back under his master's control only to have Rad re-awaken their minds, allowing the Mini-Con weapons to free themselves, de-powering Unicron. With Sideways eliminated and the threat of Unicron apparently gone, Galvatron challenges Optimus to a final battle, only for the energy released by their conflict to reactivate Unicron. Upon realizing his mistake to continue their hatred, Galvatron decides to sacrifice himself to end the cycle of hate that allows Unicron to exist. With Galvatron's death, Unicron mysteriously disappears and peace returns to Cybertron. Despite justice being given to all Transformers, Optimus feels dishonored, stating that he doesn't deserve the Matrix anymore, and goes into exile. Production and release Development Transformers: Armada was written and produced in Japan, with creative input from America (the Japanese originally envisioned the series as set in the G1 continuity, but this idea was discarded by Hasbro, who also mandated the inclusion of Unicron, who had not been in the original story treatment for the series). However, the show premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami in America before its original Japanese counterpart had aired - the result of a demanding production schedule set by the network, which caused the series to be fast-tracked out of production. Consequently, Armada features a lot of unfinished animation (which would go on to be perfected for the completed Japanese episodes), and a hastily produced dub which features many errors in naming such as Sureshock being repeatedly called "Grindor" in multiple episodes, Hot Shot being called "Hot Rod", and Optimus's Mini-Con partner Sparkplug being called "Leader-1" (the same name as Megatron's Mini-Con), as well as transliteration and nonsensical dialogue which does not match the action onscreen. Veteran Transformers voice actors Garry Chalk and David Kaye appear in the English dub of series as Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. Chalk previously voiced the equivalent character Optimus Primal in Beast Wars: Transformers and Beast Machines: Transformers, while Kaye voiced a different version of Megatron in the same shows. When Armada was released on DVD in Japan, each of the thirteen volumes came with a four-page mini-manga and an exclusive repainted Mini-Con figure. The manga, titled Tales of the Microns: Linkage, feature these repaints in an original story which served to fill in many of the blank spots and plot holes in the animated series. Airing Despite Transformers: Armada being made by a Japanese studio, it premiered first in the United States. The series