Kaiju Brooklyn: The Beast on the East Coast
Josh B.
2024 continues to be a banner year for the Kaiju fandom. Godzilla Minus One has secured an Oscar and a worldwide audience thanks to its premiere on Netflix, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire shattered box office records to become the highest-grossing film in the Godzilla franchise, and most recently, Ultraman, Japan’s seminal Tokusatsu hero, has had mainstream success with the American made animated film Ultraman: Rising. In the midst of all this success, artist John Bellotti Jr., also known as ROBO7, has taken it upon himself to create a convention to celebrate the Kaiju phenomenon for fans such as myself who live on the east coast…
Kaiju Brooklyn.
Though the convention is only in its second year of existence, Kaiju Brooklyn was a charming, lovely experience. However, that doesn’t mean there was no room for improvement. Here, I’m going to walk you through my experience, both the good, and not so good. I began by treating myself to a VIP ticket, both to have early access to the dealer’s hall on con day, and to get access to the VIP party that took place the day before it.
VIP
The VIP party took place at Brooklyn Kura, a lovely little sake distillery inside Brooklyn’s Industry City. Brooklyn Kura had themed drinks for the party, one based on Mothra, the other on Godzilla. Both of which were delightful, although you do have to pay Brooklyn prices for the experience. Those with a limited budget, keep that in mind! I felt the love around me at the bar, with everyone gathered together to celebrate Kaiju, but found it hard to socialize among all the strangers. It was an odd contrast to how easy it felt to talk to the people in Chicago at G-Fest. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel so far removed from my hometown, or the fact that everyone else there was in a group and I didn’t want to make myself a third wheel to someone else’s group day out.
Thankfully, the waitstaff at the Brooklyn Kura were kind and friendly, which helped put me at ease.
After a few hours of relaxing, those of us at the VIP party were taken outside onto the lawn for a brief discussion on Ultraman before a screening of the film Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend, the Ultraman film that introduces one of the most current versions of Ultraman, Ultraman Zero, as well as the evil Ultra character, Ultraman Belial. I was initially excited to see this film, having heard good things about both those characters. Unfortunately for me, I wound up feeling rather lost, as the plot has dozens of characters from various Ultra series, many of which I still haven’t gotten to see. There were many times when a character would come onscreen and the audience would cheer, only for me to have no idea who they were or why they were important. It felt like watching a Marvel event film without having seen several of the prior movies. Yes, I could still enjoy it, but I felt like I was missing large chunks of what makes the movie so cool or exciting.
Finally, there was no provided seating at the screening (though we had been told this would be the case ahead of time), which meant I had to lie on the grass. As a result, I could never really get comfortable enough to really focus on the film as much as I wanted to. Everyone who attended the VIP event received a copy of Superior 8 Ultra Brothers, another Ultraman film, and one that I didn’t have! That in and of itself made the trek feel worth it in the moment. Having said that, the VIP party was a middling to frustrating experience, which left me worried for the convention proper the next day.
Thankfully for me, Kaiju Brooklyn turned out to be a very positive experience in the end. I spent most of my day there in cosplay as Kongkrete, the living building Kaiju from the video game GigaBash. Anywhere else in the world, I feel like no one would have a clue that’s what I was dressed up as. But here at Kaiju Brooklyn, just about everyone knew who I was, from Kaiju influencers from YouTube like Luminous, AKA “Heisenberg”, to little kids who couldn’t have been more than 5 years old! It was validating to see so many people smile when they saw me in costume. More than that, I have to applaud Kaiju Brooklyn for doing what G-Fest won’t: support artists.
Kongkrete Cosplay
Something that I’ve hesitated to discuss in prior articles on G-Fest is its recent aversion towards hosting artists. Apparently in the years before I attended, G-Fest used to host a whole lot more independent artists, and even had an entire Artist’s Alley dedicated to Kaiju artists! However, in recent years, G-Fest has put forth a “No Fan Art” policy, meaning anyone selling any artwork of Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman or any other Kaiju that isn’t officially okayed by the Japanese licensors is banned from G-Fest. This all but eliminated the artist presence at G-Fest, save for big names like Matt Frank, Bob Eggleton, and any independent artists who’ve created their own Kaiju, like Rafael Coronelli’s Daikaiju Yuki series, Timothy Price and Alan O.W. Barnes’s Big in Japan, or Carter Allen’s Ectyron. So yes, artists can still appear at G-Fest, but people can’t buy the art of the familiar characters they know and love.
In stark contrast to G-Fest, Kaiju Brooklyn’s dealer’s hall was almost exclusively made up of artists selling their own Godzilla, Ultraman and Gamera works. Unencumbered by restriction, Kaiju Brooklyn is a place that welcomes and lifts up artists, no matter what. That’s something I will always respect and champion this convention for. Brilliant artists like Bill Couture, Nick Shev, Jeff Zornow, Andres Perez and many others lined the dealer’s hall with impressive works of art. Each and every single artist was thrilled to be there, exuding the joy and passion they clearly put into their work. Not only that, but the artists at the show also all contributed to my cosplay! Kongkrete has several billboards sticking out of his body, which I left blank. Throughout the course of the convention, I asked the artists of Kaiju Brooklyn to sign my billboards, thinking they’d just slap a signature on them and be done with it. To my delight, this was not the case – in fact, the artists went above and beyond, drawing sketches of various kaiju on my costume’s billboards! It really made me feel welcome and part of the east coast kaiju community.
Panels
Kaiju Brooklyn also had several panels, one on the state of Ultraman with John Bellotti Jr., and EJ Couloucondis, who works directly with Tsubaraya Productions, the company responsible for making Ultraman in Japan. The panel largely discussed the then-upcoming Ultraman: Rising, as well as working with Tsubaraya Productions as a whole. Some notable details that came from that panel are that Tsubaraya Productions and Ultraman Connection are working to bring the English dub of Ultraman (the original 1966 series) to modern platforms, and that Tsubaraya Productions’ goal is to put every Ultraman series on Blu-Ray or DVD here in the USA, including but not limited to the cult classic Ultraman Powered, a series that was filmed entirely in English in the United States, but only released in Japan.
Yoko Higuchi – Filmmaker - famous for his effects work on Shin Godzilla!
Another panel I went to was Kaiju United’s retrospective: From Minus One to Monsterverse, a discussion on the state of both the Japanese and American Kaiju media. It was really fascinating to watch, and post-panel, I got to meet one of the panelists, Yoko Higuchi – a man famous for his effects work on Shin Godzilla! He even signed my Kongkrete cosplay!
Cosplay Contest
Since we're on the subject of cosplay, the centerpiece of the event this time around for me was easily the Cosplay Contest. My buddy Alex and I had spent months working on the Kongkrete cosplay, and I wanted to show it off to everyone at Kaiju Brooklyn, especially now that Kaiju Brooklyn itself had become a part of the cosplay thanks to all the artists and Mr. Higuchi. I had a blast participating in the photoshoot and competition for the Kaiju category, and to my surprise, I came in first place! It was truly an honor to make history as the first winner of the Kaiju category for Kaiju Brooklyn’s first ever cosplay contest, and it made all the time me and my friend spent on the costume worth it. Not only that, but according to John Bellotti Jr. himself, my cosplay (and the tweet I put out about it) helped get more eyes on the convention! It’s truly wonderful to hear how one little post on social media could help so much. Alex and I plan on making Kongkrete even better for next year, so watch out, Kaiju Brooklyn! Kongkrete is coming back!
There were some events that I wanted to see which didn’t work out, however. Namely, the meet and greet with famed Kaiju YouTuber, Monster Island Buddies, who cancelled his appearance last minute due to illness. That was unfortunate, but understandable.
Overall, Kaiju Brooklyn was a lot of fun. It was a thrill to walk around the con as Kongkrete and make people smile, and I love that so many artists get to sell their stuff. For next year, I hope the dealer’s hall gets expanded to include a vendor for Blu-Ray and DVD sales. I’d also like to see a game room for people to play Kaiju games like GigaBash, Dawn of the Monsters and Godzilla: Save the Earth. Physical media and video games were the only parts of the Kaiju fandom I felt went ignored at the con. Additionally, I hope there are more standardized spaces for the panels next year, as while some locations worked well, like From Minus One to Monsterverse; while others did not, like the one for A Tale of Two Godzillas. Finally, I think the VIP Party should include chairs for the screenings, and at least one free drink, to really make the experience feel premium. However, those are all merely suggestions. I hope I’m not coming across as overly critical - I still had a lovely time, and I want nothing more than for this convention to flourish, and continue to grow. After all, this is only the beginning.
