Starscream (Primax)


 * Starscream is a Decepticon in the Generation 1 continuity family.



Starscream is the treacherous Decepticon Air Commander and the deadliest of the Seekers. The self-reported pride of the Cybertron War Academy, 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 the Decepticon leader Megatron. Thankfully for Megatron, Starscream's mutinous, power-grabbing plots are almost always transparent, and he can never muster up enough patience to complete a grandiose power play. Even on the few times he has taken control of the Decepticons, he quickly loses control of a situation, but is too arrogant to realize when he's in over his head. He never learns from his mistakes, but then again, Megatron doesn't either, seeing as how he's never turned Starscream into slag. Despite his constant failures, Starscream believes it is only a matter of time before he prevails—his destiny is inevitable.

Starscream's never give up attitude extends even to the afterlife: unlike most Transformers, he has a mutant, indestructible Spark. His life-force cannot be destroyed and can persist even without a body to contain it. However, there is no indication that Starscream (or anybody else) was aware of this fact prior to his destruction.

"Why? That's what they all asked me. Why him... why Starscream? Why, of all the Decepticons, did I decide to revitalize the one whose record of deceit and betrayal is legend? Because I'm an idiot, that's why!"

- Megatron on Starscream


 * Nickname: The Silver Snake
 * French-Canadian name: Égo
 * Czech name: Hvězdolam ("Starbreak")
 * Euskera (Basque) name: Izaroihu
 * Hungarian name: Üstökös ("Comet")
 * Italian name: Astrum, except for "Possession" in which he is called Scintillor
 * Polish name ("Cosmic Rust"): Gwiazdowrzask ("Starscream")
 * Polish name ("Beast Wars"): Gwiezdny Krzyk ("Star Shout")
 * Portuguese name (Brazil comics): Cometa
 * Portuguese name (Portugal comics): Estrela-Estridente
 * Russian TV dub name: Scandaleast ("Brawler")
 * Spanish name: Grito de Estrella
 * Chinese name (Taiwan): Hǒu Hsīng (吼星, "Roaring Star")
 * Chinese name (China): Hong Zhizhu (紅蜘蛛, "Red spider")
 * Cantonese name: Sengseng giu (星星叫, "Star Shouting")

Generation 1


Starscream helped invade the Ark, got deactivated. Woke up, questioned Megatron, got deactivated. ''He tried to undermine Megatron's command by drawing Autobots to him and thus get the Decepticons to follow him in destroying the Autobots. He tried to kill Ravage to keep it secret. When caught, he demanded a trial-by-combat and was pitted against Brawn—and when he won, he got shot down and deactivated by Ravage, so Megatron could blame the Autobots... thus getting the other Decepticons to follow him in destroying the Autobots. Ha ha. ''

Helped launch the final attack on the Ark, got deactived again. Attempted to steal an anti-Transformer weapon Blackrock created for his own ends, got beaten up but surprisingly not deactivated. ''With both Shockwave and Megatron gone, he made noises about taking over but :Soundwave verbally cut him down and took temporary command instead. Optimus later punched Starscream into, yes, deactivation.''

Fought Omega Supreme, got deactivated once again. ''He was reactivated accidentally and escaped Autobot captivity, uniting with the time-travelling Galvatron to be on the winning team—not realising Galvatron was doing this for a laugh, amused that Starscream was allying for future power with the guy who would kill him in the future. Starscream played a vital role and got to offline Megatron and Soundwave... then disobeyed orders, annoying Galvatron and getting deactivated AGAIN. Following this he was ''active when meeting Cobra. ''Following that, he was left isolated from the other Decepticons under unknown circumstances and, desolate, wished he could go home again. A chance encounter with a human saw him informed of the meaning of Christmas, and he helped out some elderly humans—but only to piss off Streetwise. In other unknown circumstances, he was recaptured by the Autobots. And deactivated.''

Rescued by Ratbat's forces on the Moon, Starscream later discovered the story of the powerful Underbase. He then set about a chain of systematic betrayals in order to gain access to that power. He set loose Buster Witwicky, whom the Decepticons had been holding prisoner, with equipment that would lure the Autobots to the Decepticon's Antarctica base. The ensuing battle served to distract his fellow Decepticons as he then stole a ship from Scorponok to look for the Underbase.

Upon finding it, he began absorbing its power but was unable to finish the task as he was interrupted by Ratbat's ship, piloted by a temporary Autobot/Decepticon alliance. Starscream however survived, thanks to the power he absorbed. After throwing Scorponok's ship at Ratbat's, he loudly proclaimed "I go now to destroy the cities of New York, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires!"

The Autobots and Decepticons traveled to those locations to try and stop Starscream, but they ultimately failed, as a massive amount of the Transformers active on Earth were badly damaged and incapacitated by Starscream's Underbase-powered rampage. He only stopped after intercepting a radio transmission between Fortress Maximus and Optimus Prime, and realized that the great Autobot leader was elsewhere, plotting against him. Starscream fled back out into space to find Prime, and rediscovered the Underbase. Starscream attempted to finish absorbing its power, only to have the absolute knowledge overwhelm him, which resulted in his destruction.



''Dreadwind and Darkwing were sent by Megatron to reclaim Starscream's charred corpse on planet Earth. Starscream's remains were possessed by the essence of the Underbase and went on an insane rampage, nearly killing Dr. Susan Hoffman and her Assistants. The Underbase eventually realized it was acting insane and regained control, but as soon as it did, Dreadwind and Darkwing siphoned all the power out of it, and Starscream's corpse returned to being an inanimate pile of scrap, which the pair quickly collected.''

Starscream's remains were delivered to Megatron, who kidnapped Ratchet to rebuild Starscream with a powerful Pretender shell. Megatron ordered Ratchet to wipe Starscream's mind so Starscream would wreak havoc on Earth among the Decepticons (led by Scorponok) and Optimus Prime. Ratchet, however, arranged for Starscream's true mind to be only suppressed. One good blast caused enough pain to revive the real Starscream. Completely outmatched, he surrendered and begged Scorponok for forgiveness.

''Briefly after becoming a Pretender, Starscream began to wallow in self-pity, believing that all the other Decepticons considered him a joke for his many failed takeover attempts and defeats. His self-esteem crumbled every time the other Decepticons refused to speak to him or spoke about him behind his back. In reality, the other Decepticons were terribly frightened of Starscream (thanks to that whole Underbase thing) and were avoiding him so they wouldn't be killed. Starscream sulked about it for a while until he defeated and captured a few Autobots and his confidence began to return.''

Starscream was a source of dissention among the Decepticons, who were angry with Scorponok for letting him back in —and it was pretty dumb, as Starscream tried to capture the mutant Dynamo and use him as a Powermaster so he could challenge Scorponok. He failed, but was then met by Shockwave, then believed to be dead. Starscream joined his gang in a Decepticon Civil War against Scorponok, and pressganged Triggerhappy and Mindwipe into the group. Thanks to the Autobots and Neo-Knights, it was a bust.

Starscream was transported to Cybertron to take part in the fight against Unicron. "Take part" as in "ran away". Along with Shockwave, he hijacked and repaired the Ark so they could escape the dying planet. Shockwave and Starscream found Megatron and Ratchet awakening from the Nucleon on board the ship, both very confused and addled due to their mind-link. Starscream tried to kill Ratchet and got totally beaten up, before the medic directed one of Starscream's null-rays into the Nucleon storage tanks, causing enough of a chain reaction to send the Ark into a crash-landing on Earth, once again resulting in Starscream's deactivation.

Earthforce
''In an alternate series of events, Starscream and Shockwave's army grew much larger, and their main competition was not Scorponok, but a revived Megatron and his group of Decepticons. As Shockwave's second-in-command, Starscream had few responsibilities, and even less power. The final indignity came when he was assigned to mere monitor duty at their undersea base. Still, even that ignoble assignment presented an opportunity, as Starscream caught Megatron's spies, the Insecticons, trying to tune in to Shockwave's war room. After incapacitating the bugs, Starscream surprised them by offering to let them go free, if they would report back to Megatron that Shockwave would be alone at a certain spot the next day, ensuring that Megatron would go out to battle him alone. With the trap baited, Starscream contacted his opposite number, Megatron's second-in-command Soundwave, and proposed an alliance. Soundwave had already been playing both sides by feeding information to him, and so the two of them conspired to join the Decepticon factions under their joint rule. Sure enough, after Megatron and Shockwave's private battle came under Autobot fire (Autobots who had been anonymously tipped off by Starscream), they radioed their respective bases only to hear that the Decepticons no longer considered the two of them leaders. ''

''Starscream's first major action as Decepticon leader was the ol' "bait and switch" -- sending Soundwave and a Decepticon strike force to keep the Autobots busy at their Earthbase, while he personally attended to stealing a supply of oil from a tanker in the Gulf of Mexico. It seemed, however, that Starscream's plan hadn't accounted for Earthforce's newest recruits: the Survivors. A quick 1-2-3 by Carnivac, Skids and Inferno took the fight out of Starscream, and so he retreated, radioing his troops to do the same. ''

''Sometime later, returning to the Decepticon base in the Louisiana bayous, Starscream suddenly found himself fighting for his life against several mismatched bounty hunters and mercenaries. Believing his co-commander Soundwave must have been responsible for the contract, Starscream stormed back to their headquarters to confront him. He wasted no words in confronting his "treacherous" partner, but fortunately Soundwave had had the foresight to prerecord an explanation. While trading blows and dodging laser fire in person, Soundwave's recording outlined how the situation was clearly a set-up to make them fight each other. Fortunately, Starscream believed him. Unfortunately, Bludgeon and the Mayhem Attack Squad stormed in at that moment, having been paid by the true contractors, Megatron and Shockwave, to eliminate anyone left standing. The two Decepticons would have been overwhelmed if they hadn't received aid from an unlikely source: Earthforce. It seemed the Dinobot Snarl was dying of Corrodia Gravis, a wasting disease which required an energy transfer from a compatible Transformer, and Starscream fit the bill. After driving off Megatron, Shockwave and the Mayhems, Starscream made a deal with Earthforce to help Snarl in exchange for their aid against any future uprising by the former Decepticon leaders. ''

''Soon afterwards, Starscream and Soundwave engaged in Project: Smear, a campaign to ruin the Autobots' good name among the humans, and ensure they received no additional aid in the war. A straight-forward attempt to brainwash Superion into wrecking a human settlement didn't pan out, so a more subtle plan was engineered. Starscream had Bombshell use his cerebro-shells to subvert the will of a human reporter, Irwin Spoon, and compel him to write a story bashing the Autobots and portraying them as kidnappers, or worse. ''

Generation 2
Starscream had been damaged to the point of stasis lock when the Ark crashed on Earth for a second time. Megatron, apparently the only one to recover from the crash more or less unscathed, decided to revive Starscream. He would later question his own judgement in doing so, but in his defense, the only other Decepticons involved in the crash had been Shockwave and Galvatron, so his options for loyalty were slim.



Predictably, though, Starscream would indeed betray Megatron and the Decepticons once again, this time by giving Jhiaxus and his troops information that allowed them to take control of the Decepticon flagship Warworld. Starscream then doublecrossed Jhiaxus, stole the Creation Matrix (which Megatron had stolen from Prime earlier) and used its powers to merge himself with the Warworld, becoming an unstoppable force of destruction. As Optimus Prime and Megatron entered the possessed ship to try and stop him, Starscream exhibited a startling control over the physical nature of the vessel, turning the Warworld into an ever-shifting maze of horrors to torment the two leaders. But when they confronted him face-to-face, he found that the Matrix was having a disagreeable effect on his own mind. He found himself wanting to be, in his own words, "good." He desperately gave the Matrix back to Prime in the hopes that the effect would be temporary. This reverted Starscream to his ordinary form, presumably severing his connection with the ship.

Classics
Starscream reappears alongside several other Decepticons restored by Megatron fifteen years after the Ark crash-landed. He still appears to enjoy making snide remarks at Megatron's expense.

Ladybird Books continuity
A brash and aggressive character, Starscream is constantly running up against the older, smarter Megatron. He once convinced Rumble to help him attack and destroy an Autobot tower (believed to be for communications) against Megatron's orders. In the process, he caused Megatron and the other Decepticons to come get him back. (They arrived just as he was slagging off Megatron.) Since that tower was actually used for channeling lightning storms into power, the entire Decepticon team was viciously injured by an electric surge due to his disobedience.

Starscream later tried to overthrow Megatron when the commander was off on a mission and requested the other Decepticons rendezvous with him. Starscream's act of rebellion was to blow up the building he thought Megatron was in and declare himself leader. Megatron turned out to be standing behind him, and he gave Starscream a valuable lesson on leadership (i.e., told him how dumb that was whilst punching him).

When Galvatron time-travelled to the 20th Century and took command, Starscream served under him. He'd learnt his lesson since the early days, not trying to overthrow his commander once.

Generation 1 cartoon

 * Voice actor: Chris Latta (English), Hirotaka Suzuoki (Japanese), Jean-Louis Millette (Canadian French), Jacques Ferrière (French), José Sant'anna (Portuguese), Bernd Simon (German), Michael Chernyak (Russian)

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. 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.

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 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: approximately 20 Earth seconds.



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's line after the last glimpse of Starscream: "Wait a minute... since when do ghosts tumble out of control through space?"

Robot Masters cartoon

 * Voice actor: Kunihiro Kawamoto (Japan)

When Beast Megatron traveled back in time to modern day Earth in search of solitarium, he immediately recruited Starscream to his cause. Starscream went head to head with another time-displaced Transformer, Star Saber only to find himself defeated once Optimus Prime arrived as back-up. Beast Megatron, arriving on Gigant Sniper, saved Starscream from a crashing into the ground but quickly chucked him aside after lamenting over the Decepticon's worthlessness.

Later, Beast Megatron discovered a large deposit of solitarium beneath New York City and ordered the Decepticons to tear the city apart. Starscream, Smokesniper, Gigant Bomb and Wing Stun did just that, blowing up buildings and razing a good portion of the Big Apple. Starscream was then shot out of the sky by another time-displaced Autobot, Reverse Convoy. Reverse Convoy quickly gained the trust of the other Autobots after being seen blasting Starscream. 10 seconds later, Reverse Convoy reveals himself as the original Megatron, now going by the name Rebirth Megatron. Makes sense.

15 Go! Go!
As the mysterious saboteur of Teletraan I was about to be revealed, Teletraan 15's personality suddenly changed. She had been possessed by the ghost of Starscream! Learning of the power of kiss-playing, the rogue spirit quickly left her body and departed for Earth Defense Command Headquarters on Earth.

There, young Atari Hitotonari was using the ladies' room. This was not enough to stop Starscream, who took over the girl's body, transforming her E.D.C. uniform to black and making her pull a gun on her fellow Kiss Player officers.

But Starscream's ignorance of human custom and basic biology worked against him as the E.D.C. Kiss Players totally failed to take "Atari-scream's" demands and threats seriously. Unfortunately for the Air Commander, he had neglected to pull Atari's underwear back up when leaving the bathroom.

Dammit, Japan.

Kiss Players Radio drama
One night, the disembodied spirit of a Transformer possessed the body of the E.D.C. Kiss Player Atari Hitotonari. Discovering that it could not transfer itself to the bodies of other Transformers with souls, it forced Atari to seek out the twisted Doctor Arkeville, who built it a new body converted from a stolen fighter jet. Kissing it, Atari transferred the spirit into its new form. Starscream was reborn!

A couple of minutes later, Starscream's new body got blown up by Autroopers and his ghost flew back into space again.

The Transformers manga


Starscream's ghost teamed up with the Quintessons, who built him a powerful new body. This new body, equipped with attacks such as "Right Arm Decepticon Gun" and the "Revolver Laser", was created using a combination of Optimus Prime's and Megatron's designs. The result was Guiltaur.



Guiltaur joined the Decepticons and quickly became Galvatron's right-hand man (literally—in, like, 5 seconds). Galvatron tricked Rodimus Prime into engaging him in a one-on-one battle in which Guiltaur faked defeat. When Rodimus least suspected it, Guiltaur attacked and laid the smack down. Galvatron complimented Guiltaur on his power and loyalty, and instinctively, Guiltaur beat the crap out of Galvatron and declared his ambition to take over the Decepticons. Rodimus Prime and Galvatron called a truce and joined forces to defeat Guiltaur. They wrecked him something fierce, destroying his body and forcing out Starscream's ghost. They then ended the truce and went about their business.

Beast Wars cartoon

 * Voice actor: Doug Parker (English), Kazuki Yao (Japanese)

Little was known about Starscream among the Maximals, as the Maximal Elders had classified most of his information. However, Dinobot, a student of military history, was familiar with Starscream's record of deceit and betrayal. It is possible that Megatron was also aware of his history, as he ordered Scorponok to keep an eye on Starscream.

Starscream's ghost traveled 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 "protégé". When the defeated Maximals surrendered to him, he took Dinobot and Optimus Primal hostage and ordered the remaining Maximals to attack the Darksyde. 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, paralyzing 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...

Dreamwave comics continuity
Starscream was a competitor in Cybertron's underground gladiatorial matches, the breeding ground for what would eventually become the Decepticons. He enjoyed baiting his fellow combatant, Grimlock; in fact, he was a master at it. Once war broke out, he kept taunting his old friend, which eventually backfired when he told Grimlock exactly where the Seekers were going to attack, giving Grimlock time to set a massive bomb. Starscream's life was saved only by the fast action of Skywarp.

In typical fashion, Starscream tried to seize power. While Megatron was deep within the bowels of Cybertron, Starscream instructed Scrapper to initiate the planet's long-hidden transformation sequence, hoping Megatron would be crushed in the process. Some people never learn.

A few millennia later, after the apparent death of Megatron, Starscream created a splinter group of Decepticons called Predacons. However, when your smartest subordinates are Motormaster, Astrotrain, and Octane, you can't expect much of your forces.

Starscream was among the Decepticon boarding party that attacked the Autobot flagship Ark, causing its crash-landing on Earth and putting all Autobots and Decepticons alike in emergency stasis. In 1984 a volcanic eruption awakened the Ark's computer, Teletraan-I, and it repaired all on board. Starscream's actions over the next fifteen years are largely unrecorded, but he probably did what he did best: strafe the Autobots and fleshlings and attempt to betray Megatron, smirking all the while. In 1998, the combined forces of the Autobots and Earth defeated and captured the Decepticons. Starscream was secured on board the Ark 2 along with the other Decepticons when the ship exploded, killing the human crew and scattering the Transformers across the ocean. Arms dealer Adam Rook (aka. Lazarus) recovered several of the Autobots and Decepticons and used them as a reprogrammed weapons for hire for terrorists and despots. As part of a demonstration to prospective buyers, Rook had Starscream join an assault against the Smitco Oil Refinery alongside half a dozen Transformers. When Megatron eventually broke free of Rook's control, he freed the other Decepticons.

The reactivated Starscream, along with his Seeker brothers Thundercracker and Skywarp, took a particular pleasure in dismantling the Autobot Minicars. When Megatron complained that he didn't rewire them so they could sit around and do nothing, Starscream playfully said they were only having some fun with their new "toys". Megatron ordered the three Decepticons to follow him, and when Skywarp asked Starscream what their leader's plan was this time, the air commander casually tossed Bumblebee's head over his shoulder and said that he didn't care, as it was going to be evil, and evil is always fun. Soon afterwards, the Autobots arrived and attacked. As Starscream attempted to choke Wheeljack, Sideswipe paid him back with a nice throat punch. All the combatants were then bombed by rogue members of the U.S. military.

The Decepticons escaped and attacked San Francisco. When Superion appeared to stop Devastator, Starscream led the other Seekers in bombing the Autobot giant, forcing the Aerialbots into their component team member forms and putting them at the mercy of Devastator. Starscream and the other Decepticons secured the Autobots after Optimus Prime defeated Devastator. The Autobot leader managed to free his comrades after humans distracted the Decepticons, and the battle was rejoined. Fellow F-15 Air Raid punched Starscream in the face, repaying him for the earlier defeat. After the Aerialbots, as Superion, sacrificed their lives to save San Francisco from General Hallo's unauthorized nuclear strike, Starscream and the other Decepticons escaped.

Starscream led the Decepticons in joining Shockwave's Cybertronians after Megatron was defeated and was the first to recognize the mind-altering techniques being employed. Starscream escaped the CR chambers long enough almost to succeed in assassinating Megatron. Punishment didn't deter him, and Starscream was almost immediately creating a small sect of separatist Decepticons on Cybertron. He used the cover of Menasor's release to steal the incapacitated Combaticons to form his own army. If only he hadn't tried to hijack Sky Lynx. Yet another rebellion defeated by bad planning. Some people never learn.

After returning to Earth, Starscream unleashed the Decepticons on the Autobots under the leadership of Jazz. Unfortunately, most of the Decepticons were incapacitated. Worse, Starscream's clone Sunstorm arrived on some bizarre mission. Starscream was forced to ally with the Autobots in exchange for getting his forces freed. After the misadventure, Starscream took the Combaticons for some practice against Sky Lynx. This also ended in disaster, for Predaking soon arrived, and Starscream discovered that Soundwave, his cassettes, and the other Seekers had allied with Predaking's master...Megatron! Starscream was again forced into a subservient position, with Megatron preparing to lead the Decepticons in the conquest of Earth...

Transformers/G.I. Joe
Somehow surviving his seemingly-fatal injuries and the subsequent destruction of the Matrix of Leadership, Starscream re-emerged in 1985 and reformatted himself into a modern jet form. He did a flyby over Cobra Island, where he intercepted a communication about an alien starship (which actually contained Blaster and Perceptor) crashing in Oregon, which he saw as his ticket home. While Starscream was too low on Energon to claim the ship for himself, he was content to let Cobra take it and then steal it from them.

Genesis: The Art of Transformers


Machine Wars Starscream stood on the dais where he was once crowned leader of the Decepticons, which had since begun glowing with the energy of Cybertron's new golden age. As before, he wore a purple cape, but this time he brandished the vanquished Galvatron's torn-off cannon.

IDW comics continuity
Starscream and his comrades, Skywarp and Thundercracker, were recruited by Soundwave when Megatron requested fliers. They believed they had been called to join Megatron's gladiatorial team, but accepted the offer to join the Decepticons. Starscream immediately proclaimed his allegiance and declared how much of an honor fighting along side Megatron would be. After going through some upgrades to boost their firepower, the Seekers' first duty was to capture a senator, who would be executed at Megatron's recruitment rally. He was also informed by Megatron of confidential plans in which he would play a key role. When the security forces intervened, Starscream was captured, and—surprise, surprise—offered to reveal Megatron's plans to save his own neck. However, this turned out to have been Megatron's plan—Starscream, together with Soundwave, executed the council questioning him, then freed every prisoner in the building, solidifying his loyalty to Megatron... until such time as Starscream felt like betraying his leader.

Starscream ended up as Megatron's bodyguard, a position largely for show, and developed a mutual hatred with Sixshot. He would also appear to settle with Megatron instead of carrying on being an attempted traitor. Megatron viewed this as them moving on from such things but which it was actually because Starscream feared him—a fear he initially thought was respect.

Later, Starscream, disguised as an F-22 Raptor, was the leader of a Decepticon insurgent cell that had operated covertly on Earth for at least four years, working to destabilize Earth's governing organizations and create global anarchy, being opposed by an Autobot unit led by Prowl. However, since the discovery of the mysterious, Energon-like substance known as Ore-13, Starscream had stepped outside standard procedure, establishing a second command bunker in Oregon above a richer seam of the ore than the one in Nebraska and ordering Blitzwing and Skywarp to cover his tracks. Starscream intended to use Ore-13 to challenge Megatron for leadership of the Decepticons, but when the moment of truth finally arrived, the energy source proved insufficient to destroy the Decepticon leader, and Megatron blasted Starscream with his fusion cannon at point-blank range, virtually obliterating him. Megatron told the other Decepticons, "See to the remains. If he lives, then I'll decide what to do with him."

As it turns out, Starscream survived and was placed in a CR chamber for extensive repairs. The other Decepticons were worried that Megatron was jumping the gun by calling in Sixshot early, and Astrotrain realized Starscream might be the only one of them willing to tell Megatron this. During an attack on Decepticon headquarters by the Reapers, Starscream completed his recovery and was confident that he would prevail in the upcoming battle.

When Sixshot arrived, he initially attacked the Reapers, but they insisted he join them or die. Starscream then emerged from base calling out Sixshot—his hatred of Starscream caused the living weapon to decide to switch sides after all, at which point Starscream promptly activated Sixshot's shutdown command, sending him crashing to the ground. Screamer then proceeded to bomb the Reapers, causing Megatron to agree to take the fight to the Reapers. (Based on the timing of his emergence and his co-plotter Astrotrain immediately going "look at brave Starscream, Megatron!", it seems having an excuse to take out Sixshot and thus force Megatron to go against the Reapers was all planned by Starscream) Starscream once again  accepted Megatron as his liege, and together they teamed up to destroy the alien invaders.

A year later, and Starscream (now an F-15) was back in a subordinate position under Megatron and getting increasingly annoyed with it. He joined in Megatron's attack on New York City, quite enjoying that whole "killing humans who can't fight back" thing.

Hearts of Steel
Starscream is the nominal leader of the Decepticons on 19th-century Earth, while Megatron sleeps in stasis lock. He decides to conquer the Earth in this time, and use that power to overthrow Megatron when he should wake up. Posing as a benefactor to humanity, he enlists the help of inventor Tobias Muldoon to design new altmodes for the Decepticons. In particular, Starscream builds (or reformats) Astrotrain for an assault on New York City, and the new electrical generators there. It all ends badly.

Starscream has three bodies through the course of these events. His initial "Ice Age Wars" body appears to be a prehistoric flying reptile. He then takes on two different biplane bodies, one with one engine per wing and bat-wing-shaped propellers (as seen at left), and one with two engines per wing and straight-bladed propellers. No reason is given for him changing from one biplane body to the next. (The fact that planes are an anachronism in the 19th Century is lightly glossed over.)

Trivia

 * According to Bob Budiansky, in Jim Shooter and Denny O'Neil's original Transformers treatment, Starscream was named "Ulchtar".
 * For the first half of the Marvel Comics, Starscream's chest was colored dark blue, versus the red seen on the toy and in the cartoon. The apparent reason for this discrepancy is hinted at in animated segments in early commercial footage (see right), where Starscream's chest and forearms are black.  Lack of color depth in comic books at the time required black to be represented by dark blue.  Starscream's "true" colors began appearing in the Marvel Comics starting with issue 47, "Club Con!"
 * In the French dub of The Transformers: The Movie, Starscream (along with Shrapnel) inexplicably became a female. This change, however, was only for the movie, as it used a different dubbing team from the cartoon. Most likely, the movie's French dubbing team mistook Starscream's rather high-pitched voice for a woman's voice.
 * The G1 executive script consultant, Flint Dille, has claimed in personal interviews that Chris Latta frequently had to be bailed out of jail by members of the production staff. This apparently caused so much annoyance that it was a major factor in phasing Starscream out of the series.
 * According to the line art of Starscream by Studio OX, each side of his chest has a turbine mounted on it. This concept has influenced his Action Master, Masterpiece, and Classics toys and the art of the Robot Master version.