Starscream (Primax)

Starscream is the treacherous Decepticon Air Commander. He's famous not only for his incredible skill, but also for his limitless (and troublesome) ambition. Starscream believes that he is more suited for command than Decepticon Leader Megatron. Thankfully for Megatron, Starscream's mutinous, powergrabbing plots are almost always transparent. Despite his constant failures, Starscream believes it is only a matter of time before he prevails -- his destiny is inevitable.

Unlike most Transformers, he has a mutant, indestructable Spark. His lifeforce cannot be destroyed and can persist even without a body to contain it.

Animated Continuity
Voice Actor: Chris Latta (US), Hirotaka Suzuoki (Japan)

Starscream was the Decepticons' second-in-command. He was rash, boastful, cowardly, and even whiney. His rash and spiteful actions led to the resurrection of the Autobots on Earth, when a blast intended to trap the Autobots there forever caused Optimus Prime to fall into the life giving rays of Teletraan-I, who soon had all his fellow autobots ready for action again. Starscream would always demand action rather than waste time with planning, often calling Megatron a coward or taking action himself without waiting for the order. Needless to say, this got him nearly killed by Megatron on more than one occasion.

Starscream's status probably came from the fact he had command over the other Jet Fighter Decipticons, which formed pretty much 50% of the entire Decipticon force at the time of Seasons 1&2.

Starscream's ambition was also great, and often sought to take command away from Megatron. One such attempt was to challenge him to a duel, and shoot him in the back when he turned away laughing. His "Victory" here was short lived, as Megatron was just stunned, shot Starscream, and Banished him from his forces. This led Starscream to "create" the Combaticons, from a bunch of wrecked army vehicles he found on the island he was deserted on, and some Decipticon "Brains" he stole from the Decipticon Prison. Megatron let him, and his newly formed army, back into the Decipticons soon afterwards, despite the fact they were all Decipticon outcasts and criminals.

Starscream's thirst for leadership led to his death in Transformers: The Movie, when, during the Decepticon's dramatic seige on Autobot City, Megatron would fight his final battle with Optimus Prime. By the end of it, the Decepticon leader was battered beyond repair, left on the verge of death (err... malfunction. Termination?  Whatever). Starscream, who if nothing else can see an opportunity in every situation, took advantage of this moment of weakness to rally the healthy Decepticons that remained after the battle, ejecting the "dead weight" of his wounded former comrades into space. Starscream, with transparent satisfaction, threw Megatron out personally, before closing the door on that part of Transformers history and beginning an inter-Decepticon brawl that would eventually place him at the head of the ranks.

Starscream couldn't have known, of course, that Megatron would be found and reshaped by the godlike Unicron before his spark faded completely. Reborn as Galvatron, he made it his first order of business to take back what Starscream had taken, interrupting the pompous and overblown coronation Starscream had set up for himself and killing him with a single, terrible blast, likely setting a record for the shortest reign in Decepticon history.

This was not the end, however, as his ghost came back, with "cunning" schemes. First he possessed Cyclonus, and handed Galvatron over to Rodimus. Rodmius didn't kill or even imprison Galvatron however, and he came back angered, and shot his Second in Command, not realising he had not been himself. Starscream had already found a new host in Scourge by this time, whom he used in his next "Master Plan". This one involved making deals with Unicron, who requested Starscream help him find new body parts, in return for a new body for himself. Starscream followed his orders exactly, until his host ran off before his could connect Unicron's head to Cybertron as a new body. This is where Starscream showed his "True Cunning", stating that if Unicron wanted him to connect him to his new Planet, he would have to give him his new body first. Unicron did so, repeating his request to finish connecting his head to his new body, however Starscream turned on him immediately, telling him mockingly to do it himself. At this point, the autobots set off a load of explosives, unaware of these turn of events, that sent Starscream, in his new body, spinning out of control through space, past Galvatron and his crew (Galvatron took this chance to fire at what he thought was a ghost), and never to be seen again.... Well almost never apparently... One last thing to note is Cyclonus's line after our last glimpse of Starscream: "Hey, since when have ghosts spun out of control through space?"

Beast Wars
Voice Actor: Doug Parker (US), x (Japan)

Starscream's ghost travelled through time and space to the prehistoric earth of the Beast Wars, where he possessed Waspinator's body during an electrical storm. He ingratiated himself with Megatron, claiming that he had been destroyed by Unicron while protecting Galvatron. After leading a successful raid on the Axalon, he was left in command of the captured Maximal ship, along with Blackarachnia and Scorponok, the former of whom he took as his 'protege'. When the defeated Maximals surrendered to him, he took Dinobot and Optimus Primal hostage and ordered the remaining Maximals to attack the Darkside - Scorponok objected, but he was very forcefully overruled. Shortly after the attack began, the two captive Maximals broke out and drove the Predacons out of the Axalon. Starscream fled, pursued by Primal, and abandoned Blackarachnia to her fate. After a spirited chase, Primal cornered Starscream at an energon deposit, paralysing him. As he tried to bargain his way out of his predicament, his vengeful ex-partner Blackarachnia detonated the energon, blowing Waspinator to scrap and forcing Starscream's spark out of his body.

Adrift in space once more, Starscream's ghost screamed vengeance into the void...

Generation 1

 * Starscream
 * Starscream's first toy was taken from the Diaclone line, and it transformed into an F-15. Skywarp and Thundercracker used the same mold.
 * Japanese ID number: 22

In 1989, Starscream was released as a Classic Pretender with a human shell. The inner robot was a simplified version of the original toy. The K-Mart exclusive Legends release had only the inner robot. The Legends figure was released with the other three Legends in a Japanese giftset the same year.
 * Starscream (Pretender)


 * Starscream (Action Master)

Generation 2
Starscream's 1993 Generation 2 release was a retool of his original toy with new missiles, launchers, and a sound box.
 * Starscream

(A recolor of Smokescreen was planned for 1995, but was never released. The deco was used for the Beast Wars II Starscream and BB, with only the stickers being changed.)

Machine Wars

 * Starscream
 * Starscream's Machine Wars release was a recolor of the Predator Skyquake with fewer missiles, no launcher, and most of the gimmicks removed.

Reissues

 * Starscream (Takara)
 * The first reissiue of Starscream was practically identical to the original toy, and was released in 2001. E-Hobby's exclusive for this reissiue was a set with Ghost Starscream (in transparent colors), and Black Starscream, which had colors based off of the Machine Wars toy. An all-clear lucky draw was made for a contest with Transformers: Generations.


 * Starscream (Hasbro Toys "R" Us)
 * Starscream was reissued in normal colors in the US in 2003. The release had remolded elongated missiles and launchers as to comply with current toy safety laws.


 * Starscream (Transformers Collection)
 * Starscream's Transformer Collection reissue from 2003 was recolored into show-accurate colors, and came with retooled fists to hold a new Megatron gun mode accessory. An Optimus Prime fist that could hold the gun was also included, as was a DVD.

Robot Masters

 * Starscream
 * Starscream's Robot Masters toy is a reimagining of the original toy, designed to be closer to the animation model, with greater poseability and integrated parts that did not require detachment during transformation (with the exception of his null-ray blasters). After re-engineering the design to stay roughly in one piece during transformation, Takara then gave him chromed missile pods that attach to his chestplate.
 * Japanese ID number: RM-12

Masterpiece

 * Prototype pictures of the figure have recently started surfacing. The figure is set to be released in September 2006.

Classics

 * Starscream