Meet G1 Transformers Artist Mark Watts at Retro Con 2018!
We are pleased to welcome artist Mark Watts to our guest list for Retro Con 2018!
Mark attended the School of Visual Arts in NYC and Temple University in Philadelphia, and has been creating great works of art for the past 30 years! With studios in two states, Mark has worked for clients such as Disney, Budweiser, The Rolling Stones, Warner Bros Pictures, Paramount, Sony, Hasbro, Tyco, Crayola, and many more!
Mark has produced many illustrations for popular toy lines such as the Hasbro’s Transformers and Tyco’s Crash Test Dummies. Some of his most recognizable book covers were made into movies: The Odessa File, Day of the Jackal, and The Dogs of War. He also created the logo Illustration for the Clint Eastwood movie Pink Cadillac. His work has been displayed in many shows around the country and also at the prestigious Society of Illustrators Club in NYC.
Mark is responsible for some of the iconic artwork used in the G1 Transformers toy line! He did at least 45 commissioned paintings for Hasbro between the mid 80’s and early 90’s, most of which were used directly for the packaging of the products. Notable packaging illustrations he created include Shockwave, Jetfire, the Constructicons, the Stunticons, and all of the series one Minibots! He also did several paintings used for pack-in mail-away offers for the Transformers line, such as Reflector, the “Time Warrior” Autobot watch, and the Omnibots.
He strove for a metallic, forced perspective look to his Transformers paintings. This helped the characters look more exciting and “pop out” from the background. Many of his Transformers art pieces can be viewed in the book Transformers Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging, by Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster.
Mark sells high quality prints of his Transformers artwork at his website:
https://markwattsstudios.com/collections/transformer-prints
You can also purchase Mark’s slick transformable “table art” (as seen and demonstrated in the video above), featuring his Transformers work and more here:
https://www.tableartstudios.com/
Mark will have a booth in our guest section at the show all weekend, where he’ll be selling his Transformers prints, table art, and more. Meet someone that played a big part in the history of the original Transformers toy line!
Please Follow Mark Online!
Main Website: https://markwattsstudios.com/
Mark’s Table Art: https://www.tableartstudios.com/
Transformers Prints: https://markwattsstudios.com/collections/transformer-prints
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkWattsStudios/
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/TableArtStudios/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkWattsStudio
Meet Pixel Dan at Retro Con 2018!
Our next guest for Retro Con 2018 is popular toy reviewer and aficionado Pixel Dan!
“Pixel Dan” Eardley is a reviewer, reporter, and all-around toy enthusiast. Growing up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Dan enjoyed a variety of popular toys including He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, ThunderCats, Voltron, and many more. His love of toys has followed him into his adult life where he continues to collect toys both new and old. Through his popular videos on his YouTube channel, with over 200,000 subscribers, Dan shares his enthusiasm for the collecting hobby with the world.
Dan is well-known for his charismatic video reviews and has been featured on prominent toy and video game sites such as He-Man.org, RetrowareTV.com, and Toy News International. His videos include many styles such as individual action figure or toy reviews to industry news coverage and interviews with representatives from major toy companies shot on location at various events across the country.
In addition to his videos, Dan also writes articles about many topics relating to toys and the collecting hobby. He has been published on sites such as StarWars.com, where he is a regular contributor.
Dan is a believer that toys are all about fun and he aims to keep his videos exciting, informative, and most importantly FUN for all.
Follow Dan On-line!
Main Website: http://www.pixel-dan.com/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/pixel-dan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PixelDan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixelDan/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixeldan/
Meet Larry Kenney at Retro Con 2018! **SATURDAY ONLY!**
We’d like to welcome back an old friend for Retro Con 2018: Voice Actor Larry Kenney!
A veteran in the world of radio and voice acting for over 40 years, Larry is best known in the retro realm as the voice of Lion-O, Lord of the ThunderCats! Fans got to watch the character learn and grow into the confident leader of the ThunderCats team across 130 episodes of the wildly popular 80’s cartoon series by Rankin/Bass.
Larry also voiced Jackalman and Safari Joe on the show, and went on to voice Lion-O’s father Claudus in the 2011 revival of ThunderCats!
Larry did voice work for the Rankin/Bass’s follow-up cartoon series as well, Silverhawks, where he played Colonel Bluegrass, Buzzsaw, and Poker-Face.
He was also the voice of classic cereal mascots Count Chocula and Cocoa Puffs Sonny, and has been the tagline voice in the popular Skittles commercials for more than a decade now. “Exclusive the Rainbow! Taste the Rainbow!”
Larry will be at Retro Con on SATURDAY ONLY! He doesn’t travel to as many conventions these days, so don’t miss this chance to meet the voice of some of the most revered characters of all time!!
Garry Chalk to Attend Retro Con 2018! Sponsored by CNS Art!
“Well, that’s just Prime…”
Thanks to our good friend Candice Santora, we proudly welcome actor Garry Chalk to Retro Con 2018!
Garry is best known for voicing the noble leader of the Maximals, Optimus Primal, in the popular 90’s iteration of Transformers: Beast Wars! Garry voiced the character in all three seasons of the show, as well as both seasons of the follow-up series Beast Machines.
Garry is known for numerous other animated roles as well! Man-At-Arms in the 2002 Masters of the Universe series, Guts Man on the 90’s Mega Man cartoon, Pathfinder and Metal Head in the DiC GI Joe series, Grounder on 1993’s Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Optimus Prime in the 2000’s era Transformers Armada Trilogy, Slash on Reboot, and King Hippo on the Saturday morning classic Captain N: The Game Master!
Garry has also been an on-screen actor for over 30 years! You can find him in such shows and movies as Arrow, Stargate SG-1, Watchmen, Supernatural, Freddy vs Jason, Godzilla (2014), The X-Files, Psych, The Fly II, Power Rangers (2017), and many more. You can check out Garry’s wide filmography HERE!
We’d like to give a very special thanks to Candice Santora, who has very kindly offered to sponsor Garry’s trip to Retro Con!! She is the official artist for Garry and you can check out her art page HERE!
We’d also like to thank Sherry Fowler for her assistance!
Please join Garry Chalk’s official fan group on facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/chalk.fans/
Meet Gregg Berger at Retro Con 2018!
We welcome Gregg Berger as our latest guest for Retro Con 2018!
Gregg is best known for voicing the mighty leader of the Dinobots: Grimlock! He voiced the fan-favorite character in all of the G1 Transformers series, Transformers: The Movie (1986), several Transformers video games, and recently revisited the character in Machinima’s new Transformers: Power of the Primes web series!
Gregg can also be heard as Skyfire and Long Haul in G1 Transformers, Spirit and Firefly on GI Joe, Cornfed Pig on Duckman, The Gromble on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Mr. Little on The Littles, Agent K on Men in Black: The Series, and he has been the voice of lovable pooch Odie for over 35 years!
Gregg is known for on-camera work as well! You may have seen him in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (he’s even on the poster!), as well as Spaced Invaders (“They blew up our new off-ramp!”).
Gregg will be at the show both days for autographs and photo ops. Prices will be posted as we get closer to showtime.
Retro Con 2018 Tickets Now Available!
Weekend Tickets for Retro Con 2018 are now available for purchase! You can reserve your tickets through Paypal here:
https://retrocons.com/purchase-retro-con-tickets/
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Advantages of buying a weekend pass include:
-Save $10 versus buying at the door each day!
-Includes laminated Retro Con Attendee badge with lanyard!
-Complimentary 2.25″ Retro Con pin!
-We start checking in Pre-registrants at 9am on Saturday, an hour before general show opening! So consider this your “early bird” pass!!
Melendy Britt To Attend Retro Con 2018!
We’re delighted to add actress Melendy Britt to our guest list for Retro Con 2018! Melendy is best known for giving voice to one of the most iconic and empowered female characters of the 1980’s:
She-Ra, Princess of Power!!
Adora was originally a captain in the army of the Horde, a sinister group that rules over planet Etheria. Adora later discovers she is the long lost twin sister of Prince Adam of Eternia (aka He-Man), having been kidnapped as a baby by the Horde’s leader Hordak.
Renouncing her allegiance to the Horde and now vowing to defend Etheria, Princess Adora is granted the Sword of Protection. This gains her the power to transform into… She-Ra!
“For the Honor of Grayskull… I am She-Ra!”
Melendy voiced the character of She-Ra/Princess Adora throughout the show’s entire 93 episode run, plus TV specials. She also voiced other noteworthy characters on the show such as Castaspella, Mermista, Catra, Octavia, and more!
Melendy is excited over the announcement of a brand new She-Ra series coming to Netflix, and looks forward to passing the tiara to a new She-Ra voice actor.
You may have heard Melendy in other cartoons as well, such as G1 Transformers, Plastic Man, The New Adventures of Batman, Flash Gordon, and Avatar: The Last Airbender!
Follow Melendy On-line!
Main Website: http://www.melendybritt.com/
Meet the voice of Jem, Samantha Newark, at Retro Con 2018!
“Showtime, Synergy!”
We’re excited to announce our first guest for Retro Con 2018: Voice actor and singer Samantha Newark! Samha is best known for giving voice to one of the most iconic characters of the 80’s: Jem!
Through secret technology developed by her late father, young adult Jerrica Benton uses special earrings to communicate with supercomputer Synergy, allowing her to assume the holographic identity of mysterious rockstar… Jem!
As lead singer of The Holograms, the band created eclectic rock music, with much of the sale proceeds going to Starlight House, a home for orphaned and homeless girls.
Samantha voiced the character through all 65 episodes of the Sunbow cartoon series, with performer Britta Phillips providing vocals for the song portions of the show. The show was hugely popular in the mid to late 80’s, and has a devoted fanbase to this day. And recent re-airings of the series on cable have brought new fans into the fold!
Samantha also took part in one of the most significant episodes of the G1 Transformers cartoon. She voiced Autobot “Ariel” in Wardawn, a flashback episode that revealed the origin of legendary Autobot Leader Optimus Prime! Ariel herself would later be rebuilt into the powerful leader of the female Autobots: Elita-One!
Another noteworthy project of Samantha’s was performing lead vocals for the song “In Your Eyes” from the classic 1986 anime film Project A-ko! The song was included in both the original japanese and international versions of the movie.
And for an added treat, Samantha has kindly agreed to be a guest judge this year at Retro Con’s annual Truly Outrageous Karaoke Contest, making this year’s contest Truly, Truly, Truly Outrageous!!
Follow Samantha on-line!
Main Website: https://www.samanthanewark.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samanthanewarkofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthanewarkofficial/
Retro Con 2017 Wrap-Up
Retro Con 2017 has come and gone and we’re happy to report it was a resounding success!
We’d like to thank all of our amazing and friendly guests, the vendors with their impressive variety of retro and retro-inspired merchandise, all of our spirited attendees, the costume groups that always bring their A game, the Cybertronic Spree band for rocking the place, the tv/movie car owners for bringing their vehicles out, the video game exhibitors, our excellent A/V crew, the press outlets and photographers that covered the show, our sponsors, everyone that donated to the charity projects at the show, the expo center staff, and everyone that helped add to the show by dressing up in costume! As we always like to say, we supply the sandbox, but it’s what YOU bring that ultimately gives the show its true atmosphere.
And of course we owe immeasurable gratitude to all of our staffers and volunteers! This show would not be possible without your invaluable help, and for stepping in for us when we get overwhelmed or called away. We feel extremely fortunate to have such devoted friends in our corner.
Our staff and volunteers for the year included: Dee Marie, Nick Govosdian, Mike Colasanti, Mike Breaux, Nagi Oki, Jim Cannon, Kristy Sproul, Gary Lane, TJ Becker, Jack Doud, Wayne Kline, Matt Burkit, Anthony Kyzer, Kevin Jones, Chris Scheetz, Charles Piner, Candice Santora, Nate Kipphorn, Joe Fiore, Trick Treat, Logan Moran, Wendy Wassmer, Brandon Wassmer, Robyn Locatelli, Matt March, Courtney March, Mike Townsend, Zach Townsend, Chris Sweeney, Greg Hammaker, Dean Plakas, Tim Plakas, Rob Brand, Greg Boyle, and Kyle Williamson!
Stay tuned, info for Retro Con 2018 is coming very soon!! In the meantime, please check out our gallery of highlights from the show this year (beware, this is a big gallery!):
https://retrocons.com/2017-highlights/
Our thanks once again to everyone that attended Retro Con 2017!!
Win a Super Nintendo Classic Edition at Retro Con 2017!
We have secured a brand new Super Nintendo Classic Edition for the Retro Con 2017 raffle!
Pre-loaded with 21 classic titles (including Super Mario World, Zelda III, F-Zero and many more), this currently hard to find game system will be raffled off on Sunday afternoon at the show. One lucky winner will take it!!
We’ll also be raffling off one of last year’s NES Classic Editions at the show!
Check out our other fantastic raffle items for 2017 here:
PRE-REG HAS ENDED! BUY AT DOOR!
Vendor Table Info Below!
Sponsors!
Retro Con would like to thank all those that helped to sponsor this show!
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98.5 WXPM The Phoenix
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The Retro Network
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Rediscover The 80s
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Friends of Retro Con!
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The Breaux Show
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Fandom Spotlite
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Toy Spotlite
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The Very Best
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retrocons.com 