From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki

Earthquake is a Decepticon in the Generation One continuity family.

Earthquake realizes too late that "jazz hands" is not an effective method of combat.

Earthquake was once a great warrior, an ambitious man who thought he could rebel against the Decepticons. Now he's a bit too dead to rebel against anything.

Fiction

UK Comics continuity

Earthquake tried to rebel against the Decepticons and got himself caught. Given his choice of punishment, he opted for Trial By Combat, where he faced his former comrade Tornado. Despite apparently being able to "WARP THE VERY SURFACE OF CYBERTRON!" he didn't make it out alive. In fact, neither of them did.

Watching this on a tape years later, Megatron thought that this would be a good way to rid himself of Starscream. The Enemy Within!