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Rating: 
Summary: Skip It
Review: "Transformers: Armada" is pretty good 21st century take on the Transformers story. It's set in a new Transformers universe filled with new characters and new adventures. This DVD isn't worth buying, though. It has only a few episodes on it, and they're not even in chronological order; they're random. For a series that's built on story arcs, releasing the episodes on DVD in chronological order is a must. Don't bother buying this disc. Save your money and buy the boxed set, which include these same episodes and a lot more, instead.
Rating:
Summary: transformers rule BUT......
Review: Aramda season one sucked!!!! the series only got good during the end of the second season,I probebly will end up getting the box set but other than that I won't buy this single disc...if you like annoying BRATS standing around watching robots barely hitting each other thanks to political correctness then you would like this disc that doesn't even go anywhere..4 episodes that tell the same story get's kind of dull after awhile if you like gen1 and beastwars you'll hate this one,except the second season...stay away from this and get the box set when it's released..
Rating: 
Summary: Battle to Save the Reputation of Transformers
Review: As an avid Generation 1 Transformers fan I must say that I am extremely disappointed with Armada and its successor Energon and must fully concur with all of the reviewers who have written prior to this entry. Armada and Energon's plot are terrible at best. This is the first time since I watched Generation 1 and Beast Wars that I hoped that the Decepticons would destroy and obliterate the Autobots and their human sidekicks.
The humans in Armada and Energon are annoying and hold no special purpose. In comparison, Spike, Sparkplug and Chip from Generation 1 were not put in every episode in an attempt to try to help the Autobots. In many episodes in Generation 1, we did not see any human counterparts that played a pivotal part in deciding the victor of the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. However, in Armada and Energon the Autobots cannot win without their human companions. I disagree somewhat with the voice casting in Armada and Energon. In Generation 1 we had great voice actors for the Autobots and Decepticons. For example, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Chris Latta, Neil Ross, Michael Bell, Scatman Caruthers, Casey Kasem and other greats portrayed my heros that I have watched growing up. In Armada, I am pleased with the voice casting of Megatron (David Kayle), Optimus Prime (Gary Chalk), Hot Shot, Starscream, and Demolisher. Mr. Kayle has done an extremely wonderful job since he started with Megatron back in Beast Wars and the same complement is extended to Mr. Chalk, but the other voices are sub par at best. For example, Ironhide in Energon sounds like Carlos...ridiculous.
Real Transformers should be ashamed of the latest incarnations of the Transformers story line. I have not seen a suitable Transformers story since Beast Wars and Beast Machines and odds are that I never will again. Now to the DVD review, first off I would like to congratulate Rhino for releasing box sets of Transformers Generation 1, Jem, and G.I. Joe. However, they completely destroyed the credibility of the Armada DVD's such as this release. For one, the DVD jumps from one episode to the next as opposed to going through the episodes in a sequential order, not that it would matter to me what order they put the episodes in because they were all bad. In conclusion, the best thing about the Armada release is the cheap price. This DVD is selling for a cheap price because the Armada and Energon television show is a cheap product.
To the executives at Rhino STOP releasing Armada and Energon DVD's and release Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light also done by our friends at Sunbow and contains the same voice actors and writers who appeared in Generation 1 Transformers, Jem and G.I. Joe. Rhino please complete the Sunbow dynasty.
Rating:
Summary: This one is really..., I meant REALLY horrible
Review: I am a big transformers fan. I've been following the Transformers since Generation 1. I am a decent Transformers collectors too. In fact, I own more than 60 bots and all videos that are available on DVD. However, I have to say this one is REALLY horrible. This DVD includes 4 Armada episodes:
* Metamorphosis (Episode 2)
* Base (Episode 3)
* Confrontation (Episode 9)
* Decisive Battle (Episode 21) First, in most people's opinion, Armada is THE worst Transformers series. The story line is dull and the character deisngs are also bad. However, I saw many, if not all, Armada episodes before I bought this DVD, so I kind of expected this. Then, it comes the REAL problems of the DVD: the sequence of the episodes and the selection of the episodes. The sequence is extremely odd. Well, what IS the sequence? It is NOT the first 4 episodes of the Armada series, instead, it contains episodes 2, 3, 9, and 21. It seems like these four episodes are just chosen by random. At least, I couldn't find out the correlations between them. The selection is also very weird. In the TV series, episodes 1 - 3 was a mini-series. However, the disk only contains episodes 2 and 3. So the story starts without a real beginning. In fact, if you have never seen Armada before, you will be wondering what's going on. Well, the story line should be easy enough to figure out, but you'll still lose a lot of the story line. I bought the DVD only for the sake of having a completed Transformers DVD collection. I really hope Rhino releases some sort of boxed set which is a REAL collection. As of now, buy it ONLY if you are a HUGE fan and want to keep your collection completed. After all, you should be able to get it between $8 - $9, it may not a big deal to waste the money just to keep the collection completed. Otherwise, forget about this one.
Rating:
Summary: This one is really..., I meant REALLY horrible
Review: I am a big transformers fan. I've been following the Transformers since Generation 1. I am a decent Transformers collectors too. In fact, I own more than 60 bots and all videos that are available on DVD. However, I have to say this one is REALLY horrible. This DVD includes 4 Armada episodes:
* Metamorphosis (Episode 2)
* Base (Episode 3)
* Confrontation (Episode 9)
* Decisive Battle (Episode 21) First, in most people's opinion, Armada is THE worst Transformers series. The story line is dull and the character deisngs are also bad. However, I saw many, if not all, Armada episodes before I bought this DVD, so I kind of expected this. Then, it comes the REAL problems of the DVD: the sequence of the episodes and the selection of the episodes. The sequence is extremely odd. Well, what IS the sequence? It is NOT the first 4 episodes of the Armada series, instead, it contains episodes 2, 3, 9, and 21. It seems like these four episodes are just chosen by random. At least, I couldn't find out the correlations between them. The selection is also very weird. In the TV series, episodes 1 - 3 was a mini-series. However, the disk only contains episodes 2 and 3. So the story starts without a real beginning. In fact, if you have never seen Armada before, you will be wondering what's going on. Well, the story line should be easy enough to figure out, but you'll still lose a lot of the story line. I bought the DVD only for the sake of having a completed Transformers DVD collection. I really hope Rhino releases some sort of boxed set which is a REAL collection. As of now, buy it ONLY if you are a HUGE fan and want to keep your collection completed. After all, you should be able to get it between $8 - $9, it may not a big deal to waste the money just to keep the collection completed. Otherwise, forget about this one.
Rating:
Summary: Oh yeah...it IS that bad!
Review: I really don't know what to say, other than this Armada garbage really sucks. I started to follow the Transformers mythos in 1984, and have enjoyed every series I've come apon. Be it the original Transformers, Scramble City, Head Masters, Master Force, Victory, Zone, Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Well, that's not the case with this Armada crap. I don't know where to begin a list of everything that's wrong with this abomination. Mixing cell animation with CGI animation and effects is a bad start and garantees that "cheap aesthetic" that we keep seeing more and more of these days. The characters are annoying at best (those that have some sort of hint of a personality anyway)and the writing is embarassingly bad. As some other reviewer has stated, the human characters in this crap fest are particulally revolting. There's actually this fat kid in the group who goes on about being hungry all the time. The only lines he ever says during an episode are "I'm SOOO hungry" or "Who wants waffles" or something else to that effect. Yes people, the writing is THAT BAD. Bland writing and bland voice acting, combined with repetitive CGI polluted animation and bad techno music would be the only words that come to mind if I were to describe this pathetic incarnation of my beloved Transformers. I'm giving this Rhino release 1 star, because at least the disc itself played correctly on my DVD player. Yuck!
Rating:
Summary: A sunken 'Armada'
Review: Urgh... after taking an interest in the TransFormers Armada toy line, I was really hoping the corresponding cartoon show would be at least halfway decent. But after checking out this collection of four eppies, I was rather appalled by the lameness of it all. Now I'm not sayin' that the original Gen One series that I grew up watchin' was a high-quality production by any stretch of the imagination... but it's far more watchable than (yet just about as corny as) this almost blasphemous "update"! If it isn't the overly chipper demeanor every person and robot on the show exudes in spades (including the Decepticons) in most of the non-battle scenes that perturbs me, it's those freakin' kids who are always gettin' themselves caught in the middle of one firefight or another. It came to a point where I was prayin' they and their cutesy Mini-Con companions would be put outta their misery by a few "stray" laser blasts! And I swear to God, if I hear one of those ritalin-deprived punks utter "Wow!" whenever they uncover something unusual or spout off in wide-eyed wonder how "wicked-cool" something is, I'm gonna go postal at the next BotCon I attend! Sheesh, didn't they learn their lesson from the post-movie Gen One series when they threw Spike's bratty kid Daniel into the mix?! Guess not... Then there's the Pokemon-like cuteness the Mini-Con 'bots exude, which makes me a bit nauseous in spite of the fact that I've collected a few of the Mini-Con toys and found them kinda cool. Speakin' of which, doesn't the whole Mini-Con thing that the factions are fighting over seem like it was ripped off from the Pokemon series? After all, one side or another has "gotta catch 'em all" to gain the upper hand and attain ultimate power. However, judging from the handful of eppies on this platter, both sides have collected enough of the runty little 'bots to maintain a true balance of power-- a stalemate as it were. Speaking of the handful of eppies: seein' as how this platter was touted as the "volume one" by more'n a few online retailers, I was expecting it to contain the first four shows of the series. No such luck, I'm afear'd-the first show is eppies 2 (Metamorphosis), and followed by eppies 3 (Base), 9 (Confrontation), and 21 (Decisive Battle). Needless to say, if you're expecting to see the very beginning of Transformers Armada, you're S.O.L. with this particular offering. This unfortunate revelation has led me to believe that Rhino put this out in order to rake in a few quick bucks from the "I-Just-Gotta-Have-It" UberTransFans before they release the entire series in box set format some time in the future. Trust me on this; I've been burned by the ol' "DVD double-dip ploy" (see my guide on this annoying phenomenon at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/3CVFIEG84F2PF/ref=cm_aya_av.sylt_sylt/002-9099822-8864853) enough times to see it comin' from a mile away... On the upside, I gotta admit the animation is a fair sight more detailed and painstakingly rendered than the relatively primitive stuff seen Gen One show, especially the transformation sequences. Another nice touch is how closely the look and design of the 'toon robots match the look & design of their toy counterparts, which is something that was rarely ever seen in the Gen One series. However, I'm not too hip with the minimalist approach the animators took with many of the battle scenes. Now I know this is sortuva given in the giant robot genre of Japanese anime, but... do we really hafta see the combatants stare each other down for five seconds and then exchanging corny taunts for an additional ten seconds before they actually commence with the fisticuffs, and then cut to the opponents grappling against speed-line/blur backgrounds for half the battle? They also gotta give up tryin' to combine CGI animation with cel animation until they find a way to get both elements to mesh together in a convincing fashion; the smattering of scenes that used both types of 'toonage didn't look right... 'Late
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