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The Devastator Set (2008)
The Devastator Set is the final main expansion of the original Doctor Who: Battles in Time trading card series. GE Fabbri Ltd. announced the collection in a press release dated 28 July 2008, with the nationwide release following in September 2008.
The launch of the Devastator collection was accompanied by a bumper issue of the Battles in Time magazine. Priced at £4.99, the issue was distributed with four Devastator booster packs attached to the cover.
Individual Devastator booster packs were also made available for separate purchase from newsagents at the time of the collection's release, continuing the distribution method used for previous main expansions.
The Devastator collection contains 250 new cards, continuing the numbering from the Ultimate Monsters Set. The cards are numbered sequentially from 826 to 1075.
The collection primarily covers material from the latter part of the Tenth Doctor's television era. Its coverage begins with the 2007 Children in Need special, Time Crash, and extends through Series 4 to the finale, Journey's End.
The set therefore incorporates material from the final period of David Tennant's tenure as the Tenth Doctor, including characters, monsters and events from the television stories released during this period.
The distribution and availability of Devastator cards have been the subject of discussion among collectors, including reports concerning possible short-printed cards.
The existence and extent of any deliberate short-printing within the collection should be distinguished from general differences in card availability. Unless supported by production or distribution records, claims concerning specific short-printed cards remain matters of collector research and cannot be regarded as confirmed production information.
The 250 cards were divided across the traditional five rarity tiers:
209 Common Cards (C): 8 per pack
25 Rare Cards (R): 1 per pack
10 Super-Rare Cards (SR): 1 in every 6 packs
6 Ultra-Rare Cards (UR): 1 in every 24 packs
1 Golden Ticket Card: 1 in every 1,000 packs
Taken from Issue 399 of the Doctor Who Magazine announcing the Devastator Set.
This image was taken from the portfolio of the lead designer for the Devastator Set, Lee Thompson.
Promotional art from the Devastator series showing what the boxes in retail settings looked like where you could purchase single packs.
Magazine vs. Retail Pack Variations
The distribution of card packs with the fortnightly Battles in Time magazines changed during the later stages of the original collection. Several different pack configurations are known, resulting in variations in sealed magazine products.
Standard magazine packs: Earlier magazines were commonly supplied with dedicated 12-card packs produced specifically for magazine distribution. These packs were identified by the “NOT TO BE SOLD SEPARATELY” wording printed on the reverse of the foil packaging.
Dual-pack configuration: During the later stages of the magazine's publication, some issues were supplied with two 9-card packs. These consisted of one Devastator pack and one Ultimate Monsters pack, giving a total of 18 cards across the two packs.
Barcoded retail packs: Some later magazine issues are known to have been distributed with standard retail packs bearing barcodes attached directly to the magazine covers. These differed from the dedicated magazine packs normally supplied with the publications.
The presence of multiple pack configurations means that sealed Battles in Time magazines from the later stages of the original run can differ in both the number and type of packs supplied. The reasons for the changes in distribution configuration have not been conclusively established, although they occurred during the later period of the magazine's publication.
How to Identify Devastator Cards
Identifying Devastator Cards
The Devastator Set introduced an orange-red colour scheme to distinguish its cards from those of the preceding collections. Several visual features on the front and reverse of the cards can be used to identify Devastator cards.
The principal identifying characteristics are as follows:
Rarity symbols: The circular rarity symbol in the bottom-left corner features an orange-red background. This distinguishes Devastator cards from the yellow styling used for Invader cards and the light blue styling used for Ultimate Monsters cards.
Set numbering: The card number in the bottom-right corner is printed in orange-red ink and is numbered as part of the 250-card Devastator collection. The numbering continues from the Ultimate Monsters collection, beginning at 826 and ending at 1075.
Devastator logo: The word “DEVASTATOR” is displayed in stylised metallic lettering along the bottom-centre border of the card artwork.
Copyright text: The reverse of the cards carries the copyright notice “© BBC 2008”, positioned directly beneath the Battles in Time logo. The same copyright year also appears on the Ultimate Monsters cards.
The Devastator Special Issue
On 17 September 2008, GE Fabbri published the fourth and final dedicated special issue of the Doctor Who: Battles in Time magazine. Edited by Claire Lister, the issue was released during the Devastator collection and represented the final special issue associated with the original Battles in Time publication run.
The issue retained the late-period cover price of £4.99 and was distributed as a card-mounted bumper edition.
The Devastator Special Issue included four packs of Devastator trading cards. Each pack contained eight cards, providing a total of 32 cards with the issue.
The inclusion of four booster packs provided an additional means of obtaining cards from the Devastator collection alongside the standard magazine distribution and separately available retail packs.
Unlike the special issues associated with earlier major collections, no equivalent digital preview material for the Devastator Special Issue has been identified on the official Battles in Time website.
The Exterminator, Invader and Ultimate Monsters launches were accompanied by online promotional material and, in some cases, digital previews of their respective publications. No corresponding preview pages or promotional banners for the Devastator Special Issue have been documented.
The absence of identified online promotional material distinguishes the Devastator Special Issue from the preceding special issues and forms part of the surviving record of the franchise's final period.
Special Bad Wolf Warning
Card 999 of the Devastator Set is titled “Bad Wolf Warning” and is distinguished by several departures from the standard Devastator card design. The card references the recurring “Bad Wolf” storyline and terminology featured in the revived Doctor Who series.
Unlike conventional Devastator cards, Card 999 does not follow the standard gameplay and identification format.
The principal distinguishing features of Card 999 are as follows:
Gameplay information: The card does not contain the conventional Bonus Box used on standard Battles in Time cards to provide gameplay modifiers or additional rules. Instead, the area is occupied by repeated instances of the words “Bad Wolf”. As a result, the card does not provide the standard gameplay information required for conventional Battles in Time matches.
BW rarity symbol: The bottom-left corner does not display the standard Common (C) rarity symbol used on the corresponding Devastator cards. Instead, it features a unique “BW” symbol within the rarity area.
Set identification: Although Card 999 is numbered within the Devastator sequence, the metallic set identification normally displayed along the bottom-centre border has been replaced by the words “BAD WOLF”.
These alterations distinguish Card 999 from the standard Devastator card layout while retaining its position within the collection's 826–1075 numbering sequence.
Nine Card Panoramic
Nine cards from the set, each suffixed "TARDIS Crew", could be arranged side-by-side to create a continuous image of the nine pilots and passengers of the TARDIS in the Series Four finale Journey's End.
Scanned Cards:
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