Exterminator National Set

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The National Exterminator Release (2006)

Following the regional Test Set, GE Fabbri Ltd. announced the nationwide release of the Exterminator series in a press release dated 7 June 2006. The national collection was subsequently released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2006, approximately two months after the conclusion of the Test Set on 12 July 2006.

The final issue of the Test Set, Issue 7, included a form providing existing purchasers with the option of requesting a refund for the trial magazines. Customers who wished to continue with the collection were also offered the opportunity to receive the first issue of the national release free of charge.

The national Exterminator collection retained several elements of the Test Set's distribution format, including the fortnightly magazine publication schedule and the inclusion of card packs with the magazines. Issue 1 received particular promotion and included two card packs.

Psychic Paper: Issue 1 included a Psychic Paper card, as with the Test Set. The card featured a red transparent window that could be used to reveal concealed information on six designated cards in the collection. The hidden information formed part of an interactive feature of the card collection.
Fortnightly publication: Following Issue 1, the magazines were published on a fortnightly basis. Issues 1 through 12 included a single standard booster pack.
Dual packs: From Issue 12 through Issue 25, the magazine packaging incorporated what were described as "dual packs". These contained six reprinted Exterminator cards in addition to the standard card pack supplied with the magazine.

Taken from The Doctor Who Magazine Issue 374, Battles in Time was mentioned within announcing the Exterminator cards after a successful Test launch!

My Render of what the packs for this set looked like, as it is incredibly hard to scan the packs themselves due to the foil packaging. Please do not re-use without permission as alot of work went into re-mastering these. Thank you.

National Set Composition & Pack Odds.

The national Exterminator collection expanded considerably from the 85-card Test Set to a total of 275 cards, numbered 001–275. The collection covered material from the revived Doctor Who series, beginning with the first episode, Rose, and extending through to the Series 2 finale, Doomsday.

The 275 numbered cards were distributed across four principal rarity classifications. In addition, the collection included the Super Rose card, which was distributed separately as a Golden Ticket card.

The published pack distribution was:

231 Common Cards (C): 8 per pack (Standard non-foil card stock)
28 Rare Cards (R): 1 per pack (Shiny metallic foil)
10 Super-Rare Cards (SR): 1 in every 6 packs (Holographic wave foil, emboss, or glow-in-the-dark)
6 Ultra-Rare Cards (UR): 1 in every 24 packs (Lenticular motion cards)
1 Golden Ticket Card: 1 in every 1,000 packs (The Super Rose)

The four principal rarity categories account for all 275 numbered cards in the collection: 231 Common cards, 28 Rare cards, 10 Super Rare cards and 6 Ultra Rare cards.

The Super Rose was distributed separately from the numbered 001–275 collection and was associated with the Golden Ticket distribution category. Its published distribution was 1 card in every 1,000 packs.

The hidden message feature, was discontinued part way through the print run of the Exterminator series. And it was never continued in later sets. However, only two were reprinted in the latter runs, with the remainder, such as Unlimited Credit and Satellite 5, keeping their hidden bonus'.

Unlike the Test Set Exterminator cards, the national release saw retail featuring a shiny foil and a modified box design.

National Set Notable Differences and Features

How to Identify a National release card compared to a Test Set Card

Cards from the national Exterminator release can be distinguished from their Test Set counterparts through several changes to the card design, numbering and printed information.

The principal identifying characteristics are as follows:

Rarity symbols: The national release introduced rarity symbols in the bottom-left corner of the cards. These symbols identify the card as Common (C), Rare (R), Super Rare (SR) or Ultra Rare (UR).

Set numbering: National release cards are numbered as part of the 275-card collection. The numbering appears in the format 001/275, rather than the 85-card numbering used on the Test Set cards.
Warning symbol: The warning symbol used on the national release differs from that found on the Test Set. The yellow triangular warning symbol used on the Test Set was replaced by a circular design. The power arrow within the symbol was also inverted.
Website address: The reverse of the national release cards includes the Battles in Time website address, www.battlesintime.com. This information is absent from the Test Set cards.

The Psychic Paper card is the only card from the Test Set that is known to have undergone no design changes between the regional Test Set and the subsequent national release.

The card was supplied face-up on the top of the card pack included with every Issue 1 Test Set magazine. Its design remained unchanged when the national collection was released, making the Test Set and national versions indistinguishable based on their printed design alone.