(JULY-2013) Armada Era - Rate it

Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

Still it would be nice to have some sort of reasoning as to why they went for Armada.

Actually the name Armada does make sense in a manner of speaking. If you think about it, the central concept behind Armada, in fact it would be fair to roughly translate the Japanese name for Armada as "Legend of the Minicons.

Now granted, if you're approaching it from the concept of amassing a huge and powerful army (relatively speaking), then "Legion" would probably have been the more ideal choice (ie whoever possesses all the Minicons has a legion of them). However as the Minicons do transform into vehicles, you could loosely get away with using "Armada" instead.

[shockNwave]

The Armada series is good for those who appreciate nostalgic G1 value but a step back for those impressed by the innovation of the Beast Wars engineering.

[dirge]

I found the cartoon irritating and ended up offloading most of the bigger toys as the alt modes just lacked that realism I like.

The Unicron toy & Minicons I have kept - they are the best aspects for me.

(Also, I have the Micron Densetsu Hot Shot, and I kept that, just because of how I got it).

[shockNwave]

Originally Posted by dirge

I found the cartoon irritating and ended up offloading most of the bigger toys as the alt modes just lacked that realism I like.

The Unicron toy & Minicons I have kept - they are the best aspects for me.

(Also, I have the Micron Densetsu Hot Shot, and I kept that, just because of how I got it).

If you don't mind me asking. How did you get Hot Shot?

[dirge]

Originally Posted by shockNwave

If you don't mind me asking. How did you get Hot Shot?

A friend in Japan helped me out. While I don’t love the toy, I do like how Takara did a better job in this instance. So those two factors together mean I kept Hot Shot.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Wasn't massively keen on the cartoon but damn did they have some fantastic toys ! And look at the average size of them compared to what classifies as a deluxe now The mini-cons also added a lot of play value to those bigger figures as well. One of the better ones in my opinion (they gave us Unicron for Primus sake!!!)

Ironically when I made that post 5 years ago I think I was still a Basic member and as such couldn't post pics


So here finally is my Armada collection

The only other 'Armada' figure I've picked up since the above very old pic is Snarl, since his alt-mode was the most G1 reminiscent before the new POTP version got released

[Trent]

^Nice.

I miss my Armada collection.

[TaZZerath]

That collection is amazing.

I completely missed the Armada era toys but always did admire their gimmicks and of course the introduction of the first mass-produced Unicron toy, the largest Transformer toy for years.

[Tha_Phantom]

I grew up with these toys, most of them seemed good at the time, but ultimately I've grown out of this series. I haven't felt a need to revisit many of the figures from that line now as an adult collector.
Considering this line came after the Beast era and Car Robot/RID it feels like a step back to me. Those series made articulation a standard but Armada favoured gimmicks instead.
The minicons were probably the highlight for me both then and now (not because they unlocked gimmicks, but because most were decent small-scale Transformers). I have many memories of setting up Armada Prime's trailer base and having minicon battles on it.

[GoktimusPrime]

IMO this is the difference between a good and bad toyline. A good toyline is something that you don't grow out of - you can come back to it over and over again and continue to enjoy it. Same with books, movies, cartoons etc. Beast Wars and Car Robot/RiD are toys that we can still look back at with fondness. BW figures are harder to improve because the original toys were just that good. When I compare my MP BW Convoy and Cheetus with my original Optimus Primal and Cheetor, I find that - relatively price - they're just as good as each other. MP Dinobot and BW Megatron may be vastly superior to their original counterparts, but they're also the most expensive Transformers to date, having breached the Fortress Maximus RRP. So again, the originals are still just as good relative to price point. Yeah, the original Dinobot doesn't do as many fancy things as the MP, but it's a Deluxe. A Deluxe that still beats the tar out of any Cyberverse Warrior Class figure, that's for sure!