To further complicate matters, the new storyline of Transformers Armada is about the crash landing of the Mini-Cons on Earth, and the subsequent race between the Autobots and Decepticons to retrieve them. Mini-Cons are a third type of Transformer from Cybertron, each possessing their own unique power/ability, which can then be combined with that of another Transformer. Certain groups of Mini-Cons can combine to form various "Ultimate Weapons", which can then be wielded by Decepticons and Autobots alike, as the Mini-Cons seem to remain neutral during the ongoing struggle. So in essence, the Mini-Cons are like the Transformer's version of Pokemon. The idea that one has to go and collect all of these small, powerful Robots which are scattered across the globe, really seems to speak to this generations love of collecting, or more to the point, the toy companies love to create the idea of demand within young consumers.

Even overlooking the subpar voicework and animation, as well as the sheer stupidity of the concept of the Mini-Cons, I still can't excuse the show's worst crime, kid sidekicks for the Autobots, and LOTS of them. The group of five kids in Transformers Armada are so awful and annoying it makes me long for the days when it was just Spike and his father, Sparkplug, keeping the Autobots company. In G1, the emphasis was on the eons old war raging between the Autobots and Decepticons, with the human characters playing such a minor role that there were many episodes without them. This is not the case with Transformers Armada which seems to cram the kids into as much screen time as a doting stage mother. Starting with Rad, the all American teen, Carlos, the Latino Stereotype and Alexis, the domineering girl, they even went a step further by introducing antagonists for these human characters. Enter Billy and Fred, the Mutt and Jeff or Abbot and Costello, if you will, of Transformers Armada. Billy is the bully and Fred is the whining fat kid that hangs with him. These two get sucked into the Transformers "Adventures" well before the series' half way mark.

If the show has one saving grace, it's the reintroduction of Unicrom, the Planet Sized Transformer that was introduced in Transformers: The Movie. He appears towards the end of the series, two of those episodes are included on this "Best of…" disc. Sadly, the menace and majesty of Orson Welles rumblings as the world devouring robot are gone, replaced by a more monotone bellow. There is never any real sense of menace, and the sight of the Transformers, Autobot, Decepticon and Mini-Con alike amassing their Armada (wink, wink,… get it?) of spaceships to combat him is never anything more than an exercise in frustration. The one kind of cool moment from this storyline is when Optimus Prime and Mega… oh, uh, I mean Galvatron shake hands signaling the temporary alliance between these warring parties. Still, Unicron comes too little, too late in the end of the series and the emphasis still focuses on the kids too much, even in the depths of Outer Space.

The episodes included on this disc are:

Episode 10: "Swoop": Using a warp gate, the Decepticons infiltrate the Autobots' secret base in a bold effort to seize control of the fabled Starsaber. But they don't go unnoticed. Soon a dangerous game of cat and mouse erupts with the ultimate weapon for the prize!

Episode 11: "Overmatch": After Scavenger picks a fight with Hotshot, he quickly proves that no Autobot is ever truly invincible… that the outcome of any battle can never be accurately predicted!

Episode 37: "Remorse": In the wake of despair after the annihilation of Optimus Prime, the Autobots struggle to make sense of a world without a leader. Megatron's victory seems imminent once Hotshot and the others start bickering and blaming one another!

Episode 40: "Puppet": Having pursued Hotshot and Red Alert to an unknown dead planet, Megatron and his minions find themselves under attack by a ruthless new adversary – Nemesis Prime, who yearns to destroy both Autobots and Decepticons alike!

The DVD:

Picture: Transformers is presented in a Full Screen 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The picture looks fine, even if the animation isn't even on par with the original's. Audio: This DVD features an English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track, which sounds fine.

Extras: There are no Extras included on this DVD.

Conclusion: Rhino Home Video has been doing just an outstanding job delivering Classic Cartoons from the 80's like Transformers and G.I. Joe. It's only natural that with the immense popularity of the Transformers brand, that they would want to release even less well received series like Beast Wars Transformers and now Transformers Armada. Just watching this handful of episodes tells me that they're scraping the bottom of the barrel. Apparently there's even another series after this one, Transformers Energon. Please, Rhino, don't even bother.