The Energon Pub

[Counterpunch]

Preface:
So how good do we have it? Really damn good. You’ll not find negativity in this series of articles. I’m going to only cover the positives.

Refer here for Robots in Disguise: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=36452

Armada.

The title alone brings with it a tide of discontent, disappointment, and overall dislike. Arguing for the high points in this line is like playing Devil’s Advocate. Childish, lacking articulation, and gimmick heavy, Armada is the whipping boy of modern Transformers lines. I have to admit, after being taken in by RiD, I was certainly taken back by Armada. Many of my early purchases of this line were actually due to boredom or just to buy something ‘fun’ (I was working a miserable, exhausting job as nighttime security for my University…). Needless to say, my first take on the toys, like many people who see them today for the first time, was not necessarily positive.

Interestingly enough, the line started to sell really well. Not only that, but there was a lot of hype and excitement around the series, much like Animated is causing today. There were people who were unhappy with this new series, but for the most part, those folks were able to get by on the new and exciting reissue G1 toys that were appearing from Takara. Hard to believe in a way, but Armada got less popular with collectors as time went by, where as most series toys seem to see a slow but steady gain in popularity.

Why take another look at this series? Do we really dislike these toys to the degree that popular opinion would suggest? I don’t think so... We all know the bad, I’m going to review some things which might just change your mind, well, that or have to justify to your girlfriend and/or wife why you are spending $40 on a Mini-con.

I’ll start with the big guy. There is one figure from Armada that almost every generation of collectors will find a way, excuse, or reason to include in their collection: Unicron. If you weren’t collecting when the news of this toy broke, I’m not sure if you can understand what a big deal this was. Not only was this one of the more important characters in the Transformers mythos come to life, but it was the return of truly massive Transformers. There had not been a genuinely Supreme sized figure since G1 (Supreme Cheetor does not friggen count.). There were a fair number of fans who were literally escorted out of Wal-Mart for routing through pallets after midnight and opening cases without permission.

Now Unicron wasn’t technically G1 accurate, but he was as close as most people needed to fill that role. First, but certainly not last in a line of planet formers, Armada Unicron remains a figure piece in most collections. Huge, accurate to the Armada show, and containing vast amounts of articulation, features, and detail, Unicron is probably the best toy in the line. What else is there in the Armada line? Micromasters, Target Masters, Head Masters, the remnants of Transtech, Starscream-Thundercracker-&-Skywarp, and more G1 homages that only truly 1337 fans will notice than you can shake a Star Saber at.

Masters!
Of the micro/target/head/power kind!, otherwise known as Mini-Cons. Everyone in Armada got one. Unfortunately, something was lost in the translation of the story and key elements were left out which would explain away one of the major problems fans have with the concept: “Why do Transformers need Mini-Cons to activate weapons etc, that are already in their bodies? Did they not know they had a gun in their chest?”

Here’s the part that was lost somewhere in the sea of translation: When a Mini-con first links to a larger Transformer, the link causes a small scale reformatting. The first link-up actually does change the Transformer and after that they are free to use the weaponry as they like. See, the other story-driven aspect of Mini-Cons which isn’t so well known is that they were intended to be tools of Unicron which would give Transformers big, destructive power and cause strife among the race. Unicron is a jerk hunh?

Now that you know all the powerlink stuff has some rhyme and reason behind it, take another look at what Mini-Cons actually do for the toy line: They make everyone into a potential “Master” character. Your favorite character is a sharpshooter? Hook him up with the Emergency team; they turn into guns. Instant Targetmaster! Want to replicate MicroMaster Base goodness? Take Optimus Prime’s trailer and put a squad of Mini-Cons with it. That’s the point of the trailer after all. Mini-Cons serve a wide variety of uses ranging from aesthetic, to functional, to story based, but they always allow you to customize your figures and accessories. You do want to accessorize don’t you?
G1-ishness
One thing that I always try to remind people of when they look at the Armada series in a critical manner is that the comparisons to G1 are readily evident. We have blocky, yet robust designs that are willing to focus on play value over movement. While this might mean that your Armada toys aren’t going to be kicking high all that often, they are going to be lots of fun for kids and are going to display well on the shelf of a collector.

Oh the homage! (like, Oh the carnage!, but happier)
I like pointing out that Leader Class Optimus Prime from Armada is not much more than an updated Star Convoy. After winning this discussion time and again, I like to follow up by pointing out that Jetfire is just an updated Galaxy Shuttle. These two are the most interesting in my opinion, but there are plenty of others about. Some of those lost Transtech designs even made their way into Armada. Megatron and Scavenger are both directly descended from those concept drawings.

All the rest…
Notice anything which particularly stands out? Likely not; Armada is a series of toys which expresses itself in an almost schizophrenic number of ways. Good and bad, large and small, blocky and slick, it’s all there. It becomes easy to find something to like about the toys and just as easy to find something you don’t.

Armada displays aspects of all the best Transformers lines, lacking only in consistent articulation. Sure, toy technology is better now and many of these toys could possibly be better done today. Still, I enjoy the toys as Transformers in spite of these flaws. For every Sideswipe, Hotshot, and Smokescreen failure, there is a Tidal Wave, Megatron, or Overload slice of awesome.

Of course, Energon would look to fix many of the issues we take with Armada, but it would be a long time before we see the variety and scope of toys that Armada introduced to hoards of fans.

[Dead Metal]

Well Unicron is my favorite of Armada, but I just don't like most of the rest, the Minicons, well I just hated them in the show and for the fact that most of them just fell apart the moment you looked at them funny.
But everytime I read a comment like "Armada was the most useless line!" I just say to myself, "Did you forget Unicron?"
Also Armada brought the TFs back into the main toy aisles, something that did not happen during RID, meaning I never knew of RID except for the few that were left during Armada.
Armada kinda brought TF back to Germany, even if it kinda killed it in the end, meaning Energon and the first half of Cybertron never made it to Germany.... thank you Armada for the good and the bad you did.

[Overcracker]

Totally Agree with CP (dang it s starting to become a habit... *shivers at the though*), Armada is one of those lines hat has something for everyone. And while Completists may find it hard to complete a line where not every single TF is a masterpiece. There are still interesting things to be found in Armada.

Specially the "Masters" gimmicks, which permeated to the following lines.

Target Masters, Power Masters, Head Masters, all there in some way shape or form.

But yes there where some major disappointments in the line. But still the sheer variety was very cool.

Heck they even had the first attempt at an electronic self transforming piece, albeit with limited success.

[First Gen]

Thats not even funny. Unicron IS THE REASON I started even looking at Armada. Once I saw him the rest just fell into place.



Great job CP, what would we do without you man?

[DISCHARGE]

I latched on to Armada the minute I saw it. Megatron was my first
buy. Ooooh! I hated the antler things on the top of his head.
I took them off and lost them, on purpose. I loved the rest of him.
Realizing I was getting two transforming robots I would continue
to buy more of them. I bought Demolisher then Starscream, Hotshot
and then I bought another, then another. They were addictive. I liked the gimmick of a minicon unlocking a latent power or transformation.
Sure they were blocky and super chunky plastic, but they were
as I saw it, how G1 toys would have been made if Armada started it all.
Then while watching the toon I saw how awesome the Star Saber was.
My first minicon combiner was bought. Nothing in my display could
match the power of Megatron or Starscream holding that blade.
Not even Omega Prime, though he tried.
Autobots fell to the wayside. Hotshot was doomed.
Yeah, I had that kind of fun with my Armada collection when it was brand new.

Personally I think the best thing to come out of that line was the minicon port. Something I would like to see on at least a few figures in new lines from then on. Just so the minicons could serve future Megatrons.


Nice post Counterpunch. So is part 3 Beast Machines?

[First Gen]

I latched on to Armada the minute I saw it. Megatron was my first buy.

Armada Megs is all kinds of awesome.

[Duke of Luns]

Great article. I don't have everything from Armada, not by a long shot, but I do agree on the inconsistency of it all. Cybertron Blurr(which is an Armada Blurr remold) is one of my favorite figures(I'm still Gee-Wun at heart). He looks great in both modes, and is fun to transform, but can barely pose, which is a downer.

Tidal Wave is just awsome. He has some posing problems too, but he looks very intimidating, and his combined form is fun.

Oh and I agree the Mini-cons are great. The Powerlinking aspect is pretty stupid, but the actual figures are great! I think out of all my Transformers the Mini-cons are among those most transformed because small and simple is more fun that big and complex in my opinion. Plus Mini-cons have a lot cooler alt. modes than some of the bigger guys for some reason, and sometimes even look better.

[MaP_Prime]

I really enjoyed this post CP, though Armada failed to peak my interest the way RiD had before it. I remember wandering into the toy aisle of the local TRU to take a look at what these toys had to offer, I bought the Star Saber pack to see what they were like but I never pursued the toy line after that. I forget why. I might of been uninterested due to the way I was underwhelmed by the series, either way now that I'm fully back into the TF collecting like never before I actually wish I had caught this line as I've seen a lot that I've liked and wish I had gotten them when I had the chance.

[real_Angel]

The quality of the cartoon was not so great... but then again, if you look at the G1 series, it is not so great either. It just stuck!
Same goes with Armada as far as I am concerned...

The cartoon had something and as was said earlier, it opened the doors to a wide load of people! To me the toys were just what Transformers are supposed to be: FUN!
The transformations were not too hard and yet the vehicles and robots were looking okay (not great, okay!)
I really enjoyed those Mini-Cons and, again as said before, it got us Unicron! The only downside to me was that there were just not enough Autobots and Decepticons! To me Energon and Cybertron were just easy money to what Armada at already done!

[Crossfire56]

Armada is the line I collect most, 'coz it was the one I watched most on TV! Good post, by the way, Counterpunch, it really spoke to me, and it said..."ARMADA IS FREAKIN' AWESOME!". I think I have at least one of each mini-con mold, excluding the ones included with bigger bots, such as Jetfire and Hoist (the Minicon packs I managed to get are Adventure, Emergency, Dark Saber [air assault], Sea, Street Speed, Street Action, Land Military, Road Assault and Space teams.) I didn't even know about all the G1 homages when the show was on, as I didn't know many G1 characters (Obviously, Optimus Prime)...It was only 'til around 2006 or 2007 that I realised how much Powerlinx Hot Shot looked like Hot Rod, Smokescreen was a Datsun 280zx sports car in G1, that Cyclonus was originally a jet with a very long front end etc. I was also amazed to see that Mini-Cons are not entirely original and there were Mini transformers in G1, micromasters!

Well, that's all, folks. Bye!

[robotrik]

I'll have to disagree. i mean the minicons as toys aren't that fun and don't look impressive and when i buy a new transformer i "need" to feel impressed by it or i won't have another look at it. now as for the rest of the figures, some of them are nice i guess such as starscream despite the lack of articulation but i do agree on the fact... well not really a fact but just an oppinion the unicron kicks ass.
i have to say i was mostly disapointed by optimus prime and pardon my language but he looks like s***.
mainly i think i don't like the figures because i don't care much about the characters and imo they weren't that good and frankly i thought the characters were boring... well most of them except for starscream and a few others.
the good thing is they did bring transformers back to the spotlights.

[SnapTrap]

Another well written and defended post by CP. Great job. I've always liked Armada and the Minicons eventhough at times it seemed there was a constant bitchfest on the boards. While it is true some figures aren't that great; none were nowhere near as bad as some of the figures from the last half of G2. IMO Armada Smokescreen and even Sideseipe is way better than G2 Staxx or Skyquake. This line was very innovative. That was Armada's strength but also its weakness. I like the concept of the Minicons and how they interact with each other and the larger bots was brilliant. By simply attaching a Minicon to say Cyclonus' front in alt mode made it a different looking toy. Then attach two to his legs and guns pop out. I think where the concept began to hurt the series was with many of the later characters and the different features that would be unlocked. Thrust and his poorly spinning wing/fan mode was rather weak. Or Hoist's claw grab gimmick was poorly executed (I know he was originally designed to work with the geared minicons and this gimmick was later dropped). Personally I feel that pop out weapon systems was the way to go for the entire line; like they did with Cybertron (I call it Armada 2.0). Also it should be noted that this was the first time Hasbro and Takara worked together designing toys (instead of Hasbro licensing them from Takara) so there was bound to be some hiccups along the way. While Armada isn't my favorite line (Cybertron is) it is in my top 5 lines but it is number 1 for most innovative line.

[Nekoman]

I love Armada, it was fun, had a good variety of things in it, and some real strong toys. Unlike most, I liked Hotshot and Sideswipe, they were fun! Yeah they had bad articulation, but if that’s the problem a lot of people have with them what makes G1 toys o so good? They had less articulation than the hated armada toys, but for some reason are thought of as artistic masterpieces.

Anyway, yet another well said post CP.

[Burn]

I've never truly understood the hatred Armada (and Energon and Cybertron for that matter) receives.

The toys, while some were questionable, others were great. Of course those questionable ones were let down by the gimmick at the time. Something that I feel has plagued subsequent series.

Cartoon wise, a lot of people condemn it and for many months whenever the Armada cartoon was mentioned a lot of people, rather than joining the conversation, would simply reply with "Watch the Super Link version, it's better". That annoyed me to no end. But that's beside the point. I liked the cartoon, sure, as a fat overweight guy myself I took offense to Fred's portrayal, and yes, found the kids to be annoying, but they served their purpose. Overall though the cartoon was pretty good and we were given such wonderful characters like Starscream whose character was vastly superior to that of his G1 namesake.

Even the comic, while published by Dreamwave, was good as it gave us a different (and some would say better) take on the Mini-cons. Not only that but it served to introduce the probability of alternate universes and resulted in a Armada/G1-esque crossover.

So yes, Armada = good.

[Longarm77]

The mini-cons made me love armada. Thats when i first starting liking longarm. He was in the 3rd episode which just happened to be my fist episode i seen of armada. He was also in the episode called puppet and i dont remember if he was in any others. I liked armada. I dont see why so many people had a problem with it.

[zemper]

I liked armada. I dont see why so many people had a problem with it.

it's called subjective preference. kinda like why i'd love anchovies on pizzas and others detest the heck out of it and why you love Armada while others hate it.

for some Armada's cons far outweigh the pros, and that's why they don't like this series at all.

[Tigertrack]

I look back at Armada now and again and think to how it really could have been something better than RID, but came out as something not quite as good.

It was quite gimmicky. In fact, it was overloaded far too much with gimmicks. Some of them I liked and some of them were absolutely, insanely lame.

However, I do have to thank Armada for re-introducing the micromaster size TF, and trying to improve on them, which they did mostly. Micromasters tend to all transform pretty much the same, but in Armada, minicons actually had some pretty interesting and complex transformations for things so small. But they did mostly lack articulation, except for the Street Speed team.

Armada is not without its cool pieces. Wheeljack, Hoist, Bendy Prime, Unicron, and Overload were quite acceptable Transformers. The seekers were also pretty fun too, even if they were back and shoulder heavy.

I guess the worst part of Armada was the cartoon, and how I could just not stand to watch it.

The TF Armada video game was a really nice way to finally get to do some really cool things with transforming robots though, so I suppose Armada wasn't mostly bad after all, just somewhat bad... It was still better than Power Rangers...

[Gasper]

One Armada character was what restarted my Transformers addiction after it petered off from being a G1 kid.

Nemesis Prime.

I saw this, read the back, and instantly thought how freaking AWESOME it was to see the antithesis of Optimus Prime. I didn't care about the show, or what would happen. It was just that this figure, with a small gun, was ten types of awesome for me. I was 24 at the time.

I'm 29 now, and and have quite a few bots in my possession. I even hunted down parts for my old Powermaster Optimus Prime (including a new trailer hitch, since the old one broke during my childhood), and got my hands on characters I never had as a child. The Alternator line was what brought me to the fact that this was beyond simple toys. Some of these characters are pure art. Masterpiece Prime's American Cousin 20th Anniversary Prime became the centerpiece of my collection.

Armada brought back some of those great childhood memories, and while the show just didn't do anything for me (as well as Cybertron and Energon), there were a few molds that I picked up along the way.

Sadly, between Transformers and the revitalized Star Wars lines, I'm broke!

[Blurrz]

That's right! Respect Armada!

[Bonecrusher-522]

I liked armada because it was transformers. Yes it may of had some flaws but i think it was a good show. The mini cons where cool and unicron was just @#$%^ great! I know some people say it lacked quality but all around i did enjoy it.

[Optimist_Prime]

I totally agree with CP and Burn. I am just finishing the last last few episodes of armada, and I have looked at the toys a lot. The first time I saw sideways(show and toy) I was like, "WTF, is that a... friggin headmaster?!?"

[Duke of Luns]

Oh yeah, I just remembered one innovative thing about Armada that I wish was done slightly better: The Star Saber(I have the remolded Energon version). I've read a few posts about how cool it looks in certain bots hands, and it really does. However, it has no play value! One very small impact and BOOM, it falls apart(particularly the top jet). But the small size probably prohibited them from making a more secure connection.

But, and even though they aren't the most posable team, they look great in both alt and robot modes, and I think are even better when not combined. Certainly one of the best overall Mini-con teams in my opinion.

[Lapse Of Reason]

The only Armada figure I have is Unicron.

I also have Cybertron Blur and Botcon Megazarak (which I believe is an Armada Megatron repaint).

I like all of the above figures. I remember seeing Armada figures in stores but I was more interested in G1 reissues and Alternators at the time.

When Energon came around I bought more of that line, but only the figures I liked. In the end, I sold off almost all the Energon figures I bought except for Mirage, Shockblast, Galvatron, Rodimus, Inferno, Snowcat, and maybe a couple of others. They're in storage now.

I bought about the same of Cybertron, once again just what I liked.

My story is the point I think CP is trying to make. The Armada line had something for everyone. Double points for bringing out Unicron.

[City Commander]

The second half of the Armada cartoon was generally quite good.

Probably the most obvious masters in the line were Overload, Sideways and dlx Prime.



While not the most articulate, Armada Prime still stands as one of my fave tfs of all time.

[Overcracker]

The second half of the Armada cartoon was generally quite good.

Probably the most obvious masters in the line were Overload, Sideways and dlx Prime.



While not the most articulate, Armada Prime still stands as one of my fave tfs of all time.

Super Base (That's the actual Size class he belonged to in Armada, Leader class hadn't come into being as such) Armada Prime is basically a big immovable brick(Heck even G1 Metroplex had more movement than him). But he's a brick with lots of features and niceties that almost makes you forget he's a brick. He's also one of my all time Favorites. Although the top spot is reserved for R.I.D Prime.

He's got a Great base mode for Minicons, awesome combination features. And when fully combined is about as tall as Unicron. He packs serious firepower when combined with Overload and either his Trailer or Jetfire. Jetfire offers a slightly more poseable lower body. He gets up to 3 different guns when combined. Has cool Lights and sounds. and looks very cool combined.

Basically a really fun toy all around that had lots to offer in spite of its limited poseability.

One of my top choices in the Armada line.