Author Caseen Gaines to attend Retro Con 2015!
We welcome pop culture author Caseen Gaines to Retro Con 2015!
Caseen is author of the book We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy, which was published this June to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the popular film franchise, as well as the year Marty travels to in Back to the Future Part II!
The book has received praise from New York Times bestselling author Ernest Cline (Ready Player One and Armada), and has been featured by NPR, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Tonight, People Magazine, and other national publications!
His first book, Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse, received the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal winner in the Popular Culture / Leisure category. Playhouse, and it’s follow up, A Christmas Story: Behind the Scenes of a Holiday Classic, which includes a foreword from Wil Wheaton, has received positive reviews from Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and journalists from The Village Voice, In Touch Weekly, VH1, and The TV Guide Network.
Caseen will have a table at the show for attendees to purchase his books and have them signed by the author. The themes of his books are perfectly in line with what Retro Con is all about, so we thank him for reaching out to us to be part of the show this year!
Caseen can be found on Facebook (www.facebook.com/caseengaines), Twitter, and Instagam (both @caseengaines), and at his own website: http://www.caseengaines.com/
Darth Bug at Retro Con!
We welcome the unique “Darth Bug” to Retro Con! Owned by Mike Buce, Darth Bug was hand-painted (*not* a vinyl wrap) by Kris Zeigler of Pottstown, PA, and is protected by a show-class clear coat. With Star Wars being extremely topical again with the upcoming sequels, we are pleased to see this car at the show!!
Look for Darth Bug in a reserved section of the front parking lot (weather-permitting)! There’s also a chance we will be able to work the car onto the main show floor. Our thanks to Mike Buce for contacting us and offering to bring his beautiful car to the show and talking shop with fellow Star Wars fans!
Eric “The Smoke” Moran at Retro Con 2015!
We welcome our good friend Eric Moran to our 2015 guest list!
Puppeteer Jim Martin to Attend Retro Con!
“Well… HELLO There!
This Gary Gnu
And The No Gnews IS Good Gnews Show!
The Only TV Program Guaranteed To Contain No Gnews Whatsoever!”
But if you were a kid in the 80’s, you most likely remember a little TV program called The Great Space Coaster. The show with the super-catchy theme song and eclectic cast of characters ran for 250 episodes from 1981 to 1986 and is still widely revered to this day. Well, Jim had the distinction of puppeteering and voicing fan-favorite “No Gnewscaster” Gary Gnu on the series!
With a tendency to add a hard “G” sound to words such as “g-naturally” and “g-nice”, in his segments Gary would introduce film clips of weird sporting events, people in silly situations, bizarre inventions, etc., and would give his own insightful commentary on them. Things would be punctuated by Gary’s “film crew” that would often heckle him and toss items into frame.
A few years ago, Jim bought the rights to The Great Space Coaster and is working hard to digitize the 2 inch reel-to-reel video tapes that contain the last remaining copies of the original series. Since TGSC is a time capsule of the 80’s, including iconic music and celebrity appearances, it is definitely worth preserving!!
Behind the scenes with Gary Gnu, plus a cameo on TGSC by Mark Hamill circa 1981!
Yo Joe! The Voice of Duke, Michael Bell, to attend Retro Con 2015!
We’d like to welcome the venerable Michael Bell to Retro Con 2015!
With nearly 60 years of professional acting experience (over 40 of them as a voice actor), Michael is a true legend in the industry! Though widely known for his voice work, you may also have seen Michael in character parts in such classic TV shows as Get Smart, The Monkees, CHiPs, Three’s Company, Charlie’s Angels, and Star Trek. Michael also ran his own voice acting workshop, which he used to train well-known voice actors such as Cam Clarke and Corey Burton, and he also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Screen Actors Guild. He is married to actress Victoria Carroll, and you may also know of their daughter, actress Ashley Bell!
Michael’s most notable role for retro fans is probably that of First Sergeant Conrad “Duke” Hauser in the Sunbow GI Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon series! He voiced the confident field leader of the Joe team in the two original miniseries, both seasons of the syndicated tv show, and in the GI Joe animated movie (1987). Though originally written to be killed off in the movie, a severe backlash over the death of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie spurred producers to spare the character of Duke. So in lieu of dying in a battle with Serpentor, Duke would slip into a coma and later reawaken.
Michael gave voice and personality to several other Joe and Cobra characters on the show too: Major Bludd, Scrap-Iron, Xamot, Blowtorch, and many more!
Mr. Bell is also popular for his work on G1 Transformers, with his most prominent role arguably being military strategist Prowl! A highly capable Autobot, Prowl was known for his straight-laced and logical personality. He also stood out with his unique police-themed robot and car design. Unfortunately, Prowl met his demise in the 1986 Transformers movie at the hands of a Decepticon raiding party while co-piloting an Autobot shuttle on its way to Earth. ☠
And just like GI Joe, Michael also provided voices for many other characters on Transformers as well! Among them were Dinobot Swoop, warrior Sideswipe, Insecticon Bombshell, and Constructicon leader Scrapper.
Other highlights in Mr. Bell’s voice acting career include: Zan of the Wonder Twins (along with space monkey Gleek), Lance and Sven on Voltron, Chas Finster on Rugrats, Handy, Grouchy, and Lazy Smurf, and Plastic Man!
Michael will be on hand all weekend to sign autographs for retro fanatics, so bring along your cartoon memorabilia! Michael is also a huge animal rights activist, so we will be donating part of the totals of the Retro Con 2015 charity auction to an animal foundation of his choice!
Win Prizes at the Retro Con 2015 Trivia Contest!
Get ready to test your mental mettle! We’ve once again combed the far reaches of our attic to find prizes for the Retro Con 2015 trivia contest!! We’ve got a huge selection of retro and retro-related items to give away at the show: Star Wars, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Transformers, GI Joe, TMNT, and a whole lot more!
Hosted once again by our good friend Mike Breaux of The Breaux Show, the contest will be held in the panel area at the convention on SUNDAY afternoon (exact time to be determined)!
No sign-up is required and there are no age restrictions, anyone can watch or play! We will reveal each item one at a time, then ask a trivia question related to it. This could also include audio or video clues. Directly afterwards we will randomly select a person in the audience that has their hand raised to answer. If they get it right, they win the prize on the spot. If not, we ask a different audience member until the prize is claimed!
The contest is completely free to all Sunday and weekend pass Retro Con attendees! So stop by and test your knowledge of all things geeky!!
“AAAAAAYYYYYY!!”
The Nostalgia Critic & Angry Video Game Nerd to attend Retro Con 2015!
We are pleased to announce the return of two Retro Con alumni for this year’s show: Doug Walker, aka The Nostalgia Critic, and James Rolfe, aka The Angry Video Game Nerd!
Though at one time they shared a faux rivalry, they’ve always remained good friends and now often collaborate on videos together. One of the more recent being an extended review of the 2014 TMNT movie!
“I remember it so you don’t have to!”
Doug Walker is best known for his video reviews as ‘The Nostalgia Critic’. The show involves the title character looking back at movies and tv shows from the 80’s and 90’s, and pointing out why they may not be quite as classic as we remember them. He also reviews newer movies, along with oddities from the past such as this crazy animated Titanic movie featuring a rapping canine! With humorous insights and a frenetic style, the show has been a huge hit since 2008 and is still going strong. You can check out his team’s work over at Channel Awesome!
“What were they thinking?!”
James is best known for his hilarious reviews of classic video games as the character ‘The Angry Video Game Nerd’, which mix together insightful commentary, over-the-top language, physical comedy, and various theatrical elements. In addition he’s made videos reviewing retro movies, toys, board games, and more. Last year he also released a feature-length movie based around his AVGN character. Check out his team’s huge body of work over at Cinemassacre.com!
Doug will be available at the show both Saturday and Sunday for autographs and pictures. He will also be hosting a Q&A panel on Sunday afternoon.
James will be at the show for autographs and pictures on **SUNDAY ONLY** and will be signing from 11am to 2pm. James will be part of the same Q&A panel as Doug at 2pm.
Michael McConnohie to Appear at Retro Con 2015!
We are excited to announce the addition of Michael McConnohie to our 2015 guest list!
A veteran in the voice acting industry for over 30 years and still going strong, Michael has been part of hundreds of projects in the field, ranging from dubbing anime, to recording for western animation, to voicing characters in video games. In addition Michael also works as a voice director and writer.
Michael’s most popular role in the retro realm is arguably that of Autobot Tracks on the original G1 Transformers cartoon!
Introduced in season 2, Tracks with his sleek (flying!) car mode, warrior skills, and flamboyant and narcissistic personality, quickly made him a favorite among Transformer fans!
Michael was also voice of the quirky UFO character Cosmos on the show! Being one of the few Autobots able to fly into space, Cosmos would sometimes lament his lonely function on the team.
Michael also voiced Cross-Country on the original Marvel/Sunbow GI Joe cartoon. Usually a polite and jovial soldier, but don’t steal his tape deck or else you’ll see his angry side!!
Some of Michael’s notable roles in dubbing include D and Left Hand in Vampire Hunter D, the lead role in Captain Harlock and the Queen From a Thousand Years, General Rolf Emerson in Robotech, Ryuken Ishida on Bleach, as well as providing the voice for Tatsu in the first two live-action TMNT movies!
Michael has several popular roles in video games as well. In the World of Warcraft series, he can be heard as the voice of Kel’Thuzad, Uther the Lightbringer, and the Lich King!
He also voiced Zhanh Liao and Zhou Tai in installments of the Dynasty Warriors series!
And he can most recently be heard in the brand new Mortal Kombat X, where he provides the voices for both Kano and Ermac!
Michael will be at the show all weekend and will be signing for attendees free of charge! We politely request that you limit your free items signed to two. We thank Mr. McConnohie for agreeing to come to the show this year!!
Larry Kenney at Retro Con 2015!
We welcome fan-favorite Larry Kenney back for Retro Con 2015!
A veteran in the world of radio and voice acting for over 40 years, Larry is of course best known to us as voice of the heroic leader of the ThunderCats, Lion-O! The popular show by Rankin/Bass Productions ran for 130 episodes across four seasons (from 1985 to 1989) and still has a staunch fan base to this day!
John Moschitta Jr. to attend Retro Con 2015!
In a rare convention appearance, we are pleased to announce that John Moschitta will be attending our 2015 show!
“America’s Favorite Fast Talker,” John has performed for eight US Presidents, recorded over 750 commercials (including his famous Federal Express ads), starred in four network television series, was featured in over a dozen movies, appeared on over 1,000 talk shows, released two best-selling audio books, and worked for over 500 corporations. He can most recently be heard on the animated series Adventure Time, Family Guy, and Robot Chicken!
“We’ve got Decepticons at the gates, Decepticons in the air, Decepticons outside the walls! Decepticons, Decepticons, Decepticons! If we beat them off the walls, they’re still in the air. If we shoot them out of the air, they’re still at the gate. So where does that leave us? Nowhere, that’s where!”
Transformers fans will of course remember John as voice of the kinetic fast-talking Autobot Blurr on the original Transformers cartoon series! Introduced in Transformers: The Movie (1986), the character continued into season 3 as a regular on the show. Though a capable and dedicated Autobot, Blurr’s effectiveness would sometimes be hampered by his incessant chatter. He was also extremely proud of his hyper speed abilities, and disappointed when he missed the opportunity to show them off.
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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 