TFNation have announced their 13th guest as Ireland's own Nick Roche. You can read the full announcement below.  TFNation takes place in Birmingham, England from August 19th to August 21st with tickets on sale now at tfnation.com

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Operation: Wreck and Roche (Warning, trousers may shatter)

Today is the day that fans of the Wreckers have been waiting for as IDW release Sins of the Wreckers.  So whether you buy digital copies of physical comics it's out so go and buy it, enjoy it and share your love across Social Media.

The Twitter account of IDW Publishing have posted a preview for the upcoming Sins Of The Wreckers Issue1 comic book. The title is the sequel to one of the most praised Transformers comics ever, The Last Stand Of The Wreckers. You can find the full preview here.  Story by Nick Roche with art by Josh Burcham, the title is released in November.

The UK based Transformers and G.I-Joe Collectors event known as Roll Out Roll Call have announced their dates for this years show as the 11th and 12th October.  The announcement, which came in the form of the flyer you can see below, has also announced that Nick Roche will be a special guest and has teased at some sort of Transformers Collectors Club / G.I-Joe Collectors club tie-in for the event. What could it be? Time will tell.

Our thanks go out to Steven Weeks for letting us known about Demon con a small convention that takes place a couple of times a year in Maidstone Kent. The event is organisated by the Graham Beadle who runs the shop Grinning Demon with the next event due to take place in Februrary on the 16th. Here's Steven to let you know more:

Hi there just wanted to let you know about a little convention that's held a couple of times a year by the local comic shop the Grinning Demon run by Graham beadle.
The convention is held in Maidstone , kent , England and is called Demon Con 7
The reason I thought you might find it interesting is because 4 of the guests are or have been involved in Transformers comics.
They are Simon Furman, Nich Roche, Dan Abnett and Geoff Senior.
The convention is sunday 16th February 2014.

You'll find more information on the event in the link below

https://www.facebook.com/events/549656095112449/?fref=ts

If you have any questions please contact Graham Beadle through his facebook page and he will tell you everything you would like to know

Many thanks for reading

steven weeks

Big news has come out of Dublin International Comic Expo (DICE for short) for fans of Death's Head as it was annouunced yesterday during the Marvel Comics panel that Nich Roche will be the new artist on the Death's Head one-shot comic which is due for release in early 2014.  Nick will be providing the art for Andy Lanning's scripts which will be based on the Death's Head II incarnation of the Marvel UK character.  The comic is rumoured for a possible Feb 2014 release, marks the first Marvel work for Nick Roche as well as being the first in a series of planned released by Marvel US to bring back older Marvel UK properties.

Auto Assembly 2013 Presents... Night Of The Bumblebee!

Auto Assembly 2013 is just ONE MONTH away and we're pleased to be able to bring you the first exciting details of this year's schedule starting with the Friday night of the convention, which is EXCLUSIVE for weekend ticket holders...

We are really excited about this extra special programme and we believe that it is going to be our biggest Friday night programme ever. Attendees will be able to collect their passes for the convention from our Registration Desk from 12:30 pm on the Friday afternoon but when we open the doors for Europe's Largest Transformers Convention at 6:00 pm, you're going to be in for a great night!

We're going to start the night off with a a special look at Overlord, first deconstructing the character in a special session hosted by none other than James Roberts, Nick Roche and Alex Milne! Following on from that will be a discussion panel and Q&A session with the More Than Meets The Eye creative team.

But that's not all. We then move up a gear into our special theme for the evening... the Night Of The Bumblebee! We're shifting gear to take a look at everyone's favourite yellow Autobot - G1 Bumblebee as portrayed by one of our guests of honour for Auto Assembly 2013, Dan Gilvezan.

We'll be kicking things off with a special panel looking at the legacy of Bumblebee over the last three decades in the toys, comics and on screen followed with the night's main event. Dan Gilvezan will take to the stage to give an exclusive reading from his biography "Bumblebee And Me" and will then take part in a Q&A Panel talking about his books!

We may even have a few other things mixed in as well as all of this! For those of you who don't have a copy of "Bumblebee And Me" yet, Dan will be bringing some over to the convention with him but supplies of these will be limited so if you want to get your copy before the convention to get it signed by Dan, you can order it from Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/14679...=vitpla-21

As we have said, this night is EXCLUSIVE for weekend ticket holders but if you have only booked for the Saturday or Sunday then you can upgrade your tickets. Just email us at contact@autoassembly.org.uk for more details on how you can do this.

If you have not already booked for the convention, tickets are still available and they can be purchased from the site at: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/auto-asse...-bookings/ but they are selling faster than ever this year and ticket sales are far ahead of where we were this time last year so book NOW to avoid disappointment as we do have a cut-off of 1,000 attendees this year! Pre-registrations close on TUESDAY 30TH JULY 2013 so hurry to book your tickets for what is set to be the biggest and best Auto Assembly ever!

We have a great guest line-up this year and as well as Dan Gilvezan we are being joined by Neil Kaplan (RiD Prime) and Steve Blum (TF: Prime Starscream), as well as comic guests Simon Furman, James Roberts, Andrew Griffith, Nick Roche, Alex Milne, Jim Sorenson and many more!

Auto Assembly 2013 is Europe's largest Transformers convention and is taking place over the weekend of 9th - 11th August 2013 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel. To book your tickets or find out more including details of all the dealers attending, all of our guests and a full schedule for the weekend, visit the website at http://www.autoassembly.org.uk

Hope to see you all in August!

The Auto Assembly Team

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The official Transformers Facebook page has posted a preview of IDW's Spotlight: Megatron comic by Nick Roche who talks the reader through the pages both as the writer and the artist.

PAGE 1: This story starts off just after Megatron has received a new body during the TRANSFORMERS ONGOING series from a couple of years ago. Why set the tale in this time frame? And did you have to research all the old designs again?

NICK ROCHE (writer): Well, I just write the thing. It doesn’t bother me what the designs for the characters are like. I just sit back, lash any old nonsense out, and watch the accolades come cascading in.

As for the timeframe, IDW and Hasbro were looking for a Megatron SPOTLIGHT to feature the same body that the character currently sports in the TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ongoing series. Of course, he’s a little dinged-up over on that title, and has foregone more of his personal grooming routines. But it’s essentially the same character design. Now, almost every nano-second of that iteration of Ol’ Megs has been accounted for – from him coming online in TRANSFORMER ONGOING #13, to his climactic farewell in the “CHAOS” series. I had to pull a trick that Simon Furman has made his own, and find an empty story-corner to craft an idea; tell an off-panel tale, as it were. And it allowed me to address what must have been huge disappointment and frustration on Megatron’s part upon discovering the undignified and embarrassing mess Starscream had made as leader of the Decepticons.

NICK ROCHE (artist): The script was pretty loosely written, so I had to second-guess the writer’s intent a lot of the time. He’d just send a hand-scrawled note on greaseproof paper that said, “’bot 1 punches ’bot 2.” I had to do a lot of work to put any shape on the so-called story.

Piecing together the “script” did involve me having to do some research and capture the look that the ONGOING-Era Decepticons had on their Vacation Asteroid. But every comic – and every TRANSFORMERS comic especially – involves a lot of back-checking and cross-referencing on pre-existing designs. Because I had drawn Megatron and a few of the other cast members in these designs before, it wasn’t a complete slog, and didn’t slow me down too much.

PAGES 2 and 3: Did you find it difficult to write Megatron’s character at this point in time, bearing in mind everything he went through in All Hail Megatron and just after that?

NICK ROCHE (writer): Not prohibitively difficult, but it was an enjoyable challenge marrying up the Megatrons of two different writers (Shane McCarthy & Mike Costa) and have him pointing where the current writer (John Barber) has him positioned. It was interesting to read back over both eras of Megatron and reconcile the words and deeds of one with the other. I think I managed to not contradict anyone as I pulled my Megatron into place.

Barring weaving other versions of the character into this one version though, I tried to think about how Megatron would feel at having all that is sacred to him – his Decepticons; The “physical manifestation of his ideology” – absolutely driven into the ground. His star system-trouncing warriors are reduced to a whimpering mess, so let’s discover what affect this would have on him. If the Decepticons are defeated, he feels it, because to him, the Cause and The ’Bot are one and the same.

NICK ROCHE (artist): Is there a question for me? No? Oh, it’s all about the writer, yeah? That guy…

Well, let me tell you about stuff anyway. I drew these pages. Was it easy? Nothing is, working with that guy. He didn’t even specify which ones some of them were. “The Blue Cassette and a Broken Clone” was pretty much all the direction I got for this spread.

This was where some of the referring back to earlier issues paid off. Like, I tried to keep the wounds that Razorclaw suffered in his skirmish with Starscream back in ONGOING #13 consistent with the wear-and-tear shown here. And then I added little nods to the cannibalization that was rife during this period too. You can see that Sunstorm (on the left of the image) is sitting down, because someone else is probably using his lower legs…

PAGE 4- What would you say set this issue apart on terns of the challenge as apposed to the other issues that you have written and drawn yourself?

NICK ROCHE (writer): Oddly, this page represents the real departure from previous solo excursions, in that there is some Editorially-mandated content. The through-line between this current batch of Spotlights is a connection to Metroplex and the Space Bridge technology he possesses. We know that this new body Megatron inhabits has the ability to traverse vast interstellar distances. Where did his restoration crew gain that technology from? Well, now we know. And as a dutiful Megatron nerd, I couldn’t bypass the opportunity to refer to the character’s oft-cited ability to access a Black Hole in deep space. What potential side effects could those powers unleash with this new Space Bridge ability? It’s all touched on slightly here. In dinner terms, this page is the Science Starter, the rest of the issue is Red Raw Main Course. Things…get messy. Bring a bib.

Though you have no idea how giddy a writer can get when they realize, “Wow! I’m writing a conversation between MEGATRON and SHOCKWAVE!” Workdays don’t come any better than that.

NICK ROCHE (artist): “Make the One-Eyed One argue with the Bucket-Head One.” That’s literally all he wrote.

It was hugely enjoyable to realize that I was drawing two of the heaviest-hitters (maybe THE heaviest?) in the Decepticon army having a typically terse one-to-one. It was massive fun to draw a similar scene between Shockwave and Overlord in LAST STAND OF THE WRECKERS, but as popular as Overlord is now, he didn’t have the same weight of responsibility to draw then. Whereas this scene – which has a sulky, skulky Soundwave too, for flip’s sake! – made me regress to seven-year-old status. (I usually operate at full-on nine-year-old.)

PAGE 5- Megatron sets his sights on Starscream for the first time since he’s seen just what Starscream did as leader in his stead. This is one of Transformers classic relationships. Had you always in your mind wanted to do these scenes, and did you always know how you wanted them to be?

NICK ROCHE (writer): I didn’t think I had a burning desire to explore this relationship, but that’s sometimes the best way to be. A part of me worries I’ll choke or wobble (or both at once – a “chobble”) when the day comes to write some dialogue for Optimus Prime. But because of when this story was set, and because of the events that lead us here, this confrontation was unavoidable. I had no choice but to just write it, and I think that can often be for the best. Out of all the iterations of TRANSFORMERS lore over the decades, this relationship between Megatron and Starscream is by far the most constant and enduring. Prime has different lieutenants or right-hand-guys in different shows, but Starscream is eternally cursed to be the thorn in Megatron’s side.

For me, the question at the heart of this relationship is as fundamental as “Why DOESN’T Batman just kill the Joker?” Why does Megatron keep Starscream around? What possible thought-process could allow a liability like him to linger and lurk, constantly undermining and unraveling your progress? It became apparent very quickly that this was what the story had to be about. And I think I’ve managed, in the pages that follow, to explore – and even explain to some degree – what this relationship is really all about.

NICK ROCHE (artist): My thinking here (because ONE of us had to do a bit of that) was that upon discovering Megatron’s resurrection in ONGOING #14, Starscream fronted it out a little with the returning boss, and then retreated to his rinky-dink throne room, where he’d squandered three years piffling about with the Autobot Matrix. So, I wanted to show a Starscream that’s beaten before Megatron even makes a start. The heft of his own fear of Megatron has literally crushed him, and where better to reflect on his potentially final moments than at the foot of the seat of his power. Interesting though that he doesn’t flea; he stays to face the music. The rest of this issue gets down to the nitty-gritty of the odd and dark relationship that these two share. I think. I dunno, I just draw the pictures.

Nick Roche To Attend Auto Assembly 2012

Auto Assembly is proud to announce that we are once again going to be joined by fan favourite, artist and writer Nick Roche. Nick will be joining us at the convention for the fourth successive year and will be taking part in panels, signing autographs and sketching for fans all weekend and will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about his work.

Nick will be joining his Wreckers co-conspirator James Roberts for a special IDW Panel that we will be holding on the Sunday but we are sure that there will be a few other events that he will be involved with during the weekend...

For more details on Auto Assembly 2012 which is taking place over the weekend of 3rd - 5th August 2012 in Birmingham, England or to book your tickets or find out information about booking dealers tables, visit the website at http://www.autoassembly.org.uk and for all the latest news on Auto Assembly Europe, visit http://www.autoassemblyeurope.eu

The Auto Assembly Team

Web: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk / http://www.transformersvideogames.co.uk / http://www.ct-alpha.com
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Auto Assembly is sponsored by

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TheTransformers.net - http://www.thetransformers.net
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Botcon.com have announced the following via Twitter.

BotCon Comic Timelines Issue 5 Cover SNEAK PEAK! Who is drawing it? Check pic and find out. Full cover is amazing! http://twitpic.com/1vkyze

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

Simon Furman has updated his blog with information on his comic signign day in Orbital Comics in London (in Leicester Square)

Next up on my 09 signing/convention schedule is London’s Orbital Comics on Saturday 27th of June. I’ll be there from 2PM (to around 5PM), along with artists Nick Roche, Jon Davis-Hunt, Boo and Liam Shalloo, answering questions and signing stuff, including Rad Robots—my all things robots in film, TV, books and comics tome—which will be out and in stock by then. So come down and grab a signed copy of that or Transformers: The Movie Universe, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie adaptation (single issues or collected TPB) and StarCraft #1 and #2. Oh, and you can check out some amazing Roche original artwork in a special gallery display at the store. Orbital Comics can be found at 8 Great Newport Street (a stone’s throw from Leicester Square tube). See you there!

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
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email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7804 951406

Simon Furman has updated his blog regarding issue 16 of the UK Transformers Comic by Titan Books.  The issue, which is out on the 11th September features the return of Transformers Movie Jazz!

pulse-pounding, knee-trembling, trouser-shattering (apologies to Nick Roche) TransformersSaga of the All Spark too, as that reprints/repackages the UK strips for the US market), which features an all-new UK originated strip — ‘Dark Spark,’ written by me and drawn by Jeremy Tiongson (colour by Jason Cardy). comic (though look out for IDW’s series

If you’ve been following the ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming’/'Aftermath’ storyline you’ll know we’re knee-deep in the alternate Transformers movie universe by now, rolling out and onwards from a not-so-happy ending to 2007’s big screen opus. Well, in ‘Aftermath,’ a precious fragment of the All Spark was recovered by Skyblast and it’s now in the hands of Autobot medic Ratchet, who’s busy weighing up the pros and cons of some fairly drastic action regarding that very fragment. Sure, it might give them a much needed edge in the ongoing battle against Starscream’s Decepticons, but how high a price might they have to pay for victory? The All Spark was well and truly corrupted by Megatron’s malign influence, and any Autobot given a new lease of life, may not be an ally for long. Get ready for the return (maybe happy, maybe not) of… Jazz! Yep, ‘Autobot’ Jazz is back, and the repercussions for, well, just about everyone, will be huge! And there’s more!

More strip (Beast Wars: The Ascending, Megatron: Origin), more features, more competitions, more news and previews of the October debuting UK-exclusive Transformers Animated comic and a fantastic FREE Rotor Blaze Battle Launcher. Phew!