The Energon Pub

They siad that Armada has parts re-done in Micron Legend. Thought the animations sucks, Micron Legend is supposed to be better.

Althought you made some good points overall I'd have to say Armada was still a line over populated by horrible minicons and horrible proper transformers with a few really nice ones hidden in the mix (wheljack, dimolisher (although I much prefere the Energon colours), deluxe prime and of course unicron (who i still think is better than primus).

Although the minicons worked rather well in the cartoon, the physical aplication was rubbish, and in a line that was aimed at a younger audience, it makes me laugh that they introduced minicons, which even if they didnt fall apart at the drop of a hat (which most of them did) were still transforming airway obstructions for any hungry kid.

It has to be said that I got back into transformers arounf the end of energon/beginning of cybertron/introduction of alts and bts, so going back to armada, and the aweful posability was a bit of a shock. And I dont think the lack of posability makes them better for displays at all, i like my tfs to pull dynamic poses, which the vast majority of Armada simplly couldnt do.

bvzxa wrote:They siad that Armada has parts re-done in Micron Legend. Thought the animations sucks, Micron Legend is supposed to be better.

Micron Legends WAS Armada, it was just the Japanese name for it (the cartoon was doen by the japanese, then dubbed by the Hasbro for the American market). The only real difference with the two lines was some better paint aplications on the Micron Legends toys.

This one went over better than I had hoped...

I'm going to enjoy writing up Energon. (Movie fans may want to pay special attention to that one...)

im just glad im not the only person that really enjoyed what part of armarda i got to experience, its something i rarely mention because it seemed like a taboo subject lol

Unicron made this entire line worth it

CP, I love you man, seriously. You said it better than I could.

I was still young when this line came out and was getting back into collecting and got all the characters that appeared on the show and some that didn't in the case of the Mini-Cons.

Looking now. The articulation does suck on most of them, but they all have great detailing and a lot of the look great in both modes. (A notable exception being Cyclonus who is ugly in bot mode, looks great in copter mode, and looks awesome with Crumplezone as the cockpit)

I always liked the Mini-Con gimmick. I always liked seeing the features the little guys activated. I imagine the kids had a lot of fun showing their friends the hidden stuff they could do.

As for the MiniCons, outside of the name "MiniCon" I never minded them, I always saw them like Scamper who came with Metroplex. No real reason for him, he's just a nice bonus. Unlike Scamper though, these guys actualy did something though, and they are very versatile. A nice detailed reintro of the MicroMaster concept.

My sentiments exactly. They are solid toys in and of themselves but they do more than just transform, they actually transform the big ones into something even more powerful.

i still like Hot Shot, i have the red one (powerlinx i believe) and i really like him. Unicron makes me so happy lol

Nice article again, CP. I may not share your overall enthusiasm for the line as a whole, Armada had its fair share of kickass figures: "Bendy" Prime, Hoist, Cyclonus, Demolishor, Wheeljack, The Seekers, Overload, Red Alert, Megatron/Galvatron, Leader Prime, Unicron.

I enjoyed the Minicons as figures in themselves, I was a nut for G1 Micromasters back in the day, so it was a natural transition once I grew to appreciate them. The gimmicks were hit or miss, but I appreciated the idea.

All in all, it was a step in the right direction. While Car Robots made have been brought to the US to satisfy collectors, Armada was aimed at the kids, like TFs should be. Adult collectors deserve our attention, but it doesn't change the fact that they are toys, and should be built to play with.

I remember walking down a toy aisle for no apparant reason back in the winter of 2003.

And there it was, this strange looking tank.

It captivated my interest, loaded with what looked like 4 projectiles; it seemed like it meant more business than any of the other tf's on the shelf. I was suprised they still even made tf's as i had stopped paying attention after G1.

I speedily opened up the case/box/plastic, and was disappointed when only 1 of the 4 projectiles actually fired. Though, it came with a neat little minicon called Blackout, i felt that my purchase was compensated by this somehow. I thought it was a neat idea, had its own little spot to live in, a little radar dish on his back, and added two MORE guns to Demolisher. I had a heck of a time trying to get the projectile to fire too, i tried just about everything then realized that the minicon itself was a "key". I suddenly didn't really mind reloading anymore. Not only that, but when combined with other projectile-firing minicons, the only other TF in the line that could beat his firepower was Unicron, correct me if i'm wrong.

Say hi!


With that said, it was Demolisher that got me back into transformers. Since then I have aquired 250+ tf's and still counting, and if this one quirky tf had never been made, I would not have gotten back into this hobby or into this fandom. Thanks for making this one Takara/Hasbro

For the record, minicons have been the best gimmick in my opinion. Other than projectiles. It's always fun to open fire on targets, but 2 tf's for the price of one? Sign me up. Way better than energon weapons or Keys. in my opinion. I feel that minicons should have their own size class and be a part of every line. Don't like 'em? Don't buy 'em; more for me and my fellow minicon lovers.
(they make for excellent cannon fodder too)

And let's not forget This either!

I liked the idea of power-linking too, it took me back to my g1 days of putting together my devastator. I always wished devastator was This big though, and i still hope to see a TF in the future that can be built out of leader, and eventually, supreme class TF's. Oddly, the powerlinking idea only seems to work with me as long as 5+ TF's are in the mix. Devestator spoiled me. I must admit, there was one combo that i did like that came out during energon...

very good article although I do have to confess the only figure from Armada i still have on display is Unicron...but that figure alone makes Armada a worthwhile line IMO.

Unicron is definately a must-have for any collector. And I do like the Targetmaster Emergency team and the Headmaster Sideways. But I just wish Hasbro would have made more like them.

You forgot about another thing Armada had. It was the first time we got Prime repainted as different characters. I am ofcourse talking about Nemesis Prime and naked Magnus. A tradition that would continue for years to come. Just like how RiD started the "Galvatron is a repaint of Megatron" thing.