Launched in the summer of 2002, Transformers: Armada was the first series co-produced between Hasbro and Takara, with the intention of creating a toyline for simultaneous release in both North America and Japan. It was released in Japan six months later in January 2003, where it was known as Transformers: Micron Legend. The heavily promoted series was an attempt to re-introduce Transformers to the children of the time, and featured a particularly large number of additional merchandise such as puzzles, games, cards, candy and a tie-in PlayStation 2 video game.
In addition to drawing on and re-imagining familiar elements from Generation 1, such as the Matrix of Leadership, Armada's defining trait was the introduction of a third faction of Transformers - the diminutive robots known as Mini-Cons (the eponymous "Microns" in Japan). Mini-Cons can "powerlink" to larger Transformers, increasing their powers, and consequently became a sought-after commodity in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. Eventually, however, the Mini-Cons fled Cybertron in a starship, which warped into the Solar system and crashed on Earth. The series then begins in the year 2010, when three teenagers - Rad, Carlos and Alexis - find and reactivate the buried hulk of the Mini-Con ship, sending out a signal that brings Optimus Prime, Megatron and their troops to Earth.
The Autobots and Decepticons begin scouring the planet to find the stasis panels containing the dormant Mini-Cons, thought to be located in Hellnoville, but soon, the existence of three powerful weapons - each formed from the fusion of three separate Mini-Cons - comes to light. Thanks to the schemes of the mysterious, allegiance-shifting Sideways, the weapons are formed and constantly shift hands, until, through manipulation of the self-doubting Starscream, all three are finally within Decepticon hands. Through the power of these weapons, the ancient evil, Unicron is reawakened, as the mysteries of the show, the origins of the Mini-Cons and the nature of the Transformers' war are explored in a final story arc entitled "The Unicron Battles."
The English-language version of Armada is infamous for having been produced in haste for several reasons, most prominently the fact that Cartoon Network would not sign off on the series without a certain number of episodes already completed. To meet this demand, the dubbing studio was forced to work with only partially complete episodes, with animation of a wildly varying quality, containing many errors that were later corrected for the Japanese broadcast. Additionally, there was rarely even enough time to produce more than a first draft of the translated script, leading to many errors in translation making it into the finished product, including incorrect character names, flat, transliterated speech, and at times, utterly nonsensical dialogue that did not match the action onscreen.
A companion comic book was included with the Japanese DVD releases of the series titled Linkage, which focused on the side story of a group of Mini-Cons whose adventures happened concurrently with the animated series. The comic takes the time to flesh out some unexplained plot points from the series, as well as providing an in-depth explanation on the nature of Mini-Cons.
Read more about this topic: List Of Transformers TV Series, Unicron Trilogy