Kaiju Brooklyn 2026! The Kaiju Convention of the Year!
- Frank Laudato
- Feb 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 1
We sat down with John Bellotti Jr. the artist known as Robo7 and founder of Kaiju Brooklyn to talk Kaiju Brooklyn and many other things.
During our interview we bounced across a wide range of topics. Of course, Ultraman came up as John is one of the only artists in the United States to hold the Ultraman license, producing incredible officially licensed artwork for his T-shirts. But the heart of our discussion centered on his latest and most ambitious project yet, Kaiju Brooklyn, the kaiju convention he founded alongside Anthony Marino of brooklynOne Productions.
This year marks the fourth major Kaiju Brooklyn convention not counting the mini-Ultraman event during 2024’s New York Comic Con, the Godzilla Birthday celebration, and last Halloween’s Heisei-era Gamera marathon. With each event Kaiju Brooklyn has grown larger and better. And with that growth we discussed the new challenges, logistics and moving parts and more people needed behind the scenes. That’s why the team continues to expand, recently bringing in Lillie Andrick as an event coordinator to help grow the convention’s reach, proving a welcoming community, and continuing to build Kaiju Brooklyn into the must attend show for fans of Kaiju and Tokusatsu.
In our opinion, this is not just a convention for fans in New York or even the tri-state area, this is a convention kaiju fans from across the country should be making the trip for. Kaiju Brooklyn calls Industry City home, a massive creative hub spanning eight city-block-sized former factory buildings, now transformed into multi-floor spaces packed with various businesses, restaurants, bars, bakeries and specialty shops. You’ll find everything from a Bandai Namco Gashapon shop to Japan Village, which genuinely feels like stepping into a Japanese marketplace, complete with tucked-away food stalls, grocery items, snacks, and drinks you won’t find just anywhere. The setting alone makes Kaiju Brooklyn feel different this isn’t a generic convention center experience. It’s a destination unlike any other.
Kaiju Brooklyn began in a small theater on the first floor of Industry City for its inaugural event. By the second convention, it had expanded outward, utilizing additional spaces throughout the complex for panels and programming. By the third show, the convention moved upstairs into a significantly larger room that more than tripled the event’s size, while still using the original theater space for panels. Card tournaments and additional events including karaoke, cosplay contest, and more were held throughout other parts of Industry City, transforming the venue into a fully immersive, interconnected toku takeover!
With Industry City just a short drive away for us, this convention means a lot on a personal level. Kaiju Brooklyn is our dream “hometown” convention. Growing up in New York, we always dreamed of being able to attend a Kaiju convention. When the comic convention boom hit, we’d scour convention floors hunting for artists or vendors selling kaiju or tokusatsu themed merch. Most of the time, it was slim pickings maybe a Godzilla print here or a random figure there. In our interview with John, he shared that he had the same experience Kaiju and Tokusatsu themed things were obscure slim pickings growing up through the 80s, 90s, and even early 2000s. Even with the cons John had felt the same way and that frustration planted a seed: what if there was a convention where you didn’t have to hunt for the things you loved? What if every artist and vendor had exactly what you were looking for? You walk in and find yourself stopping at every single table with art, toys, and collectibles that you dream to see in your collection.
That’s what Kaiju Brooklyn has become. You walk in, and instead of searching for the one kaiju table hidden in the corner, you find yourself stopping at every single booth art,toys, collectibles, apparel, passion projects like indie comics, tabletop games. It’s the kind of show where the things you used to dream about adding to your collection are suddenly everywhere plus there is some obscure stuff you never knew existed thanks to vendors who aren’t just sellers, but passionate fans themselves. It’s a convention floor curated by people who genuinely love kaiju and tokusatsu as much as the attendees do, and that energy is felt at every table.
Last year, with the show bigger and better than ever, Kaiju Brooklyn honestly felt like a family reunion for us. We got to meet so many artist that we've follow and talk with on social media that felt like those online friends you never met. It was really cool getting to talk to Henshin John, Andy Vanerbilt, Gazbot and so many other artist. Kaiju Brooklyn is so open to artist where other cons have surprisingly been difficult on the artist community. Artist aren't an afterthought here they're front and center. We had vendors like Mike from Vampire Robots and as well the entire Muteki Sales crew that we love to see at local shows repping Kaiju the right way. This convention had such a sense of community it was amazing
Then there are celebrities like Ultraman Rising & Godzilla Singular Point voice actor Keone Young who we met prior to Kaiju Brooklyn at another con who we helped make hotel and train recommendations for when he was filming on Long Island and NYC. Linda Miller was sweetheart and we got the chance to talk to her then reunite her with artist Nick Shev when she saw we had brought over his King Kong Escapes print to be signed that she had commissioned years back, she was so excited and had no clue he was at the con, so we escorted her to his table. These were some memorable experiences from last year's amazing show making it such a special event.
And to top it all off, the day ended with something truly historic that felt amazing to be a part of the U.S. and world premiere of the English dub of Ultraman Arc movie not seen anywhere before this convention a truly special moment!
Now on to this year. The announcements have been rolling out daily over the past few weeks, and there are some big ones. As many fans know and are sad to hear there is no Ultraman Omega film this year, so there won’t be an Ultraman premiere at the show. However, Kaiju Brooklyn is still bringing the heat with a special screening of Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019) with an introduction from Godzilla himself TJ Storm! Other impressive celebrity guest we will see are Wayne Grayson, the English voice actor for the Ultraman Tiga Dub, and our buddy Keone Young will be returning for his third Kaiju Brooklyn event! Some heavy hitter actors for some cool films & TV Shows.
With Wayne Grayson and Keone Young helping fill that Ultraman void this year, the spirit of Ultraman will still be very present at Kaiju Brooklyn with John's shirts as well as an Ultraman TCG tournament.
Beyond Ultraman, the weekend is packed with standout events and activities. The Tokucade will be set up near Fort Hamilton Distillery, while Gun Hill Publick House returns with special Kaiju Brooklyn–branded beers for the weekend. Gun Hill will also serve as the host venue for the Tokyo Bronx Kaiju Lounge, which if it’s anything like last year means karaoke, tokusatsu and kaiju soundtracks playing all day, and who knows what else they have planned.
On the cosplay front, there will be a cosplay contest hosted by voice actor and cosplayer Aaimztako. Additionally on the cosplay front Project Nautilus will be onsite know with their screen accurate Godzilla (2002) suit!
On the creator front so far announced, we have legendary artist sculptor James Groman, you may have seen tons of his figure sculpts and not realized but they are incredible! Additionally, artist Tom Whalen be there Saturday only he has producted tons of incredible posters for Mondo, Godzilla, Ultraman and so many other properties from Disney to Megaman, Transformers, DC, Looney Tunes.
This is just the tip of the Kaiju sized iceberg! So, look out for more even more announcements from Kaiju Brooklyn in the coming weeks. Tickets go on sale March 1st (Here), so make sure you grab yours early, especially for the Godzilla Screening with T.J. Storm! I am sure that will be a packed-out theater!
We truly hope to see everyone at Kaiju Brooklyn! To us Kaiju Brooklyn isn't just a convention it is shared memories, moments and connections with fellow fans of the kaiju & tokusatsu community you will never forget. It is a weekend that we still talk about all year to this day. With this convention meaning so much to us on a personal level we went a step further to support it by becoming an official community partner to further support the work that goes into making Kaiju Brooklyn possible.
For even more insight into the heart behind Kaiju Brooklyn, be sure to watch our full interview with John Bellotti Jr. below.
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