This page contains affiliate links. We may earn commissions when readers interact with or purchase items through these links. For more information, see our affiliate disclosures here.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Transformers News: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Saturday, October 13th, 2012 4:26PM CDT

Categories: Cartoon News, Toy News, Site Articles, Editorials
Posted by: Blurrz   Views: 440,416

Topic Options: View Discussion · Sign in or Join to reply

This page may contain affiliate links. We may earn commissions when readers interact with or purchase items through these links. For more information, see our affiliate disclosures here.


It was roughly 10 years ago that a series called Transformers Armada was released. Join Seibertron.com staff members Blurrz, Counterpunch and Razorclaw0000, as they journey back a decade. They celebrate Armada in all of its fashion, as the trio critique the successful toy line, domestically as well as internationally, and show their passion (or disdain) for each figure.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article


The calm before…

Blurrz: It’s hard for me to imagine that it was a decade ago when a cartoon captivated me like none other. While some find that this series was a grotesque shame on the Transformers brand, it shares a special place in my toy collecting heart for eternity. Transformers Armada entered into my life at the exact time - any younger and I’d really have no funds to tackle a competent collection, any older and I’d be trapped in the stigma of adolescent youth. I ask myself time and time again, if Armada had switched places with Energon or Robots In Disguise, wouldn’t I be as attached to it as with Armada? The answer is simply no, there’s this feel to Armada that I personally can’t fixate with in contrast to any other series.

Counterpunch: Oddly enough, I didn't much like Armada at first glance. I was buying RiD toys at the time. I jumped back into the hobby after several years of absence. RiD was where I expected the toys to be. Armada was...not exactly what I expected. I bought the toys way before I even watched the show. There were enough interesting molds going into wave two that my curiosity was piqued.

Razorclaw0000: I was working in a deli in the basement of my local Boscov's Department Store during my Junior year of college. I was just starting back into collecting, and had maybe a half-dozen figures, when I stumbled across Armada Starscream. There was something about the look, maybe the Anime-esque look, maybe the distinctive plane mode, and maybe the little Minicon that pushed all the right buttons.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article


..the storm

Blurrz: When Armada hit, it was a bit of a frenzy and a rumble. I had to get the figures when they came out. When a new character came up open the screen, I just had to pick him up. That’s really no longer possible, as evidenced by Transformers Animated, whose character cast was too large to be put into a toyline, and Transformers Prime, in which their toys had a comparable delay time to any Blizzard product. There were relatively no store exclusives, and if there were, they wouldn’t be a show character. Despite how many antagonize the toys, one cannot question Armada’s unwavering availability and unlimited playability.

Counterpunch: Jetfire, Starscream, and Megatron were awesome enough that I began to wonder what the other figures were like. I ended up liking the line/concept/show before I even realized it. I began finding reasons to buy new and different figures. Even toys that were problems at the time, like Hot Shot and Sideswipe I found ways to justify purchasing, even if it was out of curiosity. I'm glad I did though, the figures were large and detailed. Though I couldn't put my finger on the issue at the time, in retrospect, what I really liked about these toys was how they reminded me of the late G1 figures that I grew up with.

Razorclaw0000: Blurrz brought up a great point. I vividly remember the releases of figures coinciding very closely with their on-screen appearances. It was so close, that I remember driving 20+ miles to pick up Side Swipe just to have him in time for that episode, that night. What a surprise that was...

Mischievous Mini-cons

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: The small guys were the stars of the cartoon show, and equally, the stars of the Armada toyline. Each bulk (bigger figure) came with a mini-con, and more importantly as we discuss, there was the release of the individual mini-con teams. 10 different teams, composed of 3, were released domestically alongside their variants.

For the Autobots and Decepticons in the Armadaverse, it was paramount that they control the three most powerful weapons, the Star Saber, the Skyboom Shield, and the Requiem Blaster. In toy form, that was the Air Defense Team, the Race Team and the Space Team, respectively, all capable of being wielded by any bulk with 5 mm peg hands. The Star Saber is combined from the parts of Jetstorm, Runway, and Sonar, all planes in some form or the other. While in fiction the Star Saber would be comparable to the Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, the planes don’t flush well together in toy form. Still they are aesthetically pleasing with their whites, bold blues and translucent plastic. They were repainted into their evil variants, the Air Assault team. However grey plastic replaced clear plastic, leaving much to be desired.

The impenetrable Skyboom Shield was composed of Mirage, Downshift and Dirt Boss. Speedsters and a SUV, the cars were colored with whites, yellows and greys, and featured pleasant articulation. Structurally the team makes a rather large shield, and is imposing on the likes of Jetfire, Megatron and Hoist, while laughable in the hands of Hot Shot or Side Swipe. They were repainted in imposing red and black colors, however their predecessor has much better character.

Lastly we have the Requiem Blaster, or in team names, the Space Team. Payload, Sky Blast and Astroscope all have individual colors, and aren’t exactly a trio of mini-con’s you’d normally expect to combine. The colors are not exactly the problem either, as the combined gun form is oddly flimsy, especially if your Astroscope is loose. All in all, out of the power weapon mini-con teams in Armada, the original Star Saber – the Air Defense team is my favorite and the superior!

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Counterpunch: The Land Military Team was the first set of Mini-cons I purchased. Bonecrusher, Knock-out, and Wreckage were all various forms of military style missile trucks. In many ways, they were the easiest for collectors to come to terms with as legitimate transformers. They look like the Micromasters of yesteryear and somehow avoid the goofiness other Mini-cons gained when attached to larger figures. You could almost view them as Targetmasters but they were actually decent figures in their own right both in robot mode and vehicle mode. I'd even recommend them today for someone looking at a place to start with Mini-cons. Honorable mentions go out to their uniform color scheme cousins in the Night Attack team, who in addition to having cool colors, have an awesome sinister name.

Then there's the unfortunate but somewhat necessary Street Action team. Ever wanted a bicycle Transformer, a skateboard Transformer? how about a moped Transformer? Me neither, but Highwire, Grindor, and Sureshock were core characters to the show. Now, Grindor is great. The others? Not so much... That being said, their ability to combine into Perceptor (in name only) was AWESOME. Perceptor, despite his limited articulation is legit. He's a cool concept and character I would not mind seeing a return of.

The Sea team is almost a continuation of the Street Speed team's advances in engineering. Waterlog, Oceanglide, and Stormcloud are all great little Transformers with solid transformations, great amounts of detail for Mini-cons, and useful joints. Their variety of colors across all releases will inevitably make it so that there is some version out there you like. Additionally, because of their missile launchers, they make for decent Targetmaster style figures just like the Land Military team did.

I keep talking about these pseudo Targetmasters but the Emergency team was the real deal. These were the guys everyone was waiting for, legitimate three-mode Mini-cons. Prowl, Firebot, and Makeshift were also interesting in that they were some of the few Mini-cons to make purposeful use of clear plastic. Even among those who hated Armada and Mini-cons, this team was almost universally loved for its versatility and ability to mix in with almost any line.

As for me, my recommendations on these would be the Japanese TRU exclusives for the Land Military team, the Universe 2003 versions of the Street Action team, the Powerlinx version of the Sea team, and the Micron Booster 2 versions of the Emergency team. I think I just like the color selection of those, not so much for any particular matching with larger figures.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Razorclaw0000: The Air Military team is another Targetmaster homage, with each member transforming into some type of weapon, all the emphasis here is decidedly more melee. Thunderwing transforms from robot to SR-71 style stealth jet, to a three pronged claw weapon. Terradive is the second member of the team, transforming from robot, to "flying wing" stealth bomber, to a "ninja star" or shield. Interestingly Terradive's port is actually on a swivel, allowing him to spin freely when powerlinked to a bulk. Finally, Gunbarrel rounds out the team, transforming from robot to cargo plane to six barreled gattling gun.

The Street Speed team has the dubious distinction of being the most articulated Mini-con teams produced, as well as toying with several copyright and trademark violations. Backtrack is almost completely a Cadillac XLR in a rather unrealistic shade of green. Oval continues the trend of mimicking real vehicles by transforming into a Saleen S7 in a muddy orange color. Finally, Spiral takes a stab at ripping off the Germans, with a deep blue Mercedes C-Class alternate mode. While the articulation was impressive for the time, all three figures can suffer from loose, floppy joints, and may have difficulty not falling apart completely. This is a team that is either loved or hated.

Next, the Destruction Team makes up for limited articulation by packing in some interesting play features, particularly with Cyclonus. Each figure featured a center roller which would activate some action feature when rolling along, and there was a small gear and clip mechanism which allowed them to dock to the underside of Cyclonus. Spinning the rotors would trigger the gear and cause the action to occur. Dualor is the most straightforward, transforming into a dual-barrelled reciprocating tank. His gimmick works well and he's impressively bulky for a Mini-con. Next, Drill Bit transforms into a giant, well, drill. There are some small issues to his design, however, as the body of the drill is blocked by his legs, which transform into the wheels and bed of the vehicle. The drill does spin quite well. Lastly, Buzzsaw does not actually transform into a saw. Instead, the vehicle is technically a "Bucket Wheel Excavator", and his rotating bucket/blade works extremely well.

Finally, the Adventure Team uses the same gimmicks as the Destruction Team, but unfortunately suffers from having gimmicks that don't make as much sense docked to Cyclonus. Dune Runner starts off the set as a dune buggy with roof mounted machine gun. This feature works well both in rolling and attached to Cyclonus, in theory, but minor tolerance issues prevent the gun from turning smoothly. Iceberg is the next figure in the team, transforming into a snow plow tank with opening and closing plow jaws. Again, minor tolerance issues prevent this gimmick from triggering on Cyclonus, but the vehicle mode is a lot of fun. Finally, Ransack is a green jeep with a real working winch. Unfortunately, the winch aspect doesn't work very well at all with Cyclonus, as a few short turns will have the length of string fully retracted.

Out of all the Mini-con three packs, the Sea Team is probably still my favorite, particularly with Waterlog's elegant transformation and real knees.

Sly Super-cons

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: With hindsight, the Armada super-con figures, or in modern terms - Deluxe class figures - aren’t exactly a breakthrough in Transformers toy technology. They aren’t going to hold much against the modern figures, such as the Classics or the Generations, but they have their own uniqueness to them. What they lacked in articulation due to their gimmick-based interactions with their mini-con partners, they made up in playability and overall ‘fun’.

Tackling the Autobot super-cons, we have the first wave release, Hot Shot. Hindered by the axle-bazooka system, Hot Shot still offers movement in the important areas, however he won’t be moving his head anytime soon. Being in the year 2012, we expect our Transformers to offer both great alternate modes, as well as robot modes. Hot Shot isn’t exactly endearing to that philosophy, but his mini-con partner Jolt interacts well with Hot Shot’s vehicle mode. Not the best figure on the Armada market and not one you’ll have a struggle with when trying to obtain it on the secondary market. Much like a handful of figures at the end of the Armada toyline, Hot Shot was repainted as Powerlink Hot Shot, homaging Generation Hot Rod. While this repaint doesn’t exactly increase the mold’s stock, it’s certainly a nice change for those who were tired of seeing yellow (get out of here Cheetor)

Armada Blurr also fits in to the same category as Hot Shot, as in he has a great vehicle mode, but his robot mode is still a few years behind. The Lamborghini-Ferrari-something can grow wings thanks to Red Bull and Blurr’s mini-con partner, Incinerator. In robot mode, the majority of his car bits are a massive backpack, and Blurr has limited arm movement and no knee joints. The colors are aesthetically pleasing, but alas, hindered by the mold’s interaction with Incinerator.

Next up to bat is what some claim to be the worst Transformer of all time. It’s funny that this figure also fits into the same category as Blurr and Hot Shot. Despite the lack of suitors for Armada Side Swipe (Not Sideswipe, please don't mix the two!), the young Autobot warrior features a rather sleek vehicle mode, and up to its release date in 2002, offered one of the most realistic alternate modes the Transformers fanbase had ever seen. Side Swipe even featured a fun and interactive powerlinking gimmick with his mini-con partner, Nightstick. However folding the car’s pieces and parts into robot mode yields a nightmare. Side Swipe has the chunkiest limbs, kibble, and clumsy articulation. The figure has a tendency to just not stay still. It surprises me that this figure has as many repaints as it does, and its character was even homaged in this year’s BotCon set. Well….. there are cults for worse things I suppose.

Smokescreen isn't a very popular toy, and I can’t wonder why. Yes, he does not exactly have the best articulation, and he’s a bit chunky, but isn't that what should be expected for the tough guy of the group? His gimmick is a large crane on his shoulder; it’s the saving grace and also the downfall of Smokescreen. Its size will likely topple the figure in robot mode unless you position it properly, but its interaction with the mini-con Liftor turns the crane into a massive sniper rifle! Smokescreen even has a working winch, which fits with the rescue vehicle theme. While Smokescreen is full of fun, his min-con Liftor is also worth a shot, the little guy is sturdy and is solid in both modes.

Next up is another underrated figure, Armada Hoist. Smokescreen’s character in Armada kicked the can, but he was then resurrected as Hoist. Hoist is a construction vehicle with a giant crane-claw, and his mini-con Refute is one of the tallest in the scale. Despite Hoist’s massive crane-claw, he has the best articulation of all of the deluxe figures, as he can actually bend his legs 90 degrees!

Rounding up the batch is Armada Optimus Prime. He’s got quite the hype as being a great figure, and yet I think it’s more because the bigger Optimus Prime had a lot of follies to it. To me, he’s not that great, but I get my panties in a bunch when it comes to scale and Armada figures. Optimus Prime, also known as Bendy Prime features good, all around articulation, and a fighter/gun mini-con partner in Over-Run. (No, not this Over-Run!) I’d recommend this figure, but you probably already have it, and if you don’t, there’s the Nemesis version which Razor will allude to. Out of the figures we have here, the best Armada Autobot Super-con would have to be Hoist. He’s all around dynamic and you’ll always love that sound when you hear his gear-joints bend! The mold is also worth it in his Cybertron Longrack remold or the rather lucrative BotCon Dinobot version.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Counterpunch: It seems that the Decepticon Supercons (deluxe figures) are up to me. These toys all feature an interesting if largely unnoticed design point: They are all asymetrical. It's not that obvious and it's not that big a deal but it's there. The idea was to show the Cons as being edgier in this manner. It kind of worked and if you examine the toys you'll pick up on the little cues that show it off.

The first wave of figures gave us Demolisher and Cyclonus. Now neither of these guys are going to go down in the annals of TF history as being marvels of engineering but they are interesting never the less.

Demolisher is perhaps the best Decepticon Supercon. His transformation is clean, he locks together, and while he doesn't have modern articulation, he still has a great number of useful joints. His...head doesn't rotate, so there's that. -_- To make up for it, Demolisher has perhaps the best integration of Mini-con to Bulk out of the entire line. His Mini-con Blackout is useful no matter what mode Demolisher is in and there is even a third mode to compliment all this. Demolisher even has a nifty and fully functioning gimmick to shoot Blackout across a table in vehicle mode.

To make this $10 marvel (yes, deluxes used to be huge and 30% less expensive) even better, he has several Macross-style bot configurations where his arms can fold up into artillery formations. It's a nice touch that really makes use of his missile firing gimmick.

Cyclonus is less awesome but perhaps equally interesting. He has the same articulation range as Demolisher and even as good a Mini-con integration but that's where the similarities end. Cyclonus seems to have been the starting point for an abandoned Mini-con gimmick that would pair geared Minicons up with Bulks who could implement those mechanics. (You can see on Hoist where this might have been implemented had it continued) So there are a whole host of Mini-cons who work only with Cyclonus. (Spoiler: They don't work well with him)

In vehicle mode, Cyclonus is kind of awesome. The helicopter is well done, the blades spin properly, and kids can hold it in a gun-style way for pretending he flies. All and all, a nice figure. His robot mode...not so much. His missile firing gimmick is hampered by the need for a Mini-con and he has what are in all honesty, stupid guns in his knees. Despite his joints, he is virtually impossible to pose in any meaningful way and his head looks like he's hiding in a turtle shell. So...yea. When people point at Armada with an accusatory finger, it's because of figures like this. You should still track one down though. He has a little gun that goes back and forth when his blades rotate and that...is very cool.

Late line Decepticons included Thrust and Wheeljack.

Thrust typifies all that was wrong with Armada. He has another, though this time criminally bad, abandoned mechanic. He has no real hands. He has a fake transformation. But...his vehicle mode is rather nice and his Mini-con is quite good actually. Thrust is even somewhat posable in robot mode if you can maneuver around his giant hanging cockpit.

I went there.

What happened with this figure is that he was essentially ruined by his gimmick. Though it is unobtrusive, all the engineering went towards its integration so several important things like...hands were factored out. Thrust is a loss and I would never recommend him to someone. But he's not a complete loss despite what I just said. The figure is very well detailed and the transformation is good if not a bit cheat-y. If you are completing an Armada cast, you could do worse than paying the $8 it would take to get this guy and have him standing majestically behind Galvatron with betrayal in his squid-eyes.

On the other hand, we have Wheeljack, who still holds up to today's standards in many ways. Wheeljack has simple and straightforward articulation and a simple but mechanically interesting transformation. He's large, detailed, and honestly quite well done. His Mini-con Wind Sheer is even pretty decent as Mini-cons go in design and shape.

Wheeljack turns into a slick black (or gray depending on your hemisphere) car. He has a M.A.S.K. style gimmick when you apply his Mini-con and God knows why we never got a red redeco of him. Some people might be turned away by his insignia, which shows off his faction change but I suspect more will be endeared by it. I only wish he had a larger and more pronounced Decepticon symbol.

For those who really like this figure, I suggest you track down the Japanese or Korean versions. The black and blue deco is easily nicer and more show accurate than the gray and yellow North American version.

Out of all these guys, I would recommend Demolisher. He's everything an Armada figure should be and I feel that he holds up very well after all these years, even if he has to turn his entire torso to look to the left. (but he can! He has a waist joint...)

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Razorclaw0000: Lastly, we have Unicron's Agents from both the cartoon and comics. Sideways is one of the two Mini-Con Headmasters in the line, but actually features two different heads. A futuristic, if chunky, motorcycle, Sideways transformed into an oddly articulated "ninja", but lacks traditional fist holes, knees, a waist, and features some odd arm articulation. Despite that, Sideways has a special place in my heart. His Minicons, Rook and Crosswise also exhibit the ability to merge into a single, surprisingly articulated, robot rider for Sideways' bike mode. This, combined with the campy Headmaster gimmick, grant Sideways a pass, from being a forgettable mess, to maintaining a place, to this day, on my shelves. An odd variant exists, with the factions swapped between both Mini-cons.

Next, Nemesis Prime is a sinister redeco of the Super-con Optimus Prime mold, which Blurrz has so elegantly described. Hot off their successes with RID Scourge, Hasbro and Takara wished to cement the idea of a "Black Prime" as more than just hyper-exclusive repaints in Japan. A monstrous beast in the show, Nemesis Prime sported a strange dark gray, teal, and dusty brown color scheme, punctuated by intense red highlights. In a twist of a pun, his Minicon is slyly named "Run Over", a corruption of Super-con Prime's Over Run. Because of Nemesis Prime's show nature, and a rare case ratio, this figure still commands a comparatively high price on secondary market, easily outpacing other Super-cons by two to three times. Micron Legend Scourge at first glance appears to be similar to Nemesis Prime, but virtually every color has been replaced. The main body is different. The reds are different. The details are different. Scourge is virtually impossible to track down at this point, and frankly the domestic version is heading there as well.

The Super-con line was filled out by four Beast Wars redecos, featuring dead Minicon ports molded in key places. All four sport decos significantly different from their Beast Wars personas, with darker tones. Cheetor is paired with Cliffjumper, a redeco of Ransack. Rhinox is also paired with another Adventure Team redeco, Armorhide, from the Iceberg mold. Terrorsaur completes the Adventure Team pairings, joining Ironhide, a redeco of Dune Runner. Lastly, Airazor gets her partner Nightscream from the Street Speed Team, a redeco of Oval. While absent from the cartoon, these characters feature prominently in the defunct Dreamwave Armada and Energon comics, making them a must for any fan of those series.

Out of all the Super-cons, my favorite is probably Nemesis Prime, because he was from a time when the idea was still relatively fresh, and I have a soft spot for figures that have puns in their name. Run Over is a great little guy.

Mighty Max-cons

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: Max-cons, or in today’s terms – Voyager Class – were bold, big, and sometimes were just annoying all together. If you were max-con or bigger, it was likely that you’d have light and sounds.p RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT WEEWOOWEEWOO

Armada Scavenger, a character who homages the Decepticon G1 Scavenger, was first acknowledged as a Decepticon in the cartoon, but then switched sides to the Autobots. Everyone wants to be Counterpunch, eh? Just because Scavenger is bigger, doesn’t mean he deviates from the Armada super-con formula. At the heart of the figure, there is just a giant brick. It makes for a great truck, as Scavenger has a solid alternate mode – his mini-con Rollbar, if in robot mode, fits right into the canopy of Scavenger acting as the truck driver. You also have rolling treads and a moving scooper. This doesn’t exactly yield the brightest robot mode, as Scavenger doesn’t exactly have what we’d call ‘legs’. Still, as an Armada figure, it went big on the gimmick factor and is still a fun figure to toy around with.

Next up we have Red Alert, taking the form of a rescue vehicle. The mode is rather bland until you perch the mini-con Longarm on to the back of Red Alert, and thus begins the electronics: RED ALERT RED ALERT WEE WOO WEE WOO. Transformed, Red Alert offers a bunch of fancy gadgets and moderate articulation. He has interchangeable hand weapons, a chest disc-launcher, a giant shoulder gun/handheld gun, and RED ALERT RED ALERT WEE WOO WEE WOO. The mold’s repaint is Powerlinx Red Alert, exchanging the medic red and white with vibrant blue and orange. Still, the same old RED ALERT WEE WOO WEE WOO. Out of these two, I’d have to give it to Mr. Wee Woo for actually having legs and the best……. or annoying electronics in the line.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Counterpunch: I can't believe I didn't get to write on Red Alert...

More Decepticons for me. Seekers. Starscream, other Starscream, and Skywarp. Yes, yes...the package for Thundercracker says Thundercracker but by the show it was Super Mode Starscream.

These guys are the same so I'm not going to split the discussion up too much. This mold is very G1-esq to me. It's big, bulky, and has limited or fake articulation. The legs have a full range of front to back movement but no side to side movement. All versions of this guy will be standing at attention. Likewise, his arms have several points of articulation, none of which help to show that Starscream is a master swordsman in Armada.

This mold is a brick, but that's ok.

Jet mode is interesting. It's large and well detailed. It's perhaps one of the best Cybertronian jet designs we've seen. Mini-con integration on this figure is well done with two distinct ways to actively engage it's workings.

The primary gimmick on this figure is the flip out Null Ray cannons. As far as gimmicks go, this one is quite screen accurate but also one of the drawbacks the mold suffers from. Where as on-screen, Starscream has a flat back, the toy is forced to have a large backpack to accommodate the cannons. Were there a simple hinge back there to fold the whole thing down further, the toy would have been near perfect.

Now, this Starscream is a swordsman. His blade is quite interestingly stored in his left wing. Removing the wing arms him and gives that asymmetrical look once again that was discussed before. Now, the show plays off the whole sword thing much better than the toy but the gimmick is quite clever and truly unique. I wish his articulation gave him a bit more use of the blade or that the handle was placed differently but this is a very fun alteration to Starscream's usual character portrayal.

Let's talk interesting toy history here. The US and Japanese versions have two distinct differences. The US versions have a slanted nosecone. It's pointed down in the way that some supersonic jets have an angled nosecone. This was ultimately a safety thing. The angle allows the nosecone to collapse if your kid brother charges at you with Starscream pointed straight out as to avoid impaling you. The Japanese (and Korean) versions are straight and more accurate to the show.

The other significant difference is in the paint details and masking. The US versions of Starscream and Thundercracker do a really ugly version of masking on the symbols to just plop purple on there. The Japanese versions are painted, detailed, and lined. The difference is staggering. Further, the US version of Starscream is gray and the Japanese version is white(ish). YMMV depending on what you're willing to pay. Oddly enough, Skywarp, who got a US release and a very limited Japanese release in US packaging has the properly done and painted symbols.

Out of the the three US versions of this, go for Skywarp. He has the best paint decos, a unique, different, and quality Mini-con, and an interesting head sculpt that makes him anyone you might want him to be. If we're talking the best version overall in my opinion, I would say that the Japanese Super Mode (Thundercracker) Starscream is the best. The colors and deco just shine and the toy looks brilliant.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Razorclaw0000: Did someone order a brick? Featuring almost G1 levels of articulation, Overload was the last original mold Voyager for the toyline. With only shoulder, hip, and head swivels, Overload still managed to be thoroughly impressive with his shoulder mounted missile batteries and giant fists ready to pummel any Decepticon into scrap. The toy’s articulation was scrapped to allow him to become a pair of giant shoulder mounted cannons for Superbase Prime. His third mode is a large launchpad/trailer, which can carry Jetfire and be towed behind Prime’s trailer, creating a massive convoy of Autobot might. Overload was also one of the first modern toys to include the iconic transformation noise we’ve all come to know, love, and subsequently despise as it’s included in dozens of figures over the years. Finally, Overload featured a unique interaction with his Mini-con, Rollout. Instead of having a typical transformation, with Rollout activating some feature, Rollout became the head and chest of Overload, unveiling a proportionate head and slotting into a giant cavity in the main body.

As with the Super-Cons, the Gigacon range also feature a Beast Wars remold and redeco, in the form of “Predacon”, a repaint and slight retool of the Transmetal Megatron mold, with added Powerlinx hard points. The figure features arguably the best deco of that mold, in rich greens, browns, and grays, with a dash of orange for visual pop. Predacon is also notable for coming with two Mini-cons, Side Burn and Skid-Z, which round out a full team of Street Speed redecos with Air Razor’s Nightscream partner.

Out of all the Max-Cons, the Starscream mold still has a soft spot for me, as it’s the figure I originally discovered in that dark Boscov’s basement and set me on the path to the raving lunatic completionist I am today.

Gallant Giga-cons

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: Space shuttle Transformers are few and far between and yet for their lack of numbers, Armada Jetfire certainly makes up for it. Jetfire epitomizes the ‘White Knight’ character, as he gallants in with his wings, engines and massive blaster. His mini-con Comettor is specific as it acts as Jetfire’s landing gear in alternate mode. Combined with his shield and Comettor, Jetfire can roll out on the ground, as well as fly without it. Jetfire also has droppable missiles, but they are rather bland. Amidst transformation, you’ll find that Jetfire’s blaster/rifle has been blessed or cursed with electronics, a countdown sound, the G1-Autobot blaster sound, and if a mini-con is attached, a blaster sound. Now fully transformed, Jetfire has a bunch of nice hawk-like aesthetics, and is full of character. My personal favorite with Jetfire is his ability to yield all of the power weapons (Blaster, Saber, & Shield) at the same time, with two of the weapons in his hands and the last of the trio perched on his wings. Jetfire also has the ability to bolster the power of Optimus Prime by combining with him, but we’ll leave the question of ‘who wears the pants in the relationship’ for later on. Jetfire was repainted under the Powerlinx Banner into a combination of blue and grey, homaging Jetfire’s pre-Transformers origin (Macross/Robotech). Overall you can’t really go wrong with a Jetfire figure, whether it’s in Armada, Energon or Cybertron.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Counterpunch: I'm lucky in that I get to talk about my favorite Armada figure, Megatron.

Imagine Megatron taken to a samurai extreme. He'd be a ruthless killer, willing to do anything or step on anyone to get to his ends, and all of this would be bent around a form of honor that somehow, only he and his rival understand. That's Armada Megatron. Now, the cartoon version is a bit hammy but the comic version...now there is a villain.

I dream of a TF comic where Armada Megatron goes around to different multiverses killing off the Megatron in that world Highlander style. I digress.

Megatron actually has a good range of movement in his top half. He even has bicep swivels that most people don't know about due to how tight the joint is. His lower half is another thing entirely. He is essentially immobile below the waist. Now he can combine with Tidal Wave but...honestly, that's a mess.

His tank mode is perhaps the best H-tank this side of Generations Warpath. The transformation is clean and there's not really any kibble in either mode. He can hold, store, or capture Mini-cons in virtually any part of his alt mode. Additionally, there are two different ways to fire missiles out of this mode, both of which work well.

Robot mode has several gimmicks but coolest of all his his hidden shiv in his hand. Even if this Megatron is close to losing a fight, there's always a chance you'll get shanked. Megatron has perhaps the most useful Mini-con ports for attaching extra Mini-cons and not looking ridiculous. Spots on his arms and legs as well as his back allow him to hold 4-5 of the little guys and look perfectly balanced.

In looking at this mold, I would recommend Megatron over Galvatron. Megatron's color scheme is classic and well balanced. You can always pay a little bit extra and get the Japanese version for the improved faction symbols too. Galvatron in his US colors is a nice figure but it is still a white and lavender color palette and many people will not have a place for that outside of an Armada shelf. Of note, the Japanese version of Galvatron has a more accurate color scheme but that one is actually white and pink-ish purple. He's considerably more difficult to come by when compared to the US version of Galvatron.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Razorclaw0000: Tidal Wave rounds out the Giga-Cons, and has the dubious distinction of having even less meaningful articulation than Overload! However, don’t let this brickish brute fool you; Tidal Wave is an imposing addition to anyone’s collection. Comprised of three naval vessels – an aircraft carrier, a hovercraft, and a submarine-ish thing, Tidal Wave combines in a similar fashion to Beast Wars Neo Magamatron. Each vessel lacks an individual robot mode, but instead combines to create either a giant warship, or the robot mode of Tidal Wave. One of the tallest figures in the line, with the exception of Unicron, Tidal Wave can raise his arms, and that’s it. The legs are articulated, but only laterally, so if you’d like to have Tidal Wave doing the splits, you are set.

Tidal Wave also features the ability to combine with the Megatron mold, creating a set of overpowered arm gauntlets and a booster pack to compliment Megatron’s already absurd cannon mode. Paired with the smallest Mini-con, Ramjet, Tidal Wave is large enough to accommodate a fully functional elevator on the deck of the aircraft carrier to deploy Ramjet.

Tidal Wave also features a second, also dubious, distinction. He is the most different in deco from the Armada and Micron Legend releases. While the Armada version looks like a crayon factory accident, with olive green, gray, neon red, purple, gold, and dark gray, the Micron Legend deco simplifies to a lush purple, softer orange, and grays, unifying the decos between the three vessels, and building a beautiful palette of destruction.

If you like big, chunky, feature filled figures, Tidal Wave has should be on your purchase list. A word of caution, however… all the Armada and Micron Legend versions of this figure feature a design defect in the “armpits” that will fire the missiles accidentally and constantly. This flaw is fixed in the sublime Energon deco.

Garry Chalk Optimus Prime

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: By itself, the Optimus Prime figure is about the size of an Ultra figure, and I’m sort of lethargic and depraved to say anything good about it. The only thing that this version of Prime has on the deluxe version is his size and how it fits in with the rest of the scale for Armada. Out of all of the Armada figures, Optimus was hit the hardest when it comes to gimmicks, as they force him to not do anything else. Prime is one of the most static modern-day large Transformers. However when he takes the 1+ Mushroom, which Counterpunch is about to talk about, he gets a little better.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Counterpunch: Optimus has several versions of powered modes and in a way they became the symbol for any kind of Prime combiner mode. First off, Prime has the ability to combine with his trailer. What's really cool about this is the way in which you can have the trailer auto-transform for the merge. There is an infra-red light signal that cues the trailer to mechanically reconfigure for this mode. Prime then forms the upper half. Once combined, there's only limited arm movement and a head turn. It's more about stature and the fact that you can have the trailer reconfigure itself rather than making a bigger more posable prime. There's also a light gimmick that extends into his gun if positioned properly.

On top of this, you can attach Overload as a massive gun battery atop his shoulders. The instructions basically have you cram in on there but there is a series of latches that make it surprisingly secure. I have a hard time imagining who Prime needs this kind of firepower to go up against. Overload as a gun system looks like some kind of mass-murder machine...

Additionally or apart from Overload, Prime can combine with Jetfire who replaces the trailer and becomes a set of winged legs, presumably for flight mode. Don't be fooled, there is no added posability here but he does look damn cool with all of these units combined into one Supreme Optimus.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Razorclaw0000: Sparkplug is Prime’s Minicon, homaging both the G1 human by name, and very clearly Bumblebee by appearance, complete with the iconic horns on his tiny head. Transforming into a highly generalized Lamborghini, this mold remains one of my favorites today, with its clean lines and surprisingly complex transformation.

Undefeated Unicron

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: To this day, I still think of Unicron as a Transformers piece that is unrivaled. He’s menacing, loading with articulation, gimmicks and is a Transformers figure that everyone needs to own in one form or the other (Energon/2010/Amazon Exclusive). I remember getting Unicron for Christmas back in ’03, and it was a thrill to receive. I still remember the agony of having to hack him open from the jumble of twist-ties he was trapped in. He’s also got a really well engineered mini-con named Dead End, in which his mass appearance in the cartoon resulted in an increase in popularity and a penchant for Dead End to be army built.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Counterpunch: Actually during the time of writing this article, we're in the middle of packing for yet another move. I have my four Unicrons out, ready for packing and my wife comments on them, "I remember when you got that and how impressive it was. I never thought we'd see a Transformer that big again...and you have four of him now." She was right though, Unicron was a big deal when he came out. It's almost a "you had to be there" thing at this point. Funny thing for me is, I'm not sure we'll ever see a Transformer this big again considering how things are going.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Razorclaw0000: This guy was it for me. He cemented my love for the character and the awful chaos he represents. With the creation of this figure and the accompanying fiction across both the Unicron trilogy and the Universe 2003 line, my quest to collect all things Unicronian began. Years later that awful quest morphed into the disease of completionism, but Unicron was the dark seed that set me off.

The Legend of Micron

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: While Takara had their own toy line in with Beast Wars II and Neo, it was never until Armada, or in Japan – Micron Legend - that every Takara figure started to have their own differences in contrast to Hasbro figures. With two piles to pick from, Transformers collectors started to change their collecting habits. Takara’s Micron Legend focused more on show accuracy, and with that I have to say my favorite variant would have to be Blurr, or in Takara terms, Silverbolt. Silverbolt’s deco gives a new feel to the figure, as his yellow-stained windows are now red. Even his micron Incinerator, now called, Turbot, features a new deco. It’s just these little things that made Micron Legend deserve a second glance from me, and now I’m proud to own a majority of the Micron Legend figures.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article


Counterpunch: I've spoke a bit about this in my post but for me the most interesting difference between the Hasbro and Takara releases is Tidal Wave. It's a complete change in colors and really manages to give the big guy a color scheme that screams "death bringer". As a dark horse candidate, I'd mention Jetfire who's ML color swaps are simple but brilliant.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article



Razorclaw0000: As CP alluded to, Jetfire destroys his domestic counterpart by replacing the “heat scorched” white with the most crisp and pure white ever seen on a toy. The figure gleams in gorgeous brilliance. I’m also a fan of the “crystal” standard/deluxe Optimus Prime mold.

The I In Team

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article

Blurrz: Blind packs, new decos, exclusives and the sort. Micron Legend went full force with their mini-con friends, and to this day I’m still trying to track down every mini-con that has been released by Takara. My counterparts are jerks. way ahead of me in that race, but I still have a fair share of little guys. Out of all of the Micron Legend variants, I have to say that my favorite would have to be X-Dimension Glide, whos blend of black, white, orange and chrome come together in a beautiful combination. Glide is a part of the X-Dimension Air Military team, and his teammates are gems as well! No don’t mind me as I start to cry myself to sleep as Counterpunch and Razorclaw0000 brag about their favorite micron.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article


Counterpunch: I will be forever grateful as a fan of Microns to JRFitzpatrick for setting me up with my Linkage Microns. I remember them when they came out but did not understand their relevance until later. The fiction tied into these guys and their simple but balanced color choices really work for me.

Honorable mentions go to Atlas and Rod who are wonderful vibrant redecos of Sparkplug.

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article


Razorclaw0000: The Aqua Raider team, a DVD repaint of the Sea Team, is stunning in rich dark bluish grays that compliment Nemesis Prime exceedingly well. Also, the X-Dimension Destruction team gets a nod for the luxurious metallic orange and teal paints that would fit in with any modern United figure. Finally, the Micron Booster Emergency Team repaint, in all of its “Minty Fresh” glory delight me, with emerald transparent plastics.

The Aftermath

Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article


Blurrz: When Armada was done, I was taken aback by the fact that it was finished. I went on a Transformers hiatus and skipped Energon -> Cybertron -> Classics, and didn’t get back to the hobby until the 2007 Movie. The fact that there weren’t any mini-cons anymore was a big disappoint on my end. As long as I continue collecting Transformers, Armada/Micron Legend will be my favorite line, and I’ll cherish every little bit. The fact that lines like Power Core Combiners and Takara’s Arm Microns continue to carry the Armada banner thrills me beyond words. Armada begets a lot of distaste, but as I hope we’ve alluded to – there’s diamonds in the rough.

Counterpunch: I didn't like Armada at first but it was the line that got me to try and have everything in hand before making a solid judgement on a figure. I would come to love the large and simple designs as they were a straight call back to the G1 figures I grew up with. It's really the mark of my collection in a way because while I started back with RiD, it was Armada that got me to complete my first line. I still have one piece to grab though. Eventually I will find a Micron Legends Black Convoy to replace my US version. I may be holding out on finding him though so that I still have something fun to hunt for at Botcon. lol, I'm stupid. I know.

Razorclaw0000: I am a Mini-con and Micron collector, through and through, dedicated enough to even collect the minor variants between Armada and Micron Legend. With a count somewhere in the 500 area, I’m swimming in Microns, Scrooge McDuck style.



-END-



(Thanks to tfu.info and the lens of Counterpunch for additional images)

So, we leave the floor to you, the members of Seibertron.com. How does Transformers Armada resonate with you?

News Search

Got Transformers News? Let us know here!

Most Popular Transformers News

Most Recent Transformers News

Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430050)
Posted by phase on October 13th, 2012 @ 5:08pm CDT
Armada was actually my first Transformers series. I feel like it had some of the most threatening 'Cons, between the rouge Starscream, the psychotic Cyclonus, the lethal Wheeljack, the imposing Tidal Wave, and of course, the famous backstabber Sideways. By a long shot, this is my favorite of the Unicron Trilogy, and, after G1, proably my second or third favorite TF series. The Mini-Cons were fun to play with, and I was extremely happy the returned in Classics and the TF 2010 lines. The Autobots were funny characters despite having the most bad toys (Jetfire, Hoist, Red Alert, and Optimus being exceptions), and I always shed a manly tear when I remember Smokescreen dying. In fact, whenever someone in the cartoon died, it was emotional (although Smokescreen being revived the VERY next episode was a bit annoying. There could've been a nice arc there). The cartoon is fun to watch, animation errors and all. I never really bought the comic, though I have read one issue and liked it. I liked the humans, though they could be frusturating at times. Seeing the flashback sequence in Cybertron with the kids made me sad. This series really got into Unicron's heralds with Sideways, rather than the 'sort-of' Galvatron and his goons. The union between Autobot and Decepticon versus Unicron was epic to watch. This series had the best Decepticon (not Pred) Megatron IMO, with him knowing his weaknesses, his troops', and resdpecting Optmus. The final fight between the two leaders has to be the best fight to date, beating out TF:TM, Beast Machines, and the movies fights easily. I loved how they really expanded the cast, whereas Animated and Prime have few main characters. While the cartoon of Armada had few story arcs, the ones they did have made up for it, from Starscream joining the Autobots to Hot Shot wielding the Star Saber. I feel like Prime could take some tips from this series, whereas outside the phase shifter Prime rarely does anything with its MacGuffins, at least Armada used the 3 Mini-Con weapons. I loved Armada and still do.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430055)
Posted by BeastProwl on October 13th, 2012 @ 5:19pm CDT
While my earliest memories of owning a transformer go back to some white-blue-purple-black jet thing that I swear up and down was sixshot, I was never captivated by transformers, not even when beast wars rolled around. RiD either.

But as soon as Armada was on the scene? Forget about it, I went full throttle. Well, as full as you can get when your not enamored with the fiction and don't know every character by heart like I was at the time, but it's what solidified my love for everything TF Related, and even though I had never seen G1, or even knew who Unicron was prior to Armada, getting him under the Christmas tree that year was one of the coolest things I remember, even now.

It's sad really. I dont have a Unicron now, but I still have Optimus, Jetfire, and Overload! And Cyclonus, talk all the crap about him you want...

Great Article BTW. :APPLAUSE:
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430063)
Posted by griftimus prime on October 13th, 2012 @ 5:34pm CDT
RIP dreamwave
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430068)
Posted by zodconvoy on October 13th, 2012 @ 5:45pm CDT
I had (and still have I suppose) a love/hate relationship with Armada. The original write up I read (in ToyFare I think) made the Minicons sound like this refugee race, struggling to survive in a world of giants at war with them being both the innocent victims of collateral damage and the treasure to be claimed by the victors. My 20 year old brain was prepared for a darker, more serious Transformers. I pictured an almost Blade Runner-esc setting. The cartoon gave use Pokemon. The DW comic gave us a recycled G1 that was acceptable at best but still seemed to fall short of the original write up. The toys were either hit or miss with far more misses than hits. But it gave us Unicron. Ultimately, that's the silver lining.

But that's just me.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430074)
Posted by Mindmaster on October 13th, 2012 @ 5:53pm CDT
By the time RiD's ending heralded the coming of Armada, the evil genius who you all know and most likely want to shut the hell up was in the first grade. I remember vividly how I was indoctrinated into collecting; a hard day at school, I was happy to be home at my aunt's house. My mother got off from work at five thirty in the evening: it was around three. So I did what every kid does; I turned the TV on and flipped to Cartoon Network. I was amazed to see what appeared to be a battle in space, with completely amazing music playing in the background. The narrator summarized that it was a war between two factions of transforming robots for control over things called "Mini-Cons". As the opening credits ended, I watched on as Demolishor grabbed into his possession the stasis panel that held the Mini-Con called "Bonecrusher". I loved the episode that featured the two so much, that a short while later I asked my mother if we could stop by a store and buy them. Although Rid Optimus and Galvatron were my very first Transformers, Armada Demolishor was the pivotal moment in my collecting career. Although Wheeljack holds the title of "Top Decepticon From Armada", Demolishor holds a special place in my collecting heart as my first.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430080)
Posted by Wasp-shot23 on October 13th, 2012 @ 6:12pm CDT
I love Armada. With most of my being. It was the line that truly cemented me as a TF maniac. Beast Wars started me off, Beast Machines didn't hold my attention, RID passed me by, but Armada was something else. I think I saw the cartoon before any of the figures, and I remember looking at pics of the toys in an Argos catalogue, being fascinated (as you would be if you were 9) by the mini-con combination, how could that possibly activate any features? Were electronics in every toy? Was it magnets? Once I got a Hot Shot in my hands (I remember vividly the day choosing between him or Cyclonus in a TRU) the veil of mystery was lifted, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed it wasn't a more mind-blowing magical system, but I was hooked. The Land Military team, then Cyclonus followed and like a runaway train, I was out to get anything Armada I could see.
And then anything Energon...
And then anything Cy- Wait, no, I wasn't so sure about Cybertron... I still can't put my finger on why I never got many of those figures...
But the Unicron Trilogy is where TFs is at for me. Armada provided me with my first ever TF comics, both from Dreamwave (a run which I still adore) and Panini (a run which I still lament the premature loss of). The characters were expanded upon so mucn from the stunted cartoon, and those archetypes were emblazoned in my mind forever.
Armada Optimus is My Optimus.
Armada Megatron is My Megatron.
And Armada Hot Shot is my all time favourite anything.

Nuff said.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430085)
Posted by Bumblevivisector on October 13th, 2012 @ 6:35pm CDT
I agree that the Toyfare write-up ultimately gave Armada the same effect as the whole Nebulos concept in 1987-88: A truly epic idea, IF each medium rose to the challenge of weaving human/minicon/bulk interaction throughout its story...and sadly, that never happened. The Dreamwave comic might have just barely pulled it off if the Furmanator had been on board from the beginning, but then again he seemed to not like playing with the dynamics of the power-struggle over minicon weapons, one thing the cartoon actually did well. As awesome as his final arc was, that was over all too quick, leaving you wondering what might have been had all the toy elements been given time to shine.

Toywise, I have at least one of everything except the Street Speed team and Scavenger. Maybe someday.

I wish this article had gotten a bit more into exclusives: you can actually have a complete Armada seeker team if you get TRU exclusive Ramjet (white Skywarp), WalMart Sunstorm (orange Thrust), "Dirge" (brown Powerlinx Thrust), and the red Thrust which was part of the Japanese-exclusive USA import subline in a Hasbro-style blister card despite never being released over here (entire articles have probably been written on that mess alone).

And you know what? I will, to my dying day, defend the Street Action/Perceptor team as the greatest minicons EVER, for the simple reason that a bike, skateboard, and Vespa actually would be about that size relative to the vehicles the bulks turn into. I know being a Transfan means accepting many absurdities of scale, but seriously, are all the minicon cars and jets supposed to be disguised as remote controlled planes and Power Wheels? I had similar complaints about Micromasters, and Minicons were all a marked improvement by giving the little guys ways to interact with the big guys other than just getting squished.


Speaking of the linkage Microns, is the translated manga anywhere to be found online? TFWiki still links to Msipher's dead FortuneCity site.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430086)
Posted by Blurrz on October 13th, 2012 @ 6:40pm CDT
Great opinions everywhere, love it :D

Bumblevivisector wrote:Speaking of the linkage Microns, is the translated manga anywhere to be found online? TFWiki still links to Msipher's dead FortuneCity site.


http://fantofan.jp/fan/comic/fansub/lin ... gemain.htm
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430108)
Posted by Bumblevivisector on October 13th, 2012 @ 8:10pm CDT
Blurrz wrote:Great opinions everywhere, love it :D

Bumblevivisector wrote:Speaking of the linkage Microns, is the translated manga anywhere to be found online? TFWiki still links to Msipher's dead FortuneCity site.


http://fantofan.jp/fan/comic/fansub/lin ... gemain.htm

Damn, that was fast. Thanks for living up to your name, Blurrz!

More than anything, this 10th anniversary discussion makes me feel...old. I graduated college in 2001, and my waxing nostalgic about G1 and Beast Wars was enough to get a coworker at the mall Lego kiosk back into TF just in time for the (ultimately painful) '80s nostalgia comics boom, with Armada being the NEW component of Dreamwave's TF books. So to have to look back on Armada nostalgically now...well, it's nothing I didn't feel when Universe Hot Shot came out, just moreso.

As for the 'toon, those early Armada eps may have had the worst writing (well, once it went through the wringer of hasty translation) and animation of any TF series, but that meant it was so bad that it couldn't help but get better as the show progressed, making it genuinely fun to follow. I get most nostalgic for the company it kept as part of Cartoon Network's Saturday night block, with those awesome 8-bit bumpers that ended with an homage to Metroid. Samurai Jack was usually somewhere near the beginning, with the new Mike Young He-Man cartoon just before Armada, and vintage G.I. Joe after midnight, flanked by decent anime like .hack and Knights of the Zodiac (bastardization can't smother Saint Seiya). No, it wasn't technically Toonami, but it seemed just as geared towards simultaneously appealing to actual children and those 20+ who were still collecting toys. In hindsight, I was downright ecstatic Saturday nights; no other block of TV programming, not even on Adult Swim, has had that effect on me since. Armada was kind of a weak link in the lineup, but when I look back fondly on that year and a half, that's what I remember. It'll never truly be GAME OVER in our sparks.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430120)
Posted by TulioDude on October 13th, 2012 @ 8:58pm CDT
So much good memories :x

I Armada was what officialized me as a Transformers fan.
I remenber liking Beast Wars BUT i didnt remenber as much as i would have liked,I watched Beast Machines,i liked it but remenber having some gripes with it,I watched RiD and though there some cool guys and concepts,i though they overdid the jokes.


So Armada came.its the first time i seen a full scale AutobotxDecepticon war.And it was so cool.The first time i seen Starscream.And it was cool.The fits time i saw Unicron and....you know where i going with this,no?

There so much cool about Armada that i could stay the entire day talking/writing.

Aramda is so cool.*manly tears*
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430134)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 13th, 2012 @ 10:45pm CDT
Armada's cartoon is the one subpar Transformers cartoon I honestly feel had the most potential for greatness. It just had far too many factors that crippled it: Poor dub scripting, bad dub acting, a rushed production, lousy execution, repetitive storytelling, a weak plot outline, a jarring (and beneficial, but still jarring) switch to the Unicron Battles arc, and a very passive handling of Unicron's menace. And the kids being made annoying in leading roles.

If I could, I would honestly remake the show fro mthe ground up, keeping all the basic elements it's fondly remembered for, but reworking it to flow better and feel overall more worthwhile.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430136)
Posted by Mkall on October 13th, 2012 @ 10:59pm CDT
I never cared much for the Armada cartoon, but I watched it anyways since it was the only TF-related thing on at the time. I did, however collect the entire North American line, with the exception of supercon Nemesis Prime, I never could find him for a decent price back then. They were what got me into collecting seriously. Eventually I sold off most of the figures to clear my shelves for my new passion, the Classics-verse. I have very few regrets, mostly on the Beast Wars retools. I really should find them again...
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430140)
Posted by RAcast on October 13th, 2012 @ 11:10pm CDT
It pains me now to say that after I finished Armada, I hit that "I'm 12 now so I can't like stuff I liked when I a 'kid' anymore" phase. I also never got a ton of toys from the line, though I did get a handful. Since I started collecting, and it really hasn't been very long, just over half a year I think, I've caught myself up with all that I've missed.

It really sucks what all I missed, haha. I love Armada, and I always will; I grew up on G1 reruns in the early 90s and Beast Wars through its run. My interest fell off during Beast Machines; to this day I still hate most of the designs, and I remember simply not knowing that RiD even really happened. The only toys I have from that line are a few Spy Changers. Armada brought back everything I'd love for sure, at least for awhile.

But back to why I regret that blasted phase the most, I missed out on Energon completely! Yeah...the cartoon leaves a little to be desired, but the entire toyline is combiners! The. Entire. Line. :grin: So recently I've been focusing a lot of my spending on picking up things that interest me from that line, especially the Gestalts. Thus far I've snagged Steamhammer and 3/4 Aerialbot limbs. I'd really like to shoot for at least one of each mold. Plus I snagged an Energon Road Block at a decent price. The Inferno mold is pretty nifty, but I can't stand the original head.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430148)
Posted by Sentinel Maximus on October 14th, 2012 @ 12:13am CDT
Armada,... wow,... I was a fan. :BOWDOWN:

After G2, I shut the door and closed my eyes on TF. :sad: It was sad. I remember Marvel comics closing the door and I was getting older. Beast Wars was cool, but still didn't do it for me. RID came and I liked it enough to enjoy the cartoons somewhat. "Initiating battle protocal" -my favourite line :grin: Armada brought me back in! I loved it! It was G1 all over again :KREMZEEK: Unicron was the 'icing on the cake'. I was shocked and in awe when it came to an end. It seemed sudden when Energon came. I immediatly lost interest and never went back till Classics came around. [-(

Thank you Armada! It was fun and memorable :BOT:
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430149)
Posted by FortMacs on October 14th, 2012 @ 12:17am CDT
I found armada in the store one day. Though awsome new transformers, so i picked some up, If i remember right Demolisher, Cyclonus, Hotshot, and maybe one other one.

I remember really liking demolisher, cyclonus was ok, but alt mode was alot better with his minicon attached. and hot shot, well he just sucked so bad. And as i bought them the trnd continued. some really awsome, some ok, and some just horrible.

the cartoon when i seen it one one day made me laugh at how bad it was. Im not sure i was ever able to finish watching it.

Though to this day most of my armada collection ends up on the back of the shelf, there are some great figures to come that i still love. 'Bendy Prime" and Nemesis are some of my favorite figures from any line. Tidalwave is a ton of fun if both modes and still a favorite of mine to pull down and transform when im bored, Armada Gave us a Unicron finally.

In the end it had some high notes but the toy line fell short in most regards for me, the show was probably the worst (running close with energon, and Beast machines)and i never liked the pokemon like attitude regarding the minicons.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430178)
Posted by Diem on October 14th, 2012 @ 2:09am CDT
Personally speaking, Armada came at a period in my life when a lot was going on. I started attending university during wave one of it, which meant that I suddenly, simultaneously had independent finances, personal storage space and access to the internet. As such, I picked up a LOT of early Armada figures; especially Starscream.

It may seem bizarre to newer fans but at that time there hadn't been a Starscream figure of any kind for about 5-6 years at that point; in fact there hadn't been any figures with the DECEPTICON LOGO for the whole of Beast Wars and Beast Machines. It was literally the first time that we'd had a homage to G1 characters since G2 finished.

Anyway Armada kind of represented the end of my collecting for a while, by the time Energon came around I had discovered girls, beer and antics and I had a lot less time and money for toys. I don't regret getting any of the toys, but if I had had the benefit of hindsight I would've skipped Armada and waited for Classics.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430292)
Posted by Overcracker on October 14th, 2012 @ 1:02pm CDT
Armada... what can I say about Armada... While my adult collecting started with R.I.D. Armada really was the series that brought me in full throttle. I had the income,, the space, and the friends to share it with.

I scoured and scavenged every store near me to get the figures.

I still say Armada has some of the coolest looking figures, even if they don't move that much.

To this day my favorite figure is still Overload. I just love the headmaster gimmick.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430322)
Posted by XDMan on October 14th, 2012 @ 2:02pm CDT
The franchise is great, but I'll stick with calling it at Micron Legend. Armada doesn't make it sound right.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430324)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 14th, 2012 @ 2:07pm CDT
XDMan wrote:The franchise is great, but I'll stick with calling it at Micron Legend. Armada doesn't make it sound right.
I use both.

American stuff = "Armada"
Japanese stuff = "Micron Densetsu" ;)
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430401)
Posted by GetRightRobot on October 14th, 2012 @ 8:11pm CDT
Outstanding article guys! I never realized how little I knew about this chapter of Transformers. Never a big Armada fan, I loved the game for PS2 and some of the figures easily qualify as personal favorites. Thanks for the awesome editorial you three! :APPLAUSE:
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430423)
Posted by RK_Striker_JK_5 on October 14th, 2012 @ 10:04pm CDT
Armada... came about when I was getting a larger paycheck, and realizing for the most part I didn't really care what others thought about me buying TFs. Overall I like the line, found the series to be... meh, at worst. Like Sabrblade said, the potential for epicness was there, if unrealized.

The toys, I liked a lot of them. Although I prefer elbow joints to lights and sounds. ;) Demolisher's one of my favorites.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430439)
Posted by Short Circuit on October 14th, 2012 @ 10:59pm CDT
Wow, amazing article guys. I remember when RiD ended and I first got into transformers, my dad found an RID Build King set somewhere and I got a G1 ThunderCracker from my uncle. I watched a ton of the G1 cartoon and was hooked. They were the coolest things I'd ever seen. Then the armada series started and I got into it like crazy. I had megatron, supreme optimus, jetfire, smokescreen, RED ALURT, sideways, unicron and cyclonus. I even had the 3 super weapon teams. As the series continued, I tuned into toonami or CN or whatever it was at the time and watched the show every week. But unfortunately, all things come to an end, and the line ended. My family moved and almost all my minions, missiles, and other parts of my Armada figures disappeared. The only complete figure I have is sideways, unfortunately the rest are missing minicons or parts. I also lost parts and a figure from build king and thundercracker is missing all but his main body. As blurrz did, I forgot about transformers. (AND I REGRET IT SO MUCH :sad: ) I missed out on classics and Alternators. I didn't know cybertron existed till it ended. Soon the movie line started and I was happy that I could get back into the fandom. As odd as the figures were, they were still transformers, and I remember the first time I went into target and grabbed a couple real gear robots. I got home, opened them, and felt like I had met an old friend again. SInce then even those movie 1 figures have been lost or damaged as I now have 4 siblings to deal with, and I casually pick up a transformer now and again from the CHUG or main lines. It really is hard to believe all this time has passed. ;)
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430488)
Posted by xyl360 on October 15th, 2012 @ 3:29am CDT
Thanks for the history lesson guys :). Fascinating stuff. Thanks also for confirming that there were only 4 Beast Wars repainst/remolds in Armada. I was never certain if there were more or not, but now I know :).
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430563)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 15th, 2012 @ 10:42am CDT
xyl360 wrote:Thanks for the history lesson guys :). Fascinating stuff. Thanks also for confirming that there were only 4 Beast Wars repainst/remolds in Armada. I was never certain if there were more or not, but now I know :).
They said there were 5. four Deluxes as Super-Cons, and one Mega as a Max-Con.
Cheetor
Airazor
Rhinox
Terrorsaur
Predacon
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430577)
Posted by kirbenvost on October 15th, 2012 @ 11:29am CDT
ARGH, curse you guys! I went from 'EW, ARMADA' to perusing eBay listings for Prime & Jetfire. I guess despite the blockiness and simplistic articulation, there's a lot to love about the line. Sounds familiar, eh? :lol: I guess coming into the hobby during Energon I was already spoiled by 'modern' figures and couldn't appreciate Armada at the time. But man, if I ever have a surplus of space and money...some of these guys are mine!
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430631)
Posted by Handels-Messerschmitt on October 15th, 2012 @ 1:48pm CDT
I got back into transformers after G2 and Beast Wars in my childhood with Armada. Most of the figures don't appeal to me as such but I think they were going for a younger audience than usual. I quite like the mini-cons even if many of them weren't as good as they could have been due to any combination of their gimmick, the need of a link socket or just the general chunky style.

It's funny how, in my eyes, the figures got better but the gimmick leaps and bounds worse as the trilogy progressed. I can forgive some clumsy pegs etc because having tiny robots to match your larger robots is perfectly worthwhile. They're accessories that are proper transformers in their own right (mostly, anyway). The energon weapons were at least beefy and worked nicely with each other. The planet keys, though? Oh my goodness. The worst gimmick in so long. A useless accessory that accomplishes nothing a simple button couldn't have done with far less hassle.

But anyway, how about that Armada. Good name, not my favourite line but it justifies its existence through tiny transformers and, I guess, Unicron as well. I can't believe it's been ten years. Ugh. That's what you get for taking a break for five years.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430746)
Posted by Bumblevivisector on October 15th, 2012 @ 7:58pm CDT
Handels-Messerschmitt wrote:The planet keys, though? Oh my goodness. The worst gimmick in so long. A useless accessory that accomplishes nothing a simple button couldn't have done with far less hassle.

You took the words right outta' my mouth; Force Chips/Cyber Keys also don't display or store too well, leaving collectors like myself who hadn't discovered tackle-boxes at the time with dozens of misplaced accessories. Minicons? Easy to keep organized.

If we're comparing Unicron Trilogy cartoons on the other hand, I'd be interested to hear any argument for Cybertron not blowing its predecessors out of the water, thanks to someone in Japan having the sense to cut ties with the end of Energon and do another 1 season = 1 continuity deal, like Car Robots.

Getting back to Armada, it's interesting that Cyclonus got judged a tad unfavorably, since he seemed to be a lot of people's first Armada toy; when the first Supercons came out, I'd routinely see pegs of just Hot Shot and Demolishor, and I doubt Cyc was shortpacked (though I held out to make him my first Bulk too). I think it's because his Minicon gave him the most visually obvious benefit before you even handled him: the front of his copter mode looked lame until you attached Crumplezone ("HUMP THAT TANK!") and made him a true gunship. Ironically, that first infamous mini-comic was the only time I recall him doing that in any media; he's attached that way at the beginning of the Dreamwave Armada profile books, but to his bulk's robot mode, giving Cyclonus a distressing beer gut. "AND I"LL TURN INTO SOME HUGE, DEFORMED THING!", indeed.

Never bothered with his neon green repaint, though. It started the trend of repainting every other new helicopter mold into Springer, which produced some neat (if non-triple-changing) updates for the Wreckers' leader over the last decade, but Powerlinx Cyclonus was not one of them.

Now, Demolishor did improve once you actually handled him, but it always bugged me that only one set of his shoulder missiles actually launched; it's Has/Tak's weird aversion to certain symmetrical action features that denied us an Animated Bulkhead with both wreckin' balls. Once I played with him, I also found it odd that he was most closely associated with the Land Military Minicons, since he works better with the later Air Military Team. His unique gun-finger design makes him one of many Supercons whose hands can't actually hold weapon-pegs, BUT they make him the only one who can actually hold Thunderwing in shuriken mode, and easily be posed like he's about to throw him! The Land Military Team looks better on Megatron anyway.

Did Armada end up 'forcing' adult collectors to actually play with their toys than any other Transformers line? Perhaps that should be its distinction down the ages.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430761)
Posted by Hip-Hoptimus Rime on October 15th, 2012 @ 9:01pm CDT
What a great read! Thank you guys, that was informative and fun.

Armada is 4th in number in my collection, after the 3 Movie lines. About 79 Armada figs, including about 30 Minicons. All those little guys make it easy to pad the count, I suppose. Nonetheless, it's one of my favorite lines.

Jetfire was my first from this line, I remember being stunned and thrilled when I first saw him in the store. I've been a huge space shuttle geek for 30+ years, and Jetfire was an amazing nexus of two of my geeknesses. I'm going to go dig him out of storage now...
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430776)
Posted by xyl360 on October 15th, 2012 @ 9:40pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:
xyl360 wrote:Thanks for the history lesson guys :). Fascinating stuff. Thanks also for confirming that there were only 4 Beast Wars repainst/remolds in Armada. I was never certain if there were more or not, but now I know :).
They said there were 5. four Deluxes as Super-Cons, and one Mega as a Max-Con.
Cheetor
Airazor
Rhinox
Terrorsaur
Predacon

Ah, right, I forgot about Predacon (BW Megs repaint). I've got him too so I'm all set.

Thanks :)!
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1430801)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 15th, 2012 @ 11:31pm CDT
Bumblevivisector wrote:If we're comparing Unicron Trilogy cartoons on the other hand, I'd be interested to hear any argument for Cybertron not blowing its predecessors out of the water, thanks to someone in Japan having the sense to cut ties with the end of Energon and do another 1 season = 1 continuity deal, like Car Robots.
Even though it was retconned into being another sequel later in both countries. Even in Japan, Galaxy Force is officially considered a sequel to Micron Densetsu and Super Link. Guess it was a good thing that a few trace elements of the first two made it into the third series. ;)

Though, could it really be considered a retcon when it was originally intended by both Hasbro and Takara to be another sequel? All that happened with the cartoon was that either GONZO didn't get the memo or outright ignored the memo and wrote it as a new series despite what the higher ups wanted, thus leading to a lot of headaches that both companies (Hasbro especially) wound up having to try and fix to make it fit the original vision for the series.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1431005)
Posted by Counterpunch on October 16th, 2012 @ 2:02pm CDT
Emerging Prime was punching the Unicron Singularity which caused the Cybertron series to happen, its toys to be amazing, and Lori's tsundere powers to be over 9000.
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1431011)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 16th, 2012 @ 2:19pm CDT
Counterpunch wrote:Emerging Prime was punching the Unicron Singularity which caused the Cybertron series to happen, its toys to be amazing, and Lori's tsundere powers to be over 9000.
Man, I love this fandom. I got all those references. :lol:

Though, I'm more partial to this:
Re: Seibertron.com Treasures: The Armada Anniversary Article (1431727)
Posted by Marcdachamp on October 18th, 2012 @ 12:58pm CDT
Aw, man. Great article, guys. Armada started right before my senior year of high school. I'm coming up on my 10-year-reunion this year. I've gotten rid of some of my Armada figures, but my favorites are NOT going anywhere. Unicron is still sitting on the same bookshelf he's been since I picked him up in summer of '03. He's fighting the Dark of the Moon Dinobot minicons. It works as both a G1 homage and an Armada homage. :grin:

This year, I also added a very cool piece to my Armada collection: a page of original Andrew Wildman art from the UK Armada comic. It features Starscream and Demolishor in all their glory. So awesome.

Transformers and More @ The Seibertron Store

Visit our store on eBay
These are affiliate links. We may earn commissions when you purchase items or services through these links.
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "KING SPAWN #25 Cvr B Image Comics 2023 JUN230330 25B (CA) Fernandez (W)McFarlane"
KING SPAWN #25 Cvr ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "WALKING DEAD DLX #49 Cvr B Image Comics 2022 AUG220257 49B (CA) Adlard"
WALKING DEAD DLX # ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "TRANSFORMERS #5 Cvr E 1:50 Image Comics 2024 Skybound 1223IM327 5E (CA) Kerschl"
NEW!
TRANSFORMERS #5 Cv ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SCORCHED #7 Cvr B Image Comics 2022 APR220234 7B (CA) Mattina (W) Lewis"
SCORCHED #7 Cvr B ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "KING SPAWN #28 Cvr B Image Comics 2023 0923IM420 28B (CA) Vargas (W) McFarlane"
KING SPAWN #28 Cvr ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "WALKING DEAD DLX #81 Cvr C Image Comics 2024 1123IM356 81C (CA) Santolouco"
WALKING DEAD DLX # ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "Spawn UNWANTED VIOLENCE #1 Cvr B virgin Image Comics 2023 NOV220030 1B Del Mundo"
Spawn UNWANTED VIO ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "TRANSFORMERS #1 2nd ptg Cvr A Image Comics 2023 0923IM824 (CA) Howard 240210"
NEW!
TRANSFORMERS #1 2n ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "WALKING DEAD DLX #62 Cvr C Image Comics 2023 MAR230205 62C (CA) Hans"
WALKING DEAD DLX # ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SCORCHED #26 Cvr B Image Comics 2024 1123IM337 26B (CA) Aguillo (W) Layman"
NEW!
SCORCHED #26 Cvr B ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SCORCHED #9 Cvr B Image Comics 2022 JUN220311 9B (CA) Keane (W) Lewis"
SCORCHED #9 Cvr B ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "BATMAN SPAWN #1 Cvr F DC Image Comics 2022 OCT223273 1F (CA) Campbell"
BATMAN SPAWN #1 Cv ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "SCORCHED #10 Cvr B Image Comics 2022 JUL220234 10B (CA) Keane (W) Lewis"
SCORCHED #10 Cvr B ...
Visit shop.seibertron.com to buy "WALKING DEAD DLX #57 Cvr B Image Comics 2023 DEC220314 57B (CA) Adlard + McCaig"
WALKING DEAD DLX # ...
* Price and quantities subject to change. Shipping costs, taxes and other fees not included in cost shown. Refer to listing for current price and availability.
Find the items above and thousands more at the Seibertron Store on eBay
Transformers Podcast: Twincast / Podcast #345 - The Roast
Twincast / Podcast #345:
"The Roast"
MP3 · iTunes · RSS · View · Discuss · Ask
Posted: Saturday, March 9th, 2024

Featured Products on Amazon.com

These are affiliate links. We may earn commissions when you purchase items or services through these links.
Buy "Transformers Titans Return Grotusque and Scorponok Deluxe Action Figure Exclusive Set" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Authentics Starscream" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Authentics Grimlock Action Figure" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Deluxe 20 Mercenary Action Figure" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Power of The Primes Deluxe Class Terrorcon Blot" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Titans Return Deluxe Misfire and Aimless" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Power of the Primes Deluxe Class Autobot Novastar" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers: Generations Power of The Primes Leader Evolution Optimus Prime" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Titans Return Legends Class Brawn" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Titans Return Voyager Class Optimus Prime and Diac" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe Class Sunstreaker Figure" on AMAZON
Buy "Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe Class Brawl" on AMAZON