3D Battle-Card Game
The Transformers: 3D Battle-Card Game is a "constructible card game" from Wizards of the Coast (who are, of course, owned by Hasbro). The game involves punching out pieces from little plastic trading cards and assembling them as either a Transformer or its vehicle mode, then battling another player with a similar punch-out figure. It was released on June 2, 2007.
The game was officially and very quietly placed 'on hiatus' by Wizards of the Coast in October 2008. While the flash interactive site remains on the Wizards official web site (see the direct link below), the forums and all links within the company's site itself have been removed.
In April of 2009, gift packs of these cards were made available through the Target chain of stores. Energon Wars boosters were available for $1.99, while a larger $6.99 gift pack included random assortments of Energon Wars, Battle-Cards, and trading cards for the first live action movie. Both were made available through the reseller The Fairfield Company.
Game play
Game play is largely based on Rock Paper Scissors. Players choose one of 3 colored attacks secretly, then both players reveal their choices at the same time. If the opposing player's color matches the target color of the attack, damage is recorded and any special effects occur. Special effects include extra damage, transformation, and changing distance from an opponent. If both players pull the same colors twice, the player with a lower health scores a critical attack, which does extra damage and sometimes includes a powerful special effect.
Cards
Wizards of the Coast included 26 Characters in the premier set featuring characters from the live-action film, with additional characters being drawn from other Transformers series past, somewhat redesigned to match the 2007 movie's aesthetic.
Each pack retails for $3.99 and includes everything needed to play: two punch-out Transformers figures (each made up of two cards worth of pieces), a character stat card for each of those figures, a token card (for determining attacks and keeping track of hit points), and a rules pamphlet. Packaging is modeled after the 2007 movie's aesthetic, and includes a cover picture of either Bumblebee, Barricade, Optimus Prime, or Megatron.
As usual with such card games, individual cards are marked with a rarity, which determines how likely a card can appear in any particular two pack. Cards can be common (marked by a circle on the card), uncommon (marked by a diamond), or rare (marked by a star).
Autobots
| Number | Character | Card model | Points | Rarity |
| 1 | Bumblebee | Yellow muscle car | 20 | Rare |
| 2 | Cliffjumper | Red sports car | 31 | Common |
| 3 | Evac | Yellow helicopter | 29 | Uncommon |
| 4 | Ironhide | Black pickup | 41 | Rare |
| 5 | Jazz | Gray sports car | 37 | Rare |
| 6 | Jetfire | White and red jet | 38 | Uncommon |
| 7 | Longarm | Blue construction truck | 35 | Common |
| 8 | Mirage | Blue and white muscle car | 26 | Common |
| 9 | Optimus Prime | Blue and red semi | 54 | Rare |
| 10 | Protoform Bumblebee | Yellow fireball | 27 | Uncommon |
| 11 | Ratchet | Yellow truck | 28 | Rare |
| 12 | Smokescreen | Blue sports car | 29 | Uncommon |
| 13 | Swerve | Rusty muscle car | 23 | Common |
Decepticons
| Number | Character | Card model | Points | Rarity |
| 14 | Barricade | Black and white police muscle car | 33 | Rare |
| 15 | Blackout | Steel blue helicopter | 37 | Uncommon |
| 16 | Bonecrusher | Tan construction truck | 34 | Uncommon |
| 17 | Brawl | Green tank | 41 | Rare |
| 18 | Dreadwing | Steel gray jet | 24 | Common |
| 19 | Dropkick | Light green pickup | 30 | Common |
| 20 | Megatron | Gray Cybertronian jet | 53 | Rare |
| 21 | Payload | Steel blue truck | 25 | Common |
| 22 | Protoform Starscream | Yellow fireball | 24 | Uncommon |
| 23 | Scorponok | Rusty scorpion | 29 | Rare |
| 24 | Starscream | Steel green jet | 43 | Rare |
| 25 | Thundercracker | Blue jet | 24 | Common |
| 26 | Wreckage | Light green tank | 35 | Uncommon |
Energon Wars expansion
The first expansion to this game arrived in October 2007, exclusive to Target stores and hobby specialty shops. The set brings in characters based on Generation 1, Beast Wars and Unicron Trilogy figures. According to the game's official site, Optimus Primal and Megatron are the faction leaders for the set. The set also relies heavily on redecos of the designs used in the original set, with the new set adding the Sports Coupe, T-Rex, and Beast designs to the mix. The Beast model can be constructed to resemble a cat or an ape, but uses the same parts regardless.
Other than by just checking over the card list, "Energon Wars" cards can be determined by the use of a more G1 styled faction symbol on the cards. The original set uses faction symbols based on the 2007 movie's promotional art. Unlike other WotC card games, "Energon Wars" does not otherwise have a unique symbol which designates its cards as part of an expansion.
Autobots
| Number | Character | Continuity | Card model | Points | Rarity |
| 1 | Blurr | Armada | Light blue sports car | 28 | Uncommon |
| 2 | Cheetor | Beast Wars | Yellow beast | 31 | Common |
| 3 | Classic Bumblebee | Generation 1 | Yellow sports coupe | 22 | Rare |
| 4 | Grimlock | Generation 1 | Gray T-Rex | 48 | Rare |
| 5 | Hot Rod | Generation 1 | Red and flame-trimmed sports car | 28 | Uncommon |
| 6 | Inferno | Generation 1 | Fire engine red construction truck | 36 | Rare |
| 7 | Optimus Primal | Beast Wars | Black beast | 52 | Rare |
| 8 | Prowl | Generation 1 | White police muscle car | 25 | Uncommon |
| 9 | Side Swipe | Armada | Blue sports coupe | 24 | Uncommon |
| 10 | Skids | Generation 1 | Teal pickup | 26 | Common |
| 11 | Trailbreaker | Generation 1 | Rusty truck | 26 | Common |
| 12 | Warpath | Generation 1 | Red tank | 35 | Common |
| 13 | Whirl | Generation 1 | Sky blue helicopter | 30 | Rare |
Decepticons
| Number | Character | Continuity | Card model | Points | Rarity |
| 14 | Blackjack | Generation 1 | Black and purple sports coupe | 24 | Common |
| 15 | Blitzwing | Unknown | Red and blue tank | 30 | Uncommon |
| 16 | Classic Bonecrusher | Generation 1 | Green construction truck | 38 | Rare |
| 17 | Cruellock | Energon | Red T-Rex | 32 | Common |
| 18 | Classic Starscream | Generation 1 | White jet | 42 | Rare |
| 19 | Predacon Megatron | Beast Wars | Purple T-Rex | 52 | Rare |
| 20 | Quickstrike | Beast Wars | Yellow scorpion | 33 | Rare |
| 21 | Ramjet | Generation 1 | Red and white jet | 24 | Common |
| 22 | Rampage | Generation 1 | Red beast | 32 | Common |
| 23 | Ravage | Generation 1 | Black beast | 23 | Uncommon |
| 24 | Sky Lynx | Unknown | Red Cybertronian jet | 30 | Rare |
| 25 | Skywarp | Generation 1 | Black jet | 25 | Uncommon |
| 26 | Vortex | Unknown | Orange helicopter | 27 | Uncommon |
The artwork for Energon Wars has three notably different styles within it. One continues the trend found in the first series, largely using the 2007 movie aesthetic cues, such as Trailbreaker, who resembles a recolored Dropkick from the first set. This art is largely done by Gonzalo Flores.
The second style largely copies the artwork from their toy likenesses. Ramjet, for instance, is clearly based on his Classics figure. This art is generally credited to Lucio Parrillo.
The final style is a very loose and simplistic cartoon view, which seems to be an attempt to somewhat resemble the Generation 1 cartoon. Inferno and Grimlock are the best examples of this. Francis Tsai is responsible for these pieces.
Rules Updates
Two new battle mechanics, Stun and Grapple, were also introduced. Both of these rules make a character more vulnerable to damage until he either transforms (for stun) or changes range (for grapple).
Continuity(?)
The first series clearly takes place in some version of the live-action film series continuity. The primary cast of the film are represented, as are various "offscreen" characters like Evac and Wreckage, other characters seem to only exist in this particular micro-continuity such as "Movie" versions of Jetfire and Mirage.
The Energon Wars expansion seems to be a somewhat stickier case; versions of Optimus Primal and "Predacon Megatron" serve as faction leaders, versions of Unicron Trilogy characters show up (Armada Side Swipe and Cruellock), a few non-Movie characters illustrated in the film's aesthetic, and a couple of totally bizarre cases - a bright pink Decepticon Sky Lynx, a version of Blitzwing that looks exactly like Quake, and someone who may in fact be the Super Link version of Energon Stormcloud. Overall, it almost appears to be a variant of the Universe concept - disparate groups of Transformers from across time, space, and continuity do battle (complete with Optimus Primal being in charge!).
Notes
- In some cases, even allowing for punch-card construction, the robot and vehicle designs differ significantly from all past versions of the characters. For example, Cliffjumper bears the head of Alternators Swerve. In others, however, there is an almost slavish attempt to recreate a character's trademark look, as is the case with Thundercracker or Ramjet.
- The card writers for the Energon Wars expansion did their homework, as many characters' special attacks are taken directly from their bios: Whirl has his "Paralyzo Box," Skywarp has a "teleport" ability, and so forth.
