusive figure, that you could only get if you were one of the first 500 attendees to pre-register. If you made it in time, you received a Burning Godzilla chess piece made by X-plus.
This year had a really impressive turnout as far as attendance (at least from what I could tell). There were always large crowds of attendee's milling about and rooms were constantly filled. Ask anyone who had to stand in line before the dealer's room opened, and I'm sure they'll tell you that it was really packed. Because of the design of the rooms this year, a new parade style costume contest was instituted and it was definately standing room only if you hadn't arrived there early. As always, the contests provided a lot of great entertainment for the convention goers. The costumes were very elaborate, the models impressive as always, and the videos did not dissapoint. The convention organizers came through again this year with the movie screenings, able to provide the fans with a chance to watch the yet to be released in America Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.
A new function at this years convention, and one that's a great idea in my opinion, was an auction designed to raise funds for some of our fellow G-Fans who's children are battling autism. Fans could purchase tickets to be dropped in a chinese auction for many great items, including a painting done during the convention by Godzilla artist extraordinare, Bob Eggelton. I hope that this endeavor was succesful enough that it can continue in conventions to come.
Finally, this year's convention came to a close with the presentation of the Mangled Skyscraper Award to long time Godzilla fan and modeler, Stan Hyde. Stan is the epitome of enthusiasm in this fandom and is ever present as a driving force behind the succes of both the model section and G-Fest as a whole. I ended the convention as I always do, partying with my friends in the hotel. We watched G-movies, played video games, passed around all the great collectibles we'd picked up, and had a blast partying into the night. It was another great year come and gone, definately as fun as it's always been. And it's funny, as I'm currently gearing up for the 2003 convention which is only 10 days away as I type this! Should be another great year, and I hope to see ya there! |
