The virus is for now here to stay and with that all of the common summer hobbies we’ve all grown to love have been completely altered. One of the biggest life changes for us nerds is the complete elimination of convention season. Conventions of every size are closing up shop for the year or learning how to operate as a virtual experience. Within Kaiju fandom there are few events bigger than G-Fest. G-Fest is an annual festival taking place in Chicago that celebrates all things Tokusatsu. Bringing in various guests from Japan and creating an experience few would ever forget. This year, however, covid seemed to even conquer giant monster fans as this year’s festivities were canceled. It took a lot to get G-Fest to close its doors and organizers rightly got their fair share of criticism when they appeared to be in denial about the seriousness of the ongoing pandemic. As such when they finally canceled their event fans were relieved and grieved in equal measure. This is where Kaijucast creator and Collect all Monsters Co-Host Kyle Yount comes in.
Kyle Yount is a legend of the Kaiju fandom. Producing documentaries, taking fans on journey’s throughout japan, and mastering the art of audio production as the godfather of Kaiju podcasting. In the span of a few weeks, Yount managed to put together a completely virtual Godzilla festival called “Kaiju Con-Line”. Over July 11th and 12th, Yount recreated the festival experience excellently. There was a virtual vendor’s room, celebrity guests, an artist’s alley, and the undeniable highlight; a full slate of panels.
Virtual panels can be very hard to implement if you are not familiar with the technology needed or if you do not have the proper infrastructure in place. This is why the event went off so smoothly. Kyle Yount has heaps of experience from heading up a weekly streamed YouTube show called Collect all Monsters which we talked about during our Quarantine highlight a few months back. Putting together a good panel takes a lot of time and research, luckily many of the panelists had already prepared a presentation for G-Fest. This is especially apparent in panels like “WESTERN MONSTERS JAPAN-STYLE: THE VAMPIRE, FRANKENSTEIN & WEREWOLF FILMS OF TOHO STUDIOS” by Justin Mullis. This panel was meticulously researched and extremely well-sourced. This was not a panel thrown together at the last minute. One of the only benefits of G-Fest’s late cancellation is that many presenters had completely finished their panel setups and were easily able to adapt to the new format.
All of the panels have been archived for future viewing and aside from a few technical difficulties on the second day, all of the panels are of pristine quality. Must watches are the aforementioned Justin Mullis panel, the amazing opening ceremonies, both of Kevin Derendorf’s panels “Great Yokai War, or Greatest Yokai War” and “Non-Kaiju Movies”, “Our Hero Ultraman” featuring a heap of information in regards to the Mill Creek Ultraman releases, and finally “Kaiju Audio Commentary 101” which features a killer amount of background information in regards to the creation of special features.
While some of the information-heavy panels are timeless there were many that really excelled by participation. The Kaijucast reunion and the amazing afterparty was a highlight of the entire event but it is undoubtedly a “you have to be there in the moment” event.
Having never been given the chance to properly attend G-Fest, this was truly a special event. To recreate the experience of a convention while still being able to pet my cats is a true dream. Hopefully by next summer, this will all seem like a crazy dream we had and we can enter conventions once more. However, if the worst-case scenario emerges yet again at least we know there is an alternative we can enjoy.
