Transformers Armada

[Jin_Kune_Do]

i am trying to get Transformers Armada.

Can anyone please explain to me, what Minicons are? and what the story is about? I saw the intro, but i couldnt really make sense of it. I hope someone can explain this to me.

Hopefully also, what Beast Wars and Machine wars is about too. I am sorry if this are stupid questions, i just havent followed transformers for a long time. Suddenly all these new "Logo"s are up, and they sure aint Autobots or Decepticons, so i was really wondering for a long time what those other logos are.

-Jin

[Vostok 7]

I would say do yourself a favor and skip Kids... *ahem* Transformers Armada.

I saw about five minuites and was about ready to rip my eyeballs out and stick qtips all the way up my ears... It is that annoying.

The show is basically an attempt to wrap a halfbaked plot around a toy line... Basically like every transformers series to date...

But the worst part is the kids. There's so damn many of them, and about 3/4 of the show is annoying kids... And of course, they're pretty stereotypical... You have the typical stereotypical annoying whiney girl, the stereotypical Mexican kid who says stuff like "dood" and "awesome" and "cool" all the time, and finally the stereotypical fat kid who's a wiz at everything electronic but is otherwise just stupid. The show is plain stupid.

And as far as the toyline... eh... I've seen way better. If you can get past Megatron's incredably annoying tinny inaccurate electronic voice on his figure (it was bad enough I took out the batteries before selling it), the figures really aren't all that horrid, other than I think G1 transformers were better sculpted and articulated.

Geez... I sound like Abombz... j/k.

Vostok 7

[BoBe-Patt]

wow, you haven't seen or even know about beast wars or beast machines by now? Man, I'd explain it to you but I tend to go into details and it's not going to be short. I suggest you look it up on the internet where people have already put up synopsis of both of these shows and some other sites might have a full on detailed episode by episode description. I'm surprised you didn't even ask about the Robots In Disguise series. I'd skip both that series and armada, but if you really like what you saw, then go ahead. I'm watching armada now just to see the story about unicron. Unicron just looks awesome in the cartoon.

[Jin_Kune_Do]

thanks guys....i pretty much stopped watching/collecting transformers when i was a kid, when Optimus Prime was in the leader anymore, and Mini Transformers and all that was popular, and those posable transformer figures that had vehicles that could transform instead. To make it short, i think the bulk of my collection back then was "Target Masters" When i finally got myself around to getting Optimus, then i got Power Master Optimus, but that sucked, it just wasnt the same like the G1 versions

But hey, tell tell tell me anyways...whats the story and what are all those new factions i see (besides Autobots and Decepticons)

-Jin

[Magnus]

Hey Jin, check this out:

http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljpage.cgi?TAK08230

Then tell me that doesn't get you interested in Transformers again

Yeah, like the others said, the Armada cartoon is a steaming, festering load. I just caught the very last episode of the tv show now, and let me just say the way they treat Unicron......ugh, it's horrible. The english dub is so bad you don't understand what the hell is going on half the time, and the animation is probably on par with one of those old Speed Racer episodes.

If you really want to get into Armada, drop by your local comic store and pick up the comic version. It is FAR superior to the tv show, and actually makes the story cool.

As for what its about: think Pokemon with Transformers. Basically, the Autobots and the Decepticons spend most of their time hunting around the Earth for these tiny little robots called Minicons. Each minicon can attach to a larger Transformer to give them an energy boost, some turn into swords and shields etc . Eventually, they all join and fight Unicron or something, it kinda derails.

But fear not, Transformers: Energon is coming out soon! For the most part, the toys are MUCH improved (just don't look at the Optimus toy ) and the cartoon is going to be in cell-shaded CG, so hopefully it will be better as well.

Hope that helps! Also, if you're super into G1, check out the "Alternators" line - this is where Hasbro went out and got permission to use the likenesses of various cars (like the Dodge Viper, Subaru WRX, etc) to create super poseable, amazingly cool, updated G1 characters from.

Edited December 6, 2003 by Magnus

[motley]

in the armada show, the mini-cons are simply explained as a seperate race of robots, presumably created to be slaves for the regular transformers, they certainly don't get treated much better. in the next show they're adding a couple new factions that are essentially smaller versions of each side(for the return of the basic size toy), though their role seems closer to that of the minicons, ie helpers.

like the original show, armada is a commercial with a thin layer of plot. probably about the same as G1, but without the horrible real world political incorrectness of the 1980s and the cold war. instead we get transformers pokemon, really, or at least for the first quarter of the show. then they start introducing the new characters and the plot line returns to the fight between the decepticons and the autobots, though unicron shows up offstage. the overall effort is much like G1, where parts of the show seem well thought out, but poorly excecuted. G1 really sucked as a show, but i think the backstory played out better, and i liked the characters more. armada has sucky characters all around and lame toys. at the time the G1 toys were great, even though they were bricks, now though the nostalgia factor is the main thing they have going for them.

armada isn't the worst cartoon out there. it seems to have really improved for the last episodes, but its still not ever going to be a great cartoon. personally i liked beast machines more. though, i'll second the recommendation for the comic book. i've heard it takes the story and tweaks it for a more inteligent audience.

[VF-19]

Minicons = pokemon (not quite, but you get the idea)

I'm not a big fan of the TV show... But I like the toys, especially my Unicron and Optimus Primes (the huge and the little prime).

The toys aren't bad, but they don't hold a candle to the Robots in Disguise line in terms of sheer coolness.

And hey, Masterpiece Prime is back on for December!

[eriku]

I thought the show got a little easier to stomach somewhere around the middle of the series, but overall it's not a very fulfilling or even entertaining series. It is to anime what the Armada toys are to transforming toys: Sub-par and barely acceptable. I'm guessing Energon will be more of the same, although the toys are very slightly better looking.

[Magnus]

Slightly better looking?

http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/pl/page.../dn/default.cfm

Try insanely better looking! Especially Mirage!

[eriku]

Slightly better looking?

http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/pl/page.../dn/default.cfm

Yes.

Waitaminute....ARCEE!?!? Now THAT is the one I've been waiting for. She leaves a lot to be desired though. Maybe she'll look better without all that irritating and silly candy-like 'energon' junk plastered all over her. <_<

The rest of the new toys on that page look like garbage to me. Mirage has a cool bot mode, but his vehicle is such a stupid and random looking design...blech.

Edited December 6, 2003 by eriku

[UN Spacy]

While we're on the subject of Transformers....take a look at these Energon toys.

[UN Spacy]

Can't forget this sharp item.

[motley]

mirage is a triple changer, if you look carefully there's a powerboat under that ungainly jet thing, and provided all the missile launcers drop down, it won't be too bad, though its still not all that great. Arcee looks pretty good, the red energon bit and the weapon are removable, though there's still some motorcycle kibble there, they hid it pretty good behind the weapon in the pic of the alt mode. energon looks to be a mixed bag, not nearly as all around sucky as armada, but still not great. arcee's the best looking toy i've seen out of the line so far, figure's she's a basic.

[eriku]

mirage is a triple changer, if you look carefully there's a powerboat under that ungainly jet thing...

I'm sure they probably do consider him a triple-changer, but that's about as much of a stretch as calling the M.A.S.K. car a 'jet' when the doors open up.

[motley]

oh, i agree with you. i probably should have written it "triple changer" instead of normally. the jet mode is pretty weak, though the boat mode should be better judging from the picture. still not a great figure in my book. especially since the design of the robot mode borrows so heavily from certain other franchises. the legs are essentially a gundams, and other parts clearly channel macross plus, though that might be a bit of design compromise. the heads not very tf-ish either.

[GobotFool]

mirage is a triple changer, if you look carefully there's a powerboat under that ungainly jet thing...

I'm sure they probably do consider him a triple-changer, but that's about as much of a stretch as calling the M.A.S.K. car a 'jet' when the doors open up.

Or calling tracks a tripple changer with his wings deployed

[eriku]

mirage is a triple changer, if you look carefully there's a powerboat under that ungainly jet thing...

I'm sure they probably do consider him a triple-changer, but that's about as much of a stretch as calling the M.A.S.K. car a 'jet' when the doors open up.

Or calling tracks a tripple changer with his wings deployed

Ah yes, that would be a bit more accurate wouldn't it?

I hope someone gets ahold of an Arcee prototype soon so we can see some good shots where she's not wearing all that crap. If it's proportionate and there isn't some kind of horrible kibble hidden by that BFG, then she just may be my favorite Energon figure so far.

[ogami]

Hope that helps! Also, if you're super into G1, check out the "Alternators" line - this is where Hasbro went out and got permission to use the likenesses of various cars (like the Dodge Viper, Subaru WRX, etc) to create super poseable, amazingly cool, updated G1 characters from.

??? Isn't that Takara licensed first?

all the new Hasbro Transformer toys are licensed from Takara.

http://www.takaratoys.co.jp/TF/index.html

[Shade]

This is the way I see it.

Takara doesn't license anything, they just use the designs. That led to some problems in American when Car Robots was imported as RiD. Super Sideburn, as well as the con-exclusives Roulette and Shadow Striker, now have the Dodge logo on the hood, after Dodge had a talking to with Hasbro. Wild Ride had to be slightly remolded when he became X-Brawn so that he wasn't an exact copy of a BMW car, and thus pissing them off. So, Hasbro licensed the designs, mostly so that they could be released in America with no problems.

[Magnus]

I'm pretty sure it was Hasbro that actually went out and got the go-ahead to use those designs.

As for the triple-changer thing......it's not really one. There are three main gimmicks in the Energon line, each is faction specific:

The Omnicons/Terrorcons (The Basic sized figures) are all supposed to be able to manipulate Energon into these crystaline weapons for the larger bots. So each basic figure comes with a whole big chunk of translucent plastic (Red for Autobots, Green for Decepticons)

The Autobots all have a combining gimmick....basically, you can take any two Autobot toys that are Deluxe sized or larger, and combine them into one giant bot. It generally works that you have one of the figures acting as the legs while the other acts as the arms, but you can also switch them around vice-versa. Every single autobot on its own can transform both into a pair of legs, or a torso (except Optimus Prime, who combines in a Megazord style with his own trailer).

The Decepticons have something called "Hyper-Power" (which they get after making a deal with Unicron). Basically, each Decepticon has a feature which deploys a massive amount of weapons, either in robot or vehicle mode. What you're seeing with Mirage is his "Hyper-mode" power: normally he looks like a really cool, sleek speed-boat. With Scorponok, he turns into a sort of jet thing, and Demolisher (the dump truck) gets a gigantic missile silo on his back. Starscream reveals these two massive blasters in jet mode, etc etc.

So it's not a third mode per se, more like an "enhanced" mode.