The death of Queen Elizabeth II and the impending coronation of King Charles III will mean some huge changes in British society. The Queen’s profile features on all pound coins and notes, top lawyers will now be KCs rather than QCs, passport designs will be altered, police uniforms will now feature Charles’ initials, and the public will have to get used to singing ‘God Save the King’ as the national anthem.
This changeover has thrown up some interesting wrinkles, as it seems the final set of Post Office stamps to show the Queen’s profile are celebrating everyone’s favorite robots in disguise, the Transformers.
The stamps have just been launched and — appropriately enough — there’s more to them than meets the eye. If you put them under a UV light, hidden details will be revealed, and if they’re scanned using the official Royal Mail App they come to life in a unique AR animation based on clips from the 1980s Transformers TV show.
You might think the British Royal Family and the Transformers are about as disconnected as you can get, though you’d be wrong. The comprehensive Transformers wiki informs us that Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria were members of the Order of the Witwiccans, a secret society who were aware of the presence of Transformers on Earth and worked to keep their secret. Could Elizabeth II also have worked behind the scenes with Optimus Prime?
But, after 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II appearing on every British postal stamp, it’s surreal that the final set sees her picture alongside everyone’s favorite Autobots and Decepticons. That means they may one day prove valuable, so any philatelists should order a set asap!