Post by August on Feb 21, 2005 15:28:18 GMT -8
The autograph sessions began on Saturday morning at Tak Onishi's Japan Video & Media Inc. in J-Town at 11am. Frankly, because of the heavy rain we've been having in California and the early start (11 am), the turn out was slow... but, since we had scheduled a 2 pm session at the Super 7 booth at WonderCon, there was little choice. Still, some diehards came out to meet Ban-san and get their autograph -- even some rabid expat Islanders! Kikaida even went browsing at Books Kinokuniya! Next it was off to WonderCon...
Saturday is the big day at the convention, and WonderCon had it's biggest turn-out yet -- the Exhibitors' Hall was slammed, and it was tough getting to the Super 7 booth. Ban-san got there a half-hour early, but he couldn't even sit down before being besieged by ardent Kikaidamaniacs of all ethnicities! It was truly an American Melting Pot of fans who saw Kikaida in Hawaii, San Francisco and LA (including Mark Mascott and Monty Montgomery)... even the nephew of one of the people at Mountain Apple Company showed up with his own home-made Kikaida poster (a collage of all of the Dark Destructoids)... Children and adults swaped the booth for autographs, and wanted to pose with Kikaida (thanks to Scott Tsukiyama)! WonderCon attendees, it seemed, were no strangers to Kikaida!
Folks from "Stir TV" (see on KTSF and the International Channel), came to cover the event, and arranged to shoot an interview with Ban-san the next day... there was never a dull moment at the booth, as Generation Kikaida goods flew off the Super 7 booth tables, including an exclusive Super 7 Kikaida T-Shirt (which made its debut at WonderCon)! Even conventioneers who never heard of Kikaida were curious and asked a lot of questions... complimentary copies of the 30th Anniversary Tabloid and colorful postcards heralding KIKAIDA on KTSF were handed out of everyone who stopped by... Lots of old Bay Area Kikaidamaniacs were reunited and were happy to see the return of their favorite red and blue superhero!
Sunday morning at WonderCon began around 11:30 am with the presentation "Japanese Superheroes Now!," which I and Kaiju Productions has been hosting at the convention since 1994, and was subtitled "The Return of Kikaida"... as the people filed in for the show, 60 copies of the 30th Anniversary Tabloid were handed out, and they went fast -- we didn't have enough copies for everybody who came in! Music from the Kikaida Special Song Collection played in the background, as the lights dimmed for the event...
The teaser commercial for KIKAIDA's premiere on KTSF Channel 26 kicked things off, and sequed into a Kikaida music video made by yours truly, which were well-received by the audience... I introduced the event, and told the audience that Ban Daisuke was in the house... When the cheers subsided, we presented a digest edition of the "Generation Kikaida" television special, which was also well-received by the audience... I introduced Joanne Ninomiya on stage to talk about the return of Kikaida to Hawaii, and the impending return to San Francisco, and she thanked the fans for keeping KIKAIDA alive... then, we ran a series of clips of Kikaidamania events of the last couple of years, to illustrate that Kikaida was still alive and well in Hawaii -- and coming back to San Francisco!
With that, we gave a few GK goods away, and then I introduced Ban-san on stage, and the next 30 minutes was a special "Talk Show" with the great actor, which cover some ground not touched on in other interviews... not a single person left during the 90 minute show, which well illustrated the power of KIKAIDA! At the conclusion of the talk show, I said that there was another special guest -- and Kikaida took to the stage to the strains of "Go! Go! Kikaida"! More GK merchandise was tossed out to the audience who grabbed for them as if their lives depended on it, and I thanked Ban-san for coming all the way from Japan, to a well-deserved standing ovation! Fans clamored for autographs and photos, and we announced that Ban-san and Kikaida would be appearing at the Super 7 booth at 2:30 pm -- and reminded fans to watch Kikaida on KTSF 26 starting April 16th, every Saturday at Midnight...
To be continued...
Saturday is the big day at the convention, and WonderCon had it's biggest turn-out yet -- the Exhibitors' Hall was slammed, and it was tough getting to the Super 7 booth. Ban-san got there a half-hour early, but he couldn't even sit down before being besieged by ardent Kikaidamaniacs of all ethnicities! It was truly an American Melting Pot of fans who saw Kikaida in Hawaii, San Francisco and LA (including Mark Mascott and Monty Montgomery)... even the nephew of one of the people at Mountain Apple Company showed up with his own home-made Kikaida poster (a collage of all of the Dark Destructoids)... Children and adults swaped the booth for autographs, and wanted to pose with Kikaida (thanks to Scott Tsukiyama)! WonderCon attendees, it seemed, were no strangers to Kikaida!
Folks from "Stir TV" (see on KTSF and the International Channel), came to cover the event, and arranged to shoot an interview with Ban-san the next day... there was never a dull moment at the booth, as Generation Kikaida goods flew off the Super 7 booth tables, including an exclusive Super 7 Kikaida T-Shirt (which made its debut at WonderCon)! Even conventioneers who never heard of Kikaida were curious and asked a lot of questions... complimentary copies of the 30th Anniversary Tabloid and colorful postcards heralding KIKAIDA on KTSF were handed out of everyone who stopped by... Lots of old Bay Area Kikaidamaniacs were reunited and were happy to see the return of their favorite red and blue superhero!
Sunday morning at WonderCon began around 11:30 am with the presentation "Japanese Superheroes Now!," which I and Kaiju Productions has been hosting at the convention since 1994, and was subtitled "The Return of Kikaida"... as the people filed in for the show, 60 copies of the 30th Anniversary Tabloid were handed out, and they went fast -- we didn't have enough copies for everybody who came in! Music from the Kikaida Special Song Collection played in the background, as the lights dimmed for the event...
The teaser commercial for KIKAIDA's premiere on KTSF Channel 26 kicked things off, and sequed into a Kikaida music video made by yours truly, which were well-received by the audience... I introduced the event, and told the audience that Ban Daisuke was in the house... When the cheers subsided, we presented a digest edition of the "Generation Kikaida" television special, which was also well-received by the audience... I introduced Joanne Ninomiya on stage to talk about the return of Kikaida to Hawaii, and the impending return to San Francisco, and she thanked the fans for keeping KIKAIDA alive... then, we ran a series of clips of Kikaidamania events of the last couple of years, to illustrate that Kikaida was still alive and well in Hawaii -- and coming back to San Francisco!
With that, we gave a few GK goods away, and then I introduced Ban-san on stage, and the next 30 minutes was a special "Talk Show" with the great actor, which cover some ground not touched on in other interviews... not a single person left during the 90 minute show, which well illustrated the power of KIKAIDA! At the conclusion of the talk show, I said that there was another special guest -- and Kikaida took to the stage to the strains of "Go! Go! Kikaida"! More GK merchandise was tossed out to the audience who grabbed for them as if their lives depended on it, and I thanked Ban-san for coming all the way from Japan, to a well-deserved standing ovation! Fans clamored for autographs and photos, and we announced that Ban-san and Kikaida would be appearing at the Super 7 booth at 2:30 pm -- and reminded fans to watch Kikaida on KTSF 26 starting April 16th, every Saturday at Midnight...
To be continued...
perhaps a relation to Hattori Hanpen? hee hee!