AA2011 and AA2012 Major Updates!!

[Deleted]

Things have been quiet for the last few months from the Auto Assembly camp, but with the start of a new year it's time for us to make our mark with a barrage of big announcements to take us into 2011 and beyond...

While many of you are now starting to make your initial plans about attending one or more of the Transformers conventions that is taking place this year (and we hope that Auto Assembly is one of them), we are proud to be able to announce that we have been working overtime to be able to announce a massive update to our guest line-up for Auto Assembly 2011...

But that's not all. While many of you are still thinking about 2011, we are pleased to announce that we have confirmed the first details for Auto Assembly 2012 and we believe that we are the first Transformers convention to do so! You can find details of the date, venue and much more on our latest news update on Youtube here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASn1s5cE0ks

The video also has the full updates on Auto Assembly 2011 and this is one video you do NOT want to miss!!

For those of you who have already booked for Auto Assembly 2011, we are working through a backlog at the moment and emails that we are trying to deal with which we hope to have sorted shortly. Our committee head has had to deal with a number of unexpected personal issues over the last few months including losing his job which has meant that Auto Assembly has had to take a back seat for a short while but things are starting to return to normal for us now.

As part of this, we are still running behind with despatching the AA2010 Non-Attendee Packages. These should be shipping in a couple of weeks once we have finalised the original sketches that will be part of these.

Anyway, for those of you who want to attend Auto Assembly 2011, tickets are available now from our website. Ticket prices are £50 for adults and £38 for children, students and senior citizens, with under 5s admitted free. One day tickets are available for the Saturday or Sunday (although these will NOT get you into the Friday or Saturday evening programmes) and these cost £30 for adults, £21 for children, students or senior citizens and under 5's as always are free. Family tickets will be available shortly.

The convention is taking place over the weekend of 12th - 14th August 2011 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England. Tickets for Auto Assembly 2012 will go on sale later this year.

For more details on the convention, to see a full list of all the guests and activities taking place over the weekend, or to book your tickets, visit the website at www.autoassembly.org.uk

We hope to see you all in August!

The Auto Assembly 2011 Team

Auto Assembly 2011 - 12th - 14th August 2011.
The Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England

web - www.autoassembly.org.uk
forum - autoassembly.proboards.com
Youtube - www.youtube.com/autoassembly
Twitter - www.twitter.com/auto_assembly
Email - [e-mail]
Tel. [phone]

Auto Assembly is sponsored by:

www.transformertoys.co.uk
www.transformersanimated.com
Science Fiction Collectables - www.sf-collectables.co.uk
Toyz and Gamez - www.toyzandgamez.co.uk
Big Bad Toy Store - www.bbts.com
3 Darths Comics - www.3darths.co.uk
Hobby Link Japan - www.hlj.com
Robot Kingdom - www.robotkingdom.com
Xyber Toys - www.xybertoys.com
Moonbase 2 Podcast - moonbase2.libsyn.com

[blueshift]

Hurrah

Should I book my ticket now, or wait till some of the pressure is off you guys?

[Deleted]

Book now, you know you want to!! lol

[Kingoji]

Big news, and all good!

[primenova]

The only thing i've got to say is - how confusing are the roads around the NEC. I just looked on a map & they are slightly all over the place & then I'm sure there are roads that go off & up & over the A45. But does look like a bit of a few turns to get to the location for 2010.

[Nigel]

Having driven to both the NEC and the Holiday Inn, I think getting to the NEC is actually slightly easier. Although I did take the wrong turn coming out of both!

The move to a bigger venue next year is exciting news, though I just realised that bringing the event forward a week places it in the middle weekend of the Olympics.

[The Doctor]

I plan on paying for my ticket on payday and booking the hotel room and transport later in the month. I was not sure if I could afford AA this year but looking at my budgeting plan I can afford it if I pay for it earlier in the year rather than later.

To be honest, having been to 7 cons now, the draw is the atmosphere and meeting up with folk rather than guests or buying stuff! I'd turn up for the opening of an envelope by now!

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Jan 16, 2011 19:10:12 GMT The Doctor said:

I plan on paying for my ticket on payday and booking the hotel room and transport later in the month. I was not sure if I could afford AA this year but looking at my budgeting plan I can afford it if I pay for it earlier in the year rather than later.

To be honest, having been to 7 cons now, the draw is the atmosphere and meeting up with folk rather than guests or buying stuff! I'd turn up for the opening of an envelope by now!

-Ralph

Yesssssssssssssssssssssss, I was crushed when Andy told me you wouldn't be coming this year

We were going to designate a random person to wear a Ralph mask and be you for the weekend

[The Doctor]

When I looked at my plan for the year (what a novelty to have a plan) I did not think I could do it, but this way...I can! Besides, I have things to do for Andu and Nick for planned things...

I will not be putting money aside for buying toys though. Just for food/bar.

-Ralph

[legios]

Glad to hear that you will be able to make it, the Scots Contingent will be up to our traditional strength once again.

I've not registered as yet - want to get that sorted out come next payday, then get the hotel booked. Figure I can sort out the transportation come April-May time and that leaves me all booked up, paid and sorted in plenty of time this year.

I tend to do this for the buzz myself - the grand tradition of having a great time wearing oneself down to the knuckle and spending to two days after staring semi-vacantly into space most of the time.

Good fun though.

Karl

[Deleted]

Going to be in the same position myself this year - going to have my food / drink money set aside, enough cash to get the convention exclusive comic if we do one and that's probably going to be it for me this year.

[blueshift]

Jan 16, 2011 23:03:15 GMT @simes said:

Going to be in the same position myself this year - going to have my food / drink money set aside, enough cash to get the convention exclusive comic if we do one and that's probably going to be it for me this year.

How likely is another exclusive comic? It's a shame that there doesn't seem to be any big fan-favourite things scheduled for August (ie Nick)

[Deleted]

My lips are sealed!

[Nigel]

Simon, you need to update your signature.

[primenova]

I hope we continue to get an IDW comic every year - it a nice item to take away with us each year.

[Deleted]

Jan 17, 2011 11:55:46 GMT Nigel said:

Simon, you need to update your signature.

The new banner has been ready since last week but I hadn't uploaded it to the server as I wanted to wait until we made our announcement about Gregg! I need to do a lot of work on the AA website as well but my personal life has held things up a lot over the last few months.

The banner should be sorted by tomorrow and the site will have a massive update over the next few days. Already recorded part of our next update video so we're working on a lot of cool stuff right now...!

[Deleted]

Yes, I know there's a typo in the updated banner! There is a new version coming in about a weeks time when we announce our next guest so I'll fix it then!

[The Doctor]

Today is payday so I have paid for a weekend ticket. When I get the confirmation e-mail, I shall book the hotel. Checked the A/L board at work today and it looked clear so should be no problems getting that confirmed this week.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Annual leave sorted...

-Ralph

[Rich]

2012 clashes with the Olympics? Crap, that almost certainly rules me out; I was looking forward to the change of venue.

[Deleted]

We knew about the date before we booked it but we were faced with a few tough choices... no convention whatsover in 2012, book it during school term time (a nightmare if we want to keep the convention family friendly), have it at the end of August over the Bank Holiday weekend (public transport would be a nightmare or hold it at another time of the year which would increase the likelihood of clashing with other events and August is our traditional month now.

There were really only a couple of choices for us in August and even with the Olympics, we think it's a pretty good trade-off. We know that there will be people outside of the UK who may be considering flying over to attend the Olympics or to attend Auto Assembly but may be put off flying over for two events in the space of a few weeks, but by holding Auto Assembly *during* the Olympics, people will be able to combine the two in a single flight.

The new venue and opportunities it gives us really does make it worth it though and there are things we can do at the Hilton that no other venue in the COUNTRY allows us to be able to offer.

[Bogatan]

I don't know if it rules me out but I too want to see some of the Olympics, there still the opening and closing weekends so it shouldn't be a problem.

Andy

[Nigel]

Even if it had been kept at the same weekend, it would have clashed with the closing weekend. I plan on attending both, I just have to carefully plan which Olympic tickets I apply for. (In that respect, thanks for such advance notice of the dates.)

I'm sure the hotel will have bars showing the coverage on big screens.

I'd suggest some sort of Olympic-themed art exclusive and Olympic-themed competitions.

[blueshift]

If it is olympic themed, everyone should come as Munka Spunka!

[Deleted]

I'm not interested in the Olympics anyway, so it won't affect me at all

[grahamthomson]

I shall be booking my tickets and hotel for this year's AA at the end of this month, right after pay day!

[grahamthomson]

Well, this is odd.

I'm just looking at the room rates for the Holiday Inn that AA is being held at, and the weekend of 12-14 August is £91 per night, but Friday-Sunday on any other weekend is £38 per night.

The hotel isn't inflating prices just for AA because they're hosting the event, is it?

[blueshift]

Surely not! Tut tut.

[grahamthomson]

Apparently so. I've just telephoned the front desk and the woman said that the prices can go up when there's an event on.

I would have thought it'd be the other way around, what with the greater chance of people staying in the same hotel as the event!

[The Doctor]

I thought there were special rates for AA attendees? Or am I imagining this? I'd like to check before booking hotel.

More than doubling the room rate is a bit scummy of the hotel though.

-Ralph