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Certified Community Release Program

Part of: Transformers TCG Releases

Last updated October 2, 2026.

The Certified Community Release program marks community and fan-made Transformers TCG releases that meet clear standards for public development, independent design, responsible artwork, Wave 4+ balance, and long-term support.

Certification does not guarantee perfection or universal appeal. It means that the release, its development process, and its continued stewardship meet the standards below. The Org Wave 9 Versus Set, Marvelous Heroes VS Rising Villains, is set to be the first release certified under the program, with its review beginning during the Release Candidate phase it entered on September 28, 2026 and the seal granted at release.

Who Can Be Certified

Any fan project can be. The program is not a transformerstcg.org label and is not limited to transformerstcg.org products. A release published by an outside fan group, an independent designer, or a team with no connection to this site is eligible on exactly the same terms, and the standards below are the whole of the gate. Who made a release neither earns certification nor blocks it.

That cuts both ways, and it is meant to. A transformerstcg.org release is judged against the same published standards as anyone else’s, with no allowance for being ours. If a release of ours could not meet a standard, it does not get the seal.

Groups interested in certification can start the conversation through the contact page.

When a Release Is Certified

Certification is a seal granted to a qualifying release. It is awarded at release or afterward, never before. An unreleased version has nothing to certify, so no card file circulating during Public Beta or Release Candidate carries the seal, and a release can ship uncertified and be certified later.

The review is a separate thing from the grant, and it can start well before one. A certification process may begin in late Public Beta, at Release Candidate, or after release, depending on the state of the release in question, and it begins with the approval of the transformerstcg.org game director. Starting early is a judgment that the release is settled enough to assess usefully, not a commitment to certify it. Reviewing a release that is still moving wastes the reviewers’ time and tells players nothing, which is why the start point is a judgment call rather than a fixed stage.

That separation is what makes the stage boundaries harmless. A serious bug or a bad interaction found at Release Candidate can produce a further candidate, or send the release back into Public Beta, and neither outcome disturbs a certification, because none has been granted yet. The review simply continues against whatever the release becomes. Neither outcome is a failure either, for the reason the Beta standard already gives: a test that finds something important enough to act on has done its job. See Meaningful Public Beta.

Certification is also not a launch announcement. The seal reports on a release, its development process, and its continued stewardship, and it follows the release rather than introducing it. That also follows from the first standard below: a release cannot be judged on sustained public development until that development has actually run its course.

Who Reviews

transformerstcg.org administers the program. Today that means a small team, and the first release in line for the seal is one of ours, which raises the obvious question of what stops a program from being generous to its own work.

A certified release is public, so the basis for certifying it is public too. A review may run privately between a release’s team and its reviewers while it is underway. Every certification that is granted is published in full, the evidence alongside the results, so that players can read what was assessed against each standard, judge for themselves whether it was met, and say so when they disagree. That is permanent rather than a stopgap. A seal players cannot audit is worth nothing, whoever grants it, and the argument a published review invites is part of the safeguard rather than a risk to it.

Independent review is what the program is aiming for, as an addition to public auditing rather than a replacement for it. A team this size cannot staff an independent body without the same people sitting on both sides of the table. As the team and the community grow, that becomes possible.

Sustained Public Development

The release was developed through substantial playtesting in actual games, lengthy public feedback periods, and meaningful iteration. Community feedback must influence development; a public period that only validates or promotes decisions already made without community participation does not qualify.

Dedicated Design and Competitive Independence

The release was created by a dedicated, accountable design team committed to the long-term health of the game. Competitive players may provide testing and feedback, but conflict-of-interest safeguards must prevent active competitors from receiving privileged design access or disproportionate influence over the environment in which they compete.

High-Quality, Broadly Balanced Design

The release demonstrates purposeful, mechanically coherent design, clear rules, and meaningful interaction with the existing game. It must be tested across multiple levels and styles of play, supporting a healthy range of cards, decks, and strategies rather than the preferences of a narrow design or player circle.

Responsible Artwork and Production Quality

Official Transformers artwork from Hasbro or its licensees may be used when responsibly sourced. Artwork from unrelated properties may not be appropriated, recolored, traced, or altered for use as Transformers TCG artwork. Original commissions must be owned by the producing group, and artwork commissioned by others may not be used without permission. The release must not use generative AI; see the AI Usage Policy.

Every piece of art in the release must be listed with its source. A certification submission includes a complete manifest, and each entry records:

  • the image, and which card or component it appears on;
  • who made it;
  • where it came from, whether that is an official Hasbro or licensee source, an original commission, or another permitted origin; and
  • the basis on which the release may use it: a commission the producing group owns, permission granted by the creator, an official source, or whatever else applies.

A release with unlisted or unattributable art does not qualify, however good the art looks.

That last item is the one doing the work. Provenance and permission are different questions, and a piece of art can have a perfectly clear origin that the release still has no right to use. Asking where an image came from catches carelessness; asking what entitles this release to it catches the rest.

The manifest exists because artwork problems are the hardest kind to catch by eye. Generative AI output and art appropriated from unrelated properties can both survive a visual review. Neither survives having to be accounted for in writing, and a manifest that misstates an image’s origin is a disclosure violation under the AI Usage Policy linked above, which also carries the requirement to declare AI-assisted or AI-generated material. Requiring the list up front puts the burden on the release to account for its own art rather than on reviewers to prove a negative.

Each card’s statistics and abilities must pass established design, balance, and rules audits, and the completed release must meet strong standards for crediting, templating, wording, presentation, and usability.

Wave 4+ Balance, Lasting Value, and Stewardship

The release must preserve and expand the Wave 4+ environment created by removing or replacing the small number of Wave 5 cards responsible for its severe power spike and solved metagame. New releases should add diversity without treating that distorted power level as the baseline, reintroducing comparable escalation, or forcing continual power creep.

Responsible maintainers must preserve the release, clarify rules, correct errors, and address serious balance problems in a timely fashion.

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