RetroCon Interviews with BJ Ward and Garry Chalk

Marc and Greg were actually TOGETHER at RetroCon 2018, for only the 3rd time ever! And what an occasion for the hosts of Let's Voltron: The Official Voltron Podcast to combine like Voltron! We are honored to have RetroCon interviews and panel coverage with BJ Ward (Allura and Haggar - Voltron: DOTU and Voltron: The Third Dimension) and Garry Chalk (Sky Marshall Wade and Manset - Voltron Force)!

RetroCon takes place in the fall in Oaks, PA, at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center every year, thanks to the organizers and founders, Rose and Tony Tuski (far left, kneeling, above picture), and a slew of volunteers. Thanks to Rose and Tony, who invited special guests, BJ Ward and Garry Chalk, we now have a couple interviews with voice actors from 3 previous Voltron series, prior to Voltron Legendary Defender, which makes this whole podcast a Retro Voltron segment!

BJ Ward, who has a 40-year career in voice acting, opera singing, and children's book writing (Farty Marty), is best known for her roles as Scarlet from G.I. Joe, Allura and Haggar from Voltron: Defender of the Universe, and Velma from Scooby-Doo, among hundreds more.

Garry Chalk, who has just as long a career as BJ, in both live-action and animated series and movies, is best known as Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal in Transformers: Cybertron and Transformers: Beast Wars, and also as Insp. Andrew Pawlachuk in Cold Squad, and Man at Arms in Masters of the Universe (He-Man), but we remember his roles as Sky Marshall Wade and Manset from Voltron Force the best.

We are very honored to have been able to have spent some time with both BJ Ward and Garry Chalk to talk about their amazing careers, and to hang out with other Voltron fans while we enjoyed RetroCon weekend in Oaks, PA.

Pixel Dan, another guest of Rose and Tony, has reviewed lots of Voltron toys on his YouTube Channel. We were happy to meet him at RetroCon!

On Saturday, we had a blast hanging out with Mel (@melmeiko), who we met for the first time, even though she's been on the podcast a few times.

And, on Sunday, we hung out with Windy C. (@windsweptzariel), another fan we've known from social media and the podcast, but had never physically met before.

We also met Nicole Schatten for the first time, whom we've known as a big Voltron fan from Facebook.

There were also lots of Voltron merchandise for sale by vendors at RetroCon, and Marc picked up a Trendmasters Cyber Sentinel Voltron for $5, and a Trendmasters Allura figure from Voltron: The Third Dimension, which he had signed by BJ Ward.

Greg picked up the Holy Grail of 2 scripts signed by the cast of the original Voltron series, personally donated by Neil Ross (Keith/Pidge) for charity. He also had BJ Ward's book, Farty Marty, signed by the author herself!

Overall, RetroCon was a ton of fun! We didn't win any of the raffle prizes that were given away both days, but there were some cool Voltron prizes available!

The winner of the adult costume contest at RetroCon was Quicksilver, the leader of the Silverhawks from the cartoon of the same name. Here he is, pictured, below:

We also want to share with you Josh Keaton's VLOG from NYCC. We got a little choked up watching it, because it has meant so much to us that Josh Keaton is our Shiro and our Space Dad, and he is going to miss recording Shiro and going out to promote the show as much as we've enjoyed watching the show and meeting him at the cons. Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Josh! Here is that link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C74YwlXrWL4

"Dungeons and Voltron" is making its final quest at the Let's Voltron store! In 10 days, this awesome mashup design is retiring, and will no longer be available in our store. So, this is your last chance to get this amazing design by K-Lionheart, and at an awesome price - only $15!

https://www.teepublic.com/campaign/248-dungeons-and-voltron-retiring-campaign/t-shirt?ref_id=5313

As Always, Thank you for Listening! Let's Voltron!