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Thread: (JULY-2013) Armada Era Toys - Reviews and Favourites

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by doublespy View Post
    Ownd only 2 or 3 Armada figures. Played with fellow collectors' other toys quit a bit but never liked this gimmick-focused idea. Probably also because the line before it was so good (even it was only supposed to be a filler), Armada was quite disappointing for me. And by the time Superlink came out there was already the 20th anniversary awesomeness happening with BT and Masterpiece. So the Unicron trilogy never interested me that much.
    Very interesting point. I suspect that Hasbro had gotten rather complacent after Beast Wars. The reason for this was because I remember in Dec 2000/Jan 2001 as Beast Machines/Car Robot was winding down, we still hadn't heard any news about what Hasbro was planning next for Transformers. I called a US contact of mine who has close links w/ Hasbro to see if I could sniff out any news and specifically asked if Hasbro had any plans on bringing over Car Robot for their market. The response at the time was a definitive "no" and assured us that there would be a wholly new line up for 2001. Then a few weeks later Toy Fair happened, and lo and behold Hasbro's booth had "Robots In Disguise" -- which was Car Robot! But there were NO physical products on display, only cardboard mock ups of Car Robot toys and RiD packaging; and the packaging looked rushed. No artwork, just photos of toys, and the tech specs looked really rushed too (their functions were just descriptions of their alt modes! ). So considering what I knew prior to Toy Fair, I've always suspected that RiD was a last minute decision when Toy Fair was looming and Hasbro realised, "Oh crap, we haven't actually got a new line of Transformers planned for this year... let's bring over Car Robot!"

    Then 2002 rolled along and still NO new line up announced at that year's Toy Fair. We just had another year of RiD a trickle of repaints - and most of us will remember how dry 2002 was for new toys. Though it was a good time for G1 reissues - but even fans in Japan were massively complaining about the lack of new product. It was only toward the end of that year that Armada was announced; the USA got the first wave of toys in late 2002, but most markets (such as Australia) didn't get them until early 2003 (so I see Armada as a 2003 line). So as much as Armada has its flaws, I think a lot of fans (myself included) got really excited because it was the first new Transformers product series that we'd seen in nearly three years! It's like that joke Eddie Murphy once made, if you were stranded on a desert island starving to death and someone saved you and gave you a stale cracker, you'd think that was the best damn cracker you ever had in your life.

    And I agree that Energon continued Armada's legacy of being an overtly gimmicky line. But IMO they actually started getting the formula right with Cybertron in terms of making the gimmicks far less intrusive and compromising of engineering/design. Cybertron gimmicks on the whole tended to compliment the toys and work with them rather than against them as we saw with so many Armada and Energon figures. Sure, there were a few duds in Cybertron too (Leo Breaker springs to mind... guh), but overall I felt that Cybertron was by far the strongest of the Unicron Trilogy toy lines.

    Quote Originally Posted by doublespy View Post
    Also quite liked Overload. I think it was the first toy to have the G1 transforming noise built in?
    I believe you're right

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
    But IMO they actually started getting the formula right with Cybertron in terms of making the gimmicks far less intrusive and compromising of engineering/design. Cybertron gimmicks on the whole tended to compliment the toys and work with them rather than against them as we saw with so many Armada and Energon figures. Sure, there were a few duds in Cybertron too (Leo Breaker springs to mind... guh), but overall I felt that Cybertron was by far the strongest of the Unicron Trilogy toy lines.
    I totally agree with this. Can't wait till a couple months time when Cybertron discussions kick in.

  3. #33
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    I got the big ass armada prime overseas... only play with it once and didnt like the automatic trailer transforming part, very worry about snapping the gears if I force it.

    Energon Prime wasnt that impressive, fat looking prime, though I havent touch as my takara version is still MISB. Hopping to grab a cheap YOTS version.

    Galaxy Force Prime is one of my favourite prime, and I can combine with few other robots.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
    Very interesting point. I suspect that Hasbro had gotten rather complacent after Beast Wars. The reason for this was because I remember in Dec 2000/Jan 2001 as Beast Machines/Car Robot was winding down, we still hadn't heard any news about what Hasbro was planning next for Transformers. I called a US contact of mine who has close links w/ Hasbro to see if I could sniff out any news and specifically asked if Hasbro had any plans on bringing over Car Robot for their market. The response at the time was a definitive "no" and assured us that there would be a wholly new line up for 2001. Then a few weeks later Toy Fair happened, and lo and behold Hasbro's booth had "Robots In Disguise" -- which was Car Robot! But there were NO physical products on display, only cardboard mock ups of Car Robot toys and RiD packaging; and the packaging looked rushed. No artwork, just photos of toys, and the tech specs looked really rushed too (their functions were just descriptions of their alt modes! ). So considering what I knew prior to Toy Fair, I've always suspected that RiD was a last minute decision when Toy Fair was looming and Hasbro realised, "Oh crap, we haven't actually got a new line of Transformers planned for this year... let's bring over Car Robot!"

    Then 2002 rolled along and still NO new line up announced at that year's Toy Fair. We just had another year of RiD a trickle of repaints - and most of us will remember how dry 2002 was for new toys. Though it was a good time for G1 reissues - but even fans in Japan were massively complaining about the lack of new product. It was only toward the end of that year that Armada was announced; the USA got the first wave of toys in late 2002, but most markets (such as Australia) didn't get them until early 2003 (so I see Armada as a 2003 line). So as much as Armada has its flaws, I think a lot of fans (myself included) got really excited because it was the first new Transformers product series that we'd seen in nearly three years! It's like that joke Eddie Murphy once made, if you were stranded on a desert island starving to death and someone saved you and gave you a stale cracker, you'd think that was the best damn cracker you ever had in your life.

    And I agree that Energon continued Armada's legacy of being an overtly gimmicky line. But IMO they actually started getting the formula right with Cybertron in terms of making the gimmicks far less intrusive and compromising of engineering/design. Cybertron gimmicks on the whole tended to compliment the toys and work with them rather than against them as we saw with so many Armada and Energon figures. Sure, there were a few duds in Cybertron too (Leo Breaker springs to mind... guh), but overall I felt that Cybertron was by far the strongest of the Unicron Trilogy toy lines.


    I believe you're right
    Ah indeed before Binaltech and MP-01 came out I was busy collecting the Takara book-style re-issues. Those were great times for G1 re-issues.

  5. #35
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    What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

    Best toy would have to be unicron and sideways.
    Worst would have to be Optimus with the trailer as he couldn't move his legs even though the trailer was automatic fold out. But also with the smokestacks on prime as figure they just kept falling off.

    What was your first one, and when?

    Optimus prime with the trailer. Like the idea, but not a refined toy.

    What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

    UltraMagnus as Overload.

    the torture of others sparks is music to my sensors!!!

  6. #36
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    To Celebrate Armada Month i have decided to do a little bit of Reminiscing, to see what it is like to open one of those figures for the first time the smell of the plastic the awesomeness tht was the twist ties and the cool little mini comic and colour catalogue. ahh The good old days.

    So here it is what i will be opening for the very first time

    Armada Powerlinx Optimus Prime with Corona Sparkplug




    The Unboxing

    do you remeber what the armada boxes where like the curved front 3 pieces of tape holding the flap closed keeping the toy sealed in its plastic.cardboard prison...nothing a good old fashioned Stanley cand fix





    Close up



    ohhh shiney



    THE TWIST TIES

    not like the modern marvels of paper ties these were the heavy duty wire tiess with plastic coating..



    now there are to ways you can do this... painstakingly untwist them or the prefered method....Sidecutters...





    ten to 15 minuttes later...a mess



    FREEEEEDOMMMMM UPDATE 23/8/13



    and whats in the baggy



    Sparkplug



    this little guy really is shiney but has a nice coolness feel to him, i guess deep down i think he is to shiney (is that possible) i think his face needs to be normal

    Optimus Prime UPDATE 24/8/13




    a blocky looking thing, but it did have a matrix in the chest kinda



    Base




    as far as trailer bases go this wasnt to bad, great for the minicons to use for the final battle... but then if there was to be a final battle i doubt very much prime would go in to battle without his pants

    Pantimus Super Optimus Prime



    blocky and brikky but it did have its cool points like the IR activation and self transforming.... someting we really have not seen again since


    and that ladies and gentlebots is the unboxing of Powerlinx Optimus Prime.

    hope you enjoyed it!
    Last edited by Sharky; 24th August 2013 at 08:44 PM.
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  7. #37
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  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy View Post
    Nice work sharky. I remember that prime took ages just to open the box! I kinda hated the shape of the armada boxes.
    yeah he really did take some time getting out of the box, and the boxes while displayed nice i thought were dreadfull for storing

    i have finished updating the pictures too Powerlinx Optimus Prime is now a free bot.
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  9. #39
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    My favourite would be Armada Starscream, while he wasn't the best toy, it was good enough and a lot of fun. I remember that he was the one I had always wanted to get but he disappeared from shelves before I could .

    Sideways is an interesting one, with the head gimmick and I guess Armada Prime with Jetfire is pretty cool with the combiner gimmick (but not as well done as RiD).

    On the whole, I think that while the gimmicks did compromise the toys a lot, they were quite fun to play with (yes, even Hot Shot with his axle-zooker). Plus, with a minicon in every toy, the figures felt like they have better value.
    "sometimes the things you see might not be real and the things that are real you might not see"

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