TFNation have announced another guest for their first Transformers convention as Simon Furman!

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TFNation_2016
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We are honoured to announce that Simon Furman, one of the most significant contributors to Transformers and its rich mythos, will be joining us for our inaugural convention! 

It really does feel right for somebody who has worked so hard from the Cybertronian's earliest days be here with us to celebrate the bold new era of TFNation. 

We would keep you here all day if we were to list Simon's complete Transformers credits. Much of his work comprises the bedrock of the comics, animation and films we all enjoy today. Simon's writing has stood the test of time and his work is still held in high regard today. He has worked for the successive publishers Marvel, Dreamwave and IDW.

Simon has also lent his comic talents to many other titles including Scream, Thundercats, Alpha Flight, Doctor Who, as well as co-creating Dragon's Claws and of course a certain Freelance Peacekeeping Agent who Marvel keep teasing may return...

In addition to his writing, Simon also served as an editor for Marvel UK and Titan Books.

Away from comics, Simon has been involved in the world of animation from Beast Wars, X-Men: Evolution, Dan Dare to most recently serving as both Head Writer and Script Editor for CITV's The Matt Hatter Chronicles.

Over the course of the weekend, you will have the opportunity to hear more about this storied career from the man himself and in much greater detail.

To keep up with Simon's current work, he maintains a blog over at:
https://simonfurman.wordpress.com

Simon will be signing autographs and selling comics and script packs from Friday 19th until Sunday 21st August 2016 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel at TFNation 2016. We look forward to seeing you there!

Further transmissions to follow.

TFNation

Where All Are One
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This coming Sunday, June 29th, Simon Furman will be appearing at the London Comic Mart at the Royal National hotel in Russell Square. Signing copies of Transformers: Regeneration One TPB 4 (and 1, 2, & 3).  Entry is free. For more details, go here.

Then, one week later, over the weekend of July 5th/6th, Furman will be at the Glasgow Comic Con. or more details, go here or here.

Then, one week after that, over the weekend of July 12th/13th, Furman will be at the London Film and Comicon at Earl’s Court 2, along with fellow RG1-ers Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville. For more details go here.

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

A personal shout-out from Simon Furman:

Okay, so, after my Bedford outing, my next port of call could be the Bewdley Book Week in (you guessed it) Bewdley (Worcs, near Kidderminster). At the moment, I’m down to do a talk on the Friday night (13th September), but honestly, right now, it’s looking a touch doubtful. Not enough bums on seats at this moment in time. If there’s enough of you out there who want to part with a fiver to hear me talk about the comics biz, my part in it, and the current wonder that is Transformers Regeneration One, then sign up soon. Otherwise, regretfully, I’ll have to pull out. Nothing worse for the old ego than talking to five people in a room built for much more. Oh, as an added incentive, there’s a book signingright after. I’ll have copies of both Transformers: Regeneration One trades (vols 1 & 2) to sign/dedicate according to your wishes. We’ll kind of look at numbers again on Monday and make a decision then, so if you want to come along sign up here, soon, and please spread the word via whatever social media networking options at your fingertips. Fingers crossed, I’ll see you there!

Simon Furman has updated his Wordpress Blog with a new article titled "Script (W)rap – Transformers RG1 #85" which, as you should be able to guess from the title, covers his preview of Regeneration One issue 85 which sees the conclusion of the "Loose Ends" story arc.  Simon makes mention, within his blog, the posting a spoiler free preview was going to be very difficult, but he has promised a true smackdown of Optimus Prime Vs Megatron, a real first for the "Generation One" story.  Simon explains his thoughts on this "Pretty much everyone now knows it features what I hope is the most titanic and revealing Prime/Megatron clash ever. I’d always felt vaguely unsatisfied that the two towering titans of Transformers-dom had never really had an appropriately epic smackdown in the (original) comic series. Circumstances and story direction just seemed to have them in different corners of the storyline, or the clashes would end in stalemate. When I came on the (US) book, with issue #56, the first thing on my mind was to get Megatron back in the fray. But through twists and turns (of my own devising) somehow I could never get them face-to-face, toe-to-toe (if you discount the Mega-Ratchet combo fight with Prime, where it’s fair to say Megatron wasn’t exactly feeling himself).".

The classics cover month his provided by Geoff Senior (that'll be the copy we pick up then ;))

The comic goes on sale this week from all good, and some not good, stockists

The official Transformers facebook page has been updated with a 5 page preview of IDW's Transformers Regeneration One issue #83 wich includes the Transformers Hall of Fame writer, Simon Furman, giving a running commentary into the pages.  Check it out be clicking the link above.

The Allspark ran a Q&A session with Simon Furman regarding the new

Snippet (click the link for the full Q&A)

 MrBlud: "Did you add Leadfoot to the Wreckers because of his appearance (and membership) in DOTM? "

Simon Furman: My intention with RG1 was to kind of absorb the whole 27 or so year history of the franchise and bring diverse elements (that have a resonance outside the narrow world of the original G1 US comic) into the mix. So yeah, Leadfoot being a Wrecker is a part of that (but not limited to DOTM). There’s also the G2 link, elements and characters of which are being folded into RG1 on a regular/ongoing basis, and the fact that Leadfoot featured in the IDW-verse too, in my Spotlight: Galvatron, so I really wanted him to be a part of RG1 because of all those influences, not any single one.

Just six days now until Transformers: Regeneration One #81 hits comic book stores and download outlets (Wednesday, July 11^th, to be exact), and Simon Furman's pre-release teaser-fest continues with Regeneration One #80.5 — DECONSTRUCTED, pt 3.

Page 8, panels 1-2: Nova Point. A distinct doff of the hat to the first ‘continuation/expansion’ of the Marvel G1 saga that appeared in a 1992 UK Annual as ‘Another Time and Place’, an illustrated text story. In that story, Nova Point is described as being ‘hewn from a mountain of metal’, and I kind of took that description and turned it into ‘a towering, almost monastic retreat perched on a mountain of melted and reformed metal slag overlooking the city.’ As if it’s been made of old bits of war-torn Cybertron, the future and the past again, twisted into one. Pretty much just a throwaway line, but Kup’s flippant mention of a ‘tactical upgrade’ opens a door to some character refinements, should we wish to implement any. And here he is — Ultra Magnus, making his US continuity debut. He was a regular feature of the UK stories, and I’m now not sure why I never crossed him over into the US comic. I kind of took that UK incarnation (‘Cybertron’s greatest warrior’ – a description that actually gets a dialog nod in #81) and the more recent IDW ‘galactic lawgiver’ model and mushed them into one. I thought would be interesting to see what a character like Ultra Magnus becomes in peacetime. Frustrated, mostly, but we’ll get to that in a few issues time.

Page 8, panels 3-5: Again, lots of scene to set in this issue, and of paramount importance to me was establishing Optimus Prime’s current state of mind. So already Kup and Ultra Magnus’s dialog has alluded to Prime having rather cut himself off, in almost self-imposed exile, and Hot Rod reemphasises it a moment later. There’s a lot to come in terms of development for Hot Rod. We all know that in the animated movie he becomes the next Prime. And I wanted to feed off that and have Optimus Prime (who — in his own mind, at least — is more in the twilight phase of his time at the top) actively involved in kind of nurturing (or mentoring) his successor. But again, things aren’t necessarily going to play out according to TFTM or any other established storyline. It really is going to be tough ‘being the chosen one’. Hot Rod, though, is quite a pivotal character in RG1 (arguably the most pivotal), but his path is going to be rougher and more convoluted than any previous counterpart version. We finally get to Optimus, who’s standing, well, much as he is at the opening of ‘Another Time and Place’, staring out at Iacon from a raised observation platform. From here, it all goes in a very different direction from that Annual story, but it deserves acknowledgment.

Page 9, panels 1-4: And right from the get-go we understand that Optimus is not in a good place. In modern parlance, he has issues. Terse, brusque — it’s not the Prime we know and love. But I wondered what it would feel like to be dead, and then wrenched back into the land of the living, without so much as a by your leave. Would you be happy or kind of resentful? Something as traumatic as that must leaves deep, deep mental scars, and this reluctance to listen to the likes of Kup is what will drive the entirety of RG1′s first arc, and end in catastrophe. Oh, and death. #85 isn’t pretty. You have been warned. From Magnus’s speech we get the idea that there have been ‘incidents’ already. Clearly Soundwave and Co. haven’t been idle. And now Kup wants to send in the Wreckers. Yes, the Wreckers! Another UK mainstay (collectively) making the crossover into the US continuity. The intervening 21 years have kind of melded Kup with the Wreckers in my mind, so while he’s probably not ‘a Wrecker’ as such, he is very closely linked to the group. We’ll meet them all in #81. And one of the members (or is that two?) has a distinctly UK flavour.

Page 9, panels 5-7: As mentioned, Optimus’s reluctance to risk any kind of re-opening of hostilities (a kind of head in the sand attitude for sure) is going to have consequences. Even as quickly as the end of this issue. The Megatron’s ‘glorious second coming’ line kind of reiterates what I was talking about earlier, and how Soundwave is just holding the fort until his return. Probably using it to keep the faith. And Prime finally name-checks Soundwave’s mob as neo-Decepticons. As if the original Decepticons have just kind of conveniently vanished. It says a lot about Prime’s attitude and the attitude of the Autobots as a whole, if the whole concept of Decepticons can just be erased. Made into a footnote in Cybertron’s history. As if.

Pages 10-11: Our third flashback spread. And a chance to reprise two of my favourite scenes from the early stages of the US comic: Shockwave’s victory and the Autobots hanging from the rafters like sides of meat, and the Dinobots (and Ratchet) taking on Megatron (and winning by default). Or is that foot fault? Then I press fast forward, condensing some 40 issues into three panels, hitting the main note I wanted which was the evolution of the conflict and the Transformers themselves. Very important evolution is to the whole RG1 vibe. Among those ‘evolutions’ is one group who’ll make a big impact on RG1, especially in the second arc, ‘Natural Selection.’ And we wrap this spread with Starscream decimating the ranks of the Autobots and Decepticons alike (from #50). We know what happened to the Autobots who bit the dust in the Underbase storyline, they got pumped full of Nucleon and revived. But what about the Decepticons??

The final 5 pages soon, keep watching…

Hasbro have released the following press release covering the induction of Chris Latta and Simon Furman into the Transformers Hall of Fame

LEGENDARY VOICE ACTOR TO RECEIVE FIRST POSTHUMOUS INDUCTION INTO HASBRO’S TRANSFORMERS HALL OF FAME
Chris Latta, the Voice of Starscream, to Be Honored, Along With Prolific TRANSFORMERS Comic Writer Simon Furman and a New Crop of Robots, at Ceremony in Dallas, Texas on April 28

Pawtucket, R.I. (MARCH 9, 2012) - Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is proud to announce the induction of two legendary figures in the evolution of the iconic TRANSFORMERS franchise-comic book writer Simon Furman, and legendary voice actor Chris Latta-into the TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame. Furman has written TRANSFORMERS comics on and off for almost 30 years, and has written more TRANHSFORMERS comic books than anyone else. Chris Latta voiced ten Transformers characters in the early animated series, including STARSCREAM and WHEELJACK. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1994, however his posthumous award will be accepted by his family at the TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame ceremony, April 28, 2012, during BOTCON, the Official TRANSFORMERS Convention, in Dallas, Texas.

Founded in 2010 to honor those influential in creating and building the iconic TRANSFORMERS franchise, as well as actual "ROBOTS IN DISGUISE," the TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame has previously honored writer Bob Budiansky, voice of Optimus Prime Peter Cullen, original TRANSFORMERS designers Yoke Hideaki and Kojin Ohno and the Director and Executive Producer of the live-action film trilogy, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.

Simon Furman: Simon Furman is one of the most recognized and respected names in the world of TRANSFORMERS comic books. Furman began his run on TRANSFORMERS comics writing the first UK version of the TRANSFORMERS imprint. Later on, Furman took over the role of writer on the U.S. comic adaptation beginning with issue 56 and ending with issue 80, the final comic to be published in the series. In 1993 with the reintroduction of the TRANSFORMERS brand under the "Generation 2" banner, Furman was once again tapped to pen the 12 issue comic series. Nearly ten years later, Furman returned to the world of mainstream TRANSFORMERS comics as part of the "Dreamwave" writing staff. Simon Furman now writes for IDW comics, where in 2012 and by popular demand, he was asked to continue the story of the original TRANSFORMERS comics right where he had left off beginning with issue 81 of TRANSFORMERS ReGeneration One.

Chris Latta: The first TRANSFORMERS animated television series began to air in 1984, and as part of the original cast, voice actor Chris Latta helped breathe life into these animated robotic characters.
Chris Latta began his voice over career in the late 1970s. In 1983, Latta joined the cast of the G.I. JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO animated series as COBRA COMMANDER, the leader of the evil mega maniacal organization COBRA. Later, on the TRANSFORMERS series, Latta pioneered the role of STARSCREAM, a back handed and conniving character that constantly plotted to usurp his leader MEGATRON for control over the DECEPTICONS. Latta’s portrayal of both STARSCREAM and COBRA COMMANDER have made these characters two of the most iconic and widely recognized in their respective brands. Unfortunately, Chris Latta passed away in 1994; however his family will be on hand at the Hall of Fame event to accept the award on his behalf.


Hasbro will also induct four more iconic robot characters into the TRANSFORMERS Hall of Fame. Heroic AUTOBOT JAZZ, fan-favorite DINOBOT GRIMLOCK and evil DECEPTICON SHOCKWAVE will all be honored. In addition, TRANSFORMERS fans around the world are able to vote on TRANSFORMERS.com for a fourth robot to receive the 2012 "Fans’ Choice" honor. Fan-chosen nominees include ARCEE, MEGATRON (BEAST WARS), WHEELJACK, RODIMUS and SKY-BYTE. The winner will be revealed for the first time at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at "BOTCON" on April 28, 2012. Voting is open from now until March 21st on TRANSFORMERS.COM

First introduced in 1984 by Hasbro and Takara as a toy line, the TRANSFORMERS brand
has provided kids with hours of MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE fun with their action figures that convert from robot to vehicles and back again. Legions of boys around the world grew up creating fantastic adventures and battles set on both the planet CYBERTRON and Earth that featured the "good-guy" AUTOBOTS and the "bad-guy" DECEPTICONS. Since then, more than 7500 robots have been introduced in countless animated TV series, comic books and three live-action feature films. For further information visit the official TRANSFORMERS Facebook page at Facebook.com/Transformers.

# # #

About Hasbro, Inc.
Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The Hub, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The Hub is www.hubworld.com. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. © 2012 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Simon Furman has posted the following on his blog looking for some missing artwork

I need your help. At some point between last year’s Roll Out, Roll Call and this year’s, two pieces of original Transformers comic art I supplied for display ‘went missing’. The items in question are the final page of Transformers UK #78 (Target: 2006 prologue), by Jeff Anderson, and page 2 (the title page) of 1985 Annual story, ‘And There Shall Come A Leader’, by John Stokes.

(Click the link for images) but bear in mind the missing pages are the black & white line originals on artboard (at larger than printed scale).

These pages were kindly given me by the artists in question, and are quite simply irreplaceable. So, could I ask all transfans to be vigilant. If you see or have seen these items for sale, or know who has them, please contact me via the Wildfur website (& the contact email thereon).

All information will be treated in strict confidence and I’m offering a reward of rare/signed Transformers goodies to anyone with information leading directly to their recovery.

Thank you.

BotCon have tweeted that both Simon Furman and Chris Latta will be inducted into the Transformers Hall of Fame

Simon Furman is best known for writing various Transformers comics, starting with Marvel UK, he went on to Marvel US  looking after both comics.  Then with the revival of Transformers Comics with Dreamwave Simon once again started to write Transformers comics, as well as working with Titan Books to republish some of the original Marvel UK stories.  He even wrote a few stories for Titan Magazine's UK Transformers comic as well as joining IDW (meaning he has been the only writer to write for every publisher of Transformers comics).

Chris Latta is most famour for voicing Starscream in the original Transformers cartoon, as well as Cobra Commander in GI-Joe.  Chris proved to be a fan favorite, featuring in the top 3 most popular voice actors for Transformers fans, along with Frank Welker and Peter Cullan.

Newsarama posted some preview pages for the upcoming IDW Transformers: Regeneration One issue #80.5 over on their website yesterday.  The series, which continues the Marvel Generation One universe, is due to be released on the Free Comic Book Day later in the year.  You can view the images below.

In case you had forgotten, we are just 5 days away from Roll Out Roll Call 2012 (the third installment of the GI-Joe / Transformers Convention, and Simon Furman has updated his blog regarding the event.

Barely have I gathered my thoughts and gear after London Super Comic Con than I’m off again. A week from now I’ll be heading to Southampton for Roll Out, Roll Call 3, the all-singing, all-dancing Transformers/G.I. Joe/Action Force event, which runs across the weekend of 10th & 11th March.

I’ll be there along with the likes of fellow Regeneration One creatives Andrew Wildman and Jean-Paul Bove, the god of G.I. Joe Larry Hama, Jim Sorenson & Bill Foster (the Allspark Almanac gurus) and many more. It promises to be a simply amazing weekend.

As well as signing/selling original scripts (largely unpublished), comics and more, all weekend, I’ll be taking part in a dedicated Q&A session (where more dirt on Regeneration One is bound to get dished) and presenting a special Transformers script-to-page presentation, featuring the art of fan favourite Nick Roche. The presentation is capped by a special gallery section featuring rare (again, often unpublished) art from the likes of EJ Su, Don Figueroa, Alex Milne and more. And in addition, there’ll be a permanent display of Transformers (and Action Force) original art from my own personal collection to enjoy.

If you can, get yourself along. It’s sure to be blast. For more details and how to order tickets, check out the All the Cool Stuff website here.

Timey2Wimey has posted the latest video promoting the upcoming Transformers, G.I-Joe and Action Force convention here within the UK called Roll Out Roll Call.  The video focuses on the profile of Transformers legend, Simon Furman.  You can watch the video below.

The main guest line up has now been confirmed and announced:

Meet Transformers ReGeneration One Team:
Simon Furman - Transformers ReGeneration One writer
Andrew Wildman - Transformers ReGeneration One artist
John-Paul Bove - Transformers ReGeneration One colourist

Meet The Legendary GI-Joe writer at his first ever UK show:
Larry Hama - GI-Joe writer - 1st ever UK show

Meet the IDW Team that helped create the new look Cobra Commander:

Robert Atkins - IDW GI-Joe artist - 1st ever UK show
Simon Gough - IDW GI-Joe colourist - 1st ever UK show

Bill Forster - Transformers Ark & The AllSpark Almanac Author & Artist
Jim Sorenson - Transformers Ark & The AllSpark Almanac Author
James Eatock - Cereal:Geek Animation of the 80's Magazine Editor

Simon Furman has updated his blog with information on his 2012 appearances

Yep, hardly has my passport been stowed from the last (and final) convention appearance of 2011 (at Auto Assembly Europe earlier this month), than the 2012 convention calendar starts to fill up! Already, three personal appearances are confirmed, with more to come!

Already locked in are:

10th-11th March: Roll Out, Roll Call 2012 – a feast of all things Transformers and G.I. Joe in Southampton (UK), with guests including myself, Larry Hama and Andrew Wildman. For more info, check out their website here.

19th-20th May: Kapow 2 – Mark Millar’s extraordinary celebration of all things comic book returns for 2012, with a phenomenal guest list already, with a host of special guests still to be announced! For details, check out the Kapow website here.

3rd-5th August: Auto Assembly – the UK’s premier Transformers event, now in posh new digs for 2012. For details, check out the AA website here.