Day Two of G-FEST – We walked back to the Hyatt and indulged in their $25 breakfast buffet. I never minded doing it when I’ve gone Dutch with friends in the past, but that $76 bill was eye-opening. It wasn’t as good as I’d remembered it either and will have to plan better for the upcoming Flashback Weekend (also at the Hyatt). By the time we’d finished, the convention was in full swing and we took our seats in Ballroom A/B for the first panel which was on a YA Godzilla comic book. None of us were particularly interested in this topic but figured it was the best way to secure good seats for the next panel – actress Yumiko Shaku’s Q&A.

This year’s lineup seemed weak compared to past G-FEST panels and Shaku’s wasn’t all that insightful either. When it was over, we headed downstairs and saw some really cool, if not pricey, prototype figures created by a company called EZHobi. Some of these products stood taller than grade schoolers and were utterly amazing

From there, we walked over to the model room, which was equally impressive. I’ll show those in my Day 3 post so you can also see the winners. Suffice it to say, the entries were phenomenal even by G-FEST standards! I’m sure glad that I wasn’t given the thankless job of having to judge which were the best. 

At this point, my sons and I split up. They returned to Ballroom A/B to see T.J. Storm’s panel while I went to Ballroom C to attend a 60th-anniversary discussion on Mantango (1963). This film was given the unfortunate moniker Attack of the Mushroom People here in the States and is one of TOHO’s lesser-known entries. I’m a fan of the movie and wasn’t going to miss this panel for anything. Although my sons raved about Storm (he’s done stunt work as Godzilla in the 2014 film as well as numerous MARVEL characters) I thought the Mantango discussion was excellent. The panelists really knew the film’s history and the whole hour played like a bonus track on a boutique 4K/Blu-ray release this movie desperately needs. I walked away having even more appreciation for this film and even greater respect for its Director, Ishiro Hondo, for his work on what would be his only horror movie – an example of Showa-era psychological horror and one Director, John Carpenter, really wanted to do a remake of, himself.

Having decided to skip the evening events, I photographed some of the creative costumes to be featured in the big parade as we saw them.

Instead, we ordered pizza and watched an impressive fireworks display right outside our room’s window. I believe the neighboring Park Ridge was putting on a summer festival and this was their big finale. It surpassed our local 4th of July presentation and was nice seeing from the comfort of our room. Saturday night’s movie at the Pickwick was the 2014 Legendary Godzilla. I saw this film four times at the theater when it first came out and own multiple copies on Blu-ray and 4K formats. Needless to say, I was relieved when my sons both said they were too tired and wanted to sit that one out.

They played video games to a system my eldest hooked up to the hotel’s TV while I took a hot shower and started reading a trashy ’80s horror paperback. I was asleep before making it to the second chapter.

~Dave