Starscream (Primax)/984.17 Alpha

History
Starscream was the Decepticons' second-in-command. He was rash, boastful, cowardly, and even whiny. Millions of years before the war between Autobots and Decepticons would force both sides off Cybertron, Starscream was not a warrior but rather a scientist, sort of like another character with the same voice. He and his colleague Skyfire were exploring an unnamed planet—the ancient Earth—when severe atmospheric conditions separated the two friends. Starscream circled the globe looking for Skyfire, but he never found his colleague. After the outbreak of war, Starscream and his fellow Decepticons would become entombed on the same alien world for four million years before emerging to continue their battle on Earth, with Starscream reformatted as a terrestrial F-15 fighter jet.



Starscream's 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 Decepticons, who formed pretty much 50% of the entire Decepticon force at the time of the first and second seasons. Megatron, very desperate for troops (especially ones who were so predictable), kept Starscream around.

Although he was often an impulsive warrior, Starscream still showed some signs of his scientific background. In "War of the Dinobots", he was the only Decepticon who urged caution before using the energy taken from an unstable meteor. Even Megatron himself showed little concern about the potential risks, bickering with Starscream and threatening to take his share. Starscream was ultimately correct about the volatile nature of the energy, and the resulting explosion nearly killed a number of Transformers, including Optimus Prime and Grimlock.



Starscream's ambition was also great, and he often sought to take command away from Megatron. One such attempt was to challenge him to a duel, then shoot him in the back when Megatron 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 on which he was deserted, and some Decepticon "brains" he stole from a Decepticon prison on Cybertron. Megatron let him and his newly formed army back into the Decepticons soon afterwards, despite the fact they were all Decepticon outcasts and criminals.

Ironically, despite his frequent attempts to overthrow Megatron, Starscream actually saved his leader's life on one occasion. When the Decepticons allied themselves with the people of Sub-Atlantica, Starscream was the only one who distrusted them. Naturally, his suspicions were disregarded by Megatron. Later, during a duel between Megatron and Grimlock, Nergill, the Sub-Atlantican king, tried to shoot the dueling pair with the Magnetic Dysfunction Ray, only to be stopped by Starscream. Megatron "thanked" Starscream by calling him a dribbling dirtbucket.

At least Rumble realised Starscream had been right all along.

Starscream's thirst for leadership led to his death when, during the Decepticon's dramatic siege 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 stasis lock. Starscream, able to see an opportunity in every situation if nothing else, 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. With transparent satisfaction, Starscream 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  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: approximately 40 Earth seconds.

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This was not the end, however, as Starscream's ghost came back with "cunning" schemes. First he possessed Cyclonus and, with the help of the Banished Octane, handed Galvatron over to Rodimus Prime. Rodimus didn't kill or even imprison Galvatron, however, and the Decepticon leader came back angered and shot his second-in-command, not realizing Cyclonus had not been himself. By this time, Starscream had already found a new host in Scourge, 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 Starscream himself. Starscream followed his orders exactly, until his host ran off before connecting 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 provide Starscream's new body first. Unicron did so, repeating his order that Starscream finish connecting his head to his new body. However, Starscream turned on him immediately, telling Unicron mockingly to do it himself. At this point, the Autobots, unaware of this turn of events, set off a load of explosives that sent Starscream, new body and all, spinning out of control through space, past Galvatron and his crew (Galvatron took this chance to fire at what he thought was a ghost), never to be seen again.

One last thing to note is Cyclonus' line after the last glimpse of Starscream: "Wait a minute... since when do ghosts tumble out of control through space?"