Auto Assembly 2012 Convention Comic Preview - Day 4

With Auto Assembly 2012 just over five weeks away, we thought we'd turn our series of previews over to our convention magazine The Cybertronian Times. The magazine has been running since 1998 and this year we're doing something rather special...

This year the magazine is being printed in A4 format as we have done for the last few years but for the first time ever the magazine is being printed in full colour and is being GIVEN AWAY to all our attendees who will be receiving one of the conventions goodie bags. In previous years the magazine has been sold as an optional add-on to the ticket price with 2011's magazine selling with a cover price of £7 so this is a fantastic bonus gift.

The magazine features a selection of articles, features, profiles on all of this years guests, fiction plus two brand new comic strips and it is these that we want to unveil today. The first story, "The Hunter" is set during IDW's series Robots In Disguise and focuses on Sideswipe where he goes it alone in tracking down a rogue Decepticon, but will his reckless nature cause him even more trouble? Written and illustrated by Ed and Ben Pirrie with a supporting team for colours and the strip's cover page.

The magazine is only available at Auto Assembly 2012 so to get your hands on a copy you're going to have to book at ticket for the event or order one of our Non-Attendee Packs. Don't forget, you'll also be able to get hold of our other convention exclusive, the Marlboor Kitbash Upgrade Kit for Generations Wheeljack by attending the convention or ordering a Non-Attendee Pack so there's a double incentive to book if the guests and the convention itself weren't reason enough!

We have very limited advertising space available in the magazine for any interested companies and several pages have already been sold. It will have a print run of 1,000 copies and will be distributed to fans attending the convention from all over the world. If you are interested in promoting your business, website, event or anything else, please get in touch!

Auto Assembly 2012 is Europe's largest Transformers convention and is taking place over the weekend of 3rd - 5th August 2012 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel. To book your tickets or find out information about booking dealers tables, to sponsor the event or to enquire about advertising with us, visit the website at http://www.autoassembly.org.uk

Hope to see you there!

The Auto Assembly Team

Web: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk / http://www.transformersvideogames.co.uk / http://www.ct-alpha.com
Auto Assembly Europe: http://www.autoassemblyeurope.eu
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/autoassembly
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/auto_assembly
Forum: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/forum
Email: contact@autoassembly.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Auto Assembly is sponsored by

Calloway Custom Designs - http://www.shapeways.com/shops/callowaycustomdesigns
Toyz And Gamez - http://www.toyzandgamez.co.uk
Kapow Toys - http://www.kapowtoys.co.uk
TF Source - http://www.tfsource.com
Robot Kingdom - http://www.robotkingdom.com
Transformers @ The Moon - http://www.transformertoys.co.uk
TransformersAnimated.com - http://www.transformersanimated.com
TheTransformers.net - http://www.thetransformers.net
Titan Books - http://www.titanbooks.com
3 Darths Comics - http://www.3darthscomics.co.uk
Science Fiction Collectables - http://www.sf-collectables.co.uk
Big Bad Toy Store - http://www.bbts.com
Xyber Toys - http://www.xybertoys.com

The Auto Assembly team have issued the following press release

AUTO ASSEMBLY 2012 IMPORTANT GOODIE BAG UPDATE

It is with great sadness that we are forced to announce a change to the advertised Auto Assembly 2012 attendee goodie bags. This change will affect every attendee who is eligible to receive a goodie bag, so it would be most appreciated if we could please have your attention for just a moment.

It had been our intention to include a free IDW Transformers comic within every goodie bag this year. This comic was to be an exclusive variant cover of  Regeneration One Issue 81.  The comic was going to be limited to a print run of just 1,000 copies and only made available at Auto Assembly and Auto Assembly Europe. (Long term fans will remember that we also had exclusive IDW comics in 2009 and 2010).

The cover was going to use 1980's style artwork, drawn by marvel Transformers artist Jeff Anderson, with colours by Kris Carter and was intended to be a tribute to the Marvel UK run featuring a special "corner box" with art by Nick Roche. As an homage to the Marvel UK series, which culminated in issue 332, our plan was to use dual numbers on the front of the comic, meaning it would have been both issue 81 and issue 333. A true exclusive for our attendees.

Martin Fisher from the Auto Assembly team worked very hard to make the comic a reality, as did IDW; we therefore wish to extend our sincere thanks both to Martin and to IDW editor John Barber, who took time out of his busy schedule to try and make the exclusive comic a success for our attendees. John's work is massively appreciated and it should be noted that he and IDW did everything in their power to bring issue 333 to life. We are truly grateful for their support.

Sadly, the comic was not to be. At the 11th hour, with our artists poised to start work on the new cover, the issue was vetoed, seemingly without any explanation by the license holders, Hasbro US.

Obviously this has come as a great disappointment to ourselves and no doubt, will be to our attendees as well. We would like to explain why the decision was taken but sadly, no explanation has been given to us other than that Hasbro US do not at this time wish for IDW to produce another Auto Assembly comic. Sadly, it is our understanding that IDW themselves have not been presented with a firm reason either.

On behalf of the entire Auto Assembly committee, we are truly sorry that we are not able to provide you, our attendees, with the exclusive IDW comic which you had been promised. However, we are sure our attendees will appreciate that sadly, this issue is completely beyond the control of both Auto Assembly and IDW, who worked together in good faith before the plans were stopped. We are sure there is probably a very simple reason for the decision made by Hasbro US and if we receive further explanation from them we will of course share it with you.

So, the question now is, were does this leave your goodie bags?  Well, as sad as we are, we absolutely refuse to leave our attendees disappointed - we promised you a comic and we are still going to deliver on that promise!

Obviously we are not able to produce an official comic for the reasons outlined above, but that gives us a great deal of flexibility. So rather than simply giving you an exclusive cover, we are going to give you a completely new full colour comic! This will be included in all eligible goodie bags, free of charge.

Jeff Anderson will still be providing the cover artwork for this new comic and Kris Carter too is adamant that attendees should receive a first class product and so, as well as providing cover colours, Kris has begun writing an exclusive 6 page comic script for us. But that's not all you will receive in this issue. Our current plan, ambitious as it may be so close to our print deadline, is to give you an issue which includes at least three different comic stories, created by collaborations between professional comic creative talent and fans alike. The response we have had from our artists is both fantastic and humbling; they are truly lighting our darkest hour by putting the "Assembly" into Auto Assembly!

In addition to this comic, goodie bags will also include a copy of our full colour convention exclusive fanzine, The Cybertronian Times (which in previous years had been an additional £7 purchase). And of course, you will still receive the usual array of convention exclusive merchandise, including Auto Assembly postcards which might just have some artwork you could have signed by our guests of honour!

And to really show you just how much we appreciate your understanding and support, we are planning to include one or two surprise goodie bag items; of course, we're not going to give everything away just yet, so you'll just have to check your goodie bags for those!

Furthermore, whilst the issue with the IDW comic is sadly out of our hands, we cannot simply stand by and watch our attendees being short changed.  We do very much believe that the goodie bag on offer is great value for money, but Auto Assembly only comes by once a year and we want our attendees to be able to take home with them something extra special to remind them of the show.

Therefore, after much consideration we have decided to increase production of our convention exclusive lithograph.  Previously only available to attendees who had booked rooms in the Hilton at our convention rate, we are instead going to provide a copy of the lithograph – free of charge – to each and every attendee who should have received the exclusive comic in their goodie bags.  This is going to be a large scale, full colour print, produced by a professional artist, which will be available exclusively at Auto Assembly events this year.

Finally, as a special treat for everybody who has taken the time to read this statement, we thought we'd give you a heads up that a major comic guest is going to cross the ocean to attend Auto Assembly 2012 - and we will be announcing that person sometime in the next 14 days! And we will also be announcing the artist for our lithograph as well so keep your eyes peeled!

Sadness and disappointment aside, we are determined to provide you with the best ever Auto Assembly goodie bag this year. We wish to thank you for your continued support of the convention and, once again, we wish to offer our sincere thanks to IDW. Now let's make Auto Assembly 2012 the best convention ever!

For more details on Auto Assembly 2012 which is taking place over the weekend of 3rd - 5th August 2012 in Birmingham, England or to book your tickets or find out information about booking dealers tables, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk and for all the latest news on Auto Assembly Europe, visit www.autoassemblyeurope.eu

The Auto Assembly Team

Web: www.autoassembly.org.uk / www.transformersvideogames.co.uk / www.ct-alpha.com
Auto Assembly Europe: www.autoassemblyeurope.eu
Youtube: www.youtube.com/autoassembly
Twitter: www.twitter.com/auto_assembly
Forum: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/forum
Email: contact@autoassembly.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Auto Assembly is sponsored by

Toyz And Gamez - www.toyzandgamez.co.uk
TF Source - www.tfsource.com
Robot Kingdom - www.robotkingdom.com
Transformers @ The Moon - www.transformertoys.co.uk
TransformersAnimated.com - www.transformersanimated.com
TheTransformers.net - www.thetransformers.net
Titan Books - www.titanbooks.com
3 Darths Comics - www.3darthscomics.co.uk
Science Fiction Collectables - www.sf-collectables.co.uk
Big Bad Toy Store - www.bbts.com
Xyber Toys - www.xybertoys.com

­ Artist, Guido Guidi, has updated his ­deviantART page with a preview image that is from the comic story that will be included in Million Publishing's Transformers Generations 2011 Volume 2 book.  The image features Headmasters Chromedome and Highbrow along with Transformers United Stepper and Kup.  You can view the image by clicking the link above.

Here is how Guido described the piece:

"Courtesy of Million Publishing, here's a sneak peek preview of the comic that will be included in the Vol.2 of Transformers Generations 2011!

In this panel: United Stepper (the new exclusive targetmaster toy), United Sergeant Kup and... Headmasters Chromedome & Highbrow "old marvel" style...
Looks like the United continuity in Japan recovered old paths
Stay tuned for more!

Story by Simon Furman
Art by Guido Guidi
Published by Million Publishing"

MTV Geek! has received an exclusive first look at the BotCon 2011 Transformers Timelines conic featuring the Transformers Animated Sunticons.

Titan Publications have issues the following press release regarding the launch of their Transformers comic iPhone app.

Titan Publishing launches TRANSFORMERS Comic on iPhone!

Following the global success of the Wallace & Gromit iPhone comic app, Titan Publishing is proud to announce the arrival of its first TRANSFORMERS iPhone comic.

Launching today, 26 February, and based on Hasbro¹s TRANSFORMERS brand, each TRANSFORMERS comic download includes an awesome action packed story and is bursting with fun facts and trivia about the characters, movies and comics!

The digital comic is free and can be downloaded for iPhone by visiting www.titanpublishing.com/digital or the app store (comics are available in the UK and EIRE only.)

The first download includes ŒOPTIMUS PRIME¹, a story written by TRANSFORMERS
legend Simon Furman and featuring artwork by fan favourite Geoff Senior (Judge Dredd, 2000AD, Dr Who and Dragons Claws).

TRANSFORMERS Comic writer, Simon Furman said "TRANSFORMERS on your iPhone - wow! It's a simply incredible chance for fans of the warring 'ROBOTS IN
DISGUSE' to experience incredible stories that expand upon and underpin the incredible movie universe. The stories, written by me and drawn by a host of
old and new TRANSFORMERS artists, bring the movie characters to life as never before, and now they can be seen as never before! So get ready for
tales of CYBERTRON and Earth that spotlight your favourite characters... and probably a few you know only by name... beamed direct to your iPhone."

TRANSFORMERS Comic #1 is available to download for FREE on iPhone via www.titanpublishing.com/digital.There¹ll be more TRANSFORMERS comic stories released over the coming weeks
so check back soon!

Find out more at www.titanpublishing.com/digital­

The first issue of the comic features a story about Optimus Prime trying to survive an assassination attempt aftre he tries to send the Allspark into space.­

­Issue 5 of the Titan Magazines UK Transformers comic, Transformers 2.5 as they call it, goes on sale tomorrow and as such Titan have sent through some images showing the cover, the poster that comes with the comic (the cover art again), as well as two panels from the story "Reversal of Fortune".

­

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

IDW's Chris Ryall has updated his blog with an image and a bit of information for the upcoming Transformers Spotlight Metroplex comic.

The preview image contain one frame which spans two pages.

­Titan Magazines have sent through the following press release regarding the unprinted stories from the UK Transformers Animated comic.

Transformers Comic now with added Transformers Animated!

Transformers Comic #23, on sale March 26, is a 68-page, giant sized, comic strip packed issue, bulging at the staples with a heady mix of robot action. Issue #23 is a must for Transformers Animated fans!

For the next three issues everyone¹s favourite Detroit based characters will be appearing in Transformers Comic, as the story started in Transformers Animated Comic continues.

A quick update on the tale so far It¹s 22nd Century Detroit, and Optimus Prime and his band of Autobots ­ Prowl, Ratchet, Bumblebee and Bulkhead ­ are busy trying to protect Earth from the tyrannical Megatron and his treacherous band of Decepticons. Helping them in their fight is human girl Sari, and new recruit Afterburn ­ an academy-trained, special ops Œbot, sent to Earth to learn more about humans and their customs for Cybertron¹s Elite Guard. While the Autobots are fighting evil, Starscream, Megatron¹s duplicitous former second-in-command, is operating as a renegade Decepticon ­ and he¹s about to cause BIG trouble for Prime and co.

Transformers Comic #23 will also feature our original comic story ŒRevolution¹ ­ complete with an incredible shock ending, and the next instalments of Megatron Origins #3 and Beast Wars #3.

Find out if your Transformers knowledge is strong enough to grant you entry to Cyberton, with our entrance exam! Plus, there¹s a profile of charismatic Beast Machine Magmatron and a chance to win a must have Nintendo Wii and a limited edition Nintendo DS and games!

Transformers Comic issue #23 On-sale Now!

For more information and to subscribe visit:Titan Comics

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."

Derrick Wyatt has posted a comment on his blog distancing himself from Transformers Animated sideswipe, a character that will debut in the first issue of the upcoming UK Transformers Animated comic.  When asked if he had anything to do with the design, Derrick replied "I wasn't involved at all. I hadn't seen it, or even heard they were doing it until it showed up on all the fan sites in the past few days."

Transformers Animated Free-to-air Petition Reminder

Simon Furman has updated his blog with an article regarding the latest issue of the UK exclusive Transformers comic from Titan Magazines.  The comic is officially released today though those who subscribe online may have already received their copies.  Here are some quotes.

"More Transformers goodness hits this week in the shape of Transformers (UK) comic/magazine #17, a packed, oversized issue featuring not but two new/UK-exclusive Transformers stories!" The first of these is set firmly in the new movie-verse, or at least the alternate one established by events in the epic ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming.’ Get ready now for an all-new multi-part epic in the shape of ‘Return to Cybertron,’ a positively world-shattering tale that takes the Autobots back to their homeworld (not the nicest of places to be currently) and into one of their biggest and most fraught battles.  Featuring a whole host of new characters making their strip debut, at least this side of the Atlantic, ‘Return to Cybertron pt1’ is simply not to be missed. Story is by me, art by Jon Davis-Hunt

The second strip is a a bonus 5-page Transformers Animated story, featuring the Dinobots and is also written by Simon Furman.

Transformers Animated Free-to-air Petition Reminder

Just a quick reminder to urge you all to sign the petition we created over at PetitionOnline.com to show your support for GMTV To aquire the rights to broadcast Transformers Animated on their UK terrestrial channel ASAP.  GMTV are in slow negotiations over the rights with Entertainment Rights and fan support may help them pick up their feet and clinch the deal.