ARMADA: BASELESS SPECULATION RUMORS - 5 RUMORS BUSTED - 3 RUMOUS CONFIRMED - 5

Confirmed Rumo(u)rs!

1. The name for the new 2002 series of Transformers is decided, and it is "Armada".
Well, I had promised myself that I'd sit on this one for a good long while until it became more public, and here we are.  I was going to start this whole "what is Armada" thing, but I was lazy and now the cat is out of the bag.  Zac Shipley sent me over to Namewatch to check to a trademark being taken out by Hasbro for the "Transformers: Armada" name.  Strangely, it also looks like the company registered "Transformer: Robots in Disguise Generation 2".  That may be a hint of things to come.  Or it could just be a precursor to another name change.  Remember Transtech from last year?  Well, this is sort of the same thing.  Actually, this *should* be a modification of the original Transtech premise.  Regardless, there will be a 2002 series and this may very well be its name.
RUMOUR CONFIRMED!: Sorry for being so lax in updating this.  We've all known that the name has been Armada for quite some time now.  Right.  Onward and upward.

3. Optimus Prime will return as leader of the good guys in Armada.
Whether they are Autobots, Maximals, or both, you can count on Prime being the leader.  His name is out there as a current-day character and toy, and this gives Hasbro every excuse and reason to use him.  For something of this magnitude, NOT using him would be a terrible mistake.  Worry not, Prime will return.  Remember, they used Robots in Disguise this year for a REASON.  We're going to see a lot of familiar names, even if we don't see lots of familiar faces.
RUMOUR CONFIRMED!: Well, it's on the toy lists that have been out for months now, so I think it's a safe bet, don't you?

8. Hasbro and Takara are jointly creating the toys and series.
We mean MORE jointly than they already are.  The way it works now is that for the American toy lines Hasbro's designers create detailed drawings of two different modes (robot and vehicle/beast) -- sometimes more, depending -- with some ideas as to how it transforms, then they're sent off to the engineers at Takara who take the concept art and figure out how it's REALLY going to work (often altering the toy in the process).  Then begins the long back and forth between the two companies until they reach a compromise that works.  Although it seems that often this compromise is more in Hasbro's favor (hence some of the really ASS-Y toys that have come out, especially in the Beast Wars TransMetals 2 line).  No, this is more direct.  We're talking about Hasbro designers and Takara designers working hand in hand.  This means three things: 1) the toy engineers only have to work half as hard with only one toy line per year to worry about, 2) A restriction on what has proven over the years to be the superior quality of design that Japanese toys have embodied, and 3) The complete (or near complete) lack of repaints that only a few potent NEW molds on the Japanese side often necessitate.  I suppose Hasbro got sick of Takara not doing all of it's own work.  You be the judge.
RUMOUR CONFIRMED! (03.04.02):  Yeah, it looks like this is the case.  Makes sense now why Mainframe isn't doing the show.  At least Dreamwave is responsible for the character design.  Hell, those Canadian kids made Hot Shot not look so terrible.  Wow.  So much for Takara taking a break from Transformers.  The show and toy line should be out in Japan and the US at roughly the same time, something that hasn't happened since the days of G1.

11. Armada is going to air on Cartoon Network and will not be syndicated!
I heard it and I want to believe it.  I soooo want to believe it.  I want to believe it becuase there's also a He-Man cartoon in the works to air AFTER Armada.  It'll be like 1983 all over again!
RUMOUR CONFIRMED! (03.04.02):  Yeah!  Yeah, mofo!  This is going to piss off college students everywhere (seeing as how almost no university I know of carries Cartoon Network on its campus cable -- the fools!  How many different NBC stations does one need anyway?), but it's true!  The KidsWB Toonami thing has failed miserably, and the concessions made to the *original* Cartoon Network Toonami block are essentially being peeled back.  And why is that?  What could possibly fill this returned hour of programming?  Why, Transformers: Armada and a NEW He-Man and the Masters of the Universe!  Holy freakin' Power Sword, Prince Adam!  Now I'll have to set a tape for BOTH shows... inter-collegiate sports be damned.

9. Armada is not based on any previous Transformers continuity.
No G1 show, no G1 comics, no G2 comics, no Beast Wars or Beast Machines, and no Robots in Disguise.  It's possible.  It's even likely.  It COULD be an extension of G1.  Of course, we only had Wizard's word to take for it, and we know how right THEY'VE been in the past.  Of more immediate interest is the announcement by some Hasbro hotshot that after this, no Transformers show is going to be related to any other ever again.  Well, that's just great.  That means they can rehash, reuse, and otherwise sloppily include or not include anything they see fit so they can make their mediocre toys (because when all is said and done that's all the toys are as a whole -- mediocre).  I understand that on a level.  Hasbro is a business, and they're doing the one thing that businesses do best: make money.  They only see the cartoon as a half hour (more like twenty three minutes) of advertising and nothing more.  They don't care about story, continuity, characters, or whatever.  There's no way to make them care.  In the past, the independence of writers, GOOD writers, has been a thorn in their side as they keep butting heads over issues that -- while they matter little to the company itself -- matter a great deal to someone trying to tell a good story.  Now they've effectively removed any checks and balances, and can pass off any crap they want (assuming they find a lap dog of a writer to work for them).  If they make a toy they want it to just fit, and that's that.  Hasbro seems to have no memory of what it's done before, and as such without the guiding hand of a story teller with a will of his or her own the company is doomed to repeat itself.
RUMOUR CONFIRMED! (13.07.02):  Unfortunately true, at least as far as the comic and clips from the TV show have shown.  Actually, the whole Mini-Con problem is a more feasible explanation for crashing on Earth than "looking" for energon.  Instead, we have Autobots and Decepticons who are deliberately trying to get to Earth.  When they get there they know what they want.  And they don't go to sleep for four million years (I've always wondered WHY that was necessary, but it's a neat idea anyway.  Hell, 1,000 years would have been sufficient.  Maybe even 100).  Pretty damn straightforward, wouldn't you say?  AND there's also a good reason for humans to get involved!