History Anime / TransformersArmada

A video game adaptation, simply called ''[[TransformersPreludeToEnergon Transformers]]'' (but with the working title of ''Prelude To Energon'', which it is sometimes identified as), was released for the {{Playstation 2}}, and is considered one of the better Video Game adaptations, and the best one so far for Transformers [[VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron until recently]].

* TemporalParadox: A predestination paradox occurs in "Drift", where the kids travel back in time and meet the Mini-Cons when they are created, and tell them to escape from Cybertron and come to Earth, which in turn is required for all the subsequent events, including the time travel itself, apparently carried out by Highwire. First, however, the kids stop by in the alternate past where Unicron used the Mini-Cons, who never left Cybertron, to make the Transformers fight each other to exhaustion, before imprisoning and digesting them. Did we mention that the viewer gets ''no'' explanation for this?

* TankGoodness: Megatron could be considered a literal villainous version of this trope

* TheStrategist: Thrust
** There IS a difference between a strategist - whether a plan should go through to achieve the long-term goal - and a tactician - how a plan goes down.

* ThirdPersonPerson: Tidal Wave
* ThoseTwoGuys: Billy and Fred.

* The Dragon: Starscream at first, then later Thrust until the former returns.

* FanNickname: "Squidhead," "Megamoose," "Shotty"...

* ExecutiveMeddling: A large number of animation and dubbing problems could have been avoided if production hadn't been rushed so much.

* ClipShow: "Detection"

* FallenHero: Wheeljack

* MoreThanMindControl

* TheStarscream: [[spoiler: Weirdly enough, ''not'' Starscream]].

* VillainEpisode: "Rebellion".

* WhamEpisode: "Sacrifice", "Crisis", "Cramp", and to a lesser extent "Credulous".

** The Japanese version to its credit, did ''try'' to correct some of these errors. But whether or not it succeeded is a ''whole'' other matter entirely. More info on that version can be read [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Armada_%28cartoon%29#Criticisms here]].

* AnimationBump: The final episode has a very noticable increase in animation quality.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Prime and Smokescreen. Especially Smokescreen. Thrust being crushed to death from the feet up would also count. Though he can't beat Starscream, ole Screamer had ''two'' unfriendly deaths! First he gets blasted like Smokescreen (though messing with the timeline saved him), then impaled by Megatron and disintegrated by Unicron]].

* GambitPileup: Just barely makes it with four to five plots going on at once. The dub made it even harder to follow. (Megatron, Starscream, [[spoiler: Thrust, Sideways, and Unicron, although Sideways was working for Unicron]].)

* HonorBeforeReason: Averted. Probably played straight on a different occasion, but this troper can't think of one.

* TheHyena: Cyclonus

* InconsistentDub: And how.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Wheeljack, unknowingly thought that Thrust was attacking him, shoots the latter out of the sky. Hard to feel bad about it, though.

* LeaderFormsTheHead: Whichever Transformer is on top of Powerlinx is in control.

* OffModel: One of the worst recent examples. This was partially because of Creator/CartoonNetwork's meddling, and partially because the [[Creator/{{Actas}} studio behind the animation]] was genuinely not that great. Though the Japanese version, to its credit, did try and correct some of these errors. But whether or not it succeeded is a ''whole'' other matter entirely. More info on that version can be read [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Armada_%28cartoon%29#Criticisms here]].
* OnlyMostlyDead: [[spoiler:Smokescreen]]

* PlanetEater: Unicron

* SmugSnake: Thrust practically IS this trope.

* TemporalParadox: A predestination paradox occurs in "Drift", where the kids travel back in time and meet the Mini-Cons when they are created, and tell them to escape from Cybertron and come to Earth, which in turn is required for all the subsequent events, including the time travel itself, apparently carried out by Highwire. First, however, the kids stop by in the alternate past where Unicron used the Mini-Cons, who never left Cybertron, to make the Transformers fight each other to exhaustion, before imprisoning and digesting them. Did we mention that we get no explanation for this?

* UnderwaterRuins: "Ruin"

* VillainEpisode: "Rebellion"

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "Past"

* RoleReprisal: One of the highlights was getting DavidKaye and GaryChalk to play Megatron and Optimus, although technically both in the WesternAnimation/BeastWars era were ''similar'' characters and not actual adaptations of the originals, as evidence that this is the first time Chalk played Optimus ''Prime''.

* OffModel: One of the worst recent examples. This was partially because of Creator/CartoonNetwork's meddling, and partially because the [[Creator/{{Actas}} studio behind the animation]] was genuinely not that great. The Japanese version, to its credit, did try and correct some of these errors, but it didn't really succeed. More info on that version can be read [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Armada_%28cartoon%29#Criticisms here]].

''Transformers Armada'' mostly revolves around the Mini-Cons: a race of Transformers smaller than usual (about human size or smaller). When linked to one of their larger brethren, they cause a significant boost in power (usually resulting in extra guns appearing). Due to this, the Autobots and Decepticons warred over them until the Mini-cons ended up leaving to stop the conflict, crash-landing on Earth millions of years in the past and laying dormant until the present day. Most of the episodes revolve around the Autobots trying to gain the support of the Mini-cons, with the Decepticons after them with the intent to use them to conquer the Autobots, Cybertron, and presumably the universe (as usual).

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The first episode, full stop. It's ''all'' about the annoying kids at school. They don't meet the Mini-cons until near the end, and actual Autobots and Decepticons don't show up until the very last moments of the episode. If you watch the recap, you can pretty much start with episode two and miss nothing relevant.

* RoleReprisal: One of the highlights was getting DavidKaye and GarryChalk to play Megatron and Optimus, although technically both in the BeastWars era were ''similar'' characters and not actual adaptations of the originals, as evidence that this is the first time Chalk played Optimus ''Prime''.

* OffModel: One of the worst recent examples. Partially because of Creator/CartoonNetwork's meddling, and partially because the [[Creator/{{Actas}} studio behind the animation]] was genuinely not that great. The Japanese version, to its credit, did try and correct some of these errors. But it didn't really succeed, more info on that version can be read [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Armada_%28cartoon%29#Criticisms here]].

* OffModel: One of the worst recent examples. Partially because of Creator/CartoonNetwork's meddling, and partially because the [[{{Actas}} studio behind the animation]] was genuinely not that great. The Japanese version, to its credit, did try and correct some of these errors. But it didn't really succeed, more info on that version can be read [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Armada_%28cartoon%29#Criticisms here]].

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Wheeljack and Hot Shot.

* MrFanservice: Starscream, to the point that it's scary.

''Transformers Armada'' is one of the many series that make up the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' franchise. It takes place in its own continuity, separate from the earlier series. The storyline of ''Armada'' continued in ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' and ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' (however, ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' is a seperate continuity in the Japanese version). The three series are known as the "Unicron Trilogy".

* HeyItsThatVoice: Hey, it's WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy! (Carlos, Sideswipe and Fred)
** GarryChalk and DavidKaye reprise their roles from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', in a way.
** Tidal Wave shared a voice actor with both [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Terrorsaur and that show's Starscream]].
** Dinobot's [[ScottMcneil voice actor]] plays Jetfire.
** Rad has experience as [[WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution an aspiring mutant named Cyclops]].

''Transformers Armada'' is one of the many series that make up the ''{{Transformers}}'' franchise. It takes place in its own continuity, separate from the earlier series. The storyline of Armada continued in ''TransformersEnergon'' and ''TransformersCybertron'' (however, ''TransformersCybertron'' is a seperate continuity in the Japanese version). The three series are known as the ''Unicron Trilogy''.

''Transformers Armada'' mostly revolves around the Mini-cons: a race of Transformers smaller than usual (about human size or smaller). When linked to one of their larger brethren, they cause a significant boost in power (usually resulting in extra guns appearing). Due to this, the Autobots and Decepticons warred over them until the Mini-cons ended up leaving to stop the conflict, crash-landing on Earth millions of years in the past and laying dormant until the present day. Most of the episodes revolve around the Autobots trying to gain the support of the Mini-cons, with the Decepticons after them with the intent to use them to conquer the Autobots, Cybertron, and presumably the universe (as usual).

It was controversial among fans not only for the focus on Mini-con collecting (leading some to call it 'Pokeformers'), but for the frequent dubbing errors. Due to rushed production, there are several conversations that don't flow properly, or clash with what's happening onscreen. Many characters have their names mixed up with other characters,' such as pretty much everyone being called Leader-1 (Megatron's Mini-con) at least once. One particularly glaring instance was Optimus saying he'd left ''Thrust'' in charge on Cybertron - and the image has "Thrust" kept in shadow because he (actually intended to be Jetfire) hasn't been introduced yet. Of course, Thrust is the name of the Decepticon master tactician, with no sign of ever having been an Autobot - a major point of confusion for viewers. Also, unfinished animation led to some low-quality scenes, and one or two truly nonsense ones (like a ''black spot of nothing'' where Starscream was supposed to be in one battle.) But like most things, had a few redeeming factors in the overall story and the reintroduction of the meta-villain Unicron. It is generally considered to improve considerably in the second half.

In addition to the series, a mini-manga, called ''Linkage'' was released with the Japanese [=DVDs=], written by [[BigNameFan Hirofumi]] [[AscendedFanboy Ichikawa]], which told a separate story about a group of Mini-cons who encounter a woman named Stella Holley, who helps them free the Minicons from Unicron. The story also features several links to the animated series, and even fills a few plot holes. The series was fan-translated in collaboration with Ichikawa, and can be read online [[http://members.fortunecity.com/msipher/transform/linkage/linkage.html here]].

A video game adaptation, simply called ''[[TransformersPreludeToEnergon Transformers]]'' (but with the working title of ''Prelude To Energon'', which it is sometimes identified as), was released for the {{Playstation 2}}, and is considered one of the better Video Game adaptations, and the best one so far for Transformers [[TransformersWarForCybertron until recently]].

* BlindIdiotTranslation:Definitely in some places. However, [[TransformersEnergon you ain't seen nothing yet]].

* ClipShow: ''Detection''

* GreenAesop: ''Jungle''

* HeyItsThatVoice: Hey, it's EdEddNEddy! (Carlos, Sideswipe and Fred)

** Rad has experience as [[XMenEvolution an aspiring mutant named Cyclops]].

* ShouldersOfDoom: Lots of characters got 'em, but Hot Shot's inspired a [[MemeticMutation meme]].

* TemporalParadox: A predestination paradox occurs in "Drift", where the kids travel back in time and meet the Minicons when they are created, and tell them to escape from Cybertron and come to Earth, which in turn is required for all the subsequent events, including the time travel itself, apparently carried out by Highwire. First, however, the kids stop by in the alternate past where Unicron used the Minicons, who never left Cybertron, to make the Transformers fight each other to exhaustion, before imprisoning and digesting them. Did we mention that we get no explanation for this?

* UnderwaterRuins: ''Ruin''
* TheUnintelligible: Minicons, although High Wire starts making full sentences ''much'' later.

* VillainEpisode: ''Rebellion''

* WhamEpisode: ''Sacrifice'', ''Crisis'', ''Cramp'', and to a lesser extent ''Credulous''.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: ''Past''

* DeadExMachina: In "Miracle", the Autobots are being overpowered by the Decepticons in an Asteroid field, and Hot Shot, as Megatron says, is indeed "a poor substitute for Optimus Prime". But Sparkplug and Perceptor summon a team of glowing space-traveling Mini-Cons, who, with their sparks and the data in the Matrix, bring Optimus BackFromTheDead.

* TankGoodness: Megatron could be considered a litteral villainous version of this trope

Unlike ''TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' before it (which was only imported to buy time), it was a 'main line' series, and as such had a large toyline.

* OffModel: One of the worst recent examples. Partially because of Creator/CartoonNetwork's meddling, and partially because the [[{{Actas}} studio behind the animation]] was genuinely not that great.