Auto Assembly 2015 - Bookings Open and New Guests Announced: Sumalee Montano, James Horan

That was...fast. It's great though to think they're getting next year's sorted only a couple of days after this one. I'm hoping to go this one, but still early days.

It was all being planned before and during 2014, as guests really need to booked as soon as possible!
But the reveal itself was made at the Saturday night party thing, it just took me time to get back to a computer/consciousness.

Sumalee is freaking awesome. Had the privilege to meet her at TF Expo in Wichita, KS. Very sweet and nice.

I am very much looking forward to meet her myself, she sounds brilliant!
And both of the guests being such a 'younger' part of the franchise is also a really cool thought, it will bring in even further newcomers, expanding the attendance and reaching out to wider fandom.

A little too far in advance to book for me as of yet but I'm almost certainly going to be attending next year, this time for the entire weekend! Following on from my mini-rant from the AA '14 thread I do hope that they publish the event/attendee schedule a little bit more in advance next year.

I was actually talking to a couple of blokes who had been there for the entire weekend on Sunday because I was commenting how convention wise there wasn't much going on at AA. From what I can gather the convention was pretty much three hours worth of panels (which were all incredible) stretched out over the weekend. Does this really equate to value for money? I also thought there wasn't much variety amongst the dealers - there was an awful lot of Generations everywhere you went and not as much vintage sellers as I anticipated (hoped for). Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places?

The comic artist tables were all extraordinarily busy so I didn't really go near them having just the day which was a shame, as I would have loved getting a few prints.

Going there for the day gave me a real insight into the atmosphere and scope of the convention and the social side was really great and I had a lot of fun talking to a number of people. Mostly judging nerds from the bar. I can't wait to go for the entire weekend next year and get royally rat arsed, hopefully with a couple of you. Just so I can prove to you all how much of a sweetheart I am.

Is the sweet heart before or after getting drunk

ZeroWolf wrote:Is the sweet heart before or after getting drunk

Both you absolute flirt.

Blast Cannon wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Is the sweet heart before or after getting drunk

Both you absolute flirt.

What happens at AA stays at AA like trying to find a way to abuse Va'als position within the site to get free goodies for all of us

What goodies, there is no goodies.

Va'al wrote:What goodies, there is no goodies.

We could dream, we could dream...

ZeroWolf wrote:

Va'al wrote:What goodies, there is no goodies.

We could dream, we could dream...

Either that or riot.

A riot at a transformers con? Bet the police would be surprised to get that call

It's always a riot. Pesky Festival of Quilts.

Catching up on some convention news, make sure to check out Europe's biggest Transformers event, taking place in Birmingham, UK, 21st-23rd August 2015 - Auto Assembly. The event already features an Artist Alley, Cosplay panel, new redesigned logo, dealer bookings, bigger venue and five confirmed guests: Sumalee Montano, James Horan, Nick Roche, JP Bove, and James Roberts, with more still to come!

I had tickets to go back in 2011 but illness put a spanner in that. Been out of the scene since really, but im gonna throw my hat down and say with what looks set to be an epic year for TF's ill deffo be there in August

The convention last year was fantastically relaxed, fun, good for money and well attended - you should definitely make it this summer!

Unless tragedy hits i will be there this year. Too many years ive planned to do it with an old friend and he kept pulling out so i never went, then the 1 year i did pluck up the guts to go solo as i said illness stopped me, ima lock myself away for a month in a sterile room to make sure i get there this time lol

Best of it is i only live 20 mins from Birmingham and am there all the time anyways so its not even like i gotta put travel expenses in.

Pot Bot wrote:Unless tragedy hits i will be there this year. Too many years ive planned to do it with an old friend and he kept pulling out so i never went, then the 1 year i did pluck up the guts to go solo as i said illness stopped me, ima lock myself away for a month in a sterile room to make sure i get there this time lol

Best of it is i only live 20 mins from Birmingham and am there all the time anyways so its not even like i gotta put travel expenses in.

Does that mean we all get to crash at your place? I make a mean breakfast.

lmao..........the missus goes crazy enough at one tf fan in the house, im fairly sure she'd snap and go heres johnny on me if that were to happen

In unsurprising but nonetheless exciting news for European Transformers fans, we have an update from the official Tumblr page for Auto Assembly 2015, concerning some confirmed new guests for the August event in Birmingham. Joining the already announced voice actors Sumalee Montano and James Horan, comics professionals JP Bove, James Roberts and Nick Roche return once more to the biggest Transformers event in Europe! Check out the image below for even more details.

I would love for a chance to pick Roberts brain but my sister has shanghai ed my family for a holiday down south in the June, so no money when this rolls round

Some sad news from the UK shores of Auto Assembly headquarters and its founder Simon Plumbe: the biggest, largest, busiest convention in Europe will see its 2015 edition as the final one, at least for the foreseeable future. More announcements will be made in the coming weeks, but read on below and here to find out more about this unfortunate, but understandable and very well motivated, decision.

Hi everyone,

It’s with a great deal of sadness and after a lot of deliberation over the last couple of months, that we have to bring you the news that this year’s convention, Auto Assembly 2015, is going to be our last. Auto Assembly has been running for a long time – 15 years in fact – and has grown immensely since its humble beginnings at the Ibis Hotel in Birmingham when just 31 fans attended the first event run on 22nd October 2000 by myself and Sven Harvey.

[...]

Here at Auto Assembly We’re all committed to making Auto Assembly 2015 something really spectacular and even though We may be bringing the event to a close, we’re certainly planning on going out with a bang!

We will be bringing you updates and information on what will be happening to Auto Assembly over the coming weeks and posting an FAQ here on the website to answer all of the questions that we know all of you are bound to have about what is happening but rest assured that this year’s convention won’t be the last you’ll see of the name Auto Assembly!

I'm tipping out a proverbial pint of stout to my homies in the UK. Sad news.

Well, I guess this'll be my first, and last, Auto Assembly. Never had the chance, nor the funds, to go before, but I've saved up this time. Well, I'm sure it'll be a memorable one!

This sucks I absolutely love autoassembly was a great convention highly recommend anyone who hasn't gone to go now you won't regret it

Ever since 2010 when I started listening to the Moonbase podcast I put it on my bucket list to attend an Auto Assembly. Sadly that I can't do it this year so that dream is shattered...

Ah that sucks. I was hoping to attend but with the holiday my sister is planning stomping all over those plans, I was looking to next year what caused the issue?

Any of you swines going to be joining me this year?

I is, again. In my red t-shirt. Again.

Definitely. Would be a crime to miss it

Do they give a reason for why it's going to come to an end?

You are, of course, invited to the Seibertron.com Auto Assembly Piss Up hosted by myself and my friend tequila.

Va'al appears to have cut out a substantial part of the official announcement.

Basically, they state this has happened due to health issues and simply not being able to have the time to organise everything anymore with everything else happening in their lives.


I believe AA has simply become too successful. It's been fun, and mad props to the guys and gals who run it. This year shall simply have to be the grandest one of them all.

Insurgent wrote:Va'al appears to have cut out a substantial part of the official announcement.

Basically, they state this has happened due to health issues and simply not being able to have the time to organise everything anymore with everything else happening in their lives.


I believe AA has simply become too successful. It's been fun, and mad props to the guys and gals who run it. This year shall simply have to be the grandest one of them all.

Intentionally, yes.

I cut parts out of articles so that people can go read the original at the source, allowing for views to both Seibertron.com and the originating website.

Darn it. I've only ever been to 1. I was set and ready to go in around 2013, had my tickets and invited a friend over to England to join me but she had to cancel due to a job interview appearing the same weekend. I ended up not going myself, was hoping a time may come where I would have the chance to try and take her again but that can't happen this year

Ah well, The guys running it need their own lives. Best of luck to them. Sounds like they are a little worse for ware, hope they all recover.

Some news from Auto Assembly HQ, as they keep up their mission to make the 2015 event, the foreseeable last incarnation of Europe's biggest Transformers convention, the biggest yet - and a new guest is announced: the visual historical constant of the robots, Andrew Wildman! Check out more info here and below.

Once again we are being joined by comic supremo Andrew Wildman. Andrew needs no introduction to Transformers fans, having provided artwork for Transformers comics for almost every publisher to have released Transformers comic books over the last 30 year starting with the original Marvel UK run right up until his most recent work on Regeneration One. His work away from Transformers has been incredibly diverse and he will be with us all weekend to chat to fans, take to the stage for a panel alongside some of our other guests, have some of his original art for sale and to sketch for many of you (for a small charge).

We’re excited to be welcoming Andrew back and we’ll be bringing you more news of our next guests shortly…

tbh I'm more surprised it toke this long to announce him but still woo!

I've never made it to a convention before and was thinking of going but £38 ($55) for a day ticket!! Is that a fair price for this type of event?

For what you get and the type of guests? I'd say yes.
But you do need to be a fan of the comics and cartoon series (so far IDW, TF: Prime and Marvel are represented), pure G1 fans will not necessarily get as much out of it as I think others more into the newer iterations of the franchise will.

The amount of toys on sale, from bargains to new boxed stuff, is really quite impressive. But of course, that's extra money on top of your ticket.

Having said that, G1 is not at all excluded - and all fans are welcome, accepted and usually end up having a blast of a time, both inside the convention area and the bar/lounge.

Va'al wrote:For what you get and the type of guests? I'd say yes.
But you do need to be a fan of the comics and cartoon series (so far IDW, TF: Prime and Marvel are represented), pure G1 fans will not necessarily get as much out of it as I think others more into the newer iterations of the franchise will.

The amount of toys on sale, from bargains to new boxed stuff, is really quite impressive. But of course, that's extra money on top of your ticket.

Having said that, G1 is not at all excluded - and all fans are welcome, accepted and usually end up having a blast of a time, both inside the convention area and the bar/lounge.

Thanks a lot va'al, I really appreciate the response.

To be honest I was thinking pretty much exactly what you described, but I wasn't expecting as much comic representation as you say there should be.

I stated with G1 toys as a kid and have mainly stuck to vintage reissue and masterpiece purchases but the comic series of the past few years has really reignited my interest in the buying agai, specifically generations and combiner wars.

You mentioned bargains for new boxed products, do you think the same will apply in the uk?

Thanks

Auto Assembly is UK based, all in UK prices and with mostly UK sellers.
There are charity tables, fan sales, online retailer presence, local shops and import companies such as Kapow, ID and a couple of others.

And yes, there is the chance to get some hard to find stuff, both new and old! I would suggest looking at some haul videos on YouTube from the convention crowd (there are many), in which they show off what they got over the weekend.

OK I'm gonna hit up YouTube, just need to find a way of telling the wife what she will be doing on her birthday weekend now !!

To comment on any concerns / questions people may have about the ticket prices, especially when it comes to the single day passes, what we always try to ensure with Auto Assembly is that our tickets are "all inclusive" and with the exception of your personal travel and accommodation costs, food (naturally!) and whatever you bring to spend on toys or anything else, you won't have to pay a penny for anything to enjoy whatever Auto Assembly itself has to offer - all the panels, workshops and full access to the convention is included and we don't charge for autographs from any of our guests.

Equally, all attendees - whether they buy a weekend or single day pass - get the same package of items to take home with them from the convention. Every attendee gets a personalised pass with lanyard and this year will receive a set of the Auto Assembly 2015 exclusiove postcards, our convention exclusive comic, our convention magazine and we are looking into the possibility of some other items as well. All of these do cost money to produce and this has to come from the income we receive from ticket sales.

When it comes to the convention generally, being a weekend long event, as Auto Assembly has grown we've placed a greater emphasis on attending the full weekend so fans can get the most out of the convention and all the extended activities taking place not only during the day but the evenings as well. In selling single day tickets that affects our ability to sell weekend tickets because we do have a limited capacity at the convention hotel so it's something else we have to factor in with ticket pricing. Any event that offers weekend and single day tickets offers discounts for weekend tickets in comparison to buying individual days so what we do isn't unusual but we have always hoped that what Auto Assembly offers across the whole convention from Friday through to Sunday is enough to tempt people to opt for the full ticket instead.

Pricing is always difficult (and I'm sure the guys at BotCon and TFCon would agree with me on this one) but we have tried to keep costs as low as we can over the years both for weekend and one day attendees. We have had options to drop prices before if we introduced autograph charges or other optional costs but we felt that this wouldn't have been fair on any of our attendees so this all-inclusive package is the fairest on everyone.

Simon

Some more Auto Assembly news, confirming another foundation of the Transformers' fictional universe, and almost as constant in its history as Rung - Simon Furman has just been confirmed as guest for the 2015 event! Check out more info here and below.

Bread and butter; crackers and cheese; Kirk and Spock… all classic combinations and tradition dictates that Auto Assembly has always played host to one of Transformers most well-known classic combination as well. Ever since their debut at the convention in 2003, they have been a familiar sight at the event and firm fan favourites and we announced one half of this legendary duo a few days ago as making a return to the convention. And with Andrew Wildman confirmed for Auto Assembly 2015 already it was only a matter of time before we had to confirm that his long-standing partner in crime, Simon Furman, is returning once again!

Simon Furman needs no introduction to Transformers fans having penned stories for almost every Transformers publisher imaginable – Marvel UK, Marvel US, Dreamwave, IDW, Panini, Titan as well as editing the Marvel UK comic for a brief spell. Since making his debut in 2003, Simon has appeared at every Auto Assembly event apart from one and even attended Auto Assembly Europe in 2011 making him Auto Assembly’s most prolific guest ever!

FURMANISM!!!

Slick-looking, smooth-talking, art-drawing IDW Publishing creator Andrew Griffith, current regular on The Transformers ongoing series, will be returning to the biggest European convention for its swansong: Auto Assembly 2015! Griffith will be joining an ever-growing list of guests, which you can check out here, and read more about below.

After making his debut with us back in 2013, we felt that his return to the convention was long overdue so we’re pleased to announce that popular comic artist Andrew Griffith will be joining us once again at Auto Assembly 2015! For those of you not familiar with his work (shame on you) Andrew has an extensive list of Transformers credits list to his name having worked for IDW Publications on a wide range of their titles including Robots in Disguise, Last Stand Of The Wreckers and the movie adaptations for Revenge Of The Fallen and Dark Of The Moon.

Andrew will be with us all weekend, sketching in our guests area and as with many of our artists joining us will have prints and original artwork with him for sale as well. Keep an eye out on the website as well as we will be bringing you details of how you can pre-book your exclusive sketches from Andrew to beat the queues over the convention weekend and guarantee your personalised artwork from him!

Another update from the final ever (for now at least) Auto Assembly convention, still the biggest in Europe, still happening in Birmingham, UK: a new returning guest has been confirmed, in the form, shape and hat(s) of Jim Sorenson, the unofficially official Transformers archivist! Find out more information about the event here, and read on for more on Jim.

In our final year, team Auto Assembly is delighted to welcome back one of our favourite Matrix-bearers, the irreplaceable Jim Sorenson!

Jim has penned some of our fandom’s most beloved including the much lauded “Transformers Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging” and the fan favourite “Transformers Animated: The Complete Allspark Almanac”. Most recently he has been working for the Official Transformers Collector’s Club on the “Beast Wars: Uprising” series.

Be sure to have your copies to hand if you want to get them signed by this almighty author at the final AA – it’ll be one for the history books! (see what we did there… author… books… yeah we’ll keep working on the gags).

If you haven’t already registered for the convention, you can book now for Auto Assembly 2015 which is taking place over the weekend of 21st – 23rd August 2015 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, England at our Ticket Bookings Page.

Auto Assembly 2015 is also rolling closer, and IDW Transformers artist Andrew Griffith has opened up the pre-order list on his blog for commissions to pick up at the event! Check out below some examples of his work, and head here to place your orders - and here to book your convention tickets!

Auto Assembly Commission requests
Hello,

As you may have heard, I’ll be a guest artist at Auto Assembly in Birmingham, UK August. (Sadly, the very last one!)

As with most shows, I’ll be taking a certain amount of sketch requests ahead of time. (I would prefer receiving payment ahead of time through paypal if possible.)

Prices:

B&W
£20 Head sketch on 22.86cm x 30.48cm
£50 Bust on 27.94cm x 35.56cm
£80 Full Body on 27.94cm x 35.56cm (£120 for combiners)
£30-80 Sketch cover, depending on what you want on it.


Color
£10 extra per piece

If you want to order a sketch ahead of time, please email me at glovestudios@gmail.com with the following:
- Your name, or what you preferred to go by.
- Size
- Head/Bust/Full Body, etc…
- Character
- Days you will be at the show so I know when it needs done by if I get backed up.

Originals

Also, I have a good amount of original pages from various Transformers comics. If you are interested in any covers or pages, let me know and I’ll see if I have it available for sale.

That gorgeous Lockdown is part of my collection.

Another guest update from Auto Assembly 2015, Europe's largest Transformers convention - and the last in this incarnation: IDW artist and fan-favourite Canadian Alex Milne will be joining the long list of amazing guests in Birmingham, UK, this August. Read more below and head here to book your tickets!

We are immeasurably pleased to announce that Transformers comic Artist Alex Milne will be joining us for our final Auto Assembly celebration in August 2015!

Most loved for his work alongside writer (and fellow AA Guest) James Roberts on the fan-favourite comic series; Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, Alex recently set the fandom ablaze by revealing five new female Transformer designs in the form of Firestar, Javelin, Proxima, Velocity and Roadmaster.

If you want to hear what went into their creation, order a sketch, or just say hi to Alex, be sure to grab your ticket for Auto Assembly 2015 – Europe’s Largest Transformers Convention – whilst they are still available! You can book for the convention, which is taking place over the weekend of 21st – 23rd August 2015 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, England over at our Auto Assembly 2015 Ticket Bookings page.