The monsters are here!
Assembling what may be the largest lineup of special guests in kaiju convention history, ALL MONSTERS ATTACK CONVENTION delivered this weekend with their second show, held at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare, the old stomping grounds of G-FEST.
Put on by noted horror convention promoters Days of the Dead, the event featured a truly special collection of suit performers, action directors, and Showa-era living legends available for fans to meet, get an autograph from, and return home with lifelong memories. Kaiju United was there, represented by site lead and author of this piece, Jacob Lyngle, as well as site contributors, interview guests, and members of the original Facebook group! Thank you to everyone, including our esteemed guest Adam, from Thirsty Thursday Toys, for joining us to document our first major convention appearance as an organized group!
I knew going in to this event that it would be a bigger and better show than the last show, a debut in Indianapolis. This time around, there were more guests, more people I knew that pledged to attend, and a better location. The first year of a convention always have some growing room, and it was clear that changes were being made to adapt, and cultivate a better year for All Monsters Attack! The DOTD showrunners had listened to immense feedback from the first show last September in several ways— most notably fan panels. At the first show, attendees were clamoring for non-guest panel content, a staple in the kaiju community, and so DOTD reached out to us to help bring some to this new show.
Kaiju United was proud to answer the call to host and put on these panels. Cultivating a list of fun content for everybody to enjoy, we got to work early on. The final list of panels ranged from the bands that love kaiju films, to the bad guys we love to hate, even going beyond Godzilla into other monster movie fare. KU brought the kaiju content we have done for FanX Salt Lake City for a few years now directly to the Tokusatsu fandom on their home turf. No matter the topic or how niche it truly was, there was always a dedicated, interactive, and receptive audience there to talk to us.
The first day of the event, Friday, was a more casual day. The convention itself began at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, so there was a bit of down time at the show. Thankfully, that gave us time to check out the panel room, mingle and network with fellow fans and creators, and take a nostalgic stroll down the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare, site of frequent past conventions over the years. It felt like a flashback weekend for the convention veterans! It was wonderful taking pictures of the various artist tables, getting to know new folks like our peers at Kaiju Ramen, and truly just engaging with the fandom on a social level.
The highlight of my weekend, however, happened on Saturday. I was asked going into this convention to help out with some of the celebrity guest interviews, and got to pick out a few! Of course, I had to pick Godzilla himself, Tsutomu Kitagawa, but I was also recommended Akira Ohashi by Jim Cirronella and Celebrity ICONS. The opportunity to spotlight these guests was the biggest honor of my entire near two-decades of being a kaiju fan.
I had met Mr. Kitagawa exactly ten years prior at G-FEST 2013, as a young 14-year old fan. Now, here I was, interviewing the man that captivated my love of Godzilla, and the era that directly came out when I was growing up, the Millennium series! The passion and love that I have for these movies came from this man, whom I greatly respect and admire.
We talked at length about his career, starting with his journey with Japan Action Club. For those that don’t know, Japan Action Club was started by noted stuntman and action star, Sonny Chiba, as a way to train and bring about the next generation of proficient stuntmen. During his time there, Kenji Ohba, most known for his role as Space Sheriff Gavan, became one of his biggest inspirations and senpais. Kitagawa-San lovingly cited him as a dear role model for him to become the best stuntman he could be. We went on into his later roles, such as his lengthy tenure with the Super Sentai series, to playing iconic villain King Ghidorah in 1998’s Rebirth of Mothra III, to finally cementing his legacy playing the King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla, from 1999 to 2004. Ironically, his favorite monster is Ghidorah, citing him as the “King of the Kaiju”!
I knew I had something special when I brought up his commercial work. Kitagawa had played Bruce Lee in the past for a few advertisement campaigns (does anyone have access to these?!), and when asked about it, he looked at me, and said “You know about this?!”. That seemed to make him really enjoy the interview, and have as much fun as I was, cleverly stating “Do you understand?” every time he finished a sentence. The interview was amplified further when I asked him to talk about where he was positioned in the Godzilla suit, and he had me get up and be his physical model, posing me just like a stationery kaiju, and posing in front of me, to the absolute delight of the audience in attendance.
Of course, there are always magical moments during these special guest interviews. The best, and coolest picture taken, was definitely when the cosplay community, led by Sean Sumagaysay, crashed our interview panel, leading a kaiju-sized stampede of cosplayers into the interview room, showing us the awesome fan-made monster suits. As a moderator, I was not informed that this would happen, but it was an absolute joy, and a real compliment to my impromptu skills. The first kaiju to enter the room was a Gamera cosplayer, and truth be told, I thought he was simply lost. Then, when Sean’s Kiryu Godzilla suit entered, I knew shenanigans were afoot. When the last kaiju entered, Titanicus, Kitagawa-San looked at me and asked, “What is that?”, bewildered by the colossal foam original kaiju appearing in front of him. He loved the name Titanicus upon learning of its name from me.
Just a few hours later I was tasked with interviewing Akira Ohashi, best known for portraying Gamera, the giant flying turtle monster, in Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. After portraying Daei’s beloved gargantuan creature, he moved onto the granddaddy studio of kaiju films, Toho, and played King Ghidorah, for 2001’s Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Playing these two iconic creatures provided wonderful stories, with Ohashi demonstrating playing Ghidorah by raising his two arms in the air and roaring. Of course, being a suit actor in two massively popular kaiju films was not enough for Ohashi-San. Post-GMK, he was changing up his career, providing motion capture for The End in the Metal Gear Solid game series, being directed by Hideo Kojima, whom he said was very dedicated and inspirational. Ohashi has collaborated with too many directors to list, but some include the aforementioned Kojima, Shinji Higuchi on the FX for Gamera and GMK, and even noted genre titan Takashi Miike, whom he did suit work for in Zebraman.
Of course, being mega fan of action and martial arts, Ohashi later turned his sights on an entirely new path — directing action! From Vamp (2019) to Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga, Ohashi has stacked his resume full of directing for film and television. Just going and looking at his IMDb will give you an example of how stacked his resume truly is, and a great reminder of how these guys are known in the west for Kaiju Eiga material, but have much, much more to learn about in terms of their careers and projects. Ohashi is also to be featured in the upcoming kaiju film, Hoshi 35! Look out for him when that trailer drops.
The highlight of the interview for Ohashi-San, however, was when we got into the inspirations behind his stuntman, and later on, action director work. Akira Ohashi’s hero was Bruce Lee, so naturally, he was delighted to show off some of his martial arts moves to the audience, doing cartwheels, stances, punches, and more all over the stage! This culminated in demonstrating a kick on me, showing how important it is to understand measurements of distance before striking your opponent, be it inside a kaiju suit during a fight, or outside of it in martial arts. Having Ohashi-San’s foot right next to my face was scary, I flinched a little bit if you watch the recorded video, but it’s an experience neither of us will forget!
Aside from the interviews, our fan panels were attended by dedicated, passionate, and interactive audience members. Based on my previous work at FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, I knew that it was vital to keep these fan panels carried by, well, the fans. It’s one thing to sit up on the stage, words pouring out, hoping that the audience will absorb it like a sponge. However, keeping them engaged with direct involvement proved to be essential! From ROARING GUITARS on Friday, to BEYOND GODZILLA on Sunday, there were audience members teaching US some new knowledge to take home!
BEYOND GODZILLA was perhaps my favorite panel. I love the pantheon of Toho science fiction and fantasy fare, each film providing a completely unique experience in my eyes. My favorite film from Toho’s non-Godzilla library is The Mysterians, so getting to gush about its importance to later films, its amazing soundtrack, and rad sci-fi aesthetics, was one of the best parts of being a panelist, as well as just being a fan of Tokusatsu.
Overall, this weekend was full of fun in a relaxing environment. Attendance numbers are still being talked about, and it is something I personally have been frequently asked by those who did not attend. I do not have the final numbers, but I can attempt to describe how it felt. The best description of the weekend came from a fellow contributor; that it was nice being able to breathe in the showroom. There were enough people there for a lively con, but it was not packed to the brim. Smaller, more personable, and enjoyable is my preference for conventions. I’ve done the extra-big shows like Salt Lake, and 3000 people shows like G-FEST, so this one was a nice change of pace. The extra time I got with each guest was wonderful, and truly, I feel like they had a good time as well.
The special guest lineup is more than likely the best lineup we will ever see at a fan convention, in my opinion. From convention regulars like Kitagawa-San and Furuya-San, to brand-new first time convention attendees like the legendary Masaaki Daimon, star of 1974’s Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, who made his mark on fans this weekend, with suits and ties, and big smiles. It truly was all about the stars at this show. The atmosphere was fun, positive, and collaborative across the board, truly exemplifying the message that Kaiju United wishes to extend to the fandom, and we collectively hope that it may continue on!
Thank you, kaiju community!
Kaiju United would like to thank the following for a special time at All Monsters Attack II: Chicago SOS:
- The celebrity guests, thank you for flying all the way out from Japan!
· Contributor Jonathan Hernandez for filming all of the panel and interview content, even
events that we did not participate in!
- Jim Cirronella (Celebrity ICONS) and Tim Bean (Japan’s Legends) for bringing these amazing guests out to fan conventions!
- The Days of the Dead Team — Bill Philputt, Scott, Peter, Betty, Congroy, Amber, and many more, for being such a great team to work with!
· Kaiju Ramen Magazine, great to finally meet you guys!
- Mike Ross and Jacob Dow for the great interview photographs!
· Everyone who attended the KAIJU UNITED branded
panels, and who supported my interviews with Kitagawa and Ohashi.
· The amazing artists in our community, you guys almost DOUBLED the amount of tables at AMA this year! Congratulations!
· Alex Tuinstra, Greg Noneman, Jonathan, and David Scrivani, for jumping on the fan panels!
We will see you at the next show!
