Transformers: Armada facts for kids
| Transformers: Armada | |
Optimus Prime, his super mode and Mini-Con Sparkplug.
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Quick facts for kids 超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー マイクロン伝説(Chō Robotto Seimeitai Toransufōmā Maikuron Densetsu) |
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| Genre | Adventure, Mecha, Science fiction, Superhero |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Hidehito Ueda |
| Music by | Hayato Matsuo |
| Studio | Actas Studio Galapagos NAS |
| Licensed by | |
| Network | TV Tokyo |
| English network | |
| Original run | August 23, 2002 – December 26, 2003 |
| Episodes | 52 |
Transformers: Armada is a cool animated TV show, comic series, and toy line. In Japan, it's known as Super Robot Life-Form Transformers: Legends of the Microns (超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー マイクロン伝説, Chō Robotto Seimeitai Toransufōmā Maikuron Densetsu). This series ran from 2002 to 2004.
It was the first Transformers show made by both the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese company Takara. Armada started a brand new story for Transformers. It wasn't connected to any of the older shows. Transformers: Armada is also the first part of a bigger story called the Unicron Trilogy. This trilogy includes its sequels, Transformers: Energon and Transformers: Cybertron.
Contents
The Story of Transformers: Armada
The story begins on the planet Cybertron. Two groups of robots, the good Autobots and the evil Decepticons, are fighting a big war. They are fighting over tiny, special robots called Mini-Cons. These Mini-Cons can give other Transformers amazing power-ups!
Mini-Cons Escape to Earth
To escape the war, the Mini-Cons try to leave Cybertron. The Autobots help them get away. But the Decepticons attack their ship as it flies through space. The ship breaks apart and crashes. Half of it lands on Earth's Moon, and the other half falls to Earth.
The Mini-Cons, who are all stuck in special panels, get scattered everywhere on Earth. The ship crashed millions of years ago.
Kids Discover the Mini-Cons
Years later, two friends, Rad White and Carlos Lopez, explore some caves. They accidentally find the crashed Mini-Con ship! When they touch it, the ship sends out a signal. This signal tells both the Autobots and Decepticons that the Mini-Cons are on Earth.
Soon, Megatron (the Decepticon leader) and Optimus Prime (the Autobot leader) arrive on Earth. Rad and Carlos, along with their friend Alexis Thi Dang, become friends with the Autobots. They also meet some Mini-Cons like High Wire, Grindor, and Sureshock. The Transformers change into Earth vehicles to hide. The hunt for all the scattered Mini-Cons begins!
Powerful Mini-Con Weapons
After many battles, each Transformer finds a Mini-Con partner. More Autobots like Smokescreen arrive. The kids find old recordings that show a powerful Mini-Con weapon called the Star Saber. The Decepticons get one part of it. They try to steal the rest from the Autobots. But the Autobots manage to get the whole sword!
A mysterious robot named Scavenger joins the Decepticons. He tells them to find parts of another Mini-Con weapon, the Skyboom Shield. This shield can block the Star Saber. An Autobot named Sideways also appears. But he tricks the Autobots and helps the Decepticons steal the Star Saber!
New Allies and Big Fights
It turns out Scavenger was an Autobot working undercover! He rejoins Optimus Prime's team. Another Autobot, Blurr, also arrives. When the Decepticons finish building the Skyboom Shield, a huge battle happens. The Autobots win and get the shield!
The two powerful weapons, the Star Saber and Skyboom Shield, release a huge energy burst. This energy brings two new Decepticons to Earth: Thrust, a clever planner, and Tidal Wave, a giant warrior.
Sideways keeps causing trouble for the Decepticons. He also tries to capture the kids' Mini-Cons. Sideways then reveals he works for a much bigger, secret power! Thrust tries to use his plans against the Autobots. But the Autobot Jetfire arrives. He can combine with Optimus Prime, and together they stop Thrust.
Unicron's Threat
Eventually, Megatron finds out Sideways is a traitor. Megatron tries to destroy him, but Sideways just rebuilds himself! Tidal Wave arrives and is too strong for the Autobots. Sideways tells the kids about a third Mini-Con weapon, the Requiem Blaster. They find one part, Skyblast, who sings a special song. This song calls the other two parts, and they form the Blaster. Optimus uses it to defeat Tidal Wave.
Both sides get new members. Sideswipe joins the Autobots. Wheeljack, an old Autobot who thinks Hot Shot betrayed him, joins the Decepticons. Thrust plans to steal the Requiem Blaster. He badly hurts Smokescreen, who then gets rebuilt into a stronger robot named Hoist. Starscream, another Decepticon, feels tricked by Thrust. He turns against Megatron and joins the Autobots. Starscream becomes friends with the kids, especially Alexis. He helps the Autobots sneak into the Decepticon base.
The Autobots rescue the Mini-Cons. But Thrust tricks Starscream into stealing the Skyboom Shield and Star Saber. Starscream rejoins the Decepticons. With all three Mini-Con weapons, the Decepticons create the Hydra Cannon. They plan to destroy Earth from space! Optimus Prime uses his special Matrix to block the blast, but he sacrifices himself.
The Final Battle
The Decepticons head back to Cybertron. The Autobots, now led by Hot Shot, quickly build a ship called the Axalon to follow them. The Mini-Cons use their true powers to bring Optimus Prime back to life!
A black hole sends some Autobots and Decepticons to a strange world. There, they meet Nemesis Prime, a twisted copy of Optimus. The Mini-Cons make the Transformers stronger. Megatron renames himself Galvatron. The Decepticons return to Cybertron and take over most of the planet using the Mini-Con weapons.
Hot Shot attacks the Decepticon base alone. He finds out Thrust was working for someone else! Thrust escapes with the Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster. He gives them to Sideways. Sideways uses them to wake up the giant, evil robot Unicron! The Mini-Cons had warned everyone about Unicron.
Rad and his friends travel through time. They learn that they helped the Mini-Cons develop. They also find out that Mini-Cons are actually tiny parts of Unicron! Galvatron doesn't believe Unicron is a threat. Starscream challenges Galvatron to a fight. Starscream purposely loses and dies to show Galvatron that Unicron is real.
Sideways steals the Star Saber, fully waking Unicron. The Autobots and Decepticons team up to fight Unicron. Unicron had been hiding as Cybertron's moon! During the battle, Galvatron confronts Thrust. Thrust accidentally gets crushed by Unicron and dies.
Unicron attacks Cybertron. Galvatron and Optimus go inside Unicron's body. Sideways reveals he was created by Unicron to bring the Mini-Cons back. But Rad helps the Mini-Cons remember who they are. The Mini-Con weapons break free, making Unicron weaker. Sideways is defeated.
With Unicron seemingly gone, Galvatron challenges Optimus to one last fight. But their battle's energy makes Unicron wake up again! Galvatron realizes their fighting is what keeps Unicron alive. He decides to sacrifice himself to end the hatred. With Galvatron's death, Unicron disappears, and peace returns to Cybertron. Optimus feels sad and goes away for a while.
How Transformers: Armada Was Made
When it First Aired
Even though Transformers: Armada was made in Japan, it first showed in the United States. It started on Cartoon Network on August 23, 2002. The first three episodes were shown together as a special movie. New episodes then came out every Friday.
In Japan, the show started airing on January 10, 2003, on TV Tokyo. New episodes were shown every Friday there too.
Watching at Home
In the 2000s, you could buy Transformers: Armada on DVD in North America. The company Rhino Entertainment released them. Now, these DVDs are hard to find.
In 2013, Shout! Factory announced they would release many Transformers shows on DVD. This included Transformers: Armada.
Other Cool Stuff from Armada
The Video Game
There's a Transformers video game that came out in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. It was first called Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon. The game is based loosely on the Armada TV show.
In the game, you play as three Autobots: Optimus Prime, Hot Shot, and Red Alert. Your goal is to find and collect Mini-Cons. You also have to fight Megatron and his Decepticons. You travel through big places on Earth, like the Amazon Jungle. You fight many Decepticons from the show, like Starscream and Tidal Wave. The game's story is very similar to the show, even the final battle with Unicron. Some of the voice actors from the show, like Garry Chalk (Optimus Prime) and David Kaye (Megatron), also voiced characters in the game.
Toys and More!
Built to Rule was a toy line from Hasbro. These toys were like building blocks, similar to Lego. Each Transformers kit had a "Trans-Skeleton." This was a simple robot body that could fold up into a vehicle. You would add more parts to it to make the robot or vehicle look complete. For Armada, the Trans-Skeleton was a bit flat, which made the robot modes look a little funny.
Where it Aired Around the World
| Country | Channel |
|---|---|
 United States |
Cartoon Network |
 Canada |
YTV |
 United Kingdom |
Sky One |
 Germany |
RTL II |
 Mexico |
Fox Kids/Jetix |
 Peru |
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 Colombia |
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 Venezuela |
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 Ecuador |
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 Chile |
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 Argentina |
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 Bolivia |
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 Paraguay |
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 Guatemala |
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 Costa Rica |
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 El Salvador |
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| Mexico |
Canal de las Estrellas, Jetix |
 Netherlands |
Fox Kids, Jetix |
 Belgium |
VT4, Fox Kids, Jetix |
 Portugal |
TVI, Canal Panda, Panda Biggs |
 Serbia |
Happy TV |
 Malaysia |
TV3, Cartoon Network (Southeast Asia), TV2 (Malay dubbed) |
 Bulgaria |
bTV, Jetix, Nova Television |
 Slovenia |
POP TV |
 Brazil |
FOX Kids, Rede Globo |
 Poland |
Jetix |
 Philippines |
Cartoon Network, GMA 7, TV5 |
 Australia |
Cartoon Network, Network Ten (On Toasted TV) |
 Israel |
Jetix |
 Arab WorldCountries |
MBC 3 |
 France |
Gulli |
 India |
Cartoon Network, Discovery Kids |
 Italy |
Fox Kids Italy, Jetix Italy, Super 3, NuovaRete |
 Romania |
Pro TV |
 South Africa |
SABC 2 |
See also
In Spanish: Transformers: Armada para niños
