Transformers: Armada | HD | Episode 4 | The Complete Series | Comrade
458This episode picks up where the last one left off. The Autobots are about to head out to find a Mini-con, when the kids come and beg to go with them. They are given special suits to help protect them, climb into Optimus's cab, and get their first taste of 'warping'. They arrive in the Grand Canyon where they are supposed to find a Mini-con. Here the team splits up into three groups in order to broaden the area of the quest. Carlos goes off with Red Alert, Optimus Prime stays with the Mini-cons, Rad and Alexis become the passengers of Hot Shot.
Little flying robot Lazerbeak discovers a Mini-con panel in the rock, but before the 'Bots have time to take it, the 'Cons attack them in their usual way named "divide and conquer". Demolisher pursues Red Alert, Cyclonus chases Hot Shot and succeeds in making him trapped among the stones. Optimus Prime meets face to face with Megatron himself. Thanks to his Mini-con partner Megatron gains the upper hand and wounds Prime. Just as he is about to finish the Autobots' leader, Starscream (who had got an order to stay at the Base) suddenly appears. He declares himself to be mighty enough to destroy Prime. The kids are horrified because Optimus seems to be doomed. But then High Wire, Sureshock and Grindor unite and form a new strong and rapid robot named Perceptor. He strikes Megatron and Starscream and defends Optimus Prime till the new Mini-con awakes. This Mini-con turns out to be Optimus' old partner, Sparkplug (erroneously called Leader-1). He unites with Optimus and gives him the strength to attack both Megatron and Starscream and send them packing. Megatron is forced to retreat to the Decepticon Base. He is in great fury. By his order Starscream gets a severe chastisement for his disobedience.
Transformers: Armada, known in Japan as Super Robot Life-Form Transformers: Legends of the Microns (超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー マイクロン伝説, Chō Robotto Seimeitai Toransufōmā Maikuron Densetsu), is an anime series. As the first series co-produced between the American toy company Hasbro and their Japanese counterpart Takara, Armada begins a new continuity/universe for Transformers, with no ties to any of the previous series, including the immediately prior Transformers: Robots in Disguise in 2001. It inspired two sequels, Transformers: Energon and Transformers: Cybertron. Hasbro handled the distribution of the English license, while Takara handled the distribution of the Japanese license. Transformers: Armada and both of its following series are all part of a saga known as the "Unicron Trilogy".
Transformers: Armada was written and produced in Japan, with creative input from America (the Japanese originally envisioned the series as set in the G1 continuity, but this idea was discarded by Hasbro, who also mandated the inclusion of Unicron, who had not been in the original story treatment for the series). However, the show premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami in America before its original Japanese counterpart had aired - the result of an unreasonable production schedule set by the network, which caused the series to be rushed out of production. Consequently, Armada features a lot of unfinished animation (which would go on to be perfected for the completed Japanese episodes), and a hastily produced dub which features many errors in naming such as Sureshock being repeatedly called "Grindor" in multiple episodes, Hot Shot being called "Hot Rod", and Optimus's Mini-Con partner Sparkplug being called "Leader-1" (the same name as Megatron's Mini-Con), as well as transliteration and nonsensical dialogue which does not match the action onscreen.
When Armada was released on DVD in Japan, each of the thirteen volumes came with a four-page mini-manga and an exclusive repainted Mini-Con figure. The manga, titled Tales of the Microns: Linkage, feature these repaints in an original story which served to fill in many of the blank spots and plot holes in the animated series.
Despite Transformers: Armada being made by a Japanese studio, it premiered first in the United States. The series premiered on Cartoon Network on August 23, 2002 at 4 P.M. with a 90-minute movie special, consisting of the first three episodes. Following its premiere, new episodes started coming out on August 30, airing every Friday at 6:30 P.M.
In the December issue of Japanese magazine Animage, it was announced that the anime would start airing in Japan on January 10, 2003 on TV Tokyo, with new episodes coming out every Friday at 6 P.M.