Howdy there, Scream Freaks! It’s that time of year ‘gain — Retro Toy Con! And what a knee slappin’ blast it was! We returned as celebrity guests fer the South’s greatest toy show ’round and once ‘gain had the honor of emceeing the whole weekend ‘long with bein’ the exclusive host of the various panel discussions. Sweet exposure, right? Yessir, it was three days of unforgettable moments, bountiful toy huntin’, and friendships forged in plastic!
First off, thank ya kindly to every Scream Freak who made it a point to come out and give us a holler at our table! That’s always the highlight of these shows fer us, and we love yakkin’ with each one of ya. We upgraded our presence with Screaming Soup! playin’ on our biggest TV yet, had our Deadwest prop out fer countless picture opportunities, and was hard sellin’ our Screaming Soup! Fan Club Kits ‘long with pin-up prints we sell on the side of gals from ’80s cartoons.
As far as the toy scene was concerned, this was one terrific mix of vendors and collections ya had to see to disbelieve thanks to Retro Toy Con’s mindful screenin’ process. Ensurin’ there’s somethin’ fer everyone, there weren’t just miles of the usual big name IPs but booths blown out with Jem dolls and Barbies, multiple bins full o’ M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, Body Wars playsets on card, numerous board games I ain’t never heard of, and too many pop culture lunch boxes to count. The most desirable thing I saw, however, wasn’t even a toy, but the iconic She-Hulk funny book with splash page after splash page of her jump ropin’ in her birthday suit. Woulda snagged it off the showcase shelf then and there, but I make it a habit to not buy comics priced at a $100 and up!
Needless to say, the most fun had over the weekend was with the celebrity guests who proved to be some of the coolest top shelf talents anyone could ask fer. We got to partner up with the incredible WWE hall of famer “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart fer a few promotional announcements, got a surprise visit from Eddie Deezen, share a laugh or two with Daniel “Boba Feet” Logan and the stars of the live action Ninja Turtles movies Ernie Reyes Jr (Donatello/Keno), Paige Turco (April), and Kevin Clash who graced the con with some Splinter quotes over the announcements, and we even mingled a bit with two HUGE guests from Japan — Godzilla suit actors Tsutomu Kitagawa and Hurricane Ryu! They were a hoot durin’ their exclusive Godzilla dinner fer top payin’ fans, and had the whole room cheerin’ when they took center stage and acted out their interpretations of each Godzilla performance through the different eras of the movies. Even cooler, they were drawin’ up a storm at their table all weekend with beautiful hand inked kaiju art which Godzilla fans gobbled up like hotcakes. What can’t these guys do?!
The biggest takeaway fer us this weekend came unexpectedly. Our neighbors on the celebrity wall happen to be former room mates turned Hollywood suit actors and stunt men, Kevin Foster and Chris Daniels. Kevin’s been gainin’ alotta traction lately fer playin’ Freddy in Five Nights at Freddy’s and wrangled Chris into the convention scene on account o’ him playin’ Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man double in the Sam Raimi flicks. These guys were so much fun and incredibly down to Earth jokesters who’d answer any question a fan had whether it was ’bout the lore of one of their films or how comfortable their costumes were. Chris was so cool, he even allowed us the embarrassment of losin’ to him in an arm wrasslin’ match we’re at least proud to say lasted a couple o’ minutes. Gatherin’ crowds of onlookers cheered us on, folks told Chris to win fer Uncle Ben, and someone even tried to give us the advantage of a backwards hat as we did our best contorted Stallone face outta Over the Top. Despite the inevitable defeat that left us with an arm so tired we could barely hold our announcer’s mike fer the next hour, we still feel like we went the distance, and can honestly tell folks that excitin’ time we arm wrassled the real Spider-Man fer the rest of our days. But lose or not, we got Chris back when we scared the bajeebers outta him when we made him think we were ’bout to bring Arn and Brock Anderson over to challenge him after we started announcin’ Chris as Retro Toy Con’s arm wrasslin’ champ the rest of the weekend.
Other folks worth mentionin’ are the amazin’ authors we met and hosted panels fer this weekend who took it upon ’emselves to publish some uber sweet guide books on collectin’ everyone should know ’bout. There’s Retro Toy Quest’s Toy Collector’s Wish Book Vol 1-2 that showcases the history of short lived toy lines from the ’80s with interviews and articles with the talents behind their productions. The Art of GIJoe Omnibus that’s a coffee table of a tome slammed with high res art of all kinds of GIJoe masterpieces from the packagin’ art to story books and more that’s easily worth the $150 it’s askin’ fer. The Hall of Omens – The Unofficial Guide to the Thundercats Toys and Beyond which is a top notch accomplishment in self publishin’ from rockin’ author Sean “Buddha” McKeone which even features the most in depth info ever compiled on the Thundercats Live Action Tour from the ’80s. And the After Action Report books chroniclin’ the history of the G.I.Joe comics from their many different eras by Josh Eggebeen & Roger Taft.
So, as ya can read, it’s been a looong fun packed weekend. Throw in cosplay contests, karaoke, lobby swappin’, folks sellin’ toys outta their hotel rooms after hours, exclusive celebrity dinners . . .
Oh, and Big Announcement! Thanks to the roarin’ success of Retro Toy Con, the brains behind the operation had me pluggin’ their newest event planned fer September 2025 — Retro Horror Con! That’s right, startin’ next year, the South’s got an all new location fer horror, and it’s gonna be Retro Horror Con in Greenville, SC with none other than yer favorite animated horror host on the roster and the mike as emcee. What could be better than a horror host hostin’ a horror convention packed with hoards of scary collectibles and horror hall o’ famers from the silver scream? More details are comin’ soon, and we’ll keep ya up to date as they come in.
Endless thanks to all our amigos at Toy Federation, the toy store responsible fer puttin’ on Retro Toy Con. Ya treat everyone like stars, and we’re thankful fer all you do fer us.
Other than that, please show your support for our show with donations through Patreon, Buy Me A Coffee, and Ko-fi, purchase Screaming Soup! Fan Club Kits and exclusive merch, come meet us in person at Retro Toy Con November 22-24 in Greenville, SC, catch up on all past Screaming Soup! Seasons, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent bite-size reviews for the newer horror films we’re checkin’ out in our blog R-Rated Reviews, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets (are they still called that?), subscribe to our video channels, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail comin’. You can also warm up some Screaming Soup! leftovers with reruns currently playin’ on Beta Max TV, Sluggo’s The Vortexx, and Mr. Lobo‘s OSI 74 .
See ya later, Scream Freaks!
Screaming Soup! 