My fellow Britons, looking at the Seibertron Meetup at Botcon got me thinking about how we could do the same at Auto Assembly, and also perhaps have other meetups throughout the year. "Why would we want to do that?" You may ask. Well I shall tell you why.
For too long we have been a Joke to the Yankee users on this website who tease us with their earlier (or even exclusive) access to figures and comics, as we scuffle over the few scraps which meander their way to our god-forsaken isle by way of listing steamship. How the Americans laughed when we were denied Bruticus Maximus, when there were Energon/ROTF Superions warming shelves across the land, and how the laughter turned to glee as they profited by selling them onto us hyper-inflated prices. But this is not a new phenomenon, oh no.
In the Generation 1 days t'was the same. I waited for days outside the local wind-swept toyshop for Swoop to arrive on our grey and dismal shores, yet he never came. Blaster? As if. And that Shockwave bloke never did anything of import, so why bother 'importing' him? This trend would continue as we were overlooked and left to fend for ourselves, our emaciated fingers clasping at the few meagre toys we got whilst our American chums grew plump from the wealth of figures and other merchandise available to them.
So why celebrate the fact we are British Seibertronians in the first place? Well, I think it's relatively safe to say that the US comic would not be regarded as anything other than a clumsily-implemented exercise in product placement were it not for the Brits who worked on it towards the end of the run. Also, there would be no Primus, no Wreckers (imagine that, robotmel!), No Target:2006, no decent story arcs, little in the way of character development and certainly no Death's head. And on the toy front? We got Overlord at least, and we can have
some satisfaction in that.
In short, we Brits have given a lot to Transformers, even if we are still an after-thought when it comes to actually getting toys released etc. So let's be proud of our wonky-toothed, malnourished heritage and arrange to meet for a drink in a pub somewhere, because we have actual pubs, and you don't even have to tip the barman for pulling a pint.
So, is anyone with me? I know it's not in the British nature but we could give it a go. Anyway I think anyone interested in becoming a
British Seibertronian should just reply to this thread with their
general location, as I am about to do, and we will see if there is any interest in arranging some sort of meetup (even if it's just to co-ordinate a Auto Assembly meet for next year).
Below is the British Seibertronians code of conduct, please adhere to it at all times
1) No emoticons (I know, that will be tricky)
2) No text speak or Americanised spelling - Queen's English only please)
3) Be polite at all times
4) Must like tea
5) Must live in Britain
*Disclaimer - the above post is intended to be tongue-in-cheek, and as such is not intended to upset or annoy anyone*