![]() ![]() Inside the elevator, a mother stood proudly next to her prepubescent son, each wearing T-shirts featuring the snubbed face of Godzilla in the 60s, when filmmakers began to portray him as the good guy in an effort to draw in kids. Rodan and Ultraman, two other kaijus (giant monsters from Japanese TV or film), peeked out from a crinkling plastic bag in the boy’s hand, sure booty from the convention’s hallowed Dealer’s Room. ![]() Two other passengers, themselves strangers until this moment, happily dished about the panels they wanted to see (“Godzilla vs. Hedorah: A Belated 50th Birthday” and “Godzilla and the Japanese National Spirit”). Through the elevator glass, I could see thousands of green pothos plants trailing the railings that crisscrossed the open-air design of the hotel. It’s a powerful feeling, to come back to the salty, atomic waters that birthed you. ![]() He has brown hair that likes to puff up in humidity and gray-green eyes the color of a forest floor. We’re 21 years apart: “It’s cool,” he likes to say, “that we’re going to be old people together.” Behind him I spied the gigantic Godzilla head my dad won in a raffle in 2003 after attending G-FEST X. Meticulously sculpted from a three-foot-by-three-foot block of Styrofoam, it sat kingly in its own hotel chair, looking me over with a baleful, milky eye. My dad drove the Godzilla head, along with two of his sons, a six-pack of diet Mountain Dew, a quart of half-and-half, and a PS2, across one time zone and two state lines. My mom, who opted for a rare weekend alone instead of coming to the convention, floated in our inflatable pool. “Larry Prout Sr., G-FEST veteran and enthusiast.” I turned on my recorder and made everyone introduce themselves to me as a test run. “Hi, I’m Larry Prout Jr.,” my youngest brother said. “I’m a big G-FEST fan and native.” Larry loves cats and football, and has the best eyebrows of us all. ![]()
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