Burn wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Why are these toy lines called the Unicron Trilogy?
Because Unicron is a focal point of all three series.
Exactly. He's the linking thread of them all. His machinations and Primus' efforts to counter them are the powers behind the plot of Armada, he's a major driving force in Energon, and cosmic backlash from his demise is the main threat in Cybertron.
Burn wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Is it official
Yes. Blame Aaron Archer.
Well, doing a co-produced trilogy of toylines with an accompanying trilogy of anime series was Archer's brainchild from what I've read. And the visual/toy design people seem to have on board with them being a contiguous trilogy (there are elements of continuity in the visual and toy designs, like
Cybertron Optimus' gun basically being the Energon Blaster, and Megatron's Armor of Unicron; it may only be referred to as that in the dub but just look at him).
It's not Archer's fault the Japanese writing staff went off the rails in the second and third installments - especially
Galaxy Force/
Cybertron. That one went off the continuity rails so hard that despite certain cameos it's really awkward to fit it in as a direct sequel despite Archer's insistence that it does (although hey, the ensuing continuity hiccups only serve to make it even more like
Masterforce, one of its obvious inspirations); Archer was so insistent on it directly following Energon that the continuity problems were rationalized by saying the Unicron Singularity warped reality.
Cybertron's dub team glosses over it by only referencing an off-screen defeat of Unicron and avoiding overt callbacks to the other two shows.
A personal headcanon I sometimes is that Cybertron is actually in a separate universe from Armada and Energon, and that this offscreen defeat took place at the same time as Unicron's defeat in Energon, resulting in a feedback effect that caused the Unicron Singularity to form on the
Cybertron side of things. It just seems a more smooth way to resolve things while still keeping the three shows linked.
Rodimus Prime wrote:Thanks. I wasn't sure, it's been so long since I've seen them. Armada I remember clearly, because I have both Armada and Micron Densetsu on DVD and the stories are close enough for both. But I only ever saw Energon once and never even finished Cybertron, after watching Super-Link and Galaxy Force. And IIRC, Unicron wasn't even in Galaxy Force. Was he even in Super-Link? (Yes, I know that question technically belongs in the comics and cartoons forum.)
Yes, he was in Super Link; that's why this toy exists:
One of the main plot threads is Unicron's resurrection, another is his essence corrupting and at times possessing Megatron/Galvatron.
Regarding
Galaxy Force.. while it's writers don't name the evil force whose demise caused the black hole as Unicron like the dub did... the visual design strongly points to that being the original intent. For one thing, there's Megatron's body taking several design cues from Unicron. For another... in certain flashbacks - in particular, Leobreaker's flashback to past battles - there are chunks of space debris that are blatantly bits of Unicron's planet mode.
It's called character model re-use; Armada's toyline didn't offer anywhere 
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