Over a year away but we’re already taking bookings for Auto Assembly 2012!! We don’t want any of you to miss out on what is going to be the biggest Transformers convention that Europe has ever seen! We are going to have more guests than ever including THREE voice actors for the first time ever at a European Transformers convention, more dealers than ever, more events and activities and the biggest and best ever goodie bag. Basically, more of everything that you have come to expect from Auto Assembly over the years!

Auto Assembly 2012 is taking place over the weekend of Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th August 2012 at our new venue, the four star Hilton Metropole Birmingham Hotel, Birmingham, England. It is a massive hotel with 790 bedrooms and it is one of the largest convention hotels in the UK and is large enough to hold Botcon… and with our plans, we’re going to need it!! With a convention of this scale, we want to make sure you have enough time to plan, so you can book your tickets online NOW!!

To book, just choose the type of ticket that you require, enter your name and date of birth details and then add it to your shopping cart (this will open up in a new window). Please add each person to your cart separately as we need to know the names and dates of birth for each attendee so we can prepare passes for them properly. Once you have booked all of your tickets and ordered any additional items that you may want, go to the checkout to pay!

Please note that when you check out, 5% will be added at the end for PayPal handling charges as we get charged this to accept payments by PayPal and rather than increasing ticket prices for everyone to cover this cost, we have no choice but to add this surcharge. As PayPal does not have a system to add a surcharge option, it will show up on your shopping cart as “postage and packing”.

NEW PRICE STRUCTURE

We are changing the prices slightly for 2012. It won’t affect the majority of you and in many cases, you’ll actually find that your passes for the convention will be cheaper. We are doing this to make things a lot easier for us to keep a track of at the convention itself, and to be fairer on everyone. First, we appreciate that many of our younger attendees are not as interested in Transformers as the older ones and are often brought along by parents because they have no-one to look after them. The younger attendees may be interested in the children’s programme but certainly not the guest talks, auction etc. As such we have revised the age limit for free places and this is now rising to Under 6s from Under 5s.

Secondly, we are scrapping Student passes. In the past, we have not asked for Student ID when booking and we have taken it on good faith, but obviously retained the option of asking for proof on arrival. However, with the convention taking place in the Summer, technically no-one is a student and while many people may be students when they book, there is no guarantee that everyone will return to education after the Summer. We are therefore changing our price structure and abolishing Student Passes and altering the Child Passes at the same time. These will be replaced with a combined Youth Pass which will cover ALL attendees under the age of 18 (this will also fall in line with the British laws which are changing the legal age for school leavers). Anyone over that age will be subject to the adult ticket rate. The reduced rate for senior citizens aged 60 and over will still apply.

However, ticket prices for 2012 are being REDUCED to the levels offered in 2010 so in the majority of cases, you will save money on the price of admission to the convention anway.

PARTNER PASS

A final ticket type has been added for those of you who want to bring your partners to the convention who are not interested in Transformers but who do want to come along and enjoy the social side of the event. This “Partner Pass” is intended for those who want to accompany their other halves for the weekend but have little interest in all of the Transformers related activities usually associated with Auto Assembly and is a cut-down ticket with some restrictions. This ticket does not include the Goodie Bag, nor do partners get entered into any of the pre-registrant free prize draws. In the past these have included fantastic prizes such as toy sets, autographs, video games and even games consoles. However, the Pass will get you full access to the convention itself for the full weekend, but we may impose tighter restrictions with the guests regarding autographs, limiting Partners to a single autograph per guest. These Partner Passes will be available on a very limited basis for just £37.50 each.

To order these, simply book the pass for your partner at the same time as booking your own ticket. Alternatively, if you have already purchased your ticket for Auto Assembly 2012 you can buy your Partner’s ticket for the convention but you must contact us to let us know that you are purchasing a Partner Pass so we don’t reject the booking.

We are aware that this may be open to abuse by some fans attempting to buy tickets for their friends claiming that they are their partners, just to save money or for those who decide that they don’t want a Goodie Bag. However, we do keep extensive records of Auto Assembly attendees dating right back to 2000 so we will be able to identify if people are trying to cheat this system and if it is being abused then we will withdraw any remaining Partner Passes from sale immediately so please do not spoil this for others.

WHAT HAPPENS ONCE YOU HAVE BOOKED?

We’re sure that once you’ve made your booking you want to know what happens next! Well, if you don’t know, Auto Assembly is run on a non-profit making basis by Infinite Frontiers, a science fiction fan organisation founded by Simon Plumbe in 1989. Auto Assembly is organised by a small team in our spare time (see elsewhere on this site for more information about us) so as you can understand, this means that our time can be stretched with running the convention, work and family life. For the bookings side of things are processed by committee head Simon Plumbe and his wife Trish.

Anyway, back to the bookings and once your booking comes in it’s allocated a ticket number (to ensure that we don’t overflow with attendees!). Within a few days, you’ll be sent an email confirming your ticket numbers, the names of everyone you have booked for and some general information. After mid August, we’ll also be including information on how to book discount accommodation at the Hilton itself which will have rooms for £50 a night for single rooms and £60 for twin / double rooms. Don’t worry if this information isn’t in your confirmation email as we’ll contact everyone who has booked and let you all know the hotel booking details. After this, we may send out a few other progress report emails but the most important email you will receive from us is your booking confirmation email so keep this safe and print out a copy of it as you will need it later on…

Shortly, we will be uploading our Convention Information Pack to the website and nearer to the convention, emailing it to all of you who have booked. This will have the information magazine with all the important details you need to know about the convention, along with a selection of original articles and fiction. This pack will also have a beginner’s guide to Auto Assembly and will answer all of your common questions about the event and will be your one-stop point of information for the event and will hold everything that you may need to attend the convention and will have the information you need to attend the convention.

Rather than sending out your passes in advance, we will again be running a pass collection system at the convention which is where your confirmation emails come into play. You will need to bring the print out of this to the convention and then you will be able to pick up your pass, your information pack for the weekend containing the convention programme, plus your goodie bag which will contain some rather special surprises. If you lose your confirmation email between now and the convention, please contact us as soon as possible and don’t worry if you forget your email on the day as we will have back-up systems in place to ensure that everyone will be able to get in!

WHAT YOU RECEIVE

Your ticket will gain you admission to the convention and all of the activities for your chosen day(s). You will only be able to enter the Friday and Saturday evening programme if you have a full weekend pass but apart from that, everything is included in the ticket price – guest talks, workshops, autographs etc. All you need to pay for is your travel, accommodation, food and drink and whatever you want to spend!

All of our paying attendees (Adult, Youth, Senior Citizen and Dealers) will also receive our convention Goodie Bag which will contain a selection of free gifts. This will include at least four convention exclusive postcards, an Auto Assembly 2012 Litho Print (for attendees booking a room in the convention hotel), an IDW comic with a convention exclusive cover, a copy of The Cybertronian Times Issue 13 and our own convention exclusive comic! More gifts will be announced nearer the convention!

REFUNDS AND OTHER QUESTIONS

We have had people ask if they have already booked but then can’t make it whether they can then get a refund. In the past, we have not been able to offer refunds but we are looking at developing a cancellation policy for Auto Assembly 2012 and more details on this will be posted on the website shortly but this will be subject to an administrative charge. This will also apply if you wish to transfer your ticket to another person.

Also, please note that if you purchase a single day pass, it is only for use on the day that it is intended and is non-transferrable. Saturday tickets can only be used on a Saturday, and Sunday passes can only be used on a Sunday so please choose carefully. There will be different activities and guest panels taking place on each day so choose which is the best day for you to attend.

AGE LIMITS

Unlike previous years, we are introducing an age policy for the convention, and we insist that all unaccompanied attendees of Auto Assembly 2012 are 16 or over. Anyone attending Auto Assembly 2012 who is under 16 must be accompanied by a parent / guardian or other adult aged 16 or above. Anyone booking tickets not adhering to this policy will have their booking cancelled and a full refund issued. To qualify for one of our Partner Passes, you must be aged 18 or over.

ATTENDEE LIMIT

Fans have often said that they love the atmostphere at Auto Assembly compared with Botcon and love the fact that the convention isn’t too crowded and that they have plenty of time to socialise with their friends and meet the guests. Because of this we are setting a maximum limit on the number of attendees for Auto Assembly 2012 just 1,000 fans. The hotel can hold a LOT more than this, but for 2012 we want to keep things friendly and cosy so book early to avoid disappointment!

SECURE ONLINE BOOKING

Adult Weekend Ticket – £45.00

Standard admission for all adults, aged 18 or over.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

 

Partner Weekend Ticket – £37.50 (only 48 remaining)

Standard admission for all partners, aged 18 or over.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

 

Youth Weekend Ticket – £35.00

This is for anyone under the age of 18 at the time of the event

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

 

Elderly Weekend Tickets – £35.00

For over 60s at the time of Auto Assembly 2012.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

 

Under 6s Weekend Ticket – FREE

Any child under 6 at the time of Auto Assembly 2012. There is a nominal 1p charge for online tickets.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Family Weekend Tickets – £145.00

To book a family ticket, enter the names of ALL four of the people attending in the box along with the four dates of birth in the same order. The family ticket covers two adults and two children. A child is
classified as someone who is under 18 at the time of the convention. Under 5s are free and should be added separately.

Name of attendees (essential)
Date Of Birth of all attendees (essential)

SATURDAY SINGLE DAY PASSES

Adult Saturday Ticket – £25.00

Standard Saturday admission for all adults, aged 18 or over.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Youth Saturday Ticket – £18.00

This is for anyone aged under 18 at the time of the event

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Elderly Saturday Ticket – £18.00

For over 60s at the time of Auto Assembly 2012.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Under 6s Saturday Ticket – FREE

Any child under 6 at the time of Auto Assembly 2012. There is a nominal 1p charge for online tickets.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

 

SUNDAY SINGLE DAY PASSES

Adult Sunday Ticket – £25.00

Standard Sunday admission for all adults, aged 18 or over.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Youth Sunday Ticket – £18.00

This is for anyone aged under 18 at the time of the event

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Elderly Sunday Ticket – £18.00

For over 60s at the time of Auto Assembly 2012.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

Under 6s Sunday Ticket – FREE

Any child under 6 at the time of Auto Assembly 2012. There is a nominal 1p charge for online tickets.

Name of attendee (essential)
Date Of Birth (essential)

 

Check Out

To go to the check out and buy your tickets…