G-Fest 2026 “WOW!” Award Winner
Mick Haklin
Winning the "WOW!” award was such an unexpected but wonderful honor. It means so much that my effort was recognized by my fellow model builders. Thank you all!
I was told Robert would have liked my work on Gwangi and that's such a huge compliment. I've always enjoyed talking with him and sharing our love for the hobby. I've already started work on a kit from his collection and will have it ready for next G-fest. I think he'd be proud!!
Honorable Mention
Charles Dunphy
When I think of Robert, I think of someone who gave everything to his dioramas. After he passed, I picked up his Kaibutsu-ya Trauma Gamera, the Ryu Oyama sculpt that’s long been my favorite, and knew I had to do it justice the way he would’ve: big, bold, visceral.
I built “Ayana’s Nightmare” around that short, terrifying scene from the 1999 Gamera film. Custom scorched buildings like the apartment where Ayana’s parents died, her watching from a car across the street. Explosions rigged with tea lights in cotton-and-wire skeletons, every LED buried in the XPS foam base. To make Gamera the center of the nightmare, I burned one building in half and fixed the flaming top section in his hand with an explosion ripping through the split, then hit him with OSL so the firelight lands on his skin.
I’ve created something I’m proud of—an effort honored by Kaiju Kastle—and one I believe Robert would have appreciated.
WonderFest 2026 “WOW!” Award Winners
From top left: Matt Lawrence and Eric Hamilton present Bryan Powell (center) with the "WOW" Award for Kaiju Innovation for his Kaiju build “Gamera 2.”
This year Kaiju Kastle presented four “WOW!” awards in Modeling Innovation. Rebecca LaClair won for her amazing piece—and paint—of “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
David O’Shea won in the Modeling Innovation category for his artwork with a special shoutout to his lighting of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Mothership/Devil’s Tower.”
Another winner took home an award for “Monster of the Bride.”
In the Young Adult category of Modeling Innovation, the “WOW!” award went to the diorama, “Gunner/Walker.”