Thursday, August 6, 2015

Monster-Mania haul and more!!

Monster-Mania haul and more!!



Hey gang, just figured I'd check in and share this past weekend's Monster-Mania experience. First off, let me start by saying this Monster-Mania is definitely in my top 3 of experiences. Ive attended 28 Monster-Mania's as an attendee, a vendor and then, as a guest and I'm always blown away by the fandom and how great everyone is. Dave Hagan and family put on a fantastic convention and I am always thankful to be there.


Kim and I arrived Friday to start setting up our table, luckily she's the brains in this operation as she always does a great job setting up and honestly, I typically walk around and talk to people I only see every 6 months. It's truly become our family. I wander around, check out the things I'm gonna grab before the con even starts and I'm typically broke before the con opens..haha.


Our main agenda, for those who know us, was to meet the Japanese guests, collectively who played
Godzilla and Ultraman. Kim, since we've been married has become a HUGE Godzilla fan. So much so, that we literally saved money for this con and knew we would have a lot of opportunities to grab what we wanted. She was like a kid in a candy store and smiled from ear to ear.


This weekend was also the release of our newest film, Mortimor Tromblay. This is our 5th film, not including the Journey documentary and for a change, we opted for a dark comedy. Matt, unable to be there, was again back on board for this project and we all were ecstatic. What we all really enjoyed was the fact that we felt some sort of freedom to make and create exactly what we wanted and had no real restrictions. Our main goal, as team was to make something to be proud of, we all feel we succeeded.


On Friday, Kim couldn't wait to get in line for Harou Nakajima (original Godzilla), Tsutomu Kitagawa (mostly know as Millennium Godzilla), Bin Furuya (Ultraman) and Shinji Nishikawa (concept artist and designer for Godzilla). She immediately wanted Nishikawa-san to sketch her favorite Kaiju, Little Godzilla. I, on the other hand wanted Millennium Godzilla (Godzilla 2000 is my favorite design and suit) and I would never forgive myself if I opted to go without asking for a sketch of Booska. Booska is a playful character that I fell in love with when my daughter was younger. I was able to grab some VHS's of Booska and we would sit, watch and laugh. Booska will always hold a special place for me, as it means great memories for my daughter and I.

Next, we stopped by the Vampire Robots booth and had to grab our Limited to 200, CCP Burning Godzilla vinyl exclusive. Then I noticed that Michael (the owner) had the exclusive Booska and Chamegon set. My jaw hit the floor and instantly, I knew I HAD TO OWN these vinyls. Once Kim saw them, she knew that money was as good as spent. I plopped down my duckets and then included a Hedorah vinyl to cap off our shopping event. Sigh...so many vinyls to buy, so little cash.


On Saturday, I was set to host a few Q&A's including Mitch Pileggi, Denis O'Hare and the Halloween 4 panel with Danielle Harris and George P Wilbur. Again, as a horror fan, this is always an amazing opportunity and I love the opportunity. This time around the Denis O'Hare, known recently from American Horror Story, really blew me away with his open discussion on acting and the way he approaches playing characters. Absolutely crushed it and it felt like an actors studio and I sat like the student and took in all he said. Of course Danielle Harris is really all Horror fanboys crush and really a testament to Scream Queens of yesteryear. She takes it serious and really is always a delight to talk with. So much fun. I also was fortunate to catch the Kaiju actors panel and just loved it. This is where the fanboy in me shows...I'm sure I was smiling quite a bit.


A few years ago Dave asked if I wanted to help judge the costume contest and its quickly become a very fun part of the convention. This year was jammed wall to wall with all kinds of creatures of the
night. From kids, to ordinal and creative to the sexy...they have a bit of everything. I'm always taken back by the amount of effort that some put into this event. Most often, the non typical designs and outfits are winners. It's a fun evening to close out Saturday night (at least for me).


Sunday afternoon's at Monster-Mania have become something very special to me the last 7 years as I'm host of the Yorkies auction. This is where you can see how much promoter Dave Hagan cares and dedicates space for this auction that is the con's best kept secret. Marilyn and her team from the Yorkie rescue go above and beyond and have shared stories about how much their rescue really helps families save these pups. When I first started we would be happy to raise a few hundred dollars, this past convention, we raised over $5,000. Without your support, we could never do this, so I thank you for being there and offering your hearts.


Kim and I, in closing that everyone who stopped by our table, grabbed our newest film. Those who asked about our son, Curt Robinson's recent surgery and wished him well. It's amazing to me that people actually care, maybe it's cliche but I am always thankful that you all care about us, our projects and want us in their lives. Thank you.

Our con haul!


Below is a video blog we did that takes you along for the weekend and see it through our eyes!






No comments:

Post a Comment