A Roll Out Roll Call has finished and the UK is now without another Transformers show until TFNation next August (which gives everyone time ot save some pennies again).  RORC was a blast one again for us as we both love Transformers, G.I.Joe and Masters of the Universe so there is always something going on that we want to see.  Now this year was the first time that a representative from Fub Publications appeared at the event in person, that person being Pete Sinclair who appeared via Skype last year. Having Pete at the show was great for both the Transformers and Joe brandns in the UK as attendees got to ask him questions over the weekend as well as listen to not one but two panels.  During those panels some details were revealed directly, or indirectly regarding some of Fub Publications upcoming plans.  Below you shall find a small summary of thhe key points.

1. They hope that the trouble regarding booking from this years shows are over as they haved changed host and IT solutions contractors.

2. The theme for next years Botcon was revealed during the show prior to the Facebook/Twitter announcement as an exclusive (which was a nice touch). The theme is Beast Wars and is a homage to their own previous Botcon set which featured the Maximal team prior to arriving on Earth with next years set being DAWN OF THE PREDACUS and featuring the Predacons. The first  figure was also revealed at the show as being Ravage.  It will be a combiner was set with 5 new head sculpts (including the combined form) for the box set.  The set was going to be a Beast Wars theme but it was then changed to become a Combiner Wars theme more recently.  A mockup of the Ravage figure was on display during the show with a low quality head sculpt.

3. Next years Botcon set shall have the most amount of new heads out of any set.

4. Hasbro, currently, want Fub Pub to work closer with them and the product that they are putting out at Retail, hence the Combiner Wars theme.

5. Pete once  again stated that there will probably be no Animated themed Botcon Box sets again in the future however TFCC and show-exclusive twin pack figures may be an option

6, Hasbro want to try to engage more with their non-US fans as well as US fans in general.  Fun Pub are also looking at ways to try to improve "things" for non-US based fans.  Europe and Japan were specifically mentioned but Pete was referring to spreading their global fan-base / membership

7. Subs for the new Collectors Club figures are up on the previous year

8. There will be more Pretenders coming in the future. He was kinda tricked into revealing this through some clever questioning

9. Pete mentioned that the 2018 Botcon theme is alreadty set and that they were still finalising the 2017 theme. This seemed  to be missed by most of the audience.

10. More Joe/TF cross-overs will be coming. One of the characters from the "90s themes comic set" was revealed at the show which was not planned.

11. Pete showed off some more plans that did not make it, so different ones to the Botcon panel as these had a more European Centric feel. There were lots of groans but it did give him feedback on how differences between the US and European collectors regarding cerrtain characters.

12. Joecon information shall be announced soon, though they are in full Botcon mode at the moment. The location wasn not revealed but hints included that it was somewhere new, where Pete had never been before, and that landmarks would  give it away.

So yesterday saw the curtain close on the Auto Assembly convention, for now, after 15 years (but not 15 shows).  For many fans this is a strange and unknown moment. For those of us "older" fans we remember other UK conventions including Transforce, Botcon Europe, OFTCC Europe, as well as the two that never were, Decepti-con and Transformations.  Show's come and go but no UK show has has the longevity, scale and success of Auto Assembly.  Yesterday the show ended with an official figure of 1061 tickets, the first time thhat any European dedicate show has passed the 1000 mark.  For those who claim that the true attendance figure was below 1000 as someone who was on the registration desk through out the weekend I checked the list numerous times and whislt just over 40 passes were not collected over 1000 different people did attende the event over the weekend.  Not all could be there for the end, which is a shame, but you just have to look at the photographs and videos from the opening ceremony to see that the new hall was packed.

Several of the panels in the alternative rooms were full to the brim over the weekend as well which was great to see.

Whilst no future Auto Assembly conventions have been announced the brand will continue with a new YouTube channel starting soon which will host vidoes from the event, and we assume previous events as well, it will continue to produce a fanzine as well as organise meets in Cardiff and, as was announced yesterday, probably Birmingham as well.

For those looking to the future for shows to try to fill the gap, there is the Transformers / G.I.Joe / Action Force / Masters of the Universe show Roll Out Roll Call coming up in October this year in Southampton, various pub meets across the country and TFNation 2016 next Summer (dates to be announced shortly).  Whilst neither of these events are expected to simply take over from Auto Assembly, they are other chances for simliar experiences and we encourage everyone to go and also to look to organise meets in your own areas. They are great ways to make new friends.

Our first Auto Assembly was over a decade ago and whilst we have helped out the convention over that  time with displays, financing guests, organising volunteers, marketing, running stands etc, watching the show grow from 200-300 people to over 1000 has been a pleasure.  We have always maintained that UK shows could have over 1000 people and still maintain an friendly, intimate. Many doubted it including organisers, it was nice to finally see that be true.

Much like Auto Assembly for Simon and Trish, the pressures of "real life" have taken its toll on my brother and myself. For us it has  manifested itself in this website being horrible out-dates visually, as well as us falling way behind in terns of fresh content and news.  We hope to correct this though as we still have plenty of content to share with you all including things you have not seen before. But that is for another time.

Right now we would like to thank Sven, Simon, the committee members (from all periods), the wonderful voluenteers, the guests, the artists, the dealers, the hotel staff and, of course, the attendees.  Everyone has helped the UK create one of the global showcase Transformers events of the year and it has been an most enjoyable ride, we hope that you have all enjoyed it too.

You can now find out image gallery from the UK Action Force / GI Joe / Transformers Convention Roll Out Roll Call 2012.

We have videos to upload for you and hope to get some more images from Barry Shaw to add to the gallery.