As is the case with any Transformers animated series, a continual war is being waged between the upright Autobots and the dastardly Decepticons for the very fate of their home planet Cybertron. As the battle wages, neither side seems to be winning this long drawn out war, so each side seeks an edge that will tip the battle in their favor. In Armada one key event changes the battle forever. A signal from Earth changes everything. A race of Transformers, called Minicons, are apparently trapped on the planet . These Minicons are powerful weapons that can be used by either the Autobots or the Decepticons to shift the scales of power in this war, so each side goes on a hunt to collect them.
Along the way as the story unfurls, Optimus Prime and the Autbots face a roral dilemma - do they utilize the power of the robotic race or do they free them and let them have free will? As the series plays out the Autobots do the right thing and these Minicons reward them by helping them out in their time of need.
The other aspect of the series, which I call "Power Rangers syndrome," sees one of the series' leading Antagonists switch sides and join the Autobots' cause. We are speaking of Starscream, a popular bad guy in the long running series, whose hatred for Megatron is greater than anything else. Starscream is a pretty excitable character who is laser beam focused on destroying the Decepticon’s leader, so it is interesting to see his personality play out in the midst of the mostly noble Autobots faction.
The biggest problem with this particular Transformers series is that it is somewhat of a paradox; on the one hand you have a an interesting storyline filled with twists and turns and plenty of compelling characters with multiple motivations. But on the flipside of things, you have a gaggle of kids who happen upon the Autobots and tag along for the whole series. These kids are your typical anime children - overly agitating and lame to the core. Getting past these kids and their part in this h storyline is the key to enjoying what's going on in Armada. To be fair, you can kind of understand why the makers of Armada included these children in the mix - after all, they had to reintroduce this franchise to a whole new generation. The problem is that these kids are as bold as Dragon Ball Z combatants without any real impact on what's going on around them and much of what they have to contribute is worthless and lame. You could probably get more interesting interactions from Winx Club or an episode of Bratz..
Transformers purists may enjoy the decent art direction and familiar characters in Armada, but the juvenile storuyline and agitating may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. In positioning the series towards children, the creators may have gone a bit farther than they should have with the juvenile elements of the story and the over-the-top voice acting. Personally i'm not a big fan of loud mouthed characters that are typically found in anime (Naruto is a great example), so seeing Armada go into that direction is disheartening.
To be honest, youngsters will probably enjoy the series a lot more because these elements were included, hooking a whole new generation on the show and the toys that they based on. Transformer purist will not be so thrilled with Armada because of these new elements, but that's just the way the ball bounces..
