Whilst we’re still all flush from the joy of last month’s TFNation, today we’re taking a look at Universe, “a Transformers Collecting Zine” – AKA the latest publication from stalwart of the UK Transformers community, Graham Thomson.
With a cover date of September 2025, issue one (promising more to come?) is a collection of personal essays about what it means to Graham to be a Transformers collector, all adorned with his excellent photography and graphic design nous.
I won’t go into too much detail about the articles. Instead, I just want to highlight that Graham’s approach of using personal autobiography to anchor key moments of his life to Transformers has been a huge influence on my own writing in this area. I’ve done less of that (so far) in this iteration of Robotic Drift, but older readers may recognise something of Graham’s style in the old Drift Notes articles I used to publish.
I’ve been a fan of Graham’s work for a long time and was an early-doors supporter of the TFUK Guide Patreon. I’m also a huge supporter of the UK small press scene, so getting this really was a no-brainer for me. It’s a great read that should resonate on some level with any forty-something Transformers fan from the UK.
Pick up a copy of Universe here, and roll on issue two!
