Retro Con 2022 Will Be A Thundercats Reunion and Much More!

Retro Con will be celebrating 10 years of toy nostalgia in 2022! This year's show dates will be September 24-25, 2022 at its normal venue, the Greater Philly Expo Center in Oaks' PA. Weekend passes are already available and the show hours will be 10am-5:30pm on Saturday and 9am-4pm on Sunday. Weekend passes are just $28 in advance with daily admission available at the door (kids 12 and under are free with paying adult!) Weekend passes also come with a collectible 10th anniversary pin!

While we are still several months away, several guests have already been announced for the 2022 show including several voice actors from the original Thundercats animated series!

Larry Kenney

Larry is best known for voicing iconic 80’s hero Lion-O on Thundercats with possibly the greatest intro song of all time. Larry also voiced Jackalman and Safari Joe on the series, as well as Bluegrass, Buzzsaw, and Poker-Face on the Rankin/Bass follow-up series Silverhawks.

Adding to his eclectic list of characters, Larry also voiced classic cereal mascots Count Chocula and Cocoa Puffs Sonny, the Chief on Teen Titans Go (with a cameo as Lion-O in one episode!), JB Cripps on Red Dead Online, and is even the voice of Skittles Candy! “Retro the Rainbow! Taste the Rainbow!"

Lynne Lipton

Retro Con has been chasing Lynne Lipton since the first show in 2012 which is rather appropriate given her character on Thundercats. Lynne is best known for voicing the bo-staff wielding speedster Cheetara on the classic '80s animated series. A favorite since episode one, the character has since transcended the Thundercats cartoon and toy line and gone on to become a pop culture icon (and a “cartoon crush” for many).

An actor of great versatility, Lynne actually voiced ALL the female characters on the first season of the ThunderCats show! These include the likes of the mischievous WilyKit, as well as Mumm-Rana, Queen Tatara, Ro-Bear Belle, Luna, and the popular recurring character Mandora the Evil Chaser!

Peter Newman

Rounding out the Thundercats reunion is actor Peter Newman! Peter was the voice of Tygra, second-in-command of the ThunderCats Nobles. Architect and scientist of the group, Tygra was the designer of the majestic Cats Lair, and possessed the power of invisibility, as well as the ability to create illusions with his mind. Like many in the cast, Peter also voiced other principal characters on the show. These include the evil mutant Monkian, the ThunderCats' resident blacksmith Bengali, and WilyKit’s partner in mischief WilyKat!

Wings of silver, Nerves of steel! Peter also got to take the lead on Rankin/Bass’ follow-up series ‘SilverHawks’, where he played the fearless leader of the team: Quicksilver! He also voiced Mumbo Jumbo and Timestopper.

Micky Dolenz

Retro Con welcomes the legendary Micky Dolenz! Alongside Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, and Peter Tork, Micky is best known as the vocalist and drummer for the 1960s pop group sensation The Monkees!

Originally conceived as a 1966 sitcom (and a bit of a “riff” on the Beatles), the cast of the Monkees brought along a presence all their own, quickly becoming a full-fledged rock band by 1967. With such mega-hit songs as “Last Train to Clarksville”, “I’m a Believer”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, and “Daydream Believer”, this eclectic band sold more than 75 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling music groups of all time!

Venus Terzo

Venus is known for voicing such popular characters as Blackarachnia on Beast Wars, and female-type Ranma on the english dub of Ranma 1/2! She also played Princess Lana on Captain N: The Game Master, Jean Grey on X-Men Evolution, B-ko in the Project A-ko series, Wedy on Death Note, and numerous other roles in the world of anime and western animation.

Venus is an onscreen actor as well! You can catch her in Stephen King’s It (1990), Sliders, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, the Dead Zone, Psych, Supernatural, Skyscraper, and most recently in the recurring role of Dr. Elisa Schwartz on CW’s Arrow!

Tim Clarke

Retro Con welcomes back toy and puppet designer Tim Clarke! Once known as the “King of Gross” due to his penchant for inventing toys with wonderfully grotesque designs and gimmicks, Tim is the co-creator of cult favorite 1980s toylines Sectaurs and Boglins! Though we might have to promote Boglins from “cult toyline” back to full “hit toyline”, because they’ve been back in full force for the past year and a half. In fact Tim sold out of his entire stock of Boglins by early Saturday afternoon at the show last year, having to rely on stock from another vendor to keep him going.

Tim started his career designing and building puppets for the Jim Henson Company, most notably the Mystics and Slaves he sculpted and designed for The Dark Crystal. He also worked on puppets for Sesame Street, the Muppet Show, and for Fraggle Rock where he created Traveling Matt!

K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider

This September marks the 40th Anniversary of the classic 1980s action series Knight Rider and the Knight Rider Historians Youtube channel will be making a “shadowy flight” to Retro Con to celebrate in style… and bringing a screen-used K.I.T.T. with them!

The team at Knight Rider Historians are dedicated to promoting the legacy of Knight Rider every way possible. From interviews with cast and crew, to episode commentaries, to unraveling show mysteries, to tracking down and preserving screen-used props from the series. In fact, they possess the world’s largest collection of Knight Rider props! Knight Rider Historians and K.I.T.T. will be at the show all weekend, and photo ops with the car will be available for a fee. Now’s your chance to be Michael Knight!

KRH’s front man Joe will be joining us at Retro Con, and bringing along a screen-used KITT! This piece of tv history was used for stunts in seasons 3 & 4 of the show. While roughly 25 KITTs were used in the creation of the series, only 5 are known to remain. This is one of those surviving cars, saved from a terrible junkyard fate and restored to its former glory. In recent years, this KITT has been seen on an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, and was even reunited with The Hoff himself on Good Morning America in 2019!

We will pass along more announcements for Retro Con 2022 as we approach the show! Stay tuned to RD80s and follow the official Retro Con 2022 Event Page on Facebook for all the latest information. RD80s contributors and podcast team Jason and Wyatt are tentatively planning to be at the show for both days this year so we hope to see you in September!