Transformers: Armada (cartoon)

Unicron Trilogy continuity family Armada » Toyline Cartoon Commercials Dreamwave comic Panini comic Toy pack-in mini-comic Linkage mini-comic Coloring books Video game Trading cards

Transformers: Armada, known as Chō Robot Seimeitai Transformers Micron Densetsu (超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー マイクロン伝説 , "Super Robot Lifeform Transformers Legends of the Microns") in Japan, is a Transformers cartoon series that ran from 2002–2003, in support of the franchise of the same name. Animation for the series was produced by Actas Inc. (with animation for the Japanese title sequence being produced by Raretrick). The series initiated a total continuity reboot, setting up a brand new Transformers universe separate from any previous storyline. Together with its two sequels, Energon and Cybertron, this continuity family is now known as the Unicron Trilogy.

Legends of the Microns has the opening songs "TRANSFORMER -Dream Again-" and "Transformers ~Kōtetsu no Yūki~", with the ending songs "Never Ending Road" and "Don't Give Up!!".

Storyline

Armada's universe is most distinguished by the presence and importance of Mini-Cons, a race of human-sized Transformers that, when "Powerlinxed" to their larger brethren, would unleash a flood of energy. Because of the great potential for their exploitation, the Mini-Cons attempt to abstain from the Autobot/Decepticon war and flee Cybertron, crashing on Earth and the Moon. When some Mini-Cons are accidentally reactivated in 2010 by clumsy teenagers, a beacon alerts both the Autobots and Decepticons on Cybertron, who track them to Earth and continue their battle here.

Mini-Cons can also form powerful weapons, which Megatron wants his greedy mitts on. Eventually, new recruits for the two factions appear, and the Transformers find out Unicron created the Mini-Cons, and is planning to feed on the hatred developed by the Transformers battling, and the Autobots and Decepticons unite to defeat the bigger bad.

Characters

Major locations

• Lincoln, U.S.A.
• Cybertron Base (Autobot HQ)
• Cosmoscope Research Center
• Mount Astrogate
• Lunar Base (Decepticon HQ)
• Cybertron

Episodes

Main article: List of Armada episodes

† Clip show

Production

Armada was the first Transformers cartoon to be co-developed in the United States and Japan. The show was produced in Japan with animation by Actas Inc., but the English localization by Voicebox Productions was the first to reach air; the "original" Japanese version was not broadcast in its home country until six months after the American premiere. Following a summer hiatus of the American broadcast in 2003, the "Hydra Cannon" episodes and the beginning of "The Unicron Battles" arc debuted on Canadian television, while the final nine episodes of the series first aired in the United Kingdom. Even the Japanese versions of most of these post-hiatus episodes were aired in Japan ahead of the United States, except for the final three; these were burned off as part of a week-long run of daily broadcasts on Cartoon Network just two weeks before the Japanese broadcast of the series concluded.

When Armada was first announced, an unnamed Hasbro source was quoted as claiming Mainframe Entertainment had been "tapped" to make the show. This would later be proven to be false.^[1]

Prominent technical issues

Between the American (top) and Japanese (bottom) airings, the entire back row of Mini-Cons was changed or recolored.

Scripting and dubbing

To put it straight, the English dub of Armada was riddled with dubbing errors. Technical faults on a scripting and production level make it clear that the show was put together in an extremely short timeframe, as a lot of what was produced was not up to modern broadcast standards when it was released. The most explicit of faults the show suffered from are the repeated instances of characters being referred to with the wrong name, particularly the Mini-Cons. Evidence strongly suggests that many scripts were translated only very roughly, and never given proper re-writes to adapt them for a Western audience, making some instances hard to follow. Supporting this are instances where characters would get referred to by their Japanese names, meaning that some scripts never made it to the point where the English names were added. Other instances of poor dubbing include: characters giving long, rambling, semi-coherent monologues and characters reacting strangely to one another's dialogue, making for some very disjointed conversations. There were also some minor cases of characters having their voices swapped, leading to them being referred to by the wrong name, or in a couple of instances, Cyclonus's voice being used for Demolishor, showing the latter having out-of-character outbursts of crazy laughter. Unfortunately, as the English dub is the version of the show most other countries received, a lot of the aforementioned flaws made it into foreign dub scripts as well.

Animation

Due to Armada's rushed production schedule, the animation quality was known to fluctuate from scene to scene. Many of its episodes not only received animation errors, but would often have cases where characters were badly-drawn and off-model. Some of this animation was cleaned up for the show's later broadcast in Japan; the most publicized example being the episode "Linkup", which featured some significantly altered and corrected animation; specifically the combined form of Optimus Prime and Jetfire. Smaller alterations were made in many episodes, such as changing incongruous Mini-Con lineups or fixing blatant coloring mistakes, such as Cyclonus being colored as Demolishor for one scene in "Swoop". However, a lot of the original errors were still present in the Japanese version of the show, despite the extra work put in.

Rushed schedule

As mentioned above, Armada's flaws mainly stem from a rushed production schedule, something which isn't entirely uncommon for Transformers cartoons, and as such it should be noted that Armada is an English dub of a Japanese series that was not ready to air until six months after the dub premiered. The cause of this rush job is still under speculation, but there appear to be two primary suspects:

• It was allegedly claimed that initial plans called for Dreamwave to supply character models for the series, but that never materialized, possibly throwing off production schedules.
• Cartoon Network, the channel that aired the show, reportedly would not sign off on the series without a certain number of episodes already finished, forcing a rush job to get the cartoon out to coincide with the toyline's release.

Reception

While 2001's Robots in Disguise was the first to establish the idea of a "reboot" to Western audiences, the first true reboot of the brand as a whole was Armada. Continuing the trend that would be dubbing Japanese anime, Armada didn't present a very strong start to the Unicron Trilogy for adult fans of the Transformers brand, and as such, has earned itself a mixed reputation among older fans. On the same note, however, the show gave birth to a new generation of fans who hold the series in high regards despite the technical flaws present.

Initial fan reaction

Debuting as a premiere three-part "movie" at the same time as the 21st century reinventions of other '80s properties like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, the immediately-apparent twin flaws in dubbing and animation led Armada to stumble out of the gate into a torrent of hatred from the internet fandom that stands out as one of the rare moments in fan history when everyone seemed to be on the same page. Flak continued to pile up as the first quarter of the series proved to be a sequence of repetitive one-shot adventures in which the same small groups of Autobots and Decepticons hunt for Mini-Cons in one episode after another. The later inclusion of Unicron, as well as the gradually expanding cast, eventually led to more wide-ranging stories, in particular a well-received story arc centering on Starscream, but the consistently poor animation and dubbing, coupled with the fact that by the time these stories came around, the show had been consigned to the 6am "death slot" on Cartoon Network, meant the show never truly recovered in the eyes of adult fans.

Fan reception today

Armada is widely regarded as a mixed bag. While the show has its flaws, and many fans have had their gripes, most of these gripes appear to have run their course in today's Transformers fandom; after all, there is always something new for people to hate. Despite the dubbing and animation issues, plot elements and characters are remembered fondly by the generation of fans it spawned.

Regardless of anyone's feelings, the show sold toys, so Hasbro and Takara are happy either way!

Home video releases

Legends of the Microns

Main article: Columbia Music Entertainment

The Legends of the Microns version of Armada was released on DVD by Columbia Music Entertainment in Japan while the series was still on air for a total of thirteen volumes. Initial releases of each volume included a bonus Mini-Con figure and an original comic side story which helped to fill in some of the series's gaps.

• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 1 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 2 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 3 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 4 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 5 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 6 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 7 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 8 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 9 (2003)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 10 (2004)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 11 (2004)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 12 (2004)
• Transformers: Legends of the Microns 13 (2004)

Main article: Geneon Universal Entertainment

Geneon Universal Entertainment released all of the episodes in one set.

• Transformers: Legends of the Microns DVD Set (2016)

Armada

United Kingdom

Main article: Right Entertainment

Right Entertainment (with distribution under Universal) released several DVD collections of Armada in the UK.

• Transformers: Armada — Vol:01 (2003)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:02 (2003)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:03 (2005)
• Transformers: Armada — Triple Collection (2005)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:04 (2005)
• Transformers: Armada — Collector's Edition (2007)
• Transformers: Armada — Bumper Double DVD Collection (2008)

Australia

Main article: Warner Bros.

Warner Music Video released a random assortment of Armada DVD collections in Australia.

• Transformers: Armada — Vol:02 (2003)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:04 (2003)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:09 (2003)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:10 (2003)
• Transformers: Armada — Vol:14 (2003)

United States

Main article: Rhino Entertainment

Kid Rhino released a few DVD collections in the United States, before releasing the entire series in two box sets.

• Transformers: Armada — Best Battles (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Flashbacks (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Battle for the Mini-Cons (June 22, 2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Power of the Mini-Cons (June 22, 2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Best of the Autobots (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Best of the Decepticons (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part One (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (2006)

Additionally, three episodes were released by Tiger Electronics as a boxed set for their VideoNow system.

Main article: Shout! Factory

Shout! Factory released the complete series on an eight-disc DVD set, plus an individual volume release of the first disc from the complete set, in 2014.

• Transformers Armada: The Complete Series (2014)
• Transformers Armada: Volume One (2014)

Italy

Main article: Cinehollywood

Cinehollywood released the first half of the series in Italy in a series of 9 DVDs, with 3 episodes in each of them.

• Transformers Armada Volume 01 - Primo contatto (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 02 - Gioco di squadra (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 03 - Il confronto (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 04 - Scontro sotterraneo (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 05 - La Spada Stellare (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 06 - La trappola (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 07 - Battaglia decisiva (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 08 - Ribellione (2002)
• Transformers Armada Volume 09 - Piano di battaglia (2002)

Germany

Main article: New KSM

KSMFilm released two DVD boxsets in Germany, each including 26 episodes with German and English audio. A complete collection of the series was released in 2011.

• Transformers: Armada — Volume One (2008)
• Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (2009)
• Transformers: Armada — Superbox (2011)

France

Main article: TFou Vidéo

TFou Vidéo released 4 DVDs, including the first 20 episodes in total. The rest of the series has been broadcast on TV but never released on DVD.

• Transformers: Armada — Volume 1 (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Volume 2 (2004)
• Transformers: Armada — Le combat recommence... (2007)

Russia

Main article: Union Video

Union Video released a DVD collection in Russia.

China

Main article: Sihaiyizu Release

Sihaiyizu Release released a full DVD collection in China in 2006.

South Korea

There is no known release of the Korean dub. It aired weekly on SBS from December 20, 2004, officially ending at episode 39.^[2]

Foreign names

• Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng: Léitíng Jiànduì (China, 变形金刚：雷霆舰队, "Transformers: Thunder Fleet")
• Korean: Eunha Yeongung: Cybertron (은하영웅 사이버트론 Eunha Yeongung Saibeoteulon, lit. "Galactic Heroes: Cybertrons")

References

External links

• Site comparing animation differences between Armada and Legends of the Microns