A Transformers-themed pub is in the running to be crowned Britain’s Best Home Bar, in a competition being run by Liberty Games. The winning bar, chosen… [more]
This last weekend saw yet another Transformers convention take over the Metropole Hilton, in Birmingham. These weekends have become a staple of my summer… [more]
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Almost 18 years ago (crikey, has it been that long?) we wrote a review of our visit to Transforce in August 2001. It was a seriously hot day, but a great… [more]
Auto Assembly 2005 is now over and everyone should be looking forward to next years event. First things first, well done to AA2005, Simon and Sven, for a well run event and for breaking the European Transformers Convention record, with an attendance of 406.
AA2006 already has its first guest, David Kaye, the voice of BW/BM/Armada and Energon Megatron. Expect AA2006 to be bigger and better than this years event.
More Auto Assembly news to come over the next few days…..
Auto Assembly has now added yet another great item to it’s charity auction for
it’s next UK Transformers convention in May 2004…
The latest item being auctioned off for our two charities next year the NSPCC
and Cancer Research) is a MISB Beast Wars Depth Charge figure… signed by David
Sobolov, the actor who voices Depth Charge in the series.
We were originally expecting a signed photo from David, but he went out and
purchased the toy for us to auction instead and you can imagine our surprise
when it arrived. As David explains
“I thought this might fetch a higher price for your charity auction than
a signed photo. Please let me know how well it does. Regards, David Sobolov.”
As well as his work on Beast Wars, David has also voiced number computer and
video games as well as countless characters in other animated shows, most notably
playing the lead role in the Robocop Alpha Command series.
The auction will form part of Saturday’s programme at Auto Assembly 2004 and
it will have a mix of charity and non-charity items (personal sales from fans
and dealers with a 10% commission to charity) and we now have a lot of great
items covering all TF eras from G1 right up to Energon with everything in between!
As an added bonus, we will be working closely with many of these actors and
companies to bring you even more for Auto Assembly! McDonalds have donated a
number of gift vouchers which will be used for competitions during the Auto
Assembly weekend, and in addition to donating an autograph, Wally Wingert (Sideburn
in RiD) has kindly recorded some EXCLUSIVE dialogue for us as SideBurn that
has been uploaded to the Auto Assembly website talking about AA2004!! We are
already in talks with other actors who are donating items to the auction to
get even more exclusive sound clips and other surprises!
We are also still hoping to be able to announce our voice actor for Auto Assembly
in the near future as well, although this will be dependent on the number of
pre-bookings we get and dealers who book up so if you want to see an exclusive
voice actor, and have a chance to bid on these great items, book for Auto Assembly
2004 NOW!! We will be limiting places based on the capacity of the venue, so
we would advise that you do book in advance.
If you book for AA2004 before the end of January 2004, you will also qualify
for a 10% “early bird” discount!
We’re also starting to take bookings for dealers tables with 15 tables already
taken so if you want to be at AA2004, it’s time to get your bookings in so you
don’t miss out!
For further information, see the Auto Assembly website at www.autoassembly.org.uk
or join the discussion on our forum at http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
and active members of the forum will qualify for a 10% discount on ticket prices.
We can be contacted by email at enquiries@autoassembly.org.uk or by telephone
on 07860 948296. If there are any dealers or individuals who would like to donate
items for these, please get in touch.
Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly 2004
Auto Assembly Target 2006, the UK Transformers convention taking place on Saturday 3rd of June in Birmingham, England has now set the cut-off date for pre-registrations for fans wishing to book from outside of the UK. Anyone wishing to register who DOES NOT live in the UK will need to book using the online booking system and pay by PayPal by Saturday 20th May 2006 AT THE LATEST to guarantee your place at the convention.
We have had to set this date to ensure that we can process your booking in time and make sure that your booking confirmations are shipped to you before you travel allowing you to get into the convention! With airmail taking several days within Europe and about a week for the rest of the world this should give everyone enough time to get your confirmation slips and information packs.
With Auto Assembly Target 2006 less than six weeks away, if you are thinking about coming along to the convention, you need to get your bookings in NOW to guarantee your place. With David Kaye, the voice of Megatron, making his European convention debut and Auto Assembly having the biggest guest line-up ever for a European convention, this is one event you don’t want to miss!
We will be announcing the cut-off dates for UK postal and online bookings shortly.
Simon and Sven,
Auto Assembly Target 2006
Simon Plumbe, one of the organisors of UK convention Auto Asembly, has posted a message in our forum about the need for help in getting the best guests for AA2005 next year. Please have a look at what he’s said here, visit the Auto Assembly website and help support the convention so that we can get the very best people over to see us.
People like Frank and Peter are *extremely* busy so getting them on that basis alone is difficult although I have got contact details for both so approaching them isn’t hard to do.
The one thing we want to make sure of with voice actors is that we invite guests who really WANT to be at Auto Assembly and that covers guests ranging from comic artists/writers, voice actors and everyone else and the voice actors we’ve been talking to so far really want to come along.
The big problem for us is money and I can’t stress that enough. Based on the registration cost, we can’t afford ANY voice actors without some form of additional support. If we get enough bookings to fill AA2005 to capacity AND we get some additional income (for example though merchandise sales of AA2004’s magazine, the Auto Assembly DVD etc.) then we *might* be able to afford to bring Wally back for next year.
For any other voice actor, we will need some form of sponsorship or other help. We are talking to possible sponsors but this is going to involve a lot of intense negotiation but there are no guarantees and we are not talking about a small amount of money. We have been talking to voice actors to get estimated costs for appearances and we are talking about THOUSANDS of pounds to bring voice actors over to the UK.
For AA2004, Wally came over ECONOMY class for his flight, something that he couldn’t do again (it was really painful for him to cope with the 12 hour flight) and all he asked for was his flight and hotel costs. The other actors who have expressed an interest in attending have just asked for expenses i.e. flights and accommodation.
There are some actors who will expect appearance fees as well as the above so we would need a lot of money to make it happen but it CAN be done IF fans are willing to help us make it happen…
If you go to the Auto Assembly website you’ll see a lot of adverts spread throughout the site. These all help raise money for Auto Assembly. For a lot of these, we get commission on sales if people make purchases after visiting links, and with others we get payments if people sign up for free services etc.
Some offer fantastic payments (Morgan Auctions, for example, pay us £2 for each registration!) and if we can get a good income from these then we can do everything possible to get VAs for 2005. We’ve used these advertisers ourselves so we can vouch for the quality of them, and there’s something for everyone. We’ve also got access to a lot more and we’ll be adding more to the site over time.
I know I’ve said this before, but everyone reading this (and every visitor to the TF.net site if it was mentioned as a news story) could help to try and make it happen.
Simon Plumbe has stopped by to give an update on the Auto Assembly Confirmation Slips
I was going to post this on all the forums on Monday and the Auto Assembly website once I’ve actually done it, but I thought I’d post it now instead to let you know what’s happening…!
We’re going to be posting ALL the confirmation slips out on Monday 3rd April for the bookings that we’ve received so far for Auto Assembly Target 2006. This will mean that everyone who has booked up as of 10 30 pm last night will have their confirmation slip / info pack / competition entry forms / volunteering forms with them by the middle of next week for all UK registrants and a few days later for everyone overseas.
However, there will be a few exceptions…
1. A few of our volunteers who will get their packs from us in person.
2. Dealers who will be getting additional information I’m putting together so their packs will go out later in the week.
3. A few attendees who have not completed the forms properly or given us correct information when they booked online (names of all attendees, real names etc.) and we are still waiting for this to process their bookings but they haven’t responded to our emails yet.
4. Full payment for booking – a few have sent incorrect amounts for bookings, incorrectly written cheques etc. and we are waiting for replacements.
That’s about it! In the pack, as well as the forms there will be a booking form for you to give to any friends who haven’t registered so please spread the word!
Looking forward to seeing you all there in June!
Simon
The UK/European Transformers event Auto Assembly 2005 scheduled to take place on 4th June 2005, has now confirmed it’s first few guests and has opened bookings over a year before the event is due to take place…!
The event is being held at The Clarendon Suites, Birmingham, England which is a dedicated conference centre and the hall being used for the event is capable of holding 750 people. The guests who have already confirmed are convention veterans Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman who will be attending their third Auto Assembly event.
Tickets are just £7.50 for adults or £10 on the door although we would recommend pre-booking. All those who pre-register will be entered into one or more prize draws depending on how early you pre-book and the first 150 pre-registrants will get extra free gifts in addition to the traditional “Auto Assembly Goodie Bag” that all our attendees will receive.
The event is, as with all Auto Assembly events, non-profit making, and willbe raising funds for charity through a charity auction and raffle.
Full details, including online booking facilities, guest profiles and much more can be found on the Auto Assembly website and your questions can be answered online via the Auto Assembly forum.
Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly 2005web – www.autoassembly.org.uk
email – enquiries@autoassembly.org.uk
forum – http://autoassembly.proboards7.comAuto Assembly 2005 – UK and European Transformers Convention
www.autoassembly.org.uk – official Auto Assembly website
http://autoassembly.proboards7.com – official Auto Assembly forum
Auto Assembly 2003 will now be held on Saturday, 2nd August 2003 at the Britannia Hotel, New Street, Birmingham. Auto Assembly is being run by Infinite Frontiers in conjunction with Transformers dealer, SKRV. For full details on Auto Assembly, including prices and booking information, check out the website here.
We’ve also set up a forum for the event here for those that wish to ask about it and find who’s going.
Auto Assembly, Europe’s Premier Transformer Convention, has started podcasting. Here’s the email announcing the release:
Hi everyone!Just thought we’d let you all know about a new development we’ve been working on to compliment the Auto Assembly conventions that you might be interested in… Podcasts!!
Basically, we’re producing a series of what can be best described as FREE downloadable radio shows in MP3 format and each show is going to be a mixed bag of things. The main thrust of the show will be to bring you all the latest news and developments of each forthcoming convention with a lot of news being exclusive to the show, weeks before it will appear on the website or the Auto Assembly forum. As well as that, the shows will have interviews, chat, competitions, music, live “phone-ins” and much more besides!!
The first show is available now is runs for 35 minutes and you can find it at http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/podcast.htm and we have even set up a section on the Auto Assembly Forum dedicated to the podcasts at http://autoassembly.proboards7.com/index.cgi?board=podcast
Anyway, we hope you enjoy the show and if you want to comment on it, you can get in touch at podcast@autoassembly.org.uk or chat about it on the forum. See you around on the board and hopefully we’ll see you at Auto Assembly Target 2006 in June!!
Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly Target 2006
At AA2005, Simon Furman gave some updates as to the direction that the new comics would take. To sum up what he said, Simon has posted some points on TFW2005 to clear up the confusion that had been occurring on other sites
Hi everyone– some quick responses and clarifications to the AA-feedback.1) First of all, when I mentioned ‘younger age bracket,’ what I meant was we’re aiming to appeal to an age group under 30! While we definitely want the long-time fans to read and enjoy the book, we also want to make it accessible and resonant with teenagers too.
2) There’ll be a range of ages for the human characters, but the youngest will be maybe fifteen/sixteen. We’re not going ‘junior’ here.
3) Character (alt-mode) updates will be by necessity only. If we can get away with using a ‘classic’ car in the 2005/2006 setting, we will. I have no burning urge to reinvent the wheel here, I just want to make stuff fresh and believable in a modern setting. These guys want to blend in, so they’re hardly going to pick a make of car or whatever from 1984.
4) BUT, and I stress this, we are taking pains to update, not reimagine. All of us (me, EJ, Hasbro, Chris and Dan at IDW) are looking for the most natural fits, those that won’t require major tweaks to the robot modes. We want you to look at any given vehicle on a page and know right off it’s Wheelie (just kidding!).
5) Megatron. Honestly, I always thought the gun was a bad idea. You’ve got the most powerful, feared being in the known galaxy and he turns into a handgun (and mostly he needs someone else to hold and point him!). Gimme a break. No, when Megatron transforms, it should be epic, grandiose. Hardened battle veterans should feel their exhaust ports loosen.
6) And finally, trust me that I won’t take everything you know and love throw it out the window. I won’t. Why? Because I know and love it too. It just don’t want to tell exactly the same story. Again.
Cheers– Simon Furman (honest!)
Hi Everyone!
Just to let you know that the second Auto Assembly podcast has just been uploaded to the server this monday. This time it’s a massive show running in at just under 56 minutes and we’ve got a few surprises in store this time…
Once again, the show has all the latest news and developments on Auto Assembly Target 2006 including exclusive news on our latest guest confirmed for the convention this weekend, details on a convention exclusive being produced by Wildfur, a competition to win some Transformers DVD box sets, more great music plus a special guest appearance from RiD voice actor Wally Wingert!
You can download the show, and the first one if you haven’t already heard it, from http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/podcast.htm where it is available in high and low quality versions for downloading. Feel free to send us your comments and suggestions about it to us at podcast@autoassembly.org.uk or alternatively you can leave them on the forum at http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
Enjoy the show and we’re looking forward to seeing many of you in June at Auto Assembly Target 2006 and thanks to all of your for your support so far with the show and the convention!
Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly Target 2006
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