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The Invader Set (2007)
The Invader Set is the third major expansion of the Battles in Time trading card series, excluding the standalone Daleks vs Cybermen collection. GE Fabbri announced the collection in a press release dated 14 August 2007, with the nationwide release following on 5 September 2007.
The launch issue was distributed with several additional items and provided multiple methods of obtaining cards from the new collection.
The issue included:
Two Invader booster packs. One of these packs contained a guaranteed exclusive Dalek Blaster card.
An A4-sized collector's album containing dedicated spaces for up to 432 cards.
Individual Invader booster packs were also made available for separate purchase from newsagents at the time of the collection's launch.
The simultaneous availability of individual booster packs allowed collectors to purchase Invader cards independently of the magazine.
The Invader Set introduced 225 new numbered cards to the Battles in Time collection. The numbering continued from the Annihilator Set, with the cards numbered sequentially from 376 to 600.
The collection primarily covered material from Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who. Its television coverage began with Martha Jones's introduction in Smith and Jones and continued through to the Series 3 finale, Last of the Time Lords.
The 225 cards were distributed using the established Battles in Time rarity structure used by the preceding collections.
184 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
Promotional art from the Invader series showing what the boxes in retail settings looked like where you could purchase single packs.
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.
The Modern Collectors' Market: An Overprinted Classic
The Invader Set is generally regarded within the collecting community as one of the most extensively produced releases in the Battles in Time series. The exact number of Invader cards or booster packs manufactured by GE Fabbri has not been publicly established.
The comparatively large quantity of Invader product that remains available on the secondary market has been attributed by collectors to the high level of production during the period in which the set was released. Surviving sealed booster boxes and individual packs are still regularly encountered, and the set is generally more readily available than some other Battles in Time releases.
The continued availability of sealed Invader product has also influenced its position within the modern collecting market. Compared with releases for which significantly fewer sealed examples are known to survive, Invader sealed product can generally be obtained without the same degree of scarcity associated with some other sets.
The extent to which this availability is directly attributable to the original production quantity cannot be confirmed without documented GE Fabbri production figures.
How to Identify Invader Cards
The Invader Set introduced a yellow colour scheme to distinguish its cards from those of the preceding Exterminator and Annihilator collections. Several features on the front and reverse of the cards can be used to identify them.
The principal identifying characteristics are as follows:
Rarity symbols: The circular rarity symbol in the bottom-left corner features a yellow oval background. This replaces the green styling used on Annihilator cards and the red styling used on Exterminator cards.
Set numbering: The card number in the bottom-right corner is printed in yellow ink. The Invader collection contains 225 cards, numbered sequentially from 001 to 225 within the set.
Invader logo: The word “INVADER” is displayed in stylised lettering along the bottom-centre border of the card artwork. This provides a further visual distinction from cards belonging to earlier collections.
Copyright text: The reverse of the cards carries the updated “© BBC 2007” copyright notice. On Invader cards, the copyright information is positioned directly beneath the main Battles in Time logo.
Invader Special
The Invader Special Issue was published by GE Fabbri on 5 September 2007 to coincide with the launch of the Invader collection. It was the second dedicated special issue associated with the Doctor Who: Battles in Time series.
The issue was priced at £5.99 and was distributed with several items intended to accompany the launch of the Invader collection.
The Invader Special Issue included:
Two Invader trading card packs, providing a total of 16 cards from the new collection.
An exclusive Dalek Blaster card. This was a standalone promotional lenticular card distributed exclusively with the Invader Special Issue and was not included in standard Invader booster packs.
An A4 collector's card album. The album featured integrated plastic storage pages and was designed to accommodate more than 300 Battles in Time cards.
As part of the promotional campaign for the Invader collection, GE Fabbri made the first 11 pages of the Invader Special Issue available through the official Battles in Time website.
The digital preview provided prospective purchasers with access to selected content from the physical publication, including information concerning the card collection, rules, checklist and associated artwork. The material was made available prior to or around the launch of the physical issue, allowing readers to preview the publication before purchasing it from newsagents.
The Invader Flash Website.
Coinciding with the nationwide launch of the Invader collection, GE Fabbri introduced a dedicated website for the card series at https://www.battlesintimeinvader.com.
The website was developed using Adobe Flash and incorporated interactive features, mini-games and animated versions of the card checklist. These features relied on Flash technology that is no longer supported by modern web browsers, meaning that much of the original interactive content is no longer accessible through the live website.
Archived screenshots provide a record of the website's appearance and layout during the Invader release period. The preserved material documents the digital content and presentation that accompanied the physical Battles in Time collection in 2007.
Scanned Cards:
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