Transformers: Armada (toyline)

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File:Hotshotarmadatoy.jpg

Hot Shot with Jolt

Transformers: Armada marked a fresh start for the Transformers brand, a reinvention that introduced a whole new universe and backstory for the robots in disguise. The franchise also introduced a new faction, the Mini-Cons, the line's most distinctive element, as every larger toy included one or more Mini-Con partners.

The line was a hit with kids; the simpler, cleaner transformations made the toys more accessible than prior lines, plus the wealth of action gimmicks gave every toy more to do. The numerous Mini-Cons in particular proved popular with fans and children alike, and have continued on into many subsequent toylines. It did so well out of the gate that the line had to be expanded beyond its initial offerings pretty quickly, and began the next four-ish years of direct sequels, an era that would come to be known as the "Unicron Trilogy".

Overview

The toyline marked a sharp change of design direction from the intricate, sometimes frustrating complexity found in the prior Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and Robots in Disguise lines (that last one being a particular point of contention with parents). The early offerings in particular were blocky, easy to transform, sturdy and colorful. Articulation tended to be reduced, sacrificed to keep price down in light of the need to add a Mini-Con partner and multiple intricate gimmicks to every mold. Ball joints largely disappeared from the non-Mini-Con toys in favor of permanently-joined swivels. The aesthetics of larger robots hearkened back more to the blocky concepts of Generation 1, while the Mini-Cons tended to be more experimental, with odd facial designs and non-standard limbs.

Each larger toy featured a "central" gimmick which could only be activated by attaching —called "Powerlinxing"— a Mini-Con to the appropriate hard point. Though most transformation schemes were simple, many of the Mini-Con activated gimmicks were quite complex and innovative, such as Hot Shot's "axelzooka", Scavenger's stompy-stompy action, and Megatron's turret-mounted twin-missile launcher. Electronic lights and sounds also became standard on nearly all toys larger than Deluxe/Super-Con.

Unicron, the line's largest toy.

As with Robots in Disguise, the back end of the series featured same-character redecoes of toys in "powered up" modes, and this practice of heavy mold-re-use would continue on into the future to combat the ever-rising costs of production. The line was further bulked up by redecoes/retools of several Beast Wars Transmetal toys, reworked to be Mini-Con compatible (despite a lack of any kind of action gimmicks), as early sales and subsequent retailer demand exceeded expectations, and they had to get something out relatively quick.

Toward the end, the line veered in an unexpected direction, with the introduction of the massive Unicron, a huge toy based on the character from The Transformers: The Movie, and arguably the greatest wish-fulfillment yet offered to fans from Hasbro. To promote this massive toy, the ongoing storylines of both cartoon and comic changed direction to feature the character as their central plot element, and the toyline itself gained a subline imprint promoting him in "The Unicron Battles".

Armada saw a bit of a price jump (production costs again), as the $20 "Max-Con" size replaced the $15 Mega class of past lines, while the $25 "Giga-Cons" replaced the $20 Ultras. This was offset by the fact that Armada toys overall tended to be somewhat more bulky and massive than their predecessors.

Hasbro Armada toyline

Mini-Con 3-packs

Mini-Cons were sold in carded three-packs at the Basic/Scout price point, each team defined by a particular gimmick or theme. Though only slightly larger than their closest precedent, the Micromasters, they generally featured greatly improved articulation, complexity, and originality of design.

Wave 1 Air Defense Mini-Con Team (Jetstorm, Runway, Sonar) Land Military Mini-Con Team (Bonecrusher, Knock Out, Wreckage) Street Action Mini-Con Team (Grindor, High Wire, Sureshock)		Wave 2 Destruction Mini-Con Team (Buzzsaw, Drill Bit, Dualor) Race Mini-Con Team (Dirt Boss, Downshift, Mirage)		Wave 3 Adventure Mini-Con Team (Dune Runner, Iceberg, Ransack) Space Mini-Con Team (Astroscope, Payload, Sky Blast) Street Speed Mini-Con Team (Backtrack, Oval, Spiral)		Wave 4 Air Assault Mini-Con Team (Jetstorm, Runway, Sonar) Night Attack Mini-Con Team (Broadside, Fetch, Scattor) Sea Mini-Con Team (Oceanglide, Stormcloud, Waterlog)		The Destruction Mini-Con Team
Wave 5 (The Unicron Battles) Air Military Mini-Con Team (Gunbarrel, Terradive, Thunderwing) Emergency Mini-Con Team (Firebot, Makeshift, Prowl)		Wave 6 (The Unicron Battles) Road Assault Mini-Con Team (Dirt Boss, Downshift, Mirage) Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team (Buzzsaw, Drill Bit, Dualor)		Wave 7 (The Unicron Battles) Emergency Mini-Con Team (redeco) (Firebot, Makeshift, Prowl) Sea Mini-Con Team (redeco) (Oceanglide, Stormcloud, Waterlog)

Super-Con Class

Wave 1 Hot Shot with Jolt Cyclonus with Crumplezone Demolishor with Blackout		Wave 2 Smokescreen with Liftor Sideways with Rook and Crosswise		Wave 3 Blurr with Incinerator Optimus Prime with Over-Run		Wave 4 Side Swipe with Nightbeat Thrust with Inferno		Super-Con Smokescreen with Liftor
Wave 5 Rhinox with Armorhide Terrorsaur with Ironhide		Wave 6 (The Unicron Battles) Airazor with Nightscream Hoist with Refute Wheeljack with Wind Sheer		Wave 7 (The Unicron Battles) Cheetor with Cliffjumper Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone Powerlinx Hot Shot with Jolt Powerlinx Thrust with Inferno		Wave 8 (The Unicron Battles) Powerlinx Demolishor with Blackout Nemesis Prime with Run-Over

Max-Con Class

Wave 1 Red Alert with Longarm Starscream with Swindle		Wave 2 Scavenger with Rollbar		Wave 3 Thundercracker with Zapmaster		Wave 4 (The Unicron Battles) Overload with Rollout Skywarp with Thunderclash		Max-Con Scavenger
Wave 5 (The Unicron Battles) Predacon with Skid-Z and Side Burn Powerlinx Red Alert with Longarm

Giga-Con Class

Wave 1 Megatron with Leader-1		Wave 2 Jetfire with Comettor		Wave 3 Galvatron with Clench		Wave 4 (The Unicron Battles) Tidal Wave with Ramjet		Giga-Con Tidal Wave
Wave 5 (The Unicron Battles) Powerlinx Jetfire with Comettor

Super Base

Wave 1 Optimus Prime with Sparkplug

Wave 2 (The Unicron Battles) Powerlinx Optimus Prime with Corona Sparkplug

Super Base Optimus Prime

Supreme

Wave 1 (The Unicron Battles)

• Unicron with Dead End



Role Play

Role Play Triple Changer Laserbeak

Deluxe Role Play (The Unicron Battles) Dark Saber Star Saber




Exclusives



K-Mart exclusive Optimus Prime

K-Mart (The Unicron Battles)

• "Battle for the Matrix"
  ("Powerlinx Optimus Prime", "Corona Sparkplug", "Powerlinx Jetfire", Comettor, Adventure Mini-Con Team, Longarm)

Despite the various toys in this set being labeled "Powerlinx", they're not actually the Powerlinx versions. Just so you're not shocked when you click the links.




Sub-lines

The Unicron Battles

Takara Legends of the Microns toyline

Takara's take on Armada, hitting stores a bit later than the Hasbro version, has some small but significant differences, largely in the decos. With a closer tie to the animation, the toys had their colors tweaked to make them closer to their animation counterparts. This ranges from the small and subtle to completely different color schemes.

Takara also went nuts with the Mini-Cons. All but one of the three-pack teams got "Exdimensions" redecoes at normal retail, and some of the earlier molds got multiple redecoes as limited-edition store-exclusive promotional giveaways.

Regular retail

Wave 1 (12-26-2002) Convoy Super Mode (w/ Prime) STD Convoy (w/ Surge) Cyberhawk Grap (w/ Lift) Hot Rod (w/ Jolt) Ironhide (w/ Search) Megatron (w/ Barrel) Ratchet (w/ Hook) Sandstorm (w/ Cannon) Starscream (w/ Grid)		Air Defense Micron Air Defense Micron Exdimensions Destruction Micron Destruction Micron Exdimensions Land Military Micron Land Military Micron Exdimensions Race Micron Race Micron Exdimensions Street Action Micron Street Speed Micron		Grap & Race Micron Hot Rod & Air Defense Micron Ironhide & Land Military Micron Sandstorm & Destruction Micron		Wave 2 (04-24-2003) Devastor (w/ Dirt) Double Face (w/ Bright & Shadow)		Rampage with Hawk
Wave 3 (05-??-2003) Silverbolt (w/ Turbo) Silverbolt & Street Speed Micron		Wave 4 (06-??-2003) Jetfire (w/ Sonar) Thrust (w/ Thunder) Air Military Micron Thrust & Air Military Micron		Wave 5 (07-17-2003) Shockwave (w/ Sonic) Air Military Micron Exdimension Space Micron		Wave 6 (08-14-2003) Rampage (w/ Hawk) Stepper (w/ Cha) Air Assault Micron Sea Micron Space Micron Exdimensions Rampage & Air Assault Micron		Shockwave with Sonic
Wave 7 (08-28-2003) Grap Super Mode (w/ Spark Lift) Adventure Micron Grap Super Mode & Adventure Micron		Wave 8 (09-??-2003) Hot Rod Super Mode (w/ Spark Jolt) Megatron Super Mode (w/ Spark Barrel Ratchet Super Mode (w/ Spark Hook) Starscream Super Mode (w/ Spark Grid)		Adventure Micron Exdimensions Emergency Micron Sea Micron Exdimensions		Wave 9 (09-??-2003) Ironhide Super Mode (w/ Spark Search)
Wave 10 (09-??-2003) Ultra Magnus (w/ Magnus) Unicron (w/ Bug)		Wave 11 (10-??-2003) Emergency Micron Exdimensions




Store/event exclusives

Aside from the deluge of limited-edition Micron giveaways, Takara released a lot of the Hasbro line's non-cartoon-based toys as "USA Editions" through numerous outlets.

Ito Yokado Destruction Micron Undergrove Edition Race Micron Road Assault Edition Street Speed Micron Overdrive Edition		Jusco Destruction Micron Space Galaxy Edition Rhinox with Armorhide Terrorsaur with Ironhide		LaOX Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone Powerlinx Thrust with Inferno		Hello Mac Land Military Micron Ultimate Edition		Powerlinx Thrust with Inferno
TF Station affiliates Micron Booster Ver.0 (Rod, Atlas, Mach, Jetter, Shuttler, Drift, Spin, Indy) Destruction White Micron		Toys"R"Us Land Military Micron Ultimate Edition Land Military Micron Night Attack Edition Magna Convoy DX Set (Convoy Super Mode Final Battle Color Version, Ultra Magnus Special Clear Version, Street Action Micron Exdimension)		Airazor with Nightscream Cheetor with Cliffjumper (website only) Powerlinx Jetfire with Comettor Predacon with Skid-Z and Side Burn (website only) Skywarp with Thunderclash		Toy's Dream Project/Toy Card Powerlinx Thrust with Inferno (red version)
World Hobby Fair Street Speed Micron Overdrive Edition




Media exclusives

Theme CD pack-ins Air Defense Micron (blue) Street Action Micron (anime color)		Legends of the Microns DVD pack-ins Super Stunt Team (Flat-Out, Redline, Servo) Top Gear Midship Tailslide		Falcia Combusta Twirl Freeboot Bilge		Sunburn Kingbolt Impulsor Quench		DVD pack-in Top Gear
Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003 "Special Color" Impulsor "Special Color" Kingbolt "Special Color" Quench Hikari no Unicron		Tele-V Magazine Tokubetsu Ultra Magnus with Magnus		TV Boy magazine Kinpika Convoy with Prime Prime Super Mode		TV Magazine Crystal Convoy with Spark Surge Black Megatron with Barrel Scourge with Sweep		Hikari no Unicron
??? Kinpika Jetfire with Sonar




Sonokong Eunha Yeongung: Cybertron toyline

From 2003 to 2005, Takara licensee Sonokong released a smaller selection of Legends of the Microns toys in Korea, under the name Eunha Yeongung: Cybertron (은하영웅 사이버트론, "Galactic Heroes: Cybertrons").

Cybertron Cyberhawk Hyena (w/ Dirt) Jetfire (w/ Sonar) Super Optimus (w/ Prime) Patrol (w/ Hook) Ultra Magnus (w/ Magnus)

Destron Hide (w/ Search) Megatron (w/ Barrel) Scream (w/ Grid) Shock (w/ Sonic)

Other Double Face (w/ Bright & Shadow) Unicron (w/ Bug)

Multi-packs Red Gun & Air Defense (w/ Jolt) Smoky & Race (w/ Lift) Sandstorm & Destruction (w/ Cannon) Sunbolt & Street Speed (w/ Turbo) Sniper & Air Military (w/ Thunder)




Cancelled toys



• A redeco of the Street Speed Team seen at OTFCC 2003 - one-off "color shifts" of the Japanese Street Speed Micron Overdrive Edition - was intended for mass release, but never saw the light of day.
• Redecos of the Adventure and Space Teams surfaced from China, but were likewise not released.
• At OTFCC 2003, it was announced that the more show-accurate Japanese version of Wheeljack and Wind Sheer would be released in the North American line as a running change. That never happened.
• Likewise, the red version of Powerlinx Thrust was supposed to hit North American shores as a running change, but never did... although it DID see release in Japan, Europe, and Israel(!).




Post-Armada releases

Though it does not quite (yet) have the nostalgia-pull of older series, Armada has nonetheless had a number of toys released based on its characters, and even several all-new characters put into its universe since the Unicron Trilogy closed up shop. (Obviously, we're not counting toys from the direct-sequel series here.)

Hasbro

Universe (2008) Hot Shot (w/ Jolt) Overload Unicron Blight Bodyblock Boltflash Brimstone Makeshift Suppressor		Mini-Con 10-Pack (Crosshairs, Longview, Overcharge, Ransack, Scavenger, Sky Shadow, Snow Cat, Stockade, Treadshot, Windrazor)		Mini-Con 12-Pack (Backstop, Blight, Bodyblock, Boltflash, Brimstone, Cloudraker, Flatfoot, Heavytread, Knockdown, Makeshift, Skyhammer, Suppressor)		Kre-O Demolishor Iceberg		Universe Hot Shot with Jolt
Generations Armada Starscream Mini-Con Assault Team		Combiner Wars Armada Megatron		Titans Return Siege on Cybertron (Tidal Wave)




Hasbro via Fun Publications

Transformers Collectors' Club Skywarp Spacewarp




TakaraTomy

Robotmasters Double Face

Legends Armada Starscream Super Mode

Unite Warriors Grand Galvatron (Curse Armada Thrust)




Notes

• According to Aaron Archer during his stint as ORSON, the Armada Autobots and Decepticons had intentionally different design aesthetics. The Autobots were designed to be symmetrical with clean lines and detailing, while the Decepticons had asymmetrical sculpts and details to invoke a more foreboding and battle-worn feel. A good example of this would be Hot Shot versus Cyclonus.
• The official Hasbro press releases for Armada used the pricepoint titles from the Beast Wars era - Deluxe, Mega and Ultra - instead of Super-Con, Max-Con and Giga-Con, the designations specifically created for the toyline. Confusingly, one press release even referred to the "Mega Figure Assortment" as consisting of "MAXCON figures"...
• There were two different types of "Unicron Battles" packaging: The first version was simply the original red and blue Armada packaging with an added "The Unicron Battles" logo sticker, whereas the second version sported a new color scheme in black, orange and blue that had the "Unicron Battles" logo as an integral part of its packaging design for the larger toys. Some toys were available in all three packaging variants.
• For the Japanese version of the line, Takara took the unusual step of picking and choosing package art from the Hasbro line, with just about all of Don Figueroa and Guido Guidi's art being carried over, while the rest was replaced with new work. No explanation has ever been given, although it is worth noting that most of the replaced art originally depicted the character incorrectly (Megatron's treads being mounted on his back instead of his shoulders) or just very inaccurately (Jetfire's everything).

References