Transformers Armada - reloaded.

[roller]

i dont know Liege

if my kid was like rad or fred, I'd want them to bugger off with robots

Dr onishi was kidnapped, and yet Kojis mum shows up like once! im sure in 15 yrs time rad, carlos, alexis and koji will be on a thearapy lounge with Dr Katz

poor junko

[liegeprime]

They just start out as kids hanging out with alien robots and that's it. They don't even go home at all. What are they runaways, homeless vagrants or just plain delinquents? bah such discrepancies....

[griffin]

The time they spent away from home with the TFs really started to bug me as the series progressed, to the point that when they actually featured Rad's parents, it just really didn't make any sense. We have five kids, whom none of them seem to have any worried parents over a period of what may well be many months. They even have their own rooms and bathrooms in the Autobot base (Rad was taking a shower in one episode), suggesting that they lived there for extended periods of time, away from home.
The focus may be on robots to us, but if the writers and Hasbro want the focus to be on the kids for familiarity with the audience, they need to make some sense out of it by rationalising their absence, or having parental involvment/approval of their activities.
It's like their parents just don't even notice or care that they aren't around.

[Sky Shadow]

It's like their parents just don't even notice or care that they aren't around.

Could you blame them? Who wouldn't be happier if those kids weren't around? Although I did like Alexis's short-lived and rarely followed-up-upon connection with Starscream in the recent episodes you watched. I wish Armada wasn't such a mess - it's the sort of thing I want to like but it's like the series fights against me at every juncture.

[i_amtrunks]

The time they spent away from home with the TFs really started to bug me as the series progressed, to the point that when they actually featured Rad's parents, it just really didn't make any sense. We have five kids, whom none of them seem to have any worried parents over a period of what may well be many months. They even have their own rooms and bathrooms in the Autobot base (Rad was taking a shower in one episode), suggesting that they lived there for extended periods of time, away from home.
The focus may be on robots to us, but if the writers and Hasbro want the focus to be on the kids for familiarity with the audience, they need to make some sense out of it by rationalising their absence, or having parental involvment/approval of their activities.
It's like their parents just don't even notice or care that they aren't around.

They did learn from this Armada mistake by obtaining the parents permission in Galaxy Force/Cybertron.

I think the parents were just glad to be rid of their kids, especially Fred and Billy's parents (who may or may not have lived in a Caravan)

[griffin]

Season 1, Part 2, Disc 3, Episodes 41-47.

41 - Depart
The Autobots prepare to depart Earth to catch the Decepticons.
Intro - (Rad's parents)
Errors/confusion/notes:
-This is the first part of the 'Unicron Battles', making up the last 12 episodes, which is odd that it wasn't 13, to be a 'season' (multiple of 13) in TV terms.
-There is a new intro to reflect the Unicron Battles, which ends up spoiling the return of Optimus later.
-This entire episode relates to the Autobots *preparing* to leave, so very little action, and all talking.
-Highwire speaks English now.
-We see Rad's parents. He tries to explain to them all about the Transformers, but uses too many actual names, confusing them.
-Rad's father works at the observatory, but they've never seen anything of the Transformers out in space or under their noses.
-Rad is 12, but his father lets him go. And what of the parents of the other four kids?
-It's a Saturday, but Rad's mum says he is probably at school.
-Red Alert can't understand the Minicons, which is really inconsistent as to who can understand them.
-Minicons force the Autobots to take the humans with them (on this dangerous mission, to a war that is not theirs).
-The Autobot ship is underwater. Why, or how? They built it from the remnants of the Minicon ship, which was inside a mountain, with no sign of water.
-They call the ship 'Autobot Axalon', after the Beast Wars Maximal ship.
-The kids are given new uniforms (space suits).
-Rad's father is given the location of the abandoned base.
-Megatron tells the Decepticons to ignore the Autobot ship, but could be a translation error.

42 - Miracle
The Autobot ship is targetted by the Decepticons, and it takes the Minicons to protect them and bring back to life their leader, Optimus Prime.
Intro - Optimus, again.
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Smokescreen is suddenly called Hoist, and agrees to it.
-Megatron wants to attack the Autobot ship, despite the last episode scripted/translated to suggest otherwise.
-Hundreds of Minicons appear in space, but where did they all come from? They were created to infiltrate Cybertron (learnt later), and were all supposed to be on the ship to Earth. Where did these ones suddenly come from?
-Kids see the image of Unicron again, and his name is finally revealed.
-If they all have Warp technology, why go through an Asteroid field, instead of warping past it, or just directly to Cybertron?
-Iceberg is called 'Junk' by Alexis (which is the Takara Micron name).
-Thrust is now being called 'pencil-head' as well.
-The Autobot's mission was to return to Cybertron to defeat the Decepticons, so why let them leave when they are defeated in the Asteroid field?
-Did the Minicons actually merge with the Matrix, or draw out the 'spark' of Optimus from it? Or something else? The Japanese version maybe explained it, but in this English version, he just appears.
-For some reason, Megatron is happy. Even if he was short-sighted in the past, he still wanted to destroy Optimus later.

43 - Puppet
The Transformers encounter a monster of Unicron, looking like Optimus, but is only defeated when the Autobots and Decepticons join forces.
Intro - Nemesis Prime (with trailer, but never combines with it), Overload. Recoloured Starscream, Hotshot, Red Alert, Megatron (as Galvatron), and Demolishor.
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Nemesis Prime - shortest intro ever by a Transformers toy character?
-One off different intro.
-Narrator also explains the return of Optimus as something the Minicons had the power to do, but should they have that power, and why not bring others back?
-Why don't all the new Minicons go inside the ship, instead of just floating in space around the Autobot ship?
-A vortex suddenly appears, and Red Alert and Hotshot are sucked in. It is later said to be on the other side of the universe, but they are close enough for the Decepticons to arrive within a few minutes, and the Autobots soon after.
-The Minicons (who had the power to bring Optimus back to life) now also have the power to 'reformat' several characters (Megatron, Starscream, Demolishor, Hotshot, Red Alert).
-Starscream says he 'looks like Thundercracker', but that isn't a character in the show, or referred to at any other time.
-Megatron suddenly starts calling himself Galvatron, and has to tell people several times to call him that now.
-Overload is suddenly introduced, and appears to be a non-sentient trailer/weapons pack. The partner Minicon is not seen or used. Optimus just calls on it to powerlink to it.
-Nemesis Prime is revealed to be linked to Sideways and Unicron.

44 - Uprising
The Earth Decepticons arrive and launch their attack on Cybertron, devastating it. The Earth Autobots arrive to fight the Decepticon fleet, but another vortex appears. The Minicons intervene again to stop the vortex.
Intro - (none)
Errors/confusion/notes:
-The Decepticons are now at Cybertron, with a huge fleet that easily crushes the Autobots still there. If they already had this huge fleet, they wouldn't have needed to wait for Megatron/Galvatron to return to defeat the Autobots.
-Unicron's vortex appears near Cybertron, but no one even mentions it or seems to notice it for ages.
-Optimus still decides to attack Decepticons on Cybertron, despite just recently acccepting Unicron as a greater threat that they need the Decepticons help in defeating.
-More proof that a Transformers war couldn't exist for millions of years, with the planet trashed in just one short attack and very few survivors.
-Very propaganda-ish when the Earth Autobots arrive on Cybertron and start announcing that Optimus is here to save them. And if the survivors they find on Cybertron aren't Autobots (or Decepticons), then who are they?
-Axalon is incorrectly called Axion.
-Optimus tries to reason with Megatron, but the usual denial of 'a Megatron' to the claims of 'an Optimus' occurs.
-I thought Unicron was on the other side of this (and the other) vortex, but isn't. So what is the point of the vortex, if it isn't a gateway for Unicron?
-Minicons reveal yet another mystical power by forming a shield to block the vortex. I had thought it was to stop Unicron from coming through, but it just stops things being sucked into it.

45 - Dash
As the Decepticons settle into their newly conquered Cybertron, the Earth Autobots rally support from the scattered forces on Cybertron, while Hotshot goes off on his own to convince Galvatron that Unicron is real.
Intro - (none)
Errors/confusion/notes:
-What is the priority for Optimus, defeating Unicron or retaking Cybertron? It seems to alternate from each episode, or at least the translation alternates between the two.
-Scripting error with Red Alert turning to Optimus but addresses Hoist when in the Axalon.
-Animation error with Jetfire coloured red like Optimus.
-Scripting error/omission? Red Alert makes a significant command decision while Optimus just sits in his chair and says nothing for or against it.
-Hotshot enters the Decepticon base on Cybertron, with heaps of shooting all around him, but no one gets hit.
-For some reason suddenly (scripting omission?) Wheeljack stops fighting Hotshot, is friendly to him, and supports his desire to speak to Galvatron.
-Translation error? Thrust says something insignificant to Galvatron, but Galvatron reacts rather agressively towards Thrust suddenly. There is no lead up to this change of relationship, as Thrust was his most loyal, trusted warrior/advisor, but now out of nowhere, Galvatron doesn't trust Thrust at all and is rather hostile to him. I think the original Japanese version probably has more brought to light about Thrust's new allegiance to Unicron before Galvatron turns on him, but in this English version, no one knows anything about his new allegiance until after he is turned on, and he then announces it.
-Animation error, after Thrust picks up Requiem Blaster and Skyboom Shield, he is briefly shown not holding them as he leaves.
-Kids get helmets for their new suits, but each has a different colour. Try understanding the reality of that, in terms of wasted resources by the Autobots to not only create these suits for humans, but to colour code them to help identify each when they have their helmets on...

46 - Drift
The main 3 kids go to Cybertron and learn that Unicron created the Minicons as a way to have both sides wipe each other out and remove all opposition before he attacked. Somehow the kids are briefly sent back in time, and are the reason the Minicons flew to Earth millions of years ago, to find the kids and gain their freedom from Unicron as mere tools of war.
Intro - (none)
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Wheeljack not only allows Hotshot the chance to report into Optimus, but also calls Hotshot his buddy. More bad translation perhaps, as the pair suddenly put behind them their personal conflict without anything to say why.
-Script error with Alexis saying that Wheeljack has been on their side 'for a while'.
-Translation error with Wheeljack criticising Thrust for being a traitor, but that's hypocritical.
-Nude shower scene with Rad and Carlos...
-Only the main 3 kids go to Cybertron, but makes sense later.
-Cybertron appears to have an organic core like in Beast Machines.
-If the Minicons are created by Unicron, why doesn't he excert control over the Transformers when they are powerlinked to Minicons?

47 - Portent
A portal from within Cybertron leads to one of the moons, and the Transformers discover that Unicron was a lot closer than they originally thought.
Intro - Unicron (bits of him anyway).
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Starscream continues to act more like an Autobot than a Decepticon, or a 'traditional' Starscream.
-Script error, with Alexis saying that Starscream found them and brought them down to the planet (Cybertron), but they met him while they were down inside the planet.
-Autobots signal a retreat, but they have already signaled the retreat a couple of episodes ago.
-Hotshot and Wheeljack can link up as if it was a toy related gimmick, but the toys don't.
-Animation errors with Sideways and Thrust occasionally not being drawn with the Minicon weapons while they have them.
-Sureshock is called Grindor by Alexis.
-I really can't believe that in millions of years, Unicron would have remained dormant, and the inhabitants of Cybetron wouldn't have found him within that nearby moon. In a war of territory, the moons would have been acquired and occupied ages ago, either as bases or staging grounds, and suitably explored for resources. Even if the exterior was rock, the metallic interior would have been discovered eventually and mined (which would have awoken Unicron).

[Paulbot]

Kids get helmets for their new suits, but each has a different colour. Try understanding the reality of that, in terms of wasted resources by the Autobots to not only create these suits for humans, but to colour code them to help identify each when they have their helmets on...

Maybe the Autobots need those colour-coded helemts because all those humans look alike to them...

[griffin]

Season 1, Part 2, Disc 4, Episodes 48-52.

48 - Cramp
As Optimus tries to subdue Galvatron into joining forces with the Autobots against Unicron, Starscream intervenes and sacrifices his life to force the alliance. During the confusion, Sideways grabs the Star Saber, to take back to Unicron.
Intro - More of Unicron's bits.
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Starscream says he'd never cross Galvatron. Huh? Is he technically being truthful, in that he would only ever cross 'Megatron', but not 'Galvatron'? Otherwise, that sounds like a scripting error.
-What is the meaning of this title? The theme of mostly single word titles is an interesting concept, but some are a stretch in terms of relevance, and others like this one don't really jump out as being obvious or related to the primary theme of the episode.
-Translation error, as Galvatron tells Tidalwave to attack, but the animation suggests he told him to back off, as it was his fight.
-A real Megatron/Galvatron would just shrug off a loss, and wouldn't put any thought or concern into 'such heroic nonsense'. Starscream's sacrifice shouldn't have affected Galvatron at all, as an emotional feeling of loss is not a Decepticon trait, much less a trait of a Decepticon leader, who only sees his troops as mere tools to obtain his objective of being ultimate ruler of the universe. An ambition that wouldn't be shared with fellow Decepticons if ever obtained, or detered if one of his soldiers was lost along the way. It makes for an interesting sub-plot in Armada, but realistically, this Megatron/Galvatron reacts like an Autobot to the loss, and is a significant flaw to this series if certain characters aren't consistent or behave in a plausible manner.
-Additionally, as inconsistant characterisation, Starscream is saying as he dies, that he was always trying to prove himself to Megatron, like some sort of role model, but throughout the series he had contempt for Megatron and wanted to replace or destroy him. That sort of conflicting behaviour wouldn't happen if they had a 'character bible' from the beginning, like Gen1 did. That way the writers could stick to a certain character type, and not jump between conflicting character types.

49 - Alliance
Awakened by the power of the three Minicon weapons, Unicron is finally fully revealed. A small group attempts a pre-emptive strike, but have to retreat as Unicron transforms.
Intro - Unicron in both modes, Bug/Dead End Drones.
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Galvatron is going on about how noble Starscream's sacrifice was, and respecting him like a father to a son. Oh please... This is Galvatron/Megatron, not Optimus. This is just out of character for this type of character, and for the existing behaviour of him in this series.
-Unicron is finally fully revealed, 4th-last episode of the 52 episode series.
-Animation error, the Decepticons return to their base and are surrounded by giant-sized Minicons.
-Unicron appears to be impervious, or indestructible.
-Quite a few background extras look like Gen1 Transformers, like in a couple of earlier episodes.
-The Bug/Dead End 'Minicon' is only introduced as a non-transformable pack of drones within Unicron.
-The transformation sequence for Unicron was as good as the Gen1 Movie transformation.
-Cyclonus is hanging over a ledge, and is at risk of falling... the writers do realis he can fly in both modes, or at the very least, transform into a helicopter to fly to safety???
-Jet Convoy is now called Jet Optimus.

50 - Union
The united armada of Transformers attacks Unicron inside and out.
Intro - (none)
Errors/confusion/notes:
-The word 'armada' is used for the only time in this series, and there hasn't been any real point in the storyline that it could be used in a meaningful way.
-Script error(?), with someone saying that Cybertron is his 'new target', in a way to suggest that he was targetting something else at this time. It's been his only target for the last few million years.
-Demolishor has Hoist's voice and talks about the current status of Unicron in a much too intelligent manner for his character.
-The neck of Unicron is designated the weakspot, without any reasoning mentioned.
-Overload is called Ultra Magnus.
-Thrust is suddenly shown to be incompetent, for someone who is a brilliant strategist, and gets caught up in parts of Unicron that is 'transforming'. Thrust can teleport, so the writers had to 'forget' it, because Thrust was too intelligent to not get out before he was crushed to death.
-The Star Saber is called Perceptor by Highwire.
-The underground portal to Unicron still exists, as Red Alert knows, so why didn't Optimus and Megatron use it, instead of flying to Unicron and fighting their way in?
-The Minicons form a giant green energy field in the shape of Unicron, which was the inspiration for a limited edition JP Unicron recolour toy.

51 - Origin
While Unicron is within the body of Sideways, Optimus and Megatron fight and destroy him, leaving his giant body adrift in space.
Intro - (none)
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Sideways is revealed to be a part of Unicron, and Unicron actualy takes over his body. He also reveals that the war and hatred between Autobots and Decepticons actually feeds him, making him stronger. He also confirms that the Minicons are a part of him, and as such, is able to regain control over them, like the puppets the kids saw when they went back in time. The 'green Unicron' formed by the Minicons dissipates, and all the battle damage on Unicron is repaired, leaving the Transformers thinking that they have lost.
-The kids call on their Minicons 'partners' to wake up and break free from Unicron's control. In doing so, Unicron is destracted, and Optimus and Megatron are able to destroy Sideways while Unicron is within him.
-So is Unicron really dead, or just temporarily disabled...
-Optimus is suddenly recoloured into the blue Powerlinx version, without any explination (in the english version at least).
-Sureshock is called Grindor by Alexis.

52 - Mortal Combat
Everyone thinks Unicron is defeated, but the hatred and conflict between Optimus and Galvatron start to bring him to life. Galvatron sacrifices himself to save Cybertron, and Unicron and Optimus disappear.
Intro - Rhinox (for half a second).
Errors/confusion/notes:
-Everyone is quick to assume Unicron is dead, but with Galvatron wanting to renew his fight with Optimus, their hatred begins to refuel Unicron.
-Talk, talk, talk.... there's a lot of it in this episode, making this series a lot more drawn out than it needed. But Energon is much worse, so I guess it makes a good lead in to what to expect in the next series.
-Once again the character of Galvatron doesn't make sense, with him being happy to have a truce, and then wanting to fight with blind rage, but then later wanting to sacrifice himself for all Cybertronians.
-Galvatron is called Megatron by Optimus. (naming errors all the way to the end...)
-Unicron vanishes somehow to another part of the universe, but exists as a cliffhanger to the series. His form is intact in planet mode, but I don't think that is reflected in Energon.
-Optimus disappears as well, floating through space with the Matrix.
-The kids are returned to Earth, and were gone for ages... But this is fiction, so unless you see their parents, they don't even exist, to be concerned about where their kids have been.
-A number of loose ends now exist (hundreds of Minicons, Unicron at large and intact, Optimus missing, Megatron is still Galvatron), which I don't recall being covered in Energon. But I'll find out soon enough, as I'll be watching that series next. Before that though, there will be a brief look at the Armada toys and comics as well, to wrap up this reloading of Armada.