Dear transfans, welcome to TAAU's new-look, bi-weekly newsletter!

Because TAAU has just as many busy fans, curious visitors, shy lurkers, casual participants and industry researchers as we have regular and active members, then we thought it was about time we created a newsletter for everyone involved, so you can all keep up-to-date on the latest news direct from our Hasbro AU insider, Laserbeak, receive news scoops from our friends over at Madman Entertainment regarding their latest Transformers releases, get the all-important details on our latest monthly competition, read TAAU member articles and lots, lots more!

Even the most dedicated among us become busy sometimes, but fear not, as you can now sit back and relax in the knowledge that TAAU's newsletter will be delivered to your mail box every two weeks, allowing you to actually leave your house occasionally, maybe even take your girlfriend out... hell, you could even get up in the day, put on some clothes and grab some actual food! Okay, so maybe that is a little far fetched but you get the idea.

Thanks to Senex Prime from the TAAU boards for reporting that on May 19, during Triple J's 3pm-6pm shift, they mentioned Transformers during an '80s retro-cool TV' segment! They talked about how Transformers were the most popular toy of their time, how Hasbro were forced to bring Optimus Prime back to life after killing him in the movie and how there's a huge market for them on eBay. They then played the theme music and declared Transformers 'truly cool', not just 'retro cool'.

Following up from that, the next day Triple J played a single from local Canberra band, Meatbee, who have just released a chilled out version of the Transformers theme song. Check it out yourselves at Meatbee.com and download the MP3 here

On another Triple J note, many TAAUers are seriously starting to wonder if Will Anderson has a Transformers collection: he often wears his Autobot T-Shirt, keeps dropping Transformers references into 'The Glasshouse', and according to Fit For Natalie from the TAAU boards, Will recently appeared on 'Rove Live' and mentioned that Nicole Kidman had played with his Simpsons figures while she was at his house, so if he has a Simpsons collection, I reckon there's a pretty good chance he may have a Transformers collection as well!

That's right people, get ready to wet your pants because the G1 cartoon series is on its way to Australia!

TAAU has again teamed up with our good friends at Madman who have been filling us in on developments from the last few months, as well as to let us know what they have planned for the future:

Madman have reported that TF:TM was their biggest shipping title in March, shifting more DVD units than even Dragon Ball Z! The Transformers movie reached number 22 on the GFK sales charts, which is a very solid result and was even tipped by them as 'the one to watch'.

So basically a very positive result which was evident right from the start.

As a result of the excellent TF:TM sales figures, Madman have decided to go ahead with the G1 cartoon series after all, and have reached an agreement to license all 90 odd episodes, with the first collection hopefully being released around November, however, as always, this date is subject to change.

This is only an initial idea at present, but they are currently considering releasing the series by season, producing compact, value-for-money collections in multi-disc hard plastic cases, in a slipcase (like a normal DVD case, but designed to hold more than one DVD). This way, the slipcase contains all the title information and a traditional cover, with the DVD case turned over to a fancy wrap-around piece of art, or similar.

Like I say, these are just initial thoughts at the moment, and so they have once again asked us to get your feedback, so we can collate all your comments and suggestions and pass them back for their consideration.

So, again, here's your chance to have your say, so let's start off by hearing how you would like to see the series collected in Australia. By series? And what kind of packaging would like to see them in?

> please email your feedback to: enquiries@theyareamongus.com

Although it's been running for a few months now, for those of you who don't know, we have a good relationship with Hasbro AU here; they often visit our boards, send us news scoops and used to even occasionally buy stuff from us, lol, so it seemed only fitting that we should go ahead and set up a special 'Ask Hasbro' section for them.

This new message board section acts as a direct line to Hasbro AU insider, Laserbeak, allowing you to post questions on the board specifically for him. He will then read the latest questions posted in this dedicated section and will answer them, posting his replies on the board for everyone to read.

This is a very exciting section as it allows you all to post your own questions and have them answered by Hasbro staff, meaning that you'll get official and speculation-free answers, straight from the horse's mouth!

You can read our 'Ask Hasbro' section guidelines here, and can view the entire list of questions and answers posted so far right here

Thanks to our good friend Laserbeak, we have some updates on availabilty and scheduled release dates for up-coming Transformers items in Australia:

• Dreadwing/Smokejumper: Target Exclusive, scheduled for July catalogue.
• Yellow Landfill set: Target exclusive, will be here late Sept, onshelf October - not far behind the US.
• Armada Sideswipe and Thrust: Should start leaving the warehouse with any reorders from the retailers. The wave after has a heap of new stuff, all expected July.
• Transformers Universe: They'll be here in July.
• Star Saber and Dark Saber: Most of the stock is going to Big W, but other smaller stores that have already ordered them will get these also (probably before big W). You'll be happy to know that they're also coming with a bonus TF: Universe CD - expected to be here in July.
• Built To Rule: Not coming in this year, most likely a 2004 release. If it goes ahead, you'll be able to buy the range from wave 1 onwards.
• Hasbro Skywarp/Prowl/Red Alert: TRU exclusives, will be here late August
• Hasbro reissue Jazz/Silverstreak/Thundercracker: TRU exclusives, expected late September.
• Hasbro reissue Powermaster Optimus Prime: Unfortunately Australia will not be getting this guy.

Again, these dates are subject to change, but at least give us an indication of when we can expect them to appear.

Our Hasbro contact, Laserbeak, has reported on the TAAU message boards that Transformers: Armada has been picked up by Channel 10 and will begin airing every Saturday morning from mid July on free-to-air TV.

Also, for all you lucky people with Pay TV, Transformers: Armada will be making its national premiere on the Cartoon Network on July 7th! It will air twice a day at 7:30am and 6:00pm, weekdays. So for those with Foxtel/Austar or Optus, enjoy!

It seems that Transformers TV fever is spreading to other parts of Australasia as well, because our lucky members in New Zealand can now relive their childhoods live and in person every day at 3:30pm on TV3, as, believe it or not, kid's show Sticky TV is now airing the original G1 cartoon series!

So if you're able to receive the channel, then run out, buy some blank tapes and get setting those video recorders... or alternatively you could just leave work early every day until the series ends, it's up to you!

Hot on the heels of Takara's up-coming G1 Transformers game, it was announced at this year's computer gaming industry event, E3, that a 3D Transformers: Armada game is also in its early stages of development.

Video footage from the game can be viewed and downloaded from Gamespot, here

Transfans all over the world are now rejoicing in the fact that Takara have revealed the identity of the next figure in their current line of reissues: the highly sought-after Decepticon, Soundwave. It was believed that the original mould for Soundwave had either been lost or destroyed, but despite this, Soundwave is due to make a glorious return in September/October, accompanied by sidekick cassette, Laserbeak.

Price in Japan is expected to be around 5480Yen, which is roughly $70 AUD.

To celebrate the launch of TAAU's new newsletter, we're offering everyone who subscribes with the chance to win a complete, MISB RID Rail Racer, which obviously consists of Rapid Run, Rail Spike and Midnight Express, all mint in their pristine boxes!

This will be part of TAAU's June competition, so we will pick a random subscriber at the end of the month to win this awesome and exclusive US-only gestalt!

A big thank you to Hasbro AU who donated this month's prize, and if you're looking for something different and cool in the way of toys, then why not check out their new and quirky line, Stikfas, at http://www.stikfas.com/

Just to let everyone know, in an effort to create a friendlier and more trustworthy community environment, we have decided not to accept any new registrations from people using any kind of free, web-based email accounts, such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Lycos, etc. Only ISP related email addresses, work email addresses or University email addresses will be accepted from now on.

If you are worried about other members seeing your email address on the board, then please don't be, as you have the option of hiding it if you wish, both during registration and after posting rights have been granted, simply by going to: 'My Control Panel > Email Settings' on the message board to show/hide this.

We apologise if this poses any inconvenience to anyone, it is certainly nothing personal, however we have chosen to adopt this policy for the following reasons:

1) As we are an Australian and New Zealand only message board then it is difficult for us to identify people's country of origin if they use this type of account.

2) Secondly, by accepting these web-based email addresses, it may then be possible for a single member to open up multiple message board accounts, simply by using a different email address for each username.

3) Lastly, it is unfortunately just too easy these days for people to open up fake Hotmail or Yahoo styled email accounts with the intension of using them maliciously, and while we're sure that the majority of people are genuine and interested parties, we don't want to open up either ourselves or our members to any possible abuse, which is why we have adopted this policy.

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