Post Pictures of your Transformers: Autumnbots and Halloween Horrorcons!
- Thread starter Ave Destron
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The Scooby Doo eating sound effects really don’t help.
"Ruh Roh Roptimus!"
I wondering if Grimlock is planning to consume all of those bots sat on his back?
free them
Frankly, it was the dropping people he'd eaten into acid vats at the end that got me more.
That, and I think just my general fear of being stepped on by something so utterly humongous (in movies, anyway) as well, with him just standing on Cybertron at the end.
Or when he brings his giant hand down, come to think of it.
...
Man, what kind of horror are you into that none of this stuff bothers you?!?
I THOUGHT THIS WAS A SAFE SPACE
Kidding aside... there's definitely a horror element to G1 Unicron but outside of that opening scene it's really not what I'd call "cosmic" or "Lovecraftian."
There are scary elements sure, but Unicron ultimately ends up as an obstacle who wants the MacGuffin.
Armada Unicron, by contrast, is presented in this eerie sort of way. He has a "herald" who comes off as possessed or otherwise mad and yet also duplicitous. He's controlling a salt plant with unnatural looking metal plant life and a
When he finally makes his move the mood over Cybertron is almost eerie and disconcerting at first. He drives Thrust mad while ultimately not even caring about him or realizing he's there. His insides, like '86, have a very non-Euclidean feel to them, but whereas '86's time spent inside was the climax of an action adventure, Armada spends a lot of time with the characters trapped in this eerie space just trying to figure things out. Rad has dark prophetic dreams.
And while we eventually do get our action adventure climax (Armada has the best Optimus/
'86 Unicron is great, but Armada Unicron leaned as far into the idea of Unicron being this Lovecraftian elder god as a kids show reasonably could, and I love it.
Hmmm...
I apparently did not watch enough of the armada cartoon...
I apparently did not watch enough of the armada cartoon...
Armada is a tale of two halves. The first half is very formulaic and riddled with a lot of errors on the VA side because of how rushed the dub was.
The show finds its footing once Unicron starts to become a bigger factor, though.
All in all there's a lot I adore about Armada and I feel like it gets unfairly maligned.
I started out watching Armada, but never finished it. I suppose @LordGigaIce's assessment is apt, because the first part seemed pretty bad to me back then. Of course, the show also dovetailed nicely with my general, waning interest in the fiction surrounding most then-new Transformers. Most of what I bought from Armada toy-wise was because I felt the toys themselves were fun and could stand on their own merits.
I was addicted to minicons, so I was getting as many toys as I could. I stopped watching the show when hot shot bounced through a japanese festival balloon. Granted, it was a culmination of factors cause the IDW comic was running at that moment and handled the core premise so much better than the show did.
Yeah, I just kind of gave up on all fiction, for the most part, around the AEC era. If I'm being honest, I never really have picked it back up. I suppose that makes me a bad Transformers fan, because other than watching a few episodes of Animated, Prime, and some of the live-action movies, I really haven't engaged with much modern fiction. By "modern", I'm really talking about the last, say, 20 years.
I've always been interested in character bios to a degree, and I don't think that will change. But it's always been about the toys for me, as my mind can make up all sorts of vivid backstories, if I'm ever bothered enough.
I've always been interested in character bios to a degree, and I don't think that will change. But it's always been about the toys for me, as my mind can make up all sorts of vivid backstories, if I'm ever bothered enough.
I'm in a similar boat. I watched all of and love Animated, watched and tolerated the Bay movies until Age of Extinction broke me, and thoroughly enjoyed Bumblebee and One, but otherwise haven't seen more than a few bits and bobs of any official fiction since G1, either in "moving picture" or comic form. I'm really much more dedicated to the toy end of the franchise. That said, I DO love when the toys get some characterization and wish that they'd go back to having short bios on all the boxes.
If anyone here is going to give Armada a new chance at watching, go for the Japanese version. Karyuudo has subbed it in full on their YouTube channel, and it lacks all of the dubbing mistakes, all of the weird acting choices, and half of the animation errors found in the English version.
I'm one of those who moved out to the periphery of, well, all of the Unicron Trilogy shows after the first handful of Armada. Did absolutely nothing to diminish the love I have for the era and its toys, but I was content to miss out on the "following the shows" experience. I mostly enjoyed fan fiction that took up the characters and such instead.
Between the (laughable now, but pretty real at the time) difficulty just getting a copy of each episode and the disappointment of how each episode would turn out, it just wasn't keeping me around. After less than a a quarter of Armada I largely skipped the rest, only catching the occasional Unicron Battles era episode and the finale. And really, while I liked what I saw, watching those didn't really make me want to go back and see what I'd missed... because it still didn't feel like I missed much. The lore and concepts of the show continue to fascinate me, and the idea of a remake with tighter writing (pare the show down to about 2/3 or even half its length or something) along with the expected improvements is very appealing. (I may check out the Karyuudo sub at some point, when I'm able to actually WATCH watch a show rather than have it in the background.)
Gave Energon a try, bailed even earlier, and it seems to have been for the best. Cybertron was and is my jam, but by then I couldn't spare the time to follow a series anymore, although I'd check out an episode now and then.
Between the (laughable now, but pretty real at the time) difficulty just getting a copy of each episode and the disappointment of how each episode would turn out, it just wasn't keeping me around. After less than a a quarter of Armada I largely skipped the rest, only catching the occasional Unicron Battles era episode and the finale. And really, while I liked what I saw, watching those didn't really make me want to go back and see what I'd missed... because it still didn't feel like I missed much. The lore and concepts of the show continue to fascinate me, and the idea of a remake with tighter writing (pare the show down to about 2/3 or even half its length or something) along with the expected improvements is very appealing. (I may check out the Karyuudo sub at some point, when I'm able to actually WATCH watch a show rather than have it in the background.)
Gave Energon a try, bailed even earlier, and it seems to have been for the best. Cybertron was and is my jam, but by then I couldn't spare the time to follow a series anymore, although I'd check out an episode now and then.
TBH, I only ever watched the tail end of Armada because we (in the UK) got those episodes earlier than the States for some reason, and the novelty of getting televisual Transformers content before North America was too much to miss.* For me was unchallenging morning viewing before catching the train to university, I guess.
* Yes, I knew that we had exclusive comics and exclusive action figures and so on, but those were over a decade before then.
* Yes, I knew that we had exclusive comics and exclusive action figures and so on, but those were over a decade before then.
Energon is almost a reverse of Armada. It starts strong but faceplants hard. But whereas Armada turns things around halfway through the show, Energon's "good part" ends after like five episodes.
I'd argue that Armada ends on such a high note and in such a way that a sequel isn't even needed?
Galvatron sacrifices his life because he realizes it's the only path to peace. Optimus abandons the Matrix to symbolize he's no longer the Autobots' leader, and will try to lead a united Cybertron. Unicron is destroyed.
The whole thing has a sense of finality to it.
Energon's opening does a decent job picking up some of those plots and exploring them if they were to be taken further, but once Megatron mindwipes everyone on the 'Con side and undoes all of their character development... it's just a terrible show. It also runs out of plot halfway through and just starts circling back on itself.
Cybertron is a really fun show. More polished than Armada, but I prefer Armada. Still, Cybertron is an enjoyable ride and has some pretty fun highs.
Thing is Cybertron is best enjoyed as a stand-alone thing. If you watch it with that mentality you'll enjoy it more. Trying figure out how it can possibly connect to Armada (and Energon, if you must acknowledge it) is an exercise in madness.
So I personally enjoy 2/3 of the UT. A bit more if you tack on the start of Energon before it goes... downward.
I was also 14 when Armada started, was way into dubbed anime at the time, and I already liked Transformers, so it was easy to get into it I guess.
Still, I'll go to bat for...
Armada's kids being the most realistic depiction of human kids in Transformers animation
Armada Starscream's whole arc, including his friendship with Alexis
Rad's dad being the realist MFer in the room
How Unicron is handled as a Lovecraftian cosmic horror
The best Optimus Prime death in the franchise
The mood and tone of the Unicron Battle arc
Nemesis Prime (he's so hot right now)
Armada having the best version of Sideways and the only one that really took advantage of the faction swapping gimmick
The best Optimus v Megatron fight (well it's technically Galvatron but whatever) in the franchise
Galvatron's sacrifice
I don't feel like running down Cybertron but it's just a fun show
Guys: so long as you're enjoying what you're doing, and aren't ruining anyone else's fun; you are not bad fans.