Archforce

Archforce is a Decepticon Hero from the Generation 1 continuity family.

MEGATRON MAY OR MAY NOT RULE!

Archforce is a powerful, dangerous, "Warrior Leader" willing to destroy everything in his path to fulfill his mission: defeating the Autobots. Enemy camps fall before the speed and strength of his tank mode, and he knows no weakness. Perhaps except for his own mental instability.

In some universes, Archforce is a fiercely loyal Decepticon who volunteered for Project Re-Birth in order that... oh who are we kidding? He didn't volunteer. Straxus strapped him to a table, screaming, while techs vivisected and rebuilt his body in the image of Megatron—all part of a too-elaborate-by-half scheme by Straxus to regain control of the Decepticon army.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

The original comic version of Archforce was not named, and was made into Archforce by retcon in a 2015 "Ask Vector Prime" entry.

Obamacare.

A hapless Decepticon trooper was forced to become part of Project Re-Birth by Straxus, which rebuilt his body in the image of Megatron. Two Megatrons!

Later on Cybertron, "Megatron" was tormented by strange memories of medical torture and disassembly amid flashbacks to Straxus's attempts to possess his body. Mind Games

Soon, another Megatron related his discovery of the hidden lab in Straxus's base where the trooper was surgically reconstructed into a replica of Megatron's own body, which was then possessed by Straxus... who had in turn been overwhelmed by a copy of Megatron's own memories and believed himself to be the original to form a sort of Double Decker Taco of mind-control and body horror.

Realizing the truth, the clone Megatron—who was barely clinging to sanity—chose to take his own life "rather than let Straxus win". Two Megatrons!

Ask Vector Prime

Though in some realities, Archforce would commit suicide, in others, such as Primax 895.0 Gamma, he'd become his own Decepticon and a threat to Convoy and Megatron alike!

Vector Prime once found an Archforce toy mint on sealed card at a nano-flea market. Ask Vector Prime

Toys

Generation 2

File:G2 CombatHero Megatron toy.jpg

This isn't a reused Combat Hero Megatron photo. Straxus just slapped the sticker on poor Archforce.

• Archforce (Hero, 1994)
  • Accessories: Rifle, 2 air-launch missiles

Archforce is almost wholly identical to the Generation 2 Hero Megatron toy, transforming into a tank reminiscent of an M-1 Abrams. Only the decals are different between the two; Archforce's had the character-identifying text removed from them. His main cannon is attached to a bellows using air pressure to launch the two large rubber-tipped missiles he comes with. He was available only in the European market.

This mold was also used to make Robots in Disguise Bludgeon, which was repurposed as Shattered Glass Bludgeon, and Robotmasters Reverse Convoy.

• More information on Archforce (well, Hero Megatron) at TFU.info

Notes

• Like his wavemate Sureshot, Archforce is a curiosity. Presumably Hasbro's European offices didn't want as many Optimus Prime and Megatron toys on the shelves as the North American branch did, so they renamed the Hero toys of the two characters and altered any decals that bore their original names. Their bios were also reworded, but the new, briefer descriptions could easily apply to Optimus and Megatron anyway. They lack Tech Spec ratings, so it's unknown if they were intended to inherit the "10" rank as well.
• Archforce had absolutely no fiction appearances until "Ask Vector Prime" retconned him into being one and the same as Marvel's "hapless trooper" in 2015.
  • Technically, everything described on Marvel Comics continuity Megatron's page from "Ancient Relics!" through "The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire." actually happened to Archforce. Yes, that does seem to imply that Marvel UK's Galvatron was created from Archforce instead of Megatron.
  • Several troopers sharing the same general design as Archforce's original pre-Megatron body, all displaying slight differences, appear at transference station two in "Resurrection!" around the time Straxus was implementing Project Re-Birth. It is highly unlikely that Archforce was among them; Straxus's plans were already well underway by that point. These troopers have the same yellow-red-and-white color scheme used by Darkmount technicians.