S250 has updated his website with some character design images of Season 3 Transformers Animated characters.  The images of Rodimus, Strika, Blackout and Spittor can be viewed below.

As part of the advertisement push that Titan Magazines are making to promote the upcoming UK exclusive Transformers Animated comic Titan have released the 2nd in the series of Desktop Standees.  The 2nd standee is of that green Autobot wrecking machine Bulkhead.  You can download the standee here, and do not forget that you can pick up the first standee, Starscream, exclusively at Transformers Animated.com

Don't forget that you can subscribe to the comic online by visiting the titan website.

Derrick Wyatt has posted a comment on his blog regarding the Transformers Animated Jetfire and Jetstorm toys of which the first images recently hit the internet.  Reaction to the toys has been pretty poor through the fan community thus far and so Derricks comments might change a few opinions or at least add to the opinions.

"I wouldn't rush to judgment on the Jetfire and Jetstorm figures yet. Those are some pretty terrible pictures that are out there right now. The pictures I saw way back of the grey prototypes looked really good. And yes, of course they have hands! In both robot modes! The promo pics are just mistransformed. Once they are properly transformed and posed out, they should look pretty cool."

TF08.net have posted two images of the upcoming Transformers Henkei Lambor and Octane figure in their packaging.  You can view the mirrored images below and don't forget that you can view the latest headlines from TF08 on the most comprehensive Transformers news page on the internet, our very own In The News page which contains the latest stories from 37 sources.

In a response to the economic slowdown and parents holding back on impulse purchases, both Mattel Inc. and Hasbro Inc have now come out saying that most of their toys will cost less than $20 this Christmas.  Both companies hope this move/statement will help boost profits in the 4th quarter sales especially since traditionally toymakers make at least a third of their annual revenue in the fourth quarter.

The average toy price currently at Mattel is just under $20, where two-thirds of Hasbro's toys sell for under that price (not so within the UK it must be noted).

Yesterday Mattel's shares climbed 10 cents to $18.14 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange, where as Hasbro's share price fell by 35 cents (1%) to $34.37. Overall this year Mattel has lost lost 4.7 percent while Hasbro's shares have gained value by 34 percent.

Toymakers raised prices this year to counter higher plastic and energy costs as well as increased product testing following last year's recalls of more than 20 million Chinese-made products. Hasbro's Goldner said the company has taken two "mid- single-digit" price increases this year and may have to further do so beginning in 2009.

BigBadToyStore and Entertainment Earth have both updated their websites with the first images of the upcoming Transformers Animated toys for Jetfire and Jetstorm.  You can view the mirrored images below.

Credit to Oddsey for posting the images on our message board.

tmz.com are reporting that the recently accident-prone Transformers star Shia Labeouf has once again injured himself this time by a prop on the set of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which required stiches below his eyebrow.

Credit to TFW2005.com

TFW2005.com member Red Leader has posted an image and information of some Transformers Animated 2-packs, containing two carded bubble-pack toys  The Transformers Animated toys in the stock list which he received were Prowl and Megatron (Cybertronian Mode) in one set and Blackarachnia and Optimus Prime (Earth Mode) in the second set.

Its been a while since we bought you the last NPD UK sales charts, so we thought it was time to publish the July figures:

July 2008 (£)
1 Ben 10 Figs 10cm Assortment Manufacturer - Bandai
2 Cars Vehicle Assortment - Mattel
3 Ben 10 15cm Action Figures - Bandai
4 All Surface Swingball - Mookie
5 Wall-E Deluxe Action Figure - Vivid
6 Hot Wheels Basic Car Assortment - Mattel
7 In The Night Garden Mini Plush - Hasbro
8 In The Night Garden 12" Talking Plush - Hasbro
9 Dr. Who 5" Figures - Character Options
10 High School Musical Country Club Friends - Mattel

July 2008 (units)
1 Hot Wheels Car Assortment - Mattel
2 Cars Vehicle Assortment - Mattel
3 Ben 10 Figs 10cm Assortment - Bandai
4 Bubbles Billion Tub 8 oz - Placo Products
5 In The Night Garden Mini Plush - Hasbro
6 Transformers Movie Legends - Hasbro
7 Ben 10 15cm Action Figures - Bandai
8 Speed Racer Die-cast Vehicles - Mattel
9 Wall-E Basic Action Figures - Vivid
10 Power Rangers Operation Overdrive 12.5cm Figures - Bandai

Year-to-date (£)
1 Cars Assortment - Mattel
2 Ben 10 Figs 10cm Assortment - Bandai
3 Ben 10 Ominitrix F/X watch - Bandai
4 In The Night Garden Mini Plush - Hasbro
5 Transformers Movie Legends - Hasbro
6 Power Rangers Operation Overdrive 12.5cm Figures - Bandai
7 In The Night Garden 12" Talking Plush - Hasbro
8 Hot Wheels Basic Car Assortment - Mattel
9 Ben 10 15cm Action Figures - Bandai
10 Transformers Movie Deluxe - Hasbro

Year-to-date (Units)
1 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
2 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
3 BEN 10 FIGS 10CM ASSORTMENT - BANDAI
4 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
5 POWER RANGERS OPERATION OVERDRIVE FIGURES - BANDAI
6 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO
7 WWE RUTHLESS AGGRESSION - VIVID
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 DR WHO 5-INCH FIGURES - CHARACTER OPTIONS
10 BEN 10 OMNITRIX F/X WATCH - BANDAI

So after seven months of sales Transformers managed to keep two positions within the monetary chart but only one within the units.  We expect that the Movie deluxes disappeared from the charts after August, but the Movie Legend line is looking strong and may well hang in the chart for the second year, though it does need a bit of a boost if it can retain its title as Action Figure Unit Sales of the year.  Still no sign of the Transformers Animated toys though, which is not too suprising.  We hope to have the August figures for you soon

Derrick  Wyatt has replied to a question raised ourselves in response to another question by Perceptor of Unicron.com regarding the Transformers Animated season three rumours that they received. Derrick replied with the following to Perceptors question

"Perceptor@unicron.com's question is a good one! I've been trying to think of a way to answer without unleashing a mess of spoilers. But, I haven't figured out how to do it yet".

To which we followed up with "guess we can take that as at least some of it is true, otherwise it would be an easy debunking answer".  In response to our question Derrick replied with "Yes, you are right. In Perceptor's comments, one bit is true. One part is confused (probably by a person seeing a design and making assumptions). One is just flat out wrong.".

So there you go, one part is wrong, one is confused and one right.  For those who can not remember the post at Unicron.com here it is again

"* Yes, there will be a season 3, Transformers Animated.
* (at least some) Episodes have been recorded.
* Transformers Animated Season 3 will begin with a multi-part episode.
* As of now (subject to change) it is scheduled to air, "next spring."
* For those of you who don’t know, Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio were the Executive Story Editors and storywriters (in my opinion) largely responsible for the popularity of the Beast Wars Transformers cartoon series.  For this forthcoming Transformers Animated episode, they share credit on story and script.  It is the first time they have worked together since Beast Wars.  The episode title (subject to change) is:
PREDACONS RISINGWe have been told, it should be a surprise treat for all Beast Wars Fans."

Toys R Us UK have started getting in the new Star Wars Transformers Crososvers figures, reports Break. The first assortment consists of General Grevious, Tie Bomber pilot, Anakin and a Clone Pilot. He appoligises that he can not remember the names of the spaceships they become but does point out that the Grevious and Tie Bomber are new molds whereas the Anakin one looks like a remold. The Clone pilot looks the same to me as a figure from a while back (the transport type ship at the end of ep.2 but with a mounts painted on).

Thanks once again to Break for the report.

We had an incredible response to our first survey about Auto Assembly 2009 and it's allowed us to make a lot of key decisions for next year's Auto Assembly convention to help us make it the biggest and best Transformers convention EVER that Europe will ever see. Thanks to YOUR input, we can confirm that Auto Assembly 2009 will be a TWO-DAY Transformers-only convention to be held once again in Birmingham, England, this time in our new venue, the Holiday Inn right in the City Centre.

We are still working on the exact date but we have a lot of exciting plans for the weekend including not one but TWO voice actors and a packed weekend of activities with so much going on that you won't have much free time during the weekend and plenty of different acitivies and events each day. Full weekend passes will be available as well as the option to book for single days but once again, we want to make sure that the convention is tailored to fit what YOU all want. So we're running another more detailed survey...

This time we want to know exactly what you want to see during the weekend. It's your chance to influence the programme during the weekend - what the focus of the convention will be, what events and activities we will have and even the type of things you want to see from our dealers!! 2009 is the 25th Anniversary of Transformers so lets celebrate in style!

Even if you haven't attended Auto Assembly before we still want to hear your views, and we'd love to hear from those of you who live outside of the UK who are considering attending in the 25th anniversary year next year. Don't forget that EVERY vote counts in this survey!

We will be taking all of your responses into consideration in planning for next year, as well as all of the additional comments you may make and we've already had some wonderful ideas come forward and some VERY useful comments that we will be taking on board for next time so those of you who have already responded have started to shape Auto Assembly 2009!

You can find the survey here:- http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JMiLvctC4MVPjXfk8alHMQ_3d_3d

The survey is only going to be open for a limited period of time as we want to confirm the date and first voice actor as soon as possible (we have one close to signing on the dotted line already!) and open bookings quickly so the closing date is Wednesday 15th October 2008.

Thanks in advance and we hope to see many of you there next year!

Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly

web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Thanks to Ray at Robotkingdom for letting us know that that have updated their website with the following orders, many of which contain new pictures of the items:

BT-22 Convoy - Dodge SRT10

Henkei Onslaught

Henkei Powerglide

Henkei Silverbolt

TF08.net have published some images of a testshot of the upcoming Transformers Universe Cyclonus figure.  Though not the finished version, the images help to give a better idea of what the final toy will look like.  You can view the mirrored images below.