July 2008

After the announcement of Transformers: Destiny, the 5 part prequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Chris Mowry has talked to MTV about the series and how it will link his current series, The Reign of Starscream, to the film sequel. He goes on to confirm what Simon Furman mentioned, that The Fallen is in the sequel.

“[We're going to] explore the background of The Fallen — the main villain of the movie — as well as expand on the ‘Reign of Starscream’ story that we’re doing and tie everything in to what this next movie is going to be,” explained writer Chris Mowry, who partners on the book with artist Alex Milne. “The next movie starts out with just tons of action and there’s obviously going to be a lot of questions, so we’re hoping to answer some of those beforehand.”

Auto Assembly 2008 is happening this Saturday, and it seems that it will be the largest European Transformers Convention EVER! The deadline for pre-booking is tonight and to tempt you 2 more guests have been announced. John McCrea and Lee Bradley, who have both worked on Titan’s Transformers UK comic, with John soon to move onto the Animated version as well.

As a further bonus, the BBC will be filming at the convention.

W’re just FOUR days away from Auto Assembly 2008 and as we promised, we’ve got yet another couple of last minute announcements to make…

* TWO MORE GUESTS CONFIRMED! *

We have now confirmed two more guests for Auto Assembly 2008 bringing the total to THIRTEEN! We are now being joined by John McCrea and Lee Bradley. John and Lee have both been working on Titan’s Transformers comic for some time and John is going to be working on Titan’s upcoming Transformers: Animated title. They have both also been working extensively in the comic industry and will be making their Auto Assembly debut.

* PRE-BOOKING DEADLINE IS TONIGHT! *

Don’t forget, pre-bookings close TONIGHT so if you haven’t already registered, you’ve got to get your bookings in by 9:00 pm GMT so we can process them and get your booking confirmations out in the post to you tomorrow to ensure that they reach you before the convention.

* NEW EUROPEAN RECORD IMMINENT… *

Bookings have been flying in and we have almost hit the total figure that we had in 2006 and that means just a few more and we have set a NEW European record and we will do this easily from on the door bookings!

* BBC AT AUTO ASSEMBLY 2008 *

It is looking very likely that not only will Auto Assembly 2008 be filmed to be included as a bonus featurette on a DVD, but it now looks as if the BBC will be sending a camera crew to the convention for their Midlands Today programme so expect to see a couple of camera crews around during the day!
Well, we’re almost there but who knows what else might happen in the next 48 hours… See you all on Saturday!

As always, for all the latest information on Auto Assembly 2008, to book online or to download booking forms or for more information on anything in this weekly update, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk
Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly 2008

email: enquiries@autoassembly.org.uk
web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards7.com

tel. +44 (0)7860 948296 / +44 (0)7804 951406

Simon Furman has completed his script for issue #16 of Titan’s Transformers UK comic, and has provided a general story overview. The story, titled ‘Dark Spark’, is a stand alone story, following on from the previous two stories, Aftermath.

Titan Transformers (UK) #16 is due out on 11th September, with art from Jeremy Tiongson. A preview can be found below:

Shia LaBeouf has again been arrested, this time on suspicion of drink-driving after an accident in Hollywood. His vehicle crashed into another early Sunday morning.

He was previous involved on the wrong side of the law in November  whe he was arrested for refusing to leave a pharmacy in Chicago.

IDW had plenty of panels at last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, and announced some new titles coming in the next year.

Lots of art was shown for All Hail Megatron, Spotlight: Blurr and Simon Furman’s new series, Maximum Dinobot, a 5 issue series, which is previewed in the following image:

As far as new series, Transformers: The 13 will celebrate the 25th year by telling of the original 13 in another origin series. The series will be written by Simon Furman with involvement from Hasbro, which can be considered good or bad.

Continuing the Transformers movie universe, Transformers: Destiny will act as a prequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The 5 issue series will start in December 2008. Chris Mowry and Alex Milne will pair up again to produce the series. Simon Furman will work on the Transformers 2 adaptation.

Chris Ryall and Simon Furman were also interviewed by Comic Book Resources. BEWARE, there is a major spoiler for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Alex Milne, who is the artist for IDW’s Transformers: The Reign of Starscream, has posted his cover for the 5th and final issue of the series on his DeviantArt page. The issue is due for release in August, but will probably come out in early September.

Reign of Starscream #4 is oiut on 13th August.

With all the news in San Deigo, here’s some news closer to home. Argos’s new catalogue came out on Saturday and with it lots of new figures for the UK. Argos, over the next 6 months, will be selling lots of Universe and Animated figures, with most of the first wave already out.

In total, 8 Deluxe, 5 Voyager and 4 Ultra figures will be released for the Universe line and 15 Deluxe and 8 Voyager figures for the Animated line.

Already sighted are Universe Deluxe Sunstreaker, Prowl and Tankor (all costing the rediculus price of £12.99!), Voyager Heavy Load and Blaster and Ultra Onslaught and Powerglide. Be sure to look out for in the next couple of months.

Shane McCarthy has updated his blog with news on some of IDW’s new Transformers books. A brand new character will be appearing in IDW’s All Hail Megatron series, called Drift. All that is needed is final confirmation from Hasbro.

Also on his blog is the cover for All Hail Megatron #4 by Trevor Hutchison. The simple design is meant to convey “sorrow, solitude and defeat”. The issue will be out in August.

3 more toy galleries have been added today for your viewing pleasure. Follow the links to view Animated toys Autobot Ratchet, Voyager Class Bulkhead, Leader Class Bulkhead and Leader Class Megatron and Universe Classic Onslaught.