Auto Assembly 2015 Guest Update - Andrew Wildman

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.

well chuffed about this!

I've been going to Auto Assembly since 2011, and I've booked a weekend pass for this year. It is a shame that this year's will be the last one, because it's always been a great convention to attend. I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, it's a good hotel and everything, but I don't like that it's in a remote location far out from the centre of Birmingham. The Holiday Inn on Smallbrook Queensway was better in that regard because it was in the middle of the city and only a short walk away from the New Street train station, but I get why they moved to a larger hotel.

The Auto Assembly HQ have updated their site with another announcement, bringing Simon Furman to chair a panel on the more recent history of the Transformers comics incarnations! Yes indeed, one of the original Marvel writers takes a look at the decline of Dreamwave and rise of IDW, including plenty of unseen artwork from various creators - read on below and here to find out more.

Legendary Transformers comic writer, Simon Furman, has something rather special in store for fans attending Auto Assembly 2015 as he is bringing an extra special panel to the convention that will be taking place in one of our Alternative Programme rooms over the weekend.

The special panel, Transformers: the Fall of Dreamwave… the Rise of IDW will see Simon Furman introducing a very special visual tour through the last days of Dreamwave and the early days of the IDW-verse, featuring rare and unseen art from unpublished issues and behind-the-scenes design work by a host of talented artists, including Alex Milne, Don Figueroa, EJ Su, Joe Ng and more. Provisionally scheduled to take place early on the Sunday afternoon (although this may be subject to change) seating is limited to around 50 people for this rather special panel.

Please note that photography or filming is not permitted during this panel.

The Dreamwave portion will be very interesting to hear a summary on.

Mkall wrote:The Dreamwave portion will be very interesting to hear a summary on.

Very much so. There was some interesting stuff mentioned by James Raiz in our interview with him all that time ago, but I will do my best to keep an ear (and probably fingers/Twitter) ready for the panel.

Va'al wrote:

Mkall wrote:The Dreamwave portion will be very interesting to hear a summary on.

Very much so. There was some interesting stuff mentioned by James Raiz in our interview with him all that time ago, but I will do my best to keep an ear (and probably fingers/Twitter) ready for the panel.

Is that interview here on Seibertron somewhere Va'al?

I think everyone likes a little information about Dreamwave every so often whether its abut the comics themselves or about he-who-shall-not-be-named.