Transformers: Armada (toyline)

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Revision as of 14:13, 10 November 2016 by Jalaguy (talk | contribs) (→Post-Armada releases: These guys can go on, surely? Yeah, they've not been used as UT guys fictionally but they're absolutely an Armada homage.)
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Unicron Trilogy continuity family
Armada »
Smokescreen and his Mini-Con partner Liftor — a Deluxe Super-Con Autobot from the early waves of Armada (and one of its most enduring shelfwarmers).

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, whose tiny toys carried the notion of "micro play" — a concept absent from Transformers for more than ten years. The Mini-Cons are 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 Mini-Cons in particular proved popular with fans and children alike, and have continued on into many subsequent toylines.

The toyline marked a sharp change of design direction from the intricate, sometimes frustrating complexity found in Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and 2001 Robots in Disguise. 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 to every mold. Ball joints largely disappeared. 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 gimmick which could only be activated by attaching 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 Optimus Prime's auto-transforming trailer. With Armada, electronics also became standard on nearly all toys larger than Deluxe/Super-Con. Frequently, overall articulation suffered to accommodate these features.

Armada introduced the first role-play toys seen in Transformers since the days of G1. One, kid-sized versions of some of the Mini-Con weapon MacGuffins of the storyline; the other, Laserbeak, was the first "life sized" Transformer toy since the likes of Generation 1's Soundwave and Perceptor. The latter concept did not seem to catch on, however, and would not return in force until 2007's Real Gear Robots subline.

Unicron, the line's largest toy.

Armada also disposed of the Basic/Deluxe/Mega/Ultra size classes, in favor of a somewhat less intuitive Mini-Con/Super-Con/Max-Con/Giga-Con system. This was presumably done to integrate the Mini-Con name into the system. Price change came with the name change; the $20 Max-Con size replaced the $15 Mega class, while the $25 Giga-Cons replaced the $20 Ultras. It should be noted, however, that the two Armada size classes tended to be somewhat more bulky and massive than their predecessors.

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 by far the greatest wish-fulfillment ever 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".

Apart from Unicron, a few other G1 homages found their way into the line. Most notable is Starscream and his redecos as Thundercracker and the retooled Skywarp, as well as the Constructicon-colored Scavenger and the occasional Mini-Con redeco.

With sales exceeding expectations, the tail end of the line was padded out with several recolored and retooled Transmetal molds from Beast Wars.

Armada (Hasbro)

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 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
The Destruction Mini-Con Team
Wave 5 Wave 6 Wave 7


Super-Con Class

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
File:Hotshotarmadatoy.jpg
Hot Shot with Jolt
Wave 5 Wave 6 Wave 7 Wave 8

Max-Con Class

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
Max-Con Scavenger
Wave 5

Giga-Con Class

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
Giga-Con Tidal Wave
Wave 5

Super Base

Wave 1

Wave 2


Supreme

Role Play

Role Play Triple Changer[1]

  • Laserbeak (spy bird/video camera/stun weapon)

Deluxe Role Play

Exclusives

K-Mart


Micron Densetsu (Takara)

Regular retail

Wave 1 (12-26-2002)

Wave 2 (04-24-2003)
Rampage with Hawk
Wave 3 (05-??-2003) Wave 4 (06-??-2003) Wave 5 (07-17-2003) Wave 6 (08-14-2003)
Wave 7 (08-28-2003) Wave 8 (09-??-2003) Wave 9 (09-??-2003) Wave 10 (09-??-2003)
Wave 11 (10-??-2003)


Store/event exclusives

Ito Yokado Jusco LaOX Hello Mac
TF Station affiliates ToysЯUs
Toy's Dream Project/Toy Card
World Hobby Fair


Media exclusives

Theme CD pack-ins Micron Densetsu DVD pack-ins

DVD pack-in Top Gear
Micron Densetsu Year Book 2003 Tele-V Magazine TV Boy magazine TV Magazine
Hikari no Unicron
???


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(!).


Korea

Takara licensee Sonokong released a selection of Micron Densetsu toys in Korea, under the name Eunha Yeongung: Cybertron (은하영웅 사이버트론, "Galactic Heroes: Cybertrons").

Cybertron

Destron

Other

Multi-pack

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)

Kre-O
Universe Hot Shot with Jolt
Generations Combiner Wars


Hasbro via Fun Publications
Transformers Collectors' Club


TakaraTomy
Robotmasters Legends Unite Warriors


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[2] even referred to the "Mega Figure Assortment" as consisting of "MAXCON figures"...

References

  1. ↑ http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/87f1932104832230?hl=en
  2. ↑ http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/b11879ad57a742ca?hl=en
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