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Simon Furman has provided a reminder, via his blog, that he will be at London’s Forbidden Planet Megastore tomorrow from 6pm.
Even though the event is headlined by Death’s Head Volume 2, he will sign any Transformers related stuff, like Devastation, Beast Wars and Titan’s UK comic but also any of his Terminator 2 work.
The most important thing to do tomorrow is buy Mr Furman a drink in the pub afterwards. He’ll be more likely to reveal some upcoming information on any of his projects.
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
Auto Assembly 2005 Pre-Bookings CLOSED!!
We have now closed the pre-bookings for Auto Assembly 2005 as we are in the final packing stages and getting ready to go over to the Clarendon Suites so we can’t process any more bookings properly! If yuo have already pre-booked, your confirmation slips have been posted and should be with you in time for AA2005 if you have not already received them.
We do still have around 100 places available for those of you planning on coming along on the day, but we would advise you all to get here early to get a good place in the queue as once we hit the cut-off point, we will not be able to let anyone else in! On-the-door prices are £10 for adults and £7.50 for children, students etc.
If you have pre-registered and not received your confirmation slips by the time you leave to come along you will need to ensure that you bring the following – PayPal order confirmation (including the transaction ID), proof of personal ID including address (such as mobile phone bill). If you don’t have either of these, it could delay your admission into the event.
We’re looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!!
AA2005 Final Guest Update
Sadly Lee Sullivan won’t be able to join us at Auto Assembly this year due to unforseen family commitments. However, we do have an item for the auction signed by him and he will be back with us for Auto Assembly 2006. However, we do have a surprise….
Also, because of staff shortages, Maximum Entertainment have just informed us today that they will not be able to make it this year. However, we will be still filming Auto Assembly 2005 ourselves (and we are still looking for volunteers!) and hopefully the edited footage will be used on the RiD box set appearing later this year. They are going to be sending some items along for us to give away as prizes though.
Geoff Senior To Attend Auto Assembly 2005!!
Transformers comic legend Geoff Senior will be making his first Auto Assembly appearance this weekend! He will be around to sign autographs and will be taking part in the comic panel at 1 00 pm.
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!)
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
Wreck and Rule. of the forums has reported that Neil Kaplan, the voice of RID Optimus Prime, is coming to Auto Assembly 2005! Here’s what Simon Plumbe had to say on the announcement
Okay, we’ve just confirmed our latest guest for AA2005… and it’s a voice actor!
Making his first appearance at Auto Assembly is RiD’s Neil Kaplan, the voice of Optimus Prime and Ro-Tor!!
We had been in talks with another voice actor for some time which was 100% dependent on sponsorship. That sponsor started making very unreasonable demands of the actor, to the point that they wanted to by-pass Auto Assembly completely and go directly to the actor in question! As you can imagine, that resulted in that deal falling apart.
Neil stepped in about two weeks ago and asked if he could come along. He made us an absolutely fantastic offer regarding his appearance and combining the offer Neil made, plus the wonderful support we have had from all of you booking early and through funds raised from our online auctions and fundraising through the adverts on our website we have been able to make Neil’s appearance happen without the need for sponsorship!!
Neil will be involved quite extensively with the Auto Assembly 2005, and he is also going to be helping us with the auction and as we write this, is arranging for some rather special items to be signed from many of his fellow RiD cast members in the States…!
Simon
To help with fundraising for Auto Assembly 2005 to try and bring more voice
actors over for next years event, we have teamed up with online DVD retailer
Store4DVD to bring you a great source of cheap Region 1 DVDs…We will be featuring adverts on the Auto Assembly website for Store4DVD and
when you click on these banner adverts and make ANY DVD or CD purchase from
them after following that link, Auto Assembly will receive a commission of 4%
on any sale. All of the money raised this way will go towards our guest fund
to try to help bring Wally Wingert back for next year’s event and possibly other
voice actors as well…!Store4DVD have a massive range of over 30,000 Region 1 DVDs in stock as well
as Region 2 discs and CDs and they ship these FREE to anywhere within Europe.
They currently have almost 50 Transformers discs in stock including 30 Region
1 titles and as they are all shipped from within the UK, there are no worried
about customs charges. All the latest box sets are available and they even have
the Transformers The Movie soundtrack CD available!Obviously, we know people are interested in other DVDs as well and they’ve
got a massive range of other titles including WWE, other animated titles and
a vast range of other sci-fi/fantasy shows so it’s worth checking them out and
if it’s not in stock you can pre-order anything in their list.Sorry about the blantant plug, but if you do buy a lot of Region 1 DVDs anyway,
this could be a way of getting your discs, avoiding the risk of customs charges
AND helping us to get voice actors for next years Auto Assembly at the same
time!The adverts will be on the Auto Assembly website from about 6 00 pm on Friday
18th June 2004 at www.autoassembly.org.uk to raise money for the event on 4th
June 2005. If you want more info or have questions about the event and we’ll
be posting updates and answering questions on the Transformers@TheMoon, Transformers.Net
and Auto Assembly forums. Alternatively, email us for more details.Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly 2005web – www.autoassembly.org.uk
email – enquiries@autoassembly.org.ukforum – http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
We just received this email from the chaps at Auto Assembly, looks like it’s gonna be a good’n. We’ll have an interview with Simon coming shortly, but for now over to the guys for a word about AA 2004.
Auto Assembly 2004, the two-day UK/European Transformers convention that is
taking place over the weekend of 8th-9th May 2004 in Birmingham, England. The
deadline for booking tickets to get a 5% discount on ticket prices is
approaching fast. The general closing date for pre-bookings is the end of April,
but the deadline for booking tickets with the 5% early booking discount is now
just SEVEN days away!We are still offering 10% discounts for people who are active members of the
Auto Assembly discussion forum and the convention is shaping up to be a great
weekend. We have a great range of guest speakers including our guest of honour –
RiD’s Wally Wingert (the voice of Sideburn and Mirage), Simon Furman, Andrew
Wildman, Lee Sullivan and Jane Lawson and Joanna Moher from Metrodome who will
be filming the convention to appear on a future UK DVD box set).As well as the guests (with different speakers on each day) we are offering a
packed weekend of activities. There is going to be a charity auction with signed
photos and rare items, dealers from across the UK, toy and art displays,
competitions, video screenings, a games room and much more.Tickets are just £15 for the full weekend and include a pack of goodies
including a 56 page colour convention magazine and other free gifts including
convention exclusive postcards with art from Andrew Wildman.For more information, visit the website or email us for more details. We can
take bookings online and full details are on the website.Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly 2004web – www.autoassembly.org.uk
email – enquiries@autoassembly.org.uk
forum – http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
Hi everyone!
We’re only SIX days away now from Auto Assembly Target 2006 on 3rd June here in Birmingham, England and we thought we’d bring you another news update covering a few key areas of the convention. We’ve got important updates on bookings, the charity auction and more besides…
BOOKINGS
Bookings are still coming in and we want to update you all on the situation here. For everyone who has pre-registered so far, we have now sent out all of the confirmation slips/packs for everyone who has pre-registered up to midnight on Friday 26th May 2006. All of bookings we have received since then will be posted out Tuesday 30th May by first class post and should reach you by Thursday 1st June at the latest.
However, for those of you who do live in the UK and who have not pre-booked there is STILL time to pre-register IF you book in the next 48 hours! As long as we receive your booking online by 10 00 am on Tuesday 30th May, we will be able to process them and send them out the same day. We can’t guarantee to process any bookings received beyond this point.
At 11 00 am on 30th May we will be making the final draw to see who is taking part in the consulation exercise taking place at the convention so you still have a chance to get involved in that part of the convention as well!!
PLACES REMAINING
At the time of writing, there are approximately 130 places left for Auto Assembly Target 2006 including on-the-door places which is fewer than last year. While Auto Assembly 2005 was NOT a complete sell out, we have had considerably more bookings than last year at this point and we are expecting to have more places confirmed in the next couple of days that have been provisionally reserved so this figure will be reduced. With expected local press coverage also expected prior to the convention we still STRONGLY recommend pre-booking while you still can.
CHARITY AUCTION
For those of you interested, we are hoping to be able to take credit card payments (via PayPal) for items in the charity auction. We are currently working on having internet access at the convention although this will be for admistrative use only. We must stress that such payments will be subject to a 5% handling fee as we are charged by PayPal for all payments received. We will also be able to accept card payments for purchases from the Auto Assembly registration desk for merchandise including copies of our event magazine, other items and Titan Books graphic novels that we will be selling.
GUIDO GUIDI SKETCHES
Guido Guidi will be doing sketches for fans at Auto Assembly although we have been asked by sponsors TF Auctions to stress that – because of time – these will be limited although Guidi will be happy to sign autographs throughout the day.
GOODIE BAG UPDATE
While we were preparing the goodie bag, we have been able to confirm the exact numbers of most of the items we have available in the packs for everyone this year. The situation is as follows – Ladybird G1 books (first 139 attendees), G2 Colouring/Activity books (first 294 attendees), Cards Inc G1 Stickers (first 340 attendees), and for every attendee are – Auto Assembly Postcard #002 (Simon Williams), Auto Assembly Postcard #003 (Guido Guidi), Model & Collector’s Mart magazine, and a bag of Transform-A-Snacks. We are still waiting for a delivery of assorted items from Metrodome which will include various postcards but we don’t know how many of these there will be.
COLOURING COMPETITION
One for all our younger attendees… we’ve got a free competition lined up. Just pick up a colouring sheet with a lineart version of one of our postcards and a FREE pack of colouring pencils from the registration desk and just hand your entry in later in the day to be judged by some of our guests. We’ve got some great prizes on offer for the winners!
* * *
Well, that’s it for this update so you’ve only got TWO DAYS to decide if you want to pre-register but we want to see as many of you there as possible to help us break the European Transformers Convention attendance record for the second year running! It’s going to be another great event and we’d love to see you all there. Book online or find out more at www.autoassembly.org.uk to decide if you want to come along on the day and we hope to see you all on Saturday!
Simon and Sven,
Auto Assembly Target 2006
Anyone planning on attending the Midlands Transformers convention ‘Auto Assembly’
(like I will be) might like to know they’ve announced confirmed guests, RiD voice
actor Wally Wingert (who voiced Sideburn, the TF with a car fetish and Mirage),
Marvel/Dreamwave writer Simon Furman and artists Lee Sullivan and Andrew Wildman.
Fans who visited the last Botcon Europe will know the RiD voice actors are a very
humorous lot, so it’s sure too be entertaining.
Check out the Auto Assmebly 2004/Guests section for full details.
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