I noticed a few of TFwiki's pages are inconsistent with the years so I opted to just ignore it and go with the year page cause I don't want to check each individual page to make sure it's actually suppose to be there.
I'm on the TFWiki Discord so I checked with some other members in the dedicated editing discussion thread. Apparently Dec 2002 was the Hasbro release date for Armada Jetfire and June 2003 was the Takara release date. The Hasbro date is listed in the entry's title while the Takara date is listed on its own line, so I can kinda see why that could be overlooked.
It amazes me that Cyclonus is the only Armada toy to have all of his Mini-con ports be functional. Everyone else had at least one fake port that just cosmetically attached a Mini-con. Each and every one of Cyclonus's ports did something.
Plus he had the gear thing which could attach a Mini-con without a port. The only other figure with that Gearing Gimmick was Hoist and he had no practical way to actually use it. So even Hoist's Mini-con integrated with Cyclonus better than the figure he actually came with.
"In 2002, articulation WAS a gimmick". And how! It's easy to forget that's when Toy Biz started the Marvel Legends toyline, which shifted the action figure market from 5 inch toys with 5 points of articulation to 6 inch figures that focused on how many joints they could cram into a sculpt!
Armada was the last Transformers line of my childhood. After that, I was a full-on teenager, and my attitude towards Transformers began to change. I still enjoy a ton of what has come out after Armada, but Armada itself and the Transformer toylines prior to it hold a special place in my heart.
The minicons definitely need a legacy update either as a core class add on or some big multi packs but the lil guys are super fun and some had interesting vehicles/gimmicks, mainly the weapon ones as they do have that weapon gimmick but military or rescue also fun updates to do. As for other characters Cyclonus and demolishor that due needs an update as those 2 being great characters in the show their original toys were super sun and solid for the time
I like how in the 2001 video you effectively said more often than not Optimus and Megs get the best toys every year, and then immediately the next year Optimus isn't even in the top 5. LOL.
And so it begins- the Age of Archer (2002-2013)! Also happy day of birth My votes for best figures this year would be Demolishor (great Mini-Con and surprisingly good articulation for 2002), the Emergency Mini-Cons (surprised these guys and their Decepticon jet rivals weren’t slotted into Core for Legacy; they’re perfect for the size class), and Scavenger (he’s just neat; stomp stomp gimmick goes brrr).
I used to own almost the entire Armada toyline, they were pretty cool for their time, Mini-Cons as well. Not sure if I have a favorite among them, but in all, it was an interesting series. Happy birthday to you as well, TJ!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TJ!! THANK YOU FOR THESE LISTS, THEY ARE AWESOME!!! I never owned an Armada toy. Surprised that Unicron is not in this list but, hey, Perceptor is there! I really like that one. :)
Happy birthday! 🎉I loved this Top 10 list. I had six out these ten figures. It wasn’t until Combiner Wars that I got so many of a single Transformers line.
Happy birthday. Also I loved this list because I had every one of these figures growing up and Megatron and Demolishor are still my favorite to mess around with to this day.
Firstly, Happy Birthday! Armada represents the first Transformers toys I had owned since the latter years of Generation One. While I did scoop up some of the 2001 Robots in Disguise line, it was retroactive as most of those toys were already gone from the shelves of big box retailers and had to be gotten through ebay. I've largely sold off my older Transformers from the 2000s, but from what I recall I mostly bought Decepticons from Armada. I had the Minicon Street Action Team, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.... as well as Galvatron, mainly trying to either recreate the G1 lineup of favorite characters I knew as a little kid back in the 80s. I was kind of bummed to learn that in the Armada cartoon, that Thundercracker was a just a Starscream repaint and Skywarp was nonexistent, though in Dreamwave Comics continuity, these toys were all separate characters like in G1. I also had the Energon decos of Demolisher and Cyclonus (or Ironhide and Sandstorm to use the Micro Legend names).
Happy Birthday! And we thank you for your sacrifice! (Also when it was at 3 and articulation was brought up i thougjt Red Alert, Megatron, and Demolishor was the most articulated and almost guessed the top three!)
Deluxe Prime is so worth any collectors time. Demolishor is great, I don't have the original I have the Powerlinx repaint instead. Red Alert is another good figure, nice articulation even if hindered by kibble. Street Action Team gave us a good combination. Jetfire and Megatron are good figures too. Weapon Mini-cons were a good idea, I'd like to see it again at some point (though i havent forgotten Siege or Earthrise). Also, Happy Birthday TJ. Hope you had a good one!
I have my Dark Saber, Bendy Prime, Sideways, and Cybertron Demolishor. They're all great, even acknowledging my nostalgia. I just wish the Cybertron release of Demolisor came with his Minicon instead of the generic Decepticon Cyberkey remolded to work with Minicon ports.
Many happy returns of the day, my good man! May you be blessed with abundant health and peace of mind this year. 🙌 🎈 🎉 🥳 🎉 🪅 🎊 🎈 (No joy today could possibly beat the moment you started sharing how awesome Mini-Con Bonecrusher was!) 😊 🎂 🤖
The only Armada toys a have are Demolishor a bunch of minicons, and I adore all of them. I wish the adventure team could've made the list because their gimmicks blew me away when I got them.
Happy Birthday TJOmega! My top 10 list for 2002 I didn't include Air Attack Optimus Primal or Megatron Megabolt on this list because I'd prefer not to include multiple Optimus and Megatrons on the same list and if I can only have one of each it's going to be the Armada versions. 10. Scavenger: The fact that he's motorized and can move around on his own in both modes was a pretty interesting and unique gimmick but it also means he has no articulation in his legs. He also gave away a spoiler for the cartoon because this guy was sold as an Autobot before we even knew he was an Autobot. They didn't even give the toy any way to be displayed as a Decepticon which is weird for a character called Scavenger in Construction green and purple. 9. Demolisor: I almost didn't even include this guy but he's actually pretty posible which was uncommon for Armada at the time. 8. Blurr: This guy is just a personal favorite. I love the design, this is still my favorite Blurr ever. 7. Starscream: I like the sword wing design. I prefer the Skywarp version of the mold but that doesn't come out this year so I can't use it. 6. Red Alert: On top of the Mini-con gimmick he also had swappable tools for his left hand that stored inside his body. Gave him a bit more play value. 5. Cyclonus: He has a unique way of power linking with Mini-cons that gives this figure more play value if you also have the Adventure and Destruction Mini-con teams that are specifically designed to work with his gear gimmick. Hoist also has this gimmick but it makes more sense working with the Helicopter alt mode. 4. Sideways: I usually don't like Headmasters because if you lose the head they just don't work in robot mode anymore but this actually solves that problem because he has 2 headmasters and a 3rd head built in. The Mini-cons can also combine. And there's 2 variants of this figure because the original release had the heads backwards making Rook the Decepticon and Crosswise the Autobot. Rook was the Autobot head in the cartoon and Crosswise was the Decepticon head so a later run of them fixed it to be more cartoon accurate. I actually have the original run release of him. 3. Street Action Mini-con team: I love the little combiner team, my favorite of the Mini-con teams. There's a Bike and a Skate Board that should not even work as Transformers let alone combiners but some how do work. 2. Megatron: He already has a lot of gimmicks on his own and then you add Tidal Wave and he loses articulation but it's just another thing you're able to do with him. Technically Tidal Wave doesn't exist yet so I get to mention this again in another top ten list. 1. Optimus Prime & Jetfire: Again Optimus can do a lot of stuff all on his own and then he's also a combiner adding play value if you also have Jetfire and Overload. Technically Overload doesn't exist yet so I can't technically include him here. I can mention them again on another top ten. I like to cheat and put combiners in the same slot especially because I don't actually think Jetfire is that great on his own, he suffers for the gimmick so he gets to share the slot because of that gimmick.
Armada megatron is one of my favorite transformers, sure the legs are a brick but the gimmicks are fun and he feels very solidly built and looks imposing, wish they had bulked the legacy version up to this ones size.
This line was stupidly fun even if they were all mostly bricks, the Minicons had so much creativity and personality injected into them! And Megatron truly was a beast, I have the Galvatron deco and my God did I play with it, one of the best christmas presents I ever got as a child, it truly was a playset, it puts most base modes to shame. Demolishor and Cyclonus I experienced much later in life but they are incredible as well. I know most people don't like him much, but Scavenger was also pretty imposing and fun.
Cyclonus and Demolishor have some of the best Minicon integration of the whole line. So many Armada characters still need updates, but they’re the top two. Honestly, I liked the big Prime better than the Bendy Prime. He was a chunk, but to me, an impressive one. Articulation’s not nearly as important to me as overall look. Plus Sparkplug is hands down the best minicon in the whole line. Jetfire is absolutely superb. Enough so that any update would have an uphill battle. I feel like I never really enjoyed Red Alert as much as some others… I really prefer his Cybertron version. They didn’t make the list, but I have a lot of love for Blurr and Overload.
i was lucky enough to have all but jetfire, Red Alert and Sideways. Still have all of them in mostly good condition minus a few missing missiles. The worst condition one i have is my cyclonus and the only thing wrong with him is his arm popped off and joint is worn enough that it wont stay in. Also i may not have had the big Optimus Prime, looking back i'm glad i got bendy prime after hearing what happened with Baltmatrix's.
ah Bendy Prime. I still have the Cybertron repaint I bought off of you. sadly one of the legs broke off at the him (the post that it attaches to broke off) so now he is stuck in vehicle mode. I could possible fix him with a drill and a fairly hot nail/metal rod, but I don't have the tools to fix him.
We seriously need a Deluxe class Armada Perceptor. Three small core class figures each as good as the recent Jolt would sweep my money in an instant. Where are our Deluxe minicon trios Hasbro?
Update: So to clear up a confusion, TFWiki lists Jetfire as a 2003 toy, however the first sightings were Holiday 2002 so he qualifies for the list.
Its okay he was late 2002 (I recall getting him on Christmas 2002)
I noticed a few of TFwiki's pages are inconsistent with the years so I opted to just ignore it and go with the year page cause I don't want to check each individual page to make sure it's actually suppose to be there.
Happy birthday dude. I turn 50 in less than 2 weeks. Don't feel bad
We need more energon Toys in the line are robots in disguise 2001 and 2015
I'm on the TFWiki Discord so I checked with some other members in the dedicated editing discussion thread. Apparently Dec 2002 was the Hasbro release date for Armada Jetfire and June 2003 was the Takara release date. The Hasbro date is listed in the entry's title while the Takara date is listed on its own line, so I can kinda see why that could be overlooked.
It amazes me that Cyclonus is the only Armada toy to have all of his Mini-con ports be functional. Everyone else had at least one fake port that just cosmetically attached a Mini-con. Each and every one of Cyclonus's ports did something.
Plus he had the gear thing which could attach a Mini-con without a port. The only other figure with that Gearing Gimmick was Hoist and he had no practical way to actually use it. So even Hoist's Mini-con integrated with Cyclonus better than the figure he actually came with.
The duality of a birthday
🎉happy birthday
Ayo, 2002's my birthday, too! 😂
Happy birthday
I completely agree Demolishor needs an update. He also has the built in second color scheme like Hotshot, Galvatron, Red Alert, and Starscream
And he’s got some good retool/remold potential, being a fairly customizable tank.
"In 2002, articulation WAS a gimmick". And how! It's easy to forget that's when Toy Biz started the Marvel Legends toyline, which shifted the action figure market from 5 inch toys with 5 points of articulation to 6 inch figures that focused on how many joints they could cram into a sculpt!
Ah armada My beloved. This is the era when I first got into transformers.
Happy birthday TJ!
Armada was the last Transformers line of my childhood. After that, I was a full-on teenager, and my attitude towards Transformers began to change. I still enjoy a ton of what has come out after Armada, but Armada itself and the Transformer toylines prior to it hold a special place in my heart.
Bendy Prime was my first transformer ever, and set a real high expectation for transformer articulation😪
Happy b-day TJ!
The minicons definitely need a legacy update either as a core class add on or some big multi packs but the lil guys are super fun and some had interesting vehicles/gimmicks, mainly the weapon ones as they do have that weapon gimmick but military or rescue also fun updates to do.
As for other characters Cyclonus and demolishor that due needs an update as those 2 being great characters in the show their original toys were super sun and solid for the time
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TJ
I like how in the 2001 video you effectively said more often than not Optimus and Megs get the best toys every year, and then immediately the next year Optimus isn't even in the top 5. LOL.
To be fair, even making a spot in a top ten list could still be considered getting one of the best toys
And so it begins- the Age of Archer (2002-2013)!
Also happy day of birth
My votes for best figures this year would be Demolishor (great Mini-Con and surprisingly good articulation for 2002), the Emergency Mini-Cons (surprised these guys and their Decepticon jet rivals weren’t slotted into Core for Legacy; they’re perfect for the size class), and Scavenger (he’s just neat; stomp stomp gimmick goes brrr).
Happy birthday to you, man!
I mean, it can only be so happy when Armada's involved but still.
Demolishor is still one of my all-time favorite transformers. I LOVE his WfC/FoC redesigns and have been wanting an updated toy of him forever.
I used to own almost the entire Armada toyline, they were pretty cool for their time, Mini-Cons as well. Not sure if I have a favorite among them, but in all, it was an interesting series. Happy birthday to you as well, TJ!
Let me guess... Unicron?
EDIT: Nvm, I forgot he was a year 2 release. I'm certain Hoist will be number 2 on that list.
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday TJ. My b-day is exactly four weeks after yours. Enjoy your day.
As a kid I really loved the mini-con gimmicks, just a great play pattern.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TJ!! THANK YOU FOR THESE LISTS, THEY ARE AWESOME!!!
I never owned an Armada toy. Surprised that Unicron is not in this list but, hey, Perceptor is there! I really like that one. :)
Happy birthday! 🎉I loved this Top 10 list. I had six out these ten figures. It wasn’t until Combiner Wars that I got so many of a single Transformers line.
Happy Birthday, TJ. I regret getting rid of Red Alert, Sideways, Demolishor, and Armada Thundercracker
Happy birthday.
Also I loved this list because I had every one of these figures growing up and Megatron and Demolishor are still my favorite to mess around with to this day.
Happy Birthday TJ! Ive been watching your content since the OG days of plastic addict! Hope you had a great day
Happy birthday TJ! I really enjoy this top 10 series
Happy birthday TJ! Nice to see your favourite series on your birthday video! ;)
Happy birthday, my man, and thank you for your contribution to the transformers community.
Firstly, Happy Birthday!
Armada represents the first Transformers toys I had owned since the latter years of Generation One. While I did scoop up some of the 2001 Robots in Disguise line, it was retroactive as most of those toys were already gone from the shelves of big box retailers and had to be gotten through ebay.
I've largely sold off my older Transformers from the 2000s, but from what I recall I mostly bought Decepticons from Armada. I had the Minicon Street Action Team, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.... as well as Galvatron, mainly trying to either recreate the G1 lineup of favorite characters I knew as a little kid back in the 80s. I was kind of bummed to learn that in the Armada cartoon, that Thundercracker was a just a Starscream repaint and Skywarp was nonexistent, though in Dreamwave Comics continuity, these toys were all separate characters like in G1.
I also had the Energon decos of Demolisher and Cyclonus (or Ironhide and Sandstorm to use the Micro Legend names).
Perhaps the universe does have a sense of humour, after all. Happy Birthday.
Booyah! Sideways gettin' some love! Such a cool figure, I just wish we got an update for him!
Happy Birthday TJ Omega .
Today's your birthday? Happy birthday, Tj!! Also, Armada on your birthday? I could not have pictured a perfect scenario like this!! XDXDXD
Happy Birthday! And we thank you for your sacrifice! (Also when it was at 3 and articulation was brought up i thougjt Red Alert, Megatron, and Demolishor was the most articulated and almost guessed the top three!)
Happy Birthday, TJ-san.
Deluxe Prime is so worth any collectors time. Demolishor is great, I don't have the original I have the Powerlinx repaint instead. Red Alert is another good figure, nice articulation even if hindered by kibble. Street Action Team gave us a good combination. Jetfire and Megatron are good figures too. Weapon Mini-cons were a good idea, I'd like to see it again at some point (though i havent forgotten Siege or Earthrise).
Also,
Happy Birthday TJ. Hope you had a good one!
Happy birthday, I really enjoy your work!
Happy birthday, good sir. Mine is next Monday.
Happy birthday for what ever day you recorded this!
Good picks! I completely agree with your top two. I would have put Cyclonus higher and found a spot for Starscream.
Coo, we have the same bday too! Happy birthday!!
Happy birthday, TJ!
Happy birthday TJ! 🎂 🥳 🎉
Happy Birthday, TJ!
Happy birthday tjomega
happy birthday
Happy belated birthday and armada is one of my favorite series besides beast wars and 2001 RID
Leader class prime is my highlight of my collecting that line
Happy Birthday TJ!!
Happy Birthday TJ!
Happy birthday TJ!
I have my Dark Saber, Bendy Prime, Sideways, and Cybertron Demolishor. They're all great, even acknowledging my nostalgia. I just wish the Cybertron release of Demolisor came with his Minicon instead of the generic Decepticon Cyberkey remolded to work with Minicon ports.
Happy birthday TJ
My favorite TF year hehe
Also happy birthday
Oh happy birthday!!!
Many happy returns of the day, my good man! May you be blessed with abundant health and peace of mind this year. 🙌
🎈 🎉 🥳 🎉 🪅 🎊 🎈
(No joy today could possibly beat the moment you started sharing how awesome Mini-Con Bonecrusher was!) 😊 🎂 🤖
Happy Birthday!!!!
HBD TJ!!! Enjoy that Armada lineup today and thanks for the content as always~~~!
11:56
Love Armada Jetfire cause in the Cartoon he was voed by Scott McNeil
Happy birthday, bro!
Happy birthday TJ!!🎉🎉 hope you had an awesome day.💙
I do have one question about the list, what about Hotshot.
Love sideways, I have the original toy and minicons, and the re release with show accurate factions with the different heads.
Hahaha. Happy birthday dude!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!❤❤
Happy birthday brother! 🎉🎉
And it was when Armada came, I get in TransFormers back in the day.
The only Armada toys a have are Demolishor a bunch of minicons, and I adore all of them. I wish the adventure team could've made the list because their gimmicks blew me away when I got them.
Happy birthday!!
Happy Birthday TJOmega!
My top 10 list for 2002 I didn't include Air Attack Optimus Primal or Megatron Megabolt on this list because I'd prefer not to include multiple Optimus and Megatrons on the same list and if I can only have one of each it's going to be the Armada versions.
10. Scavenger: The fact that he's motorized and can move around on his own in both modes was a pretty interesting and unique gimmick but it also means he has no articulation in his legs. He also gave away a spoiler for the cartoon because this guy was sold as an Autobot before we even knew he was an Autobot. They didn't even give the toy any way to be displayed as a Decepticon which is weird for a character called Scavenger in Construction green and purple.
9. Demolisor: I almost didn't even include this guy but he's actually pretty posible which was uncommon for Armada at the time.
8. Blurr: This guy is just a personal favorite. I love the design, this is still my favorite Blurr ever.
7. Starscream: I like the sword wing design. I prefer the Skywarp version of the mold but that doesn't come out this year so I can't use it.
6. Red Alert: On top of the Mini-con gimmick he also had swappable tools for his left hand that stored inside his body. Gave him a bit more play value.
5. Cyclonus: He has a unique way of power linking with Mini-cons that gives this figure more play value if you also have the Adventure and Destruction Mini-con teams that are specifically designed to work with his gear gimmick. Hoist also has this gimmick but it makes more sense working with the Helicopter alt mode.
4. Sideways: I usually don't like Headmasters because if you lose the head they just don't work in robot mode anymore but this actually solves that problem because he has 2 headmasters and a 3rd head built in. The Mini-cons can also combine. And there's 2 variants of this figure because the original release had the heads backwards making Rook the Decepticon and Crosswise the Autobot. Rook was the Autobot head in the cartoon and Crosswise was the Decepticon head so a later run of them fixed it to be more cartoon accurate. I actually have the original run release of him.
3. Street Action Mini-con team: I love the little combiner team, my favorite of the Mini-con teams. There's a Bike and a Skate Board that should not even work as Transformers let alone combiners but some how do work.
2. Megatron: He already has a lot of gimmicks on his own and then you add Tidal Wave and he loses articulation but it's just another thing you're able to do with him. Technically Tidal Wave doesn't exist yet so I get to mention this again in another top ten list.
1. Optimus Prime & Jetfire: Again Optimus can do a lot of stuff all on his own and then he's also a combiner adding play value if you also have Jetfire and Overload. Technically Overload doesn't exist yet so I can't technically include him here. I can mention them again on another top ten. I like to cheat and put combiners in the same slot especially because I don't actually think Jetfire is that great on his own, he suffers for the gimmick so he gets to share the slot because of that gimmick.
Happy Birthday 🎂
Happy Happy birthday 🎉
Happy Birthday 🎉
Im sorry you have to deal with this on your birthday. My condolences
Armada megatron is one of my favorite transformers, sure the legs are a brick but the gimmicks are fun and he feels very solidly built and looks imposing, wish they had bulked the legacy version up to this ones size.
Happy birthday. 🎂🍰❤
Happy Birthday TJ
Also Hasbro give us a new Sideways (Armada) toy
Happy birthday TJ omega man 🎈🎈🎈🎉🎉🎉🎉
Tidal Wave is definitely in the next list
I had Cyclonus as a kid, but didn't know till just now that his rotor and tailpiece come off!. Also, I thought forsure Unicron was gunna be #1 lol.
This line was stupidly fun even if they were all mostly bricks, the Minicons had so much creativity and personality injected into them! And Megatron truly was a beast, I have the Galvatron deco and my God did I play with it, one of the best christmas presents I ever got as a child, it truly was a playset, it puts most base modes to shame.
Demolishor and Cyclonus I experienced much later in life but they are incredible as well. I know most people don't like him much, but Scavenger was also pretty imposing and fun.
Cyclonus and Demolishor have some of the best Minicon integration of the whole line. So many Armada characters still need updates, but they’re the top two.
Honestly, I liked the big Prime better than the Bendy Prime. He was a chunk, but to me, an impressive one. Articulation’s not nearly as important to me as overall look. Plus Sparkplug is hands down the best minicon in the whole line.
Jetfire is absolutely superb. Enough so that any update would have an uphill battle.
I feel like I never really enjoyed Red Alert as much as some others… I really prefer his Cybertron version.
They didn’t make the list, but I have a lot of love for Blurr and Overload.
Happy Birthday sir 🎉
Loved this list like all the previous ones in the series. Was there an issue with the audio for the outro? It's silent
Belated Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday
Happy Birthday, TJ!
Where's Armada Side Swipe? :P
Demolisher is a character that needs to be added to legacy
Happy birthday T.J!
Ah, my birth year. It’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out
My 5 year old son can attest to the awesomeness that is the Land Military Team and Megatron
Is it wrong if I like the original Armada Prime?
Yes, yes it is.
Nope. You be you.
Absolutely not, that minicon base is wonderful
In all fairness though, when it came out it was so freaking cool to see prime as a truck again!
It's my favorite Transformer in my collection so don't feel bad.
Demolisher got the #2 spot 😊
i was lucky enough to have all but jetfire, Red Alert and Sideways. Still have all of them in mostly good condition minus a few missing missiles. The worst condition one i have is my cyclonus and the only thing wrong with him is his arm popped off and joint is worn enough that it wont stay in. Also i may not have had the big Optimus Prime, looking back i'm glad i got bendy prime after hearing what happened with Baltmatrix's.
ah Bendy Prime. I still have the Cybertron repaint I bought off of you. sadly one of the legs broke off at the him (the post that it attaches to broke off) so now he is stuck in vehicle mode. I could possible fix him with a drill and a fairly hot nail/metal rod, but I don't have the tools to fix him.
My 10 would be 10. Demolisher 9. Overlord 8. Hot shot 7. Wheeljack 6. Blurr 5. Smokescreen 4. Red alert 3. Hoist 2. Armada cyclonus 1. Armada Megatron
happy birthday 😂
Min-Con names are hard to remember.
If only a wiki existed to list names of toys.
I was 2 off of owning this entire list ( Red Alert and Megatron)
We seriously need a Deluxe class Armada Perceptor. Three small core class figures each as good as the recent Jolt would sweep my money in an instant.
Where are our Deluxe minicon trios Hasbro?
Happy late birthday
The beginning of my collecting journey at 3 years old