Saturday August 25th saw the Transforce convention in Beckenham, Kent. And it saw much lira make its way out of my wallet in exchange for Transformers goodies. I didn’t know so much existed. The toys and merchandise that could be found there astounded even a great hoarder such as myself. If it’s the toys that interest you most jump to the bottom of the page now for the pictures. If you were unaware of Transforce, you may wish to check out our preview of the event here.

This gathering of Transfans occurred on what must have been one of the hottest days of the year, so hundreds of eager fans jostling together in one room fighting over rare and imported merchandise made for a very humid and faint inducing experience indeed. Luckily they had a bar, and it was cheap. In this bar you could find a giant projection screen with some classic Transformers action adorning it. The U.S. DVD of Villains was one such cartoon shown, and one of my favourites.

The initial bartering for merchandise

The highlight of the convention, besides the rather cheap bar and Carlsberg lager, was the Q&A session with us fans and the gods of Transformers; Simon Furman, Andy Wildman, Lee Sullivan, Steve White and Mike Kazybrid.

Simon and Lee have already been interviewed by TheTransformers.Net, so check out their interviews here: Simon Furman | Lee Sullivan The other guys all agreed to interviews so stay tuned on that one.
Simon Furman and Andy Wildman talked about their current project The Engine which is a website run by the combined company SimFur Productions. Rather than me telling you about this website, just check it out for yourself. http://www.whorunstheengine.net

Andy Wildman also mentioned that he is currently working on a PC game of 2000AD with games developer Rebellion. This will feature comic book style artwork with Judge Dredd in a first person style shooter. For more info on this keep your eye on GAME, they are always first for games news. I mentioned to Andy afterwards how great it would be if there were a Transformers PC game with his artwork, he agreed.

More graphic novels from Titan!
During their Q&A session Simon Furman broke some great news about Titan books. A you may know they have just released the story ‘All Fall Down’ in graphic novel form, and will release ‘End of the Road’ later this year. Titan have now agreed to release four new novels next year. The stories are Matrix Quest, Target 2006 and the G2 comics parts one and two. How’s that for exciting? Strangely many people’s favourite story, Time Wars is not scheduled for release, but you can still read that story here at TheTransformers.Net

Andy Wildman and Simon Furman wait to sign autographs, they’ll have a long wait as Lee Sullivan is holding everyone up with another long story.

Simon also mentioned that Titan were looking into other Transformers projects and possibilities, but he wasn’t going to elaborate on that at this stage. What could he have meant? Maybe Titan publishing original Transformers graphic novels? Perhaps even picking up the comic? Who knows, but be sure that ‘All Fall Down’ has performed well for Titan, and they’re getting behind Transformers firmly.

Alignment
Attendance at the convention was the only way you could secure your copy of Alignment part one, Simon Furman’s conclusion to the Transformers saga started in G2. This is sure to be one of the rarest and most sought after of all comics, getting it signed by the crew also helps. If you haven’t got a copy of this I fear you may never get one, it’s possible that by contacting Transforce you may still be able to order one, but don’t quote me on that. We won’t be featuring this in our comics section either, it was produced at great expense to Transforce and if you want to see a copy you’ll have to go through them.

This artwork for the cover of Alignment from Lee Sullivan was also auctioned off at Transforce, so some lucky fan has this beauty hanging on his wall. If you’d like to own some original Transformers art then check out Lee Sullivan’s gallery here at TheTransformers.Net. You too could have original Transformers comic art on your wall.

The Transforce quiz proved to everyone that just because you know Transformers, doesn’t mean you know Transformers. There was a mixture of G1 and Beast Wars/Machines questions on the initial entry sheet, and I got one right. Plus I was pleased with that.

The jostling for merchandise

Where does he get those wonderful toys?
Now to the stalls, and my word what an array of Transformers merchandise. Be still my twitching wallet. Boxed mint Devastator sets, Sky Lynx, Trypticon and Fortress Maximus. Reissue Megatrons and Primes (more than I paid for mine over the web!) PVC figures and comics. They even had rare ‘Movie’ figures of Rodimus Prime and Galvatron… that talked. Not for sale unfortunately, or is that thankfully?
The most curious thing I found was a Soundwave miniature. There were others too, Trypticon and JRX, but Soundwave caught my eye. He seemed to be the Soundwave we all know and love but much smaller, yet exact in every detail, and of course Transformable. I wannit! Where does he get those wonderful toys?

A reissue Hot-Rod that I just had to buy

My purchases consisted of a reissue Hot-Rod (a must have item in anyone’s eyes) a PVC Grimlock simply because I was curious as to what they were like, and a child’s set of Transformers Pyjamas. For my son before you ask, and he’d better not be sick on them!

The reissue Hot-Rod cost a cool £40.00, which was steep but there was no way I was leaving him there. He had a Taiwan price on him of $2,500 around £25.00, but with shipping and the dreaded import tax I guess I would probably have had to pay around £40.00 anyway. I’m happy.

My son Robbie waits patiently to get his copy of Alignment signed.

Robbie behaved well on the whole, but decided to heckle Lee Sullivan during the Q&A as the heat was getting to him. He then decided to have a siesta while waiting to get his Alignment signed.

The one item I really, really wanted… but not for sale. Curses!

All in all this was a great day for Transformers, it shows that they are more alive today than they ever were, and they will go on living online and in conventions for years to come. Hopefully the name Transformers will make it back to our screens in it’s original G1 format, the toys will hit our shelves and the comic will return… we can hope, but there certainly is a demand for it!