the trilogy is significant for being a co-production between Hasbro and Takara; the Japanese production team actually wanted to set the series in the Generation 1 continuity, post-"The Rebirth", but this was vetoed by Hasbro's head Transformers design director, Aaron Archer, in favour of completely rebooting the Transformers universe and introducing a brand new continuity for the second time (the first being Robots in Disguise). Archer crafted the basic story outline of each of the three lines, with the anime themselves then being written and animated in Japan, but in practice, the Japanese studios did not always follow Archer's design. While each series ran for eighteen months in Hasbro markets, lasting from mid-2002 through 2007, the three were annual affairs in Japan, running from January to December in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Transformers: Armada Launched in the summer of 2002, Transformers: Armada was the first series co-produced between Hasbro and Takara, with the intention of creating a toyline for simultaneous release in both North America and Japan. It was released in Japan six months later in January 2003, where it was known as Transformers: Micron Legend. The heavily promoted series was an attempt to re-introduce Transformers to the children of the time, and featured a particularly large number of additional merchandise such as puzzles, games, cards, candy and a tie-in PlayStation 2 video game. In addition to drawing on and re-imagining familiar elements from Generation 1, such as the Matrix of Leadership, Armada's defining trait was the introduction of a third faction of Transformers - the diminutive robots known as Mini-Cons (the eponymous "Microns" in Japan). Mini-Cons can "powerlink" to larger Transformers, increasing their powers, and consequently became a sought-after commodity in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. Eventually, however, the Mini-Cons fled Cybertron in a starship, which warped into the Solar system and crashed on Earth. The series then begins in the year 2010, when three teenagers - Rad, Carlos and Alexis - find and reactivate the buried hulk of the Mini-Con ship, sending out a signal that brings Optimus Prime, Megatron and their troops to Earth. The Autobots and Decepticons begin scouring the planet to find the stasis panels containing the dormant Mini-Cons, thought to be located in Hellnoville, but soon, the existence of three powerful weapons - each formed from the fusion of three separate Mini-Cons - comes to light. Thanks to the schemes of the