Transformers: Armada (cartoon)
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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, this continuity family is now known as the Unicron Trilogy.
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.
Micron Densetsu has the opening songs "TRANSFORMER -Dream Again-" and "Transformers ~Kōtetsu no Yūki~", with the ending songs "Never Ending Road" and "Don't Give Up!!".
- Followed by: Energon
Characters
Major Locations
- Lunar Base (Decepticon HQ)
- Cybertron
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 wound up airing first in the United States with a dub by ADR studio Voicebox, and was then broadcast in Japan six months after the American premiere. By contrast, the last story arc of the series debuted in the United Kingdom, followed soon after by Canada, and then the US; by the end, the Japanese airing had also overtaken America.
When Armada was first announced, an unnamed Hasbro source was quoted as claiming Mainframe Entertainment had been "tapped" to make the show. Sadly, this didn't happen.[1]
Criticisms
The English dub of Armada was plagued with errors—not deliberate changes in premise and dialogue (although those did exist), or other things that would make a typical anime fan claim the dub was "bad", but genuine, quantifiable technical faults on a scripting and production level that make it clear the show was put together hastily, haphazardly, and was, ultimately, simply not up to modern broadcast standards when it was released. Most explicit are the repeated instances of characters being referred to with the wrong name, particularly the Mini-Cons, but evidence strongly suggesting that many scripts were translated only very roughly, and never given proper re-writes to either adapt them for a Western audience, or to even check if they actually corroborated what was happening on-screen. Characters give long, rambling, semi-coherent monologues, react strangely to one another's dialogue, have very disjointed "conversations", reiterate obvious plot points to one another, and repeatedly use stock phrases such as "Hey, wait up!" Moments of intended silence are filled with babble, especially the dreaded "Uh?" every time a character reacts to anything.
Armada is also well known for its widely fluctuating animation quality. Many of these episodes often riddled with not only animation errors, but woefully frequent, badly-drawn, off-model artwork that puts even some of Generation 1's infamous animation errors to shame. Some of this animation was cleaned up for the show's later broadcast in Japan. The most publicized example is the episode "Linkup", which featured some significantly altered and corrected animation. 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, on the whole it is not nearly as different as internet pundits may lead you to believe. Generally speaking, it looks pretty much as bad in Japanese as it does in English.
These problems are generally understood to be due in large part to an extremely rushed production schedule—a fact that should be obvious when one realizes that Armada was 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:
- Initial plans called for Dreamwave to supply character models for the series (at least, that was the claim), 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 toy line's release.
Debuting with a premiere three-part "movie" at the same time as the 21st century reinventions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Masters of the Universe, these immediately-apparent twin flaws 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. Flack continued to pile up as the first quarter of the series proved to be a series 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 threat 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. In the grand scheme of things, it is only the existence of Armada's even-worse-received sequel, Energon, that keeps it from being widely considered the worst Transformers cartoon ever (and even then, in many corners of the fandom, it still "wins" that poll).
All of this, however, did not stop the toyline being a runaway success, spawning a new generation of Transformers fans for whom Armada was the gateway into the franchise. So, it's got that going for it, historically speaking.
Reception
Although fans had a mixed reaction towards the product as a whole (which is typical of any new series), it was incredibly successful with the target audience, children ages 4–9. The toys sold like hotcakes, prompting Hasbro to pad out the tail end of the toyline with a number of Beast Wars redecos.
The success of Armada led to the more expensive R&D that went into the next two franchises, Energon and Cybertron. It also prompted the launch of the Transformers Universe subline, as demand for Transformers product continued to outstrip Hasbro's ability to develop new molds.
Episodes
- First Encounter
- Metamorphosis
- Base
- Comrade
- Soldier
- Jungle
- Carnival
- Palace
- Confrontation
- Underground
- Ruin
- Prehistory
- Swoop
- Overmatch
- Gale
- Credulous
- Conspiracy
- Trust
- Vacation
- Reinforcement
- Decisive Battle
- Vow
- Rebellion
- Chase
- Tactician
- Linkup
- Detection
- Awakening
- Desperate
- Runaway
- Past
- Past II
- Sacrifice
- Regeneration
- Rescue
- Mars
- Crack
- Threaten
- Crisis
- Remorse
- Depart
- Miracle
- Puppet
- Uprising
- Dash
- Drift
- Portent
- Cramp
- Alliance
- Union
- Origin
- Mortal Combat
Home video releases
Micron Densetsu
The Micron Densetsu 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: Micron Densetsu 1 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 2 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 3 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 4 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 5 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 6 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 7 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 8 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 9 (2003)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 10 (2004)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 11 (2004)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 12 (2004)
- Transformers: Micron Densetsu 13 (2004)
Armada
United Kingdom
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
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
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 Video Now system.
Shout! Factory released the complete series on an eight-disc DVD set in 2014.
- Transformers Armada: The Complete Series (2014)
Germany
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)
Russia
Union Video released a DVD collection in Russia.
