Kaiju Monsters Invade Hollywood

In today's Wired News, a photo-report I filed from Wednesday night's Kaiju Big Battel performance in Hollywood. At left, a snapshot I took of a space insect monster dude creature whose name escapes me.


Despite the fact that combatants may look like costumed humans, event organizers maintain they're real, and warn of the danger posed to mankind by the growing threat of city-crushing beasts.

"There is an abundance of empirical evidence that the threat posed by monsters is serious and far-reaching," Kaiju Big Battel referee Jinji told Wired News. "A number of great documentaries like Godzilla have reported these historic facts in great detail. Our world leaders would be wise to pay closer attention to this under-recognized menace." (…)

Featured villains and heroes included Dr. Cube, a sinister plastic surgeon who boasts of an "unstoppable malpractice technique"; an inebriated Hell Monkey wielding a large bottle of primordial booze; a pair of freedom-fighting plantains from Central America who toted color-coordinated AK-47s; and garbage-can-dwelling Gomi-man, who spewed a rain of fetid sludge on human observers.

Link to Xeni's report and photos at Wired News: "Kaiju Monsters Invade Hollywood," Link to previous Wired News story "Monster Mashes Attract Big Masses."

See also: Link to Jason DeFillippo's superb photos of the event. This one's my favorite.

And BoingBoing reader Teresa Ortega says, "I went to Kaiju Big Battel in Los Angeles based on Xeni's post and did a write-up at my site." Link