Earthforce

Earthforce is a group of Earth-stationed Autobots from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Fighting crime in a never time!

Earthforce is the name of a cell of Autobots commanded by Grimlock and stationed on Earth to counter the rising threats of Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave, and Shockwave and their respective armies. Grimlock formed his group as a reaction to Optimus Prime's command regimen, which he interprets as weak and counterproductive to ending the Decepticon menace.

Earthforce's base of operations is in northern Canada. They get into lots of not-so-serious hijinks.

More importantly, it's the source of a huge continuity trainwreck in the latter issues of the Marvel Comics UK series.

Fiction

Marvel Comics UK continuity

Ratchet, Sunstreaker
Way before Groundbreaker
There was Huffer and Mirage
And Bumblebee in Spike's garage
I still kick it old school
Don't tell me that I'm so uncool
Or that I'm too absorbed
With 19, 19, 1984.

After Galvatron (uh, one of them) revived Prowl, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Silverbolt on the Ark, intent on mind-controlling them, they rebelled and sealed Galvatron away in the Ark's medbay. Perchance to Dream As Unicron neared Cybertron, Optimus Prime dispatched Wheeljack and Prowl to the Arizona desert to investigate Decepticon activity. Musing about the simplicity of the old days, they stumbled across Megatron, the Constructicons, and the Stunticons, deep into a plan to detonate Earth's atmosphere and convert it into Energon. Starting Over!

Meanwhile, the Dinobots were ambushed by Shockwave, Starscream, Ravage, and the Battlechargers, demanding to know how Grimlock was able to revive them without using the Creation Matrix. In the middle of the Dinobots' retaliation, Optimus Prime interrupted them angrily, asking them to be mindful of the humans' civilization and to adhere to the Autobot Code. Two Steps Back!

Back on the Ark, Grimlock once again announced his dissatisfaction with Prime's leadership and threatened to take his Dinobots and leave the Autobots for good. Optimus Prime dismissed Grimlock's behavior as a tantrum, prompting a battle between the two that ended in stalemate. Conceding to Grimlock partially, Optimus Prime allowed Grimlock to be the Autobot Commander on Earth, so long as he played less rough than usual. A group of Autobots entered the room and announced that Prowl and Wheeljack had foiled Megatron's plan to detonate a deadly heat-trapping gas in Earth's atmosphere, but were in danger and needed backup. With Prime's blessing, these Autobots joined the Dinobots to form the Earthforce. Break-Away!

Ironhide and Bumblebee found and destroyed a partially-constructed duplicate Devastator, under construction because the Constructicons had lost the ability to combine. Desert Island Risks! Jazz and Sunstreaker, meanwhile, found that Prowl had neutralized the gas days ago and was enjoying the relaxed pace of south Louisiana. Life in the Slow Lane

Prowl later followed Megatron back in time to the era of the Underbase Saga, to stop him from recruiting the Seacons to his cause. Flashback! After few minor altercations Snow Fun! The Living Nightlights! and incidents Mystery!, several of the team managed to disrupt the Decepticons' Enclave, preventing their splintered enemies from uniting. The Bad Guy's Ball! They then joined up with the Survivors to help them back up Carnivac's solo attack on the Mayhem Attack Squad; they took the surviving Mayhems prisoner, and welcomed Carnivac into their ranks. Where Wolf?

Prowl decides who to pick next for his kickball team

The Decepticon Civil War continued, but Soundwave and Starscream both began working against their alleged commanders - Soundwave even had Megatron lured into an ambush. Secrets Bugged! They set up a clash between Megatron and Shockwave, then let the Autobots attack them while they took control of the Decepticon factions and united them into a single army under dual leadership (both plotting to backstab the other later). Internal Affairs! The Autobots fortified their headquarters, though a flaw in their design caused them to temporarily switch the defences off, The House that Wheeljack Built! thus leaving them vulnerable to a massed Decepticon assault. The Autobots foiled the plot, partly due to the Survivors' presence, and Soundwave took the opportunity to mention to the Decepticons "look how bad Starscream's plan was, clearly I should be in charge!". Divide and Conquer!

Optimus Prime came to Autobot Earthbase for an ill-timed inspection visit, just as Slag was driven to run wild by a cerebral circuit flaw, causing many hijinks as the other Dinobots struggled to keep his condition secret from the Autobot leader. The 4,000,000 Year Itch! Prime also inspected the base's "bodyshop", which was used to reanimate the long-inert Tracks (over Grimlock's violent protests). Makin' Tracks! After Prime's visit, the imprisoned Mayhem Squaddies managed to escape, viciously injuring Inferno in the process. Shut Up!

The Decepticon Civil War flared up again when Megatron & Shockwave put out a contract on Starscream's head, knowing he'd blame Soundwave and go after him - and either they or their assassins could finish off whoever remained and take control of their armies again. The plan failed when the Autobots got involved: Snarl had fallen ill with Corrodia Gravis and with Starscream as the only compatible Transformer who could provide Snarl with the needed circuit-boost, Grimlock was required to order his troops to protect Starscream from his enemies. Assassins External Forces! The Lesser Evil

When Bombshell implanted a cerebro shell to send Superion on a rampage, the Autobots recruited a human reporter to get the shell out. Inside Story! They gladly gave him a tour of their base and full interviews in gratitude, but another cerebro shell ensured that the story he wrote painted the Autobots in a negative light. End of the Road!

At some point, with the Matrix still lost and a Decepticon alliance ruined beyond repair, Optimus decided to search for the original site of the Underbase - having discovered it was linked into the centre of Cybertron and thus to Primus, they intended to use the site to tap into Primus' energies and use it as a substitute for the Matrix against Unicron. Six of the team were either called in or had already rejoined Prime's main force aboard the Ark, and were dispatched to the Acid Wastes to search. There they came into conflict with the mad Decepticon known as Megadeath. Facing up to personal demons, they defeated him and continue looking for the Underbase site. The Magnificent Six!

Continuity

Part of an attempt to help sell Europe's Classics line of reissues, the Earthforce stories, black and white backup material for the issue's "main" story, intentionally harken back to the simpler era of Transformers' early years. Although the stories were independent material, they often included tie-ins to the main story with references to such topics as Unicron approaching and Grimlock's attempts to revive his comrades. However, many of these tie-ins were referred to in advance of them actually occurring in the continuity proper. It appears to the reader that writer Simon Furman knew vaguely what was going to happen in the future of the comic, so he wrote these stories with references to these future events.

Simon Furman has since stated that a key part of the problem was that due to publishing deadlines, the altered format of the UK comic and the shorter US stories, he found that attempts to write UK strips tying into the concurrent US stories proved near impossible as the UK comic kept interrupting the US strips with reprints of old UK stories in order to widen the gap in publishing. This in turn meant that the UK stories often pre-empted upcoming surprises in the US strips. Consequently he abandoned efforts to tie the two strips together. He has since stated that even he finds it hard to place the Earthforce stories. Largely this has been considered a pseudocanon revelation that the Earthforce Saga is irreconcilable with the main Marvel Comics continuity. Based on these quotes, the stories were obviously intended to fit into the continuity, but any approach to make this a reality has problems.

Legacy

There are several references and nods made in later stories back to Earthforce, and if the Earthforce (or similar) events happen in continuity then there are many lasting effects:

"Me Grimlock no see Tracks. We have a chance!"

• Several members of the Earthforce team are shown joining the battle with Unicron. Though the presence of most of them could be explained by the need to push their Action Master toys (and it seems to be the only reason Blaster is there, as he was not an Earthforce character), the appearances of Skids, Ironhide, Silverbolt, and especially Sunstreaker are conspicuous, considering the Earthforce stories. (Sunstreaker's only prominent use in the Marvel Comics was in Earthforce. He was offline for most of it otherwise.)
• Earthforce seems like a logical step in the development of Grimlock as a leader. Without the stories he skips straight from the megalomaniac from Totaled! to a fairly serious (though unorthodox) leader in Still Life!. Spending time as a highly rebellious leader who is both stern and goofy makes it feel like his characters goes through a higher level of development.
• Runabout and Runamuck showing up alive and established as working with Shockwave is consistent with Earthforce. In fact, they do not show up in the Marvel Comics continuity until immediately after Earthforce ends under the Gap Approach. Surrender! Without Earthforce there is no explanation, implicit or explicit, suggested for their return in the US comics. Of course, that doesn't prevent a mysterious return from the death for one later... Still Life! New Dawn
• Wildrider dies during Earthforce, and he is the only Stunticon who never shows up during G2.Secrets

Notes

• According to the Prey trade paperback collection, Earthforce is stationed in northern Canada because Simon Furman really likes polar bears. This is why there's one drawn in nearly every establishing shot.