Auto Assembly

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Official Auto Assembly logo, late 2006 onwards

Founded in 2000 by Sven Harvey, Auto Assembly is a TransFormers event that is held in Birmingham, UK. The first convention was held in October 2000 and has been held annually, except in 2002. Sven organises the convention primarily with Simon Plumbe bt with a great deal of assistance from others.

The convention attracts fans from all over the UK and Europe and in 2005 broke the European attendance record with 409 fans attending from the UK, Europe and as far afield as America and Australia.

The convention has a range of activities including dealers tables, guest talks, autograph sessions, toy and art displays, video screenings, competitions, charity auctions and more. In association with sponsors every year, the convention also gives all of its attendees a "goodie bag" with complimentary gifts which have included a range of varied items including postcards, comics, magazines, stickers, Playstation 2 discs, posters, and even snacks!

Regular guests at the convention have included Transformers comic writer Simon Furman, artists Andrew Wildman, Lee Sullivan, Geoff Senior, Simon Williams, and colourist Jason Cardy. Past voice actor guests have included Wally Wingert (Sideburn and Mirage from Transformers: Robots In Disguise) and Neil Kaplan (Optimus Prime and Ro-Tor, Transformers: Robots In Disguise).

Auto Assembly: Target 2006, the 2006 convention inspired by the Marvel UK comic story of the same name, is having the Auto Assembly debut appearances of artists Guido Guidi and Mike Collins, and its guest of honour voice actor David Kaye along with its regular comic guests.

In March 2006, the convention expanded its activities further with the launch of the Auto Assembly Podcast which featured the normally expected chat and news updates, but also included interviews, competitions and - in a departure from other Transformers podcasts - music.

Auto Assembly 2007 is in development.

1 Convention Exclusives
2 Convention Dates
3 The Auto Assembly Forum
4 External links

[edit] Convention Exclusives

Each year the convention produces a full colour fanzine, The Cybertronian Times, which features articles, artwork, fiction and reviews covering all eras of Transformers. In previous years, this fanzine has featured contributions from Simon Furman, Lee Sullivan and Simon Williams. Additional convention exclusives have been produced including postcards from 2003 onwards and pin badges for 2005 and 2006.

[edit] Convention Dates

2000: 22nd October 2000 - Ibis Hotel, Birmingham, England
2001: 4th March 2001 - Ibis Hotel, Birmingham, England
2003: 2nd August 2003 - Britannia Hotel, Birmingham, England
2004: 8-9th May 2004 - Britannia Hotel, Birmingham, England
2005: 4th June 2005 - Clarendon Suites, Birmingham, England
2006: 3rd June 2006 - Clarendon Suites, Birmingham, England

[edit] The Auto Assembly Forum

The forum is run by convention organisers Simon Plumbe and Sven Harvey, with the help of the moderators. The forum is not as busy as the larger Transformers forums, but is still a vibrant fan community. It was founded on 19th August 2003 following Auto Assembly 2003 to act as a support forum for the conventions, but it quickly developed into a thriving community all of its own.