Starscream's Brigade



After his latest attempt to overthrow Megatron's rule of the Decepticons, Starscream is banished from HQ, but this time, he hatches a plan...

Summary
Decades ago, when life existed only in black and white, humans waged war on one another on the island of Guadalcanal in the south Pacific. Some of their wrecked vehicles remained there as of 1985, where our story begins...

Within Decepticon Headquarters, Starscream and Megatron are having a spat. Predictably, it ends with Starscream shooting Megatron in the back and proclaiming himself the new leader. Megatron's tougher than that, though, and after waking up a few seconds later, he blasts Starscream and has Laserbeak dump him on Guadalcanal.

Humiliated and infuriated, Starscream stumbles upon the remnants of some old World War II vehicles, which inspire him to create an army of his own. Entering the space bridge by threatening Skywarp, he travels to Cybertron and steals the personality components of five renegade Decepticons. Installing them into the wrecked vehicles, he transforms them into the Combaticons. The quarrelsome warriors threaten to simply beat Starscream to a pulp, until he reveals that their new bodies do not contain energy absorbers, without which they cannot refuel: "No energy, no life." In exchange for the needed equipment, the Combaticons agree to obey Starscream's orders for the moment.

At the unveiling of the Optimus Prime Memorial, Starscream and the Combaticons attack and kidnap Jazz and Cliffjumper. At the Decepticon base, Shockwave informs Megatron that the Combaticons' personality components are missing. Assuming the Autobots are responsible, Megatron launches an attack on the Ark. However, Optimus Prime's demand to turn over Jazz and Cliffjumper causes Megatron to suspect Starscream.

Starscream and the Combaticons attack the Decepticons while they're attempting to refuel, allowing Starscream to capture Dirge and Ramjet as well, bringing their energy absorber count to four. Megatron, meanwhile, rallies his troops, and moves against Starscream and his army. In the ensuing battle, Megatron's trump card, Devastator, is easily brushed aside when Starscream reveals that the Combaticons can likewise combine into a single titan: Bruticus! The massive combiner scoops up Megatron in one hand and forces him to acknowledge Starscream as the new Decepticon leader.

The Autobots use the battle's distraction to rescue Jazz and Cliffjumper; meanwhile, the late-arriving Stunticons look over the situation, and decide that Starscream is too likely to continue his rampage. Merging into Menasor, they defeat the unsuspecting Bruticus with one massive punch.

From the resultant crater, Megatron emerges; grabbing Starscream by the throat, he decrees that he and his army are banished from Earth. The usurpers are hauled away by Astrotrain and left stranded on a distant asteroid in deep space... from which Starscream swears vengeance.

Stats
Original airdate: January 7, 1986

Production number: 700-61

Written by: Michael Charles Hill

Featured Characters
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notable quotes
"NOBODY TURNS HIS BACK ON ME!"
 * Starscream, as Megatron turns his back on him.

"I have with me two members of the Autobot team: Jazz, and Cliffjump." "Uh, that's Cliffjumper."
 * Marty Minkler and Cliffjumper.

"I see incompetence breeds even more incompetence. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
 * Megatron to Starscream, after the latter fails in his attempt to destroy the Decepticon leader.

"Now, Megatron: who is the new Decepticon leader?" "Enough! Uhm... you are." "I can't hear you!" "You are!" "I am now the leader of all Decepticons!"
 * Megatron in the grip of Bruticus (literally), and Starscream.

Motormaster: Megatron's in trouble. Dead End: Who cares. Wildrider: It looks like Starscream's defeated him. Dead End: So? Motormaster: So, you think Starscream's going to stop here? Dead End: Good point. He never knows when to quit. Motormaster: Stunticons, unite to form Menasor!
 * the Stunticons survey Starscream's victory.

"Bruticus?" "No Starscream, not Bruticus. It's Megatron - your leader!" "Megatron, don't, please!" "This time, it really is 'goodbye', Starscream! Astrotrain, get him and his giant ally off this planet!  ...They are banished from Earth... forever!" "You'll regret that you did not destroy me Megatron! I shall have my revenge!"
 * Starscream and Megatron, after the Decepticon leader survives Starscream's latest mutiny.

Animation and/or technical glitches

 * At several points in the episode, such as when Starscream approaches the Space Bridge, his eye colour changes from red to blue.
 * When Megatron rallies the Decepticons before going after Starscream, Shockwave is seen among the group, even though he had been shown to still be on Cybertron.
 * When Starscream says, "Don't think that it hasn't been fun." when he confronts Megatron, his wings are missing. Briefly afterwards, when Megatron says, "I see incompetence breeds even more incompetence!", Starscream's wings appear slightly bigger than they're supposed to be.
 * When Powerglide flies over the Decepticons, his plane mode is not only white, but a different model.
 * When Megatron is attacking the Autobot HQ, a black Thrust can be seen standing to his left. The camera cuts to Prime, and then back to Megatron, who now has a properly decoed Thrust standing to his right.

Continuity errors

 * Starscream maintains control of the Combaticons by not installing energy absorbers into them, thereby preventing them from re-energising. They are however later shown to re-energise anyway when they steal energy from a power plant.


 * This episode was aired after Aerial Assault, which also featured the Combaticons.

Transformers references

 * Earth builds a memorial to Optimus Prime before he's even dead...Ominous.

Real-world references

 * Elements of World War II are shown in the episode with the abandoned military vehicles.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Tracks appears, but doesn't speak.
 * According to the G1 Production Bible, this episode was titled 30 Seconds Over Megatron before broadcast.