Monsterpalooza 2024

With Megumi Odaka.

On Sunday, June 2, I attended the last day of the L.A.-area convention Monsterpalooza. The main draw for me was to visit Heisei Godzilla series star Megumi Odaka (who played Miki Saegusa in six consecutive films), but I was curious to see what other surprises I might be able to find.

My friend Jacob flew in from Kansas for the event, too, so we roomed together not far from the convention center. We walked around a bit and even did a bit of shopping (we found a dealer who was selling back issues of Filmfax magazine for $2, as well as DVDs for $5 and Blu-rays for $10) before heading over to Megumi Odaka's table.

While Jacob and I were hanging out near her table, Odaka-san's husband Akihiro-san came out from behind the table to greet me and brought me over to see Odaka-san. After that, Odaka-san spoke about the things she'd been doing in L.A. (such as seeing a Dodgers game) and talking about her interactions with the fans. She said she could pick up on some of the English words they would use and then would do her best to respond in English.  

Michael Myers politely waits in line to use the ATM. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I picked out a photo from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) for her to sign, about which she pointed out that she was 17 years old at the time. We then posed for the above pics.

Discussing Blu-rizzles with WetMovie1.

While Jacob and I were waiting in line at the ATM (where we spied Michael Myers just ahead of us), I noticed YouTuber WetMovie1 hanging out just outside the convention center.

I actually started watching his videos when I was living in Japan circa 2013, and, while I haven't been following his channel in the last couple of years, I certainly had fun watching him "hoard up" (his words, not mine) on DVDs and Blu-rizzles (his word, not mine, though I have since used it more than once).

We had a quick chat during which I told him about watching his videos in Japan. After returning home, I've watched a few of his more recent videos, and they're a lot of fun, too!

Jacob, Scott, and yours truly.

By happenstance, I ran into a fellow Godzilla fan named Scott, whom I used to see on the convention circuit prior to moving to Japan. Scott, Jacob, and I spent quite a bit of time catching up on things and swapping stories. As it's been said before, hanging out is what it's all about.

Yours truly with a lovely orchid.

While we were chatting, I noticed Akihiro-san passing by, so I greeted him as he was making his way to the next room. Naturally, Odaka-san followed closely behind him, and she greeted me, too.

She was carrying a potted orchid, said it was a present, and gave it to me. Suffice it to say, I was quite flattered, and I ended up carrying the orchid with me for the rest of the convention. (I still have it, by the way.)

"Isn't it rich? Are we a pair?"

Later on, Jacob and I returned to Odaka-san's table for another round of autographs. This time, I purchased a card set and had her sign the photo of her on the Princess from the Moon (1987) set in costume as Akeno. It's a cool keepsake.

With Donal Logue (center).

The only other guest we met was totally unexpected. Jacob wanted to meet Donal Logue due to his work on the Gotham (2014-19) TV series. I must confess that I didn't recognize his name, so Jacob pulled up his filmography on his phone. 

When I realized that he played Ken Narlow in Zodiac (2007), I immediately wanted to meet him, too. (Zodiac is one of my favorite movies, and Ken Narlow is one of the many memorable characters in the film.)

We were extremely lucky that Donal Logue turned out to be a cool, down-to-earth guy who was happy to talk shop with us. He shared a great story about the filming of the scene in Riverside in which Mark Ruffalo confronts Robert Downey Jr. and the insane number of takes director David Fincher insisted on doing.

It wasn't until after we left his table that I remembered his character's advice to Jake Gyllenhaal ("Get creative") was something I adopted as a mantra when I lived in Japan and needed to problem-solve in order to achieve my goals. How cool is that? 

I had way more fun at Monsterpalooza than I expected. It was great to see some old friends and meet some great new people. Let's do it again!