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Two species at war. One flesh. One metal. Transformers are declared illegal on Earth. The world has set up a new paramilitary force: the TRF. But in Cuba, Castro lets them sun in his beaches. But these alien beings keep arriving. Endless waves of them. Too many to count.
~ Edmund Burton's monologue on the TRF.

Transformers Reaction Force, also known as the TRF, are the secondary antagonists of the 2017 film Transformers: The Last Knight. An international paramilitary force, they are tasked with eradicating on Earth of Transformers (whether Autobot or Decepticon) and any human who sympathizes with them.

At the conclusion of the movie, the TRF ultimately switched sides in order to help Cade Yeager and the Autobots in their fight against Megatron and Quintessa in the planet of Cybertron and the TRF was presumably disbanded after the battle.

History[]

Background[]

The Transformers Reaction Force was created as a paramilitary organization with the same intentions as Cemetery Wind; to destroy all Transformers; regardless; whether, or not they are Autobots or Decepticons, hiding on Earth; because many Transformers have been coming to Earth for years, in; which they deem to be an "invasion". They were independent of any governments; but they do work closely; with many of the nations' authorities; particularly that of the United States and United Kingdom to eradicate Transformers worldwide. But they were forbidden from operating in Cuba, as Transformers were granted asylum there under the watchful eye of Raul Castro.

Although it is not known who the leader of the TRF is, a unnammed group leader acts as one of the commanders, while Santos is mostly the field commander of the TRF team in the United States. William Lennox, a former NEST commander and Colonel of the U.S. Army, has been joined by the TRF as he had experience with the Transformers, though he was reluctant to join the newly formed group due to his previous allegiance with the Autobots, especially Bumblebee. General Morshower is also with the TRF, though he isn't the leader of the group and is tasked with supervising them. They've also imprisoned several Decepticons in a few of their bases. At some point, they found out about Cade Yeager, an Autobot sympathizer who had been hiding Transformers in his junkyard in South Dakota, and set up a warrant for his arrest.

Finding Cade Yeager[]

One TRF group worked with the U.S. Army was led by Santos with a former NEST commander, Colonel William Lennox as a liaison to the military. One day, a group of kids led by Izabella were trespassing upon a damaged area of Chicago and they responded by deploying their TRF Walkers and a fighter jet and one of them killed Autobot Canopy as it had been mistakenly identified as a Decepticon.

In the same area, Cade, who had a bounty on him, encountered a dying knight inside the ship that gave him a metallic talisman. After detecting the Decepticon scout Barricade, the group cornered Cade and demanded where he was hiding the Autobots but was freed as the Autobots had more firepower. However, a sniper fired a tracker on Bumblebee so they can follow him and his Autobot comrades.

Finding the Staff[]

Megatron contacted the U.S. government, willing to negotiate with them in order to get Cade's Talisman and the Staff. They sent Lennox and a group of lawyers to negotiate the release of several of Megatron's imprisoned soldiers. The Decepticon-TRF alliance proceeded to pursue Cade, his coworker Jimmy, Izabella, Sqweeks, and the Autobots to the nearly abandoned town, with the TRF wanting to apprehend Cade.

In the ensuing battle, Dreadbot, Onslaught, Mohawk and several TRF soldiers were killed because they were outnumbered and outmatched by the arrival of Dinobots (Grimlock and Slug), forcing Megatron, Nitro Zeus and Barricade to retreat. Despite this, an angered Santos summoned a swarm of TRF drones to hunt Cade Yeager, but failed as Cade destroyed all of them. In England, a combined force of British TRF soldiers, London Police officers, and MI6 operatives arrive at the mansion to hunt Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Cogman, Cade, Sir Edmund Burton and Viviane Wembly, but failed as the group escaped both of them, as well as Barricade, during the chase in London.

Teaming up with Navy SEALs, they pursued Cade, Viviane, Bumblebee and Cogman with their own submarines until they reached the underwater ship belonging to the Guardian Knights. They had finally found the group and attempted to take Merlin's Staff, only for Viviane to turn the tables against them until a brainwashed Optimus Prime, who had unexpectedly returned to Earth, took it away from Viviane and exited the ship. Santos took a shot at Prime, but Prime deflected as he shot back, injuring Santos and the soldiers. Then, Cade ordered Bee to follow Prime and Bee did as he was told.

At the surface of the Knights ship, Bee fought Prime until he was overpowered just as Cade and Lennox came to help out, but failed because of the interference from the sea waves and the rising of the Knights ship. Just when Prime nearly stabbed Bee, the mute Autobot scout finally spoke to his long-time Autobot leader and his voice allowed Optimus' true identity to return.

Stopping Quintessa[]

The TRF had a huge gathering in the field with Cade, Jimmy, Izabella and Sqweeks, as well as the Autobots, as Optimus gave the orders before heading on Cybertron for a big battle. The TRF members led by Santos agreed to work with Cade and Viviane to retrieve the staff, which was being used by Quintessa to harvest Earth's energy for Cybertron's reconstruction. Meanwhile in the Osprey's Cade would have a conversation with Santos to stop persecuting and hunting down the Autobots as they turned their backs on them. After being shamed by Cade, they all tore off their badges after Santos had a conversation with Cade and his final realization that not all of the Transformers are evil.

As soon as they reached the ignition chamber, ex-TRF soldiers, the military and the Autobots fought both the Decepticons and the Infernocons outside the chamber's entrance. Unfortunately, the troops had taken heavy causalities and they decided to deploy an aerial nuclear strike to bring the chamber down. However, this plan failed as the chamber remained operational even though it collapsed.

As the military led by Lennox and ex-TRF soldiers led by Santos watched the collapsing debris of Cybertron, the Autobots successfully reached to the ground, with both Viviane and Cade safely sheltered in Optimus' vehicle mode. After a long battle, the Autobots said farewell to their old human allies as they returned to Cybertron to rebuild it, as well as the planet Earth, and the UN orders the TRF to be terminated and remove Cade from the Wanted List as a result of the UN severing all ties, ending their funds, and stripping their assets with the TRF due to their persecution acts against the Autobots along with attempts to arrest or kill Cade Yeager, Viviane Wembly (Descendant of Merlin), and Edmund Burton, which nearly allowed Quintessa to bring Cybertron to Earth and also for failing an operation by using nuclear missiles on the ignition chamber which almost cost the lives of humanity due to the fact that it was mentioned by Edmund Burton earlier that only Viviane Wembly can stop Cybertron's merger of Earth by wielding Merlin's staff and not the use of TRF. While the United Nations would make Autobot-Alliance legal again and restore NEST or created some other organization unknown to make amends and regain faith with the Autobots and thus the United Nations would finally admit the fact that the Autobots are the saviors of Earth not the TRF. It’s quite possible that TRF became scapegoats after everything they did as a result, TRF was disbanded and are also prohibited from creating deals with the Decepticons and only Decepticons will be outlawed and they will also be given strict orders to find and destroy only Decepticons since they are the true threat to the world. They are also forbidden from destroying Autobots since they are the ones who can save Earth from possible alien threats and other full-scale threats, as destruction of the Autobots would have severe consequences for Earth that could happen that they can't handle on their own. Such as Cybertron was approaching the Earth, the deaths of countless Autobots including Canopy have been avenged as a result of the organization's dissolvement.

Powers and Abilities[]

The TRF seemingly has a lot of equipment that was mostly from the regular U.S. Armed Forces and Cemetery Wind, particularly Humvees, Oshkosh M997 HEMTT, various SUV transports like the Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Silverados, as well as International MaxxPros that are used as troop transports. They also use drone sentinels to patrol no-site zones such as the ones in Chicago to check for any alien activity. They also use the AH-64 Apache Longbow as air support and also have various helicopters as transports. The TRF even use mini-drones that use facial recognition to hunt down their main target, particularly Cade Yeager as he is mostly harboring Autobots. However, the drones are only dispatched to hunt down one individual and don't hunt down their other targets, such as Cade's friend Jimmy or Izabella. If they try to target them, it doesn't kill it but launches a bean bag since the target doesn't have a facial recognition.

The TRF in the United Kingdom is somewhat different from their American counterpart, acting as a special police force to apprehend anyone sympathizing with Transformers. Their main equipment are mostly Lexus RXF Sport SUVs, Land Rovers, as well as Mercedes Benz sedans that are used by themselves as well as MI6.

Members[]

  • Unnamed TRF Group Leader
  • Santos - Field commander
  • TRF lieutenant
  • American TRF soldiers
  • British TRF soldiers
  • General Morshower - General of the U.S. Marine Corps and TRF supervisor
  • William Lennox - Agent, U.S. military liason and Colonel of the TRF
  • U.S. Air Force - Part of TRF
  • U.S. Army soldiers - Part of TRF
  • U.S. Navy SEALs - Briefly a part of TRF
  • Several others who are presumed to be formerly with Cemetery Wind and NEST

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The Transformers Reaction Force is the secondary human villain group in the Transformers film series, the first is being Cemetery Wind, though Dylan Gould was the first human villain in the series, with Harold Attinger and James Savoy being the second and third human villains, with Commander Santos becoming the fourth. However, Santos redeems himself at the end.
  • Just like Cemetery Wind, the TRF shares many roles similarities with that predecessor group. The two were being tasked by hunting down both Autobots and Decepticons alike. The two have negotiations as in case; Harold Attiger made deal with Lockdown, where as William Lennox briefly negotiate with Megatron. The two were disbanded in the end after the final battle, with Autobots are currently returning back to their original homeworld.
  • Most of the TRF members might be former NEST soldiers and special forces groups, particularly the U.S. Navy SEALS. According to a profile, Santos was a Delta Force operative who grew up in Sao Paulo.
    • Nigerian actor Remi Adeleke, who played a TRF lieutenant under the command of Santos, was also a former Navy SEAL himself.
    • Several SEAL veterans portray TRF forces as well.
  • Originally, Robert Epps, portrayed by Tyrese Gibson, was originally set to reappear in Transformers: The Last Knight, presumably as one of the new members of the TRF. However, Tyrese Gibson refused to participate due to scheduling conflicts with his film, The Fate of the Furious. Since he didn't appear, it is heavily implied that he may have refused to join the TRF or remained neutral due to his past experience with Autobots, or may have went into hiding or went into retirement. Some of the other former NEST members such as Hardcore Eddie are implied to have retired as well or have refused to join TRF due to having fought alongside the Autobots in the third movie.
  • Due to the world's governments branding all Transformers illegal (with the exception of Cuba and some others), the unnamed Prime Minister of United Kingdom, who is met by Edmund Burton, may also have branded Transformers illegal as well. Though it is presumed that under Burton's conviction, he may have ordered the U.K. TRF to stop the persecution down due to Cybertron heading to Earth, as he was aware of the drastic consequences Earth would face if the Autobots were wiped out.
  • William Lennox, one of the TRF's reluctant members, could be considered one of the movie's antagonists, even though he previously worked with the Autobots to save the world from Decepticons. However, he was barely misled into that and was hesitant to follow their orders since he tried to arrest Cade Yeager and attempted to shoot or arrest Viviane Wembly for holding the staff, not knowing what dangers Earth would face if she didn't even hold the staff which would result in the planet to the destruction of so that Quintessa can suck out her life force to restore Cybertron.
  • Despite being an international paramilitary force tasked with hunting down Transformers regardless of faction, the TRF also works with regular U.S. Military forces, mostly the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force when calling them for airstrikes, unlike Cemetery Wind, which works for the CIA to hunt down Decepticons but secretly Autobots hiding on Earth. Their British counterparts cooperate with MI6 and London Police when hunting down any Transformers along with any human symphatizer.
  • They are somewhat similar to other extraterrestrial military organizations such as the Guardian Units of Nations from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Mutant Response Division from the X-Men Marvel Universe, and the RDA’s Security Operations from James Cameron’s Avatar series.
  • If they returned in the Last Knight sequel, it would be implied that some of their members became human allies to the Decepticons. Presumably after when TRF was disbanded, and they was possibly dismissed in disgrace for failing an operation to nuke the ignition chamber despite their redemption and reluctant aid to Cade Yeager and the Autobots.
    • However, since the Last Knight was final chapter to the original timelines, these theories are only speculated. It may be implied that after the TRF was dissolved many of their former members and leaders decided to never bother Cade and the Autobots ever again despite learning the consequences which them not being able to handle it themselves if they destroyed the Autobots and arrested Cade Yeager as the UN had created a new law to prevent persecution of the Transformers race ever again while ordering the TRF to be disbanded.
  • It is unknown after saving the world by the Autobots if the U.S. government and UN learned its lesson when they rejected the Autobots and realized there could be consequences which them not being able to handle it themselves without involvement from the Autobots. Such as Cybertron was approaching the Earth, Quintessa almost siphoned off the life force of the Earth to restore Cybertron and NEST restored or created some other organization unknown to keep in touch and work with the Autobots and to replace it by this after TRF disbanded just as before dissolved Sector Seven. Despite this, it is still noted that the UK Prime Minister somewhat learned the error of his ways after finding out about the imminent destruction of Earth by Edmund Burton and ordered the British TRF to stop the persecution down prior to the climax of the film.
    • However it may be implied that after the Autobots saved Earth the United Nations decide to never again form any other organization like Cemetery Wind or the TRF and would abolish the idea of Anti-Cybertronian Organizations and Campaigns after likely learning of the consequences that could happen that they can't handle on their own if the Autobots were wiped out as the UN likely created a new law that forbids people from persecuting and hunting down the Transformers race along with banning Decepticon-Alliances due to the actions of Dylan Gould.
  • Ironically if the TRF did succeeded in arresting or killing Cade Yeager and Viviane Wembly, alongside Edmund Burton and attempted to eradicate the Autobots, their actions caused by Santos and the TRF would result in severe consequences such as the arrest of both Cade and Viviane and the destruction of the Autobots would mean that without Viviane the staff cannot be wielded, and without the Autobots, Optimus Prime would still be brainwashed and even worse, the TRF would be too powerless and helpless to stop Quintessa due to their lack of alien warfare technology, and even worse, Megatron would end up betraying the TRF due to the fact that a worldwide government organization like the TRF or Cemetery Wind cannot defend Earth that is Beyond-Human Level Threat alone because the Autobots are the ones who can save Earth from threats such as Megatron and Quintessa. This factor is said because when Cade is surrounded by a TRF squad led by Santos, he began to warn them about how Transformers keep falling from the sky, and that a greater threat is coming to them and can’t even shoot their way out of it, as well as when Cade warns Lennox to not take the staff from Viviane Wembly as they don’t know what consequences will happen if he did take the staff from her. If either Cade or Viviane were killed or arrested for sympathizing with Transformers, and all the Autobots were wiped out, then Earth would’ve been destroyed and the movie would’ve been over by now.
  • It is unknown if the TRF were also after Izabella and Jimmy, as they have been assisting Cade Yeager from being hunted down. However, given how the TRF drones were only hunting down Cade Yeager and not the other two, with Jimmy being hit by a bean bag since he wasn't the main target, this implies that their main fugitive was only Cade and not Jimmy or Izabella. Although they could've also been arrested or killed later on for trying to aid Cade in trying to hide the Autobots as it was noted that Izabella was sympathizing Transformers like Canopy and Sqweeks while Cade mentions that Jimmy was aiding and abetting.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           TransformersTitle Original Films Villains

Decepticons
Megatron (Transformers: The Game) | Starscream | Barricade | Frenzy | Blackout | Scorponok | Bonecrusher | Brawl | Dispensor | The Fallen | Soundwave | Sideways | Grindor | Ravage | Alice | Scalpel | Laserbeak | Shockwave | Driller | Watch-bot | Igor | Crankcase | Crowbar | Hatchet | Devcon | Berserker | Thundercracker | Swindle | Dreadwing | Payload | Wreckage | Ramjet | Stockade | Hardtop | Crankcase | Fracture | Reverb | Overcast | Jetstorm | Skywarp | Divebomb | Flatline | Rumble | Ratbat | Buzzsaw | Beastbox | Breakdown | Dirt Boss | Ransack | Fortress | Thrust | Skystalker | Tankor | Sonar | Astrotrain | Fearswoop | Ruination | Deadlift | Bludgeon | Mindwipe | Decepticon Protoforms | Space Case

Constructicons
Devastator | Demolishor | Rampage | Long Haul | Mixmaster | Scrapper | Hightower | Scavenger | Overload | Scrapmetal

Megatron's Crew
Megatron | Barricade | Mohawk | Dreadbot | Nitro Zeus | Onslaught

Human Collaborators
Dylan Gould | Gould

Cemetery Wind
Harold Attinger | James Savoy | Cemetery Wind Agents

Knight Ship Crew
Lockdown (Rise of the Dark Spark) | Steeljaws | Shadow Raiders

Kinetic Solutions Incorporated
Joshua Joyce | KSI Drones (Galvatron | Stinger)

Transformers Reaction Force
TRF Group Leader | Commander Santos | TRF Lieutenant | TRF Drones | TRF Soldiers | British TRF Soldiers

Others
Theodore Galloway | Sentinel Prime (Novelization) | The Creators | Sojex | Quintessa | Infernocons | Unicron

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