Starscream

Template:Transformers character Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most frequently occurring characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all versions of the story. Formerly a scientist, Starscream is a treacherous high-ranking Decepticon who turns into a jet, and wants to replace Megatron as the leader of the Decepticons.

Fictional character biography

Authors have created many characters in the franchise based on the appeal of Starscream's treachery and cunning; most of these share his desire to lead the Decepticons. Starscream has the ambition to overthrow Megatron as the Decepticons' leader. He has controlled the Decepticons at times, but he usually suffers defeat. Starscream is ruthless, cruel, and more intelligent than average Decepticons, but also, unlikely to act directly on his aspirations without first securing conditions favorable to his ascension. He considers himself vastly superior to other Decepticons and finds Megatron contemptible for his antiquated military strategies and tactics.

Starscream believes the Decepticons should employ guile and speed more readily than brute force to defeat the Autobots. However, given the chance to lead, he is often less successful in this than Megatron. While Megatron frequently overlooks him as a threat, authors suggest such reasons for Megatron's tolerance of Starscream's presence as grudging respect for his scheming nature and precautionary observation. Others suggest that Starscream's treacherous nature is welcomed; that without a threat to his command, Megatron believes he would become soft and overconfident. Even so, Starscream often quickly exhausts Megatron's patience; violent-yet-brief verbal and/or physical conflicts between the two are not uncommon.

Starscream transforms into a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. As Decepticon Air Commander, he leads the other Decepticon Seeker jets, many of whom share his physical design. His technical specifications indicate top speed as Mach 2.8 and altitude ceiling as 52 miles (84 km). Launchers mounted on his arm (under his wings in jet mode) can deliver cluster bombs capable of leveling a 10,000 square feet (900 m²) area and fire his signature null ray, which for brief periods disrupts the flow of electricity in any circuitry it contacts. This action temporarily renders inoperable any electronic device or machine, including Transformers.

Animated series

The Transformers

Starscream was formerly a scientist and explorer, working with the future Autobot Skyfire/Jetfire, during the Golden Age of Cybertron, shortly before the Autobot/Decepticon war re-erupted. Following the disappearance of Skyfire when the two were exploring a prehistoric Earth, Starscream returned to Cybertron and soon abandoned his scientific pursuits, becoming a warrior in Megatron's Decepticon army as the civil war exploded. Starscream attended the Cybertron War Academy, mentioned in the episode "A Prime Problem".

Starscream makes use of his old scientist profession in the future when he and several other Decepticons were temporarily displaced in time to medieval England. When the weapons of the time-displaced transformers ceased functioning, Starscream knew how to use available materials to create gunpowder as a substitute for himself and the other Decepticons.

Beast Wars II

In the Japanese-exclusive animated series, Beast Wars II, a character named Starscream was one of Galvatron's most loyal minions. Like the Decepticon air commander who came before him, Starscream is both ambitious and deadly. He makes up for his lack of size with unmatched speed and maneuverability. He hopes to one day dethrone Galvatron as the Predacon emperor of destruction and rule the universe himself. He is also slightly effeminate, often laughing and gesturing in a shaky way. When transformed Starscream becomes a stealth fighter capable of soaring at very high speed. In fighter mode he can use the "Formation Scream" and combine with his partner to become a powerful air fighter. In robot mode his attack of choice are his "Screamwinder Missiles" which are strong enough to vaporize most opponents.

Unicron Trilogy

Armada Starscream's design which was later reused for Generation 1 Starscream in the IDW Publishing comics.

The Starscream of the "Unicron Trilogy" universe has gone through many notable changes in his personality as his story has progressed. At times he is quite similar to his G1 predecessor, but on many other occasions has displayed markedly different traits to his namesake.

Starscream was a young warrior who desperately wishes to gain the approval and respect of his leader Megatron (In contrast of his G1 counterpart), but started to become confused as he started to hate both himelf and his commander for the abuse heaped upon him. He originally came to Earth as part of Megatron's expedition to gain the power of the Mini-Cons alongside Demolishor and Cyclonus. However, Starscream's frustration over having been made the last of the Decepticons to gain his partner Mini-Con led him to be manipulated by Sideways into battling with Megatron, which he lost.

Starscream returned again in Cybertron as a darker, more ruthless character. A decade after the events of Energon, when Primus's plan to contain Unicron's spark at the core of the Energon sun failed, the sun collapsed, becoming a deadly black hole that threatened Cybertron.

Transformers Animated

Starscream appears in the 2007 animated series. He transforms into a futuristic harrier jet, (sporting a notable similarity to the Variable Fighters of Macross fame in his transformation sequence) and resembles his Generation 1 counterpart in both design, personality, and ambitions. He flies at high speeds in both modes, and wields his trademark null-rays, though these function simply as powerful lasers. He's unintentionally comical in this incarnation displaying occasional incompetence. However, this incarnation displays a resolute tenacity towards his objective, shown by his flying around in a brutally damaged Nemesis to track down the Allspark's energy signature for 50 years by himself. Although slightly cowardly, Starscream is an excellent warrior, since he almost single-handedly took down all of the Autobots in a battle over the Allspark. He is more narcissistic than most incarnations of the character, frequently congratulating praising himself, his plans and his looks. During season 2, upon being resurrected by a shard of the Allspark embedded on his forehead, Starscream displays a sense of perseverance in the series, making numerous attempts to eliminate Megatron before and after being destroyed by the Decepticon leader. He also cannot tell the difference between any two humans.

In the Japanese translation of Transformers: Animated, the story has been changed to make it a prequel to the 2007 Transformers film. This makes this version of Starscream an earlier version of the film character.

Transformers: Prime

File:DarknessRisingMegatronStarscream.jpg

Starscream is confronted by Megatron.

Starscream is one of the main group of Decepticons in the 2010 computer animated series Transformers: Prime. In this series, he is a much darker character, plotting his rise to becoming the Decepticon leader and destroying the Autobots. He has displayed a contempt for Decepticons who do not choose a flying alternate mode, like Knock Out. In the TV movie Predacons Rising, which functions as the finale to the animated series Transformers: Prime, Starscream is shown to share leadership of the Decepticons with Shockwave, who constantly has them move labs to avoid detection.

Books

Starscream appears in the following books:

• The 1984 sticker and story book Return to Cybertron written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.
• The 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.
• The 1985 Find Your Fate Junior book called Battle Drive by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel.
• The 1985 Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Megatron's Fight For Power, Autobots Fight Back and Laserbeak's Fury, as well as Galvatron's Air Attack from the 1986 series.
• The 1985 audio book Sun Raid.
• The 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books.
• Starscream was featured in the 1993 Transformers: Generation 2 coloring book "Decepticon Madness" by Bud Simpson.

Starscream appears in the novel Transformers: Exodus, and its sequels; Transformers: Exiles and Transformers: Retribution.

Comics

Marvel Comics

Serving as one of Megatron's elite troops in the attack on the Ark, the Marvel Comics incarnation of Starscream possessed the desire to take leadership of the Decepticons, but in the early days of the war on Earth, he did not accomplish any notable acts apart from nearly getting scrapped by Megatron after one snide comment. When he participated in an attack on the Ark with several of his fellow Decepticons, Starscream was deactivated by Omega Supreme, and sealed in a stasis pod in the Ark for a prolonged period of time.

At the same time, the U. K. offices of Marvel Comics were producing their own story-lines which were interspersed throughout the U.S. material. Simon Furman portrayed the character's scheming and ambition with more subtlety than the animated series, making Starscream more intelligent and cunning. He was often the focus of his own stories, including a Christmas special based around Starscream's misery at being stranded on Earth. In this story and in many others written by Furman, Starscream often came across as wry and sarcastic. He was one of the most formidable warriors in the Decepticon army and adversaries were often shown to be visibly intimidated by him.

Starscream made an appearance in the Decepticon forces under the command of Megatron in issue #7 of the Marvel Generation 2 comic series; in a story called "New Dawn" Megatron led his Decepticons against Jhiaxus' second generation Cybertronians near the moon of Tykos. The Decepticons were defeated and Megatron left injured, presumed dead, but swearing revenge.

Fun Publications

Based on the Transformers Classics toy line, the Timelines 2007 story is set 15 years after the end of the Marvel Comics story (ignoring all events of the Marvel U.K. and Generation 2 comics). Megatron survived the crash of the Ark on Earth. He is joined by Starscream, who realized he needed a leader. In Transformers: Timelines volume 2 #2, "Games of Deception" Megatron detects the arrival of Bugbite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate. The three Seekers are then taken over by Bugbite's cerebro shells (with Starscream swearing to painfully dismember Bugbite for it). When the Autobots eventually jam the shells to facilitate their own rescue of Mirage, Starscream is freed and battles Bugbite's faction. Whether he survived the battle is unknown. He seems to retain his usual second-in-command status in this story. Starscream reported to Deathsaurus on the success of the Combaticons' attack on thr Autobot Elite Guard.

Shattered Glass

Template:Transformers character This Starscream is a morally good version of the Generation 1 character from the BotCon exclusive "Shattered Glass" comic, in which the Decepticons are on the side of good and the Autobots on the side of evil. This version is loyal to Megatron, as opposed to his normally treacherous portrayal. He longs to return to his life as a scientist. Also, Megatron treats Starscream with far more respect and considers him a genius.

Starscream appears in the 2008 April Fool's comic Shattered Expectations by Fun Publications. He and Razorclaw confront his world's Goldbug, Grimlock and Jazz. When the Autobots refuse to surrender the Decepticons call in the Mayhem Suppression Squad.

Starscream then appears in the BotCon 2008 Timelines comic Transformers: Timelines story "Shattered Glass" as one of the troops of the heroic Decepticon Megatron. Starscream, Divebomb and Whisper drop "glass gas" bombs on the Autobot's Ark launch platform to make it vulnerable to attack.

Starscream appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text based story from Fun Publications. He defends the Arch-Ayr fuel dump from an Autobot attack.

The toy for the heroic Starscream is redeco of the Cybertron Voyager Starscream, and was available only at the 2008 BotCon. His color scheme is an homage to the Generation 1 Autobot Jetfire.

Transtech

Another incarnation of Starscream works in civil intelligence on Transtech Cybertron. This Starscream appeared in the Fun Publications story "Transcendent", where he reported his findings on Skyfall and Landquake to Optimus Prime. Prowl and Starscream had a biographies printed by Fun Publications.

Dreamwave Productions

In the 21st century re-imagining of the Generation One universe by the comics company Dreamwave Productions, Starscream remained his treacherous, power-hungry self. In the early days of the war on Cybertron, he devastated Iacon with a terraforming process, and went on to form his own faction called the Predacons when Megatron vanished in a space-bridge experiment.

Dreamwave Productions produced a companion comic for the G1 toyline just as Marvel Comics produced, it was different from the animated continuity. In these comics, the Armada incarnation of Starscream had a much smaller role, but was written in a fashion much closer to the original treacherous G1 character - a trait that would ultimately lead to his seeming demise when the Energon comic book began. He still possessed elements of the animated Armada Starscream, such as an unwillingness to shy away from battle.

Starscream would appear in many of Megatron's subsequent schemes, including capturing Swindle, attempting to capture Mini-Cons for his own use and launching an attack on the Mini-Con base on the Moon. His next appearance would be 10 years after Unicron's defeat. When Starscream gatecrashed a meeting of the Terrorcons – renegade Decepticons who were unhappy with the peace between Autobot and Decepticon that had emerged in the wake of Unicron's defeat – at an energon plant, his mistake soon became apparent when he discovered that they had struck a deal with Unicron and gained new "Hyper Mode" powers. When their leader, Scorponok, arrived, Starscream was unable to talk himself out of trouble and was blasted into the plant's machinery by Scorponok, seemingly dying. But Starscream survived. The raw energon in the plant reacted in some mysterious way, giving him a ghostly body of pure energon (like the cartoon Energon version, this was also a homage to the ghost form of the original Starscream). In this form he ended up attacking Demolishor and draining him of his energy. Due to the collapse of Dreamwave, the series was stopped.

Devil's Due Publishing

In this crossover from Devil's Due Publishing, the Ark was discovered by the terrorist Cobra Organization, and all the Transformers inside were reformatted into Cobra vehicles remotely controlled by the Televipers.

IDW Publishing

After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken up by IDW Publishing. Their version of the Generation One universe begins with a miniseries called The Transformers: Infiltration. His alternate mode here is that of an F-22 Raptor, foreshadowing the events of the 2007 live action movie.

Beast Wars Second Starscream had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing.

Video games

Starscream appears as a playable character in Hasbro's Net Jet fighting game Transformers Battle Universe. Although other playable Transformers have several incarnations featured, the only playable incarnation of Starscream is the Generation 1 version.

A color scheme of Generation 1 Starscream is available in the Transformers: The Game video game by completing the Decepticon Campaign. This scheme of G1 Starscream also appears as an unlockable bonus form for Create-A-Bot, and a Target exclusive for the Transformers: Decepticons DS game, and can be obtained by earning 2500 tokens through Wi-Fi play.

Starscream appears as a playable Decepticon character in the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron, voiced by Sam Riegel. Starscream appears as a level boss in the Nintendo DS video game Transformers: War for Cybertron Decepticons. He appears again in the sequel Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. In Transformers: Prime - The Game, Starscream is present in the first level.

Starscream is among the characters appearing in the 2004 Transformers video game for the PlayStation 2. He appears as a level boss, battling the player's character at two points.

Live-action films

During production of the live-action film, writer Alex Kurtzman stated that Starscream would not stray from his treacherous roots as he seeks to overthrow Megatron, and frequently engages in arguments with him. In the first film, he is seen vehemently pledging his allegiance to Megatron when the latter breaks free from the Hoover Dam, but unlike the other Decepticons, he is not killed in the final battle and leaves Earth at the end of the movie. Starscream transforms into a jet Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. He has hatred for Megatron and seeks to be Leader of the Decepticons. When in Raptor mode he can simulate the presence of a human pilot, the same holographic model (referred to as "Mustache Man" on-set and in the credits) that "pilots" Blackout and "drives" Barricade. The actor is Air Force Major Brian Reece, a helicopter pilot instructor at Kirtland Air Force Base.

A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, the jet Starscream is based on.

Books

In the prequel novel Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday it is revealed that Starscream is the leader of the Decepticons following Megatron's disappearance during his search for the Allspark. He and a crew of Decepticons travel aboard the Nemesis to search for the Allspark and Megatron, although Starscream is not keen on finding the latter. Blackout opposes him at every turn (rightly not trusting Starscream and thinking that he would prefer that they never find Megatron), while Barricade tolerates it only as a means of finding Megatron. Encountering Ghost-1, a human craft of Cybertronian design, Starscream manipulates them into revealing that Megatron and the Allspark are on Earth, then betrays them. After winning a vicious duel with Blackout for leadership, he launches a full-scale assault on the Autobots. Just as he and Bonecrusher almost kill Optimus Prime, Starscream is severely injured by Ghost-1. In retaliation, he destroys the human craft before retreating.

Starscream returns in Transformers: The Veiled Threat. With Megatron dead, Starscream eventually returns to Earth around Zambia, where he gains control over local rebel groups by using his internal synthesizers to create gold coins.

IDW Publishing

The back story of the Transformers on ancient Cybertron is told in Transformers: Defiance. In this story, Starscream returns to Cybertron after encountering an enemy scout ship in the Eshems Nebula. After being repaired for minor damage by Ratchet, Starscream and Ironhide report to Optimus Prime and Megatron. Later, the planet is invaded by aliens from the Eshems Nebula and Starscream is among the defenders in the city of Metrotitan, near the temple at Simfur. In issue #2, he sides with Megatron in his decision to counterattack Cybertron's invaders and is among the fleet that attacks their ships.

Starscream also appears at the end of issue #3 of Transformers: Movie Prequel, where he, Blackout and Barricade destroy the Mars Beagle probe. In issue 4, he travels to Earth, gaining his F-22 alternate mode by scanning an experimental Raptor before shooting it down.

He appears in the official movie sequel comic called "The Reign of Starscream".

In Transformers: Rising Storm, it is shown that Starscream has broken away from Megatron's rule, and formed his own army - Club Starscream - with Barricade and some others under his command. However after blasting his way past Ruination and Deadlift, Shockwave tells Starscream that Megatron requires his services. Shockwave then sends Starscream to recover the drone called Brains.

Role in the films

Main articles: Transformers (film), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon

In the first film, Starscream rallies the other Decepticons to battle once Frenzy alerts them to the All Spark's location. In the second film, Starscream is first seen aboard the Nemesis shipwreck and is confronted by a returning Megatron, angry that Starscream left him to die. In the third film, Starscream first appears assisting Megatron as the latter recuperates from his injuries at the Decepticon headquarters in Africa.

Titan Magazine

In "Twilight's Last Greaming" part 3, Starscream and Scorponok attack the Autobots Arcee, Armorhide, Elita One, Longarm, Skyblast and Strongarm on the moon. Starscream would return in issue #22 of the Titan Transformers Magazine series in a story called "The Decepticon who Haunted Himself".

Video games

In the Nintendo DS Transformers: Decepticons game, Starscream would kill Barricade and Blackout, and perhaps Brawl, who disappears after killing Ironhide, steal the Allspark and betray Megatron. Starscream is fought by Megatron as the final boss after he is heavily damaged and loses the AllSpark to Create-A-Bot. After being defeated, Megatron kills him for being a traitor, as well as Create-A-Bot for being weak. In the Autobots version he is a simple boss who ambushes Ironhide and the Autobot Create-A-Bot in the Arctic but retreats after a long battle and does not reappear or heard of again.

Starscream is among the playable characters in the 2009 Revenge of the Fallen video game by Activision.

In the Nintendo DS game, Revenge of the Fallen: Decepticons, Starscream was the temporary leader of the Decepticons until Fallen forces him to revive Megatron.

Starscream appears in the 2011 Dark of the Moon video game. As a Hunter, he can be played on Xbox Campaigne and multiplayer

Starscream is among the characters who appear in the TRANSFORMERS CYBERVERSE Battle Builder Game.

Toys

Illustration of the patent for the toy that became Starscream and his many repaints. Art by Kohjin Ohno.

The original Starscream toy was originally part of the Japanese Diaclone toy line and was designed by Kohjin Ohno in the early eighties. It was imported to become part of the Transformers toy line by Hasbro in 1984. The toy was later re-issued in Japan in 2001, with black-and-gold and translucent "ghost" variants, and again in 2003, redecorated into a more cartoon-accurate color scheme. He was also reissued in the west in 2003, with extended missiles to comply with safety regulations. Japan re-released Starscream once again in 2007 for their "Encore Series". A highly prized collectable, the original Starscream toy has sold over $2000 on eBay. The original Starscream toy was altered somewhat and an electronic sound maker was added for the Generation 2 toy line.

Beast Wars Second Starscream had two toys produced exclusively in Japan. In 1997 he was released as a black redeco of Generation 2 Smokescreen. This same toy was recolored into Robot Masters Smokesniper. In 1998 he was released as "Hellscream", a remold of Beast Wars Cybershark. This second toy was eventually released with a slight color change in the US as Universe Overbite. Hellscream was voted the 9th strangest Transformers Beast Wars figure by Topless Robots.

The Armada toy was the first new-mould Starscream figure since 1990, and it clung to tradition with a jet alternate mode and a robot form featuring many callbacks to the original Starscream figure, such as shoulder-wings, air intakes on the shoulders, a cockpit in the chest, and a head-sculpt designed to look like the original animated character. When the Mini-Con port on his backpack is pulled back and held, an electronic jet-take off noise is made. Attaching his Mini-Con partner Swindle to this port, however, unlocks his shoulder-mounted null laser cannons, and changes the sound to a repeating laser blast. Swindle can also mount under the jet-mode nosecone – by pressing the cockpit, Swindle is dropped to the ground with an accompanying electronic noise, while a press without Swindle attached yields more noises. In robot mode, Starscream's left wing can detach and unfold into a sword for him to wield.

Starscream for the 2007 and 2009 movie had numerous toys released. He was one of two promotional figures released long before the 2007 movie as a "protoform". During the 2007 film release he was sold in various size classes as a licensed F-22 Raptor replica. These toys were recolored and released as fellow Decepticons Ramjet, Skywarp and Thundercracker. During the 2009 film he was released as both redecos of the 2007 film toys as well as new molds. All toys of this character are officially licensed from Lockheed Martin.

Animated Starscream also received numerous toys in many size classes during the run of the Animated toy line. Many of the Starscream toys were recolored as his clones Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ramjet, Dirge and Sunstorm. In 2008 a McDonalds happy meal was produced with a simple transforming Starscream toy inside to promote the series. This Starscream was also released in the Universe toy as a small Legends figure, shipping with a whole wave of tiny Animated characters. In Japan the Starscream figures were released in metallic finish by Takara.

Prime

• Prime First Edition Deluxe Starscream (2011): An all-new mold of Starscream from the Prime animated series.
• Prime Cyberverse Commander Starscream (2012): A smaller scaled version of Starscream with translucent red arm cannons.
• Prime Robots in Disguise Revealers Deluxe Bumblebee vs. Deluxe Starscream Entertainment Pack (2012)
• Prime Voyager Starscream: A Voyager Class figure of Starscream with missiles and a null ray blaster.
• Generations Cybertronian Starscream (Deluxe, 2013)
• Prime: Beast Hunters Deluxe Class Starscream with Clenching Thunder Talon(2013)

External links

• Template:IMDb character
• G1 Starscream at the Transformers Wiki