Category Archives: Transformatorium

Big Angry Trev discusses the beautiful wonderful world of Transformers!

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Exclusive Card Reveal: Private Stakeout – Transformers TCG

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A few months ago, bigangrytrev.com was privileged enough to be given an exclusive reveal for the new Transformers Trading Card Game. In that instance it was Dirge and Defensive Driving from the Rise of the Combiners cards.

Well now courtesy of Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, we have been given another exclusive reveal. And this time it is from the latest iteration of the game – War For Cybertron Seige.

For those unaware, the current Transformers Generations toyline for 2019 is indeed War for Cybertron Seige and indeed it appears many of the upcoming cards will be based on said toyline. The exclusive card reveal we get to do today is definetly based on one of those toys, a Micromaster character who hadn’t had a new figure for nearly 30 years – Private Stakeout.

Coming in at 4 Stars, Stakeout – whose roles are Infantry and Communications – doesn’t appear to be the most powerful of characters, but then as a Micromaster he isn’t expected to be.  But this little Autobot can still prove quite useful.

 

Patrol Car Mode

 

3 Attack, 5 Health, 0 Defense

The artwork from this has been taken from the Siege packaging for Stakeout, which I quite like as I’m really enjoying the more gritty artwork that has been accompanying this line. In his Patrol Car mode, Stakeout has only 5 health and absolutely zero shielding. However this sneaky little bot has got that covered. Despite appearing quite vulnerable, his skill is Stealth, which means that unless every other one of your Hero Cards has been KO’ed by your opponent, any attack on this card while it is untapped can be deflected onto another one of your characters, keeping him safe from being killed before he can even get in the fight.

 

Robot Mode

 

2 Attack, 5 Health, 1 Defence

Once again, the artwork has been taken from the great packaging art of the new toy. In robot mode Private Stakeout sacrifices one of his attack points in order to get at least a bit of defence going. But once again, it’s less his stats that are important bur rather his special ability. Stakeout has the ability to, via you sacrificing one of your white-square cards, to flip another Hero Character Card to it’s other mode. This can be invaluable depending on who you are flipping. For instance if you have another character who has a lot more health and defence in one of its modes and is near death, you can flip it to its more resilient mode in order to survive your opponents next attack on you.

 

Teams Private Stakeout may be useful on

Stakeout is most definitely a supporting character. With 4 Stars he is designed to fill out a team full of stronger/higher star ranking characters where you have already used up to 21 of your 25 star limit. Stakeout will be most useful in a team with characters where it is imperative to be able to get that extra Hero Card flip in so as to facilitate either attack or defence. This suits Stakeout in the grand scheme of the Transformers universe; Micromasters are small, not particularly powerful in of themselves and are often used to support bigger robots. For instance in the new toyline Stakeout combines with Red Heat to form the “Binerboost Salvage Blaster”, a gun used by regular sized bots.

 

So I hope you have enjoyed another Exclusive Card reveal from bigangrytrev.com. Many thanks to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast for the chance to show this card to the world, which will be available when the Transformers TCG War For Cybertron Seige sets get released on June 28th 2019.  Also check out the reveal over on Life…With Sprogs to see another new card – Searget Skrapnel.

 

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Toy Review – Siege Micromasters Wave 1

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Studio Series: Scrapmetal

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This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the original release of the Transformers Movie “Revenge of the Fallen”.

Despite this movie being almost universally agreed upon as the worst out of all the Transformers movies, it did very well at the box office (as opposed to the Bumblebee movie which was the opposite in both regards). But even fans that didn’t like the movie they liked the figures, a lot of toys were fantastic and considered a lot better than most of those that accompanied future movies.

So, to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the movie and its toyline, Hasbro is releasing via its Studio Series line, new versions of the Constructicons. These new figures will all eventually form a gigantic new Devastator combiner – and who doesn’t love that!

There were lots of unnamed Construticons in the ROTF, and one had a very short showing. Known as ‘ze little one’, there was a small yellow Constructicon who got ripped apart by his peers to be new parts for Megatron. And a full decade later that little guy is getting a toy of his own – so let’s have a look at Scrapmetal.

 

Excavator Mode

A really nicely detailed little digger. Certainly a lot smaller than the rest of the Constructicons, even counting those toys that were released way back when ROTF was in the cinemas. I suppose that suits him based on his ‘ze little one’ moniker. There is a decent amount of detail to this excavator, especially on the digger arm. I also appreciate that his cab windows are translucent rather than solid, as one would expect from a Studio Series toy. A bit of a disappointment is the plastic treads, I would personally have preferred rubber.

 

Robot Mode

I’m not Scrapper – he lived… for a while

Both in colour scheme and general appearance he looks a lot like ROTF Scrapper. But given that was how he pretty much appeared in his very brief appearance in the movie this is to be expected. Again, a nice bit of detail to this toy to recommend it. There is a fair bit of kibble but in a good way. A nice touch is that they’ve made his hands look like grabbing claws as if they are formed from the excavator bucket, even though they aren’t. A big disappointment for me though is my versions hands seem to be jammed, I just can’t get them to open.

Considering how many ugly movie toys we have had over the years, this bloke looks quite good. He comes with a shield, which is OK but I think mainly an excuse to use up some kibble.

Ole’!

The articulation on Scrapmetal is great! Head, shoulders, knees and toes (knees and toes). And I’m not sure I’ve ever had a figure that does such wonderful cartwheels!

 

Transformation

Fairly intuitive. A pretty good level where it’s not going to take up half your afternoon but at the same time isn’t overly simplified like say some of the Cyberverse toys. Parts lock solidly in place in both modes.

 

Scrapmetal – worth getting?

It depends on how much you liked the movies and/or associated toys I guess. If you are a Movieverse completionist then Scrapmetal is a must have, but even if you are not a fan of the flicks this is still a pretty cool toy. If however you are a Constructicon nut like I am, or intend to form ROTF Devastator (Scrapmetal will make up one hand) then this guy is certainly worth putting down your money for.

 

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Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Devastator Pack Review: Part 2 – Gameplay. Transformers TCG

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Last week we got to have a sneak peek at the Devastator Deck, courtesy of an advance copy from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, and look at the cards contained within in detail.

Now officially released, these are available for purchase, and over the past week I’ve gotten a chance to really put the pack through its paces.  So let’s have a look at the Devastator Pack in gameplay.

And the usual spiel: Neither Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast have paid for this review nor have they tried to dictate the contents of this blog.  Bigangrytrev.com would like to thank both companies for their ongoing generosity.

Since all the cards have been already examined in great detail in Part 1 of the review, we wont rehash what we already know.  If you need a reminder, go check out that post.  Instead I’m going to give you some top tips for using Devastator to… er… devastate! In particular we will look at pitting the Constructicons against other Combiner Teams, such as the Stunticons and  Menasor.

 

GAMEPLAY TIPS & TRICKS

Get Scrapper into Robot Mode

This should be your very first action!  Not only does it get one of the 6 characters into robot mode which you will need to make Devastator later, but it means every time another Constructicon gets KO’ed you will get a point for your Tower Card.

Get Bonecrusher in the mix

As your best offensive Constructicon, get him into Robot Mode next.  You want to try and inflict a fair bit of damage with him and his Pierce 2 on your opponents cards before he gets KO’ed due to his low Health Stats.

Flip Scavenger next

You want that Bold 1 and the extra card it garners you every time you are attacked.

Keep the others in vehicle mode until KO’ed or needed

The other 3 Constructicons don’t have particularly useful Robot Mode abilities so I suggest keeping them in Vehicle Form until KO’ed.  Their stats remain exactly the same and every time you attack with them it will give you another point for your tower.

If any character gets KO’ed in vehicle mode, flip them at the first opportunity. 

Their ability to get you extra points for your Tower is gone once they are KO’ed, so if you come across a card like Rapid Conversion, use it to flip a KO’ed vehicle into Robot Mode so they are ready to combine when required.

Build that Tower to at least 6 before combining!

I played several games both as and against Devastator and I’ll tell ya, you will really want those extra 2 Bold points Devastator gets when his Tower is at 6. They do make a difference when trying to knock out another Combiner like Menasor or a Titan like Metroplex, characters that have huge stats.  Also it means that it’s 6 damage points that you get to remove from Devastator, which also makes a huge difference!

Getting your Tower to 10 before combing is often unrealistic.

While it would be great to have your Tower at 10 before you form Devastator, unless you have a good run of luck with the cards it is probably not going to happen.  If you can achieve it, great!  It means you loose 10 whole damage counters and get extra attack power right off the bat, but again, it’s likely not to happen.  Hope to get your tower to 8 and then pick up some Builders Tools and Enigma cards to take you the rest of the way.

If your opponent makes a Combiner first, get combining!

Gotta Combin’em all!

The likes of Menasor are pretty damn powerful and you don’t want to give them free reign for too long, because your individual Constructicons aren’t going to be very effective against the behemoth.

Keep track of your Builders Tools and Constructicon Enigma Cards

These two cards are the only way to add extra points to your Tower after you build Devastator.  You get three of each card so keep track of where they are and how many you have used.  Once or twice I had to form Devastator when only having 4 points on my Tower, and coming across those cards enabled me to bring my Tower up to 6, helping turn the tide of battle.

If you get your Tower to 10 – get ready to bask in victory!

If you can get that Tower up to 10, getting an extra 4 Attack Points and your overall attack rating going up to 10 means that you are going to decimate your opponent!  As someone who has played both sides when this has happened, I can attest that the opposing Combiner/Titan/Team goes down very quickly under an onslaught that strong.

 

So there ya go, some top tips & tricks to playing as and winning with the Constructicons and Devastator.  A lot of it will depend on the deck your opponent has built.  Given that the other Combiners special cards are only found in Booster Packs, it’s unlikely they  will have 3 of each like you will be sporting, so if you find yourself destroying every opponent in sight you might even be magnanimous and take a couple of yours out to make things more even.  Until you reach that winning streak though, devastate away!

 Got any other tips to playing with this pack?  Would love to read them in the comments section below!

 

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Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Devastator Pack Review: Part 1 – Transformers TCG

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With the Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs hitting shelves all over the country, it is nearly time for the first dedicated ROTC Box Pack to hit the shelves.  Due for release on March 29, this pack will have arguably the most popular and recognizable of all the Transformer Combiners – Devastator!  And once again bigangrytrev.com had been lucky enough to be given a pack in advance so as to bring you all the goss regarding these new cards.

Before we continue, the usual spiel: This pack has been given to bigangrytrev.com for review purposes by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast.  Neither company has paid for this review or tried to dictate the content of this blog.  Bigangrytrev.com would like to thank both companies for their ongoing generosity.

Despite the average rate of finding a Combiner Character card to be 1 in 2, a lot of people have been struggling to make their first combiner, even when purchasing a whole box of the Booster Packs.  Personally I was able to make Menasor and Dreadwing right off the bat but many others have not been so fortunate.  So with the release of the Devastator Pack, it is going to bring a lot of joy to those yet to make one of these colossal characters!  In the Devastator Pack you will find not only all the cards to go with it, but all the characters you will need.  So no endless searching – all your Constructicons can be found in the same place – right here!  Lets take a look at them:

Oh and another note, like when looking at the Combiner Booster Packs, there is SO MUCH information to be shared here, this will most likely be another 2-part Blog, with part one being information and the second one gameplay.

 

Constructicon Character Cards

Scrapper

Leader, Melee

5 Stars

Hook

Surgical Engineer, Ranged

4 Stars

Mixmaster

Materials Fabrication, Melee

4 Stars

Bonecrusher

Demolitions, Melee

4 Stars

Long Haul

Transport, Melee

4 Stars

Scavenger

Mining & Salvage, Melee

4 Stars

So we are noticing a few things straight off the bat.  Firstly Scrapper as the leader has 5 stars but the rest only have four.  Whilst this makes them fairly weak characters, it does mean you get to have all 6 Constructicons on the board at once.  Also you will only have one ranged character, Hook, whilst the rest are melee.  All characters have the same amount of damage, health and shield points in both their modes, making no difference in stats whether you be rocking a robot or construction vehicle.

Now to their special abilities.  Again, nothing staggering either offensively or defensively.  Bonecrusher has the best offense capability with Pierce 2 in his Robot Mode, with Hook sporting Pierce 1 and Long Haul Bold 1.  The only character to be sporting anything defensively is Scavenger with Tough 1 in his robot mode.   So what are nearly all the other special ablitities geared towards?  Towards your Tower Card, which is going to be crucial when playing as Devastator.

 

The Tower Card

This seemingly innocent little card is going to dictate so much of your gameplay when playing with the Devastator Deck.  It has made me extra glad that this is the first Transformers TCG pack that has come with instructions included.  Unique among the Combiner Characters, Devastator’s abilities are tied directly to the height of his tower.  And your individual Constructicon’s abilities are aimed towards building that tower as much as possible before combining.  As well as powering up Devestator, the height of your Tower will also affect the strength of some other cards which we shall look at a bit later.

Scrapper’s abilities are both directly tied to the Tower.  His alt-mode means you put your tower into the KO area at the start of the game (which you get to do anyway) and having him in robot mode means that every time a Constructicon gets KO’ed, you get to add another height counter to the tower.

All 5 other Constructicons have the same ability for their Alt-Mode

So this makes your individual Constructicons geared primarily towards construction, making that tower as big as possible!  Of course there are other cards to assist them offensively and defensively, several of them exclusive to the Devestator Pack, and some of these too are geared towards your tower.

 

Exclusive Cards

Note: The pack contains 3 of each card.

Builders Tools

Can be used by Constructicons only.  Gives you an extra counter on your Tower whenever a character sporting the card attacks.  This makes this card very good to put on Bonecrusher in particular, as well as being one of only two cards that you can use to build your Tower further after combining.

Reclaim

Lets you access the scrap pile for upgrades, but if your Tower is 3 or higher then you get an extra card as well.

Heavy Landing

Gives you an extra point of damage to deal, but if your Tower is 6 or higher then you do 3 damage instead.

Work Overtime

The only exclusive card that does not involve the Tower, it allows you to draw extra cards until you have four in your hand.  This makes this card very useful for most any deck you construct!

Constructicon Enigma

Like the Enigma cards for the other Combiners, you need this card to form Devestator and all your Consturcticons need to be in Bot Mode.  Unlike the other Enigma cards however,  this card does not immediately become redundant after combining.  If played when you already have Devestator on the battlefield, you get to Repair 1 damage to him, as well as putting a height counter on your Tower.

 

Devastator

Towering Warrior, Melee

25 Stars

Here he is, the big guy!  No searching through endless booster packs, you get him in one shot!  His stats are similar to the likes of Metroplex and Menasor.

As you can see, his special abilities are directly related to his tower:

* When you first combine him you get to remove an amount of damage from him equal to the height of your tower.  This means that you can allow your individual Constructicons to get pummelled to a certain extent, because as long as you keep that tower going higher and higher, by the time you form Devastator a lot of that damage will disappear!

* If your tower is 6 or higher you get Bold 2

* If your Tower is 10 or higher, your attack rating goes up from 6 to a whopping 10!

It is for the above abilities I highly recommend you do not combine Devestator until you have a minimum of 6 height on your Tower, because once Devestator is formed you cant make it any higher, unless employing another enigma card.

 

Other Cards

This pack comes with 9 other types of card, both common & uncommon and ones we have already seen before.  The one of most use to you will definitely be Rapid Conversion, since you have 6 separate characters you need to get into bot mode.  I find it funny we got Scrapper Gauntlets, since it doesn’t seem to be Scrapper sporting them.  You get two to three of each of these 9 cards.

 

So is the Devestator Pack worth getting?

Yes, oh my yes!  Not only do you get to make a Combiner Character in one go without having to search through endless Booster Packs, but it comes with a ton of exclusive cards that you cannot purchase anywhere else.  Add to that the unique playstyle the Tower brings to the game and this really is a purchase that I can’t see any big Transformers TCG players bypassing.  I highly recommend going out and picking yourself up a pack when they come out at the end of this month!

 

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Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review: Cyberverse Prowl

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Cyberverse has been trotting out a lot of characters that originated in G1. Some of these toys could be considered an improvement on their originators, others have been woefully compromised by putting in half-arsed gimmicks (such as Acid Storm’s Toxic Slice) and being overly simplified for Warrior-Class toys.

Today we look at a character that has only cropped up in a couple of flashbacks so far in the Cyberverse cartoon, but has still warranted a toy. We look at the Autobot cop bots love to hate, we look at Prowl.

Robot Mode

A nicely proportioned figure. Much more reminiscent of G1 Prowl than either the Animated or RID(01) figures before, which are the last two times Prowl got a cartoon outing. He has ok elbow and knee movement, but all but no side movement when it comes to the shoulders or hips. He lacks neck articulation too so Prowl had better hope he is facing whoever he is fighting!

The head sculpt on Prowl looks really good here, both in the face and also his helmet horns. I quite like the stars on the shoulders too. However I find his legs quite bland and they could have used a lot more detail.

The biggest disappointment is the huge panel on the back of his head, makes him look like he is carrying the back of a chair on his shoulders. This can be mitigated somewhat by his gimmick move, which we will shortly see.

Robot Battle Mode

By pushing down on the front of Prowl’s chest, you make his shuolder cannons come down to do his ‘Jetblast’ move. Why this is called a jetblast I have no idea, I think they must have just picked a term at random. Anyways, the cannons pop down, making the back of Prowl not look nearly as bad, in fact I’m not sure why anyone would display Prowl otherwise. Also for once we are seeing a gimmick that does not compromise the toy to any great extent.

Vehicle Mode

A nicely proportioned police car. Note sure if you can tell from the photos but it is worthy of note that Prowl is not sporting his usual black but rather a very dark blue, much like Barricade in The Last Knight. It kinda suits him and modernizes him to look like police cars you would actually find on patrol in the US, rather than an old fashioned Sherrifs patrol car. Like the robot mode, this vehicle would look a lot better with some more detail put in, the very front of the car looks good but the rest is severely plain, somewhat like RID(15) Strongarm.

Battle Vehicle Mode

Not on the box and not in the instructions, but you can transform Prowl so that his guns stick out of the windscreen and rest of the bonnet, much like the G1 Triggercon Crankcase. My son discovered this so full credit to the young fella! You do this by simply not folding Prowl’s shoulder cannons back up when transforming him, this in no way affects the rest of the transformation or the formation of the vehicle mode. While it doesn’t look brilliant, it will add a lot of play value for younger fans who want to send their vehicles into battle.

Transformation

Like all the Cyberverse figures, the transformation is very simplistic. Great for younger fans but will not hold much interest for your older Transfan.

So worth a buy?

If you are after a more complex, visually pleasing and articulated Prowl then I recommend waiting until the new one in the SEIGE toyline is released (though that one lacks shoulder cannons). However if you are a collector of Prowl’s like I am, or a fan of the cartoon, or even simply looking for a toy for a younger kid, then this Prowl is worth a go.

Got something to say about this toy? Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

ROTC Booster Packs. Part 2: Gameplay – Transformers TCG

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Last time we looked at the plethora of new cards to be picked up from the Rise of The Combiner Booster Packs for the Transformers Trading Card Game, along with their abilities and drop rates.

Well as promised, this time we will see the cards in play!  As there are already dozens of youtube videos and sites that are showing Combiners facing off against each other, and the only two Combiners I can make so far are Menasor and Dreadwing,  I thought we would do something different – a Combiner vs a Titan!

Clash of the Tit… er…. big bots!

It would be a bit unfair to send ol’ Dreadwing up against Metroplex I thought, so I picked Menasor for the battle.  I will be looking mainly at how the Stunticons and Menasor perform.  If you would like to read more about how the Metroplex character functions, please check out my review of the Metroplex Pack here.

Before starting, it should be noted that I received these cards for review purposes from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast.  Neither company has paid me nor tried to dictate the contents of this review.  Bigangrytrev would like to thank both companies for their generosity.

 

Setting up the board

When setting up to battle with a Combiner, you will of course have all members of that team.  There is little point in having 4 Stunticons on the board but leaving Drag Strip at home.  All cards are (for Combiners that use 5 characters) 5 stars apiece. Pick three to shove up front and a couple to hang behind.  The difference between each Stunticons stats is negligible, though Motormaster is ever so slightly stronger, so I recommend getting him ready to rock.

 

Making Menasor

Find this Card!
  • First off, don’t worry about if some of your Stunticons are KO’ed. You can still make them into Menasor.
  • Unlike the G1 cartoon, to join all your characters together they all need to be in robot mode, even your KO’ed ones.
  • You need to employ the Stunticon Enigma card. If this has been thrown to the discard pile, don’t worry.  Being a green card, it can be retrieved and swapped with one of your own.
  • Once combined, Menasor will carry over any damage points taken by the individual Stunticons, so try to get him to combine before they get too hurt.
  • When combined, you will discard all the Utility, Attack and Defense cards your individual bots were sporting, except one from each catagory which can then be applied to Menasor.

 

Menasor vs Metroplex

Menasor Crush!

They have surprisingly similar stats:

*Both have 25 Stars.

*Metroplex has stats of 6 Attack, 35 Health and 1 Defense. 

*Menasor has stats of 6 Attack, 35 Health and 2 Defense.

This makes Menasor that slight bit stronger than Metroplex.  As incongruous as this seems to any diehard TF fan, one must remember that Metroplex can still flip to his City Mode, as well as deploy his 3 sidekicks (presuming they are not already KO’ed), giving him the edge. So don’t get too cocky when you whip out your Stunticon combiner, you haven’t won yet!

Basic Game

The basic game is hardly worth mentioning here.  Given their almost identical stats it’s simply a matter of the opponents taking turns flipping cards until one behemoth dies.  Great fun for really young players, but holds little appeal for even those with a modicum of Transformers TCG experience.

Advanced Game

Find this card too!

Gameplay proceeds as usual, with you equipping your characters with different utilities, weapons etc and you and your opponent KO’ing each others cards whilst trying to save your own.  A lot of it is skill, a lot of it is down to the luck of the draw.  If you find any cards specific to your team however, employ them at once, they can really help!

The trick to using your Combiner Group effectively is using your individual characters in conjunction with each other, balancing their strengths and weaknesses as well as their special abilities in order to do the most damage before combining.  For instance Motormaster can protect other characters from non-attack damage, Dead End will give you an extra card and Breakdown can gain you extra attack damage.

I also highly recommend getting many of your characters into robot form as soon as possible, so when you decide to unleash your Combiner you only have one or two characters max that needs flipping.  Keep your eye out for the Stunticon Enigma Card too, if you only have one in your deck and you let it get away that’s it, you may as well let your opponent walk all over you because it’s quite hard to win a game with just the individual characters, since none of them are particularly spectacular.

When playing as Menasor, you get two extra cards right off the bat for combining him.  You then get Bold 1, Tough 1 and Pierce 1 as well as playing an extra action on each of your turns.  This means he can seriously kick Cyberarse, especially if you have the right Action Cards slotted.  In fact of the 4 games with friends of Menasor vs Metroplex, Metroplex was only successful in one instance.

So yes, from actual game play I can confirm that the Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs are well worth picking up. I heartily recommend you trade cards with friends so that you can build yourself one of these awesome Combiner Characters as soon as possible!

Got any questions or anything to add?  Pop them in the comments section below!

 

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EXCLUSIVE CARDS REVEAL: DIRGE AND DEFENSIVE DRIVING. TRANSFORMERS: TCG

REVIEW – METROPLEX PACK: TRANSFORMERS TCG

 

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Rise of the Combiners Booster Packs. Review Part 1 – Transformers TCG

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Yes kids, the wait is over!  For months now we have been seeing previews of both the new Hero Cards and Battle Cards for Wave 2 of Transformers: Trading Card Game, the wave entitled Rise of the Combiners.  People have been anxiously awaiting to get thier hands on these cards to see if they are as good, or even better, than the excellent cards that were released in Wave 1 last year.

Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have been kind enough to send me a box of the new Booster Packs from Wave 2, in order to review in much the same way I did the Metroplex Pack last year and the Dirge Reveal several weeks ago.  Once again, it must be stated that I have not been paid to do this review nor have either company tried to dictate the contents of this blog.  www.bigangrytrev.com would like to thank both Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast for the opportunity to examine these cards.

Oh the sweet anticipation of opening!

Now, as you may have noticed from the title of this blog post, this is Part 1 of a review of these booster packs.  Why am I doing it over more than one post?  Because in recieving a box of the Booster Packs, each box holding 30 packs which in turn contain at least 8 cards, it means I now have over 200 cards on my billiard table (er… I mean gaming table) with at least a hundred of them different!  That’s a LOT of cards to look at and a pretty big undertaking!  So in Part 1 we will be examining Drop Rates, new types of cards, Combiners and new Hero & Battle Cards.  In Part 2 we will look at how they perform in gameplay.

 

The Packs Themselves

Each Pack contains 7 Battle Cards and 1 Hero Card or 1 Pair of Combiner Character Cards.  We will look at the likelihood of doubles near the end of this review.

 

The Cards Themselves

Note: At the end of each discussion of the new cards I will be popping in their Drop Rate.  This is to signify how many times I was able to find these cards from the 30 packs contained within a single box of Booster Packs.

 

Combiner Cards

So many Combiners to be made!

Whereas Hero Cards have the robot on the front and the alt-mode on the back, Combiner Character Cards come in pairs.  On one card you will find the robot mode and the other the alt-mode.  On the back of the cards you will find artwork to join together to make the Combiner itself.

Gotta Combin’em all!

There are 5 different Combiners to make from the Booster Packs: Volcanicus, Optimus Maximus, Predaking, Superion and Menasor.

The Stunticons

I was lucky enough to find from the one box all 5 sets of Character Cards in order to make Menasor.  I look forward to bringing you a review of just how he goes in actual gameplay.  I was also able to form what could be termed a Mini-Combiner:

The Dreadwing Pair
Dreadwing

First revealed exclusively by Ozformers, this pair of Decepticons – Dreadwind and Blackwing (formerly Darkwing) combine to form the Dreadwing Sky Destroyer Jet.  This was a smart move on the part of the game makers, as it means you have a greater likelihood of making a Combiner sooner rather than later since he only needs two Character Card pairs instead of 5 or 6.

Drop Rate: Both the side of the box and the official website say the drop rate for Combiner Character Cards is about 50%. When opening multiple packs I was pleasantly surprised to find, for me at least, it surpassed that promise.  Out of the 30 packs I opened, 20 of them had Combiner Character Cards.  So rather than a drop rate of 50% it was a drop rate of 66%.  That’s great considering most Combiners are made up of 5 or 6 different characters you have to collect.

 

Hero Cards

New Hero Cards

As well as the Combiner Cards, we have the same sort of Hero Cards that were released in Wave 1.  There are quite a few new characters getting a showing, and many of the most famous characters, such as Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream, have been released again but with new artwork and stats

New Hero Cards

I got a mix of characters I had other versions of from Wave 1 along with a good dose of new guys.  I was particularly pleased I was able to get Dirge since www.bigangrytrev.com was given the exlusive reveal of Dirge earlier in the year.  Some Character Cards have their special abilities blank, such as Novastar and Ruckus.  I have yet to figure out exactly why this is and how it will affect their gameplay value.

Drop Rate: Those packs that don’t come with a Combiner Character come with a regular Hero Card.  I found the drop rate to be one in every 3 packs, which doesn’t sound great but actually is if you are after the Combiners specifically, which I believe most players will be actively seeking.

Drop rates for Ultra Rare cards are described as 50:1.  You’ll note I got a King Starscream which is indeed Ultra Rare.  So I got one at a ratio of 30:1 but its entirely possible I could buy 20 more packs without finding another.

 

Battle Cards

Before we had Battle Cards that came in a few different colours based on their ability to attack and defend, with some cards overlapping.  Rise of the Combiners see’s some new categories introduced.

Star Battle Cards

Oh. My. Primus!

This cards are definitely going to be a game changer!  Big time! Got a team which only uses up 22 or 23 or the 25 Star allowance.  Well now there are Battle Cards that have stars!  That means you can put them in as part of your team.  Valued at 1 Star apiece, these are perfect for rounding up your team.  I can see Bolt of Lightning being very useful but it’s Vandalize, where you can scrap all enemy Weapons, Armour or Utilities, that blows me away!  I can’t think of many instances where that wont be invaluable!

Drop Rate: There are 7 Star Battle Cards, in 30 packs I obtained 6 of them.

Enigma Cards

Enigma Cards

So you have all your characters needed to create a Combiner.  But you need one more thing – an Enigma Card.  There is an Enigma Card for each Combiner.  Being Green (discussed shortly), these cards can be rescued from the discard pile which saves a lot of heartache.  The Enigma Card is used to make your Combiner Character cards join together, even if some of those characters have been previously KO’ed.

Drop Rate: In 30 packs I was able to get all 5 Enigma’s as well as a couple of spares.

Team Specific Cards

Team Specific Cards

There are specific cards that you can use with each team but no others.  They can be placed on only one member of this team.  I have yet to see if they can be retroactive – for instance I have a Dinobot Swoop card from Wave 1, but it does not make up the Volcanicus Team.  Can I use my Electrified Spikes card on that old Swoop since he is a Dinobot and the card talks about Dinobots, not Volcanicus?  Stay tuned for future reviews to find out!

Drop Rate: I was able to find cards for four of the five teams within 30 packs.

Green Battle Cards

If you get a Green Battle Card, it means that you are able to retrieve it from the discard pile.  You can only do this with one card per turn.  Whilst this sounds good but not game changing, it can be of extreme importance given what some of these cards (such as the Enigma’s) do.

Regular Battle Cards

White Battle Cards

We have a slew of new Battle Cards in already established catagories, so many it would take too long to list them all.  Some of them we have already seen in exclusive reveals, such as those made by Lisamaree on the Life with SPROGS site, like Inferno Breath and Surprise Attack.   I was a little disappointed to not get a Defensive Driving card but don’t believe it will take me long to obtain one.

Orange Battle Cards
Blue Battle Cards

Drop Rate: Well you are guaranteed 7 Battle Cards per pack.  I was very heartened that I never got the same two cards in the same pack.

 

So there ya go, a not-so-short synopsis of the new cards on offer from the Wave 2 Transformers Trading Card Game Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs.  I was very pleasantly surprised that I only got two doubles of characters (Dead End and Mirage) out of the 30 packs, which made this undertaking even bigger!  Stay tuned for Part 2, where we test these bad bots (now available in selected stores) out with some serious gameplay!

 

Related Articles:

ROTC Booster Packs.  Part 2 – Gameplay

Exclusive Cards Reveal: Dirge & Defensive Driving

Metroplex Pack: Transformers TCG

 

 

 

 

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Exclusive Cards Reveal: Dirge and Defensive Driving. Transformers: TCG

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Last time we discussed Transformers: TCG – the new card game that has many parallels between it and Magic: The Gathering, we looked at The Metroplex Pack, which introduced the new concept of Titan Cards.

Well Wave 2 is coming out now, and since we already have Titans on the board, it’s time to introduce the other behemoths from the Transformer franchise – gestalts.  Rise of the Combiners will be introducing gestalt teams such as the Predacons, which looks to open up the range of gameplay even more.

However it’s not just the Combiner Teams that are being introduced in Wave 2.  We are getting some other new Hero Cards as well, along with some new Battle Cards for gameplay.  Once again, Hasbro has been kind enough to offer bigangrytrev.com an EXCLUSIVE SPOILER to reveal! So in this exclusive reveal let’s look at one of the new characters as well as one of the new battle cards: Dirge, Doombringer and Defensive Driving.

*Note: Like last time, no money has changed hands for this EXCLUSIVE SPOILER, and Hasbro & Wizards of the Coast have in no way tried to dictate the contents of this blog article.

 

HERO CARD:

DIRGE, DOOMBRINGER

I was pretty chuffed when Hasbro gave me Dirge as an exclusive reveal.  Dirge was my first ever Transformer way back in the 80’s, so whilst not the most popular of the Seekers, he has always held a special place in my heart.

The Artwork

The artwork for this card was originally seen in a TF game app years ago, Transformers Legends.  Though that game is dead and buried, the fantastic artwork from it still crops up here and there and has been seen with some of the collector cards that came with figures from the Titans Return, Power of the Primes and other Transformer toy lines.  It’s great this artwork has seen the light of day again and Dirge looks excellent here, blasting away in his robot mode and conversely zooming off in his jet mode.  The art of both modes are based on the Generations toy Dirge received back in 2010, to my mind the best toy of Dirge we’ve had (perhaps barring the Masterpiece version that came out a couple of years ago).

Card Power

The term ‘Dirge’ has to do with laments and music for the dead.  And the way this card plays on the board is very appropriate for the character’s name indeed, for he kills the weak stone dead and gains power from the death of others.

Robot Mode

Dirge is rocking stats of 2 Attack, 11 Health and 2 Defence in robot mode.  Whilst not staggering stats, it’s his power of Pierce 1 that makes him so valuable.  It means no matter the defences up, Dirge is going to inflict at least 1 damage to his opponent, very handy if your opponent has characters that are well defended but also on the brink of death.

Jet Mode

Jet mode has stats of 4 Attack, 11 Health and 2 Defence, so much like the robot mode.  The power of his alt-mode is to get an extra attack point for every character you have KO’ed of your opponent.  So if you have KO’ed say 2 or 3 of your opponents Hero Card’s already, it can bring Dirge’s attack up to a power of 6 or 7.

Card Functionality

The above powers means both sides of Dirge’s card greatly complement each other.  You can use the Pierce 1 of his robot mode to kill off weak opponent cards, then flip to his alt-mode in order to gain extra attack power from those aforementioned KO’ed Hero Cards. You then use this extra power to knock off your opponents healthier Hero Cards.  This gives Dirge a great deal of latitude in regards to what kind of decks you can put him in. Indeed Dirge will be a real asset in particular to decks where you have other Hero Cards taking care of the major offensives and defences.  Make sure you use him in the right deck though – at 8 Stars he will take up nearly a 3rd of the total stars you can use to create your team.  Used correctly however, Dirge will indeed be a bringer of doom!

 

BATTLE CARD:

DEFENSIVE DRIVING

Artwork

The artwork for this card is actually taken from the IDW Transformers comic book series.  In particular the subseries Maximum: Dinobots, published all the way back in 2008/09.  The picture shows one of the Sunstreaker clones (bearing a striking resemblance to Cordon), created by Scorponok, defensively driving out of the way of a tail swipe from Grimlock.  I love the fact that this card series takes its artwork from so many different sources, not just the one.

Card Power & Functionality: UPGRADE – ARMOR

It’s a good thing that these cards are intended for the more advanced way of playing Transformers: TCG rather than the basic, as there is no way my 6 year old son could figure out the power of this card, it even took me a minute of two!

Essentially this card offers extra protection to your characters when played.  Whilst not defending from a direct attack, what is does do is lessen the damage taken from non-direct attacks by your opponent by 1.  This can be extremely handy to play when your opponent has multiple non-direct attacks set up on the board, as they can add up and easily KO one of your Hero Cards.  With this card protecting one of your characters, your Hero Card stands a much better chance of surviving non-direct attacks in order to fight another round.

 

So as we see, Transformers: TCG continues to expand.  I personally will be hoping I find both Dirge and Defensive Driving in blind packs when they are released in March this year.

How are you enjoying Transformers: TCG so far?  Would love to hear in the commments section below!  And for more card reveals, check out Lisamaree on Life With Sprogs to see some great battle cards!

 

Related Articles:

Transformers TCG: Metroplex Pack

Toy Review – Masterpiece Dirge

Toy Review – POTP Dinobots: Wave 1

Transformatorium, Videos

Video – My 150+ Generations Autobots

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Several months ago I did a short video showcasing from my personal collection 100+ Generations Decepticons.  Well now it is the Autobots turn.  These figures are mainly of G1 characters who have received an update through toylines such as Thrilling 30, Combiner Wars, Legends, POTP and so on.

So enjoy this short video I made of the display.  Also below you will find some screenshots and a full list of the Autobots onshow, along with links to reviews of many of the figures displayed here – have fun!

 

 

Air Raid,  Afterbreaker, Afterburner, Alpha Bravo, Alpha Trion, Arcee

Beachcomber, Blades, Blaster, Blurr, Brainstorm, Brawn, Broadside, Bumblebee

Caliburst, Cerebros, Chromedome, Chromia, Circut, Cliffjumper, Cludburst, Cloudraker, Computron, Cosmos, Crosscut

Depthcharge, Dustup

Eject, Elita-1

Fastlane, Firefly, First Aid, Fisitron, Flak, Fortress Maximus

Gears, Getaway, Groove, Godbomber, Grappel, Grimlock

Hardhead, Highbrow, Hoist, Holepunch, Hot Rod, Hot Spot, Hound, Huffer

Impactor, Inferno, Ironhide

Jackpot, Jazz, Jumpstream, Junkheap

Kup

Landmine, Lightspeed, Lightsteed, Lio Convoy

Metalhawk, Metroplex, Mirage, Moonracer

Nightbeat, Nosecone, Nova Prime, Novastar

Omega Supreme, Optimal Optimus, Optimus Prime, Orion Pax, Outback, Override

Perceptor, Pipes, Powerglide, Prowl, Ptero, Punch, Pyra Magma,

Ramhorn, Ratchet, Red Alert, Rewind, Roadbuster, Roadhandler, Rodimus Prime, Rook

Sandstorm, Sawback, Scattershot, Scoop, Scrounge, Seaspray, Sentinel Prime, Shuffler, Sideswipe, Silverstreak, Silverbolt, Skids, Sky Lynx, Skyburst, Skydive, Slash, Slingshot, Sludge, Slug, Smokescreen, Snarl, Springer, Steeljaw, Stripes, Stormclash, Strafe, Streetwise, Sundor, Sunstreaker, Super Ginrai, Superion, Swerve, Swindler, Swoop

Tailgate, Tracks, Trailbreaker, Topshot, Topspin, Twin Twist, Twinferno

Ultra Magnus

Victorion

Warpath, Wheelie, Wheeljack, Whirl, Windcharger, Wreck-Gar

 

Related Video

My 100+ Generations Decepticons

Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – WFC: Siege – Micromasters: Wave 1

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Back in the late 80’s the Transformers brand was starting to suffer.  Something new had to be tried.  So in direct reaction to the popularity of Micro Machines, the Transformers made Micromasters.  These were actually pretty cool little toys!  You could get them in packs of 4 or 6, some had bases, some could combine, and they were pretty cheap to get.  I know for myself I collected most of the Decepticon ones to try and even out the amount of each faction I had as a kid, having to track down the Autobot ones as an adult.  Micromasters got a brief revival in the Universe line in 2003, but didn’t grab the toy consumers imagination.

Here we are in 2019 and Micromasters are back!  And the first wave of the War For Cybertron: Seige line is made up of 3 pairs, each pair making up half the members of their original patrol team.  So lets have a look at some classic G1 characters, most we haven’t seen in 30 years!

 

 

BATTLE PATROL

Flak & Topshot

Robot Modes

Flak is so unchanged from his G1 incarnation that I had to look twice to make sure it was a new figure.  Topshot (formerly Big Shot) also represents his G1 heritage well.  Both have far more detail in their faces and their bodies overall.  Both have knees but no elbows or head swivel.

Vehicle Modes

Once again Flak looks very much like he did in G1, though with some cooler details on his missile ports.  Topshot has lost a bit of length from his turret (maybe that’s why he had to change his name) but this is made up for by being able to swivel the gun up and from side to side with a great degree of control than the G1 toy allowed.  Both get top marks!

Weapon Mode

Topshot becomes the back half with his turret becoming the gun peg, with Flak making up the front to become an oversized missile gun.  Looks a bit odd being held by a Deluxe Sized figure, but would suit a Voyager sized bot well.

 

AIR STRIKE PATROL

 Visper & Storm Cloud

Robot Modes

Visper (formerly Whisper) has a nice amount of detail and looks quite good.  Storm Cloud is odd as in he is the only figure out of this entire wave of Micromasters that has elbows, yet at the same time he lacks hands.  An odd trade off.  Besides this Storm Cloud does however look good otherwise.

Vehicle Modes

Both Visper and Storm Cloud are both very faithful to their G1 origins, while adding a bit of extra detail to their jet forms that one would expect after a 30 year hiatus.

Weapon Mode

Quite a decent looking sword, nicely balanced and well proportioned.  Yes Visper is still obviously completely in jet mode but Armada’s the Star Sabre set the precedent for that.  Very cool!

 

RACE CAR PATROL

Roadhandler & Swindler

Robot Modes

Swindler had shoulders that put Ultra Magnus to shame, and its hard with the lack of elbows to position his arms anywhere but down that doesn’t cause him to fall over.  Roadhandler looks quite decent.  Both suffer from having massive holes in their chests which are required for the weapon mode.

Vehicle Mode

Swindler still resembles a Delorian, which is great for us of the generation that grew up on Back to the Future movies.  Once again, Roadhandler looks decent as well.

Weapon Mode

Pretty weak.  You simply fold over the back of the car and insert the other car on top to make a weapon that sorta resembles the Double Targetmaster ones from G1.  The only slightly redeeming feature is that they are the only pair that can swap spots, so either character can become the top or bottom half.

 

Worth Getting?

Yup!  A cheap price point, an outing for G1 characters we haven’t seen in 30 years, very faithful to their origins and now with combined weapon modes.  There are a few drawbacks sure: little articulation, the legs come off really easily on all figures and whilst you can combine the different teams bots to make new weapons, only a few of them look decent and are better off with their original partner.  However these are small quibbles.  I heartily recommend picking these guys up and really hope that the other halves of their teams get released in the future.

Got something to say about these little figures?  Pop it in the comments section below!