(JULY-2013) Armada Era Cartoon - Reviews and Favourites

Armada in 2002 was the beginning of a new era in Transformers, starting a long-term project from Hasbro, jointly with TakaraTomy in Japan.
It was a fully launched (or re-launching) of the brand, in all mediums - toys, cartoon, comic, and even a video game.

The cartoon went for a single season of 52 episodes, and was (loosely translated) called "Micron Legend" in Japan.

Details of this series can be read up here.

Did you watch any of the Armada cartoon?
If so, what did you think of it?

Here's your chance to re-watch and review the series.

Any Episodes you want to review?

Are any of the episodes recommended viewing for others?

Ok, slightly off topic, has there ever been a local DVD release of Armada, Universe and Energon ?

Been trying to catch them on YouTube :-(

I've watched both Micron Legend and Armada, and I prefer Micron Legend. One thing I really didn't like about the Armada dubs was how they just made a lot of the Transformers sound and behave the same as each other with little effort made to make them distinct from each other. Watching Hot Shot, Red Alert, Smokescreen etc. talk to each other was just dull... at times it became hard to tell who was who in terms of character differentiation... oh wait, they're all just the damn same! :rolleyes: Micron Legend made a deliberate effort to make each individual Transformer sound/behave differently and distinctive from each other, something that I felt was overlooked in the Armada dubbing. :( I also found Micron Legend Starscream to be an honorable and noble character that I could empathise with, but that this nobility was just lost in the Armada version which I couldn't invest in. :(

And having Optimus Prime and Megatron refer to the Autobots and Decepticons as "men" was just cringeworthy. It's as if the dub writers totally forgot that these are robots. I do like the visual Easter Eggs in the show though with the multitude of G1 characters appearing here and there (even if they were often horribly miscoloured :p). After speaking to Garry Chalk about his experience on Armada, it was obvious that it wasn't quite as positive as the experience on Beast Wars -- and it's the exact same thing I get from speaking to any voice actor about working on dubs. It's restrictive on their creativity and they really cannot perform their art at the same level as with something that's originally in their language. Hearing their voices on the PlayStation Armada game was a LOT better IMHO.

All I've seen of the Armada cartoon is Starscream's death. And since many regard that as the pinnacle of the series, I never bothered with the rest.

(It was a pretty boss death though):cool:

Did you watch any of the Armada cartoon?
If so, what did you think of it?
Until we get to 'Animated', my reviews of the cartoons are mostly negative. Got them all downloaded, seen many Armada episodes, remember few

Are any of the episodes recommended viewing for others?
Some decent fights near the end of the series between Optimus and Megatron/Galvatron. Those fights were quite well animated too in my opinion. The Starscream Meg/Galv fight was very good as well, though Starscream talked too much ;) So if I was to recommend any I would suggest folk skipping to the last few of the 52 episodes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by serialmonkey

Ok, slightly off topic, has there ever been a local DVD release of Armada, Universe and Energon ?

Been trying to catch them on YouTube :-(

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Armada was released here. I think in full. Several episodes per disc over many individual releases. A few Cybertron episodes were available on DVD. There's never been a box set of any here.

I've got Armada on DVD via an Asian release. I haven't rewatched it though so I'm going on 10 year old memories. I recall the early eps were too repetitive. The catch em all aspect was worst back then. I didnt mind the kids actually and I liked the Fred and Billy even managed to help out in the end.

The later eps, as the threat of Unicron became real, were the better ones. But the animation overall was pretty poor and with other options available, I wouldn't say Armada is a must see.

Did you watch any of the Armada cartoon?
Yes.

If so, what did you think of it?
Better than the rest of the Unicron trilogy. Not a fan of Garry Chalk's Prime, mostly because he's no Peter Cullen. That PS2 game was fun, not particularly well written but damn fun for it's time.

Did you watch any of the Armada cartoon?
If so, what did you think of it?
Loved the designs. The story telling lacked at times and the kids could get annoying. But also some great story arcs.

Are any of the episodes recommended viewing for others?
Any that involve starscream

Watched the first few eps myself. It was ok. Cybertron is much better though IMHO. ;)

Dubs could be better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by serialmonkey

Ok, slightly off topic, has there ever been a local DVD release of Armada, Universe and Energon ?

Been trying to catch them on YouTube :-(

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The DVD came out here in 15 volumes. My local library has the whole set.

Did you watch any of the Armada cartoon?
If so, what did you think of it?

Watched the whole series and even bought the DVD's. loved the series even with the human factor, but could have been more transformer related.

Any Episodes you want to review?

Episode Cramp. Finally after finding out that unicon is going to devour Cybertron the Autobots and Decepticons have now a common goal, and it is good to see that they can work together to save Cyberton. Such an epic battle for the two sides.even after sideways steals the Star saber.

Are any of the episodes recommended viewing for others?

Pretty much the whole series, considering that it needs to be followed from the start.

Armada was the third Transformers cartoon I've watched (after Beast Wars and RiD), but was the second one I watched after it ignited my interest for Transformers that started in RiD. Watching it as a kid, the minicon concept where it partners with a Transformers and powers them up was quite cool. I didn't mind the focus on collecting the minicons in the early episodes, and I didn't even notice the errors in animation.

After rewatching it last year, it doesn't hold up as well, and I can see a lot of flaws. Yet it was still enjoyable and there are some really neat concepts here. There's the aforementioned minicons, I loved Sideways' shifting allegiance (with the head gimmick where it changes depending on whether he was an Autobot or Decepticon) and I really loved Starscream's defection to the Autobots (no matter how short).

Armada Starscream is my favourite rendition of the character, he's got a great design, and he's the most honourable out of all his iterations. I liked his wingblade and shoulder cannons. His death scene was also quite memorable. It was this show that made Starscream one of my favourite characters in terms of both design and personality.

I know many say that the series pick up in the latter episodes when Unicron shows up but I still found it to be quite average. There wasn't a real plot and Unicron never really came online (which meant no big battle). I did think that the teamwork between Optimus and Megatron was great. While there were many concepts that I loved, overall, Armada was an average cartoon.