Day 12 of our 17 day celebration of Transformers At The Moon looks at the year 2010.  It's crazy to think that was 5 years ago, wow have the years raced by.

You can read more about what happened around the world, both within and outside of the Transformers Universe and fandom, by clicking on the title above or visiting our 2010 Year in Review.

Welcome to day 11 of our 17 day commemoration of the website's launch. Today we shall take a look back at the year 2009.

This second live action Movie year ended with some changes to the Transformers Movieverse as well as seeing the sad end of Transformers Animated.  Auto Assembly breaks the European attendance record for a convention becoming the first to reach the 500 attendee mark.  Behind the scenes it also changes forever.

Click the title to read more

Welcome to day 9 of our 17 day commemoration of the website's launch. Today we shall take a look back at the year 2007.  

This year was a little in limbo as fans geared themselves up for the Transformers Live Action Movie.  Transformers Cybertron continued and the fan favourite Transformers Classics line was introduced.

Click the headline to read this article in full.

Welcome to day 8 of our 17 day commemoration of the website's launch. Today we shall take a look back at the year 2006.  

This year was a little in limbo as fans geared themselves up for the Transformers Live Action Movie.  Transformers Cybertron continued and the fan favourite Transformers Classics line was introduced.

Click the headline to read this article in full.

Over the next 17 days we shall be shall be celebrating the 16 year anniversary of Transformers At The Moon which takes place on the 29th of October.  The celebration will see us taking a look at different toys from the 17 calendar years in which the website has been online (1999-2015) (16 years, 17 calendar years).  We shall also talk a little about what happened in each of the years, both Transformers brand wise and our personal history with Transformers.

Before we do that though let's first unveil our Toy for the Year 1999 - Beast Wars Transmetal II Dinobot!

Click the headline to read this article in full as well as seeing a nice new gallery of the second Beast Wars Toy of this standout character.

The team behind TFNation has been revealed via Social Media and a press release. You can read the full release below.

Transmission_Initiated

TransmissionID: 000005

TFNation_2016

Operation: Team Deployment

With construction of your 2016 convention under way, TFNation is thrilled to welcome aboard its first five crew members.

Billy

Best known as the stripe-wearing, former deputy head of Auto Assembly, Billy helped to keep Europe’s largest Transformers convention running smoothly over the past 6 years.

We are pleased to have Billy turn his Magnus-style eye for organisation in TFNation's direction. Duly appointed enforcer of the TFN Accord, we know Billy will keep the convention on course for the benefit of all attendees, whilst ensuring they know EXACTLY where the fire escapes are.

David R

If the TFNation team has learned one thing from its collective experiences, it's that details matter! This is where David comes in, as the convention's embodiment of operations, compliance and logistics.

David is already hard at work proposing and developing exciting segments for our convention next summer, as well as keeping a watchful eye over all paperwork and checking the finer details to ensure everything is... logical.

TFNation can depend on David to get the job done efficiently and effectively with zero fuss. Best of all, he will be doing all of this with a pleasing lack of stripes!

Tori

During her time at Auto Assembly, Tori was the chief guest liaison, maintaining relationships with the voice acting community throughout the year to ensure the actors and their families were taken care of in the run up to the conventions. In addition, Tori also served as head first-aider for several years, always on hand to assist.

An exceptional cosplayer, she can always be depended on to liven up any event with her incredible creations. A skilled and creative member of team TFNation, for sure!

Nick

TFNation is delighted to welcome its very own Reflector to the team!

Conventions, concerts, weddings, sporting events and artistic projects – there really is much more to Nick than meets the lens!

Be sure to view Nick’s online portfolios for a flavour of the breathtaking art he will be bringing to TFNation. If you want to get involved in future projects, let him know! (http://www.nickhardyphotography.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/NickHardyPhotography)

Wait for it!… David W

In his role as Master of Ceremonies, David was undeniably the face and voice of Auto Assembly in recent years. We are thrilled to have him join team TFNation.

Even if you never had the opportunity to visit AA, the likelihood is you will still recognise David's dulcet tones, be it from the Moonbase 2 and Underbase podcasts, or from the fan-favourite youtube channel under the handle of KalelPrime.

If Billy is the ‘straight man’ of the TFNation 2016 stage, then expect Dave to provide the laughter, conversation and more than a little audience participation!

You can find out more about the TFNation crew on the website at http://tfnation.com/the-crew.html

Team TFNation is assembling. We look forward to meeting you from Friday 19th until Sunday 21st August 2016 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel at TFNation 2016.

Twitter: @tfnationltd
Tumblr: www.tf-nation.tumblr.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tfnation


Further broadcasts to follow.

TFNation
Where all are one
End_Transmission

 

Sorry about the lack of news, work has been mental.

As a short update, why not check out our March 2015 Transformers Collection showcase.  It's on out Facebook Account and contains over 80 images

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.859199890792227.1073741844.107005016011722&type=1&l=60bd47fc81

We hope you like it

Our "Trademark-bots" have have found some new Transformers related trademarks filed with the USPTO by Hasbro Inc. The trademarks come under the beverages section and cover two Hasbro Inc brands:

1. TRANSFORMERS
2. G.I. JOE

The applications were filed a week ago and cover "Dairy-based beverages; vegetable-based food beverages; fruit-based food beverages; yogurt-based beverages; coconut-based beverages used as a milk substitute; milk beverages containing fruits; milk based beverages containing fruit juice; peanut-based food beverages; soy-based food beverage used as a milk substitute; nut and seed-based milks" so it will be interesting to see what exactly these are for.

NEFF (86555418), My Little Pony (86555391) and Littlest Pet Shop (86558814) are additional Hasbro Inc brands which have also had beverage related trademarks filed within the last few weeks.

Hi everyone,

First, we'd like to thank all of you for booking tickets for Auto Assembly 2015 - we're all excited about this year's convention and we think that once again it's going to be our best ever.

Following the opening of bookings at our convention hotel, the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel at the weekend, the demand for accommodation at the Hilton this year has been absolutely phenomenal with some rooms selling out in a matter of minutes and the overall block of rooms for the convention being close to selling out already. Our room bookings team has been working extra hard behind the scenes to try to secure additional rooms for all of you who haven't been able to get accommodation yet in the Hilton and we're incredibly proud to announce that the Hilton has given us some more rooms for our block at the discount rate for the convention weekend!

These extra rooms ARE limited so we'd advise all of you to book as quickly as possible (using the link sent to all of you a few days ago) but we have managed to secure the following:

Thursday 20th and Sunday 23rd August

We now have NEW deluxe singles and deluxe twins on sale.  This is a new allocation which we have managed to secure on top of our initial block.

Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd August

We have also secured some additional deluxe singles and deluxe twins for the main convention days - again these are additional rooms we have managed to obtain over and above our initial block.

As these are additional rooms and not part of our original allowance, these have been supplied completely at the Hilton's discretion, for which we cannot thank them enough. It does however mean that these new rooms are very limited in numbers so we encourage you to act quickly to avoid disappointment.

Don't forget, if you have any queries about your booking or the convention itself, please do not hesitate to get in touch and please do not share the hotel booking link with anyone as this is for the exclusive use of Auto Assembly attendees.

Thank you and we're looking forward to seeing you all in August!

The Auto Assembly Team

Auto Assembly 2015 - 21st - 23rd August 2015

The Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, England

web - www.autoassembly.org.uk

forum - http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/forum

Youtube - www.youtube.com/autoassembly

Twitter - www.twitter.com/auto_assembly

Tumblr - http://autoassembly.tumblr.com/ 

Auto Assembly is sponsored by:

AutoTrash - www.youtube.com/channel/UCIbleP8ay2VRdx2X1ffSxaA

Big Bad Toy Store - www.bbts.com 

Brikabrax UK - www.brikabrax.co.uk

TF Source - www.tfsource.com

Transbridge Omegalock - www.omegalock.co.uk

VNC Toys - www.vnctoys.com

Robot Kinggdom - www.robotkingdom.com

HobbyLink Japan - www.hlj.com

Friend to the site, and old site sponsor, Robot Kingdom, have posted a nice gallery of the soon to be released Transformers Masterpiece Ultra Magnus toy on their Facebook page.

Click the link to take a look

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.898106796874703.1073743004.168147899870600&type=1

TFW2005.com member 0JazzMeister0 has posted a review and some images of the Singapore Transformers 30th Anniversary Exhibition

All in all the feedback isn't great but it's worth a read and it's good to see a country have an official event

Hasbro Inc held their third quarter conference call yesterday where the talked about the successes of the company as a way to try to inflate their stock price, as you would expect any business to do.  However, as you would alsl expect, there was Transformers news which came out of the call.  The core news was their official confirmation of Transformers 5 as well mentioned how the live-action Transformers and G.I.Joe franchises along with the Star Wars license will be key over the next several years for the boys toys division.

They also announced that Allspark Pictures, a trademark application we picked up on the 13th August 2013, related to a new live-action movie division of Hasbro which will be used to release movies of Hasbro properties with the first two movies being My Little Pony and Jem and the Holograms.  It is also likely (and this is currently speculation on our part but we hope to be able to confirm this shortly) likely to be the studio that will release both the Micronauts franchise and Visionaries.

"Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner:

Transformers: Age of Extinction delivered over 1 billion dollars at the global box office. This result, coupled with an innovative new line, drove strong year-over-year revenue gains in TRANSFORMERS. Through the first nine months of the year, TRANSFORMERS revenues are greater in international markets than in the U.S. and Canada segment, reflecting the mix of box office results and the global expansion of Hasbro. Overall, the brand is performing in line with the last movie year and we are well into development for the next installments of TRANSFORMERS content. This includes new television programming, as well as collaborating with the film makers on our next ideas to re-invent and re-imagine the TRANSFORMERS brand in movies.

***

This new relationship is a terrific complement to the prolific boys’ entertainment slate over the next several years, including film and television entertainment from Marvel and Lucasfilm, as well as the next theatrical installments of Hasbro’ s brands, G.I. JOE and TRANSFORMERS.

***

In the first quarter 2015, we are launching the next installment of TRANSFORMERS television programming, Transformers: Robots in Disguise. The all new show will debut on Cartoon Network in the U.S., the top-rated primetime network for boys' ages 6-11 and 9-14. Hasbro has developed tremendous expertise in producing animation. We are working with the world’s best studios and we know how to produce top quality animation cost effectively. As our content strategy and all-screen strategy evolve, we are building upon our experience in animation and storytelling. In addition to television, there are select films where we are taking greater control of the process. We have two movies we are currently developing under our new film label, Allspark Pictures. These films are MY LITTLE PONY and JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS.

***

We envision Allspark Pictures as a new way to make fresh and compelling movies, based on new and existing Hasbro brands, for audiences globally.

***
Deb Thomas, Hasbro CFO:

Entertainment and Licensing segment revenues grew 10%, fueled primarily by lifestyle licensing revenues for Hasbro Franchise Brands, including MY LITTLE PONY and TRANSFORMERS.

***

Cost of sales as a percentage of revenue in the quarter declined. This decline continues to reflect growth in entertainment properties, including TRANSFORMERS and MARVEL properties, as well as higher Entertainment and Licensing revenues.

***

Q&A Session:

During the Q&A Session, Mr. Goldner mentioned that AllSpark Pictures was formed in order to increase the focus and effort towards Live Action Movies.

Mr. Goldner also mentioned that Rescue Bots will continue on the newly rebranded Discovery Family.

A question was asked about the success of AOE. The CEO mentioned that he is happy with the growing emerging market for Transformers. He mentioned that they will continue to cater the success of the Chinese market. The second question targeted the International vs. US success of Age Of Extinction. Brian Goldner felt ok with the results, judging by his response.

CEO also explained why Titan Heroes line exists (it was as if he knew the Fan question). He mentioned that the line is mostly targeted at emerging markets due to their low prices"

Credit goes to TFW2005.com for the transcript of the call

The Roll Out Roll Call 2014 panel line-up has been announced and is the following

Saturday.

1. Deconstructing Silent Interlude with Larry Hama
2. The Power & The Honor Foundation with Emiliano SantaluciaJoe Declassified with Gary 'Gyre-Viper' Head
3. 3rd Party Transforming Toys with Ceno Kibble & Casey Sark
4. Designing Action Figures with Boss Fight Studio
5. (TFCC / GIJoe CC) Fun Publications Round-Table and Q&A

Thanks to the twitter account of Hisashi yuki, we have a good look at the prototype of the inner Brainmaster figure for the upcoming Masterpiece Star Saber. This figure is roughly the size of a Diaclone driver, as shown in the images, and whilst its body no longer contains the face of Saber, he does reveal the face by putting the figure to the chest.  The mini-figure is also more show accurate in his general appearance. Check out the images below.

Roll Out Roll Call, the UK convention show dedicated to Transformers and G.I.Joe have issued a new press release which announces that the show will be stocking both Transformers and G.I-Joe Collectors Club items fresh from the US!

Transformers & G.I. Joe Collectors Club Exclusives confirmed for the show.

Thanks to the Transformers & G.I. Joe Collectors Club, the following products will be available for pre-order to WEEKEND PASS holders exclusively for the first time in the UK at Roll Out Roll Call:

1. Transformers Collectors Club
   1. Trans-Mutate
   2. Slipstream
   3. Circuit
   4. Depth Charge
2. G.I. Joe Collectors Club
   1. Big Bear
   2. Bombardier
   3. Cesspool
   4. Falcon
   5. Keel Haul

The show is set to take place over the weekend of the 11th and 12th of October 2014 at the Jurys Inn Southampton. The main guest who have been announced thus far for the show include Nick Roche, Larry Hama and Boss Fight Studios!

For those not wanting to pay for a room at the Jury's Inn then you might want to check out the Travelodge which has double rooms at £35 per night for Friday and Sunday, and £38 per night for the Saturday and is only a 10-15 minute walk from the venue.

To help further with cost and transport, Ann Murray has researched rail and flight tickets from around the country to give everyone an idea of how much it could be to travel to the event.

Rail: (all prices are based on 1 RETURN or 2 SINGLE tickets [whichever works out cheaper] and are per person)
*BIRMINGHAM* New Street or International to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) from £55.60 return per person.
*BIRMINGHAM* New Street or International to Southampton Central (arriving Saturday morning, departing Sunday evening) 2h 50m journey time - from £42.60 return per person.
*LIVERPOOL* Lime Street to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) from £82.90 return per person
*BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS* to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) from £20.50 per person
*TRURO* to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) - from £78.60 per person
*NORWICH* to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) from £47.60 per person
*CARDIFF* to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) from £30 per person
*CARLISLE* to Southampton Central (arriving Friday, departing Monday) from £98.80 per person
**The station is just a 15 minute walk from the venue**
more details on nationalrail.co.uk

Roll Out Roll Call will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Transformers as well as the 50th Anniversary of G.I-Joe.  We will be in attendance as this year is the 15th Anniversary of this very website.