After the initial wave has been a complete sell-out, we are now pleased to announce that it is releasing the second wave of one-day passes for Auto Assembly 2009!

Europe's biggest Transformers convention, taking place this August in Birmingham, England, is already on course for another record attendance this year and for those of you who are unable to make if for the full weekend because of work commitments or who are unable to afford hotel accommodation or full weekend passes, you have the chance to buy tickets for either the Saturday or Sunday!

As before, these one-day tickets are on sale for a limited period only subject to availability and we have released just 25 new tickets for Saturday and a further 25 tickets for Sunday! Tickets for either day cost £25 for adults, £18 for children, students or senior citizens and under 5's as always are free. However as they are limited, if you want to come along for just the day then you need to book NOW! As before, further one-day passes may be available at a later date, but these are the only ones we can guarantee at the moment and we cannot guarantee that single day passes will be available on-the-door.

Single day attendees will get access to the FULL convention on your chosen day including all the dealers, workshops, all the guest talks, FREE autograph sessions, our goodie bags (and we will be announcing the full details of this soon), and everything else that weekend attendees have. However, weekend attendees gain earlier admission to the convention and have access to the exclusive Saturday evening programme with our voice actor script reading, live band and disco and the bonus Friday evening programme.

Full weekend tickets are still available and are £45 for adults and £35 for children/students/senior citizens with under 5s being FREE. Family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) for just £145 saving £15! Don't miss out on your chance to be a part of what is going to be a great weekend celebrating 25 years of the Transformers!!

For full details on Auto Assembly 2009 and to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

Simon Plumbe
Auto Assembly 2009

Auto Assembly 2009 is a non-profit making convention for fans of Transformers and is being held on 15th - 16th August 2009 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England.

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Well its official, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is big news within the UK and Japan.  In the UK the sequal out grossed the first movie by a whopping 71% at $14.1 million from 517 locations.Here's a quote from Michael Bay's own website

Transformers 2 opened spectacularly in their world debuts in the UK and Japan, grossing a total of $20 mil from 846 locations. The Michael Bay directed film was a clear #1 in both territories, with the UK’s opening total of $14.1 mil from 517 locations outperforming rival comic book sequel Spider-Man 2 by 18%, the original Transformers movie by 71% and coming within 3% of the Dark Knight weekend total. In Japan, the film’s gross of $5.8mn from 329 locations was 64% ahead of The Dark Knight, and only 13% behind Transformers which had the advantage of opening in summer school holidays.

The franchise’s eagerly awaited second instalment opens across most of the rest of the world next week on Wednesday June 24th."

Yizhi of TF08.net has sent S250 an image of the upcoming Transformers Revenge of the Fallen deluxe figure Blazemaster in packaging.  S250 posted the image on TFW2005.com but you can also view it below.  Blazemaster is based on a news helicopter and does not feature in the actual film.

Loose version of the toys are already listed on eBay with auctions here, here and here­

AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS storm toy aisles prior to Hasbro's new live-action TRANSFORMERS movie invading theaters this summer

­DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures Film Elevates the Excitement and Action from 2007's Blockbuster TRANSFORMERS Movie

TORONTO,June 18 /CNW Telbec/ -

This summer, the colossal battle between the AUTOBOTS and the DECEPTICONS continues when the "ROBOTS IN DISGUISE" once again invade movie theaters around the world. TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, in association with Hasbro, debuts June 24th, 2009 and continues the saga of the 2007 Worldwide blockbuster film that finds two warring factions of robots colliding in a major battle on planet Earth.

On May 30th, Hasbro launches its new line of movie-based TRANSFORMERS toys that capture the action and excitement of the new film. Fans will love the new action figures showcasing popular characters like OPTIMUS PRIME and BUMBLEBEE in multiple scales - with many featuring lights and authentic sounds and phrases from the movie. Kids can pretend to be a TRANSFORMERS robot by wearing the new BUMBLEBEE MOVIE VOICE MIXER HELMET that lets children mix their own voices with music and includes "tune-in radio phrases," just like BUMBLEBEE. To complete the fantasy, kids can pretend to battle the DECEPTICONS with the new TRANSFORMERS MOVIE BUMBLEBEE PLASMA CANNON. This awesome arm blaster converts from BUMBLEBEE'S robot arm to his plasma cannon and features lights and signature TRANSFORMERS sound effects. And, long-time fans will be thrilled with one of the most powerful DECEPTICONS, the new TRANSFORMERS MOVIE CONSTRUCTICON DEVASTATOR figure, a monstrous robot that combines six vehicles into one giant robot.

For 25 years, Hasbro has provided kids with hours of MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE action with their figures that convert from robot to vehicles and back again. Legions of boys around the world grew up creating fantastic adventures and battles set on both the planet CYBERTRON and Earth that featured the heroic AUTOBOTS - like OPTIMUS PRIME and BUMBLEBEE - clashing with the evil DECEPTICONS, led by MEGATRON. The toys' popularity reached new levels with the release of the first live-action TRANSFORMERS movie, cementing the toys and the brand in the upper stratosphere of pop culture.

In a post on his message board Michael Bay makes it clear that he is not planning on quitting the Transformers movie franchise just yet.

"Hah, Love press how they spin. Never said it - just wanted a vacation is more to the point. And no I don't read the good or the bad reviews." posts Michael in response to a thread stating that he had quit the series which is due to continue with a third movie.

Our thanks go to Titan Comics for sending through the following press release

­Win a Walk on Part in TRANSFORMERS Comic!

To mark the launch of the second volume of TRANSFORMERS Comic and the release of the new blockbusting movie, we’re offering a once in a lifetime opportunity, a never to be repeated experience, the ultimate TRANSFORMERS fan dream: the chance to win a walk on part in TRANSFORMERS Comic!

One lucky fan is gong to get their likeness drawn into an upcoming instalment of TRANSFORMERS Comic’s awesome originated comic strip, standing amongst the mighty AUTOBOTS and fierce DECEPTICONS!

To be in with a chance of landing a walk on part in TRANSFORMERS Comic, all you need do is go to: www.titanmagazines.co.uk/walkon

For more information about TRANSFORMERS Comic and this promotion, please contact Jo Browne Email: jo.browne@titanemail.com Phone: 020 7803 1961.

Transformers © 2009 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. © 2009 DreamWorks LLC and Paramount Pictures Corporation.

www.titancomicsuk.com

MichaelBay.com has posted some Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Fun Facts.

Robots

• 14 robots last time, 46 robots this time (ILM only)
• If you had all the gold ever mined in the history of man, you could build a little more than half of Devastator.
• Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
• Devastator’s hand is traveling 390 miles per hour when he punches the pyramid.
• The pyramid destruction simulation was 8 times bigger than the old rigid simulation all-time record holder at ILM.
• All robot parts laid out end to end would stretch from one side of California to the other, about 180 miles
• Devastator’s parts stacked tip to tip would be as tall as 58 empire state buildings.
• If all the texture maps on the show were printed on 1 square yard sheets, they would cover 13 football fields.

• TF1 took 20 Terabytes of disk space. Trans2 took 145 Terabytes. Seven times bigger!
• 145 terabytes would fill 35,000 DVDs. Stacked one on top of the other without storage cases, they would be 145 feet tall.

• If you rendered the entire movie on a modern home PC, you would have had to start the renders 16,000 years ago (when cave paintings like the Hall of Bulls were being made) to finish for this year’s premiere!
• A single imax shot in the movie (df250) would have taken almost 3 years to render on a top of the line home PC running nonstop.
• IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!

• Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
• Imax frames take about 6 times longer than anamorphic to render.
• IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!

• Devastator is as tall as a 10 story building.
• Devastator has more than 10 times the number of individual parts found in an average car.
• Laid out end to end, Devastator’s parts would be almost 14 miles long.

• Number of geom pieces: 52632
• The total number of polygons: 11,716,127
• The total length of all pieces: 73090 feet
• The total length of all pieces: 13.84 miles

Titan Magazines have sent through­ two wallpapers from issue 1 of the new UK Transformers comic, Transformers 2,1.  The wallpapers are by the main article John Davis Hunt.

­

Titan Magazines have sent through an interview with John Davis Hunt the main artist on the UK Transformers 2.1.­­

1.When did you start drawing comics?
I’ve always drawn comics in my spare since I was a little boy. I can remember my Mum buying me the very first issue of TRANSFORMERS, back in the early 80’s, when I must have been about 5 or 6 and I would spend hours copying the art from that!

3.How did you get into drawing comics for a job?
I was working as a concept artist and designer in the computer games industry, but I had always really wanted to get into comics. One day I just decided that it was now or never and so I spent a summer preparing a portfolio that got me my first work for a comic here in the UK.

5.What comic artists do you most admire and why?
My favourite comic artist is a Japanese artist called Katsuhiro Otomo who drew the original Akira manga in the 80’s. His work is just stunning, particularly a book he did before Akira called Domu. My favourite contemporary artists are Frank Quietly, Travis Charest and John Cassaday. Frank Quietly in particular is amazing. His sense of form and composition are exemplary.

6.Who do you think you’ve been most influenced by?
Probably the artists I’ve just mentioned above, but as an avid comic fan, I’m constantly coming across new (or old) artists who influence my work. In the early days, Geoff Senior (who used to draw Transformers TRANSFORMERS in the 80’s) was my favourite artist and he had a massive influence on making me want to get into comics.

7.Is there a TRANSFORMERS character that you particularly like drawing and why?
Well, apart from  OptimusOPTIMUS, who is always great to draw because he’s so iconic, I do really enjoy drawing the Twins, Skids and Mudflap, just because Simon has written them so well and they get up to so much cool stuff. But aside from that, I do love how cool and iconic G1 Megatron MEGATRON looks! I’ve always loved his massive arm cannon – it just looks so cool!

8.What have you worked on before TRANSFORMERS Comic?
I’m a relative newcomer to comics, but prior to  TransformersTRANSFORMERS, I’d worked on several stories for 2000AD. Prior to that, I worked in the computer games industry and was the Senior Designer on the racing game GRID.

9.Apart from working on TRANSFORMERS Comic, obviously, what would be your dream comic job?
That’s a tough one! Probably to have a go at drawing Spiderman or Batman as along with Transformers TRANSFORMERS, they are the two comics that I used to read the most when I was young.

10.What was your first encounter with TRANSFORMERS?
I can remember being about 5 years old and seeing the toys for the very first time on Blue Peter. They had only just come over from Japan at that point, and you couldn’t get them in the shops yet. At the time, everyone was into He-Man or Action Man ACTION MAN, so TRANSFORMERS Transformers were this whole new thing and they looked totally awesome! Then I got the first issue of the TRANSFORMERS Transformers comic and from then on I was hooked!

11.If you were a TRANSFORMER, what would you be and why?
When I was young, my favourite TRANSFORMERS character Transformer was the original  JazzJAZZ. I thought he had the coolest car mode (a GT Racing Porsche) so I’d probably have to say him.

12.What are you most looking forward to in the new movie?
Without question – DEVESTATOR!!!!!!!!!

13.What do you think the next 25 years have in store for TRANSFORMERS?
Hopefully a continuation of the Movie series, which is would be totally awesome! I think as well that once the cost of CGI effects comes down in price, we fans will could one day get a weekly live action Transformers TRANSFORMERS TV series, which will would be amazing! I’ve just had a little boy too, so I’m looking forward to introducing him to the wonderful world of TRANSFORMERS

Hey guys! To let you know TRU are doing a multibuy offer, spend over £45 and get a free deluxe.

Have a good day,

KingGrimlock