Transformers: Armada
Encyclopedia
Transformers: Armada, known in Japan as , is a Transformers animated series, comic series and toy line which ran from 2002–2003. It was originally scheduled for 2001, however was delayed until early-2002. As the first series co-produced between the American toy company, Hasbro
, and their Japanese counterpart, Takara
, Armada begins a new continuity/universe for Transformers, with no ties to any of the previous series, including the immediately prior Transformers: Robots in Disguise
in 2001.
The show was criticized by some for having a simplistic plot and one-dimensional characters, but also has a devoted cult following, particularly for its later storylines incorporating Unicron and for its atypical depiction of the longtime fan favorite character Starscream. Ultimately, it is one of the most highly debated Transformers series in terms of quality. It would go on to birth a sequel in the form of Transformers: Energon
.
and impacts with the moon of Earth, breaking in two. One portion of the ship stays embedded on the Moon, while the other plummets to the planet below. The Mini-Cons, all locked in stasis panels, are scattered across the globe. The ship crashes to Earth and millions of years pass.
When Bradley "Rad" White and Carlos Lopez investigate the caves outside their city, they accidentally uncover the wreckage of the Mini-Con ship and activate it, causing it to send a signal that alerts both the Autobots and Decepticons as to the Mini-Cons' presence on Earth. Megatron and Optimus Prime's forces teleport to Earth from Cybertron as a result. Rad, Carlos and their friend Alexis befriend the Autobots, along with the Mini-Cons High Wire, Grindor and Sureshock (known commonly as the street team minicons in the toyline). The Transformers assume earthen alternate modes, and the hunt begins in earnest to locate the scattered Mini-Cons.
After a series of battles, each of the Transformers successfully acquires a partner Mini-Con. Smokescreen arrives to join the Autobots' team. Hologram-recordings in a sunken city reveal the existence of the mighty Mini-Con weapon, the Star Saber
. The Decepticons possess one component of the weapon, and invade the Autobot base to steal the remaining two pieces, only for the Autobots to seize possession of the sword.
A mysterious mercenary named Scavenger
arrives on Earth and sides with the Decepticons, urging them to locate the components of the Skyboom Shield, another Mini-Con weapon that can counter the power of the Star Saber. At the same time, a drifter named Sideways enters the fray, siding with the Autobots, but soon reveals his allegiance to the Decepticons. Sideways manipulates Hot Shot, allowing the Star Saber to fall into the Decepticons' hands.
Concurrently Scavenger reveals himself to be an undercover Autobot, and rejoins his fellows, soon followed by Blurr, the latest arrival from Cybertron. When the Decepticons complete the Skyboom Shield, a mighty battle ensues that ends with the Autobots gaining possession of the shield. The two weapons unleash a powerful energy flare, drawing the Decepticons, Thrust and Tidal Wave, to Earth.
Meanwhile, Sideways surreptitiously stirs up trouble in the Decepticon camp by playing on their contradictions. While luring the Autobots' human allies into cyberspace in an attempt to capture their Mini-Cons, Sideways reveals that he serves a mysterious higher power(later revealed to be unicron). Thrust arrives and puts his tactical prowess into play, only for his schemes to be foiled by the arrival of the Autobot, Jetfire, whose power to combine with Optimus Prime defeats Thrust's schemes.
With Sideways's deceptions revealed, Megatron destroys him with the Star Saber, but Sideways reforms his body and escapes. Tidal Wave arrives on Earth, and the Autobots prove vastly outmatched. Rad, Carlos and Alexis are alerted to the existence of the Requiem Blaster (the third Mini-Con weapon) by Sideways, and locate Skyblast, one of its components. Skyblast sings an eerie harmony that summons the other two Mini-Cons from their stasis, and they form the Blaster, allowing Optimus Prime to defeat Tidal Wave. (Episode 36 Mars)
Both sides soon gain new members in Sideswipe and Wheeljack, the former an eager new Autobot, and the latter a former Autobot who has joined the Decepticons, believing that Hot Shot betrayed him on Cybertron. Thrust formulates a new scheme that allows the Decepticons to steal the Requiem Blaster (mortally wounding Smokescreen in the process, causing Red Alert to re-format him into the more powerful form of Hoist). Starscream is his patsy, leading the already-alienated Decepticon to turn on Megatron and side with the Autobots. Starscream forms a friendship with the kids, particularly Alexis, and allowing the Autobots access to the Decepticons' base.
A raid allows the Autobots to free the Mini-Cons, but Starscream is then manipulated by Thrust (himself being manipulated by Sideways) into stealing the Skyboom Shield and star saber and rejoining the Decepticons. With all three Mini-Con weapons now in their possession, the Decepticons create the Hydra Cannon, a weapon that combines all their power, and plan to destroy Earth from orbit. Optimus Prime uses his Matrix to absorb the blast, but sacrifices himself in the process.
The Decepticons head for Cybertron in their craft, and the Autobots (now with Hot Shot in command) hastily construct a craft (named the Axalon
, a small tribute to the similarly named ship from Beast Wars
) to pursue them. The Mini-Cons, now unleashing their true powers, accompany them into space, immediately leading into a battle that sees them use their full power to resurrect Optimus Prime.
A black hole transports a small number of Autobots and Decepticons to a barren world where they are ravaged by Nemesis Prime, a twisted clone of Optimus, and have their power and armor enhanced by the Mini-Cons (with Megatron renaming himself Galvatron in the US-version). Subsequently, the Decepticons return to Cybertron and quickly overthrow most of the planet through the powers of the Mini-Con weapons. Hot Shot assaults the Decepticon base solo, resulting in the revelation of Thrust's treachery. Thrust escapes with the Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster, delivering them to Sideways, who uses them to awaken the great and terrible Unicron
, an enemy whose coming the Mini-Cons had foretold.
Rad and his friends are sent drifting through time, where it is revealed that via this, they played a part in the development of the Mini-Cons and the Mini-Cons are also revealed to be the cells of Unicron. Megatron refuses to believe in the threat of Unicron, and Starscream forces him into a duel - a duel Starscream purposefully loses, sacrificing himself to prove to Megatron the threat of Unicron exists. Sideways steals the Star Saber, fully awakening Unicron, as the Autobots and Decepticons unite into one Armada that attacks the colossal Transformer, who had been disguised as Cybertron's moon.
Megatron and Optimus Prime enter Unicron's body, where Sideways reveals himself to be created by Unicron as an emissary to bring the Mini-Cons back under his master's control, only to have Rad re-awaken their minds, allowing the Mini-Con weapons to free themselves, de-powering Unicron. With Sideways killed and the threat of Unicron apparently gone, Megatron challenges Prime to a final battle, only for the energy released by their conflict to reactivate Unicron. Upon realizing his mistake to continue the hatred, Megatron decides to sacrifice himself to end the cycle of hate that allows Unicron to exist. With Megatron's death, Unicron mysteriously disappears, and peace returns to Cybertron. Despite justice being given for all Transformers, Optimus Prime feels dishonored, saying he doesn't deserve the Matrix anymore, and instead goes into exile. In addition, the kids are dropped home by Hotshot and Jetfire. Unicron reappears at the end.
's Toonami
in America before its original Japanese counterpart had aired - the result of an unreasonable production schedule set by the network, which caused the series to be rushed out of production. Consequently, Armada features a lot of unfinished animation (which would go on to be perfected for the completed Japanese episodes), and a hastily produced dub which features many errors in naming such as "Sureshock" being repeatedly called "Grindor" in multiple episodes and "Hotshot" being called "Hotrod", transliteration, and nonsensical dialogue which does not match the action onscreen.
When Armada was released on DVD in Japan, each of the thirteen volumes came with a four-page mini-manga
and an exclusive repainted Mini-Con figure. The manga, titled Tales of the Microns: Linkage, feature these repaints in an original story which served to fill in many of the blank spots and plot holes in the animated series.
and released for PlayStation 2
by Atari
on May 11, 2004 in North America and May 7, 2004 in Europe, the Transformers video game (originally called "Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon", but simply titled again as "Transformers".) is loosely based on the Armada series. In the game you play as three Autobot
s: Optimus Prime, Hot Shot and Red Alert
. The general story is the same as the TV show, you must find and collect the Mini-Cons and fight off Megatron and his Decepticon
s. In the game, you travel through various large environments on Earth (such as the Amazon Jungle and Antarctica) while fighting off Megatron's "Decepticlone" army and finding Mini-Cons that give the player's character different abilities in order to get further into the game. The player will also fight a number of familiar Decepticons from the Armada show, such as Starscream, Cyclonus
and Tidal Wave
. The plot is similar to Armada, right down to the final battle with Unicron
at the end. A few of the voice actors from the show (notably Gary Chalk
as Prime and David Kaye
as Megatron) voiced for the game. There are also subtle references to The Transformers: The Movie
. The game is rated T on the ESRB ratings scale
.
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
, and their Japanese counterpart, Takara
Takara
Takara Co., Ltd. was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955, that merged with another prominent Japanese toy company, Tomy Co., Ltd., on March 1, 2006 to form Takara Tomy, also known in English as TOMY Company Ltd....
, Armada begins a new continuity/universe for Transformers, with no ties to any of the previous series, including the immediately prior Transformers: Robots in Disguise
Transformers: Robots in Disguise
Transformers: Robots in Disguise, known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series and serves as a self-contained universe separate from any of the other existing Transformers universes...
in 2001.
The show was criticized by some for having a simplistic plot and one-dimensional characters, but also has a devoted cult following, particularly for its later storylines incorporating Unicron and for its atypical depiction of the longtime fan favorite character Starscream. Ultimately, it is one of the most highly debated Transformers series in terms of quality. It would go on to birth a sequel in the form of Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Energon, known in Japan as , is the 2004–2005 Transformers toyline, animated series and comic book series, another co-production between Hasbro and Takara and a direct sequel to Transformers: Armada...
.
Plot
On the planet of Cybertron, war rages between the two factions known as the Autobots and the Decepticons over the race of smaller, power-enhancing Transformers called Mini-Cons. Seeking to flee the conflict that surrounds them, the Mini-Cons escape Cybertron with the aid of the Autobots, but an attack by the Decepticons cripples the ship as it flees through a spacebridge. The ship materializes in the Solar systemSolar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
and impacts with the moon of Earth, breaking in two. One portion of the ship stays embedded on the Moon, while the other plummets to the planet below. The Mini-Cons, all locked in stasis panels, are scattered across the globe. The ship crashes to Earth and millions of years pass.
When Bradley "Rad" White and Carlos Lopez investigate the caves outside their city, they accidentally uncover the wreckage of the Mini-Con ship and activate it, causing it to send a signal that alerts both the Autobots and Decepticons as to the Mini-Cons' presence on Earth. Megatron and Optimus Prime's forces teleport to Earth from Cybertron as a result. Rad, Carlos and their friend Alexis befriend the Autobots, along with the Mini-Cons High Wire, Grindor and Sureshock (known commonly as the street team minicons in the toyline). The Transformers assume earthen alternate modes, and the hunt begins in earnest to locate the scattered Mini-Cons.
After a series of battles, each of the Transformers successfully acquires a partner Mini-Con. Smokescreen arrives to join the Autobots' team. Hologram-recordings in a sunken city reveal the existence of the mighty Mini-Con weapon, the Star Saber
Star Saber
Star Saber is the name of several fictional characters and also a legendary weapon in the Transformers toyline. He is the protagonist in the Japanese exclusive series Transformers: Victory.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
. The Decepticons possess one component of the weapon, and invade the Autobot base to steal the remaining two pieces, only for the Autobots to seize possession of the sword.
A mysterious mercenary named Scavenger
Scavenger (Transformers)
Scavenger is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. Scavenger is usually depicted as a villain who turns into a construction vehicle.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
arrives on Earth and sides with the Decepticons, urging them to locate the components of the Skyboom Shield, another Mini-Con weapon that can counter the power of the Star Saber. At the same time, a drifter named Sideways enters the fray, siding with the Autobots, but soon reveals his allegiance to the Decepticons. Sideways manipulates Hot Shot, allowing the Star Saber to fall into the Decepticons' hands.
Concurrently Scavenger reveals himself to be an undercover Autobot, and rejoins his fellows, soon followed by Blurr, the latest arrival from Cybertron. When the Decepticons complete the Skyboom Shield, a mighty battle ensues that ends with the Autobots gaining possession of the shield. The two weapons unleash a powerful energy flare, drawing the Decepticons, Thrust and Tidal Wave, to Earth.
Meanwhile, Sideways surreptitiously stirs up trouble in the Decepticon camp by playing on their contradictions. While luring the Autobots' human allies into cyberspace in an attempt to capture their Mini-Cons, Sideways reveals that he serves a mysterious higher power(later revealed to be unicron). Thrust arrives and puts his tactical prowess into play, only for his schemes to be foiled by the arrival of the Autobot, Jetfire, whose power to combine with Optimus Prime defeats Thrust's schemes.
With Sideways's deceptions revealed, Megatron destroys him with the Star Saber, but Sideways reforms his body and escapes. Tidal Wave arrives on Earth, and the Autobots prove vastly outmatched. Rad, Carlos and Alexis are alerted to the existence of the Requiem Blaster (the third Mini-Con weapon) by Sideways, and locate Skyblast, one of its components. Skyblast sings an eerie harmony that summons the other two Mini-Cons from their stasis, and they form the Blaster, allowing Optimus Prime to defeat Tidal Wave. (Episode 36 Mars)
Both sides soon gain new members in Sideswipe and Wheeljack, the former an eager new Autobot, and the latter a former Autobot who has joined the Decepticons, believing that Hot Shot betrayed him on Cybertron. Thrust formulates a new scheme that allows the Decepticons to steal the Requiem Blaster (mortally wounding Smokescreen in the process, causing Red Alert to re-format him into the more powerful form of Hoist). Starscream is his patsy, leading the already-alienated Decepticon to turn on Megatron and side with the Autobots. Starscream forms a friendship with the kids, particularly Alexis, and allowing the Autobots access to the Decepticons' base.
A raid allows the Autobots to free the Mini-Cons, but Starscream is then manipulated by Thrust (himself being manipulated by Sideways) into stealing the Skyboom Shield and star saber and rejoining the Decepticons. With all three Mini-Con weapons now in their possession, the Decepticons create the Hydra Cannon, a weapon that combines all their power, and plan to destroy Earth from orbit. Optimus Prime uses his Matrix to absorb the blast, but sacrifices himself in the process.
The Decepticons head for Cybertron in their craft, and the Autobots (now with Hot Shot in command) hastily construct a craft (named the Axalon
Axalon
The Axalon is the name of the fictional Maximal ship in the Beast Wars cartoon and comic books. In addition, in the Transformers: Armada cartoon, the Autobots constructed a space ship that was also named the Axalon, possibly in reference to the original Maximal ship.-History:The Axalon, commanded...
, a small tribute to the similarly named ship from Beast Wars
Beast Wars
Transformers: Beast Wars is a Transformers toyline released by Hasbro between 1995 and 2000, and a Daytime Emmy Award winning full-CG animated television series spawned by it that debuted in 1996...
) to pursue them. The Mini-Cons, now unleashing their true powers, accompany them into space, immediately leading into a battle that sees them use their full power to resurrect Optimus Prime.
A black hole transports a small number of Autobots and Decepticons to a barren world where they are ravaged by Nemesis Prime, a twisted clone of Optimus, and have their power and armor enhanced by the Mini-Cons (with Megatron renaming himself Galvatron in the US-version). Subsequently, the Decepticons return to Cybertron and quickly overthrow most of the planet through the powers of the Mini-Con weapons. Hot Shot assaults the Decepticon base solo, resulting in the revelation of Thrust's treachery. Thrust escapes with the Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster, delivering them to Sideways, who uses them to awaken the great and terrible Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
, an enemy whose coming the Mini-Cons had foretold.
Rad and his friends are sent drifting through time, where it is revealed that via this, they played a part in the development of the Mini-Cons and the Mini-Cons are also revealed to be the cells of Unicron. Megatron refuses to believe in the threat of Unicron, and Starscream forces him into a duel - a duel Starscream purposefully loses, sacrificing himself to prove to Megatron the threat of Unicron exists. Sideways steals the Star Saber, fully awakening Unicron, as the Autobots and Decepticons unite into one Armada that attacks the colossal Transformer, who had been disguised as Cybertron's moon.
Megatron and Optimus Prime enter Unicron's body, where Sideways reveals himself to be created by Unicron as an emissary to bring the Mini-Cons back under his master's control, only to have Rad re-awaken their minds, allowing the Mini-Con weapons to free themselves, de-powering Unicron. With Sideways killed and the threat of Unicron apparently gone, Megatron challenges Prime to a final battle, only for the energy released by their conflict to reactivate Unicron. Upon realizing his mistake to continue the hatred, Megatron decides to sacrifice himself to end the cycle of hate that allows Unicron to exist. With Megatron's death, Unicron mysteriously disappears, and peace returns to Cybertron. Despite justice being given for all Transformers, Optimus Prime feels dishonored, saying he doesn't deserve the Matrix anymore, and instead goes into exile. In addition, the kids are dropped home by Hotshot and Jetfire. Unicron reappears at the end.
Anime
Transformers: Armada was written and produced in Japan, with creative input from America (the Japanese originally envisioned the series as set in the G1 continuity, but this idea was discarded by Hasbro, who also mandated the inclusion of Unicron, who had not been in the original story treatment for the series). However, the show premiered on Cartoon NetworkCartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
's Toonami
Toonami
Toonami was a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing American cartoons and Japanese anime, originating in the United States on March 17, 1997 and ended on September 20, 2008.The...
in America before its original Japanese counterpart had aired - the result of an unreasonable production schedule set by the network, which caused the series to be rushed out of production. Consequently, Armada features a lot of unfinished animation (which would go on to be perfected for the completed Japanese episodes), and a hastily produced dub which features many errors in naming such as "Sureshock" being repeatedly called "Grindor" in multiple episodes and "Hotshot" being called "Hotrod", transliteration, and nonsensical dialogue which does not match the action onscreen.
When Armada was released on DVD in Japan, each of the thirteen volumes came with a four-page mini-manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and an exclusive repainted Mini-Con figure. The manga, titled Tales of the Microns: Linkage, feature these repaints in an original story which served to fill in many of the blank spots and plot holes in the animated series.
PlayStation 2 video game
Developed by Melbourne HouseMelbourne House
Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was a video game development studio founded in 1980 and based in Melbourne, Australia. The studio operated independently from 1987 until 1999, when it was acquired by Infogrames, who changed the name to Melbourne House...
and released for PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
by Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
on May 11, 2004 in North America and May 7, 2004 in Europe, the Transformers video game (originally called "Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon", but simply titled again as "Transformers".) is loosely based on the Armada series. In the game you play as three Autobot
Autobot
Autobot, a faction of sentient robots from the planet Cybertron, are usually the main protagonists in the fictional universe of the Transformers, a collection of various toys, graphic novels, paperback books, cartoons and movies first introduced in 1984. In all but one Transformer story, the...
s: Optimus Prime, Hot Shot and Red Alert
Red Alert (Transformers)
Red Alert is the name of several characters in the various fictional Transformers universes.- Transformers Generation 1:Red Alert is the Autobot security director. He has enhanced senses and is usually depicted as a friend of the Autobot Inferno.- Marvel Comics :Red Alert did not appear in the U.S...
. The general story is the same as the TV show, you must find and collect the Mini-Cons and fight off Megatron and his Decepticon
Decepticon
The Decepticons are usually depicted as the antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers stoyline and related comics and cartoons, and the enemies of the Autobots and the University of California Davis Aggies...
s. In the game, you travel through various large environments on Earth (such as the Amazon Jungle and Antarctica) while fighting off Megatron's "Decepticlone" army and finding Mini-Cons that give the player's character different abilities in order to get further into the game. The player will also fight a number of familiar Decepticons from the Armada show, such as Starscream, Cyclonus
Cyclonus
Cyclonus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:The tech spec from the box art of the Cyclonus toy describes him as a compassionless Decepticon air warrior and saboteur...
and Tidal Wave
Tidal Wave (Transformers)
Tidal Wave is the name of a fictional character from Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon. He is a Decepticon, and at one point of the Energon series, he was rebuilt as Mirage....
. The plot is similar to Armada, right down to the final battle with Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
at the end. A few of the voice actors from the show (notably Gary Chalk
Gary Chalk (actor)
Gary Chalk is an English-born Canadian actor, tri-national US-Canadian-UK citizen and voice artist. He has lend hit voice in over 30 animated television series and has been in films such as The Fly II and Freddy vs. Jason....
as Prime and David Kaye
David Kaye
David V. Hope , known professionally as David Kaye, is a Canadian American actor who is better recognized for his work as a voice actor...
as Megatron) voiced for the game. There are also subtle references to The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986....
. The game is rated T on the ESRB ratings scale
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...
.