User:Derik/Earthforce

Classics Nemesis Prime == Clasics Continuity?

Okay-- hear me out.

• "Marvel US" is a branch-timeline created by the timestorm where Target 2006 and all it's klnock-on consequences (Prey, Fallen Angel, Time Wars) didn't happen. Note: this is not speculation, the UK Letters page confirm the US timeline is a result o the Timestorm.
• "Marvel US" isn't "just the US-published material," some stories like Deathbringer still occurred in this new post-Timestorm timeline. (And presumably The Enemy Within and Decepticon Dam-Busters... but ~85% of the Marvel UK stories stem directly from Galvatron's visit, and would not otherwise occur.)
• In "Prey," the surviving head of Straxus lives in Darkmount, and when Megatron shows up, he rebuilds an anonymous trooper into a copy of him, intending to take control of the body and thus rule the Decepticons. All of the events of Prey stem from Optimus Prime's "emo lament" that the Autobots allied themselves with Megatron to fight Galvatron while he was gone. Without Target 2006, "Prey" would not happen.
• Straxus' survival, however, was not in any way related to Target 2006 (Return to Cybertron happens after T006's events, IIRC, but there was no contact with Cybertron in T2006 to change anything.) So in US-continuity, by all rights, Straxus should have survived just as he did in the UK.
• Prey, which occurs not long after Return to Cybertron, had Straxus in a relatively precarious position. Without the arrival of Optimus Prime and Megatron, he would probably be removed from power in the post-Darkmount-disaster power struggle on Cybertron by Ratbat, anyway. Megatron was exerting fairly effortless control over Straxus's former forces from earth shortly after the Space bridge disaster-- he ordered the Coneheads and Insecticons to join him on earth. Octane (apparently Straxus's head of security) is next seen doing scut work for Ratbat instead. (Basically I'm saying Straxus was at law ebb in Prey, hanging on to power by a thread.)
• Without the opprotunity of Megatron/Prime's arrival in Prey, Straxus would probably be drawn to the same opportunity-- take a cloned body of a powerful leader. He needs a new body anyway, and NP's bio makes no indication he was ever intended to replace Prime-- it seems more like he was supposed to have all the reflexes and tactical genius in-built, but controleld by Straxu's mind. (Which again-- exactly his plan for Megatron.) Arguably Straxus may have been inspired by the Council's recent creation of Ultra Magnus, a warrior whose specs the Council spent a great deal of time developing to be the perfect leader/warrior, rather than just bringing anyone to life.
• NP's bio also states that Straxus's mind-transfer never took place. But that, again, kinda fits the timeline. Straxus was whipping his techs to hurry in Prey because he's trying to juggle Megatron. Deprived of that 'bird in the hand,' Straxus would have taken longer and been deposed before the project reached fruition.
  • Deprived of Megatron's presence, he cloned Prime instead, and was then killed before a mind-transfer could take place.
• Contrary to the popular bitch of Classics Springer not being a Wrecker as a continuity error... Springer was assigned to the Wreckers only in response to UM not being available for Operation: Volcano... because he went to Earth... because Galvatron's arrival had snuffed the Matrix Flame. Without Galvatron, Springer would not have become a Wrecker, let alone have command of that unit fall to him.