Trivia / Transformers: Armada

• Common Knowledge: Contrary to the perception among most western Transformers fans, the notion that Micron Legend was just the Japanese dub of Armada that was done later for Japanese audiences is incorrect. The series was originally conceptualized and produced in Japanese as Micron Legend and then due to various Executive Meddling (largely by Cartoon Network), the English dub of Armada was severely rushed out and released to the English-speaking market sooner than Micron Legend in Japan; Which creates the confusion that Armada was the “original” while Micron Legend is mistaken as “Just the dub for Japanese audiences”.
• Creator Backlash: Aaron Archer, designer of Smokescreen's toy, expressed disappointment in the figure, calling it a "bottom of the barrel" design due to being the last one created for wave one. He expressed displeasure in the robot face, called the color scheme garish, and said the name didn't fit the character.
• Development Hell: Optimus Prime had a new figure announced (And was shown to the public in conventions as a grayscale prototype) in 2019 by Takara, which retains the ability to convert into a Super Mode torso, but nothing has materialized outside of the prototype as of early 2022, and the likelihood of the prototype seeing an actual release by now is slim to none at best. The reason for this according to leakers and Takara staff was due to the estimated production costs, and the complexity required not really fitting into any existing toylines. Fans are hoping it may be revived for 2022's Legacy toyline, which has already used several characters from the Unicron Trilogy era. The prototype unfortunately never went into production, however....
• Executive Meddling: A large number of animation and dubbing problems could have been avoided if production hadn't been rushed so much thanks to Cartoon Network not signing off on the series without a certain number of episodes already finished.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The series on DVD was out of print for a long time and buying it would cost around $100, though it was easy to find for free in certain places on the Internet. In 2014 this finally changed when Shout! Factory did a rerelease of the show, and now it can be bought at more reasonable prices. Note that this is only for the English dub of Armada, as Micron Legend unfortunately still hasn't got any official global releases, and accessibility to watch Micron Legend still remains questionable.
• Kids' Meal Toy: In 2002, McDonald's sold eight different toys of both the Autobots (Optimus Prime, Hot Shot, Smokescreen, and Red Alert) and the Decepticons (Starscream, Cyclonus, Megatron, and Demolisher) for boys. They could connect to each other to form larger mechs. The Japanese release of this set featured a unique mold for Hot Shot. It was sold opposite Hello Kitty for girls.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Hot Shot was voiced by Brent Miller in Armada and Energon. After that, Kirby Morrow takes over in Cybertron.
  • Jetfire was voiced by Scott McNeil in Armada and Energon. In Cybertron, he is voiced by Brian Drummond.
  • Ted Cole replaces Paul Dobson as Sideways in Cybertron.
• Role Reprise:
  • One of the highlights was getting David Kaye and Gary Chalk to play Megatron and Optimus, although technically both in the Beast Wars era were similar characters and not actual adaptations of the originals, as evidence that this is the first time Chalk played Optimus Prime.
  • In the Brazilian dub, José Santa Cruz and José Santanna reprise their roles as Megatron and Starscream, respectively, from the original cartoon, while Guilherme Briggs reprises his role as Optimus Prime from Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
• Saved from Development Hell: While the 2019 prototype figure of Armada Optimus Prime by Takara never went into production and was eventually scrapped due to various factors, the enthusiastic reactions from fans do convince both Hasbro and Takara with the idea of a new Armada Optimus Prime figure in the mainline, and eventually a new Armada Optimus Prime figure was finally released under the Commander class price point in the Legacy Evolution toyline in 2023 (As a completely brand new anime-accurate mold designed from the ground up, unrelated to the prototype's sculpt).
• Uncredited Role: An odd case: While the anime is the first instance in the franchise to actually credit animators post-Beast Wars, it's the same listing across the series. Averted for the Japanese release, which has proper episode-specific credits (though also plays it straight in its own way as the subcontract studios, like Studio Wanpack go without animator credits).
• What Could Have Been:
  • Hot Shot was originally supposed to be Bumblebee, but as the trademark wasn't available at the time, his name was changed to Hot Shot. This would be fixed for Animated.
  • Takara proposed early on that each Mini-Con would only work for specific Autobots and Decepticons. Designer Aaron Archer feared American kids would try to shove any Mini-Con into the hardport and get frustrated when it didn't work, so this was dropped in favor of a universal hardport system shared between all figures in the line. Some remnants of the original idea remain in how Mini-Cons packaged with an Autobot or Decepticon will usually have specific interaction designed between them (i.e. Nightbeat's ability to store inside Sideswipe), and the gearing systems in the Destruction and Adventure Mini-Cons only work with Cyclonus' rotor gimmick.
  • According to Aaron Archer, Cyclonus would have been called Cop-Tur had the trademark been available at the time.
  • One of Demolishor's production names was Scourge to complete the Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge trio.
  • Aaron Archer intended for Nightbeat and Sideswipe's names to be swapped and his attempts to correct it didn't succeed.
  • Billy and Fred were meant to be written out of the show at various points, but the producers never got around to it.
  • Over-Run, the Mini-Con included with Optimus Prime's Super-Con figure, was meant to appear in the anime as Prime's second Mini-Con partner. Concept art was made for his animated design◊ and he shows up in the first Japanese opening, but otherwise doesn't make an appearance.

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