Getting Started with Release the Creatures: Dinosaurs!

Guida introduttiva a Release the Creatures: Dinosaurs! - BraccoTCG

Brief introduction

Release the Creatures: Dinosaurs! is the highly anticipated second main set of collectible cards from Tomodachi Press. The project was conceived by Dario Moccia, Davide Masella, and Luca Molinaro after the incredible success of Cuphead: Out of the Cards, which sold over 35,000 boxes. For this second set, 130 artists were involved to create more than 200 small pieces of art, all supervised by the scientific direction of popularizer Willy Guasti (aka ZooSparkle).

Collection Overview

Release the Creatures: Dinosaurs! consists of different types of cards, all of which can be found in a single box! Let's take a brief look at what the Main Set contains:

  • 150 Regular Cards

  • 27 Special Cards divided into:

    • 9 Safari cards

    • 9 Masterpiece cards

    • 9 Landscape cards

In addition to the base set, there are several special categories designed to enrich your collection:

  • 30 Timeshifted

  • 600 Tier Variants (150 Tier C, 150 Tier B, 150 Tier A, 150 Tier S)

  • 9 Preorder Cards (available in 2 different holographies and obtainable only during the preorder phase)

As the icing on the cake, there are also true exclusives not guaranteed inside the boxes (the so-called case hits):

  • 3012 Fossil Cards

  • 720 Printing Plate Cards

In conclusion, the Tomodachi staff wanted to reward the purchase of multiple boxes by including exclusive gadgets (not cards!) in the bundles:

  • 2200 Multiplane Cards and 200 Multiplane Cards in ancient amber

Let's go into detail!

Main Set & Sub-sets

As mentioned earlier, the regular set consists of 150 cards. Each of them can be found in 4 additional holographic variants (the Tiers). The Tiers enhance the card with special processing without reworking the basic artwork, with the exception of Tier S, which visually changes the aesthetic of the card while maintaining the same basic artwork.

The 150 cards of the Main Set are divided into 6 Sub-sets (made up of a variable number of cards). Each sub-set represents a geological era closely linked to a specific paleoartistic period:

  1. Triassic (approx. 252-201 million years ago) Represented by the Heroic Period (1830 - 1890).

  2. Early and Middle Jurassic (approx. 201-166 million years ago) Represented by the Classical Period (1890 - 1930).


  3. Late Jurassic (approx. 161-145 million years ago) Represented by the Modern Period (1930 - 1969).

  4. Early Cretaceous (approx. 145-99 million years ago) Represented by the Renaissance (1969 - 2010).

  5. Late Cretaceous (approx. 99-65 million years ago) Represented by the Postmodern Period (2010 - today).

  6. Mass Extinction (approx. 72-65 million years ago) Represented by the Future (today - future).

Even the layout and back of the cards change according to the Sub-set they belong to: the Tomodachi Press brand is thus reinterpreted as if the set had actually been released in that specific historical period, taking inspiration from real card sets born at the time.

The Tiers (Holographic Variants)

For each card in the Main Set, there is a parallel holographic variant:

  • Tier C: Silver Holography.

  • Tier B: Marble Holography.

  • Tier A: Reptile Holography and drip-off effect (glossy/matte).

  • Tier S: Black cards with metallic gold ink and Rainbow holo details.

Timeshifted Cards

Some of the 150 dinosaurs in the set have been reinterpreted to create Timeshifted cards: alternative artwork dedicated to the 30 most iconic dinosaurs in the collection. In these cards, the structural link between historical and artistic periods is completely subverted!

An example? The Tyrannosaurus Rex, originally placed in the "Future" period (being one of the dinosaurs that experienced the mass extinction), in its Timeshifted version is represented according to the canons of the "Heroic Period". The Timeshifted cards feature an exclusive layout, drip-off effect, Magma holography, and metallic decorations.

Special Cards

The Special cards offer a unique perspective on the creatures of the set:

  • Landscape Cards: Cards that open like a brochure (4 pages) with holographic effects. Here, the dinosaur is not the main subject, but a resident integrated into the represented geological formation.

  • Safari Cards: A tribute to the analog special effects of cinema. Dinosaurs were photographed in their environments starting from physical alter egos created by hand at a 1:1 scale.

  • Masterpiece Cards by Giovanni Caselli: Works recovered and restored by the Tomodachi Press team, originally produced by anthropologist and paleoartist Giovanni Caselli. They are printed on luxurious 450-gsm laid paper and feature the author's hot-stamped signature.

Fossil Cards (The Ultimate "Case Hits")

Probably the most iconic cards in the entire collection. These are actual card-shaped "containers" that enclose real dinosaur fossils, fully cataloged and certified. They are divided into limited edition fossils and unique 1/1 pieces:

Serialized Fossils:

  • Eggshell fragment (Megaloolithus mamillare) – 1200 pcs.

  • Bone fragment (Hadrosauridae indet.) – 1000 pcs.

  • Tooth fragment (Triceratops sp.) – 800 pcs.

The exclusive and unrepeatable 1/1 (Unique Pieces):

  • Ungual phalanx (claw) of Anzu wyliei

  • Tooth of Nanotyrannus lancensis

  • Tooth of Allosaurus sp.

  • Tooth of Gorgosaurus libratus

  • Phalanx of Struthiomimus altus

  • Vertebra of Dromaeosauridae indet.

  • Tooth of Acheroraptor temertyorum

  • Tooth of Pachycephalosauria indet.

  • Tooth of Ankylosaurus magniventris

  • Tooth of Leptoceratops gracilis

  • Real Amber from the Maastrichtian

  • Sediment from the K-Pg boundary (Maastrichtian - Paleocene)

Printing Plate Cards

The original metal plates used as a printing matrix for the production of the collection. They are available in 4 variants for each single card in the set, one for each color of the four-color printing process: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. A piece of industrial and production history that goes directly into the hands of the most demanding collectors.

Preorder Cards

This special category includes 9 exclusive dinosaurs that were not on the list of 150 in the main set. While maintaining the historical/paleoartistic era structure, these cards are exclusively available through box preorders and in only two versions, both holographic:

  • Boom Holography (the same used for the very rare 1/1 Cuphead cards).

  • Explosion Holography.

Multiplane Cards (The Gadget)

A true decorative piece, it is a multi-level three-dimensional statue dedicated to the Velociraptor from the set. It is distributed as a purchase bonus in two variants: the standard version (2200 pieces) and the very precious ancient amber variant (only 200 pieces).