(JULY-2013) Armada Era Comic - 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.

It spawned a comic that told a different version of events of the Armada universe... and also spawned a troubled comic company (Dreamwave), that folded while this comic series (as Energon) and three others were in mid-production.

As part off the global relaunching of the Brand, Dreamwave's Armada comic wasn't the only one produced either - the toys had a 5-part comic included in the 5 waves of the toyline, and the UK had a comic series by Panini as well.


Details of this series can be read up here.

If you have the comics, have a refresher read and tell us a bit about them.

Are they worth buying after all this time, and what is good or bad about them.

Are there any specific issues or stories you'd recommend to others?

How do they compare to the current era of Transformers comics?

I quite like the Worlds Collide Saga. I much prefer the Armada comics over the cartoon series. What I quite like about them is how they gave more characterisation to the Mini-Cons, and also how they portrayed Cybertron as a caste society. :)

Hmm, I am going to re-read the Armada comics, but I remember not really enjoying it until the Worlds Collide part of the story. And then it ended. And the boring Energon comic started.

I rather disliked the normal comic. Horrible art with fat stupid looking robots for the most part and boring as hell. I only bothered getting them all for the Armada Universe comics and by the time I had decided I hated them, they were working into the Energon so I kept going for the sake of continuity. Which I am glad I did because when the worlds collide, which iirc was written by Simon Furman, things got pretty good.

And then it went back to being boring, but boring Energon comics, with fat stupid looking robots :p

The fatness was due to Pat Lee's influence/direction over Dreamwave's artwork... :rolleyes: But Guido Guidi didn't allow himself to be influenced by it (at least not as much as other artists did*) and his artwork in the series was great. :) Armada was Guidi's debut as a Transformers artist in an official capacity, and thankfully he's stuck around. :D

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*Possibly because he was an "outsourced" artist from overseas while the others were directly working with/under Pat Lee at Dreamwave. Just my guesstimation. :o

Are they worth buying after all this time, and what is good or bad about them.
Got all the Dreamwave comics and 3 of the Panini ones when I was in the UK. The Dreamwave ones were very good with far better storylines than the cartoon. The Panini ones were average as more magazines than comics, but came with cool free toys. LOVE my mini-con holding cell! I'd certainly still pick up both series!

Are there any specific issues or stories you'd recommend to others?
Definitely the Worlds Collide story arc. Was brilliant to see G1 Galvatron & Bludgeon turn up and put the smack down on Armada Starscream and the Autobots! Also the issue where Leader-1 takes over the Mini-Con moonbase and tries to off Megatron - great stuff!

How do they compare to the current era of Transformers comics?
I was a fan of the Dreamwave stuff so I would say they are relatively on par. Obviously with only so many issues (19 I think) before it went from 'Armada' to 'Energon' they didn't have much of a chance to build an entire fictional universe out of it.


First Panini issue I got when in the UK (photo from the net as dont know which box it is in :p):
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8ee309d1.jpg

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Originally Posted by griffin

Are they worth buying after all this time, and what is good or bad about them.

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Unless you're an Armada fan or completionist, honestly not. They're not the best comics out there and there's an entire IDW collection I'd rather buy.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Are there any specific issues or stories you'd recommend to others?

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As others have said, Worlds Collide picks up interest due to great art and crossovers with G1 characters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

How do they compare to the current era of Transformers comics?

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Inferior. Some of the storyboarding in Armada comics were awful. I often had to do a doubletake of some pages to understand what the hell was going on.

Despite my negative comments I still enjoyed them. Like Gok said, the characterisation given to the minicons and Cybertronian society are highlights. It is also a generally good story.

the dreamwave comic was one of the first tf comics i ever read, liked it quite a lot.

Worlds Collide and The End were amongst the best comics Dreamwave released. Not high praise at all, but it felt great to see Furman writing Spinister, Scourge, Thunderwing, Galvatron and Bludgeon again. And Airazor, Terrorsaur, Cheetor and Rhinox's initial kidnapping to become Unicron's Four Horsemen was also memorable. The rest was awful puffy robots and the unnecessary addition of Mini-Cons to the fiction.