As you know, as part of the Saturday evening entertainment at Auto Assembly 2009 there will be a script reading featuring Gregg Berger, Ian James Corlett, comic artist Simon Williams and - subject to his appearance at the convention - Neil Kaplan in a brand new script being written exclusively for Auto Assembly by Simon Furman (who is writing All Hail Megatron issue 13 which is having a convention exclusive variant cover from Nick Roche and Liam Shalloo). However, the script has more than those few characters now it's time to give YOU the chance to appear on stage with these Transformers voice actors...!

Starting now, we are casting for four roles in this short play set in the Beast Wars era and to have a chance of playing one of these characters, all you need to do is decide which part(s) you want to audition for and just send us an MP3 of you doing that voice and include your ticket number with your email! We'll listen to all of the entries and select a winner and runner up to act as an understudy incase the winner isn't available on the evening!

There are just three basic rules for this competition:- 1. All entrants must be 16 or over. 2. Entrants must be FULL WEEKEND attendees and available for the Saturday evening programme. 3. You must pre-register for the convention and auditions must be received by no later than 31st July 2009. Apart from that, the auditions are open to everyone, INCLUDING our guests! Naturally, Auto Assembly Committee members and their families are not eligible to enter.

We have open audtions for the following Beast Wars characters:- Megatron, Razorbeast, Dinobot and Waspinator so get your files to us as soon as possible! You can create dialogue yourself, perform existing lines from the TV show (or the comic in the case of Razorbeast) or request a short extract from the actual script and we will send a small piece for you to record but you need to hurry!

For full details on Auto Assembly 2009 and to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk To submit your audition, send it to autoassembly@aol.com

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

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

Hi,
 
Now that things are starting to move along, we thought it was time to bring you the first of our regular updates on what is happening with Auto Assembly 2009...

BOOKINGS

Since we opened bookings less than a month ago, it would seem that we are already on target for setting a new European attendance record once again! We have already beaten the attendance figures that we set for Auto Assembly 2000 and Auto Assembly 2001 and what that has meant is that - sadly - for those of you who have not already registered, the free DVDs that are part of the goodie bag have already been allocated. We do have plenty of other items that will be in the goodie bag for ALL attendees though so don't worry if you haven't already booked as no-one will go away from the convention empty handed!

For those of you who are reluctant to book your tickets online using PayPal, we now have the Postal Booking Forms on the website for downloading so you can print these off and send them to us with your payment. The early registration discounts still apply if you book this way, as do the family discounts.

DEALER TABLES

If you want to attend Auto Assembly 2009 as a dealer, we have also opened up bookings for dealers tables this year so get in touch if you are interested. We have sorted out the room layout and as well as reserving space for all of our regular dealers who will be returning, we do have space available for new dealers but tables are limited so hurry if you want to get involved!

GUESTS

We already have a fantastic guest line-up for Auto Assembly 2009 with no less than ELEVEN guests confirmed so far with more in the pipeline. Right now we are being joined by our first guest of honour, Ian James Corlett (the voice of Cheetor from Beast Wars) and supporting him is our usual array of comic guests - Andrew Wildman, Simon Williams, Jason Cardy, Kat Nicholson, Staz Johnson, Liam Shalloo, Lee Sullivan, Mike Collins, Lee Bradley and John McCrea. We are currently in talks with a second voice actor and additional comic guests.

What we can now confirm is some of the extra involvement of some of our guests during the weekend... As we have already announced, we will be having a live voice actor script reading on the Saturday evening. Taking to the stage will be Ian Corlett, Simon Williams taking on the role of the narrator, and our second voice actor in a brand new script penned by Simon Furman!

Many of our comic guests will be doing sketches for fans during the convention, usually for a small charge, and we can already confirm that Andrew Wildman and Simon Williams will again be doing these for any fans who want an original piece of artwork! Simon will also be bringing artwork and prints for sale.

Still with the weekend activities and we would like to announce that IDW and Titan comic colourist Liam Shalloo will be taking charge of one of the comic colourist workshops taking place during the weekend and as with ALL of the activities and workshops at Auto Assembly, there is no additional charge once you have paid your registration fee!!

As always, guests are appearing subject to work and personal commitments.

AUTO ASSEMBLY SHOP

Just added to the website is the new Auto Assembly Shop. You can now buy back issues of our convention magazine, The Cybertronian Times, the Auto Assembly pin badges that were produced for Auto Assembly 2005 and Auto Assembly 2006, and the full range of keyrings produced for Auto Assembly 2008. We will ship these worldwide and all proceeds will go towards Auto Assembly 2009's guest budget and providing additional activities and events during the weekend. We have been offered additional guests for the convention but the only way we can get these is through extra funding so if you are coming to Auto Assembly and you want to see them, then every penny from these sales helps!

THE CYBERTRONIAN TIMES ISSUE 10

After a brief delay, we have opened pre-orders for this year's convention magazine through the bookings page on the website. For those of you who have already pre-registered, you can still pre-order the magazine by going to the bookings page and placing your order and we will match it to your booking so it will be ready for collection on arrival. We will have a limited number of additional copies available for sale over the weekend but we do recommend ordering in advance as most of the earlier issues have sold out completely!

CAR / ROOM SHARE

A lot of you may be travelling to Auto Assembly 2009 on your own or are planning on coming to the convention on your own this year and are finding the cost daunting in these difficult financial times. To make things easier, we have established two new areas on the Official Auto Assembly forum where you can find other Transformers fans who may be willing to car share or room share to help you cut your costs.

For those of you who still want to go it alone but need help, we're only too happy to help you find the best travel deals, good prices on car parking or anything else that you need to get your money to stretch as far as possible!

GOODIE BAG UPDATE

We have now confirmed the seventh item for our infamous goodie bag! Courtesy of reprolabels.com all attendees will be receiving a sheet of custom insignia stickers as part of their goodie bag. We don't know exactly what will be on the sheets yet, but rest assured that they will be up to the usual high standard from Reprolabels.

These gifts are in addition to the DVDs for the first 49 pre-registrants (which have now been allocated), and packs of G1 stickers for the first 100 attendees (although we may be getting a further supply of these soon), keyrings, two postcards, and lanyards (the last four guaranteed for every attendee). We are still in talks to bring you even more free gifts as part of your goodie bag so keep your eyes peeled!

**

For those of you who still don't know, Auto Assembly 2009 is taking place at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham, England from Saturday 15th - Sunday 16th August 2009. A bonus programme of activities will take place on the evening of Friday 14th August 2009 for those fans who are attending the convention for the full weekend.

Anyway, that's it for this update but we'll be back with more news soon. We hope to see many of you in August 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)7804 951406

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