As the date for Auto Assembly 2009 draws nearer, we are still adding to our extensive list of activities throughout the weekend and we are now pleased to announce that we are now being joined by our FIFTEENTH guest for the convention...

Joining us for the SUNDAY ONLY is comic artist Jon Davis-Hunt. Jon has recently joined the team working on Titan Magazine's Transformers comic as their new regular artist for their UK-originated strip, although he has produced cover artwork for them previously. He has also worked for IDW on the adaptation of Revenge Of The Fallen and was one of the artists for 2000 AD. Prior to switching to the comic industry, Jon previously worked in the video games industry.

Jon will be taking to the stage along with some of our other comic guests on Sunday
 (our comic panels will be split throughout the weekend) and he will be joining the rest of our comic guests in our guest area to sign autographs and meet fans.

Jon is joining what is the biggest ever line-up of guests seen at a European Transformers event which currently includes our two guests of honour Gregg Berger (G1 Grimlock), Ian James Corlett (Cheetor), and our comic guests - Andrew Wildman (Saturday only), Simon Williams, Staz Johnson, Nick Roche, Liam Shalloo, Lew Stringer (Saturday only), Jason Cardy, Kat Nicholson, Lee Bradley, Lee Sullivan, Mike Collins, and Kris Carter. As we have three guests who will only be able to attend for a single day, the ONLY way you will get to meet all of our guests this year is to attend for the FULL weekend!

We have a very limited number of single tickets available for the Sunday, but plenty of weekend tickets available. More single day passes for Saturday may be released soon but with the convention being less than four weeks away, you need to hurry to pre-register for what will be the biggest ever Transformers convention that Europe has ever seen!

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

Simon Furman has posted a new update to his blog regarding the release of issue 13 of IDW's Transformers All Hail Megatron series.

"The Earth-shaking, 12-issue All Hail Megatron maxi-series spills over into a thirteenth issue this week, which was certainly lucky for me, as I got to tell a decidedly different Transformers tale in which Ironhide and Optimus Prime regroup/reassess in the light of the tumultuous events of Megatron’s all-conquering spree. I also lucked out in the shape of fan-favourite artist Don Figueroa, who returned to the fold to draw this special 11-page story (each of these ‘Coda’ issue features two stories per issue). Can’t tell you too much about the story itself, but rest assured that as well as providing something of a retrospective on the intertwined life and times of Prime and Ironhide it sets the scene for more momentous twists and turns to come. All Hail Megatron #13 hits stores this week, July 22nd in the US (nicely in time for my appearance at the San Diego Comicon) and July 23rd in the UK." blogs Simon as well as posting an image of the cover

Hi everyone,

I was interviewed by the guys over at www.thetransformers.net the other day and revealed a few more bits of news about Auto Assembly 2009 that you might all find interesting including a big piece of news about our guests...

You can read the interview here:- http://www.thetransformers.net/more-auto-assembly-2009-info-another-guest/#more-6525

Hope to see you all in August.

Simon Plumbe

Auto Assembly 2009

www.autoassembly.org.uk

We previewed the inks to the convention exclusive comic for Auto Assembly 2009 recently when we were interviewed here at Transformers@TheMoon. Since then, many people have wanted to know what the finished cover for our convention exclusive variant cover to IDW's All Hail Megatron Issue 13 is going to look like. Well, the wait is over...

Adding the finishing touch to Nick Roche's pencils is the fantastic colours of Liam Shalloo to bring you this fantastic tribute to Jurassic Park and featuring Grimlock (both of whom will be attending the convention and who can sign the comic for those of you who buy it along with G1 voice actor Gregg Berger)! The comic is being produced for Auto Assembly 2009 by Apocalypse Comics and will be available during the convention weekend from their table. Sales will limited to a maximum of just TWO per attendee while stocks last as there are only 1,000 copies being printed of this book!

Auto Assembly 2009 is set to be a record-breaking convention for European Transformers fans and this is one convention you don't want to miss!

Simon Plumbe

Auto Assembly

www.autoassembly.org.uk

Europe's largest Transformers convention, Auto Assembly 2009, taking place over the weekend of 15th-16th August at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre in Birmingham, England is once again expanding it's ever increasing line-up of guests...

We are pleased to announce that IDW and Titan Books comic artist Nick Roche will be joining us for his first ever Auto Assembly appearance as our TWELFTH guest!

Nick will be actively involved with Auto Assembly 2009 throughout the weekend and as well as being a part of one of our two comic panels, he will be joining our other comic guests in the guest area meeting fans throughout the weekend signing autographs. Here, you'll be able to meet Nick to talk to him about his work, and he will also be doing sketches for fans!

If that wasn't enough, he will be donating some original artwork for our charity auction and Nick will also be one of the artists involved in our art workshops taking place during the convention so if you have ever wanted to draw Transformers like the professionals, here's your chance to find out how!!

Nick isn't the only one of our comic guests to be actively involved in the convention in this way. As well as taking part in the comic panels, many of our other comic guests will be doing more during the weekend...

SIMON WILLIAMS

Simon will be providing the artwork for one of the convention exclusive postcards that will be given away free to all attendees and once again, Simon will be on hand all weekend doing sketches for fans. But that's not all... Simon will also be bringing artwork for sale, prints and more besides.

ANDREW WILDMAN

Andrew will be doing the artwork for our other exclusive postcard, doing sketches for fans and bringing some original artwork for sale.

LIAM SHALLOO

Liam will be playing host to one of our comic art colouring workshops taking place during the weekend, and he will also be bringing prints with him for sale.
 
JASON CARDY and KAT NICHOLSON

Jason and Kat will be bringing a selection of brand new prints and badges for sale and Kat will be doing sketches for fans of Transformers Animated characters. We are also hoping that they will be involved in the convention in some other way too...

Please note that there may be charges from some of our artists for sketches and some may insist that they are personalised. We will bring you more updates on our other comic guests as we get them.

Don't forget, you can find full details about the convention and the the new Auto Assembly Shop where you can buy back issues of our convention magazine, pin badges and more on the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

We have some more MASSIVE announcements over the next few days including details of our second voice actor and much more besides so keep your eyes on all the major forums and websites! As always, we hope to see as many of you as possible in August.

Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly
 
web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7804 951406

Simon Furman has published his answers to the latest batch of 20 questions raised to him on the IDW boards. You can view the first 15 questions on the IDW forum and the last 5 on his message board, as well as below.

We are pleased to announced that Auto Assembly 2009 is coming! Europe's largest Transformers convention is back for 2009 and it is going to be bigger and better than ever! This time it is going to be a two-day convention allowing us to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Transformers in style and will be a weekend packed with activities, dealers, guests and so much much!

The convention will be held on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th August 2009, with a bonus mini programme of activities on the evening of Friday 14th August for those who book for the full weekend. Initially only weekend passes will be available, but single day tickets will be on sale closer to the convention should spaces still be available. There will be an extra special programme of activities running on Saturday evening until the early hours of Sunday, but these will be exclusive to weekend attendees!

The convention will be held at our new venue, The Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, which is on Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham, right in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, England. It is an ideal location for anyone travelling to Birmingham from anywhere in the UK and is just 2 minutes walk from Birmingham New Street Station!

We have run a number of surveys to find out exactly what you want from Auto Assembly 2009 and we will be tailoring the activities and events to suit YOU the attendees. There will be so much going on that you won't have time to rest - from guest talks to video screenings, workshops to toy and art displays, dealers and competitions, a charity auction and games area, quizzes and much more besides. And for the first time ever at Auto Assembly, a live script reading from Transformers voice actors! Talking of voice actors, we will be having not one but TWO voice actors joining us at Auto Assembly 2009 to join in the celebrations!

We already have our first three guests confirmed - first up is legendary TF artist Andrew Wildman making his sixth appearance at Auto Assembly, secondly is IDW and Titan colourist Liam Shalloo, and third we have John McCrea whose Transformers work includes Titan Magazines Transformers and Transformers Animated titles. We will be announcing more over the next few days. We are also in the final stages of discussions with our first voice actor and hope to announce them in the next 7 days and the second actor in the next few weeks!

Ticket prices will be £45 for adults and £35 for concessions with reductions to just £40 and £30 for a limited period once bookings open for early registrations! We have also managed to negotiate for reduced accommodation rates in the Holiday Inn hotel for their superb bedrooms and these will be posted on the website.

We are also working our traditional goodie bag of free gifts for attendees and this is going to be our most spectacular yet. As always, there will be more gifts the earlier you register but this will include keyrings, postcards, DVDs (for the first 40+) and much more!! There will also be added bonuses for pre-registrants and if that wasn't enough, we are also looking at ways of improving our pre-registration system to make things smoother and faster than ever for all of you attending.

Bookings will open soon so keep an eye on the Auto Assembly website and all the usual Transformers websites and forums for all the latest news and developments as we have them.

We hope to see many of you there next year for what we think will be the biggest and best Auto Assembly ever!

Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Derrick Wyatt has posted another comment on his blog regarding the basic of the character personalities of Transformers Animated characters as well as hints as to how the Cassettes would be like if they were in the Transformers Animated series

"Any of the former cassettes we update would be based on their classic animal-like G1 cartoon selves. I know there is a very large part of the fandom that prefers the comic style talking Ratbat and whatnot, but I am not one of them. When I was a kid reading the Marvel comics, I never understood why the cartoon and comics were so different. Treacherous Shockwave, smart Grimlock, and talking Ratbat were just concepts I could never accept as a kid, and that bias is still with me. I did really enjoy the more evolved Beast Wars Ravage character, but I will always prefer the classic version. TFA's inspiration generally comes from the other animated series that proceeded it. That doesn't mean that we won't throw fans of the comics a bone now and again!

I should also say that I regularly read, and am a big fan of the modern age IDW comics. It's great to have Transformers comics with such cool art and stories."

In his latest comment against the Prowl concept art, Derrick Wyatt posted the following comment.

"Eric Siebenaler from Hasbro showed me his concept for Oilslick right from the get go. I was too busy with show stuff to give much input, but liked what he had done anyway. How could I not like a bot with a Mr. Freeze tank on his head and a ram skull on his shoulder? We really consider Eric to be part of the show's creative team anyway. I'm sure it is hard for Hasbro to coordinate everything. Since Marty Isenberg actually wrote the Transformers Animated: The Arrival comic for IDW himself, we consider that part of the show continuity. I got to do some designs for the IDW comic as well. Marty also was involved with the story for the Nintendo DS game. Having the show creators involved in these types of projects really helps them feel more like they are all part of the same universe.

There are absolutely TONS of G1 concepts that are practically begging to be in Animated. Maybe some of them will get to."

IDW’S LAUNCHES DEBUT ISSUE OF
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED MINISERIES

(San Diego, September 3, 2008)  For newcomers as well as longtime fans, IDW Publishing - under license from Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), is proud to announce the release of The Transformers Animated: The Arrival #1 — the first of a series of five ALL-NEW ORIGINAL comics. The story arc takes place in the continuity of the first season of the Animated TV show, airing on Cartoon Network.

In Dispatches, Animated series head writer Marty Isenberg, along with artist Dario Brizuela take a brand-new look at the story behind the AUTOBOTS’ arrival on Earth. You’ve seen the Animated movie, but do you know the whole story? You will as ULTRA MAGNUS, SENTINEL PRIME, STARSCREAM, BLACKARACHNIA, and many more tell their sides of the story that started it all! The TRANSFORMERS Animated series will also feature OILSLICK, who was originally intended to be a toy-only character, but the creators found a place to fit him into the comic.

Alex Milne and Marcelo Matere each provide a special cover for this debut issue.

FC 32 pages $3.99

About IDW Publishing

IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry including: television's #1 prime time series CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Paramount's Star Trek; Fox's Angel; Hasbro's The Transformers, and the BBC's Doctor Who. IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. In April 2008, IDW released Michael Recycle, the first title from its new children’s book imprint, Worthwhile Books. More information about the company can be found at http://www.idwpublishing.com.

About Hasbro

Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As a brand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-tech and digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, CRANIUM and WIZARDS OF THE COAST. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. (C) 2008 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Marcelo Matere has updated his deviantart page with his cover for Transformers Animated Arrival issue 4 from IDW comics. The cover features Porter C Powell as well as Bulkhead