G-Fest...Job Well Done.




Riatsila drove the AardVan to Chicago (dreading the Dan Ryan) and arrived Thursday night (the 5th) at the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont. Nice digs, amazing mattresses (I slept through the night. This is a mackerel.), great takeout to be had. Mama Mia's is the pizzeria of choice for Clan 'Vark.

We set up Friday morning in the dealer room. We had printed the con shirts, and they were well-liked. (The con ran out mid-Saturday. Nice.) I had forgotten the Friday hours from last year.

G-Fest have a sane policy for opening the room. Friday hours are 6PM-9PM. Three measly hours, right- I hear other convention vendors grumping. They forget one thing, these fictional but accurately portrayed dealers: Con attendees buy when the Dealers Room is open. Period. 3 hours, 8 hours, they buy when the room is open. We did on Friday in 3 hours what some regular sci fi cons grossed for us all weekend. This is me smiling. While waiting for the room to open, Riatsila and I dozed like cats in our room, and watched monster movies.

G-Fest is NOT a regular convention. It is a giant monster con. Godzilla, Mothra, Ghidorah...like that. Amazing. The fans are simply mad about monsters, and happily purchase their fannish goods, often saving for a year to have enough boot. Most importantly, this is a family friendly con. No exhibitionist otakettes almost wearing costumes, no Man-Fayes, no creepy con guests propositioning attendees; just good clean kaiju fun. It was neat seeing whole families together enjoying the con.

If you like Godzilla movies, or remember Ultraman or Space Giants from the 70's, then you would enjoy this convention. Shucks, if you just stayed in your room, you could watch non-stop monster movies and guest-related shows on the hotel's access channel.

J.D.Lees and his primo con crew deserve Kaiju-sized kudos for putting on a wonderful show, with great guests, a well-balanced dealers room, and great panels. Well played. I'm already anticipating next year.

Thank you!