Britain’s Royal Mail is launching 13 stamps to celebrate the British contribution to the Transformers franchise from Hasbro.
The Royal Mail says the main set of eight stamp designs are produced in pairs and feature original illustrations of Transformers Autobots and Decepticons locked in a battle, in a retro, “Generation 1 style” from the 1980s.
Characters featured on the stamps include Optimus Prime; Megatron; Bumblebee; Starscream; Grimlock; Shockwave; Arcee; and Soundwave.
The images were created exclusively for Royal Mail by three established British comic artists: Andrew Wildman (pencils); Stephen Baskerville (inks); and John-Paul Bove (colors) – who have all contributed to the Transformers comic series.
The main eight stamps are printed with a hidden ink which reveals each of the character’s faction logos and names in the Cybertronian alphabet when shown under a UV light.
In addition, fans who download the Royal Mail App can scan the stamp and watch a unique Augmented Reality (AR) animation, including a clip from the original animated Transformers TV series.
A further five stamps, presented in a miniature sheet, feature the Transformers’ spin-off characters the Dinobots, including Grimlock, Snarl, Slu, Sludge, and Swoop.
“Since The Transformers burst onto the scene in 1984, British writers and artists have made a substantial contribution to the ongoing story of the popular warring mechanoids,” said Matt Parkes, Director of Stamps and Collectibles, Royal Mail. “To this day many continue to do so and have inspired new artists to do the same.”
“We are delighted to be able to celebrate their work with this stunning set of stamps, which calls back not only to the early comics but also – by using the Royal Mail App to trigger hidden content – the original cartoon series as well!”
As pretty much everyone knows, the Transformers robots are alien sentient beings who can change into vehicles, machinery and more. The characters first appeared in toy shops and on TV screens in 1984. Nearly 40 years on, thanks to the addition of comic books, computer games and movies, the likes of Optimus Prime and Megatron have become pop culture titans.
The story of the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons has been told in many different ways, but the core premise is usually the same: a deadly civil war engulfs the distant metal planet of Cybertron and eventually spreads to Earth. Key to the warring mechanoids’ success in the UK and Ireland was Marvel UK’s The Transformers comic, which told an epic seven-year story across 332 issues.
As well as launching the careers of British writers and artists, such as Simon Furman, Geoff Senior and Andrew Wildman, ‘TFUK’ inspired fans to follow in their footsteps – with James Roberts, Nick Roche and Jack Lawrence continuing to expand the story, establishing the definitive origin of the Transformers robots, and reinventing the robots in disguise for the 21st century.
The stamps are available to pre-order now at www.royalmail.com/transformers and by phone at 03457 641 641. The stamps go on general sale on September 1, with the Presentation Pack, containing all 13 stamps, priced at £17.50.