Transformers: Armada (toyline)

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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 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.

Mini-Cons

The Mini-Cons were sold in carded three-packs at the Basic/Scout price point. Each team was defined by a particular gimmick or theme. Though only slightly larger than their closest precedent, the Micromasters, they featured greatly improved articulation, posability, complexity, and originality of design compared to the G1 line.

Wave 1

Air Defense Mini-Con Team

Combine to form the Star Saber.

Land Military Mini-Con Team

Each features launching missiles.

Street Action Mini-Con Team

Combine to form the robot Perceptor.

Wave 2

Destruction Mini-Con Team

Each features geared moving parts activated by rolling the vehicle or by attaching the figure to Cyclonus.

Race Mini-Con Team

Combine to form the Skyboom Shield.

Wave 3

Adventure Mini-Con Team

Each features geared moving parts activated by rolling the vehicle or by attaching the figure to Cyclonus.

Space Mini-Con Team

Combine to form the Requiem Blaster.

Street Speed Mini-Con Team

Each features enhanced posability in robot mode.

Wave 4

Air Assault Mini-Con Team

Combine to form the Dark Saber. Same characters as the Air Defense Mini-Con Team, only redecoed and tainted by evil.

Night Attack Mini-Con Team

Redeco of the Land Military Team. Each features launching missiles.

Sea Mini-Con Team

Each features launching missiles.

Wave 5

Air Military Mini-Con Team

Each features a weapon mode in addition to robot and vehicle.

Emergency Mini-Con Team

Each features a weapon mode in addition to robot and vehicle.

Wave 6

Road Assault Mini-Con Team

Redeco of the Race Mini-Con Team. Combine to form the Skyboom Shield.

Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team

Redeco of the Destruction Team. Each features geared moving parts activated by rolling the vehicle or by attaching the figure to Cyclonus.

Wave 7

Emergency Mini-Con Team

Same-character redeco of the Emergency Team. Each features a weapon mode in addition to robot and vehicle.

Sea Mini-Con Team

Same-character redeco of the Sea Team. Each features launching missiles.

Super-Con

File:Hotshotarmadatoy.jpg

Wave 1

Wave 2

Wave 3

Wave 4

Wave 5

Wave 6

Wave 7

Wave 8

Max-Con

Wave 1

Wave 2

Wave 3

Wave 4

Wave 5

Giga-Con

Wave 1

Wave 2

Wave 3

Wave 4

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

North American store exclusives

K-Mart

Japanese exclusives

X-Dimensions

  • MM-07 Air Defense Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-08 Land Military Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-09 Destruction Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-10 Race Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-12 Air Military Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-14 Space Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-16 Adventure Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-18 Sea Micron X-Dimensions
  • MM-21 Emergency Micron X-Dimensions

Micron Booster Ver.0

Exclusive to TF Station affiliate stores. Rod and Atlas were redecos of Sparkplug in red and blue. The versions of the Air Defense Team and Race Team in the set were slightly more shiny than normal.

Store exclusives

Toys "R" Us

  • Land Military Micron Ultimate Edition (Toys"R"Us Japan/Hello Mac exclusive)
  • Land Military Micron Night Attack Edition (Toys"R"Us Japan exclusive, unchanged Night Attack Team)
  • Airazor with Nightscream (unchanged, USA Edition)
  • Skywarp with Thunderclash (unchanged, USA Edition)
  • Cheetor with Cliffjumper (unchanged, USA Edition, Toys "R" Us website-only)
  • Predacon with Skid-Z and Side Burn (unchanged, USA Edition, Toys "R" Us website-only)
  • Powerlinx Jetfire with Comettor (unchanged, USA Edition)
  • Magna Convoy DX Set (マグナコンボイDXセット)
    • Convoy Super Mode Final Battle Color Version (コンボイスーパーモード・ファイナルバトルカラーバージョン)
    • Ultra Magnus Special Clear Version (ウルトラマグナス・スペシャルクリアバージョン)
    • Street Action Micron X-Dimensions

Ito Yokado

  • Destruction Micron Undergrove Edition (Ito Yokado exclusive)
  • Race Micron Road Assault Edition (Ito Yokado exclusive, unchanged Road Assault Team)
  • Street Speed Micron Overdrive Edition (Ito Yokado/17th Next Generation World Hobby Fair exclusive)

Jusco

  • Destruction Micron Space Galaxy Edition (Jusco exclusive)
  • Rhinox with Armorhide (unchanged, USA Edition)
  • Terrorsaur with Ironhide (unchanged, USA Edition)

Other

  • Destruction White Micron (TF Station exclusive, used for a painting contest)
  • Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone (LaOX exclusive, unchanged, USA Edition)
  • Powerlinx Thrust with Inferno (LaOX exclusive, unchanged, USA Edition)
  • Powerlinx Thrust with Inferno (Toy's Dream Project/Toy Card exclusive, red version)

Magazine exclusives

  • Prime Super Mode was available bundled with an issue of TV Boy magazine.
  • Scourge with Sweep and Crystal Convoy with Spark Surge were mail-aways available from TV Magazine.
  • Black Megatron with Barrel, Kinpika Convoy with Prime, Kinpika Jetfire with Sonar, and Tokubetsu Ultra Magnus with Magnus were all "lucky draw" prizes available from various magazines.
  • Hikari no Unicron, the Unicron of Light, was available as the grand prize of the "Micron Legend Year Book 2003 Publication Commemoration Giveaway," a contest in Japan tied to the Micron Densetsu Year Book 2003; only 10 Unicrons of Light were produced. The fourth prize in this same contest was a "Special Color Micron", a random member of the Hazard Team in brighter colors, limited to 100 pieces total; these almost seem to be rarer than the Unicron of Light itself, as to date the Year Book version of Quench has never been seen.

Media exclusives

  • More show-accurate versions of the Street Action Micron and Air Defense Micron were available with CDs of the first Legend of the Microns opening and closing themes.
Odds he'll set a caravan on fire? Pretty good.

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(!).


After cancellation

The Universe (2008) toyline includes toys marked as "Armada series".

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

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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