Allegiances: Minicon
Size: Mini-Con
Set Price: $21-26 U.S., depending upon retailer
Series: Armada
Overall Rating: 5.8

(NOTE: All of the toys in this 10-pack are repaints of Classics Minicons-- to thus, these reviews are not completely reviews, and merely cover and changes made to the mold and/or color scheme. For reviews on the molds themselves, see the reviews of the Night Rescue Team, the Clear Skies Team, the Demolition Team, the Dinobot Team, and the Predator Attack Team.)
 

Crosshairs

Team: Ground Surveillance Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky brownish gray, black, and some silver and bright green
Individual Rating: 4.0

    Crosshairs has more of a "stealth chopper" look to him, what with the main colors being black and a light gray. It's a nice color scheme, though without the accent colors it would look pretty boring. Thankfully, the silver accents on the cockpit and robot head, and ESPECIALLY the light green paint apps on some parts of his robot mode, help to make this redeco stand out a bit more among its mold buddies. I wish there was a bit more of that eye-popping green used, particulalry on the grey bits, but it still looks pretty cool and is my favorite out of this mold's various deco jobs.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Crosshairs.
 

Longview

Team: Ground Surveillance Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light brown, brown, dark brown, and some white
Individual Rating: 8.0

    The redeco of this mold into Longview is rather creative, as he's no longer a turkey vulture but now a bald eagle. Normally a color scheme consisting of "brown, brown, and more brown" would look pretty bland, but they way the brown fades from light in the tail features to dark on the front features is done quite beautifully for such a small toy. The white on the two different heads and on the robot shoulders also serves as a nice contrast color to at least give Longview SOME color besides brown. Definitely more eye-catching than this mold's previous use as Dreadwing.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Longview.
 

Overcharge

Team: Battle Support Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Yellow, black, and some silver and white
Individual Rating: 4.7

    Okay, I'm not normally a fan of the color yellow, but this is not only a yellow redeco, but the first taxi cab Transformer EVER. And he's named OVERCHARGE. That's worth at least a few brownie points, right there. There's black helps to offset the yellow and keep the color scheme from looking too light anyways (and yes, his windows are painted-- hurrah!). The silver paint apps on the fender and robot face, as well as the white light bar and taxi-cab checker decals on the side of the vehicle mode, only accentuate the already brilliant idea. If you're just going for a version of this toy purely based on the color scheme, get Flatfoot-- but honestly, how can you pass up one of the most ingenious redecoes ever?
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Overcharge.
 

Ransack

Team: Battle Support Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark red and some silver, bright green, dark metallic gunmetal gray, and dull grayish brown
Individual Rating: 7.7

    Ransack's red really works well with a tyrannosaurus rex, and the silver paint contrasts nicely enough with the dark red to give him a bit of a "light" contrast color. The light green eyes also contrast EXTREMELY well with the green-- in fact, if more of the silver paint were replaced with light green I think he'd look even better. The only thing about Ransack's color scheme I'm not 100% about is the dull brown plastic used for his connecting pieces-- they don't really contrast much against anything or add anything substantial to the color scheme, they're just... dull. It still beats this mold's original colors easily, though.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Ransack.
 

Scavenger

Team: Ground Surveillance Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light gray and some white, black, bright green, silver, and dull aquamarine
Individual Rating: 6.6

    Scavenger's colors as a gray, white, and black wolf are quite realistic, and fit the figure very well. However, taken by themselves, they're rather monochrome, and though they certainly don't clash, they do make the figure look a tad dull. However, the light green eyes in beast mode at least give a hint of some actual color on the toy, and in robot mode the toy's colors become positively gorgeous just by adding dull aquamarine to the robot chest and waist. It really pops against the fairly bland other colors, not clashing but contrasting very well. The paint around the head is also detailed much better on this toy than on this mold's original release as Overbite, so you can really make out the head mold detailing easier. Even though I think Overbite beats this guy in terms of how the beast mode looks, Scavenger is leaps and bounds (pun not intended) above Overbite in terms of the robot mode colors.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Scavenger.
 

Sky Shadow

Team: Battle Support Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark dull military green and some silver and black
Individual Rating: 7.5

    As Sky Shadow, this mold gets done up in colors quite suiting for a military jet-- maybe even MORE suiting for a military TANK, mind you, but still suiting. The military green works well as a main color, and the silver and black are very nice contrast colors that contribute well to a military theme. If this toy was a bit bigger, I think a camo scheme would have helped to spice it up some, but given how small and skinny all of Sky Shadow's parts are, that's pretty difficult to do in this case. However, I think adding a few more black paint apps to put in a bit more contrast would've helped make him look just a tad more eye-catching. Overall, I think he beats this mold's release as Skyhammer by a hair, though.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Sky Shadow.
 

Snow Cat

Team: Ground Surveillance Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: White and some black and dark blue
Individual Rating: 5.9

    Wow, never before has a re-used name fit a repaint so perfectly... Anyways Snow Cat is pretty much Classics Snarl in white. No real paint app changes have been made, except the changing of the face to dark blue (which really looks boss agains the white, by the by). The black stripe paint apps have stayed and they look just as good (and fitting) against the white as they did the orange. So basically I think Snow Cat is about on par with Snarl-- as for which I'd recommend more, it just depends on which color you like more, orange or white.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Snow Cat.
 

Stockade

Team: Battle Support Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Dull grayish brown, dull periwinkle, and some dull goldish yellow
Individual Rating: 5.1

    Stockade's stony brownish gray works well with a sturdy triceratops, and fits the toy's name to boot. His dull periwinkle used on his beast mode face and legs is also a nice color in and of itself, and the goldish yellow works really well as a light contrast color against it. However... combined, both of the colors really don't work too well against each other. They don't clash, at least, but both of Stockade's main colors are so dull his paint scheme doesn't "pop" enough. Perhaps if more of the yellowish-gold paint apps had been used or another secondary/accent color had been added things would've been different, but as it stands it's dull. I think it still beats the rather fleshy-colored previous version of this mold (Knockdown) by a slim margin, though.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Stockade.
 

Treadshot

Team: Ground Surveillance Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Light pale tan, dark dull greyish brown, and some dark gunmetal gray and dull periwinkle
Individual Rating: 3.5

    Treadshot is redone up in desert tank colors-- well, sort of. The light tan is a particularly eye-catching and pretty shade of the color, as a dark contrast color the gunmetal gray treads and greyish brown plastic pieces work as a nice contrast color-- though if that was it, the toy would look pretty dull. Thankfully, Treadshot here has some nice dark periwinkle stripes on the sides of his tank mode and on spots on his robot arms, and quite frankly it makes all the difference in the world. I don't know why blue works so well with light tan for me, but it does, and it keeps Treadshot from having an almost monochrome color scheme, given his other colors. Overall all I think this is the best color scheme this mold has received-- unfortunately, well... it's this mold.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Treadshot.
 

Windrazor

Team: Battle Support Minicon Team
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Pale purple, light pinkish violet, and some white
Individual Rating: 4.5

    Windrazor is Classics Swoop done up in decidedly more feminine, Decepticon-y colors, with a pale purple doing a quite beautiful fade into a pinkish violet near the front of the beast mode. It works just as well as red for the mold-- heck, we don't know what colors pterodactyls were-- but the paint fade really makes Windrazor edge Swoop out in terms of overall eye-catchiness. Unfortunately, the fade pattern is really all Windrazor has going for (his?) color scheme, as the only other paint apps on the body are on the pterodactyl eyes and the robot mode face-- and the optics aren't even painted a different color on the face, which is a rather noticeable oversight. Speaking purely from a marketing standpoint, it's also odd why a toy with such a purple-y color scheme was deemed to be Autobot-allied, considering how purple is so strongly associated with Decepticons.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe 2.0 Windrazor.
 

    I have mixed feelings on the Armada Minicon 10-pack. On one hand, though it's slightly more expensive per Minicon than the 12-pack, it's still a relatively cheap way to get a bunch of Transformers for relatively little money. Also, the paint deco jobs, without exception, are either better than or at least as good as any previous color schemes used on this mold. However, the Classics Minicon molds are still pretty weak for the most part, and better paint jobs aren't going to change that-- plus, a slightly better selection of molds was used for the 12-pack. If you like Minicons or are a Transfan on a budget, consider this a mildly recommended pick-up; otherwise, some larger, better Transformers are probably more worthy of your money.

Review by Beastbot

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