This past weekend, I attended my first non-anime/comics-themed convention: Godzillafest!
I didn’t have much interest in Godzilla before, but after the popular McDonald’s Hello Kitty x Godzilla collaboration this past August, I started getting more interested. Luckily, this convention is in my home state, only two hours away. To prepare for the convention, I watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Shin Godzilla, and I previously watched the original Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One, so I could get to know the characters.
Pre-Event Festivities
I arrived at the convention an hour early to take part in the Hello Kitty x Godzilla trade event. Although I had already completed my set, I wanted to bring more in case others didn’t have a chance to complete the collection. I met a few other Godzilla fans in the lobby who brought a ton of toys to trade. I traded my Kuromi x Mechagodzilla, Cinnamoroll x Destoroyah, and Hello Kitty x Godzilla, all of which got traded immediately. I completed my second set by getting My Melody x Mothra, Pompompurin x Gigan and Badtz Maru x Rodan.
My boyfriend (the real Godzilla fan) and I checked in shortly after and received our wristbands and tickets to pick up our exclusive Godzillafest 2026 T-shirts. We hung around for a little bit before the convention began, trying to sneak a peek at what could be in the dealer’s room.
Convention Experience
The convention was held at a Holiday Inn in San Francisco and completely sold out for the weekend. The lobby floor held the first dealer’s room and a panel room. The lower level held a second dealer’s room, artist alley, game room, card game competition, and celebrity area.
Compared to other conventions I have been to, this convention was fairly small. I would compare it to being a little smaller than SacAnime Spring’s artist alley. However, every vendor had so many products to offer that I found myself circling around the convention multiple times due to the large audience. There were figures, stickers, Funkopops, art prints, and so many other pieces of Godzilla merchandise.
My boyfriend and I popped into a panel that talked about Sofubi, or Japanese toys made from vinyl, often modeled after kaiju. The artists talked about their love of Godzilla from an early age, with displays of their art being projected on the screen.
We sat down to play Gigabash in the game room, a brawler game where we could play as Godzilla, King Ghidorah or other kaiju. There were 4-5 games within the room, all being Godzilla-themed, with descriptions on the pinball machines about some of Godzilla’s history. Though I lost at Gigabash, my boyfriend and I talked about getting the game since it’s reminiscent of Super Smash Bros., a game we both love.
Would I attend again?
As someone who has a little bit of knowledge of Godzilla, I would 100% come back. I found that this convention was very easy to navigate and see everything it had to offer in the one day I could attend. Every artist or exhibitor was very friendly, staff was nice, and there was a good selection of things to do for the whole family. Though it was a sold-out event, it did not feel like there were so many people there that I couldn’t accomplish everything I wanted.
Since I am not that familiar with the franchise, I did find some merchandise that was Pokémon-related, as well as some Hello Kitty x Godzilla crossover, which I was very happy to find. My only wish for this convention was that there were more clothing options and more figures, and fewer statues. The only clothing I saw was from one vendor, as well as the official Godzillafest shirts. Maybe there was more, but I didn’t see much.
I walked away from the convention more excited than before for the new Godzilla Minus Zero movie coming out later this year.
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