I was scared when armada came out. as a child, I lived through the horrible time wheresome 80% of all transformer toys were micromasters. but I was very happy to see that the minicons were more than just fancy micromasters. the powerlinx gimmic was a neat idea, and I loved it. I just wich some of the toys had cooler gimmics. armada was an ok toy line, but I really disliked the show. I only watched the last few episodes with any thrill, as thats when unicron showed up. but they pretty much ignored the big guy.

Not to change the subject guys, but can anyone tell me what what Transformers: Cybertron is? I keep hearing about it but I can't find out anything. Links would be nice. And I have to say that Armada Prime in Super Mode was just awful. The legs were stuck spread open and couldn't move and I didn't like how the back part behind the head was all open. Energon is the best. Just loving it.

Armada was a real mixed bag for me. There were a few figures that I really liked. Tidal Wave, Unicron, Wheeljack are good examples, as is the Prime/Jetfire/Overload combo. Some were downright bad, like Scavenger and Sideswipe. Most fell into the middle range of being neither great nor terrible.

 

What I liked more than anything about Armada was the interaction of the larger figures with the Minicons. It added a whole new level of playability by letting you figure out different ways to connect the Minicons as weapons, shields, or whatever, plus the fact that most figures had a unique way to interface with their own Minicon pal. I think the most fun I've had with my Armada toys is piling 20 or so Minicons on Megatron's robot mode, and then giving him the saber or blaster as well. "I am Megatron, and this is my BOOMSTICK!" Ha!

I really did like Tidal Wave. But now the Energon one has lights & sounds. Time for a new Tidal Wave. But I have the mini-con shield. It is terrible. It doesn't look like a shield and it falls apart. I think a colored clear shell to go over the shield (and sword & gun) would have made them look more like the show versions

To me, Armada was pretty good at times, and pretty bad at times. I only own the trio of Prime/Jetfire/Overload (plus some minicon sets) and I think they are pretty good together. But then there are some toys that blew chunks (Sideswipe and yellow Hot Shot) - I'm not knocking the Hot Shot character, I just think that his robot mode is hilarious.

 

Overall I have to say that the concept was good, but the execution left a bit more to be desired.

Toys= :thumb Show= :tdown That pretty much sums it up, I acually really like most of the toys (not the repaints) but the show was downright garbage :tdown

I happen to like Unicron, SS, Thundercracker and Skywarp that is about it. I did get some of them and Armada Galvatron though in hindsight I am not too thrilled about him. I think what is good about Armada is the introduction of Unicron mainly, but as a whole I do not like the lights and sound features on the toys.

I agree that the Mini-con feature was one that was not played out to its potential. There needed to be more that turned into weapons, or combined. IMO, the Emergency team was the best, and teh only reason I got Perceptor was the fact that he combined. When I opened him, I was disappointed in all but the skateboard. However, all in all Armada was a great line. Far superior to RID. And to the person that didn't like the Transmetals 2, the asymmetry was the best part. That gave the toys so much more detail. Look at TM2 Megs. Each fan on his wings is different. Those toys were wicked cool.

it just seems to me that a lot of the complaints about armada were in the articulation. i've been a fan since the beginning of g1 and most of those had no articulation at all, plus a lot of them don't look anything like the cartoon. armada might not have beast wars like articualtion but it's just not that easy to make every piece move the way we'd like them to. part of the fun for me was using my imagination to overcome any articulation flaws. remember imagination?!?

 

Armada hit the ground running right after RID, which for the most part featured TF's with good articualtion and complex transformations. My expectations where high, and aside from a couple of figures(Unicron, Wheeljack, Bendy Prime) it didn't deliver. I don't play with TF's like I used too, and I'd prefer to put them in cool poses on my shelf and goof with them every once and a while. I don't want to stare at Optimus and imagine his legs moving, I want them to move. Besides, comparing G1 toys to Armada isn't fair. G1 is 20 years out of date. That's 20 years to improve on an already solid idea. Armada had some good points, but I prefer to leave it in the dust and enjoy my MPP, Alty's and Energon. As for judging, thats my right as a consumer.

alls i'm trying to say is that sometimes you have to sacrifice some of the articulation in order to come up with something new and creative while keeping it affordable. armada was the first step in trying to get back to the roots of the transformers. optimus was designed to more closely resemble the g1 prime which it did. the cab/bot mode had some mobility, granted not that great. the base mode was much cooler than the original , and the supermode was more of a bonus feature. it may be more of a statue like figure but it's cool anyway.

 

i like the good articulation too but sometimes it was more trouble than it was worth. some the them could be a real pain to get all the parts transformed right without something else popping out of place or falling off.

 

i don't play with the transformers and yes it is cool to put them in a cool pose if possible but for the most part the only way i can keep a large amount of my figures on my shelves is to stand them straight up shoulder to shoulder. in the sense of producing a cool LOOKING toy, they do.

 

 

i'm not trying to take away anyone right to judge, i'm only saying cut them a little slack. as much as we'd like them to, they can't always be perfect. i notice the flaws as much as anyone but i try to look past them and focus on the positives, that makes collecting them a lot more fun, even the "bad" ones.

alls i'm trying to say is that sometimes you have to sacrifice some of the articulation in order to come up with something new and creative while keeping it affordable. armada was the first step in trying to get back to the roots of the transformers. optimus was designed to more closely resemble the g1 prime which it did. the cab/bot mode had some mobility, granted not that great. the base mode was much cooler than the original , and the supermode was more of a bonus feature. it may be more of a statue like figure but it's cool anyway.

 

i like the good articulation too but sometimes it was more trouble than it was worth. some the them could be a real pain to get all the parts transformed right without something else popping out of place or falling off.

 

i don't play with the transformers and yes it is cool to put them in a cool pose if possible but for the most part the only way i can keep a large amount of my figures on my shelves is to stand them straight up shoulder to shoulder. in the sense of producing a cool LOOKING toy, they do.

 

 

i'm not trying to take away anyone right to judge, i'm only saying cut them a little slack. as much as we'd like them to, they can't always be perfect. i notice the flaws as much as anyone but i try to look past them and focus on the positives, that makes collecting them a lot more fun, even the "bad" ones.

Not to nit-pick(but I will anyway), RID was the first to go back to G1's "roots". RID Prime looked more like G1 in bot mode than Armada's and the line gave us regular vehicle modes again. Working articualtion into a design is part of the creative process. Alty's are a good example of this. Your right though, articualtion shouldn't be the focus of new TF's, I like new designs too, but that's no reason not to make it a selling point. Sure you have some joints pop off here and there, but you can pop them right back on, and it's better than having them break completely. Ball joints aren't foolproof, but after all, nothings perfect.

 

I rotate my TF's on display, so I don't get bored of looking at the same bot. That and it keeps the clutter factor down. I always bag and tag the extra and toss them in my storage bin. So I don't share your space problem, but I can understand why you'd want as many as possible on your shelf. :)

 

I have no problem cutting Hasbro/Takara some slack, the one's I don't like, I don't buy. These are toys and this is a hobby. But it's also a fandom, so whining is a given.