Retro Con 2021 Review

Another Retro Con is in the books! It was our privilege again this year to cover the nostalgic convention in Oaks, PA which took place this past weekend. A great time was had by all attendees who entered the doors of Hall C at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and witnessed the wall-to-wall toys, collectibles, and entertainment.

This was the fifth time in the past seven years we visited Retro Con and it was every bit as good as previous years. It is truly hard to rank each visit as each show has a unique flavor (beyond the endless vendor tables.) While Jason and Wyatt teamed-up as usual to cover the show, Jason welcomed his 16-year old son to his first Retro Con experience. We also got to meet some friends from The Retro Network for the first time in person.

If you want an audio presentation of this year's show, Jason and Wyatt recorded a new episode of the Rediscover The 80s Podcast! Listen to us walk through our 2-day journey which included the Cybertronic Spree concert on Saturday night!

If you haven't connected yet with our podcast feed, visit our podcast page or simply search for "Rediscover the 80s" in your favorite app like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or TuneIn. You can also stream this episode below or watch our recording session below on YouTube.

Walkthrough

Want to know exactly what Retro Con is like? Check out this short walkthrough video that Jason filmed on Sunday.

Cosplay

We saw some terrific cosplay this year. Transformers, Star Wars, and my personal favorite G.I. Joe's Finest were mingling among the crowd on both days.

    

    

    

Toys & Collectibles

As always, the main attraction were all the retro toys and collectibles scattered across the 200+ vendor tables. Check out Jason's haul video and some of the other rarities snapped while roaming Hall C.

    

    

    

    

Tim Clarke, creator of the Boglins, was on hand with new merch!

Hollywood Cars

Also at the show were plenty of nostalgic rides including one that we had never met before, a white Lotus Esprit similar to what was featured in the 1997 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

Celebrity Encounter

My pal Tim, who you know as Old School Tim from the interviews published on RD80s, is an autograph collector so I took the opportunity to get a picture signed by Terry Kiser. Most of you will remember him as Bernie in Weekend at Bernie's but he also made several guest appearances on TV shows like Night Court, The Golden Girls, Three's Company, and many more.

I decided to ask him about his appearance on the television series 227 which also featured a guest appearance by Paul Reubens as Pee-Wee Herman. Kiser leaned back in his chair from signing the picture and laughed. He then proceeded to tell me that he smoked a cigarette with Reubens. They both smoked at the time and Reubens did not want kids to see him smoking since he hosted the popular children's show Pee-Wee's Playhouse. So during a break from filming, the two actors grabbed a smoke break together.

Final Thoughts

Much appreciation goes out to Tony and Rose, the event coordinators, and all of the Retro Con staff who put on another great show this year. It was very exciting as usual and we cannot wait to cover next year's show!

But wait, there's more from this year's show! Jason is part of the Thrift Store Horde on TRN TV which met in person for the first time at Retro Con. Be looking for a shared haul video coming soon to the channel featuring several items Adam and Kevin picked up and more from Jason's haul.