Auto Assembly

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Auto Assembly was a Transformers convention held in Birmingham, UK and run by the science fiction fan organisation Infinite Frontiers. Auto Assembly was first in development from 1994 under the names BotCon UK and Ia-Con. It was officially founded in 2000 as "The Auto-Assembly" by Sven Harvey.

The first event was held in October 2000 and was held annually (except in 2002 and 2007 when it took "gap years") until the final event in 2015. The event was originally called "The Auto-Assembly", and came to be referred to colloquially as "AA".

Sven Harvey stepped down from his role with the event between the 2008 and 2009 conventions due to various issues unrelated to the event but has now returned to the team. Head of Infinite Frontiers Simon Plumbe is now the owner of the convention, working with a team of volunteers.

The convention started life as a small-scale event, intended to be an occasional Transformers-themed equivalent of the meetings held by the Star Trek fan club Alpha Quadrant (which itself grew from the Delta Quadrant '96 convention run by Infinite Frontiers). The first event was expected to have a relatively small number of fans attending — smaller than the Star Trek meetings — although this figure was exceeded. Sven's original idea was to grow the meetings over time and then launch the Ia-con convention as an annual event based on the meetings, which originally were to be quarterly. "The Auto-Assembly" ran on October 22, 2000, and was run by Sven with Simon in a support administrative role.^[1] From the first meeting, however, the event grew rapidly and by 2003 "The Auto-Assembly" name was so strong a brand that calling it Ia-con would have been a confusing move. Auto Assembly 2003, only the third event, had expanded to a full-scale convention, though at that point it was referred to as a Transformers Collectors Fair. The growth of the event and the friendliness of the fans in attendance actually converted Simon into a Transformers fan in the process.

The convention attracts fans from all over the UK, Europe, and as far afield as America and Australia and currently holds the European attendance record with 1064 fans attending Auto Assembly 2015 from the UK and Europe.

The convention has a range of activities, including dealers tables, guest talks, autograph sessions, toy and art displays, video screenings, competitions, charity auctions, workshops (added for 2009) and more. Auto Assembly 2009 featured the convention's first live band as part of its programme — former boy band turned rock band, Next of Kin. In association with sponsors every year, the convention also gives all of its attendees a "goodie bag" filled with complimentary gifts, which have included a range of items, including postcards, comics, magazines, stickers, PlayStation 2 games, posters, and 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 G1 actor Gregg Berger, voice of Grimlock in Transformers Gen 1, “Beast Wars” voice actor Ian James Corlett, (Cheetor), Transformers Gen 1 actor Dan Gilvezan (Bumblebee), Neil Kaplan (Optimus Prime and Ro-Tor, “Transformers: Robots in Disguise”), David Kaye (Megatron from Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Cybertron and Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated), Michael McConnohie (Tracks and Cosmos in “Transformers Gen 1” as well as Hot Shot and Ironhide in “Transformers: Robots in Disguise”), and Wally Wingert (Sideburn and Mirage from Transformers: Robots In Disguise).

Auto Assembly: Target 2006, inspired by the Marvel UK comic story of the same name, had the Auto Assembly debut appearances of artists Guido Guidi and Mike Collins, and the first UK appearance by 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 music. The podcast was hosted by Simon Plumbe and Sven Harvey, who ran the event at the time.

Auto Assembly 2008 was notable by having its first display from Hasbro featuring the unveiling of handmade resin versions of Transformers: Animated Optimus Prime, Megatron and Bulkhead being given away through a prize draw from an online competition. It also saw the world debut of the trailer for the Transformers: Animated game for the Nintendo DS from Activision. The convention also attracted a great deal of media attention and was attended by a television camera crew from Central News who filmed for a news broadcast, a radio broadcaster from BBC Radio WM attended, and a live interview with Sven Harvey for BBC Radio 5 Live took place early in the day.

The first Auto Assembly Europe convention was held in November 2011, was held in Uppsala, Sweden. It was organised as a joint operation between the Auto Assembly organisers and the Nordic TransFans Association.^[2]

In March 2015, it was announced that Auto Assembly 2015 would be the final Auto Assembly event due to conflicts with the health and personal lives of the team members at the time. Auto Assembly itself is continuing with other activities including the publication of its fanzine The Cybertronian Times.

The convention has definitely come to an end now with TF Nation taking its place, but the Auto Assembly and Infinite Frontiers website continue, and the founder is running the Autobase Birmingham fan club which is closely linked to the Spacedock Birmingham Star Trek fan club and is maintaining ties with Transmasters UK (TMUK). Ia-con is still in development.