Yesterday, we spoke about the opening day of Kaiju Brooklyn 2, the bigger — and better — sequel to last year’s East Coast Kaiju convention! Day One was just for the most devoted fans, with special VIP programming, but Day Two was for everyone, and everyone certainly came! Let’s go through and talk about how Ultraman was celebrated!
As a note, Kaiju Brooklyn featured discussions and celebrations of multiple Kaiju franchises, but this coverage will only talk about Ultraman Series-related events and activities.
From the moment the doors opened to Industry City in Brooklyn, New York, a flood of devoted Kaiju fans rushed into the show floor — and the vendor’s hall! There were all sorts of characters and creatures represented, but few more than the various heroes of the Ultraman Series! One of those vendors was friend of UC, Seismic Toys, showing off various vinyl figures in their Ultraman Vinyl Odyssey line! Intrepid correspondent Evangelia Artemis is shown here with Chris Oglio, showing off some of their favorites!
Unfortunately, the newest and perhaps most hotly-desired of Seismic’s lineup, the Ultraman Vinyl Odyssey Shin Gomess figure, was not available — but Chris assured us that it will perhaps be sold at future conventions, so watch out for Seismic’s presence in the future!
At 11 AM, the panels began, and they began with Ultraman Connection! Editor-in-Chief EJ Couloucoundis joined friend of the site and Kaiju Brooklyn organizer John “Robo7” Bellotti Jr. for a discussion about the Ultraman Series moderated by Jacob Lyngle of Kaiju United, where the future of the Ultraman Series was discussed to a packed crowd. With Ultraman: Rising only two weeks away, and Ultraman Arc just over a month away, there was plenty to speculate about, with all three panelists proving their Ultra-fan bonafides.
There were several different panels afterwards, and over the course of the day there was even a cosplay contest! (We wish we could show off the incredible Ultraman Belial cosplay by Aaimz Tako, “Elliott” as Adad from the ULTRAMAN anime, and the return of Lightning Zett’s unforgettable Zetton cosplay, but you can surely find them yourselves looking for Kaiju Brooklyn online!)
The final panel of the night bookended with how it began — with Ultraman Connection coming back to address the public again! This time, EJ and Jacob were joined by Ultraman Connection producer Jeff Gomez, tokusatsu historian Kevin Derendorf, and Kaiju expert Henry Winston! The 5-man panel was more reflective on the past than the future, discussing the long history of the show, and how it seems like almost everything to come in the last 5 decades seems to have some kind of Ultraman reference in it.
With that panel over, Ultraman Connection’s part to play in Kaiju Brooklyn 2 was over. We came, we saw, we rampaged, and we can’t wait to come back next year and celebrate the Ultraman Series (and Kaiju as a whole) next time! If you want to know where Ultraman Connection will be next, stay close and follow us on Twitter at @UltramanConnect!
