Transformers Unicron "trilogy" rewatch - Overall discussion

###[Merry Christmas everyone!](https://i.imgur.com/BsYDvvA.png)

Thanks for joining my Transformers rewatches! Wow, its really been 3 years already..

Once again I don't have much in particular to write about, I just enjoy watching these shows and sharing the experience. Thanks to all of you who joined I was able to do just that!

Though these watches did help ascertain just how good Armada really is. Superlink unsurprisingly not so much, and it seems my goggles were a bit extra rosy on Cybertron, but it was still well received!

[Now, onto the next schemes..](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Schwalbenschwanz_papilio_machaon.jpg)

[](#gendo-pls)

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From the questions section I will pick this:

>Favourite rewatch moment?

I think my rewatch career has forever peaked with the Armada rewatch, and spefically Starscream's episode where I had managed to acquire the Starscream flair from a contest just for that scene, and /u/Tresnore [managed to piece it all together](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/13n8zqk/transformers_armada_micron_densetsu_rewatch/jky9fe0/?context=10000)

[](#gintamathispleasesme)

Trilogy thread is now live

/u/Shimmering-Sky /u/JollyGee29 /u/dralcax

**Rewatcher**

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday but that fits well enough today: The one area Cybertron beats out Armada in is the kids. The Cybertron kids are actually pretty good; Bud beats the pants off of Carlos.

Questions

1. Armada still tops. It's a qualified recommendation because yea, it looks pretty bad a lot of the time, and the early episodes are a bit same-y.

2. The first ED for Cybertron and the second OP for Armada spring to mind. A lot of good OST stuff too, forgot to comment on that yesterday.

3. [](#mindmelt)

4. I don't have a preference either way, the key is to make a plan at the beginning and stick to that plan regardless of how well it goes. Half measures are no good.

5. [](#cosy)

Many thanks to our host /u/Nebresto!

Don’t have a fancy tagline in mind for this thread, but yeah thanks for hosting all three of these, u/Nebresto! I’d say Micron Densetsu/Armada > Galaxy Force/Cybertron > Superlink/Energon as far as how I rate the three series.

[](#mechablush)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

**First-Timer**

The Unicron Trilogy was an interesting set of rewatches. I honestly wasn’t sure if I would watch all 3 of the entries in the trilogy, but I’m glad I stuck with it to finish all of them with everyone else.

To begin with, I think the name “Unicron Trilogy” is kind of misleading, at least for the Japanese version of Galaxy Force/Cybertron. Legend of the Microns/Armada and Superlink/Energon were very clearly connected to each other, but the Japanese version of Galaxy Force/Cybertron was clearly its own story with no real connection to the other two. I have heard that the English version of Galaxy Force/Cybertron makes some changes to the story to better connect it to the rest of the trilogy. I know it added in some shots to the finale that include the characters of the previous shows, for example. But regardless, it still does feel odd referring to it as a trilogy because of the flimsy connection between all three.

Legend of the Microns/Armada was shockingly good. The first part of the series wasn’t anything special, but by the middle portion of the series it had developed into a much better series. I really enjoyed that series far more than I anticipated. I think it has some of the most interesting and compelling takes I’ve seen on Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream. I loved how this was an Optimus who wasn’t always sure of himself as a leader and had moments where he quietly doubted when alone, even as he continued to be a great leader for the Autobots striving his best to live up to his ideals. I loved how this Megatron had a clear code of honor and a belief he stuck to that you should live honestly following your selfish desires and that righteousness was determined by strength. I loved the unique take on Starscream, who was ironically much more loyal than usual and ended up becoming a heroic character. I loved how the Microns were used. They were very well done “Macguffins of the week” where the additions of certain Microns or Microns swapping sides felt like it could drastically alter the power dynamics between the Autobots and Decepticons. It meant things rarely settled into too much of a status quo and that things didn’t always end with the Autobots getting every Micron. This series also features one of the very best final battles between Optimus Prime and Megatron, maybe even the best if I’m being honest. Optimus gave in to his worst instincts and fought Megatron in a brutal showdown where they both vented their longheld grudges towards each other, only to pull back from the brink at the last second and stay true to his ideals. It’s fantastic stuff. Even though the animation was often lackluster and filled with errors, that didn’t hold back the storytelling.

Superlink/Energon was disappointing. After coming off the high of Legend of the Microns/Armada, I was excited to watch Superlink/Energon. I knew that it had a poor reputation amongst the Transformers fanbase, but I knew that Legend of the Microns/Armada had also been divisive so I wasn’t too concerned. I did not enjoy Superlink/Energon. All the interesting versions of characters from the previous series were gone. Optimus had no inkling of his previous character arc. Galvatron was a much more generic and less interesting version of his previous Megatron incarnation. Death meant absolutely nothing because every character who died got reborn, often as a much less interesting version of themselves who lost all the character traits that made them so compelling in the first place. The new characters were not especially good either. The superlink gimmick did not feel impactful. Ironically, I thought that Galaxy Force/Cybertron did a much better job at using the characters linking up. The Energon gimmick of Energon Stars was just whatever. The animation really was terrible. The CGI Transformer models were stiff and unemotive. The CGI was often poorly composited and did not look good against the backgrounds. The most damning indictment of the CGI is that anytime the series needed the Transformers to actually express an emotion or do a particularly visually impressive action, the series would switch to traditional animation again. They knew the CGI wasn’t up to snuff. I think that while Superlink/Energon isn’t a good show regardless, it really suffers from being a sequel to Legend of the Microns/Armada. Superlink/Energon seems so much worse when the previous entry did everything better.

Galaxy Force/Cybertron was pretty good and a needed breath of fresh air. To be completely honest, I was not looking forward to Galaxy Force/Cybertron. After how disappointing Superlink/Eneron was, I didn’t have much hope for Galaxy Force/Cybertron. I seriously considered declining to participate in the rewatch and I only joined it out of a sense of obligation. I’d seen the first two entries, so I may as well see it to the end. Thankfully, my worries turned out to be overblown and Galaxy Force/Cybertron was a much better show than its predecessor. I think it being its own thing actually worked out in its favor, because I wasn’t constantly comparing it to the prior shows. The cast of characters was generally pretty good and enjoyable. This was a far more typical version of Optimus and Megatron, for example, but they worked perfectly fine for the story that this series told. I think that the Force Chips could have been better utilized. The Force Chips were introduced as some big game changer that the characters had only just learned about. But after a while, everyone just had one with no indication of how they knew about the Force Chips or where they got the Force Chips from. At least the Force Chips, and also the Planet Forces, felt like they actually impacted the battles and the power dynamics. I think this series did a great job with its themes of unity, leadership, and peace. I love how the Autobots gradually gather more and more planets together to support them in a united front against the Decepticons and Grand Black Hole. I love the character arcs of characters learning how to be better leaders. I love that the series has an entire final episode dedicated to being an epilogue. More shows should do that. Even though the CGI isn’t too impressive, it was at least better than what we got in Superlink/Energon. The CGI Transformers here were at least capable of expressing some emotion. So even though I don’t think this series was amazing, I still thought it was a good show and I enjoyed my time with it. I think it was a good note to end the rewatch on.

So, my ranking of the Unicron Trilogy is as follows:

**1) Legend of the Microns/Armada**

**2) Galaxy Force/Cyberton**

**3) Superlink/Energon**

Thank you to /u/Nebresto for hosting all of these rewatches and to everyone else who participated in them. I hope to see you all again in another rewatch.

**QOTD**

1) As already stated, Legend of the Microns/Armada. I would recommend people watch it, whether they are familiar with Transformers or not.

2) I would say my favorites are [Superlink OP](https://youtu.be/lgRtEwJaVUM?si=ZxSfs-IK8B9OoXGm), [Galaxy Force OP 1](https://youtu.be/weog5A1kdr0?si=Uknp5-RcOMe7PFhF), [Legend of the Microns ED 2](https://youtu.be/_6jEXbCocdc?si=oSteY-04VVV8GUjj), [Galaxy Force ED 1](https://youtu.be/uF1XqfiEKjg?si=AotzXj5JUotzBDtr) and [Galaxy Force ED 2](https://youtu.be/kvwmWiNRR9s?si=RieJsYWIK03wdoQn)

3) I remember roundly mocking Unicron near the end of Legend of the Microns/Armada when he claimed that Optimus Prime loved fighting just as much as Megatron. What an absurd statement! Only for the next episode to have Optimus admit it was true. I was totally wrong, but it resulted in one of the best Optimus and Megatron fights, as well as providing another great aspect to Optimus's character that made him one of the most compelling versions of Optimus I've ever seen.

4) As already stated, I don't think they are a proper trilogy. Legend of the Microns/Armada and Superlink/Energon are properly connected, but not Galaxy Force/Cybertron. And Superlink/Energon is probably better if you look at it as its own thing, rather than it being a sequel.

5) Now what? [Merry Christmas!](#urarahype) That's what!

**Rewatcher hyped for AOTP Armada Sideways**

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UT came at an interesting time for Transformers. It was a new millennium, with new technology to work with and a new audience to capture. While the transition from beasts back to vehicles had already happened in CR/RID01, it was very much still a product of the 90s - now was the time for a true 2000s relaunch, both a reinvention and a return to roots. And although trademarks had lapsed since the G1 days and car manufacturers had started cracking down on unlicensed usages of their products' likenesses, it was a time for experimentation. For this, Hasbro and Takara came together and began working closely, with Hasbro employees like Brian Goldner and Aaron Archer going to Japan and taking inspiration from the industry over there.

First came Armada, heralding a new engineering style and a total continuity reboot. The new toys were kept simple, with an emphasis on play features and collectibility. Although articulation suffered, they were easier to transform than the fiddly shellformers of Beast Wars Neo. The show made a bit of a poor first impression, with repetitive and somewhat unsatisfying Mini-Con-of-the-week episodes, but eventually picked up and became surprisingly good, with plenty of unique new takes on characters.

Energon built on Armada, with more complex and articulate figures for the now slightly older Armada audience. Most notably, most of the Autobots were now combiners, so each new one you bought expanded the options of the ones you already had. Unfortunately, while those not beholden to the demands of combination turned out well, those that did have to combine with other figures ended up making some rather major sacrifices for it. And the show... oof. The CG was positively primitive compared even to Beast Wars, with awkward motions and no means of actually emoting. The plot was dull in the original and downright incomprehensible in the dub. Unlike Armada, Energon's reputation was entirely deserved.

And finally, Cybertron refined what had come before. No longer would figures have to sacrifice articulation or aesthetics for the sake of their gimmicks. The show, with only a tenuous-to-nonexistent connection to its predecessors, managed to sidestep their flaws as well and managed to remain an exciting watch all the way through. While not perfect, it's a good note to wrap up the UT on.

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Questions of the day:

* I think my ranking is still Cybertron > Armada >>> Energon, although on rewatch it's a lot closer between Cybertron and Armada.

* I liked all of the Japanese OPs, but Dream Again and Call You... Kimi to Boku no Mirai stood out to me

* I dunno, I just liked rewatching with everybody!

* Energon did such a terrible job of following up on Armada that standalone is probably better.