Uprising (Armada) - Transformers Wiki

The name or term "Uprising" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Uprising (disambiguation).

The Autobots arrive on Cybertron to find Galvatron has already conquered it, but a larger evil still approaches.

Synopsis

As Galvatron's ship reaches Cybertron, a fleet of ships rises from the surface of the planet to meet it. Using the Mini-Con weapons, the Decepticon leader is easily able to take down two of the ships, and he sends his men to the surface of the planet to engage the Autobots below in combat. Although Starscream hesitates, believing Galvatron will steal all the glory, Thrust says simply to follow his lead and the universe will be theirs.

Meanwhile, the Autobots are struggling to repair their ship after the damage it sustained during the last clash with the Decepticons. The kids worry that they're sitting ducks should the Decepticons decide to come back. Although Blurr's calculations suggest that the heaviest fighting will be in the north of Cybertron, Optimus decides they'll set down in the south rather than going into battle immediately. With the drive finally repaired, they hit warp.

From space, Cybertron looks deserted. High Wire, Grindor and Sureshock suddenly become excited and jump out an airlock, closely followed by Carlos. The boy watches as, cloaked in balls of green light, the swarm of Mini-Cons all begin to come together. Blurr intercepts Carlos. On the ship, the kids realise the Mini-Cons are forming a shield of some sort while what appears to be a black hole hangs menacingly in space. Alexis believes that this means Unicron is coming. Optimus and Jetfire merge and go to talk to High Wire. A phantasm of Sideways appears and is fired on by the Mini-Cons. After telling the Mini-Cons to get lost, the apparition promptly disappears again.

The Decepticons realise that Optimus's group of Autobots have arrived.

The kids and the Autobots discuss the impending arrival of Unicron and the situation on Cybertron. Though the Autobots want to mount a single surprise attack, Optimus believes that a more dispersed attack is required. They touch down individually in pods to find a ruined landscape, and begin searching for survivors. Optimus and Jetfire soon run into trouble in the form of Galvatron and his men. Starscream and Thrust hang back above the fight. With the two Autobots pinned down, Optimus contacts the Axalon and orders the launch of Overload. Side Swipe is hesitant, as it will leave the ship and Mini-Cons unprotected, but Red Alert reminds him it's an order. Optimus powerlinks with Overload and begins blasting the Decepticons.

Elsewhere, the other Autobots are fighting more Decepticons while searching for Autobot survivors. Autobot ships begin rising out of the ground and opening fire on the Decepticon fleet.

The kids on the Axalon realise their Mini-Cons have gone missing again and intercept the trio at the airlock, ready to go out and join the battle. Carlos is opposed to it, but the other kids feel that the Mini-Cons have a right to go out and fight for their home planet.

Galvatron and Optimus meet in one-on-one battle, but Optimus tells his foe of the oncoming danger going by the name of Unicron. Galvatron doesn't believe him, naturally, but the discussion is momentary interrupted by the ground quaking and a chunk of building almost hitting the Decepticon leader. Optimus points dramatically to the sky at the black hole. Chunks of ground begin floating upwards. Soon the debris and even the ships hanging in the sky begin to be sucked towards the black hole.

Thrust gloats that the plan is coming together, much to Starscream's confusion. Soon they notice a new activity: The Mini-Cons begin to pour into the black hole. More Mini-Cons reinforce the shield, and energy begins to rain down on Cybertron. The voice of the Mini-Cons implores for the fighting to stop.

Galvatron is still skeptical of Optimus, even when Demolishor reports that the Mini-Cons have driven off whatever was attacking the planet, but he calls a retreat. Optimus orders the Autobots back to the Axalon. Thrust observes that the Mini-Cons have stopped their attack on the black hole.

Sideways swears that the Mini-Cons will pay for their attack.

The kids and Autobots thank the Mini-Cons, but High Wire says that Unicron will be back, and the Mini-Cons will protect them again.

Galvatron still thinks Unicron is just an Autobot trick. Thrust muses that this foolish belief will make things much easier for his true master.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"This is where the battle begins and ends, gentlemen."

—Thrust

"I can't believe it has come to this!"
"What are you talking about?!"
"You know! The Mini-Cons are becoming heroes!"
"...you lost it."

—Starscream thinks about the Mini-Cons, and Thrust has no idea what the heck he means.

"Optimus Prime is marching right into the palm of my hand, where I will crush him."

—Galvatron

Hot Shot: "You're saying Sideways was out there?"
Optimus: "I am, Hot Shot. But that's not who the Mini-Cons are warning us about. Our real enemy lies even further beyond Sideways, and that's why they want to protect us."
Jetfire: "Who could that be?"
Optimus: "It's Unicron! And he's heading straight for us."

—Optimus Prime realizes that something evil's watching over yo- I mean, the Autobots.

"Welcome to Cybertron! It's so nice of you to join us. At least now we'll be able to bury you on your home planet, Optimus Prime."

—Galvatron

"This war transcends far beyond us, Galvatron. A force is coming, and you and I alone cannot stop it."

—Optimus attempts to warn Galvatron about Unicron.

"Would ya like a little cheese with your whine?"

—Jetfire tries to be a generously insulting waiter for Cyclonus.

Notes

• During one of the opening pans with the assembled Decepticons in the background, Legends of the Microns removes an emblem from the floor in the foreground.
• When Thrust first speaks to Starscream, the wing on Thrust's left arm sticks out at a different angle. Thrust doesn't raise his arms at the end of the shot in Legends of the Microns.
• During the zoom-in on the moon just before the title card, Legends of the Microns omits two of the incoming lasers seen in Armada, yet their sound effects can still be heard.
• Legends of the Microns corrects some coloring confusion between Blurr's vehicle-mode canopy and the chair in which he is sitting when Optimus Prime asks him about landing coordinates, making the canopy consistently red with gray trim and the chair consistently mint green. It also removes an odd barrier behind Blurr which turns out to have been completely concealing Red Alert!
• After Rad and Alexis first observe Cybertron, High Wire does not speak Japanese in Legends of the Microns, only his usual beeps.
• Armada shows lots of Mini-Con light balls "raining" straight down past the Axalon, while Legends of the Microns has just seven of them whirling in circles.
• When Carlos pounds on the doors to the airlock, Legends of the Microns removes the white from his eyes.
• As Carlos floats out the airlock, the ceiling behind him is a dull brown in Armada but a medium blue in Legends of the Microns.
• In the crowd of glowing Mini-Cons, the two in front who look like Sureshot and Wheelie in Armada are replaced with Spiral and Backtrack in Legends of the Microns.
• Upon cutting from the crew's speculation back to Blurr in space, the black hole is much smaller in Legends of the Microns than in the same shot in Armada.
• High Wire only beeps instead of speaking Japanese to Jet Optimus in space in Legends of the Microns as well.
• After Sideways vanishes, the black hole is already present at the start of the next shot in Legends of the Microns but has to fade back into view in Armada.
• Where the doors open to reveal Carlos and the Mini-Cons' return in Armada, Legends of the Microns has them already standing in front of closed doors, yet there's still the sound of doors moving then.
• The Mini-Con speech phenomenon gets switched around when the kids ask the Mini-Cons about Unicron: High Wire only beeps in Armada, but he speaks of "the Mini-Cons' enemy" in Japanese in Legends of the Microns and lights up his eyes yellow as he does so!
• In the exterior establishing shot for the Autobots conferring, Cybertron fills much more of the frame in Armada, taking a while to even enter the frame in Legends of the Microns.
• The Decepticon fleet's lasers that somehow became yellow upon impacting Cybertron in Armada were correctly recolored back to purple for Legends of the Microns.
• When Jetfire remarks on the ambush, Optimus Prime's gray arm in Armada is recolored to its usual blue and yellow for Legends of the Microns.
• Different music plays from when Optimus Prime transforms to Super Mode until the kids notice the Mini-Cons have left again.
• The first random Decepticon that Hot Shot attacks is recolored in Legends of the Microns to match the colors he receives on falling down in Armada. The fourth Decepticon to take a hit is also recolored, possibly because Armada gave him the same color scheme as the first Decepticon.
• When the Mini-Cons are about to leave again, the second door to the airlock waits for the first door to open completely in Legends of the Microns, but Armada has it open halfway simultaneously first.
• In their last shot before the Mini-Cons are outside again, Carlos and Rad are redrawn so that Rad doesn't appear to be rolling his eyes upward in Legends of the Microns.
• After Galvatron dramatically leaps down to challenge Optimus Prime, Legends of the Microns adds an inert Overload to the background and Optimus Prime to the foreground, and it zooms out to reveal Prime there.
• When Galvatron charges at Optimus Prime with the Star Saber, he only has diagonal speed lines behind him in Armada but has an actual Cybertron background pulling back in Legends of the Microns.
• When Optimus Prime stops Galvatron's sword hand, Optimus's own hand is recolored and his arm redrawn for Legends of the Microns for being erroneously drawn in Super Mode for this scene in Armada.
• As Optimus tries to get through to Galvatron about the threat of Unicron, the (likely recycled) closeup of Galvatron's face from Armada is replaced by a whole new shot of Optimus and Galvatron leaning into each other. Then the following panning closeup of Optimus is entirely redrawn; notably, Armada features an unusual "radiator shutters" interpretation of his helmet crest that becomes a flat sheet of rectangles for Legends of the Microns.
• The reverse shot of Galvatron grappling with Optimus Prime is redrawn for Legends of the Microns because Optimus is again in Super Mode by mistake in Armada. The shot is also less cropped in Legends of the Microns, bringing Optimus's face into the frame. And when Galvatron pushes him away, Legends of the Microns has an actual full-body animation of Optimus staggering back where Armada simply recycles the previous closeup with a bounce and a zoom-out to imply his steps.
• Legends of the Microns adds Optimus Prime to the shot where the falling wreck near-misses Galvatron, making them both have to dash out of the way.
• The shot of the black hole that pans left in Armada pans right in Legends of the Microns and has a different space background with Cybertron added to the foreground.
• In Legends of the Microns, the rubble that rises out of Cybertron has been recolored from blue to brown in the wide shot of Optimus Prime and Galvatron and behind Galvatron in his subsequent closeup, yet it's still blue in the rest of the scene, including in front of Optimus's face! Must be some varied ground there.
• The Mini-Cons glow much brighter when they first streak away in Armada; Legends of the Microns recolors the streaks to the same shade of yellow they have in the rest of the scene.
• Legends of the Microns adds a pillar of wreckage for Cyclonus to crash into in two shots where he appears to be pinned against nothing in Armada. It does appear in Armada the second and fourth times it should, however.
• High Wire and Grindor both get to speak words in both English and Japanese in the end, but their eyes only glow yellow for the Japanese dub.
• When Demolishor objects to Galvatron's certainty at the end, their faces have been redrawn for Legends of the Microns. For Galvatron this mainly makes his eyes shiny and his chin a little flatter. For Demolishor this makes his eyes more uneven, and he shifts into a grimace instead of a pucker of surprise.

Animation and technical errors

• Assuming that the Autobot ships in the opening were large battleships and not Transformers, they noticeably shrink in size when Galvatron began to slash them apart with the Star Saber.
• Alexis calls Sureshock "Grindor", again.
• Optimus Prime refers to the Axalon as the Axion.
  • Shortly afterwards (just before he orders Overload to be launched), his left arm is colored entirely gray.
• In a shot where Galvatron boasts to Optimus while combined with Tidal Wave, the right arm armor piece is not drawn in. All the while the Requiem Blaster he's holding is miscolored dark purple and grey like the said armor piece he's missing.
• Hot Shot punches a generic Decepticon who has a yellow body and blue helmet and arms as the punch lands, and a blue body and a yellow helmet and arms as he hits the ground. That Powerlinx upgrade must really pack a wallop.
• When the Decepticons are to "take care of the small fry first" Wheeljack and the Autobot Generics that appear just afterward, are shown to fire without weapons, with shots coming from their FISTS! The Autobot generics' hands are also clearly supposed to be clutching guns.
• Rollbar is briefly shown Powerlinxed with Scavenger. Unfortunately, the Mini-Con is coloured green and is easily lost among Scavenger's body.

Continuity notes

• Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003 explains that is the start of the Cybertron decisive battle.
• This episode marks the last time Optimus uses his trailer to combine into Super Mode, or in this case, Megaweapon mode.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Overload's trailer mode has the ability to hover/fly.
  • Jetfire appears to be wielding a small generic pistol of some sort this episode.

Trivia

• It takes an amazingly short time for Galvatron to lay all of Cybertron to ruin.
• Sureshot and Wheelie's character models get used again, as generic Autobot soldiers who face the initial Decepticon attack, and again as Mini-Cons. Countless other uses of Generation 1 characters models are shown, the most noticeable being the Stunticons and Combaticons.
• Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003 has some interesting tidbits:
  • When the meeting for this episode started, Hidehito Ueda explained its events to Ken'ichi Ishikura, who was confused with how to work off that. As soon as Ueda said he was serious and that he's going to erase the black hole, Ishikura immediately got to work.
  • Sideways' voice actor had to laugh for more than 30 seconds. Now imagine doing that for a longer period of time.
  • Grindor in the Japanese dub shares his voice actor with Rad, whereas the Decepticon soldier who was saved by the Mini-Cons has Billy's voice actor.

Foreign localization

German

• Title: "Der Aufstand" ("The Uprising")
• Original airdate: 16 December 2003

Hungarian

• Title: "Ütközet" ("Clash")

Italian

• Title: "La rivolta" ("The Uprising")

• Unlike in English, the Axalon isn't misnamed as "Axion".
• Alexis's line: "Are there any Mini-Cons left on Cybertron?" is pronounced as if she was surprised to know that there are other Mini-Cons there, sounding pretty much as: "[What! You mean] there are other Mini-Cons left on Cybertron?!".

Portuguese

• Title: "Levante" ("Raise")

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

DVD

2004 — Transformers: Legends of the Microns — Volume 11 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (Rhino Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)