2013 marked G-FEST (Godzilla Festival’s) 20th gathering and I’d attended faithfully the last ten. Of all the conventions I’ve gone to, this one always has a special place in my heart because it gave me so many happy memories with my kids (as I tearfully explained once HERE). Not to mention, Godzilla fans are really more like family than just fellow enthusiasts which makes it more like an annual reunion as opposed to Expo. Unfortunately, the July weekend it took place this year couldn’t have presented more of a challenge for me as my Friday & Saturday was booked solid with events I was locked into attending.

Getting here was such a dilemma it reminded me of a joke my friends at Acme Design were cracking at the Brookfield AAZK spaghetti dinner last March (covered HERE) where they compared G-FEST to a woman’s G-Spot. Here’s how it went…

Ryan: Hey, Clint, did you finally make it to G-FEST this year?

Clint: No, man, after going around in circles for twenty minutes I just couldn’t seem to find it!

This year I could relate (in a non sexual way) as my visit to G-FEST became more of a  Sunday morning “fly by,”  thus causing me to miss out on all the movies, great panel discussions, dealer’s room, and celebrity guests the event had to offer. In other words, I basically missed EVERYTHING. Well…not quite everything.

As I’ve mentioned in previous G-FEST posts, this is one convention that inspires everyone to show their creative side and my favorite part of G-FEST is the model room. Probably because I’ve always wished that I had the talent to create cool models but…um… don’t. I should mention that this didn’t stop me from at least trying. In 2007 I decided that I was going to do one and bought a simple, plastic Biollante model off of eBay. Unfortunately it wasn’t “simple” enough as I used the wrong glue, wrong paint, and ended up making a perfect replica of Biollante…after she’d been blasted apart by Godzilla! Not wanting to show my kids that I was a quitter, I went to my local Michael’s craft store and bought some super sculpy clay along with a bunch of greenery from the area designated for flower arrangements. I used the clay to create extra tendrils (so it could stand up) and the plant material to hide all my mistakes (of which there were too many to count).

I could not have been more surprised when my model ended up winning a “people’s choice” award and I’d end up getting a Paradise GOJIRA model (which I would later have my talented pal, Russ Wrangler, keep from being yet another disaster) as a prize. I will add that, in terms of entries, that was a weak year and I have no illusions that my winning was a total fluke. Needless to say, I’ve learned my lesson and decided that my model building days are over.

Fortunately, I was able to get to this year’s Model Room before it was packed up and take pictures. And so, without further adieu…

Stay tuned for even MORE Monster Models from G-FEST XX!

Dave Fuentes