Howdy, readers! Time to talk about a convention that happened in mid-July… in mid-August!
Yeah, the GNP’s annual G-Fest post-mortem is coming a bit late this year. My last few weeks have been a whirlwind of work (including the writing and recording of an audio commentary track for an upcoming kaiju Blu-ray release, which I’ll talk about more in another update!), a couple of family emergencies, and late nights at my job catching up on projects after my pilgrimage to Chicago. But at long last, here it is: my rundown of the busyness, the madness, and the fun that was G-Fest XXIX. Strap in!
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I’ll cut right to the chase: this year’s G-Fest was an absolute blast, despite being a bit… chaotic. This was always going to be a big year; there’ve been two new Godzilla movies (one of which won an Oscar) and a new TV show since last July, after all. Plus, it’s the big guy’s 70th birthday, so the turnout for this year’s show was destined to be massive. However, I wasn’t quite prepared for just how massive. Only three years after moving to the larger Hyatt Regency, the con feels as though it’s fully conquered the giant space, with multiple sources claiming last year’s 5,000+ attendance numbers were exceeded by a few thousand more this year. It’s the first G-Fest I can recall where multiple rooms were too congested to get into and at least one movie screening completely sold out (more on that in a bit). So yeah, it was definitely chaotic. But that didn’t stop it from being remarkably fun!
Since 2019, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to see my participation in the show continue to grow. Not only did I have the opportunity to co-host on (whew!) seven panels this year, but I was also honored to assist in judging the con’s art contest (a last-minute treat orchestrated by my pal and fellow kaiju writer Neil Reibe). Being able to give back to a convention that’s been so vital to my nerdy life has been a true gift, made all the more surreal and wonderful by the reception I continue to receive from fellow attendees and readers like you. Not only did the audiences at the panels I co-hosted kindly applaud after I announced myself as the creator of the GNP, but the number of people who approached me after each panel to thank me, compliment me, share their personal stories, and ask about the project was overwhelming in the best, most positive way possible. I could barely move five feet the entire weekend without someone recognizing me and pulling me aside for a chat, and I loved every second of it.
People asked about my progress on the GNP, made suggestions for future stories, asked how my life was going, took their phones out for selfies, and warmed my heart with their kindness and compliments. One gentleman shared his incredible story of seeing Frankenstein Conquers the World at a drive-in in the 1960s. A mother and her son told me they’d traveled halfway across the country to attend the convention and appreciated the “insights and value” they felt I’d brought to the panels. Another mother thanked me for answering her son’s writing question and became a GNP Patreon supporter on the spot. Every day of the show was packed with moments like this, and to say I was moved and honored would be an understatement. If you were one of the attendees who chatted with me, please know how genuinely grateful I am to have met you. Thank you for your kind words, your support, and for making the weekend so incredibly special.
My itinerary for the con was a fast-paced blur of panels, film screenings, networking, meeting cool people, and special events, but it all began – as my Thursdays at G-Fest so often do – with a trip to the historic Pickwick theater for the annual G-Fest “double-double-bill” film fest. This year’s theme was “anniversary films” released to coincide with Godzilla’s 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, and – on Friday and Saturday – 50th and 70th birthdays. That meant seeing some of the Big G’s finest and most fun moments on the big screen: Mothra vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla to kick things off, The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla to end Thursday night, and a remarkable screening of Godzilla: Final Wars on Friday. Tragically, I was too bushed to catch the late screening of this year’s Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire on Saturday night, but its inclusion was a nice endcap to a pretty thorough journey through Godzilla’s seven decades of adventuring.
Friday was when things got busy, with lots of walking, obligatory Dealers Room shopping, catching up with friends, meeting readers, and navigating through packed halls and even more packed ballrooms. My annual “Panel-Palooza” marathon kicked off at 10:00 AM when I joined my pal Brendan Morley of Autistic Lizard Productions (along with a few other awesome people) to celebrate 40 years of The Return of Godzilla. We had a fantastic time sharing production history, discussing the real-world influences behind the story, and celebrating one of Godzilla’s most unique and enduring flicks. At 2:00 PM, I joined my good friend Elijah Thomas of the Kaiju Conversation podcast (and, like, a lot of other stuff) and artist extraordinaire Matt Frank to ring in the birthday of a certain magnificent machine. It’s hard to believe Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla came out 50 years ago, and we had a ball waxing nostalgic (and historic) about this amazing movie. I also brought along a surprise guest to join us for the panel…
Yep, I decided to go the extra mile and hand-sculpt a replica of the film’s iconic Shisa statue, just for the show! He was a last-minute addition to my already mountainous pile of pre-con prep work, but I’m so glad I put in the time and brought him along. The “ooos” and “ahhhs” from the crowd really meant a lot, as did the folks who stopped me for pictures!
(For those curious, he was made from a combo of oven-bake sculpting clay and wood built on a cardboard/aluminum foil armature, and took about five nights to make. He’s also not 100% finished (he still needs a lighter coat of dry-brushed paint accenting to better match the film, plus red eyes and all the detailing/glyphs on the base), but he was close enough for the con. Maybe I’ll bring the finished version back next year!)
Friday wrapped up with one of the con’s highlights: the 20th anniversary screening of Godzilla: Final Wars at the Pickwick. Now, full disclosure: I don’t typically attend G-Fest’s 10:30 PM movies because I’m usually dead on my feet by that point and ready to catch some z’s. But, c’mon… it’s Godzilla: Final Wars. On the big screen. There was no way in hell I was missing that! And I’m glad I got tickets when I did, because the screening became the first G-Fest Pickwick showing since I started attending in 2010 (and possibly ever) to completely sell out. They actually had to turn over 100 fans away from the theater, and the effort to seat as many people as possible delayed the start of the film by nearly an hour. But when it finally started, it was a glorious thing to behold. (Maybe a bit too rowdy for my more introverted taste, but a fun time, nonetheless.) It was truly a night to remember.
Saturday kicked off with the Mothra vs. Godzilla 60th anniversary panel at 10:00 AM, which was wonderfully hosted by Precious D and Honey B of the “Monster Movie Fun Time Go” podcast. It was an honor to celebrate the film that, 25 years ago, was the first G-flick I saw from beginning to end, making it a major reason I became a fan in the first place. Directly after that at 11:00 AM, I joined my fellow kaiju wordsmiths Dane Kroll, Donny Winter, Neil Riebe, and Nathan Marchand for G-Fest’s annual Kaiju Writers panel, which I’m honored to co-run with Nathan. We spent nearly an hour answering questions and offering advice for aspiring writers, and if you’re one of the folks who attended, I hope you were inspired to bring your stories to life! (I also did some subtle teasing for some non-GNP writing projects I’m hoping to show off at next year’s writers panel, so keep your eyes out over the next year for some (hopefully) cool announcements!)
Sunday – as it usually tends to be for me – was the “do everything you haven’t done yet” day, and this year, that meant one final trip to the Dealers Room to find some presents for my godkiddos, getting autographs, checking out a few additional rooms… all in between my final three panels and a very special screening in the Amateur Video Contest. This year, my pal Elijah “Kaiju Conversation” Thomas (who’s also an indie filmmaker) debuted his most ambitious short film yet: a supernatural, J-horror-inspired kaiju story called Edo Kami no Gyakushu (A.K.A. Well God’s Counterattack). I had a very brief window before my first panel of the day to try and catch it during the video contest, and thankfully, it screened just before I had to go upstairs. Whew! (I won’t spoil the film for anyone who didn’t get a chance to see it, but kaiju fans will absolutely want to keep an eye out for potential screenings at local film festivals later this year! It’s a fantastic kaiju story that you’re gonna want to check out whenever you can. Also, I may have built some props and the monster suit for the film, and provided the vocal performance of the titular kaiju… so there’s that!)
The rest of Sunday was panels, panels, and more panels, beginning at noon with a deep dive into the world of paneled paleo storytelling called “When Dinosaur Comics Ruled the Earth!” Greg Noneman, Samuel Iller, and my brother in kaiju Robert Monsarrat spend a packed hour discussing the antediluvian awesomeness of prehistoric comic book stories, from “Age of Reptiles” to “Xenozoic” and pretty much everything in between. Right after that at 2:00 PM, I partnered up with Elijah, Nick Crispino, Billy DuBose, and Kaiju United’s Jacob Lyngle to celebrate 20 years of Godzilla: Final Wars, and after that, it was my incredible honor to help close out G-Fest by joining Kevin Horn, Elijah, Nathan Marchand, and the amazing Professor Jeffrey Angles (who recently translated Shigeru Kayama’s Godzilla novelization for English readers) for a celebration of the original Godzilla’s 70th anniversary. If you’d told a younger me that I’d one day be included in a G54 anniversary panel at G-Fest, I’d have thought you were nuts. It was a privilege to be up on that stage, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the con for the year.
The remainder of my time in Chicago was spent with friends; we ate dinner together, played some board games, told some bad jokes, and stayed up way too late so we could hang out as long as we could before going our separate ways. Moments like this highlighted the whole weekend, and remain the most precious parts of the convention for me. As with every year, G-Fest is all about the people, especially the friends I’ve been so blessed to make thanks to our mutual love for all things Godzilla. The quality time I spent with them – and with all the kind readers who supported me throughout the con – helped make this one of the best G-Fests I’ve been to, and one that (in a rarity for me) I felt perfectly fulfilled by after leaving it. There were no lingering threads or missed opportunities, no crippling post-con blues or a feeling that it could’ve easily gone on for another week and not overstayed its welcome. This year felt just right, and I owe so much of that to all of you.
The echoes of this particular G-Fest will continue to resonate for a long time. The support I received has refilled my creative well, the cool things I blew my money on definitely filled what’s left of my apartment’s limited shelf space, and the networking and opportunities initiated at this year’s con will hopefully bear fruit in the future! (Seriously, a few really cool things happened this year that I can’t talk about yet, but when I can, you’ll be the first to know!) But most of all, it has once again reminded me of how uplifting and wonderful the community surrounding the GNP truly is. These opportunities continue to come my way because all of you continue to believe in me, and I will always be grateful and joyful for that gift.
Finally, as a special (and completely unexpected!) treat, here are links to six out of the seven G-Fest panels I was a part of this year:
The Return of Godzilla 40th Anniversary
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 50th Anniversary
Mothra vs. Godzilla 60th Anniversary (Video Version)
When Dinosaur Comics Ruled the Earth
This marks the first time all of my panels were recorded in some way, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that they were considered worthy of preservation! (As of this writing, only the Godzilla: Final Wars panel is missing, but it was recorded by the cool people at Kaiju United, so when the link is live, I’ll add it to the Press & Appearances page.) Huge thanks to Brendan, Jarod Marchand, Greg Noneman, and the KU crew for filming these!
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Wow, that should just about do it! Like I said, this was a busy year, and I hope it was entertaining to read through this massive wall of text. It’s always fun for me to revisit each con and lock my memories into the written word, and if you had fun checking it out, all the better! I’ll be back very soon with another couple of posts regarding some exciting projects I’m working on, and a few teases for how the GNP will be celebrating Godzilla’s 70th anniversary for the rest of the year…
Until then, stay awesome, stay kind, and thank you for being you!
-Daniel
P.S.: Is it time for G-Fest 2025 yet?
The Godzilla Novelization Project 