Starscream is a Decepticon from the Aligned continuity of Transformers. Megatron's second in command, with ambitions for power himself, he is a major antagonist in War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron, Prime and a minor antagonist in Robots in Disguise.
History[]
Exodus[]
Note: Exodus tells it's own account of Starscream's backstory, and of the evacuation from Cybertron, which conflicts with the Cybertron games.
War for Cybertron[]
Formerly a Sky Commander, for a thousand years Starscream was the guardian of a orbital station dedicated to creating Dark Energon. When the Decepticons invaded his station, Starscream tried to stop him. Megatron tempted Starscream with power, reminding him of his demotion, and offered to let him join the Decepticons. Starscream attempted to destroy the station's Dark Energon before the Decepticons could reach it, but failed, and watched Megatron infused himself with the substance. Starscream quickly volunteered his services for the Decepticon cause, causing Jetfire to label him a traitor and leave to warn Zeta Prime. Megatron sent him with Thundercracker and Skywarp to reactivate the Energon Bridge.
During the Battle of Iacon City, Starscream led the Decepticons aerial squadrons and Brawl led the Decepticons' ground assault, while Megatron, Soundwave, and Breakdown tried to secure the Omega Key. When Megatron's group met up with Brawl, Starscream refused to send Dark Energon bombers, saying that he wouldn't let Brawl waste his ships. Megatron took issue with Starscream dubbing the bombers his, and overrode him. Later, Starscream assumed Megatron was killed by Omega Supreme and declared himself leader. Shortly after, Megatron managed to communicate with Starscream and ordered him to distract Omega. By the time Megatron's group were heading for the Autobot turrets, Starscream was ready to retreat, which Megatron overrode with the threat of marking any retreating Decepticon as "kill on sight". Later on, after Omega's defeat, Starscream witnessed the Core of Cybertron's corruption.
As the Battle of Iacon continued, Starscream fought Jetfire and Silverbolt, and attacked Optimus's group in the Decagon. However, the Air Commander was injured by Optimus's Energon-axe and forced to retreat.
Rise of the Dark Spark[]
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Fall of Cybertron[]
Under Megatron's orders, Starscream and the Combaticons ambushed and captured Optimus Prime under the ruins of Iacon during the assault on the Ark. However, Megatron was soon crushed by Metroplex, leaving Starscream the new leader of the Decepticons. At the urging of Prime and Metroplex, Starscream ordered the Decepticons to retreat.
Starscream's used most of the Decepticon energon and supplies to further his own ego and cover the Decepticon bases with effigies of himself and constantly broadcasted self glorifying speeches to his troops. Anyone who wasn't on board with Starscream's reign was thrown into the prisons of Kaon. The prisons were full as few Decepticons had any faith in their new leader. When the Autobots acquired the entire energon supply the Decepticons kept in the Sea of Rust, Starscream sent the Combaticons to stop the transport. When the transport was out in the open, Starscream ordered an assault on it, despite the fact the anti-aircraft gun were still functional. As the Decepticons suffered heavy losses, Starscream aborted the mission and ordered a full retreat. The Combaticons ignored the order and brought the transport down, at the cost of half the energon on board. Despite the fact that the Combaticons had saved the mission he had abandoned, Starscream accused them of failing and had them arrested.
Later, Starscream decided to have a coronation for himself. However, the newly rebuilt Megatron crashed the event and took his crown back from the would-be king. He escaped Megatron's wrath, swearing revenge. Seeking the means to get back at Megatron, Starscream made his way to Shockwave's lab. He came across Grimlock and promised to free him and his team if they would serve him. The Dinobot refused the offer by throwing him into the control panel, freeing himself. This apparently knocked Starscream out as he didn't get back up. Presumably at some point after, Starscream apologised to Megatron and rejoined the Decepticons, since most of Decepticons that might have arrested him were cut to pieces by a rampaging Grimlock.
Exiles[]
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Retribution[]
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Prime[]
Note: As with Exodus, both the Prime prequel by IDW, and Out of the Past depict the same event, with some differences, but the Prime comic continues Starscream's story.
As seen in Prime, Starscream had been on Earth at some point, but was by Megatron to scour the galaxy for remnants of space bridge technology. Returning to their dead homeworld, Starscream built a weapons lab in Kaon and began building a space bridge. In Out of the Past, following the Great Exodus, Starscream intercepted a coded Autobot transmission and managed to trap Arcee and Cliffjumper. However, he failed in forcing either one in aiding him decode the transmission. Fustrated, Starscream openly expressed his frustration to Soundwave. As Starscream began to wish that he had a means of entering their minds, Soundwave advised him to use Shockwave.
Starscream introduced Arcee and Cliffjumper to Shockwave as the latter arrived, who used a cortical psychic patch on Arcee and revealed the transmission to be from Optimus Prime on Earth, contacting other Autobots, with Starscream turning his intentions to the planet. Upon being questioned by Cliffjumper of his lack of bravery, Starscream tried to kill the Autobot only to be captured by Arcee. Upon being threatened by Arcee, he cracked and revealed Shockwave's plan; to build a space bridge under Kaon. Starscream was then knocked out but regained conciousness and pursued the two Autobots to the space bridge. The space bridge was destroyed with Shockwave, Cliffjumper, and Arcee still inside, but Starscream was able to escape.
Following them through the space bridge, as seen in Prime, the dazed Starscream picked up a bunny rabbit, commenting that humans were smaller than he remembered. Scanning a fleet of jets flying overhead, he found Cliffjumper and Arcee driving on a road and launched a missile at them. He picked up Arcee's blown off arm and started battering Cliffjumper with it, but the Autobot blew up the rock formation above them and crushed Starscream with the rubble. Having received Starscream's signal, Breakdown came to his rescue, and the duo pursued and overwhelmed the Autobots. Just as Starscream was about to send them back to the AllSpark, Optimus jumped and landed on him, while gunning Breakdown away. As Starscream greeted his opponent, Bumblebee tapped him on the shoulder and sent him flying. Optimus opted not to finish the job, allowing Starscream to escape and fight another day as he got Cliffjumper and Arcee to base.
After returning to Earth, Starscream scouted an old Decepticon ship called the Harbinger that had crashed landed years back, as mentioned in Partners. However, he failed to record the coordinates of the crash site or find the Immobilizer. As mentioned in Darkness Rising, Megatron departed Earth to gather an army out in space, leaving Starscream in charge. Starscream spent his time sending out Decepticons to search for Energon deposits, and secretly set up a lucrative energon mine.
Darkness Rising[]
Three years after arriving on Earth, in Darkness Rising, one of Starscream's energon searches was interrupted by Cliffjumper. Once Cliffjumper was defeated, Starscream personally killed him. Soundwave alerted him to Arcee's location, and Starscream decided she would be their next target. Later, when Soundwave received a signal from deep space, Starscream hesitantly opened the space bridge for Megatron's return. Megatron revealed to Starscream that he'd brought back Dark Energon, and Starscream provided Cliffjumper's corpse so they could test the substance's reanimation properties. When Cliffjumper's signal led the Autobots to the mine, Starscream blew the facility up on Megatron's orders.
After testing Dark Energon on himself, Megatron left Starscream in charge. When Soundwave picked up Agent Fowler's transmissions, Starscream had the human captured and began trying to discover the Autobot base. The interrogation almost succeeded, but the arrival of Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead forced Starscream to retreat. Once Megatron returned to the ship, he was outraged and proceeded to beat his subordinate. Starscream calmed his master by announcing he had a way to get their plans back on course.
His plan was to send Soundwave down to use the Giant Sized Array radio telescope to set the space bridge's target. Once the bridge was properly targeted, Starscream opened it so that Megatron could throw the chunk of Dark Energon though. Starscream moved the ship back to a safe distance when the fighting on the rim of the space bridge became more intense, while imploring his master to withdraw as well. The space bridge exploded, apparently taking Megatron with it, and Starscream gave a brief eulogy before declaring himself leader.
Season 1[]
Leading the Decepticons[]
In Masters and Students, Starscream took Soundwave to try to revive Skyquake. To Starscream's disappointment, Skyquake was loyal only to Megatron, and interested only in fighting the Autobots who arrived. A signal detected by Soundwave sent Starscream to the location of the space bridge explosion, where he found Megatron's body and ripped the sliver of Dark Energon from it. He was forced by Laserbeak to return the body to the Nemesis, where he also learned that Skyquake had been killed by the Autobots.
When Wheeljack arrived on Earth, in Con Job, Starscream had him captured and substituted Makeshift with the mission to open the Autobot GroundBridge to let the Decepticon forces into the Autobot base. Unfortunately Wheeljack broke free before the plan could succeed, and as a result, Makeshift was expelled from the Autobot base onto the Nemesis hull with an activated grenade. Starscream vacated the hull before Makeshift exploded.
In Deus ex Machina, the Nemesis crew held a vote, forcing Starscream to call in Knock Out and Breakdown aid in Megatron's recovery. After discovering an Energon Harvester in an museum on Earth, Starscream used the excuse to put that on hold, and the other Decepticons soon obtained the device for him. While they were testing it in Greece, Bulkhead attacked them and destroyed the Harvester.
In Sick Mind, after the ship's electromagnetic shielding failed, Starscream put the Vehicons to work fixing it. Offering Knock Out a post as second-in-command, Starscream persuaded him to help convince Soundwave that Megatron was a lost cause. They were interrupted by Arcee and Bumblebee, who were doing something with Megatron's corpse, and after chasing the two Autobots off, they discovered that Megatron no longer had any brain activity. In Out of His Head, the overjoyed Starscream began a new plan, constructing a heat ray which he attempted to use to melt a glacier to get to a huge energon deposit. However, the Autobots destroyed the heat ray, and Megatron was resurrected and dragged Starscream away for punishment.
Megatron's return[]
In Shadowzone, Starscream ended up in the infirmary as a result of Megatron's punishment. He took the chunk of Dark Energon he'd been hiding, and went to the site of Skyquake's grave, intending to resurrect him as well as imbuing himself with Dark Energon. The Autobots arrived before Skyquake rose, and Starscream had to retreat through the Decepticon GroundBridge, without his right arm. After subjecting himself to treatment from Knock Out, Starscream returned to the site, and was attacked by Skyquake's zombified right arm.
In Operation: Breakdown, when Breakdown was captured by MECH, Starscream suggested they rescue their comrade, and was rejected by Megatron. Starscream went anyway, and found Breakdown had already been rescued by Bulkhead, but escorted Breakdown back to the ship. In Rock Botton, at an old energon mine, Megatron confronted Starscream about his transgressions and prepared to execute him. Starscream was saved by the arrival of the Autobots, but on escaping the collapsed mine, realized that he would have to attempt to rescue Megatron, or face his master's possible wrath later. Venturing back inside, he ended up tangling with the Autobots, and when Megatron later found him, he had been left supporting a large boulder.
Going rogue[]
In Partners, Starscream was sent with Airachnid to find the Harbinger wreck, only for her to leave him webbed up when it turned out the ship was broken in half and the weapon they sought was in the other half. Starscream was found by the Autobots and attempted to convince them he wanted to switch sides, even pointing them to the location of the weapon Airachnid was after. Unfortunately he let slip he'd been the one to kill Cliffjumper, provoking Arcee into attacking him. After fighting her, he was able to limp away, though he decided from then on he would be independent.
Season 2[]
Some time later, in Orion Pax, Starscream sneaked back aboard the Nemesis to steal energon cubes, and encountered an amnesiac Optimus Prime, who had been regressed to his Orion Pax identity. Starscream soon realized what was going on, but when more Vehicons arrived, he was wounded while fleeing the ship. He contacted the Autobots to exchange information for medical help. When Ratchet and Bulkhead arrived, it turned out they already knew about Optimus's situation, but were interested in what he knew about the space bridge, so he traded the information for aid.
Alliance with MECH[]
Tracking a signal, in Operation Bumblebee, Starscream stumbled upon a MECH trap already sprung by Bumblebee. Intrigued, he followed MECH and watched as they tried to install the T-cog they'd taken into a robot. When their attempt to make the robot work failed, Starscream revealed himself and allied with them. With Starscream's help, MECH secured a source of energon and Starscream was there when they used it on their robot.
When Bumblebee came for his T-cog, Starscream held it hostage. While holding his removed organ, Starscream mocked Bumblebee for not being able to transform. When it seemed Bumblebee would get it back, Starscream destroyed the T-Cog, and retreated to Silas, claiming that the T-Cog was destroyed in the battle and assured that they would retrieve another from the Autobots. However, Silas refused to wait and instead had his soldiers knock out Starscream and take his.
Without a T-Cog[]
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Red Energon[]
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Rejoining the Decepticons[]
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Beast Hunters[]
Darkmount[]
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Rivalry with Shockwave[]
Predacons Rising[]
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Robots in Disguise[]
Mini-Con scheme[]
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Trivia[]
- Starscream's design in the Cybertron games is heavily modelled on his Generation One counterpart, while his Prime design is inspired by his Film counterpart. His Robots in Disguise design is a mixture of the two design, with Bumblebee even commenting that Starscream's gone back to his old design.