Retro Con returned this year on September 25 & 26, bringing the best in vintage toys, retro-inspired collectibles, and throwback experiences! Held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, this year’s con boasted hundreds of vendor tables full of retro action figures, playsets, video games, model kits, plushes, posters, Lego sets, and so much more! Let’s take a look at what happened this year at Retro Con (and be sure to check out the full photo gallery here as well as the video recap at the end of this article)!
If you’ve never attended Retro Con before, brace yourself for the ultimate blast from the past! There are items you’ll remember having as a kid, items you wished you had, and even items you might have already passed down to your own children! It’s a fantastic show for all ages because many toys from the 70s & 80s (like Masters of the Universe) are making a comeback today! And with manufacturers like Hasbro and Mattel reviving retro packaging for modern collectibles, everybody gets to be a kid again… and you can find it all at Retro Con!
It’s the perfect place to finish your collection and to connect with fellow enthusiasts. Whether your focus is Kenner Star Wars, Takara Transformers, key issue comic books, or vintage View-Masters, Retro Con’s got it all! A lot of fan-favorite vendors returned, as well as vendors you may have already heard of: Collectible Kingdom, The Big Kid Store, Perry County Hobbies, Geek Boy Press, and hundreds more!
And not only could you buy all kinds of video games, consoles, emulators and accessories of all generations (even Arcade1up cabs), but thanks to The Game Is Afoot Arcade, attendees could free-play on cabinets all weekend long: Pac-Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Centipede, Super Mario Bros., Spy Hunter… and we’re only getting started!
This year’s cosplay was on point! In addition to the professional cosplay stations by the 501st Legion, GI Joe Finest, and Keystone Ghostbusters (not to mention the iconic replicas of the 1966 Batmobile, 007 Lotus Espirit, and JP18 Jeep), many passionate costumers were roaming the show floor, taking pics with fans, and picking up retro goodies for themselves. And many participated in the Cosplay Contest on Saturday, which was just one of the weekend’s selection of panels. Other events at Retro Con included a trivia contest, retro t-shirt contest, a Cybertronic Spree concert, amazing raffles (prizes included Transformers, MOTU Castle Grayskull, Star Wars sets, GI Joe Snakes Eyes, and TMNT), and Q&A’s with the celebrity guests.
If you’re a fan of throwback pop culture, then you’ll love the guests Retro Con brings in! Some of this year’s guests were Terry Kiser, George Lowe, Ian James Corlett, and Dan Gilvezan (above, signing a reissue Bumblebee Transformer in retro packaging). Though all the guests had prints to sign at their table, many fans brought their own cherished belongings to get signed as well: DVD sets, statues, prop replicas, original art, you name it! And speaking of original art, you can definitely find talented artists all across the convention floor:
Check out the incredible detail put into this napkin art of X-Men’s Jean Grey (Phoenix) by The Napkin Guy! He and the other artists at the con like Eli Ramos, Yacu Malik, Tim Aichele, and K8-Bit were selling art on all types of mediums: prints, pixel art, etched glass, and even jewelry.
And trust me, the list goes on and on… autographed photos, vintage magazines, VHS/DVD’s, D&D pieces, Pokemon & other TCG, Pez Dispensers, Hot Wheels, Power Rangers, Funko Pops, and even Japanese imports! You seriously won’t believe all that you can find at Retro Con until you see it with your own eyes. So check out some more photos here as well as the recap below, and stay tuned for Retro Con 2022 announcements!
LesDudis 