With only a week to go before the early bird discounts run out on tickets for Auto Assembly 2009 and tickets rise to their full prices, we can announce that we are extending this deadline for ONE WEEK ONLY so if you haven't booked your tickets yet and want to take advantage of these great reductions, then you need to get your bookings to us by no later than Tuesday, 7th April 2009.

The normal ticket prices for the full weekend are �45 for adults and �35 for children/students/senior citizens with under 5s being FREE. However, the discount rates are are just �40 and �30 so you can make great savings if you book now! We also have family tickets (2 adults and 2 children) for just �145 which are on special offer again for just �125!!

For full details on Auto Assembly 2009, which is on target to break the European attendance record once again, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk where you can book your tickets now!

Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly

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.proboards7.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7804 951406

Yizhi of TF08.net has managed to get his hands on a pre-released version of the highly anticipated Transformers Masterpiece Grimlock.

The images include robot and dinosaur mode, along with a few detailed pictures.

BigBadToyStore has sent out an email to let people know that they have received word that Hasbro have cancelled the release of the Transformers Animated Golfire Grimlock and Hydrodive Bumblebee.  With the Transformers Animated show seemingly being dropped a season early, this yet another suggestion that sales of the line have been slow within the US just like the rest of the world where sales have been lagging since the lines launch.

eBay seller JokersFunHouse has placed two auctions on ebay for what they describe as the helmets of two "official appearance costume pieces" in the form of Grimlock and Kickback.  Although some may question the authenticity of such pieces, we know first hand that such items were producecd during the 80s for promotional events as a Jazz costume was used in our local shopping centre as a promotion for D&H in the mid-80s making it into the local newspaper.  You can view the auctions here and here.

After weeks of speculation, Europe's largest Transformers convention Auto Assembly 2009, is proud to announce it's second voice actor for it's convention taking place over the weekend of 15th-16th August 2009...

Joining our first voice actor, Ian James Corlett (the voice of Cheetor from Beast Wars and Beast Machines) will ne none other than Gregg Berger, the voice of Grimlock and Skyfire and a host of other characters from G1!! Fans have been asking us for several years to bring Gregg over to the UK to appear at an Auto Assembly convention and we are excited to be able to make this a reality in the 25th Anniversary year of Transformers!

Gregg will be actively involved with the convention all weekend and for those of you who aren't sure about whether to book for the weekend or wait until we release single day tickets, when you find out what Gregg will be doing, you won't want to miss out on the full weekend! As well as signing autographs for fans all weekend, Gregg will be taking to the stage for a talk/Q&A session on one of the days (the exact day to be confirmed), he will be joining Ian James Corlett and comic artist Simon Williams on stage on Saturday evening for the live script reading which is being written by Simon Furman (and the evening programme is exclusive for weekend attendees), and he will be involved in another part of the main programme item during the weekend which will be on the DIFFERENT day to his talk/Q&A session so to see everything Gregg will be doing, you need to be there all weekend!

As is the standard policy for Auto Assembly, Gregg will NOT be charging for autographs but he will be bringing along a selection of items for sale including photos, CDs and DVDs which you can get signed but please feel free to have any of your own items autographed freely... including the Auto Assembly 2009 convention exclusive Grimlock postcard being illustrated by Andrew Wildman!

With a staggering 13 guests, there have never been a better time for you to attend Auto Assembly if you have never been before! Auto Assembly will be a packed weekend running from around 10:00 am until about 6:00 pm each day with a bonus programme on Saturday evening until 1:00 am and a small bonus programme on Friday evening, both for weekend attendees only.

In terms of activities, this will be the biggest and best Auto Assembly yet with dealers tables, guest talks (13 guests so far with at least two different panels each day, splitting our guest talks so no guest will talk more than once over the weekend), live script reading featuring Ian James Corlett and Gregg Berger, autograph sessions, artist sketches, artist workshops, comic colourist workshops, toy displays, art displays, charity auction, charity raffle, fan displays, quiz, video screenings, art, fiction and costume competitions, games area, a party and disco running until 1:00 am on Sunday, a possible cinema screening of Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen and much more besides...

The convention will be taking place right in the heart of Birmingham city centre in England at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham. There is fantastic public transport access from every part of the UK and for those of you travelling from outside of the UK, Birmingham International Airport is just 10 minutes away by train!

For full details and online booking, visit the website NOW at www.autoassembly.org.uk

Anyway, we hope to see many of you there for what we hope will be Europe's biggest ever Transformers convention!
 
Simon and Sven
Auto Assembly
 
web: www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum: http://autoassembly.proboards7.com
email: autoassembly@aol.com
tel: +44 (0)7804 951406

ModxToy.com have published some scans of the February issue of Hyper Hobby Magazine (issue 94).  The scans show more colour images of Transformers Masterpiece Grimlock as well as Transformers Alternity Megatron (unpainted sample), the Transformers Disney Label Mono-chrome Mickey Mouse as well as some images of Transformers Henkei Inferno, Ratchet and Cyclonus.  Due to the slow nature of the website, we have mirrored the images below.

Japanese Online retail store  AmiAmi have published some new images of the upcoming Transformers Masterpiece MP-08 Grimlock which you can view by clicking the link or by using the thumbnails below.

Yesterday Part One Limited updated eHobby Shop with the first colour images of the highly anticipated Transformers Masterpiece Grimlock figure.

The images show both robot and dinosaur mode, as well as showing off some of the articulation from the toy.

Japanese online store Maruzen toys have updated their website with some new images of Masterpiece Grimlock and Transformers Disney Label Mickey Mouse.

You can view the mirrored images below.

Members of the Japanese image board at 2chan.net have posted some scans from the latest japanese hobby magazines which include a design sketch for the upcoming Masterpiece Grimlock figure as well as the Transformers Disney Label Mickey Mouse toy.  You can view the mirrored images below.

Derrick Wyatt has posted another comment on his blog regarding the basic of the character personalities of Transformers Animated characters as well as hints as to how the Cassettes would be like if they were in the Transformers Animated series

"Any of the former cassettes we update would be based on their classic animal-like G1 cartoon selves. I know there is a very large part of the fandom that prefers the comic style talking Ratbat and whatnot, but I am not one of them. When I was a kid reading the Marvel comics, I never understood why the cartoon and comics were so different. Treacherous Shockwave, smart Grimlock, and talking Ratbat were just concepts I could never accept as a kid, and that bias is still with me. I did really enjoy the more evolved Beast Wars Ravage character, but I will always prefer the classic version. TFA's inspiration generally comes from the other animated series that proceeded it. That doesn't mean that we won't throw fans of the comics a bone now and again!

I should also say that I regularly read, and am a big fan of the modern age IDW comics. It's great to have Transformers comics with such cool art and stories."

SGCollect member Sparkplug has posted over on their message board that he received confirmation the Masterpiece Grimlock will be released in March 2009 in Japan at a cost of 130,000 Yen.  He then later posted that Alternity Megatron will be released in two colours (blue and silver) with the car based on the Nissan Fairlady Z.

Treat both as rumours at this stage, but no doubt more will follow in the coming weeks.

Credit to TFW2005