A Shocker at Voltcon! (ft. Andy Alam)

[00:00:01] The most thrilling, spitingly series ever From the pages of Ariel Stein's best-selling books And the screens go on forever and ever We now return to Goosebumps

[00:00:18] Welcome back to another episode of The Goosebumps Crew

[00:01:02] This is Shawlin, right here That down here, that's down there for you, that is Hayden And this person right up in here Depending on where you're looking at His name is Andy, and he is with Voltcon Voltcon is a convention that is in Indianapolis And, you know, thankfully There's still a lot of love and fandom out there For not just the Voltcons Voltron, seriously, I about said Voltron Oh my gosh, Voltron

[00:01:31] It rolls off the tongue, I love it It does, I'm telling you But I was not aware of this convention actually beforehand So I would like to introduce Andy And Andy, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself And Voltcon Well, thank you so much for having us on We are really ecstatic to have you and the team over Because I just think that there's a lot of crossover Between fans of, especially Voltron, The Third Dimension And Goosebumps

[00:02:00] So kind of to backtrack a little bit So Voltcon started in 2019 We Kind of just did it off Based off of The Gem Convention The individual that started at Kevin He Went to the Gem Convention He's like, I want to do this with my favorite thing Which is Voltron And so He started to get things together And then I ended up meeting him at Indie PopCon

[00:02:29] When he was doing the initial promotions Back in 2019 And then Folks just kind of hit it off And He ended up contacting At that time it was World Events Productions Now known as WEP Who owns Voltron And he's like, I want to do this thing And They were like We want you to do this thing We We'll get behind you 100% And so it's really cool You know That he was able to get their blessing And then go forward And

[00:02:58] You know The first convention was Just kind of Just throwing it out there Seeing if anyone would show up And then Hundreds of people showed up And Then The pandemic happened And We kind of just wondered If It would even happen And You know This is when I kind of stepped Into Some roles In the board That was more than just Getting food there We

[00:03:28] Started to Figure out Some of the Oddities That the pandemic provided But we were able to pull off The convention in 2020 And then We knew we had something So It is It's kind of a cool Amalgamation Of a convention But also a family reunion Because Only A small percentage Of the people That come to VoltCon

[00:03:57] Are local Most people are coming from All across The United States But they have this love For This show That has had At this juncture Five iterations And With the live action movie Coming out next year It just keeps growing So we're Excited to Also welcome in Some other elements So you all with Goosebumps We're bringing in Some Star Trek stuff We already had Robotech The Transformers movie And some of the folks

[00:04:26] That we have At the convention That are writers Actors Things of the sort They Worked on a lot Of those parallel Properties So like Transformers and Voltron Have a lot of crossover When it comes to Writers Actors You know You can look it up On IMDB And directors And so it just Ended up being A perfect fit Where every year We've just kind of Expanded it A little bit more A little bit more First year It was very Voltron

[00:04:56] Focused Year two Was pandemic So we were kind of Feeling things out And then after that It just grew and grew Macross Robotech Transformers Now That I am The operations director I wanted to bring in More of the 90s Influences Because my favorite Voltron is Voltron third dimension Which came out In the late 90s Me being a millennial Goosebumps Is like right in that Vein Which is so cool

[00:05:25] Yeah that's very Awesome I Like So Full disclosure Like I know Voltron I'm not like Super adept in it But I Am with Transformers Like that was my Thing growing up It's the first thing I found I remember the You know Finding the Dinobot SOS VHS In the Video store And I'm like Oh that looks so cool And I watched it And I just I've been a huge Transformers fan Ever since So

[00:05:54] When Voltron And Goosebumps Kind of You know Came together Goosebumps crew I was like You know I was like I don't know If we really Fit your convention On Voltron But I'm glad You mentioned That you Are now Kind of Expanding out Kind of like What we've done Here at the podcast You know We started With just Goosebumps But now We Kind of Dive into Other Horror Aspects as well Like you know Are you afraid Of the dark Or movies Or Really anything So It's really neat To see

[00:06:24] An evolution Like that Come about And the fact That there's Going to be Transformers There now I'm just Like Even geeking Out even More Yes Coming there Because again Living in Indiana As you know There's not A lot Of Transformers Love It seems Like Around here As far as Conventions Go Which is Surprising But yes I agree Yeah Which is Very surprising But You know I

[00:06:54] For one Like Very Very Thankful At least There's A convention Out there That

[00:07:27] That And this Year Is actually The 2016 Version Of Voltron Which came Out on Netflix So it's Called Voltron Legendary Defender That one Was pretty Good I enjoyed It anyway I'm not Sure how The fandom Of Voltron Would Love it Or not But I Thought it Was good They love It So In a lot Of people's Opinions It is The best From start To finish That is Out there

[00:07:56] When it Comes to Continuity Congruence Storytelling And then The overall Arc That's Really cool I kind of Thought at First maybe Like Because like With anything When something Gets a new Iteration It's always Compared to The originals That are out There that Just a lot Of them Just can't Be touched Right But I Will say There I think a Lot of it Can depend On when You grow up But it's Also how Open-minded

[00:08:25] You can be About a New iteration Of something Of your Favorite Franchise Goosebumps Is no Exception You know It's went Through the Movies Which you Know overall Have a general Consensus of Enjoyment for Goosebumps Fans but Then you get The Disney Plus show That kind of Was very Divisive Amongst fans My feelings On that Are well Known on This podcast We won't Go into It But it's

[00:08:55] Very Interesting To see How they Try to Keep These Franchises Alive Over time And like I said I enjoyed The Netflix Series Transformers Had one Too On Netflix I really Enjoyed That too It was a Very unique Take on Transformers And how It was Able to Combine It to Like Beast Wars And other Things was Really Interesting You know The Bayverse A lot of People there And you Talk about A live Action Voltron Movie That's Coming Which I Thought I Heard about But I Hadn't Really seen Anything

[00:09:25] For it In a While So As of Right Now So slated For Q2 Of next Year Okay So It is Coming Out The film Is Right Now Just in A little Bit of Flux On whether It's Coming Out In Theaters Or on Streaming A lot Of that Is Actually Contingent Upon Some of The Interplay Contracts Between Like The people That are Producing The toys And things

[00:09:55] Like that But it Will Hit Next Year And it Is Everything That we've Seen And of Course There's Going to Be Announcements At Volt Con We're Really Excited About it It's A really Fun Take The Director Which is The same Director As like Dodgeball He is A fan Of Voltron And so It's Really cool That someone That loves The IP Is In the Driver's Seat Of this

[00:10:24] Newest Iteration Yeah That's Extremely Rare Yeah Because I Feel that's What happened With In my Opinion Anyway The Goosebumps Movies And the Disney Plus Show Even though The movies Were enjoyable It didn't Quite have That Goosebumps Feel And then The Disney Plus show Just went Off the rails Completely But I mean It's because They didn't Have People who Really knew The franchise Like They were

[00:10:54] Probably just Hired To do this So If you Can Voltron And Could do A Transformers One Two A new One Of that Like I Would That would Be so Cool That would Be so Epic I mean Obviously We wouldn't Have Peter Cullen Anymore You know Recipes To him That was A huge Loss In the Transformers Community It was It wasn't Voltron Even For his Age

[00:11:24] I was Going to Ask if He did Anything For Voltron He Actually In the Original Series Was First Off So He's The First Voice You Hear He's The Narrator Of The Mythos He's Also Like The Mentor The Mentor Character For The Team He Was That Voice As Well And He Also Then Was In The So Voltron Is Weird Because Season One Season Two Aired At The Same Time

[00:11:54] And It Was Voltron With The Lions And Vehicle Voltron So He Did Voices On Both Of Those Original Iterations That's Cool I See I I Know Like A Chunk Of His Work But Not Everything Of Course Because Voice Actors They Just Span Over So Much Stuff You Know Another Prime Example Frank Welker Like A lot Of Stuff He's Done And I Know Only Probably A Small Portion Because He's Just Done

[00:12:24] So Much Or Mark Hamill Even Everybody Is Like Luke Skywalker And I Was Always Like No The Joker Joker Yep You Unrecognizable When He Did His Voices Unless It Was The Predator Would Have Never Thought That Was Him Until I Found That

[00:12:54] That's That's Only Because He's Not Really Talking But Still Yeah I Mean So A Love Of Voltron Brought This Convention About And We Understand That We We've Been Trying To Throw Something Together For Goose Bumps For A While It's Always Come Down To Finances Though We We We We We

[00:13:25] We've Tried Multiple Avenues And Our Co-host Isn't Here Unfortunately He's Having A Little Bit Of Health Issues But Even He's Sunk Quite A bit Of Money Into One Time Into An Investor List Trying To We Had Everything Else In Place It Has Always Just Been Finances And You Know Unfortunately We I like A lot Of Things You Know Conventions Are Not Easy To

[00:13:54] Start For The Most Part No There's A lot Of Red Tape That What Some Things With VoltCon You Know That You've Learned Over The Years From When You Started To What You Are Doing Now

[00:14:24] So You Know The Biggest Wrench Especially In Our Timeline Was The Pandemic Because It Was Year Two It Definitely Had Us Reassess What Elements Of The Convention We Really Liked And That's Why You Know True For Majority Of Us That You Know Have Helped Put On The Show Year After Year After Year Has Been

[00:14:55] Building Community Like Even In Those Spaces Building Community And What Facilitates That The Most Effectively So You Know There's Some Things That We Have Cut Back On Change You Know The Biggest Thing I Tell Folks Is Location Location Location Location Like The Great Thing About Indianapolis Is Over 80% Of The Population Of The United States Is Within One Day's Drive Of Indianapolis

[00:15:25] And And That's Classified As 12 Hours Or Less And So Because Of It Being The Crossroads Of America We've Kind Of Been At A Really Neat Precipice Of Being Able To Gather Those Folks Like We Have People That Drive From Utah That Drive From Wyoming Here But Then We Also Had To Change Our Venue Our Original Venue Was On So In Indianapolis

[00:15:55] The Airports On The Western Part We Were Running The Show On The Eastern Side Of The City But It Proved To Be A Challenge For A Lot Of The Folks That Flew In So Now Where We Have It Is Proximal To The Airport So That Way People Can Just Fly In They Can Take The Shuttle And Then For You Food That Was One Of The Things That We Kind Have

[00:16:24] Fell Into Was The Eating Like You Know I Have Kids Going To A Convention You Lose Hours Trying To Eat So That's Why At Our Convention We Provide The Food So We Do Have Ways That Gives More Opportunity For That Community Building

[00:16:54] Which Is Really Our End Goal The Way That We Ran Programming Has Changed Drastically Because Having Panels That Are Overlapping With Each Other In Different Are Once Again Does Not Lend Itself Well To The Community Building So We Have A More Dynamic Scheduling Where Nothing Is Overlapping At The Exact Same Time There

[00:17:24] Is Some Things That Overlap Just Based On This Has Got To Start At 15 Minutes After This Has Got To Start On The Hours Things Of The Sort But There's Not Too Much Overlap On Those Timings So It That You Would To You Know

[00:17:54] Invest Some Amount Of Engagement With As The Weekend Progresses VIP Is Also Another Area That Has Taken A Lot Of A Lot Of Reflecting And Adapting Because There's No Template You know When it Comes to Conventions There Is A Little Bit Of A Formula Where It's Like You Have Informatic You Have Panels You Have Cosplay You

[00:18:24] Have Vendors So On So Forth But When it Comes to VIP Stuff We Wanted To Make Sure That No One Felt Left Out We Still Offer Things That Are Specific For The VIPs But It's Nothing That Is Drastic To Take Away Or Detract From Your Convention Experience And So I Think We've Not Quite Hit It But We're Getting Close To That Balance Point

[00:18:54] I Like The Way That You Guys Go About It For Sure Like It's It We're We're To Do Our Damn Best To Make Sure That You Guys Enjoy It As Much As We Do And Thank You

[00:19:24] Thank You So Much For Being Cognizant Because That's What We've Tried To Do Because I'll Just Never Forget You Know Just Sitting Down It Was 2022 Sitting Down With Flint Dill From The Transformers Movie And We're Just Sitting At The Same Table Like Just Talking You Know It's Not Person That Grew Up With His Work And Then You Know The Artist It Was Just Two People Sharing Space Sharing A Meal And I Was Just Like How Do We Cultivate More Of This

[00:19:54] No I We Totally Get That You Know Every Time I'm Doing A Convention With Tim Somewhere We Always Make Sure To Get Dinner Together And It's Not Just Because You Know I Grew Up With His Artwork And I Love His Stuff It's Because He's Actually A Friend Now And Like I Don't Let Let Him Know This Anybody Out There I Actually Really Enjoy Spending Time With Him And To Chat With Him

[00:20:24] That's Our Little Rapport We Like To Poke The Bear At Each Other Quite A Bit That's How You Know It's A Good Friendship When You Instead He Saw Me He Was Like Hey You Want To Come And Do The Panel With Me I Was Like Tim I Came To Heckle Bro But I Guess I Can Do It's

[00:20:56] Just One Of Those Really Neat Dynamics That Happen When You Realize They Love The Franchise As Much As You Do And They Appreciate It And They Just Share In That Same Community With You Because No Matter Like What Photos You See Of Tim Out There He Might Be Having A Crummy Day But You'll Never Know It Every Every Picture With Fans That I See He's Always He's Got A Smile He's Got His Arm Around Them They're Just They Look Like Their Buds And That's What I Think

[00:21:26] Is So Great About Some Of These Communities And You Know Goosebumps Is One Of Them It Sounds Like You've Definitely Established That With Your You Sure About That I Like That Not A Typo Right Because No Other Convention Does That No Other Convention Does That

[00:21:57] Literally That's The First Time I've Ever Heard That I Mean Sure Like Celebrity Guests Will Get Per Diems Per Day And Don't Don't Don't So It's Just One Of Those Things It's Really Interesting And Really Cool

[00:22:27] So I Would Say That Like You Said This 2019 So Math But You Know It's Like I Wouldn't Count To 2020 Year Really Since You Guys Didn't Do One That Year We Did We Actually Did Oh You Did Do One In 2020 Yeah We Did That's That's Actually What Solidified A Lot of what we did just because we were able to adhere to all of the, at that time, prescribed

[00:22:54] social practices that kept everyone safe. And it was wild. Like, you know, having to, we measured all the chairs six foot away from each other. We had all of different spaces and yeah, you know, that it helped us because, you know, now we're in year technically year-wise seven, but it's the eighth one. Right. Yeah. And that's what I was trying to figure out.

[00:23:21] For some reason, I don't know, maybe I missed that. I was like, I kind of thought 2020 presented the challenges for so many. And because of lockdowns and everything else, I kind of figured you probably weren't doing one that year. So it presents a challenge when you kind of break momentum like that, especially for a very early, you know, newly constructed convention because most don't make it out of their first year. Like their first year is a make or break year. So the fact that

[00:23:46] you guys are now technically going to your eighth one coming up, that's really exciting. So looking forward to seeing how this grows now that you've kind of, I would say expanded your universe to more outside influences like goosebumps. So very looking forward to coming there and maybe in the future we can bring some goosebumps guests along with us too. So you, yeah, we're going to,

[00:24:15] we're going to keep that dialogue open because next year, just there's a lot more opportunities with everything that's happening. So we'll be able to kind of, as we help you with your communities, you're helping us with our communities. I think that there's going to be some, some cool pathways to, you know, help enhance that overlap. Yeah. And I, and I think that's a hundred percent awesome. And that's something that,

[00:24:44] you know, and I love the whole like concept of what you do with your convention is exactly what we wanted to do when we started our like little business Scareelastic, which we tried to couple with, like I mentioned earlier with Midnight Media Entertainment, who as a agent for a lot of those goosebumps guests, you know, we work alongside them trying to boost that fan experience for that reason. Like we, we don't even do it for, for money. I mean,

[00:25:12] like it's literally just out of a love of the franchise and a love of like these actors and what they provided to us from that time. And, you know, just basically like a thank you, you know, but we want to give fans that really awesome experience too. And, uh, any chance to do that with any fandom is pretty amazing. I think a lot of conventions lose sight of that though. And it's more focused on the bottom dollar, which don't get me wrong. You have to look at that bottom dollar

[00:25:42] too. Like there is no if, ands or buts because without that, you don't get a next year. Right. But I think a lot of the passion goes out for that, which is why, like, you know, when you said you guys are doing that, like, yeah, I was all, I'm all for like keeping in contact with like good people basically. Yeah, for sure. Really look out for, for their community of fans because without that, I mean, without the fans, without guests, you got nothing. I mean,

[00:26:11] that's crazy to me that people don't think about that. They just think, oh, well we, we do this. People will come anyway. And kind of like Caden said, like the formula for conventions is practically all the same. So when you get something different, it's a nice breath of fresh air because otherwise, yeah, you could go to conventions every day and you just, it's the same thing every

[00:26:35] time. Walk around, get your autograph, get your photos, buy your merch, get some food and head out. Maybe go catch a panel or cosplay, but it's the same formula for every convention. Right. And that's, and that's why I really wanted us to start to stand out in those ways where it's just like, we're, we understand that there's an expectation level with that formula, but we wanted

[00:27:00] to kind of push the boundaries on those just even further where it's like, even our vendor experience, we wanted it to be more integrated into them experiencing the convention as well. So it's like we have, you know, you don't have to sit at their table the whole day. We have special times, special things set up. So those folks can engage in the convention experience as well.

[00:27:27] And then that's why, you know, it's like we cut, we have times we cut it off and it's just like, Hey, any of you that are in, you know, that are vendors, you get all of these perks, just like a participant, come on a party with us because the vendors too, you know, a lot of, if they're creating Voltron art, they obviously have some tie to Voltron as a creative piece of their development.

[00:27:54] And so it's just like, yeah, I want to incorporate vendors too. Cause I've been a vendor at, you know, this, this year alone, I've been a vendor at over 17 conventions and I don't see anyone do what we do. No, like I said, it's a very unique thing. And that's what I, I think makes conventions stand out

[00:28:20] and last because if you just do the same formula, yeah, you, you might be there, but you'll never have like memorable experiences to give people, you know, I mean, they'll remember meeting so-and-so and they'll know where it was, but that's it. You know, basically you're just a name associated with the person they wanted to meet, but if you can make it an experience for them, you're remembered

[00:28:45] for much more than that. So it's, it's very important to us too, for, for that reason and why we do what we do. And people are surprised like, well, you know, we're not really monetized. We're not big enough. Goosebumps as a franchise is big, but it's not massive, massive, like it was in the nineties, you know? So a lot of people think that, you know, just cause we're, we're on YouTube,

[00:29:09] we, we just make all this money and we make it rain. And it's like, no, no, we do not. It's like a lot of our, a lot of our stuff is just for the love of it and the passion for it. And, you know, we just try to keep that goosebumped community alive through that. So we try to offer the same thing, something unique experiences. And, uh, you know, I really hope we can bring something

[00:29:32] unique to, to VoltCon for sure. Um, I think it'll be a lot of fun. Um, you know, Hayden, I know lives in Kansas city. He will not be there. Unfortunately. We'll miss you. Yeah. Well, um, so one of the things we're doing this year, which, um, so we're actually going to do simulcasts of all of the panels that we can do. So if you want to essentially be there digitally, um, those ones

[00:29:59] will be on our YouTube. So I'm in the process of getting all of that set up. But, um, I think cause you're going to be Nick, you're going to be on the one with, with me and who all else is going to be there. I'll find out. But I think that one that's like 2 PM on Sunday, which is the podcast central. I think you're going to be on that with me. So we'll make sure to live stream that one. Sweet. And then we'll make sure to export audio. I don't know. Uh, Hayden, are you the editor?

[00:30:29] Yes. Yeah. I'll be, I'll send you the raw audio. So that way you can post it as part of your, uh, and I can get the video to you. So that way you can post it with your stuff. Awesome. Well, you know, yeah, they're so good at maintaining and cultivating community. And so it's like, we want to give you all as much support as we can. Well, yeah, we definitely appreciate that for sure.

[00:30:56] I, like I said, it's just like having, and Nick, you, we have the same experience at curse city con, you know, like when we, when you have these not small, but like more intimate conventions that are more focused around one central topic. That's where I feel like you truly have the best experience. Cause like, you know, it's just so unique of an experience that,

[00:31:26] you know, something like a bigger convention, like San Diego comic-con may not be able to, to give you, um, just because you're there and you, you get to spend more time with the guests that are there. You can spend more time with the community, that kind of stuff. So it's, I just love the, the concept of, of these, uh, more niche conventions. Yeah. I mean, cause, uh, you really

[00:31:52] don't get that. I mean, cause I mean, we saw it with Indiana comic-con, like we had, we had a pretty good amount come to our table and a few fans of the podcast and stuff like that, who we got to talk to and hang out with. And, you know, we did our giveaway and everything else, but curse city con, um, was in San Antonio, Texas. It was our first con we ever did together. Wow. And it was one that it was only their second year or third year, I think it was second year, second year. So they

[00:32:22] were very new too. Um, and their headliner was RL Stein and they had Avery Jones, the puppeteer for slappy in the movies. And he's, he's been a friend of the podcast for a while too. And he's actually the one that hooked us up there. So really it's all about who, you know, anymore. To get, to get in the door, but, um, you know, thankfully Jesus, the showrunner gave us a chance there and now we have a great relationship with him. Uh, curse city con didn't come back this year,

[00:32:50] but they are next year. And I know we're talking with them too, about doing something, uh, in the future as well. Um, and that experience was one in a million. I think it wasn't meant to be a goosebumps convention, but because it was smaller and it had so many goosebumps guests, it kind of felt that way because, you know, we were able to get, um, Tim, Tim there. Uh, we were able to get Morgan Taylor, a voice actor for the goosebumps video game that was

[00:33:19] out at the time. Um, Jack lens, we were able to get him there and Craig white, another goosebumps artists. So him and, uh, Tim had never actually been together at a con before. Craig's never done a con prior to that. Actually. Wow. That's a very unique experience for goosebumps fans all around. Cause Jack even played the goosebumps theme and live, which he had never done before. Apparently,

[00:33:44] which shocks me like how 30 years of this super popular song from a nineties kid show, like, have you not been requested to play this before? But so they had to go buy him like a, uh, electronic keyboard or, uh, Cal wasn't there to do the dog. So I had the honor of being the dog.

[00:34:07] That's so cool. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's such a unique experience. Um, and the fact that everybody there was just goosebumps fans. So you could just talk to anybody. Like, I think all of us just were talking all day long to people, but you won't get that anywhere else except for a small niche kind of conventions like that. Um, it's, it's really a one of a kind of experience. So that's what we're

[00:34:33] trying to bring, uh, with our own little goosebumps con event thing. Uh, at some point in the future, hopefully we'll, uh, we'll see. But for now, I mean, we just, we love to support other conventions, um, make those connections and, uh, you know, help, helps us grow, helps the goosebumps community grow, helps other, you know, communities grow too. Like I mean, yeah, it does. There might be somebody

[00:35:02] listening to us who you might not even just, you don't have to be in the Indy area or Indiana as a whole. Like you said, people come from all over, which is really awesome to hear because I think what's, um, I read, I read the, what the capacity was like how many guests I think you, you typically get for the weekend. Um, and it's only capped because of the capacity at the venue. Is that, is that

[00:35:25] correct? Um, so it's actually a little bit of both. Like if as of right now from us as, you know, really the folks that are helping, you know, put the pieces together, if we expand more than 500 people, at least right now with who we have, we, we wouldn't be able to facilitate it. Like we could

[00:35:49] expand further into the venue, but we feel like that 500 is the maximum that we could still provide an excellent level of experience to at least right now in this capacity that could change. But right now 500 is all we could do. Right. I mean, my, my goal is, as operation out though,

[00:36:13] right. You guys sell out pretty much for the weekend though. Right. Yep. Yep. Limited ticket quantities and stuff like that. I assume. Yeah. With people traveling from all over, they got to get their stuff early, you know? So, yep. And it's like right now where I just opened up some more room block because we had a few more people from out of state be like, Hey, we need some more

[00:36:40] up some more. And that's, and that's why I really liked the numbers is because I want to make sure as I, as operations director can know every person by name. And when you start going over 500, it's just like right now, it's not necessarily feasible. I could do it, but we would need to build a little bit more. Oh, geez. If you can do 500, holy moly. I'm like, I'm going to get like 10.

[00:37:09] I'm sitting here. And when you said that, I'm sitting here thinking about like everybody that I went to elementary school with and like trying to remember names. I'm like, there's no way. There's no way. Yeah. That's a talent right there. I, there, there ain't no way I could barely remember what I did yesterday, let alone, you know, trying to remember that many people. Yeah. Well, uh, I mean, overall, I mean, what, um, like, have you had like any, uh, favorite guests appear there from Voltron?

[00:37:38] So, um, I always really enjoy which, uh, Jeremy Coray is coming back. He was one of the producers for Voltron Legendary Defender. He's just really awesome. Like his stage delivery is always just so funny. He loves the, the way that the community has been built around, you know, something that, you know, they were doing something for Netflix. It's like, we didn't, he didn't know how it would

[00:38:06] grow, how people would receive it. And so always loved Jeremy. And then, uh, Neil Ross, um, um, was also a top tier just because he had done so much of the other media that I consume. Like today, I literally, I'm a huge soul reaver fan. I just got all of my Kickstarter for like the new soul reaver. Like they did the new remasters of the game and then they released a whole bunch of

[00:38:31] stuff. So I have like the, the mask and of Asriel and all that stuff. So it's a Raziel. So it's really, it's really, really cool. So there's two, two sound at standouts for me personally. Uh, who do you got on the lineup, uh, for this one that's coming up? So Jeremy Coray, um, uh, unfortunately, um, co-fod had another obligation because this is something that we're looking at next year.

[00:39:01] Um, we're going to make sure not to have it on New York comic con weekend because that caused three of the guests not to be able to come, but we have some of the writers and producers for all of the iteration of the show, as well as the individual that is spearheading all of the Voltron projects, which his name is Bob Coppler. And so he's really are like big, big person because he is bringing us all the information about the live action movie and things like that.

[00:39:32] Awesome. Yeah. I bet you that I know for me, I'd be excited to hear about all that too. Like with the live action film, um, because I don't know something about like seeing one of your favorite animations when we were a child as a live action, just it hits different. I still remember seeing the Oh seven transformers. Like when you first see like, you know, blackout transform on the military

[00:39:56] base, you're like, Holy crap. Cause seeing that live action is just from a cartoon is just, it's a wild transition. So I, I don't know, like to me that to hear inside details potentially on what's coming up. Cause I mean, have they said like, uh, for that Voltron film, if it's like, if it's based on a certain generation or.

[00:40:20] So it has influences from all of the iterations of Voltron, um, formulaically, it's going to be more akin to the original version. Um, there's only a few iterations that have deviated from that formula, but it's definitely, you're going to have your five pilots. You're going to have your mentors and the people that help out at the central location. And then you'll

[00:40:50] have the empire or the alien race that they are fighting against. Yeah. I really hope it does well. I mean, it kind of underperformed, but I enjoyed the He-Man movie for what it was. Um, you know, just for whatever reason, it seems like a lot of the, the live action stuff lately is, has not been doing well. And I'm not really sure why that is. If it's just the writing, if it's the fandom, it's kind of hard to say because again,

[00:41:18] fandoms are very tricky as we all know, I mean, right. Everybody has their favorite iterations of that franchise and what they expect to see in a new version of it. And if you don't see that immediately, it's just garbage for some reason. Uh, so it, fandoms are very picky, thickly. And all, as we all know, and I just don't know about the Voltron one, but I assume it's just the same

[00:41:43] as the rest of them. You know, it's like, you know, we're lucky because the, the original iteration technically had two versions from the start. So the way that it aired here in the U S because they weren't done with the episodes, they aired the first three episodes of season one and the first three or four episodes of season two back to back. So there's already two different iterations.

[00:42:07] One's a big vehicle, you know, 15 vehicles. One's the five lions, which is the more recognizable one to the, uh, American populace. But it's like, you already had the foundational where there's like, Oh, there's more than one version of Voltron. So that's lucky, but it'll be interesting to see because I think like He-Man, there's so many versions of He-Man. Now there's so many versions of Voltron. So it's like, if it doesn't adhere to the one that you really galvanized with at an early

[00:42:37] age, it'll be intriguing to see, do you really like it? And I think that they're doing a good job of incorporating as much as they can while still delivering a good story. But you know, the populace will tell. I guess that kind of goes into my next question of like, as somebody I've never seen anything regarding Voltron as somebody who's into horror and goosebumps and nineties nostalgia, I've heard of

[00:43:06] it, but I haven't watched it. So with your recommendation, what is the first one that I should start with that would, that you think would be the best iteration? Voltron Legendary Defender, hands down, hands down. When it comes to, if you, especially now how we consume things, you know, binging or, you know, doing it in a more consolidated time span,

[00:43:31] VLD is the way to do it. It is, they give you some pieces of the past, but it is a real, real clear and concise storyline that has just phenomenal acting and the animation's great. And that's the one on Netflix, right? It was on Netflix. Now it's on a few different things and you can also buy it at Voltron as well

[00:43:56] as if you want the physical copy, or we always suggest that you go to the Voltron store, which is the official, um, everything that's Voltron kind of funnels through that store. So if you want things from the folks, go to the Voltron store. Nice. Yeah. I'm always a proponent for physical media. You can't see it because it's dark, but this is all steelbooks on this shelf, always down for physical media. It's superior in every way.

[00:44:24] So yes, it is. No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my DVDs. I can't even display it all. Some of it's in the closet and totes. I basically have a little video store here now. That's so brilliant. Which I, I, uh, I, I hate that physical media is making its way out. Uh, we've talked about it a little bit on the podcast before, but like, you know, when Sony announced they're not going to have physical media for their games, uh, like I think it started 20, 28. Yeah. There's a lot

[00:44:54] of pushback on that now. Maybe they'll change their minds, but even like my Walmart, like they really downsize their physical media section. And we didn't even get the, uh, the regular Halloween section that they do every year for like the horror movies and stuff that have like new glow in the dark covers or whatever. Uh, some Walmart still have it, but I asked mine, I was like, when are we getting this? And they're like, we're not like, they really shrunk down our physical media is like,

[00:45:21] that's all I get over here. And we're not even going to end cap of it. I'm like, cool. It's like, well, for physical media people, I mean, it's getting tougher and tougher. Yeah, it is. And the fact that you even offer physical media like is phenomenal. So I, I a hundred percent behind it. It's kind of like people with trunk or treat. I don't support that at all. I feel trick or treating

[00:45:47] is the way to go. I'm very old school in that sense. Uh, but physical media, I feel should never go away because it, it really lends itself to like what you even just mentioned. Like when we said Voltron on Netflix, but maybe it's not there now, it's kind of the thing, like you're paying for these streaming services to watch things, but they're not always going to be there. Right. And

[00:46:13] then even, even if you buy a movie, which I actually just found out maybe a couple months ago, that service can remove it. You don't have access to it anymore. So even though you bought it and you own it, you can't even watch it anymore. Right. And the same can go for video games that they're doing digitally now and everything else. So it's, it's kind of wild for me. I, I enjoy the,

[00:46:39] or the concept of ownership is always going to be like top tier, but like even just, I know that it's not related to anything, but like the artwork on a steel book, it's, it's just having something that you can physically hold and look at and there's actual design elements to it. You know, stuff like that is you just don't get that anymore. You know, you don't get that with,

[00:47:04] you know, an online little thumbnail that's on the, on the screen, having something you can physically hold and see. And there's some of these have art cards and stuff in them of concept art from, from the show or from the movie, like different things like that are just so cool, you know? So yeah. And that really, yeah. Like when you get all those neat extra stuff,

[00:47:29] I have more than what I should have when it comes to collector stuff. Cause I mean, I never do anything. I just like to display it. Like the dark night rises had that really cool broken cowl of Batman. Yeah. I have that. I'm like, I have the, I have like the trilogy collection of the dark night and it's like all three and it's got a vehicle from each one. So like the first, it's got a Tumblr, the bat pod, and then the, um, I think it's the helicopter bat. Yeah.

[00:47:57] The bat. And it's little die cast models. It's like shit like that is so cool. You know, it's just so, so cool. And like, even this one, this is Deadpool and it's got like a bunch of stickers that you can like decorate your own Deadpool with. It's just physical media is top tier. I don't want to, I'll get off my soapbox, but it really is top tier.

[00:48:20] Yeah. We, we could talk about that for hours. I'm sure just because we're physical media diehards over here for me, it's just because again, uh, you know, born in 85 and grew up in the nineties, all that, the video stores, the nostalgia of it all actually like having that in your hand, it's kind of like a book. Like I can't read a book on a tablet or anything. Like I actually need

[00:48:45] a book, but that's just a personal preference. But I also like the, the feel, the smell, like the texture of the book, especially the goosebumps ones. Cause they got those little goosebumps race covers, you know, got the little bumps. I gotta have it. You know, you ain't going to get that on, you know, a tablet. That's craziness. Nope. So, I mean, for me, yeah, I, I absolutely love that. But, um, with the, with Volcon though,

[00:49:13] I mean like, what are some of the, uh, the highlights you've had over the years, uh, with Volcon? I mean, was there ever anything that stands out as like, you know, can't believe this happened or, you know, can't believe we got this guest or can't believe, you know, just something that kind of stands out as a, as a memory. Cause I feel like every, you know, con if you, especially if you do them as often as you guys have, uh, going now into your eighth, uh, you know,

[00:49:40] you might have some that kind of stand out. Well, definitely the one, you know, it's like having supper, just, you know, talking with, with Flint Dill was just a top tier experience, just cause it's just like, he was just so cool. We're just hanging out, you know, sharing pasta. So it's like, that was really a standout experience. And then, uh, another really

[00:50:06] standout experience for me is finding out. So my favorite iteration is Voltron, the third dimension, which came out in the late nineties. Um, it turns out that one of the producers, um, she is still with Voltron. And so I, you know, and then like, all of a sudden I look at the, you know, the back of one of the few VHSs that I have. And I was like, wait, that's Tiff. I was just

[00:50:36] like, Holy smokes. Like we hang out with Tiff every, every year. It's like, you know, our kids talk, all that stuff. And come to find out she was one of the producers and helped do everything with the Voltron third dimension. And so that was a really cool moment. It like was a culmination. I was just like, wow, I've just been hanging out with this person like the whole time. You know, now she's since like signed all my toys, all that stuff. And it's just, that's sick.

[00:51:02] And she was just, how, uh, how, uh, how big is the collection you have? I know we don't see it in the background, but I know as any collector, uh, you definitely got to have the space for it somewhere. So I have, you have a pretty extensive collection. So I have every single release of Voltron, the third dimension. So I have everything, I have everything, all the toys that were released.

[00:51:30] Um, when it comes to Voltrons, um, you know, I have the Lego one, so I have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 different combinable Voltrons. Uh, so it's, it's wild. It takes a mental. That's cool. No, I get it. That's why I asked is like, we're, we're all collectors here and, uh, you know, the, the enemy of a collector is space.

[00:51:58] Yeah. Uh, so, cause I mean, I, it's not just goosebumps I love. I mean, so I like to talk about other people's collections, see what they have. Cause you know, obviously I have Transformers, Jurassic Park, Power Rangers, uh, you know, bunch of, bunch of other things. It's just, there's no room for it, man. There's no room for it. I'm out of space. Right. So some of it's still in Toads and I rotate it out, but, uh, yeah, we'll have to, uh, we'll have to take a sneak peek

[00:52:26] at your collection sometime. Maybe you'll have to show us. Oh yeah. I'll, I'll take some photos cause it's, it's wild. Much, much to the family chagrin or enjoyment. It's our, I have a whole like sweeping shelving unit that goes through our den. And so every, every shelf is Voltron. So that's sick. Nice. So outside Voltron, uh, what are some other hot, like fandoms

[00:52:50] that you really like enjoy? Cause I listed a few of mine here, but reboot. Okay. Huge. Um, the dark crystal, you know, huge ones that I'm into, um, star Wars, you know, I, you know, first forays star Wars. So yeah. So those, those would probably be like top tier power Rangers

[00:53:13] also power Rangers tattoo. I don't know. Oh, brilliant. Yep. That's so cool to have the coin like that. See, that's awesome. You may need to come down. So I'm one of the, um, I'm one of the board members for Ranger, uh, Ranger stop and pop Atlanta. So you may have to come down next year.

[00:53:38] Yeah. I haven't been to, uh, like a full on Ranger stop. I I've been to like, uh, when they kind of appear other cons and they have a little station, they'll usually have like, uh, you know, Catherine and Nakia or actually or somebody. Um, yeah. Yeah. Just like any in Comic-Con or, um, uh, Lexington. I used to go to the Lexington, uh, convention quite a bit. Cause they used to do

[00:54:04] power Rangers a lot in the beginning. Um, they've kind of dwindled down a little bit, but you know, that's where I met JDF and Austin St. John and Johnny young Bosch and so many other, I know, man, like his passing really like, especially around the same time, Kevin Conroy, man, that was a rough, that was a rough go for me. That was a rough November, rough November. Yeah. That was a, that was a rough go for me. How losing two of my like huge influences. Um, so I mean, I mean,

[00:54:31] like it is, uh, one of my top favorite things. Like I was like, what power Rangers growing up? Like when I was a kid, have you ever watched you Ranger? Yes. Like what it's based on. I love it. Oh yeah. I love it. But like, see, I, and I actually started off with jet, with jet man, and then went to shoe Ranger and then kind of, you know, went to the, you know, kind of went chronologically through there. Yeah. G ranger is so different, but I love it so much. Like it's

[00:54:59] actually as an adult, I love it more than the power Rangers show growing up. Obviously, like as a kid, I would have not understood what was happening in G rangers. So, you know, very thankful power rangers came first for me. Right. Uh, cause it is a drastic difference out there folks. If you watch one from the other, it might be taking footage from one, but it is not the same storyline.

[00:55:22] And that parallels a lot of Voltron because Voltron, both season one, season two, uh, come from two different, um, Japanese shows. So Voltron itself comes from go lion, which is very dark, um, amazing storyline. Um, just to give you a hint, it is five astronauts going to outer space. Space travel is

[00:55:48] pretty prevalent. Then they come back and the whole world's been destroyed with nukes. And the first day that they're back, uh, because of the nukes and alien race picks up the remaining humans and takes them with them. And then that's how they get part of the intergalactic struggle. So it is, it is a very good show and very parallel where it's just like, Oh wow, we got this, you know, kid friendly thing

[00:56:13] that came from this really dark commentary on, you know, cold war experiences globally. So it's really cool. And, you know, G rangers right in that, especially, you know, for me, it's like jet man, like jet man is, you know, a very dark exploration of like what heroism is and stuff. And then they kind of continue that with you ranger. Yeah, they really did. I mean,

[00:56:40] your ranger was so weird. Like when I first watched it, the fact that like everybody knows Rita repulsa and you know, she's always got the headache, but did you ranger? She was an actual witch and sold her soul to the devil for her powers. Oh my gosh. Like that's crazy. Um, I actually got to meet some of the, um, Japanese actors because of them showing up in Lexington. That's so cool.

[00:57:03] Comic-Con and they were so nice and so cool. Um, it always like, I always wanted to go to, uh, not just, not just, you know, ranger shop in Florida, but like actually going to, um, Power Morphicon too. Have you ever been there? Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Just the, the, the whole concept again, when you get a community convention set based around that particular thing, I just feel like

[00:57:33] there's nothing like it. Right. You can go to conventions where you have multiple things and, you know, just still really enjoy it. But when you get that one community together, that focus is just crazy. Yes. And you can talk to everybody cause everybody loves the same thing you do. So it's so cool. Um, so Power Morphicon has been always high on my list, but it's always out in

[00:57:54] California. So you're like, travel's crazy right now too. The travel is crazy. Yeah. So, but it's always really cool. And it's really cool. We have something at least for, for me really close to Indianapolis. Um, because again, I'm from Indiana about 35, 40 minutes away from Indianapolis. So really, really nice to have something like Volcon here, um, to do like something like that, you know,

[00:58:24] just a nice little knit community of fans. Um, so why don't you tell us, uh, before we close out here, Andy, like what, uh, what are the dates and, uh, everything for Volcon and where can people get their tickets? So we are partying in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Wyndham, uh, Indianapolis airport

[00:58:49] for, uh, October 10th and 11th of 2026. You can actually get tickets on our website, which is VoltCon.org. That is V O L T C O N.org. Um, we'll also make sure that, uh, these wonderful folks have the links, uh, there are still tickets available. We just opened up some more hotel rooms. So even if you're listening to this podcast a little closer to time, we'll make sure to

[00:59:18] accommodate and just know that all correspondence go through me and, you know, we'd love to have you this year, but if this year doesn't work out, you know, we've got you covered for next year. Next year would be wild because of the live action movie. Yeah. I imagine that, uh, next year will just explode. Uh, you know, it's kind of, it's kind of neat when you see, uh, something you really love and enjoy get new life brought into it because of a movie or TV show or something. Even if the

[00:59:46] movie or TV show, Disney plus turns out to be not very good, you still really enjoy the boom that it gets, uh, from the community, uh, talking about goosebumps again or anything like that. So I imagine Volcon will be the same next year. Cause it's just with Voltron movie. I mean, it's going to be it's going to be quite the show, I think for you guys next year, but I think this year is going to be pretty darn good in itself too. It sounds like based on previous years and I'm

[01:00:12] looking forward to checking it out. And we're excited to welcome you into the family because really it's a family reunion every time we get together. So you'll find folks that you'll end up talking to about as much as some of your extended relatives. So I'll say, uh, let's not say close family because you know, nobody likes their close family. Yeah. Then that's true.

[01:00:38] But, uh, I think that's going to wrap it up unless Hayden, you got any more questions? I think that's it. Well, all right, Andy, uh, is there anywhere you want to promote social media? Uh, check us out. Volcon events on Instagram. Check us out Volcon on YouTube, Facebook, and yeah. You know, otherwise check you all out. You suppose crew, baby?

[01:01:06] Very much so. Yeah, bud. So we'll, uh, we'll definitely put those links down in the description below. And, uh, we thank you, Andy, for spending your time with us and, uh, talking about Volcon. And if you guys can make it, uh, I highly recommend being there. It sounds like it's going to be a great time. Uh, I'll be there as well. Sadly, Hayden cannot be, but unfortunately, you weren't for obvious reasons, ain't going to be there. He's in a whole nother, you know,

[01:01:33] continent, but, you know, uh, I think that's going to do it for us here at the goosebumps crew. So until next time, what is it, Hayden? Take care, stay safe, and have a very scary day. Oh, I didn't slip them up this time. See you guys. Thank you.