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Transformers News: Tag - "auto assembly 2009"

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Transformers Convention News

The Auto Assembly team have issued the following press release

Auto Assembly 2009 Script Reading On YoutubeAnd More...

For those of you who attended Auto Assembly 2009, you've been waitng for months for the chance to see it again, and for those of you who couldn't make it, you've been wondering what all the fuss was about, but we are now proud to announce that we are releasing the footage of our live script reading from Auto Assembly 2009 on the official Auto Assembly channel on Youtube!

For those of you who don't know, the script reading took place on the Saturday evening of the convention and featured a brand new 25 minute Beast Wars script written exclusively for the convention and was performed by Gregg Berger, Ian James Corlett, comic artists Simon Williams, Nick Roche, and a number of fans who auditioned for additional roles.

Over the coming weeks we will be uploading the Script Reading and a whole host of other clips from Auto Assembly 2009 - interviews, general footage, guest panels and much much more. As well as this, we be be uploading Highlight Reels from our archives from past events dating back to the very first Auto Assembly event in 2000!

The first videos from this archive are online NOW and new videos will be added every day or two so keep coming back to see all the latest updates. Footage from Auto Assembly 2000, 2001 and the first interview from Auto Assembly 2009 are online NOW and Part One of the Script Reading will be available by the time most of you read this! To see these, just visit the channel at www.youtube.com/autoassembly and if you want to know about the videos as they become available, why not subscribe to us?!

The channel will also bring you the latest news and developments on Auto Assembly 2010 which is going to be our biggest and best yet. We want to celebrate Auto Assembly's 10th Anniversary in style and give you the best Transformers convention that Europe has ever seen. Over the weekend of Friday 13th - Sunday 15th August 2010 we will be bringing you AT LEAST three guests of honour (Garry Chalk and Derrick J Wyatt are already confirmed), a massive Saturday evening programme with a party, live band, costume competition and loads more, toy and art displays, dealers, comic guests, free autograph sessions, video games area, workshops, dedicated childrens programming, video screenings and so much more!

All this will be taking place at the The Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England. Tickets for the weekend are on sale now through the website for for the weekend for adults and for children, students and senior citizens, with under 5s admitted free. Single day passes will be made available for sale closer to the convention.

For more details on the convention, to see a full list of all the guests and activities taking place over the weekend, or to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

We hope to see you all in August 2010.

The Auto Assembly 2010 Team

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296 

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: quartz - on: Tuesday, 2nd March 2010 at 18:42:52 GMT | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

Whilst putting on our Lucky Draw Transformers toy gallery at Auto Assembly 2009 we were asked by a few people "where can I buy one of those".  Well the easiest place to start is eBay, of cause, but you can often find Lucky Draws on Yahoo Japan as well as via some online stores.

Below you will find some links to various auctions.

Gold Henkei Convoy­
Black Tracks
Perfect Choice Cheetas
BW Blue Convoy
Black Fire Convoy
BW2 Silver Galvatron
Green Unicron
Metals Pioneer Silver Convoy
Gold ML Convoy
Gold Magmatron
Fire Kicker
White Moon
Brave Maximus­
SL Gold Grand Convoy
Gold Metals Convoy
­

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Thursday, 20th August 2009 at 20:21:37 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

You will now find 184 ima­ges from Auto Assembly 2009, Europe's largest Transformers convention and the­ first Transformers convention in Europe to break the 500 attendees mark.

The pictures include the dealers, guests, displays and of cause the attendees.

It truly was a fantastic event, so take a look to see if you can spot yourself in there.

­

­

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Monday, 17th August 2009 at 21:38:03 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

To wet your appetites even further, we thougth we'd giv you a run down of the Lucky Draw toys you can expect to see at Auto Assembly 2009

Beast Wars
Gold Megatron
Blue Convoy

Beast Wars II
Gold Lio Convoy
Galva Lio Convoy
Silver Galvatron
White Moon

Beast Wars Neo
Blue Big Convoy
Gold Big Convoy
Black Magmatron
Gold Magmatron

Beast Wars Metals
Silver Convoy
Gold Convoy
Silver Megatron

Beast Wars Returns
Perfect Choice Cheetas

Collectors Edition
Secret Starscream
Primus
Black Sixshot
Clear Sixshot

Car Robots
Black Super Fire Convoy
Black God Magnus

Micron Legend
Gold Super Convoy
Gold Jetfire
Black Megatron
Green Unicron

Superlink
Gold Grand Convoy
Custom Colour Grand Convoy
Gold Std Convoy
Gold Rodimus
Silver Rodimus
Black Megatron
Fire Kicker
Gold Omega Supreme

Galaxy Force
Gold Galaxy Convoy
Gold Master Galvatron
Gold Megalo Convoy

RobotMasters
Custom Colour G1 Convoy

Movie
Gold Leader Optimus Prime statue
Gold Voyager Optimus Prime (loose and boxed)
Gold Protoform Starscream

Henkei
Gold Convoy
Gold Galvatron

Hopefully I've not missed anyone off the list.  If there is space we may also display a few "Fake Lucky Draws" to help you know which toys are not official.

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Wednesday, 12th August 2009 at 13:11:16 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

Auto Assembly have sent out the following press release covering their showing of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen and the Next of Kin concert.

Hi everyone,
Just a quick update on the Revenge Of The Fallen cinema screening that we are arranging for the Friday night bonus programme as part of this year's convention as well as a mini update on the Saturday night party...
Revenge Of The Fallen
We have chosen the Odeon cinema on New Street in Birmingham City Centre to hold the screening of Revenge Of The Fallen on Friday 14th August. While it isn't an IMAX cinema, the IMAX was not only going to be quite an expensive option but the cinema wanted us to guarantee over 250 ticket sales which we couldn't do.
The Odeon is about 5 minutes walk from the hotel and we will be given EXCLUSIVE use of one of their screens and tickets for the film will cost just £4.50 although we may be offered a discount on these depending on how many people go along. The plan is to meet up in the main convention hall at around 8:30 pm and then once everyone has gathered, walk over to the cinema, buy our tickets and see the film!
What we need is to get a rough idea of how many of you would be planning on joining us so we can let the cinema know what size screen they can reserve for us. They have screens ranging in size from 67 people up to around 300 and we can get the use of any of them for the convention but we will need to reserve it in advance so we need to know pretty urgently so the sooner you reply to us the better.
The screening is exclusive to weekend attendees only, as is the whole of the Friday programme. The only thing we must remind everyone is that because the cinema screening is an exclusive Auto Assembly event, you will need to wear your passes when you go to the cinema to ensure that you are sold tickets to the film.
Next Of Kin
If you haven't already heard online, our band Next Of Kin who have composed Transform, the official anthem for Auto Assembly 2009, are playing a one-hour set of different tracks from the animated Transformers movie as part of our Saturday evening programme. After that, our plans for Saturday night have changed somewhat...
Instead of a disco, Next Of Kin will be taking a short break after their Transformers set, and will then RETURN to the stage for a rip-roaring show for the rest of the night, playing their own songs, and a selection of cover songs from various artists to suit all tastes! This will be a great show and it will mean that we will have an entire evening of live music and entertainment for you all!
Party Passes
For those of you only attending for the Saturday and who aren't able to be there for the weekend because of work, travel or other reasons but who want to attend the evening programme, then worry no more! We now have some spare capacity on the night so we are releasing a limited number of PARTY PASSES. These will be on sale throughout the day on Saturday for just £10 each and they will admit you into the evening programme so if you want to see the script reading, the two shows from Next Of Kin, and the performance by Ray Curran, then snap these up while you can!
Party Rules
We don't want to put a dampener on things, but we do want to put a couple of minor rules in place for the Saturday night. First, because we will be filming part of the evening for our own DVD release and because it is exclusive for weekend attendees, video cameras and video recording of the script reading and Next Of Kin show is BANNED. If anyone is found to be recording either of these without prior written permission, then your cameras, mobile phones, or any other recording devices may be confiscated and recordings will be deleted.
Secondly, because the party will be taking place in the convention hall, carrier bags, shopping bags, sports bags etc or bags of any other kind (apart from ladies handbags) are NOT permitted in the convention hall. There will still be some dealers tables set up in the hall albeit covered up and sectioned off, but to reduce the risk of theft, bags will not be allowed.
Sorry about these, but we want to ensure that everyone can enjoy the evening with as little hassle as possible!
That's it for now and we're looking forward to seeing you all next weekend!
The Auto Assembly 2009 Team!
Auto Assembly 2009 - The Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England

www.autoassembly.org.uk - official Auto Assembly website
http://autoassembly.proboards7.com - official Auto Assembly forum

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Saturday, 8th August 2009 at 10:42:48 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention NewsWith just ONE WEEK to go before Auto Assembly 2009, things are still happening with the convention and moving along at a breakneck speed...

* Live Script Reading *

We have now cast the first role in the script reading session that will be taking place on the Saturday evening. Join Gregg Berger, Ian James Corlett and comic artist Simon Williams on stage will be leading Transformers expert Chris McFeely who will be taking on the role of Dinobot! Chris put in a sterling audition and you can hear his performance over on the Auto Assembly website. We are still auditioning for Megatron, Waspinator and Razorbeast so get your MP3s in if you want to take a crack at joining these guys on stage! We may be announcing the next voice very soon...



* Bookings Update *

We are very close to reaching 500 attendees now for the convention! We now have 473 pre-registrants for Auto Assembly 2009 and we are still getting bookings every day so we think that there is a chance that we will get 500 just from pre-bookings alone! What this does mean is that some of the free gifts in the goodie bag are running out fast. Several of them ARE limited and are only available for the first so many pre-registrants. We have already run out of DVDs and G1 stickers and the next ones to run out will be the posters. If you want to make sure you get as many gifts as possible, you will need to book sooner rather than later!

There is still time for you to book your tickets. UK attendees have time to pre-book and have your single-day and weekend passes posted to you in time for the convention. Non-attendee tickets, weekend passes and international bookings can be accepted online until 9:00 pm on 12th August and will be available for you to collect on Friday 14th August from the convention hotel!

* Auction Update *

We have expanded the list of items in the Auto Assembly Charity Auction again and have now started to add a gallery of images so you can see for yourself what items we have on offer to help raise valuable funds for the two worthy causes that we are supporting this year. This is probably the best year we have ever had for collectors of original artwork and more items are still arriving daily!

* Guest Update *

We have just had word from Staz Johnson that he will now only be with us at Auto Assembly 2009 for the Saturday ONLY. We still have our full line-up of 15 guests but as we have said before, the ONLY way you will be able to see and meet all of them is if you are attending for the full weekend.

* Revenge Of The Fallen *

Details are now being finalised for our late-night screening of Revenge Of The Fallen as part of the Friday night bonus programme of events for weekend attendees. We will be heading to the Odeon cinema in Birmingham for an EXCLUSIVE screening of the film and tickets will be £4.50 each. While it isn't an IMAX screening, we will have the entire screen to ourselves and the movie will start at around 9:30 pm. If you've ever wanted to see the film in a cinema packed with die-hard TF fans, then now is your chance! You must be a weekend attendee to join us for this added programme item!

* Simon Furman Confirmed For Auto Assembly 2010! *

Yes, you read it right!! While Simon is unable to make it for this year's convention, Simon has already confirmed on his blog that he WILL be in attendance at Auto Assembly 2010! We haven't got a date set for the convention yet apart from thinking about August next year, but for those of you attending this year, now more than ever you should think about picking up a copy of our convention exclusive comic so you can make sure you get Simon to sign it as well as Nick, Liam and Gregg!



For full details on Auto Assembly 2009 and to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

Simon Plumbe
Auto Assembly 2009

Auto Assembly 2009 is a non-profit making convention for fans of Transformers and is being held on 15th - 16th August 2009 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England. The convention is sponsored by Winning Moves (www.toptrumps.com), Titan Magazines (www.titanmagazines.co.uk) and Activision (www.activision.com)

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Saturday, 8th August 2009 at 10:38:02 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

Simon Furman has updated his blog regarding Auto Assembly

Just a quick reminder that Auto Assembly, the UK’s premier (in fact, only) dedicated Transformers convention is just over a week away now. This year’s AA is a full weekend, Saturday and Sunday (15th & 16th of August), with two US voice actor guests (Gregg Berger and Ian Corlett so far confirmed) and a host of comics professionals including Nick Roche, Jon Davis-Hunt, Andrew Wildman and Lee Sullivan.

Sadly, due to personal commitments, I can’t be there this year, but I’ll be there in spirit as I’ve supplied the script for AA’s live voice actor drama on the Saturday night and I’m one half of the convention-exclusive edition of All Hail Megatron #13 (keep hold of those for next year’s AA and I’ll scrawl all over the cover then!).

So what can I tease about the voice actor drama? Well, it’s set in the Beast Wars era for a start, though expect it to be somewhat cross-continuity in nature (as there might still, I believe, be a third voice actor guest). Gregg has two roles.

Don’t expect anything too dramatic from the drama, it’s played more for laughs than anything (anyone who caught my two previous Botcon voice actor dramas will know what to expect). There are four roles to be filled by convention attendees (maybe a comics pro getting a look-in there) and artist Simon Williams is narrating in the style of WWE.

So, anyway, sad to miss out myself, but I’ll be back for AA 2010. Enjoy!

For more details on AA09, check out their website here

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Friday, 7th August 2009 at 09:16:55 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention NewsAuto Assembly 2009 Two Weeks To Go!

Auto Assembly 2009 is now just two weeks to go and is already Europe's biggest ever Transformers convention with almost 450 people pre-registered to-date, beating the previous European attendance record of 423 set by Auto Assembly 2008 and we're still getting bookings coming in all the time... We are now convinced that we will hit the magical figure of 500 attendees that European events have wanted to reach for so long...

Booking Deadlines Updated

Even though the convention is incredibly close now, there is STILL time for you to pre-register! As we have said, the cut-off dates for pre-registrations were set a few weeks ago and are:-

Standard online bookings for weekend and one-day passes (UK):- 10th August 2009
Standard online bookings for weekend and one-day passes (International):- 3rd August 2009
Standard postal bookings for weekend and one-day passes (UK):- 5th August 2009
Standard postal bookings for weekend and one-day passes (International):- 3rd August 2009
Non-Attendee package purchases (worldwide):- 9:00 pm, 12th August 2009

So obviously for those of you living outside of the UK you need to get your bookings in VERY QUICKLY. However, for those of you who are booking for the FULL WEEKEND ONLY, we can offer you the chance to collect your passes on the Friday evening and we will send out your info packs and confirmation details electronically. This will ONLY apply to weekend pre-registrants and you must email us at the same time as booking to take advantage of this and colection of passes MUST be made on Friday 14th August. Bookings made for collection can only be taken online and must be made by no later than 9:00 pm on 12th August 2009 to allow us to produce your passes ready for collection.

Please note that these are the ABSOLUTE latest date that we can accept bookings and guarantee that your passes will reach you in time for the convention. If you book after these dates, we will do everything possible to get your passes to you before the convention takes place but please bear in mind the time taken for delivery and that we will have work pressures and we will be preparing, dismantling and packing all of our equipment for the convention on Wednesday 12th August so NO bookings will be able to be processed after 9:00 pm on that date.

We do anticipate that we will have on-the-door places available but at the moment we do not know how many of these there will be and tickets are selling very quickly at the moment. These will be announced on the website once pre-bookings close but to ensure your place pre-registration is recommended.

Hasbro Make A Return!

Yes, Hasbro are returning to Auto Assembly! Once again there will be a display from Hasbro and this time they will be sending a display along to the convention showcasing the 2009 toy range with twice as much space as they had last year! Once again, they will also be donating a huge amount of toys to the Charity Auction and Raffle...

Next Of Kins Performs Auto Assembly Official Theme Song


If you haven't read it on the website, Auto Assembly 2009 now has it's own official theme song for the convention. Written and performed by Next Of Kin who are appearing in concert at the convention on the Saturday evening doing a show of covers from the Animated movie, their song "Transform" has been chosen as the convention anthem for 2009. "Transform" was originally submitted to Paramount for inclusion in the soundtrack for Revenge Of The Fallen. To take a listen to the song, watch a music video they put together here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RuB-E1ofKQ

Copies of the song will be available to buy at the convention on CD.

More convention updates very soon... For full details on Auto Assembly 2009 and to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk


Simon Plumbe
Auto Assembly 2009

Auto Assembly 2009 is a non-profit making convention for fans of Transformers and is being held on 15th - 16th August 2009 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England.

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: quartz - on: Saturday, 1st August 2009 at 10:12:13 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention NewsHi all,

Auto Assembly 2009 is just over four weeks away and is on course to set a new European attendance record from pre-registrations alone! However, as the date of the convention is closing fast, we felt that it was time to remind all of you who haven't already booked that you need to hurry if you haven't so you can get your tickets in advance so you don't have to worry about coming along and paying on the day...

We have now set the cut-off dates for pre-registrations so you can plan out when you will need to get your registrations in to us. The dates that your bookings MUST reach us are as follows:

Standard online bookings for weekend and one-day passes (UK):- 10th August 2009
Standard online bookings for weekend and one-day passes (International):- 3rd August 2009
Standard postal bookings for weekend and one-day passes (UK):- 5th August 2009
Standard postal bookings for weekend and one-day passes (International):- 3rd August 2009
Non-Attendee package purchases (worldwide):- 9:00 pm, 12th August 2009

Please note that these are the ABSOLUTE latest date that we can accept bookings and guarantee that your passes will reach you in time for the convention. If you book after these dates, we will do everything possible to get your passes to you before the convention takes place but please bear in mind the time taken for delivery and that we will have work pressures and we will be preparing, dismantling and packing all of our equipment for the convention on Wednesday 12th August so NO bookings will be able to be processed after 9:00 pm on that date.

We do anticipate that we will have on-the-door places available but at the moment we do not know how many of these there will be. These will be announced on the website once pre-bookings close but to ensure your place pre-registration is recommended.

We have now uploaded a full programme onto the website so you can see what will be taking place over the weekend on each day so you can see the benefits of attending for the full weekend and what you will miss if you only attend for the single day. We are still adding more though so this is still not a comprehensive list! We are also still in talks with up to SIX more guests and should be announcing more soon...!

Our current batch of single day tickets for the Saturday have almost sold out although we do have plenty of Sunday and Full Weekend passes available, along with Non-Attendee packages if you are unable to join us. To purchase your non-attendee package or tickets, visit the Auto Asembly website NOW! Non-attendee packages are £60 for UK attendees, full weekend tickets are £45 for adults and £35 for children/students/senior citizens with under 5s being FREE. Family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) are just £145 saving £15! Limited numbers of single day passes are also available starting from £18. Don't miss out on your chance to be a part of what is going to be a great weekend celebrating 25 years of the Transformers!!

Keep looking out for more updates on the convention very soon including an updated guest list and a list of items in our charity auction...

For full details on Auto Assembly 2009 and to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

Simon Plumbe
Auto Assembly 2009

Auto Assembly 2009 is a non-profit making convention for fans of Transformers and is being held on 15th - 16th August 2009 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England.

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Wednesday, 15th July 2009 at 17:25:57 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention NewsAs many of you will be aware Auto Assembly 2009 will feature an exclusive version of IDW Publications All Hail Megatron, with a brand new cover featuring the talents of Nick Roche and Liam Shalloo. ­

The cover is based on the end scene from Jurassic Park (Steve White would be proud) and features Grimlock in the Auto Assembly ha­lls.

You can see a small preview of the cover below, and a larger image by clicking on that preview picture. If that wasn't enough we've also got a little interview with one-half of the AA crew, Simes, to fill you in on the going's on.­

­ ­­ ­
­­Auto Assembly 2009 exclusive comic­
Click on the image for a larger view

­­­ Interview with Simes of Infinite Frontiers organisers of Auto Assembly­

TFATM: The 2009 Auto Assembly Transformers convention is taking place in a new location compared to the previous 3 years.Could you tell us why you decided to ­change location and what benefits / features this brings to the event?

Auto Assembly: There were a few main reasons for the move to the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre from the Clarendon Suites. Firstly, and obviously, doing a two-day convention really meant that we needed to hold Auto Assembly in a hotel so all of our attendees could stay on-site and it gave us the flexibility in our programming to run the type of convention that we simply couldn't run anywhere else. It's allowed us to offer a convention with activities running on well into the early hours of Sunday morning and there's no issue for us about the venue not having staff on site at any part of the day or night.

However as I'm sure many people noticed last year, even if Auto Assembly had still stuck with the one-day format we would have still relocated to a new venue this year. We had countless problems with the Clarendon Suites in 2008 before and during the convention - concerning payment for the hall, the time we were allowed access for set up, the time we had the hall itself on the day which the Clarendon Suites tried to change on the weekend itself - and for both of these they denied that we had clearly stated what we needed in advance, despite having used them two years running before and wanting the same arrangements then. There were countless other issues but ultimately if AA2009 had been a single day event and there was ONE member of staff NOT working at the Clarendon then we'd probably had considered going back, but the Holiday Inn is a much better venue for facilities, access (being right in the city centre) and has friendlier staff!

TFATM: Auto Assembly is celebrating its 9th anniversary, and is the 8th convention of the same name.Over this time AA has broken several records, the UK attendance record twice (409 in 2005, 423 in 2008) and this year will see the first 2 day Transformers event in the UK, and only the second UK Transformers convention too feature 2 guests (the first being OTFCCE 2002).What are your hopes for this year's event?

Auto Assembly: Okay, I don't want to be picky but first I have to correct you on one point. Auto Assembly 2009 is the third two-day Transformers event that the UK has seen. I'd love to lay claim to running the first, but that honour goes to BotCon Europe in 1999 which had its activities spread over two days, and this is the second weekend long Auto Assembly convention that we have run. Saying that, if you include the Friday programme, then you could say that it is the UK's first ever THREE day Transformers convention...!

Seriously though, as for my hopes for the convention I want to set out to do everything bigger and better than ever! I want to give fans a weekend of Transformers fun that they will never forget. A guest line-up that they will want to meet, activities going on all weekend that will keep people entertained and busy non-stop, and offer a weekend of fun!

TFATM: Really?I only remember BotCon Europe 99 being one day (and a rather expensive one) - lol.

The event features two guests, Gregg Berger and Ian James Corlett, which spans the first three Transformers series (Generation One, Beast Wars and Beast Machines).How do you decide which guests you'd like to invite and do you find that being outside of the UK limits the guest opportunities.

Auto Assembly: It's always hard to decide who to invite to be honest. Sometimes actors will approach us and ask if they can attend (in fact, a G1 actor contacted me recently about appearing this year but I had to turn him down although I haven't ruled out AA2010...!), others I've built up a fairly good rapport after emailing them because of our charity auctions so after a while I can get a fairly good feel for what they are like as a person and whether they'd make for a good guest or not.

Obviously, if we get a lot of requests for specific guests, I'll look into them as well and do plenty of research to see what reaction they've had from other convention appearances but usually I try to see what the person is like from contact myself rather than agents before making a final decision.

The only real limitation we have in terms of actors living outside of the UK is cost to be honest so we can only bring a single actor to the UK for a one-day event or two at most for a weekend convention unless we get sponsorship and even then I have to do a lot of heavy negotiating to keep costs down! I'd probably say that about 65% of our total budget this year is going on guest costs, if not more!

Saying that, I guess events like BotCon and TFCon would say the same when it comes to all the UK comic guys!

TFATM:Do you have anything special planned for Saturday evening for the event, as many fans may be wondering what to do when the convention halls close.

Auto Assembly: Absolutely! The "main" convention will end at about 6:00 pm on Saturday for all attendees and we've then got a mad rush to re-arrange the hall for the Saturday evening programme. The plan is to re-open the hall at about 7:00 pm so it will give everyone time to go and grab something to eat - either in the hotel or McDonalds or somewhere and then once everyone's settled and had a chance to grab a drink from the bar we'll kick off with the entertainment...

We've got three main things confirmed so far... first up is a special script reading featuring our guests of honour. Simon Furman is writing a brand new script for us and this will be performed live on stage by Gregg Berger (as Grimlock), Ian James Corlett (as Cheetor), Simon Williams (as the Narrator) and a few Auto Assembly attendees playing other roles!

Following that, we have a rock concert by Next Of Kin - a three-piece band from Essex. They will be doing a 60 minute show based mainly around covers of tracks from the original animated Transformers movie. We think it will be a cracking show and if you want to get a taster for what the show will be like, you can see them in action here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLlMUk2mE8E

We are also looking into the possibility of adding something else to the evening as well but we're working on it!

After that, the evening will wrap up with a party / disco running on until about 1:00 am, naturally with a bar open until late! Of course, all of this will be exclusive for weekend attendees only!

TFATM: Do you have a schedule planned for the convention yet, or could you give us a rough idea of what attendees can expect to see / do over the two days?

Auto Assembly: We've had a rough programme up on the website for some time which we're tweaking pretty much on a day-by-day basis as new things are added to the event and as we find new items to squeeze in! However, because of the new Alternative Programme Room that can be booked by fans and websites for use to run activities in there, I'm expecting lots more activities to be added right up to the weekend itself and we've already got some workshops and fan run activities in there already!

TFATM: After last year's convention you reached out to the Transformers fan community for ideas and suggestions on what attendees would like from a convention.What type of feedback did you receive?Were any of the ideas taken up for the event and did you encounter any issues / problems in doing this?

Auto Assembly: There were some great ideas that came forward from the surveys and we had some great feedback from everyone, even the criticism! While we know that we can't please everyone all of the time, it's a fantastic way to be able to hear what people think so we can see if there are real issues that need to be tackled.

Probably one of the most useful things was for the dealers as we asked about merchandise and what people want to buy and we're sharing this information with dealers to help them plan what stock to bring to the convention.

Also, the suggested list of activities that we proposed has helped us identify what our attendees are actually interested in so we know where to focus our efforts and other attendees have even made suggestions of their own for things to add to the programme and you may find a few of these cropping up over the weekend...!

TFATM: Not all fans are able to attend both days, due to work or other commitments.Are you going to be offering 1 day passes and if so do you know the costs of these, and are they going to be specific for each day?

Auto Assembly: We have released a limited number of single day passes already and that is going to be the plan this year as the focus is on weekend ticket sales. What we intend to do is offer single day passes in small blocks at a time and then release more only when those allocations have completely sold out.

We have a maximum cut off for attendance of 550 for the convention per day and that will be made up of a mix of weekend and one day attendees so our potential total will be a lot higher. However, we do need to keep a balance of numbers so when it comes to one day tickets, we are not opting for a "free for all" so for every Saturday ticket we must sell a Sunday ticket.

Anyway, the first allocation was released at the beginning of April and the Saturday passes sold out fairly quickly and while the Sunday tickets haven't sold out yet, they have sold steadily. They are £25 each for adults with reductions for children, students etc. and they are fixed for each day. They do give you full access to the convention for each day (including the talks, autograph sessions, workshops etc), and do include the goodie bag, but the Saturday passes do NOT get you into the party/concert/script reading session.

TFATM: You recently mentioned on The Allspark that you were looking into the possibility of a comic for Auto Assembly.How are things progressing with this?

Auto Assembly: It's an idea I think we'd been toying with for a while to talk to IDW about producing a variant cover of one of their comics as an Auto Assembly exclusive. I know TFCon in Canada had done it a couple of times with Dreamwave and DDP and now seemed to be the right time for us to try something. I knew we weren't going to get anywhere with Hasbro for a toy, but this would give us a chance to get an officially licensed exclusive for the convention.

Anyway, I got in touch with Chris Ryall to see how we would need to go about doing an exclusive variant cover for the convention and basically he said that we'd need to a Diamond account. Problem number 1... no Diamond account! I spoke to Mario over at Apocalypse Comics and they're working with us to make it happen through their Diamond account. Once we sorted that problem out we had to decide on the print run. The question was to either have a 1,000 copy print run of a new book or - to do a reprint of an old book - we needed a 4,000 copy print run! Naturally, there was no way we would be able to sell 4,000 books so we're going for 1,000 copies.

As for the issue, it is going to be All Hail Megatron #13.Sadly, since IDW decided to renumber the series, it's not going to be an Issue 1 which is what we first hoped for, but because it's two short stories, it will make it more accessible. Also, with one being written by Simon Furman and feature Prime and Ironhide, that's an added bonus!

As for the artwork, it's being done by Nick Roche with colours by Liam Shalloo and is very Auto Assembly focused featuring Grimlock as you can see from the preview artwork which I can reveal EXCLUSIVELY here for Transformers @ The Moon visitors! As I said, it is being limited to just 1,000 copies and will be on sale on the Apocalypse Comics table and will be limited to just 2 copies per attendee while stocks last so if you want to grab thiis, then you'll need to get your copy as soon as you can!

TFATM: There are even more guests than normal this year, and several guest panels planned.Were there any guests that you wanted to attend but couldn't?

Auto Assembly: Always! lolWe do invite a lot of the UK comic guests each year who aren't able to make it for one reason or another and for the last couple of years Lew Stringer hasn't been able to attend (Lew was supposed to have been our first ever guest back in 2001!). Hopefully this year he will be able to make it! In fact, I have been approached this year by a couple of G1 voice actors who wanted to attend and I have had to turn THEM down simply because we haven't had the funds to bring them over, there is another UK comic guest on hold because I don't know if we can afford them or not, and I have had to say no to Bob Budiansky simply because our overseas guest budget has been allocated with Gregg and Ian even though he is up for attending.

As for the panels, with the number of guests we have, and possibilities for extras depending on talks I am having with sponsors right now, I may have to add extra panels over the weekend so expect to see more panels each day as the programme gets updated!

TFATM: The last event suffered from a poor sound quality in the room; will this be resolved with the new location?

Auto Assembly: Absolutely! We're hiring in a brand new dedicated AV system for the convention this time so we won't have any problems. Plenty of microphones, LOUD speakers everywhere and plenty of flexibility to do everything we need!

To be honest, the system we used before simply "died of old age"! We had been using my hi-fi system for quite a long time (since the early days from our Star Trek fan club) and for a long time it did pretty well as it's a fairly powerful amp and speaker set up. However, over the last couple of years we were pushing it further and further to - and beyond what it was really designed for and at AA2008 we actually blew one of the speakers (which I found out when I tried to connect it all back up when I got home!).

TFATM: As the event is in a hotel, what disabled access is there for the convention?

Auto Assembly: Because of the advent of the Disability Discrimination Act back in 1995, hotels (along with other public buildings) had a duty to be adapted to be fully accessible. While a reasonably timescale was placed on alteration works, that has passed so rest assured that the Holiday Inn does have full disabled access throughout.

TFATM: Can you tell us which dealers / organisations will be in attendance at the event?

Auto Assembly: I think we've got a cracking line-up this time. From a dealers point of view we have T-4-E, Spacebridge, SF Collectibles, Toy-Fu, Xybertoys, Apocalypse Comics, Maz, Toyz and Gamez, Kapow Toys, and the Official Transformers Collectors Club (sorry if I've forgotten anyone!). From the fan side of things, there will be displays from Transmasters UK and yourselves with your stunning display of Lucky Draw toys which already has a lot of people talking online... Naturally, most of the artists will also be bringing prints and original artwork with them for sale as well and many will be doing sketches throughout the weekend.

As for other organisations, we're working on this and hope to be announcing some soon...

TFATM: A local television crew was in attendance at last year's Auto Assembly convention and you had some coverage on the BBC website last year as well.Has there been any media interest in this year's event?

Auto Assembly: The BBC will be covering the convention again. They are sending a reporter along quite likely with a camera crew and there will be advance coverage on the BBC website and radio. We will also be targeting local press and hopefully local ITV coverage. If we can, we'll be getting in touch with as many specialist press as possible too, unless they contact us first.

TFATM: How are the registration figures looking at the moment?Has the economic downturn, and increased prices (due to the two day event) impacted at all?

Auto Assembly: Quite the opposite to be honest! At the time of writing this we had over 260 pre-registrations. At the same time last year we only had just under 180 bookings and that was with tickets going on sale in late November 2007. Now with Auto Assembly 2009 we didn't open bookings until 1st January! That in itself is an impressive figure but when you think that over 90% of our bookings this year are for the full weekend, which are 3 times the cost of last year, then I'd say that the current economic climate hasn't really had an impact on the convention at all.

TFATM: We'll ask the next question, already knowing the answer, but it has to be asked.A UK Exclusive Convention toy ... do you think it would ever be possible and what do you think would need to happen to make it so?

Auto Assembly: I'm probably going to sound like a broken record on this one but we'd love to do an exclusive toy but it's really out of our hands. The only way we could do one is through Hasbro UK and we're getting no-where fast. Even if we could manage to get close, I think we'd need to arrange for a production run of around 2,000 toys and I dread to think what sort of cost we'd be looking at.

I guess we'd probably need to get a partner in the same way we have with the comic but then it's a question of whether Hasbro would offer a good enough quality toy! lol

TFATM: The event is taking place after the release of the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen movie.Did you not want to run the event closer to this media spectacular, or are there other reasons for the timing of the event?

Auto Assembly: Timing for us has to be based partly around our own personal schedules so we can have the time to run the convention without too much pressure personally, but from an event point of view we need to maximise attendance. For a UK event, that means running it during the school holidays and from a Transformers point of view keeping a reasonable gap between ourselves and BotCon so people in the UK/Europe who want to attend both can.

Also, from the hotel point of view, August is a traditionally quiet time so it helps us with negotiations for venue hire and gives us more control in getting our costs down!

TFATM: Roughly how long does it take to organise each event, and has this year's event planning thrown any new spanners in the works?

Auto Assembly: It always takes an incredible amount of time to plan each convention and work pretty much started as soon as AA2008 had ended with the questionnaires you mentioned earlier being the starting point. The first stumbling block we had was finding a new venue - it's not easy finding somewhere big enough in Birmingham without resorting to sports halls that can handle the sort of capacity we need these days!

We had narrowed our search down to three venues in the city centre - one turned out to be an empty shed in an arts complex (even though the photos on the website gave a different impression to that!) and it was about a 15 min walk from the main part of the city centre. The second venue, a hotel, was a bit further out so we ruled that one out for distance and the third was the Holiday Inn...!

There are so many things that need to be done though ranging from guest negotiations (that can be anything from a single email to extensive months of discussions and contract signings!), arranging sponsorships deals, booking dealers, venues, arranging for production of merchandise, handling bookings, promoting the convention online almost 24/7, updating the website.... I lose track of the amount of time I put into it almost daily and how many jobs I end up doing!

Obviously trying to add the Saturday evening with the band, script reading, disco adds more complexities to the mix, as does the comic, but I love the challenge of trying to make it all happen and I think the end result will make all the effort worth while. Rather than seeing any stumbling blocks as a problem, I'd rather see them as just part of the job that I just need to try to take in my stride and cope with as best as I can! After the hassle from the last venue, anything else is a doddle!

TFATM: Anything else you'd like to add?

Auto Assembly: All I can say really is that this is one convention that you are not going to want to miss! If you live in the UK and are free that weekend, please come along and celebrate the best that Transformers has to offer! Whether you can make it for the weekend or just one day, you won't regret it!

If you've already registered, please spare a few minutes to complete the survey we have online to help us give you all the convention that YOU want and if you can help us during the weekend, we need as many volunteers as we can to make this the best convention that Europe has ever seen!

Hope to see you all in August and keep your eyes open for more announcements soon...!

­­

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Tuesday, 5th May 2009 at 19:31:03 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

We thought we'd remind everyone that the discount available for the early bird registration for Auto Assembly 2009 ends at the end of this month, March 2009.

Auto Assembly 2009 is set to become the biggest UK Transformers convetion to date, along with breaking a few other UK records.  It is the first 2 day Transformers event in the UK and currently features13 guests including

  • Gregg Berger (voice of G1 Grimlock)
  • Ian James Corlett (voice of BW Cheetor)
  • Jason Cardy
  • Kat Nicholson
  • Liam Shalloo
  • Andy Wildman
  • Simon Williams
  • John McCrea
  • Staz Johnson
  • Lee Sullivan
  • Mike Collins
  • Lee Bradley
  • Nick Roche

Stay tuned to Transformers At The Moon this month as we look to bring you more information on Auto Assembly 2009 including what you can expect from us in the form of a toy display.  If our plans works out, we dont' think you'll be disappointed - though you'll need to attend both days to see everything.

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Sunday, 1st March 2009 at 14:55:51 GMT | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

We've had word from Simes regarding the lastest two guests who will be appearing at the 2009 Auto Assembly convention in Birmingham, England.

The two guests are both UK G1 Comic related in the forms of Lee Sullivan and Mike Collins.

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Wednesday, 7th January 2009 at 21:48:10 GMT | Share: | Discuss: Read on

Transformers Convention News

Simes has sent the following reminder to all Auto Seembly 2008 attendees to let them know they can now leave their ideas for Auto Assembly 2009 online.

Hi everyone!

Just a quick reminder about the AA2009 questionnaire that was in everyone's packs last weekend... Well, I've just done an online version of it now with a few extra tweaks and questions so if you haven't already completed it or if you want to do the extra version, you can find it here:-

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DkIO_2b1E485TJD6KbOum8Mg_3d_3d

The free family ticket prize draw still applies and you can enter and do the questionnaire even if you didn't attend AA this year!

Cheers,

Simon

Category: Transformers Convention News | Submitted by: Moonbug - on: Friday, 8th August 2008 at 16:24:23 BST | Share: | Discuss: Read on

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