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Transformers Armada: Power of the Mini-Cons
R1 - America - Rhino Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (11th September 2007). |
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The Show
 In 1984, 'Transformers' introduced something special. It was a marketing heaven. In addition to the show, there were tons and tons of toys, each of which either my brother or I probably owned. Movies, spin-offs and most recently, a live-action feature film followed. It was a great coup for Hasbro (and Takara, its Japanese counterpart) and many times since then the franchise has been revived and reformed. In 2002, a number Japanese production companies created 'Transformers Armada' in an attempt to revive the franchise. 'Power of the Mini-Cons' is four-episode selection in the series of some 52 episodes. Mini-Cons somehow enhance the powers of the Autobots and Decepticons through some unknown method. It's never explained, but I'll be nice and assume this is explained in at least one of the 48 episodes not included on this set. The Decepticons and Autobots hunt down and fight, each hoping to capture the Mini-Cons, one to make themselves stronger, the other to stop the first. The four shows aren't too impressive as first glance (or at any other glance, for that matter). The animation is rough, jerky and stiff. On the other hand, there's plenty of action to keep the younger crowd interested. The animation also definitely has a Japanese flavour. In my younger days, I might have enjoyed it more, but from what I remember the original series is much better and much more entertaining. The show seems more akin to debut a new line of toys than to actually be worthwhile television entertainment. Things seem rushed and the plots are very thin. My descriptions below are only that way because there's really nothing there to describe. The show is never particularly rich, but there's plenty of flash if you like that kind of thing. Soldier Hotshot has to go through a painful learning experience. Jungle Everybody rushes to the jungle to find an old Mini-Con. There's a nice eco message in here. Desperate According to episodes before this one that aren't in this set, the Decepticons have gathered 3 powerful Mini-Cons, and the Autobots have their hands full trying to stop them. This is easily the best episode of the set. Not only does it have more plot than the other episodes, it actually has a plot. Runaway The Requiem Blaster is in the hands of the Autobots, and the Decepticons go all-out to try to get it back. For a show where everything is supposed to come together, there's not too much going on. Perhaps the choice of episodes isn't the best, because there are many gaps in plot, and you don't really feel the transitions in character.
Video
1.33:1 full screen. Rhino's work is good, but not great. Colours are very bright and accurate, and contrast is very good considering the simplistic animation. The level of grain is never really a problem, though on bigger TVs you might see some compression problems and some pretty nasty jaggies. The color delineation is also pretty good and the picture never really gets too soft.
Audio
Simply English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo here. The muffled, vocodered voices are heard clearly enough for muffled, vocodered voices. The techno remixed theme song sounds very nice, as do all the special audio effects. The mixing is pretty good, and the range is very nice considering the source. Not surprisingly, subtitles are not included.
Extras
None!
Overall
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