The Quarantine and Stay at Home orders have affected the entire world. The Tokusatsu and Kaiju Genre is no different. This has led to a fair share of bungles — like the renaming of Space Godzilla’s ‘Corona Beam’ for an upcoming Magic the Gathering card release and the truly abhorrent handling of G-Fest on Twitter. However, there have been a lot more positive examples of Kaiju fans coming together during this crisis. From multiple live-streams to live tweets along with the filmmakers themselves. These are the thermonuclear bioluminescent spots lighting our way during this dark time.
First thing I want to highlight was the Kaiju Quarantine Livestream hosted April 4th and 5th. This was a massive team-up of 8 separate podcasts to do a live commentary over a variety of films in the Kaiju Genre. From classics like Monster Zero (1965) to prior article stalwarts like Reptilian (2001). This whole event was a massive success and a great time, moving from Facebook Live the first day to being streamed directly on the team’s discord channel. As a fan of most of the podcasts involved and getting newly introduced to the ones I hadn’t listened to, this was exactly what I needed to help get me through the early days of the pandemic. 
Using Discord as a platform allowed for a really solid chatroom and voice chat perspective. The podcasts offered the option to watch along with the movies and not listen to their commentary which was a nice thing to offer. But as a Kaiju podcast nerd, I loved hearing the new dynamics that occurred mixing up the hosts from different podcasts. The broadcast was not without a few technical hiccups but on a whole it was a fantastic experience. A few of the broadcasts have been archived as podcast episodes for their perspective podcasts and there has been talk about doing a 2nd marathon in the future. If that happens you can guarantee I’ll be there movie 1.
The next movie-related celebration was a big deal. Legendary Pictures the company behind the newest batch of Godzilla and Kong movies hosted a live tweet with Nerdist. This was no simple live tweet, it was actually headed up by the directors of each film in question. I was surprised to see tweets from Gareth Edwards in particular, as he has been relatively silent towards the franchise after he kick-started the Monsterverse with Godzilla (2014). These directors were under no requirement to join in and participate, however they showed up in a big way to bring people together and give fans some much-needed joy. The tweets in question brought forth a lot of really cool behind the scenes information and some wicked looking concept art. Taking place in chronological order on the 9th, the 16th, and the 24th, it was for all intents and purposes a giant success bringing together quarantined G-Fans from across the world.
Last, but certainly not least, I want to talk about the brand new video podcast “Collect All Monsters”. Hosted by Kyle Yount, the progenitor of “The Kaijucast”, this is a YouTube show that focuses on the toy collecting aspect of the Kaiju fandom. It is a blast talking about small individual details about various sculpts and Kaiju collectibles. Each segment is linked together with old toy commercials from Japan and The States. Each episode is live-streamed on YouTube before becoming fully available and ends with a great segment showcasing the toy photography of various Kaiju fans who submit their photos. The live-streaming and community aspects of the show have proved to be a godsend during these times. The episodes ARE LONG which makes for a good way to completely kill a day.
The Kaiju fandom is a fandom like any other. There are instances of infighting and people not getting along. However, when times get tough the Kaiju community has the ability to come together and celebrate the giant monsters that have captured our imagination for all of these years. Stay safe out there, folks. And remember that we can get through this together.
