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Sentinel Prime (Animated)

2010-10-13T22:27:51Z

174.58.201.3: /* Notes */

{{disambig3|Sentinel Prime}}
{{factions|autobot|eliteguard}}
:''Sentinel Prime is <strike>a jerk</strike> an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:TFA Sentinel Prime promoimage.JPG|right|300px|thumb|"Where's the jerk who calls himself Sentinel Prime?"<br>"I am that jerk!"]]

Many times, brash, leap-before-you-think types learn a lesson from their misadventures, and use that knowledge to grow into more mature, well-rounded fighters, even into leadership roles.

And sometimes, they learn the wrong lesson (or the right lesson the wrong way), and turn out like '''Sentinel Prime'''.

Sentinel was once the impulsive type, until a disastrous "unsanctioned" mission he'd suggested with his best friends [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] ended in the loss of Elita. Though both bots carried the grief, Sentinel blamed Optimus for abandoning her. When Optimus officially took the blame for the mission (and Sentinel failed to speak up for his part of it), Sentinel placed all his anger on his former friend, and drove himself to climb the Autobot ranks into the [[Cybertron Elite Guard]] through strict adherence to military protocol.

The end result is an Autobot who could be one of the Autobots' greatest assets, but he's such a jerk that it's hard to see ''how''. His expandable [[Skyboom (Animated)|Skyboom Shield]] is virtually impenetrable, and he's a strong combatant and utterly tenacious hunter. And he seems to have Cybertron's best interests at heart... but his perception of "best interests" is definitely skewed.

To his core, he's still the same smug, act-first-think-later-maybe bot he was before, only far more focused. Despite the "stickler for the rules" aspect of his personality that has come from the loss of Elita, he seems to use the rules largely to bully his way of doing things on others. He really can't handle the unexpected, thanks to a distinct lack of genuine field experience and inability to improvise like [[Jazz (Animated)|others in the Guard]]. Thanks to that one fateful trip to [[Archa Seven]], he has a severe phobia of organics, and a burning desire to further humiliate Optimus. To his credit, he would never actively sabotage another Autobot... but he sure will make their lives a living hell if he thinks he can get away with it.

Don't mention his [[chin]]. He's a little touchy about it.

{{bigquote|[Sentinel] is a glitch-head. All due respect.|[[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] sums up Sentinel Prime|"[[The Elite Guard]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{Idw-tfa}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Townsend Coleman]] (English), [[Junichi Suwabe]] (Japanese), [[Peter Reinhardt]] (German)

[[Image:Animated sentinel1.JPG|left|200px|thumb|"You're gonna need tickets to—THE GUN SHOW!"]]
Sentinel took Optimus and [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] on a mission to [[Archa Seven]] looking for an old Decepticon [[Twilight (Animated)|warship]], hoping to get all the [[Energon (fuel)|energon]] stored within. However, they ran into a pack of massive arachnids. Sentinel tried to hold them off long enough for Optimus and Elita to escape. When he came across a ship that Optimus and Elita had found, Optimus had to drag him away from the exploding energon, forcing them to leave Elita-1 behind. Optimus's radar couldn't find Elita's energy signature, and he assumed that she was dead. A furious Sentinel blamed Optimus for what happened, even though this whole disaster had been ''his'' idea. Jerk. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}} When Ultra Magnus brought the two up on a military tribunal, Optimus gallantly took the fall — while Sentinel just stood there smirking. Jerk.{{storylink|Endgame, Part I}}

After graduation from the Academy, he received an official rank as Sentinel ''[[Minor (rank)|Minor]]'', the drill officer for an Autobot training camp. Obviously compensating for being a jerk, he took out his frustrations on recruits like [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]], [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], [[Ironhide (Animated)|Ironhide]], [[Shockwave (Animated)|Longarm]] and [[Wasp]]. Busting their transistors at every turn, he liked to conduct surprise inspections and force the recruits to chant that they were worthless grease stains. Of course, in Bumblebee's case, the extra attention was not exactly unmerited, as the little glitch-head managed to get Sentinel's feelings on whether Ultra Magnus should retire from command broadcast across the camp. In the end, he commended Bumblebee for his role in discovering a seeming Decepticon traitor. Then Bumblebee admitted to accidentally knocking a tower on him (actually covering for Bulkhead), and Sentinel gave him the boot. Jerk. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

Years later, he was still a jerk, but a jerk with prestige, having been promoted to Sentinel ''Prime''. When Optimus Prime rang up the Cybertron Elite Guard to tell them of the Decepticons in pursuit, he sneered that a screw-up like Optimus wasn't worth the attention of Ultra Magnus. Seeing a piped-through visual of the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] from the cargo hold of [[Teletran-1|their ship]] shut him up quickly enough. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

''After the ship was lost, Sentinel found himself the only one who knew Optimus well enough to give him a eulogy. However, while his words were reasonably civil, his thoughts were not. Later, when Longarm pressed him to continue the search, Sentinel acted like an old man and told him some things are best left buried. Jerk.'' {{storylink|Dispatches}}

[[Image:Sentl prime alt.jpg|right|200px|thumb|When the snow starts a-falling, There's a man you should be calling...]]

Later, the Elite Guard visited Earth to reclaim the AllSpark. When [[Jazz (Animated)|Jazz]] decided to take a closer look at the humans, Sentinel warned that organics could spew out slime that melts through armor plating, deliberately goading Optimus Prime with memories of Elita-1's fate. He decontaminated Optimus Prime's crew after setting a force field around the ship. When he heard that they'd defeated [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] and the Decepticons, he didn't believe Optimus, almost causing a fight between him and [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]. Sentinel boasted to Ultra Magnus that he had taken the initiative and scanned some "typical" Earth vehicles so they would not draw undue attention. He had, in fact, scanned massive, destructive vehicles for them both.

En route to [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], Sentinel further evidenced how subtlety obviously isn't his strong point by driving through a blockade and off an overpass still under construction. When he, Optimus and Magnus arrived, they encountered the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]], and Sentinel began to attack, believing their technology was primitive. [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]]'s subsequent [[transformation]] caught him off guard. They then went back to the city to take care of malfunctioning [[police drone]]s. Sentinel started to act like a jerk again, more worried about organic contamination, and vowed to see Optimus arraigned on charges of high treason, but Optimus had got enough of Sentinel's mouth and finally told him off, asserting that his former friend was on his turf now and should respect Optimus's decisions. Unsurprisingly, Sentinel was unmoved. Even when shown proof of the AllSpark not being destroyed, Sentinel's attitude did not change. He was thus rather surprised when Ultra Magnus said that Optimus had characteristics that Sentinel himself could stand to learn. {{storylink|The Elite Guard}}

[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedbattlemask.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Come one, come all! Join the merriment at the Cybertronian Renaissance Faire!]]

[[Image:Sentinelprimeanimatedknightmode.jpg|right|150px|thumb|He's here to eat giant turkey legs and kick butt...and he's all out of giant turkey legs.]]

Not taking the criticism to heart at all, he continued to be a general jerk to Optimus, the local police, humans, and pretty much everyone. His comeuppance would soon come in the form of a humiliating body-jacking by the [[Headmaster (Animated)| Headmaster]]. Putting his reputation (and his noggin) in Optimus Prime's hands, he trusted his comrade to help him get his body back without letting anybody else find out. In this state, he was slightly less condescending to Optimus, but it was hard to talk down to someone when reduced to a tenth his size. He still had choice words about Optimus's actions in the process of saving his body, however, such as ripping its arm off and using his head as a soccer ball. Deep down, Optimus was enjoying himself.

After recovering his body, Sentinel had to face the embarrassing prospect of reporting to Ultra Magnus, but surprisingly enough, Optimus covered for him. It took every ounce of effort for the big guy to utter a "thank you" to his comrade later.

While in the Headmaster's possession, Sentinel's body's weapons were upgraded into more powerful forms. At the moment, it's not clear whether Sentinel got to keep the upgrades when the Headmaster Unit was separated. {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}}

Unfortunately, the whole Headmaster debacle ''still'' failed to purge Sentinel of even a dram of his jerk quotient. When Optimus protested Ultra Magnus's decision to have his crew join the rest of the Autobots off-Earth, Sentinel was quick to jump on Optimus, saying that ''no'' sign of Decepticon activity had been detected (failing to consider that the Decepticons had been dampening their signals). He even went so far as to bribe Optimus with an offer of reinstatement in the Elite Guard if he went along with the official story. Through all this, he was more than slightly keen to slap [[stasis cuffs]] on Optimus in order to get him to comply with Magnus's orders. Jerk.

[[Image:Sentinel Prime shocked.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Will get owned again...]]

When the Elite Guard's ship detected an AllSpark fragment in a runaway passenger train (actually a trap set by [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]]), Sentinel was irritated to find that he had to stay behind and nursemaid "Maintenance Prime" while Ultra Magnus and Jazz set off to investigate. The situation got worse when, discovering Decepticon presence, Optimus goaded Sentinel into a blind attack and took the opportunity to slap the stasis cuffs on ''him.'' Poor sap... (snicker)

Sentinel eventually worked his way out of the cuffs and pursued Optimus to where the AllSparked train had stopped, threatening to have him tried and blacklisted for assaulting an Elite Guard, dismissing out of hand Optimus's justification of Decepticon involvement. Fortunately for Optimus, Megatron and [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] chose that moment to blast Starscream to the ground in front of the Autobots.

[[Image:Sentinel vs Optimus%2C with Jazz in the middle.jpg|right|180px|thumb|"You're a jerk!"<br>"No, you!"<br>"No, YOU!"<br>Ummm... bad guy?"]]

Sentinel had to take more time than the other Elite Guards to rally; unlike Magnus and Optimus, he had never seen a Decepticon before. Initial dismay aside, Sentinel did manage to last longer than the other Autobots against Starscream's onslaught, but the only reason he didn't fall was that Optimus took the stasis cuffs Sentinel had brought with him (anticipating Optimus's formal arrest as he was) and slapped them onto Starscream. Sentinel still thought Optimus drew out that battle on purpose. Jerk.

Afterwards, Magnus expressed admiration over Optimus's willingness to disregard what were clearly ill-informed orders—praise to which Sentinel, predictably, objected. This just earned him another chastisement from Magnus about how sometimes the right thing ''was'' to trust one's gut over the book. Shortly afterward, the Elite Guard departed for Cybertron. Sentinel could probably sigh in relief—no more looking worse than the "washout". {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}}

Unfortunately, while the Elite Guard was in deep space, Starscream managed to escape his stasis cuffs and get out of the their ship. Being the jerk he is, Sentinel probably thinks Optimus is responsible for that happening. {{storylink|A Fistful of Energon}}

Things only got worse for Sentinel, as his former trainee and convicted "traitor" Wasp escaped from prison. Pursuing the former Autobot across an asteroid field, Sentinel had a standoff with Wasp at a space bridge relay point. The escapee activated the space bridge, and, blinded by its energies, Sentinel assumed Wasp had gone through it to parts unknown. In reality, Wasp had mustered what little cunning his shattered mind had left and faked out the Elite Guard member by hiding behind the archway. As usual, Sentinel's deductive skills left something to be desired, so he returned to base. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

Later, Sentinel, Magnus and Jazz took the Elite Guard's flagship to back up [[Rodimus Prime (Animated)|Rodimus Prime]]'s team, who were defending [[space bridge 687-030]] from [[Team Chaar|a Decepticon raiding party]]. As the Elite Guard arrived, however, Megatron ordered all of his troops to withdraw, having changed his plans thanks to a [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|recent acquisition]]. After returning to Cybertron, Sentinel and Jazz were ordered ''back'' into space to hunt down the "traitor" Wasp. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

Upon arriving in Earth orbit, Sentinel was contacted by an agitated Longarm Prime. Now head of Autobot Intel, Longarm was upset that Sentinel's ship had entered Earth Sector when Longarm had ordered that all contact with Earth be filtered through him first. Sentinel was annoyed, since Longarm had sent them to intercept Wasp in the first place. After Ultra Magnus cut in to explain, Sentinel confirmed for Longarm that no one had heard from Optimus Prime's crew in at least a [[units of time|decacycle]].

Upon touchdown near [[Detroit]], Sentinel was disgusted with yet another aspect of Earth: rain. He quickly proved he had no ability to handle rain-soaked pavement in vehicle mode, further bruising his ego. With their other crew members already dispatched to hunt for Wasp, he and Jazz arrived at the Earth Autobots' base just after Wasp (actually Bumblebee in a forced disguise) had departed from there. Sentinel was all for chewing out Optimus for not answering his comlink, and he didn't care about Optimus's "excuses", as he had a fugitive spy to catch. It didn't help that Optimus pointed out said spy had just slipped past Sentinel, then claimed that Longarm was the real spy. Disgusted with such a brazen, baseless accusation, Sentinel ordered Prime's group to stay out of his way, then he and Jazz departed. Jerk.

Eventually, he found Prime and Ratchet battling his new recruits, [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]] and [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]], whom they'd mistaken for Decepticons since the new pair could fly. Sure, he hadn't told Prime about them before, but that was Prime's fault for butting in on Elite Guard business. Prime still insisted Wasp wasn't a double agent, but Sentinel would hear none of it and ordered the jet twins to find Wasp again. While he struggled to avoid skidding on the pavement and keep pace with Jazz, Optimus and Ratchet, he got word from Jetstorm that he and Jetfire had found Wasp, but that Bulkhead and Prowl were apparently his cohorts. Prime continued attempting to persuade him that he was on the wrong track, but Sentinel was all for arresting everyone and letting Ultra Magnus sort it out. Jerk.

Back at the Earth Autobots' base, "Bumblebee" tried to prove his identity by recounting the various ways he'd inconvenienced Sentinel during 'Bee's stint in boot camp—most of which Sentinel didn't remember. Sentinel quickly got fed up and ordered "Wasp" wheeled out, but then Bulkhead hit upon a sure-fire way to tell who was who: a versus round of Bumblebee's latest video game passion, ''[[Ninja Gladiator]]''. Despite Sentinel's doubts, the real Wasp quickly revealed himself, taking 'Bee hostage and escaping. Jazz realized the full import of this revelation: The true Decepticon double agent was the head of Autobot Intel. Sentinel protested that Prime should have told him this in the first place. Jerk. {{storylink|Where Is Thy Sting?}}

[[Image:5servos sentinel kicked.jpg|left|thumb|If only he had been kicked [[Gearbox|a little lower]]...]]

Remaining on Earth, Sentinel made contact with the bounty hunter [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] for a mutually beneficial arrangement: if Sentinel supplied him with parts from the Elite Guard ship, Lockdown would turn over Decepticons to Sentinel and let him take the credit. His ego overriding his sense of superiority, Sentinel agreed, bringing the captured Decepticons and taking all the credit. Only the twins believed that Sentinel was really making the captures alone, especially as Sentinel was both vague and defensive about how he captured the Decepticons. Finally, Lockdown needed a gyrostabilizer from the ship, in exchange for the [[Ramjet (Animated)|Liar Starscream]]. Prowl followed Sentinel, and discovered the arrangement, but was betrayed by Lockdown and the clone, and placed in stasis cuffs. Despite using Sentinel as a hostage, the Autobots showed little restraint in attacking, even though they only succeeded in hurting Sentinel. The battle ended with Sentinel being driven into the ground head first. After establishing contact with Cybertron, the Autobots learned that Ultra Magnus had been attacked by Shockwave, but was recovering. Optimus decided not to inform Cybertron Command of Sentinel's misconduct, but instead gave sole credit for the captures to Prowl. Even though he wasn't going to be court-martialled, Sentinel was still displeased that he didn't get a single ounce of credit. Annoyed, Optimus reminded him that there were more important things than his ego, but gave Sentinel fair warning: when smoke clears, there will be a reckoning. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

[[Image:TFA-PredaconsRising-OhSentinel.jpg|thumb|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bender_Bending_Rodr%C3%ADguez Jimmy cracked corn and I don't care!]]]
Even knowing Wasp was innocent, Sentinel continued to pursue the 'bot, leading to a chase through the streets of Detroit as Optimus and Bumblebee attempted to reach him first. When they did, a jurisdictional argument between Optimus and Sentinel allowed Wasp to slip away... only for him to be flown away by a [[Swoop (Animated)|a Dinobot]]. Despite Optimus warning Sentinel off, Sentinel pursued them to Dinobot Island under [[Safeguard (Animated)|Safeguard]] in his own... unique... manner.

[[Image:TFA-PredaconsRising-SentinelBlackArachnia.jpg|thumb|left|DIE MUTANT FREAK DIE!!!]]
Bulling past the Dinobots, Sentinel entered the laboratory inside... to be confronted by what Elita-1 had become, and the experiment she was undertaking on Wasp. Blackarachnia's existence as a [[technorganic]] disgusted him to the deepest core of his spark, and he wished she had gone offline on Archa Seven. In return, after the emergence of the technorganic "Waspinator", she attempted to drain him dry. He was saved by a pursuing Optimus, and shortly afterward Blackarachnia was transwarped to apparent oblivion by the exploding Waspinator. Sentinel walked off without a word.

As he was set for departure to Cybertron to take his place as acting [[Magnus]], he discussed what had happened with Optimus, and admitted that they should never have gone to the spider-planet in the first place. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

[[Image:TFA-DecepticonAir-SentinelJazz.jpg|thumb|"Jazz old friend, I don't know which disgusts me more: Your cowardice or your stupidity! We'll simply set a new course for that empty region over there. Near that blackish, holish thing."]]
On the trip back to Cybertron, after a failed interrogation of the Decepticon prisoners, he was contacted by [[Perceptor (Animated)|Perceptor]], [[Alpha Trion (Animated)|Alpha Trion]] and [[Cliffjumper (Animated)|Cliffjumper]], to inform him that the [[Autobot High Council]] intended to make the news of the attack on Ultra Magnus public. Sentinel was unhappy about this, but they reminded him that the decision was for the full Council to make, and that his "taking control" as acting [[Magnus]] was premature, since Ultra Magnus was still online, albeit on [[spark support]]; and Cliffjumper wound him up further by reminding him that Prowl, not SP, had been given credit for the capture of the Decepticon prisoners. As a result, he took his frustrations out on Jazz, ordering him to take [[Steelhaven (Animated)|the ship]] to full power—even after Jazz reminded him it would use up all their energon—and to steer through a stormy nebula. Jerk.

The effect of the electrical storms on the ship then caused [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]] to be freed of his transformation lock, and in turn he freed the other prisoners. They then attacked the bridge, and with Sentinel refusing to contact Cybertron and let them know what his mistake had wrought, he sent [[Broken Lance|a coded message]] to Optimus Prime, asking for help shortly before they were all captured. Optimus then [[transwarp]]ed in through Swindle's personal storage dimension, refused to obey a single order from Sentinel, thought up a plan to defeat the Decepticons and set Jazz to it, used Sentinel as a bludgeon to knock [[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] away, and saved the day. Chastened, even Sentinel had to admit Optimus had done a good job, and offered him the position on the Elite Guard he would have to vacate to become Magnus, although Optimus declined. He then dropped Optimus back on Earth, and they mutually saluted in goodbye.

Finally arriving at Cybertron, Sentinel proceeded to lead a parade across Cybertron in his own honour, urging the cheering throngs to accept him as their Magnus. {{storylink|Decepticon Air}}

[[Image:TFA ThisIsWhyIHateMachines Sentinel Propaganda.jpg|left|thumb|He's the Decider!]]
Sentinel Prime immediately began putting out propaganda warning Autobots that anyone they knew could be a Decepticon spy, began shutting down facilities like [[Maccadam's Old Oil House]] as a security measure, and started viewing any challenge to him as treason. When the Decepticon-occupied [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]] appeared in the skies above Cybertron, Sentinel immediately advocated firing on it, ignoring a displaced [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]'s warnings that Omega was so transwarp-saturated that this would ''take out the planet''. Jerk.

Ratchet's opposition led to Sentinel having him hunted down for treason. Jerkier still, Sentinel prepared to fire on Omega while the Council were still discussing the matter, and he lied to them about his intentions. Luckily, when he did have the Elite Guard's [[Fortress Maximus (Animated)|Fortress Maximus]] fire on the titan, the Decepticons transwarped away. Sentinel brushed off the Council's ire and tried to take [[Magnus Hammer|Ultra Magnus' salvaged hammer]] from Ratchet, attempting to pursue and arrest the medic when Ratchet simply took the hammer with him back to Earth. Jazz volunteered to go instead, taking the opportunity to get out from under Sentinel's command. {{storylink|This Is Why I Hate Machines}}

[[Image:EndgamePart2-Sentinel.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The end of an error.]]

Soon, Sentinel would have to swallow his pride when Optimus Prime returned to Cybertron with his crew, with captured Megatron, Shockwave, and Lugnut, and with three reclaimed stasis pods—in Omega Supreme, no less! He stood glowering as the <s>cheering throngs</s> unwashed masses surrounded his rival.

History would vindicate his actions! {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

Jerk.
{{-}}

===''The Cool'' comic===

[[Image:TheCoolEliteGuard01.jpg|thumb|250px|left|]]

Years ago, after losing their friend [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] on a distant planet, Sentinel and Optimus immediately formed a rescue party to save her. Despite all their searching, however, they were unable to find her and were forced to give up. {{storylink|The Cool issue 4|The Cool #4}}

Sentinel later traveled with the Elite Guard to Earth in order to extract an explanation from Optimus Prime regarding why he had yet to return to Cybertron with his crew. Sentinel looked obnoxiously smug, of course. {{storylink|The Cool issue 5}}

{{-}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:Deluxeanimatedsentinel.jpg|right|300px|thumb|He's shortpacked at the jerk store.]]
*'''Sentinel Prime''' (Deluxe, 2008)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-28'''
**''Accessories:'' Lance, shield

: Sentinel Prime transforms into a metallic blue monster-truck snowplow, and is armed in robot mode with his trademark shield and lance. Either item can fit in either of his hands, and the shield has a ring mount to allow the lance to attach to it for transporting on the back of the vehicle mode. Surprisingly for an otherwise pointy object, the lance is actually cast in hard plastic. The weapons are also painted blue rather than cast in translucent plastic, an unusual choice for modern "energy" weapons". The toy also has an abandoned light-piping gimmick: not only are the eyes painted over, but the eye-piece is cast in black plastic, making it useless.

: Unfortunately, due to being released in the Deluxe size class, the Sentinel toy is ''technically'' incompatible with the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] accessory, which is only designed to work with Leader-class toys. You actually can wedge it on to him quite snugly, though.

: Due to a quirk of the transformation process, the plow on the front of the truck can be angled left or right, just as on real-world snowplows. Also, if you're the type that ''really'' goes for [[show accuracy]], the antenna on the left side of Sentinel Prime's robot mode head can be tilted back and forth, just like he did in the episode [[Predacons Rising]]. That's some mighty fine scannin', Sentinel!

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/SentinelPrime/sentinelprime.htm More information on Sentinel Prime at TFU.info]''

==Notes==
[[Image:TFASentinel-OriginalHead.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Spooooon!!]]

* Sentinel Prime's blue coloration and ''especially'' pronounced [[chin]] (even by normal ''Animated'' standards!) really make him look like [[wikipedia:Tick (comics)|the Tick]]. He's even voiced by Townsend Coleman, who provided the voice of the Tick in his 1990s animated series. At the Cartoon Network panel at BotCon 2008, it was confirmed that Sentinel's design was created after Coleman was cast for the role. It's pretty evident that the writers ran with it, having him utter silly, Tick-esque lines like "Energon-y goodness!"

* As for personality, [[Marty Isenberg]] said during an interview in the [[Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club issue 22|Transformers Collector's Club magazine]] that his love of ''[[wikipedia:M*A*S*H*|M*A*S*H*]]'' was the big reason Sentinel Prime is a jerk. He believes that the Transformers universe "needed a [[wikipedia:Frank Burns|Major Frank Burns]]."

* At [[BotCon 2008]]'s [[Cartoon Network]] panel, [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] confirmed that originally the character of Sentinel Prime was going to be named Rodimus Prime, but the idea of casting Rodimus as a big jerk didn't sit well with [[Hasbro|some people]]. But they'd eventually find some use for [[Rodimus Prime (Animated)|Rodimus]] somewhere, to be sure!

* Wyatt also related some previously unknown design trivia at BotCon 2008: At the time "Transform and Roll Out" went into production, the only part of Sentinel Prime that had been fully designed was his head. However, this turned out to be a non-final design; in his subsequent appearances, Sentinel's head is shorter and squatter, with a more bulbous chin and dark grey instead of white. Also, in "Transform and Roll Out", he has a set of extra smoke stacks/antennae on his shoulders, which would vanish during his first full-body appearance.

* Sentinel Prime is the first incarnation of [[Sentinel Prime (disambiguation)|the character]] to possess an Earth-mode.
** He is also the first to have a toy of him released .

* He is the only incarnation of the character to not die at all during his appearances. Bummer.

==External links==
*[http://www.formspring.me/SentinelPrime Sentinel Prime at FormSpring]

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Elite Guard]]
[[Category:Autobot leaders]]

Starscream (G1)

2010-10-13T00:44:54Z

174.58.201.3: /* Generation 1 cartoon continuity */

{{factions|decepticon|decepticong2|hofsilver}}
{{disambig3|Starscream}}{{suite}}
:''Starscream is a [[Decepticon]] and briefly a [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] from the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Starscreamg1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Let me guess. You're gonna attempt to overthrow Megatron, fail, cry, then repeat the cycle.]]
'''Starscream''' is the treacherous Decepticon [[Air Commander]] and the deadliest of the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]]. The self-proclaimed 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 [[Decepticon leader]] [[Megatron (G1)|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 (slang)|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.

{{bigquote|''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|"[[Total War!]]"}}

:''Alternate names:'' '''Pretty Poison, The Silver Snake''' <ref>Bob Budiansky's notes; "The origins of the Transformers" featurette, [[Shout! Factory]]'s Transformers: Season 1 DVD set</ref>
:''French-Canadian name:'' '''Égo'''
:''Czech name:'' '''Hvězdolam''' ("Starbreak")
:''Euskera (Basque) name:'' '''Izaroihu'''
:''Hungarian name:'' '''Üstökös''' ("Comet")
:''Italian name:'' '''Astrum'''
:''Italian name (Beast Wars):'' '''Scintillor'''
:''Polish name ("Cosmic Rust"):'' '''Gwiazdowrzask'''
:''Polish name (Beast Wars):'' '''Gwiezdny Krzyk''' ("Stellar Cry")
:''Portuguese name (Brazil comics):'' '''Cometa''' ("Comet")
:''Portuguese name (Portugal comics):'' '''Estrela-Estridente''' ("Shrill Star")
:''Russian TV dub name:'' '''Scandalist''' (Скандалист, "Troublemaker")
:''Spanish name:'' '''Grito de Estrella''' ("Star Cry")
:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Hǒu Hsīng''' (吼星, "Roaring Star")
:''Chinese name (China):'' '''Hong Zhizhu''' (紅蜘蛛, "Red Spider")
:''Cantonese name:'' '''Seng Seng Giu''' (星星叫, "Star Shouting")
:''Latin American Spanish name (Beast Wars):'' '''Destello''' ("Sparkle")

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Image:Introdump decepticons marvelus01.jpg|left|300px|thumb|He's the nigh-identical jerk on the right.]]
''Millions of years ago, on the troubled planet Cybertron, Starscream acted as the figurehead leader for the controlling dictators of the city-state of [[Vos]]. Following a botched attempt at igniting war between [[Iacon (city-state)|Iacon]] and [[Tarn]], Vos itself went to war with Tarn, and both cities were destroyed by an exchange of [[Photon missile|photon missiles]]. The survivors of both cities—presumably including Starscream—were gathered together by the ex-gladiator [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], who used their bitterness towards Iacon to unite them under his control as the Decepticons. {{storylink|State Games}}''

Four million years ago, Starscream was part of Megatron's attack raid on the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]. After its crashlanding on [[Earth]], Starscream was revived and rebuilt into an Earthern form in 1984, along with the other survivors. After a Decepticon roll-call, they fled the Ark. When the Autobots were spotted near a native settlement, aka a drive-thru movie theater, Starscream and the other Decepticons were commanded to attack. While Starscream extolled the use of guile and stealth, [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] saturated him with his [[glass gas]] gun, which coated Starscream, making his metal brittle and breakable as glass. As his chassis shattered, Starscream ordered his fellow jets to flee. {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers}}

Megatron led his Decepticons to a perch above the half-constructed [[Harrison Nuclear Power Plant]], with intent to take it with brute force. Starscream suggested that [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] scout the area first. Megatron reluctantly agreed with Starscream, choosing [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] to scout in Buzzsaw's stead. It wasn't until Ravage's report that Megatron realized it was the [[human]]s who created the machines in their midst, and thus they must have the technology to convert their fuel to a form they could use. Starscream quietly acknowledged Megatron's shrewdness, and felt that he must never let his eagerness to take over the Decepticons blind him to Megatron's cunning. The Decepticons attacked, and when they had achieved victory, Starscream and the others each hauled off chunks of the plant's machinery to construct their own [[Fortress Sinister|base of operations]] atop a harsh cliffside. Starscream and the other Decepticons next attacked the auto repair shop of [[Sparkplug Witwicky]], a friend of the Autobots whom the Decepticons suspected could convert fuel for them. Once Starscream abducted Sparkplug, the Decepticons retreated. {{storylink|Power Play!}}

[[Image:Addstarscreamtothedamagereport.jpg|right|250px|thumb|He'd better get used to this.]]
Starscream and the others returned to their cliffside headquarters with Sparkplug Witwicky, as Starscream found humor in the role reversal of this planet's human domination over machines. He continued to boast of his successful kidnapping in front of Megatron and the others, a ploy that did not go unnoticed by Megatron. Their captive, Sparkplug, needed materials to aid him in converting Earth fuel to Transformer fuel, so Starscream and [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] were dispatched to bring back a tanker truck full of fuel for Sparkplug to work on. The Decepticons' actions did not go unnoticed, and the human media and military crowded around their headquarters. But it wasn't until the Autobots arrived that Starscream and the other two jets were unleashed upon the crowd. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}} Though the human escaped, it was not before he had successfully done their work for them. Regardless, Starscream berated Megatron for allowing the human to be rescued, to which Megatron responded with a blast from his [[fusion cannon]]. {{storylink|The Last Stand}}

Starscream was one of a group of Decepticons who were sent to the [[United Kingdom]] to investigate tales of the [[Man of Iron (Autobot)|Man of Iron]], who was in reality an Autobot sent from [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] to Earth to look for the missing Ark. Starscream destroyed him. {{storylink|Man of Iron (story)|Man of Iron}} ''Meanwhile, Megatron had begun to grow weary of Starscream's constant attempts to undermine his authority, and he sent Ravage to follow Starscream, hoping he would uncover enough damning evidence to permit Megatron to destroy Starscream once and for all. But when Starscream failed to rally the Decepticons behind him by staging a conflict with the Autobots, he tried to kill [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] to keep this secret. When caught, he demanded a trial-by-combat and was pitted against [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], a fight which he won, until Starscream was shot down and deactivated by Ravage. {{storylink|The Enemy Within!}}''

When it was discovered that Sparkplug had failed to convert fuel for the Autobots, Megatron ordered an attack on the Ark to destroy them once and for all, showing them what lay in wait for those who dared to defy him. Starscream meekly agreed. Despite the Autobots' dangerously low fuel levels, Starscream was amazed at [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]]'s commanding power. But just as victory was about to be handed to the Decepticons, Starscream and the others doubled over in pain. Sparkplug Witwicky had poisoned their converted fuel. If not for the sudden appearance and intervention by the long-lost [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], the Decepticons surely would have been defeated. {{storylink|The Last Stand}} Shockwave, having defeated the entire Autobot army, save the Autobots' medic [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], set up a base of operations inside the Ark and began rehabilitating Starscream and the others. {{storylink|The New Order}} When Megatron awoke and rebelled against Shockwave, the former Decepticon leader was humiliated in his still-weakened state, and paraded in front of Starscream and the others as a warning to those who would cross Shockwave. The Decepticons hailed Shockwave as their new leader. {{storylink|The Worse of Two Evils!}}

[[Image:Starscreamdisintegratedcircuits.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Starscream's treachery is a little more subtle when he's allowed to have thought balloons.]]
When Megatron went missing, leaving control of the Ark back in the hands of the Autobots, Starscream disparaged Megatron's failure in front of Shockwave. The Decepticons had in the meantime taken control of one of [[Blackrock Industries]]' aerospace plants, and [[G.B. Blackrock]] had constructed a superweapon to retaliate. Starscream convinced Shockwave to let him and [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] destroy the weapon to boost morale (or maybe allow him to steal the superweapon and use it to destroy Shockwave and take command). There, Starscream and Frenzy not only encountered the Autobots [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] but also a super-powered human who was determined to destroy all robots, [[Circuit Breaker]]. Starscream suffered few injuries, but had to drag Frenzy's body from the conflict. {{storylink|DIS-Integrated Circuits!}}

''Shockwave went missing as well, and with both him and Megatron gone, [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] assumed command. Soundwave wasted no time in telling Starscream why he would never lead the Decepticons—he's just "a missile with a mouth". Soundwave orchestrated [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s capture, and challenged Optimus Prime to fight his way through the Decepticons to rescue him. Although Starscream loudly boasted of being a "leader killer", once he faced Optimus Prime alone, he stammered and hesitated, and was quickly defeated. {{storylink|Crisis of Command!}}''

Shockwave returned, and none too soon! Starscream and the other jets had been standing watch over their captured Blackrock Industries oil rig for weeks. Shockwave unveiled the [[power siphon]] he had built during his absence, which Starscream and the others would soon use to convert sound energy from a [[Brick Springstern]] concert into [[Energon cube|Energon cubes]]. Their plot was stopped abruptly when they were defeated by Bumblebee and a group of new Autobot recruits. {{storylink|Rock and Roll-Out!}} Starscream soon agreed with Shockwave that Bumblebee would be a perfect candidate for them to add to their own ranks. They waited until Bumblebee was alone, and then hunted him relentlessly. It wasn't until human authorities and the Autobots arrived to rescue Bumblebee did the Decepticons abandon their hunt. {{storylink|Plight of the Bumblebee!}}

Starscream, among others, escorted Megatron to the Space Bridge, where they were expecting reinforcements from Cybertron. Though only a team of Autobots had made it through the Space Bridge to Earth, their disappointment was brief. The Autobots had in the meantime launched a full-scale attack on the Decepticons' base, which Megatron reckoned meant that the Ark was unguarded. Indeed, the sole obstacle in their way to the entrance was a tank and a rocket. However, these elements soon combined into the impressive super robot [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]]. One by one, Megatron's troops fell before the titan, including Starscream. Only Megatron and [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] survived. {{storylink|Command Performances!}}

[[Image:Target 2006 fake Starscream dies.jpg|right|250px|thumb|*Contains 100% genuine Starscream substitute.]]
''The Autobots gathered up Starscream and the other deactivated Decepticons and placed them in life support capsules within the Ark, holding them imprisoned in stasis. Not long afterward, the Autobots were plunged into a state of disarray by the violent arrival of the enigmatic time-travelling Decepticon, [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], and [[Grapple]] was in such a rush to depart the medical bay and attend a mission briefing that he failed to notice an alert signifying the malfunction of Starscream's capsule. Starscream awoke and punched his way out of the capsule, and proceeded to steal out of the medical area and listen in on the Autobots' briefing. He was shocked to overhear that the Autobots had teamed up with Megatron to defeat Galvatron, and Starscream immediately decided to sneak off to join forces with this powerhouse from the future. Galvatron went along with Starscream's toadying, as the irony amused him; Galvatron was, in fact, a recreated future incarnation of Megatron, and would go on to kill Starscream twenty years in the future! When Galvatron and his men faced Megatron once again, Starscream shot Megatron in the back, but had to be stopped short of killing him by Galvatron himself, who knocked Starscream unconscious in order to secure his own future existence. Starscream's body was placed back into its stasis capsule by the future Autobots [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]], [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] and [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]], who then proceeded to trick Galvatron into returning to the future through a complicated plan that involved painting Skywarp to look like Starscream, and then duping Galvatron into destroying him. After killing "Starscream", Galvatron rationalized that he must have travelled back to a parallel timeline, since Starscream was not supposed to die until 2006, and returned to the future with his men. {{storylink|Target: 2006}}''

[[Image:Starscreammerrychristmas.jpg|left|150px|thumb|His heart grew three sizes that day.]]
''Rather than do the smart thing and return Starscream the Ark, the future Autobots rather unwisely left his capsule lying in the middle of a field. As happenstance would have it, Starscream lay there, undisturbed, until he awoke at [[Christmas]] the following year. Desolate, he wished he could go home again, and was in mid-mope when he was chanced upon by a [[Christmas kid|a human]] who sought to inform him of the meaning of Christmas. Urged to help a busload of elderly humans who had become stuck in a snowdrift, Starscream wanted to know what would be in it for him. As Starscream debated this good deed, he was suddenly attacked by [[Streetwise (G1)|Streetwise]], who suspected him to be up to his usual do-baddery. After a brief battle, the human intervened to chastise Streetwise, and Starscream proceeded to show up the Protectobot by saving the bus, purely out of spite. {{storylink|Stargazing}}''

{{note|Starscream never awoke in the American stories—his deactivated body remained captive within the Ark for years, and was not rescued until the events of "[[Totaled!]]", when [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]]'s forces saved all the Decepticons aboard the craft. When this story was reprinted in the UK, Starscream's name was erased from the artwork. As far as the UK stories were concerned, Starscream sought out Ratbat's Decepticons to join up with them.}}

Starscream quickly ingratiated himself with Ratbat and helped run [[Club Con]], a human island resort that covered their attempt to uncover subterranean information on the legendary [[Underbase]]. {{storylink|Club Con!}} When a pair of Autobot audio and video tapes recording the loss of the Underbase were found, Starscream convinced Ratbat to let him watch the tapes with him. In the "[[Realvision]]" playback, he witnessed a young Optimus Prime thwart Megatron's early attempts to possess the Underbase by shooting the legendary database into space. {{storylink|The Flames of Boltax!}} Starscream then set about a chain of systematic betrayals in order to gain access to that power. He set loose [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]], whom the Decepticons had been holding prisoner, with equipment that would lure the Autobots to the Decepticon's Antarctic base. The ensuing battle served to distract his fellow Decepticons as he then stole a ship from [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] to look for the Underbase. {{storylink|Cold War!}}

[[Image:Underbaseallmine.jpg|right|250px|thumb|This is way more graphic than was needed.]]
Upon finding the ancient database, Starscream began absorbing its power but was unable to finish the task as he was blasted by Ratbat's ship, piloted by a temporary Autobot/Decepticon alliance. However, while the light of the Underbase had only shone on Starscream for a moment, that moment had been enough to fill him with its awesome power, and the now-cosmically-powered Air Commander survived the attack. Growing to monumental proportions, Starscream hurled his ship at Ratbat's craft, and promptly headed for Earth with the intention of proving his power by destroying [[New York City|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. Starscream only stopped after intercepting a radio transmission between [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|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. {{storylink|Dark Star (issue)|Dark Star}}

[[Image:ZombieScream1.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Braaaiiiinnnssss!]]
''Starscream's corpse crashed in South America, but the Decepticon still clung to some semblance of life, as his shattered husk was reanimated by the residual energy of the Underbase that still saturated it, and driven by Starscream's own muderderous impulses into an insane rampage. After nearly killing [[Susan Hoffman]] and [[Susan Hoffman#Related characters|her Assistants]], the [[zombie]]-like Starscream was confronted by [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] and [[Darkwing]], who had been sent by Megatron to recover Starscream's body, and the Autobot [[Triggerbot|Triggerbots]]. Triggerbot [[Backstreet]] was able to appeal to the fraction of the Underbase that was still within Starscream and convinced it to try and regain control of itself, but as soon as it did, Dreadwind and Darkwing had their [[Powermaster]] partners [[Hi-Test]] and [[Throttle (G1)|Throttle]] siphoned all the Underbase's remaining power from the walking cadaver. Starscream's corpse returned to being an inanimate pile of scrap, which the pair quickly collected.'' {{storylink|Race with the Devil}}

Starscream's remains were delivered to Megatron [[Megatron's base|in his Cybertronian base]], who kidnapped [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] and forced him to rebuild Starscream with a powerful [[Pretender]] shell. Ratchet was shown three different shell prototypes, and a final design meant for Starscream. {{storylink|The Resurrection Gambit!}} As Ratchet worked on repairing Starscream, he feigned a friendly attitude towards Megatron, but this was a facade to cover Ratchet's true motives. Though Megatron had some tweaks in mind for Starscream's personality, Ratchet had something else in mind. After the Pretender shell had finished healing the body inside, Megatron sent Starscream to Earth, where Scorponok and Optimus Prime had clashed over a misunderstanding. As they were about to peacefully discuss the machinations that had gathered them there, Starscream's shell appeared! The Transformers and Nebulans below gaped in horror as the shell opened up to reveal the treacherous Starscream! {{storylink|All the Familiar Faces!}}

[[Image:Starscreamskindeep.jpg|right|300px|thumb|These are the Delboest panels ever.]]
Starscream's new form was powerful, but what gave him his true edge was how much he spooked his victims. He was believed to be a ghost, an invincible force of revenge, and most of Scorponok's troops quickly fled the battlefield. It wasn't until Hot Rod manned up and shot their attacker did they realize that this was no ghost at all, but rather a physical being that could [[Furmanism|feel pain and be destroyed.]] This was further sold by Starscream's sudden display of cowardice. Ratchet had arranged for Starscream's true personality to eventually surface, and Hot Rod's blast had knocked it free. Completely outmatched, he surrendered and begged Scorponok for forgiveness. {{storylink|Skin Deep}}

''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.'' {{storylink|Fallen Star!}}

[[Image:Ratchetjollies.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Ooooh, better leave this one off the resume.]]
Starscream was a source of dissention among the Decepticons, who were angry with Scorponok for letting him back in {{storylink|Primal Scream (issue)|Primal Scream}}—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 (G1)|Shockwave]], then believed to be dead. {{storylink|The Human Factor!}} Starscream joined his gang in a [[Decepticon Civil War]] against Scorponok, and pressganged [[Triggerhappy]] and [[Mindwipe (G1)|Mindwipe]] into the group. {{storylink|Eye of the Storm}} Thanks to the Autobots and [[Neo-Knights]], it was a bust. {{storylink|Out of Time!}}

Starscream was transported to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] to take part in the fight against [[Unicron]]. "Take part" as in "ran away". Along with Shockwave, he hijacked and repaired the [[Ark (G1)|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 [[:Image:Ratchetjollies.jpg|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. {{storylink|A Savage Circle}}

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}
''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 [[Insecticon (G1)|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. {{storylink|Bugged!}} 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. {{storylink|Internal Affairs!}}''

''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 (G1)|Carnivac]], [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] and [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]] took the fight out of Starscream, and so he retreated, radioing his troops to do the same. {{storylink|Divide and Conquer!}}''

''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. {{storylink|Assassins}} 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 (G1)|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. {{storylink|External Forces!}} The two Decepticons would have been overwhelmed if they hadn't received aid from an unlikely source: Earthforce. It seemed the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]] [[Snarl (G1)|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. {{storylink|The Lesser Evil}}''

''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 (G1)|Superion]] into wrecking a human settlement didn't pan out, {{storylink|Inside Story!}} so a more subtle plan was engineered. Starscream had [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]] use his [[Cerebro-shell|cerebro-shells]] to subvert the will of a human reporter, [[Irwin Spoon (G1)|Irwin Spoon]], and compel him to write a story bashing the Autobots and portraying them as kidnappers, or worse. {{storylink|End of the Road! (UK)|End of the Road!}}''

====''Generation 2''====
[[Image:Starscreamtongue.jpg|left|100px|thumb|Who have you been talking to, Starscream?]]
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. {{storylink|All or Nothing!}} 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 (and Galvatron had walked away from the crash anyway), so his options for loyalty were slim.

[[Image:Starscream uscomics.png|right|150px|thumb|"I am only saving you so that I may punish you later."]]
Predictably, though, Starscream would indeed betray Megatron and the Decepticons once again, this time by giving [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] and his troops information that allowed them to take control of the Decepticon flagship ''[[Warworld]]''. {{storylink|Total War!}} 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. {{storylink|Dark Shadows!}} 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. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

====''Classics''====
{{note|The ''Classics'' comic takes place after the end of the original Marvel Comic, but in a new timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or ''Generation 2''.}}
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.

{{storylink|Crossing Over}} {{storylink|Games of Deception}}

When Megatron prepared his final strike against the pretender to his throne, [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]], he sent out three warships to menace the skeletal warrior, commanded by Starscream, Thundercracker and [[Octane]]. Somewhat reluctantly, Starscream did nothing but languish in his command chair in space above Bludgeon's headquarters, as the [[Seacon (G1)|Seacon]]s acted on Megatron's order to betray and eliminate Bludgeon from within. Starscream just waited for Astrotrain and Soundwave to inform him the deed was done, and the Decepticons below were surrendering and powering down their weapons. A bit cleaner than he would've liked it, but Starscream still had to admire Megatron's skill at deception. {{storylink|At Fight's End}}

{{charstubfiction}}

===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
{{main|Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity}}
[[Image:Tud3_starscream_smirkiest.jpg|left|thumb|220px| "So if I beat [[Megatron (G1)| you]], will I become the chief Decepticon?"
"More people have said that and were sent offline than there are Energon decay products."]]
A former scientist who joined the Decepticons with gusto after the loss of his friend [[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]], Starscream quickly decided that Megatron's leadership was old and outdated, and that he was the one who should be in charge. Cue nine million years of backstabbing, treachery, cowardice, coups and general disobedience, which continued when the war moved from Cybertron to Earth. In fact, it was Starscream's refusal to listen to Megatron that kept the war going, when a petty parting blast that he delivered to the Autobot's crashed starship jostled the body of Optimus Prime into the path of [[Teletraan I (G1)|Teletraan I]]'s restoration beam. Starscream's scheming was a constant throughout the Earth conflict, and culminated in his expulsion from the Decepticon ranks, following which he created the [[Combaticon (G1)|Combaticons]] to serve as his personal army, only to have them turn on him, forcing him to rejoin Megatron's ranks.

Even in death, Starscream was unstoppable. Following Megatron's climactic battle with Optimus Prime in 2005, Starscream set his commander's battered body adrift in space, and promptly appointed himself the new Decepticon leader. In the midst of a grandiose coronation ceremony, however, Megatron returned, recreated as [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] by the power of [[Unicron]], and promptly blasted Starscream to ashes. Surprisingly, Starscream's lifeforce persisted as a ghost, which continued to bedevil the Transformers, even across the gulf of time. He posessed [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]], then [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], and used his body to revive Unicron. The massive robot made a bargain with Starscream. He offered to restore his body after he brought him Metroplex's eyes and Trypticon's transformation cog and finally connecting his head to Cybertron to make it his new body. But after beng brought back to life, Starscrem betrayed him, and after the Autobots detonated the explosives in his head, Unicron was hurled off off the planet, and Starscrem was tumbling uncontrollably deep into space and was gone forever.
{{--}}

===Big Looker storybooks continuity===
[[Image:DecepticonsCarShow.jpg|right|200px|thumb|I have no idea what colors I am!]]
Starscream and his fellow Seekers performed a threatening flyby over the Autobots' headquarters in order to distract the heroic robots while the other Decepticons stole a tanker of oil that would give them the power to rule the world. Thanks to [[Shooting Star]], the Autobots got wise to the Decepticons' tactics and [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] blew up the villains by dropping missiles on them. Starscream arrived on the scene to spitefully blow up the oil tanker so that no one could have it, then he and his fellow airborne Decepticons carried off the remains of their fallen comrades. {{storylink|Decepticon Hijack}}

Starscream was part of the battle that resulted when the Autobots came to rescue the mind-controlled [[Grapple]] from the Decepticons' clutches. When Grapple was freed from the effects of the [[cerebro-shell]] controlling him, he kicked Megatron over on top of Starscream and Skywarp, winning the day. {{storylink|Insecticon Attack!}}

At some point in the future, when Galvatron had taken leadership of the Decepticons, Starscream suggested to his leader that he create a city of his own to gather energy, as the Autobots did with their Autobot City. Galvatron decided to go about it in the most circular way possible, by stealing a robot car on display at a car show that night and duplicating its circuitry to create an army of drones to build said city. While investigating the Decepticons' presence at the show, Kup was captured by Starscream. When the Autobots arrived in response, Starscream threatened Kup's life to stay their hands, but luckily, Hot Rod soon saved Kup, and the Decepticons were defeated. {{storylink|Car Show Blow Up}}

===Ladybird Books continuity===
[[Image:Starscream ladybird books.jpg|right|215px|thumb|Toy-accurate art makes Starscream ANGRY!]]
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. {{storylink|Autobots' Lightning Strike}}

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). {{storylink|Megatron's Fight for Power}}

When [[Galvatron (G1)|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''. {{storylink|Galvatron's Air Attack}}
{{-}}

===''Transformers PD Type''===
[[Image:Starscream pd type.jpg|left|190px|thumb|HaHA! I have caught the Golden Snitch!]]
As various [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] from across the timestream joined forces to track down the all-powerful [[Blackball|Blackballs]], Starscream proved most effective at the hunt. Discovering a Blackball, he immediately carried it over to [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] for some praise. Unfortunately, the "Blackball" turned out to be a cartoon bomb, which promptly exploded in their faces. From a distance, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] were astounded that their plan actually worked. Inside the smoking crater, a badly singed Megatron strangled Starscream, frustrated at his consistent failures. {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##3 "Don't Cry! Megatron!!"|Don't Cry! Megatron!!}}

Later, Starscream uncovered another Blackball. For a moment he considered giving it to Megatron, but then decided that if he kept it for himself, he could use the power to seize command of the Decepticons. He then immediately became suspicious that the Blackball might be another bomb, but dismissed the suspicion just as quickly. Then it exploded. {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##10 "Good Luck! Starscream!!"|Good Luck! Starscream!!}}
{{-}}

===''Beast Wars'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Doug Parker]] (English), [[Kazuki Yao]] (Japanese)

[[Image:Starscream ghost BW.jpg|right|250px|thumb|EBENEZER SCROOGE...!]]
After the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] Crashed on [[Earth]] Starscream's body lay in [[stasis lock]] next to his [[Megatron (G1)|leader]] along with [[Soundwave (G1)|the other]] [[Skywarp (G1)|Decepticons]].{{storylink|The Agenda (Part III)}}

Little was known about Starscream among the [[Maximal|Maximals]], as the [[Maximal Elder|Maximal Elders]] had classified most of his information. At some point in time the Elders had attempted to duplicate Starscream's mutant indestructible spark effect, which led to the origin of the monstrous [[Rampage (BW)|Protoform X]].{{storylink|Bad Spark}} [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]], a student of military history, was familiar with Starscream's record of deceit and betrayal. It is possible that [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] was also aware of his history, as he ordered [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] to keep an eye on Starscream when he arrived on Earth.

Starscream's ghost traveled through time and space to the prehistoric earth of the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]], where he possessed [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]]'s body during an electrical storm. He ingratiated himself with Megatron, claiming that he had been destroyed by [[Unicron]] while protecting [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. After leading a successful raid on the [[Axalon (BW)|''Axalon'']], he was left in command of the captured Maximal ship, along with Scorponok and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]—the latter having sufficiently impressed Starscream by seeing through his historical deception that he took her on as a "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 (fuel)|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. Waspinator is restored back to normal by Megatron, and Blackarachnia explains her betrayal as an attempt to find Starscream's true motives, and at that point, Megatron pardons her.

Adrift in space once more, Starscream's ghost screamed vengeance into the void. {{storylink|Possession}}

====IDW Beast Wars Comics====
After his defeat at the hands of the Maximals, Starscream's immortal spark wandered through space and time, until it found an alternate timeline with another Waspinator to possess. When the quantum surge hit prehistoric earth in this timeline, Waspinator was transmetalized, and Starscream, still inhabiting the Predacon's body, was somehow able to influence Waspinator's metamorphosis, giving him a third fighter jet mode resembling Starscream's own old alternate form. Although the two of them bicker over control of the body constantly, their two separate voices audible to whoever hears them argue, Waspinator secretly enjoys the enhanced skills Starscream grants him. {{storylink|Beast Wars Sourcebook}}
{{-}}

===''Transformers Legends'' anthology===
While Starscream lay [[stasis lock]]ed in the Ark, [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] broke in and implanted a fraction of the original Megatron's spark into the Air Commander, allowing the two Megatron's to control him. The Decepticon leader, whose spark had been implanted into Megatron, attempted to use Starscream to return to his own body, but was subdued in a battle of wills with beast Megatron. Starscream's services ultimately went unused until the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] ended, at which point the [[Maximal]]s were able to extract the spark fragment. {{storylink|A Meeting of Minds}}

After a particularly harrowing fight with Megatron, Starscream went mountain climbing, and accidentally fell on his head. In this injured state, he was found by [[Hound (G1)|Hound]], [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] and [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]], who took him back to the Ark. [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] made repairs, having persuaded Prime to let them fiddle with Starscream's logic circuits if they found anything wrong. Starscream woke with amnesia.

As he slowly learned about the war and experienced the welcoming and forgiving nature of the Autobots, he found himself siding with his former foes. When Megatron turned up to reclaim his former lieutenant, Starscream refused to go, and was surprised when Optimus and [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] moved to protect him. Despite all this, the sight of [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] finally restored his memory, and he returned to the Decepticons, claiming that he had been faking amnesia as a ruse to gain access to the Autobot base. He later reflected that he had learned something from the Autobots — that a leader like Prime who could pull together the Decepticons as a team could lead more effectively than Megatron had, and Starscream could be that leader. {{storylink|Redemption Center}}
{{-}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
[[Image:Starscreamwarwithin.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Smirkier-than-thou.]]
Starscream was a competitor in [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]'s underground gladiatorial matches, the breeding ground for what would eventually become the Decepticons. He enjoyed baiting his fellow combatant, [[Grimlock (G1)|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. {{storylink|The War Within Preview}}

In typical fashion, Starscream tried to seize power. While Megatron was deep within the bowels of Cybertron, Starscream instructed [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] to initiate the planet's long-hidden transformation sequence, hoping Megatron would be crushed in the process. Some people never learn. {{storylink|The War Within issue 5}}

[[Image:Predaconstww.jpg|left|200px|thumb|My... people.]]
A few millennia later, after the apparent death of Megatron, Starscream created a splinter group of Decepticons called [[Predacon (War Within)|Predacons]]. However, when your smartest subordinates are [[Motormaster (G1)|Motormaster]], [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] and [[Octane]], you can't expect much of your forces. {{storylink|Fragmentation}}

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 II]]'' 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. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 1|Prime Directive #1}} 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. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 2|Prime Directive #2}}

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 (G1)|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 (G1)|Wheeljack]], [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] paid him back with a nice throat punch. All the combatants were then bombed by rogue members of the U.S. military. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3|Prime Directive #3}}

The Decepticons escaped and attacked [[San Francisco]]. When [[Superion (G1)|Superion]] appeared to stop [[Devastator (G1)|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. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 5|Prime Directive #5}} 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 (G1)|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 [[Robert Hallo|General Hallo's]] unauthorized nuclear strike, Starscream and the other Decepticons escaped. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 6|Prime Directive #6}}

[[Image:Starscreamshhhhhh.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Holy crap! Expressions!]]
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 (G1)|Sky Lynx]]. Yet another rebellion defeated by bad planning. Some people never learn. {{storylink|War and Peace|War and Peace}}

[[Image:Starscreamdaydream.jpg|right|200px|thumb|There but for the grace of a fusion cannon go I.]]
After returning to Earth, Starscream unleashed the Decepticons on the Autobots under the leadership of [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]]. Unfortunately, most of the Decepticons were incapacitated. Worse, Starscream's clone [[Sunstorm (G1)|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... {{storylink|Generation One (Dreamwave comic)|Generation One (ongoing)}}

{{note|...at which point [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] self-destructed.}}
{{-}}

===''G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers''===
[[Image:JoeVsTF1 Starscream transforms.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Even when Starscream's nothing more than a mindless drone, he still manages to smirk.]]
When the nascent terrorist organization known as [[Cobra]] uncovered the buried hulk of the Ark, they removed the bodies of numerous Transformers with the intention of using them as weapons of war to threaten America. Cobra scientist [[Doctor Mindbender]] hacked the brain functions of the captive Transformers, reducing them to the level of remote-controlled drones, and dubbed them "[[Battle Android Trooper|Battle Android Troopers]]". Starscream was reconfigured to transform into a jet plane known as a "Night Raven", and was selected for use by the [[Cobra Commander]] as his personal aircraft.

Starscream was among the Transformers deployed during Cobra's opening attack on world freedom, when they targeted the [[United Nations]] Headquarters. Starscream transformed to robot mode and was punching his way through the building when a U.S. Military soldier code-named [[Snake-Eyes]] opened fire on him with a machine gun. Although unharmed by the attack, Starscream returned fire with his lasers, blowing up the missile tank upon which the soldier was perched and horribly scarring his face. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 1|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 1}} Returning to Cobra's island base, Cobra Commander began his meeting with [[Destro]] by having Starscream dramatically fly by overhead and transform, for no reason other than to impress the arms dealer. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 2|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 2}}

Meanwhile, Autobot scientist Wheeljack had been able to avoid capture by Cobra, and had allied himself with America's newly-formed special mission force [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]. Hacking into Cobra's system, he was able to shut off the terrotists' control of the Transformers, liberating their minds and bodies. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 3|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 3}} Naturally, the first thing Starscream did once he was free was to interrupt a battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron by shooting Megatron in the chest in a bid for leadership. Megatron returned the sentiment, blasting him with his fusion cannon, and Starscream slunk away as Megatron returned to more important matters. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 4|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 4}}

[[Image:Starscream snakeeyes eye gouge.jpg|right|350px|thumb|"You've got something in your eye. Let me get it out."]]
Lurking in the island's jungle, Starscream crossed paths with Snake-Eyes, who took revenge for his disfigurement by shattering the unsuspecting Starscream's eye with his sword and shoving a grenade into the socket. Clawing at his face, Starscream tumbled over a cliff and was badly damaged in the fall. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 5|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 5}} His still-operational body was soon happened across by Cobra Commander, who was attempting to flee the escalating battle between the Autobots, Decepticons, Joes and Cobras that was engulfing the island, and Starscream made the human proposition: help him remove the grenade, and he would get him off the island. Naturally, the commander agreed. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 6|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 6}}

[[Image:Starscream gijoe energyropes.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Starscream is allergic to glow stick ropes.]]
Starscream and Cobra Commander resurfaced two years later, when Cobra Commander learned that human scientists had created an interstellar wormhole to Cybertron. With Starscream forced to do his bidding (via unspecified means), he used the portal to travel to Cybertron with the intention of gaining control of the wormhole technology by stealing the super-computer [[Teletran 3]]. However, a G.I. Joe ambush that struck just as they were carrying out their plan caused a catastrophic malfunction in Teletran 3, scattering numerous Transformers through the wormhole network across space and time. Starscream was not among those scattered, but he was promptly bound with energy ropes by Perceptor and [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] while they assessed the severity of the situation. It transpired that the chronal disruption caused by the time-lost Transformers would dsestroy the Earth, and teams of Joes and Cobras were soon dispatched through the timestream to retrieve the robots and save the planet. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 1|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 1}}

While the Joes and Cobras were off on their time-tossed mission, the forcefield protecting Magnus, Perceptor and Teletran 3 collapsed, at which point Decepticon commander Shockwave struck. Shockwave freed Starscream and reprogrammed Teletran 3 to prevent Transformers from being able to return to their proper times, so that Earth would be destroyed and he could invade it, as he had always planned to—it was Shockwave who had leaked the wormhole technology to humans in the first place. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 3}} When a small team of Joes and Cobras that remained on Cybertron tried to undo his programming, Starscream spotted [[Lady Jaye]] modifying Teletran 3 and shouted a warning, but it came too late. The Transformers were returned, and Starscream escaped in the midst of the chaotic battle that resulted.

In the aftermath of the battle, Shockwave accused Starscream of deliberately trying to foil his scheme by trying to steal Teletran 3. Starscream denied any treacherousness on his part, and Shockwave was just starting to come around when a recording Cobra Commander had programmed into Starscream began to play, informing the Decepticon leader of Starscream's general uselessness. At that point, Starscream promptly exploded, taking out the Decepticon headquarters in the process, courtesy of forty-five pounds of plastic explosives that Cobra Commander had lined his housing with, in case the Decepticon had ever escaped his clutches. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 4|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II issue 4}}

===''Transformers/G.I. Joe''===
[[Image:Starscream gijoe ww2.jpg|right|180px|thumb|"Pathetic fools! There's no escape!"]]
When the foundling terrorist organization known as Cobra discovered the Ark buried in the [[Fera Islands]] in 1938, they inadvertently awoke the Decepticons from their stasis. The evil robots entered into an alliance with the organization's leader, Cobra Commander, to conquer the world and strip it of its energy, but Megatron's true goal was to take the Matrix of Leadership—stolen from the body of Optimus Prime—from around Cobra Commander's neck. Starscream adopted the alternate form of a P-51 Mustang aeroplane.

One year later, in 1939, the American military formed a special mission force to counter the Cobra-Decepticon alliance named "G.I. Joe". Laserbeak spied upon the first meeting of this team and reported the information to Cobra; Starscream stood nearby as Cobra Commander vowed to kill the Joes, and opined that heroes were ''born'' to die. G.I. Joe's first attack came soon after, and Starscream distracted their aircraft in his jet mode while Megatron attacked them from above and downed them. {{storylink|The Line|The Line}} As it happened, the Joes bailed out and landed near to the buried Ark, where they wound up awakening the Autobots within the craft. Starscream watched as the ship sent out a repair drone to scan for alternate modes, aware of what it meant and seeing it as a threat to Megatron's leadership that he could exploit. Megatron happened upon Starscream as he was monologuing about taking the power of the Matrix for himself, and witnessed the drone going about its business. Knowing he would need the scheming Starscream for the coming battle, he ordered the Air Commander to help him move their stockpiled energon cubes to safer location. {{storylink|Transformed|Transformed}}

Megatron proceeded to mass the Decepticons for a major battle with the Autobots, save for Starscream, who was left to languish within their base. Unfortunately for Megatron, this merely left Starscream with an opportunity to conspire with Cobra Commander's own traitorous second, [[Destro]], and together the pair prepared to unleash the newly-constructed giant robot, Bruticus, upon everyone. {{storylink|Wolves|Wolves}}

[[Image:Starscream gijoe ww2 weakspot.jpg|left|250px|thumb|"I...will...keep reaching...uuuhh."]]
Even this conspiracy proved to be a deception on Destro's part, however, when he had his lover, the [[Baroness]], shoot Starscream in his weak spot: an inch below his right ear, just behind his jaw hinge. Starscream's head flared with electricity and he collapsed, while Destro loosed Bruticus upon all his assembled enemies. G.I. Joe member Snake-Eyes ended the threat when he plucked the Matrix from Cobra Commander's clutches, and at Optimus Prime's direction, hurled it at Bruticus. The resultant explosion of creation energy destroyed Bruticus, but apparently killed all the Transformers in the process. {{storylink|The Iron Fist|The Iron Fist}}

Forty-six years later, in 1985, Starscream was revealed to have survived his injuries and the destruction of the Matrix through unexplained means. Discarding his archaic alternate mode for the form of an F-15, Starscream was performing a flyby over Cobra Island, seeking a means to return to Cybertron, when he intercepted a communication about an alien starship (actually a Cybertronian craft containing Blaster and Perceptor) crashing in [[Oregon]]. Starscream saw the craft as his ticket home, and while he 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 later. {{storylink|Targets of Opportunity|Targets of Opportunity}}

{{note|Due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy, how Starscream survived, and his subsequent actions, remain a mystery.}}

===IDW comics continuity===
{{ongoing}}
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 alongside 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. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 3|Megatron Origin #3}} 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. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 4|Megatron Origin #4}}

Starscream ended up as Megatron's bodyguard, a position largely for show, and developed a mutual hatred with Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 5|Devastation #5}} 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 it was actually because Starscream feared him—a fear he initially thought was respect. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 6|Infiltration #6}}

Another one of his duties appears to have been recruitment, as he made a very pointed effort to convince [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] to join the team {{storylink|Spotlight: Blurr}}

[[Image:Infiltration6 takeyourpunishment.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Starscream, seen here actually getting off easy!]]

{{bigquote|Thanks to Ore-13, Megatron, I have evolved... beyond you! I am the ''future!''|Starscream|[[Infiltration issue 6]]}}

Millions of years later, Starscream was the leader of a Decepticon [[Infiltration protocol|insurgent cell]] that had operated covertly on [[Earth]] for at least four years, working to destabilize Earth's governing organizations and create global anarchy. However, since the discovery of the mysterious, Energon-like substance known as [[Ultra-Energon|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]]. Unfortunately, the abandoned Nebraska bunker had been infiltrated by a human named [[Stoker]], who had managed to obtain data on Starscream's operations, forcing Starscream to have the human eliminated, though he didn't count on [[Verity Carlo|another human]] obtaining Stoker's [[SM-40]] computer and an [[Ratchet (G1)|Autobot counter-insurgency agent]] bringing the evidence to the Autobots. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 1|Infiltration #1}} Meanwhile, Starscream had ordered [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] to cover his tracks by destroying all evidence of Stoker's travels and what remained of the Nebraska bunker. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 5|Infiltration #5}} Starscream intended to use Ore-13 to challenge [[Megatron (G1)|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." {{storylink|Infiltration issue 6|Infiltration #6}}

[[Image:Starcasm idw dev6.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Sarcasm from Starscream?? NO!]]
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. {{storylink|Devastation issue 1|Devastation #1}} During an attack on Decepticon headquarters by the [[Reaper|Reapers]], Starscream completed his recovery and was confident that he would prevail in the upcoming battle. {{storylink|Devastation issue 4|Devastation #4}}

[[Image:AHM3Starscream.JPG|right|150px|thumb|Hey, I just spotted the janitor from Futurama!]]
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) {{storylink|Devastation issue 5|Devastation #5}} Starscream once again accepted Megatron as his liege, and together they teamed up to destroy the alien invaders. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6|Devastation #6}}

At some point during the following year, Starscream (now an F-15 for [[To sell toys|some]] [[GEEWUN|reasons]]) met with [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] and persuaded him to lead the rest of the Autobots into an ambush (under the pretence that Megatron would be defeated, the Autobots could leave Earth, and the 'Cons would get Earth to themselves) {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8|All Hail Megatron #8}}, where they were promptly defeated. Optimus was rendered almost offline, and Starscream watched in glee as Megatron delivered the news of a [[Sunstreaker (G1)|traitor]]. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7|All Hail Megatron #7}}

Some time later, Starscream, 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. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 1|All Hail Megatron #1}}

Starscream personally shot down the fleeing [[Air Force One]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], after which he returned to join Megatron in New York City. Upon his arrival, Megatron mused that it was fitting to have Starscream beside him, as a Decepticon who had been with the cause since the start. Starscream, believing Megatron to be sarcastic, retorted that he'd been there before even Megatron. A somewhat weary Megatron clarified, congratulating him and complimenting his skills. He further explained that Starscream was very nearly the living embodiment of the Decepticon ideal, but a step short of realizing it. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 3|All Hail Megatron #3}}

With the conquest completed, Starscream stood at Megatron's side as he addressed the gathered Decepticons. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 4|All Hail Megatron #4}} However, he soon reverted to type when he noticed Megatron didn't have a proper plan now that he'd won and the fun on Earth was a distraction for the troops. He taunted Megatron with the knowledge that he knew this and told him other Decepticons would start getting restless, so Megatron's position would soon be challenged by hordes of bored sociopaths whom Megatron had indoctrinated to be violent and take things. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 6|All Hail Megatron #6}}

Later, Starscream met with the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]] (passing a depressed [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] on the way) and discussed the possibility of overthrowing Megatron. They agreed. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8|All Hail Megatron #8}} He made his move a short while later, sending the Insecticons to attack Megatron. His allies were summarily defeated, however, and Megatron revealed that he had known about Starscream's plans all along. Starscream explained his reasoning behind the revolt: while he once idolized Megatron for teaching the Decepticons to fight the "old order" and take what they want, all he had done since was lead them into a war without end. He then revealed that the Insecticons weren't his only loyalists, as he had also managed to sway the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] to his cause. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 10|All Hail Megatron #10}}

Starscream's uprising was suddenly cut short when the Decepticons came under attack, first from human jets arrived from [[Europe]], and then the returning Autobots. Starscream was forced to team up with Megatron, who assured him that someday he would get be in charge, someday after the Decepticons won... but not now. After giving this some thought, Starscream organized his troops to fight back, ending his orders with "All hail Megatron!" {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 11|All Hail Megatron #11}} When Megatron was eventually defeated, Starscream picked up his injured leader, refusing to let the Autobots finish him off. When Optimus Prime asked why, he replied that leadership of the Decepticons is to be ''taken'', not offered up by chance. Before retreating, he reminded Prime that the Decepticons still had the advantage in most parts of the galaxy. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 12|All Hail Megatron #12}}

Along with a few other Decepticons, Starscream took off into space aboard Astrotrain. Despite what he had told Prime, he was not pleased that Soundwave was keeping Megatron on life support, but his attempts to dissuade the loyalist were met with failure. He considered just throwing his former leader out Astrotrain's airlock, but had a [[The Transformers: The Movie|nagging feeling]] that he'd "somehow return, [[Galvatron (G1)|even more powerful than before]]." Starscream was ready to give up, knowing that the Decepticons had no real reason to follow him, and that the faction would fall to infighting as soon as others challenged his rule. All he had was the Autobot [[Matrix of Leadership]], which Megatron had seized from Optimus Prime earlier, but he had failed to find any supposed "ultimate power" within it, and prepared to throw it away. When [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] stopped him, saying that the Matrix was used by the Autobots to choose their leaders, Starscream suddenly realized that it was just what he needed to rally people to his cause. Gathering his followers, he told them that he had unlocked the unlimited powers of the Matrix, and that he had been chosen to light their [[darkest hour]]. While the roused Decepticons started hailing his name, Starscream knew fully well that his newfound leadership was wholly reliant on a seemingly useless Matrix, and wondered if this was really the right thing to have done. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 13|Uneasy Lies the Head}}

{{charstubfiction}}
{{storylink|The Transformers issue 7}}

{{note|The events of ''Spotlight: Mirage'' possibly take place in an alternate/unknown continuity.}}

At the war's end, Starscream and a small team of Decepticons accompanied the mercenary [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] to the [[Pegasus Star Cluster]]. He led the Decepticons into the Autobot bunker after Mirage destroyed the Autobot security system, but stood back during the ensuing fight. After Megatron ordered the Autobot prisoners executed, Starscream held [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] back as Mirage prepared to kill [[Hound (G1)|Hound]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Mirage}}

===''Hearts of Steel''===
[[Image:Starscream HOS.jpg|left|180px|thumb|Ye olde Tyme treacherie.]]
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 [[Alternate mode|altmodes]] for the Decepticons. {{storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 2|Hearts of Steel #2}} In particular, Starscream builds (or reformats) [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] for an assault on [[New York City]], and the new electrical generators there. {{storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 3|Hearts of Steel #3}} It all ends badly. {{storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 4|Hearts of Steel #4}}

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<ref>[http://www.idwpublishing.com/titles/transformers/images/hos/decepticon_planes.jpg ''Hearts of Steel'' sketch at IDW Publishing]</ref>. 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.)
{{-}}

===''Henkei! Henkei!'' pack-in mini-comics===

[[Image:Henkei_starscream_pack_in_comic.jpg|right|thumb]]

Starscream was among the Decepticons who joined [[Megatron (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics|Megatron]] in attacking the Earth in the 21st century. During an attack on Tokyo, Starscream got the drop on some human military operatives who were observing a fight between Megatron and [[Optimus Prime (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics|Optimus Prime]], but before he could take them out, [[Bumblebee (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics|Bumblebee]] got the drop on ''him'', spraying him with a fire engine's hose. This gave [[Grimlock (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics|Grimlock]] the opening he needed to lash Starscream with his tail and send him crashing into Megatron, prompting the villains to retreat. {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 1}}

Starscream later concocted a plan to have [[Astrotrain (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics|Astrotrain]] keep the Autobots busy while the Decepticons raided a power plant, but he had not factored in the Autobots' newest warrior, [[Hot Rod (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Hot Rod]], who took them by surprise and blasted Starscream in the back. {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 2}} Seeking revenge, Starscream tried to return the favor, only for Hot Rod to dodge the blast, and cause Starscream to shoot Megatron instead! {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 3}}

Knowing that his friend [[Jetfire (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Skyfire]] had been stranded on Earth tens of thousands of years ago, Starscream had [[Ramjet (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Ramjet]] search for his body, which was eventually located frozen in a glacier. Starscream thawed out Skyfire and placed a mind-controlling helmet on him, to ensure that his kind-hearted old friend would serve the destructive Decepticon cause. Together, they attacked a power plant, but while they fought off the plant's Autobot defenders, Skyfire began to struggle against the helmet's influence, eventually overpowering it and turning on Starscream. Realizing he was outnumbered, Starscream fled, as Skyfire called after him to remind him that even thousands of years ago, they'd never gotten along that well anyway... {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 4}}

Following Megatron's use of energon cubes to power himself up into [[Galvatron (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Galvatron]], Starscream attempted to repeat the process on himself, and had [[Ravage (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comics|Ravage]] steal a sack of cubes for him. Before he could put them to use, however, he was ambushed by [[Cheetor (BW)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Cheetor]], who defeated him and reclaimed the cubes. {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 8}} Later, Starscream was led by [[Cyclonus (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Cyclonus]] to a volcanic field, where Megatron was in the process of using the magma to again power up into Galvatron. Seething over his own inability to obtain the power Galvatron wielded, Starscream thought his chance to lead had finally come when a team of Autobots arrive and collapsed the volcano on top of Galvatron. His gloating was short lived, however, as Galvatron burst out from under the rubble, and, entirely unaware that a fight had even gone on, began berating Starscream and Cyclonus for being lazy idiots. {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 9}}

When [[Ratchet (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Ratchet]] was trying to take a human girl to the hospital, Starscream arrived to take potshots at him. Ratchet's comrade [[Inferno (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic|Inferno]] blocked Starscream's shots, and the enabled Ratchet to escape by blinding Starscream with a blast from his water cannon. {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 10}}
{{-}}

===''Henkei! Henkei!'' Bun Bun manga===

[[Image:Henkei1_enter_starscream.jpg|left|220px|thumb]]

Years ago on Cybertron, Starscream was a scientist and explorer. Together with his friend [[Jetfire (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Skyfire]], he embarked on a search for energy on other planets, but when the duo visited Earth, Skyfire was caught in a blizzard and frozen in ice. Starscream subsequently returned to Cybertron and became a warrior, joining up with [[Megatron (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Megatron]]'s Decepticons.{{storylink|The Enemy from the Arctic}} Untold years later, when the legendary power source known as the [[Energon Cube]] was lost to the reaches of space, Starscream was among a small team of Decepticons who departed Cybertron in pursuit of it. The Cube crash-landed on Earth in the Japanese town of [[Hoshinochō]] and shattered into fragments, so Starscream and the other Decepticons took on the forms of local vehicles and machinery to remain hidden while searching for the shards. [[Optimus Prime (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Optimus Prime]] and his Autobots had also followed the Cube to Earth, and so the Transformers' war continued in secret on this new world. {{storylink|Kingdom of Giants}}

Eleven years after arriving on Earth, Starscream and [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] tracked Prime's Autobots to the human building known built over the Cube's impact crater called the [[Star Dome]], and launched an attack. Starscream was surprised to find a human boy, [[Wataru Hoshinoumi]], caught in the middle of the conflict, but gave the fleshling little thought and aimed his gun to destroy it. The human, however, had a protector: the littlest Autobot, [[Bumblebee (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Bumblebee]] came bursting out of nowhere to nail Starscream with a flying kick and save the boy. {{storylink|Enter! The Transformers}} Starscream didn't take kindly to this insult upon his person, and pinned Bumblebee beneath his foot, but before he could finish him off, Wataru blinded the Air Commander with a fire extinguisher! Unfortunately for Starscream, it was at that point that Megatron himself chose to arrive, and he violently berated Starscream for going behind his back, throttling him and using him as a shield to block Optimus Prime's fire. After some further shots were exchanged, Megatron's attention was piqued by Wataru, and he decided to call retreat. {{storylink|The Emperor of Destruction Appears!}} Back at the Decepticons' underwater base, Starscream opined that Megatron was growing old, but Megatron simply replied with equal sarcasm that the weakest dog barks the loudest. Starscream stalked off, vowing to himself that he would be leader of the Decepticons, then summoned Ramjet to join him on a personal mission to the Arctic. {{storylink|Kingdom of Giants}}

[[Image:Henkei4_starscream_and_skyfire.jpg|right|thumb|300px|*cue "ScreamerxSkyfire OTP" squeals*]]

Starscream and Ramjet located the glacier that Skyfire's body was trapped in, and released him from his frozen sleep. Skyfire was happy to see Starscream again, but Starscream soon proved how much he had changed when he sent a watching group of humans to their deaths by shooting the ice out from under them. Just as Skyfire demanded an explanation for his actions, Starscream slapped a helmet onto his head that took over his mind and co-opted him into the Decepticon ranks. Starscream proceeded to lead the brainwashed Skyfire in an attack on a power plant back in Hoshinochō, but through it all, Skyfire refrained from outright killing any human workers. Displeased with Skyfire's resistance to the helmet's control, Starscream set an example by opening fire indiscriminately. Just before he shot Wataru, who happened to be visiting the plant, Skyfire seized his arm at the last second, insisting they were researchers, not murderers. Luckily, this was enough of a delay to save Wataru's life, as Optimus Prime's Autobots then came blasting into the plant. {{storylink|The Enemy from the Arctic}} In the battle that followed, Skyfire continued to struggle against the helmet, shielding Wataru and Bumblebee from Starscream's attacks. Starscream was shocked to learn that Wataru was a "[[Booster]]", a being born with the ability to control energon, when Wataru used his powers to liberate Skyfire from the control helmet. Skyfire turned his guns on Starscream, blowing off his left null ray cannon, then informed him of one important fact he had remembered: they never actually got along that well in the first place. With no options left, Starscream was forced to retreat. {{storylink|Wataru's Power}}

When both Optimus Prime and Megatron were left badly damaged after a fierce battle, Starscream, Ramjet and [[Astrotrain (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Astrotrain]] exploited the Autobots' reduced manpower by raiding a hydroelectric power plant. Together, they made short work of the Autobots who did turn up to fight them, but just as they were preparing to leave with a haul of [[energon cube]]s, the revitalized Optimus Prime came speeding onto the scene. The three Decepticons beat a hasty retreat, but only Starscream got away, the other two taken down by a powered-up blast from Prime's [[ion blaster]]. {{storylink|Time of Resurrection}} With nothing to show for his efforts, Starscream returned to the volcanic caves were Megatron was recuperating from his injuries, bathing in a "bath" of molten energon cubes. Deeming it a waste of their energon resources, Starscream saw his chance when Optimus Prime and Bumblebee arrived in the caves, the Autobots having received a message that gave Megatron's location. Starscream greeted the two Autobots and gleefully led them to the chamber Megatron was in, serving them up the Decepticon leader in the hopes that they would destroy him and leave his throne free to be usurped. Starscream kept Megatron's newest soldier, [[Cyclonus (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Cyclonus]], busy so Prime could deliver the killing strike, but against everyone's expectations, Megatron did not die from Prime's sword slash, and was instead transformed by the power of energon into the deranged [[Galvatron (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Galvatron]]! {{storylink|Creation! The New Emperor of Destruction!!}}

[[Image:Henkei10_starscream_survives.jpg|left|220px|thumb]]

Galvatron immediately attacked Optimus Prime, and Starscream exploited the opened, attacking his former leader from above. Galvatron proved able to shrug his shots off, and destroyed the rocky outcrop on which Starscream was standing, bringing him tumbling into Galvatron's clutches. After being slammed around a bit, Starscream fired his jets and blasted from Galvatron's grip, looping back around to deliver a jet-powered kick, but the attack accomplished little other than to thoroughly tax Galvatron's patience. Powering up his cannon, Galvatron unleashed a single earth-shattering blast that appeared to reduce Starscream to atoms. {{storylink|The Threat of Galvatron}}

[[Image:Henkei10_starscreams_end.jpg|right|thumb]]

Starscream proved hardier than Galvatron expected, though: after Galvatron had torn his way through the assembled Autobots, Starscream re-appeared, broken and crippled, but nonetheless determined to bring Galvatron down. His weapons still proved ineffective, however, and so Starscream demanded that Wataru use his powers to give him a boost. Naturally, Wataru was hesitant, but saw the logic in Starscream's plan and acquiesced, providing the Decepticon with a forcefield and a powered-up gun. Starscream was only able to get off one shot before Galvatron destroyed the field and his cannon, but the blast successfully reopened the original wound Optimus Prime had torn in Galvatron's armor. Taking the opening, Prime repeated the tactic and plunged his energon sword into the gash, ripping Galvatron open. A catastrophic release of energy from Galvatron's body ensued, which began to the collapse the cavern. The Autobots raced for the exit, but Starscream did not move, and Wataru could only look back to see a smile form upon the Air Commander's lips as he watched Galvatron's defeat, seconds before he too disappeared beneath the tumbling rocks. {{storylink|Revenge (issue)|Revenge}}

Later, as Prime's Autobots prepared to return to Cybertron, Skyfire announced that he would be staying on Earth in order to search for Starscream, indicating that he believed his old friend was still alive. {{storylink|To the Sea of Stars}}
{{-}}

===Alternity===
[[Image:Alternity starscream boxart.jpg|left|thumb|200px| "Carscream"? Really, that's the best [[Fandom| you]] could come up with?]]

A Starscream from an unidentified [[universal stream]] was selected by [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity#Alternity|Megatron]] to become the leader of his team of cross-dimensional [[Questor]]s. Imbued with a small portion of the incredible powers over space and time that his leader had acquired from the god-beast [[Hytherion]], Starscream became incredibly powerful, equipped with an uncharacteristic sports car alternate mode, a [[Timaeus drive]] that allowed him to travel through dimensions, a "Retroactive Nullifer" capable of erasing victims from history, and four "Evil Optics" can can send an enemy into [[stasis lock]] with only a look. Despite all the new powers that this infusion of Hytherion power conveyed about him, Starscream was wary, wondering why Megatron would so empower him given his record of deceit. Despite fears that he might be the subject of some strange cosmic experiment that Megatron was conducting, Starscream still took to his new role with glee, seeking ways to put his new power to use overthrowing Megatron.

On a mission to Earth, Starscream confronted one of [[Optimus Prime (G1)#Alternity|Optimus Prime]]'s [[auto-avatar]]s. Surprising Prime with his sports car form, Starscream scored a hit with his Nullifer, which slowly began killing the Autobot. Starscream had heard other species call the [[Alternity (species)|Alternity]] "gods", but taunted Prime by telling him that any story of gods must end with a Ragnarök. However, Starscream did not expect Prime to tell him that the Alternity were already well aware of the time and circumstances of their prophesied end, and were already prepared. {{storylink|Foreshadows}}
{{-}}

==Commercial appearances==
Starscream's [[commercial]] appearances include:

* An appearance in the first Transformers animation, a commercial for [[The Transformers (issue)|Issue #1]] of Marvel's ''[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|The Transformers]]'' comic book. Alongside Thundercracker and Skywarp, Starscream attacks an Earth power plant, then defends himself against an Autobot counterattack.

* Starscream and Thundercracker are seen strafing three Autobots, then getting shot down, in the Jetfire/Shockwave commercial.

* A 1985 commercial for [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]]. Starscream leads Thrust over the desert to attack the Autobots' new defense base, brushing off Thrust's concerns about the whereabouts of the Autobots themselves. He is caught off-guard when the base transforms into [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]]. Good goin' there, Screamer. This is the only ad in which Starscream has a speaking part; he's given his usual cartoon voice.

* He makes a short appearance in the 1986 commercial for Hot Rod/Kup/Blurr.

* He is seen in jet mode leading an attack on the Autobots' power station in a commercial for Ultra Magnus.

* He can be glimpsed flying into battle alongside Galvatron - yes, Galvatron! - in the Galvatron/Magnus commercial.

* He and the other two standard Seekers are seen battling the Dinobots on the ground in a commercial for the Predacons.

* Starscream briefly features in the [[Pretender Classic]]s commercial. He's shown lurking in the dark of an Earth city as Optimus Prime is reunited with Jazz and Bumblebee. Narration from [[Victor Caroli]] leads the viewer to believe that his lurking is quite evil and also provides Starscream's voice.

* Still in his Pretender Classics body, Starscream is seen dunking [[Wildfly]] and company into colorful vats to create the [[Pretender Monster]]s in their commercial.

* He features alongside Prowl and [[Over-Run (G1)|Over-Run]] in a commercial for [[Action Master]] vehicles; he's shown battling Prowl aboard his [[Turbo Jet]] on Cybertron.

* His jet form is shown in an early ''Generation 2'' commercial, rendered in CGI and flying over a rocky landscape alongside Ramjet.

==Games==
===''Transformers: Call of the Future''===
{{charstubfiction}}
{{storylink|Transformers: Call of the Future}}

===''Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals'' video game===
{{note|This game takes place in an alternate version of the second season of the [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]] cartoon.}}
[[Image:N64Starscream.jpg|200px|thumb|Yes, that's Transmetal Waspinator in original Waspinator colors as Generation 1 Starscream. No, that's not normal.]]
{{Note|Starscream is only available for game play in the Nintendo 64 version of this game.}}
Starscream returned to the Beast Wars following the [[quantum surge]], with a strange but powerful new [[Transmetal]] body. Fearing that the Beast Wars would alter history against his liking, Starscream set out to destroy any Maximal or Predacon that opposed him. After vanquishing his foes, Starscream entered the Ark and infused himself with the power of his old body, just as Megatron and Optimus Primal had increased their power. This fusion of old and new allowed Starscream to finally achieve his eons long goal of restoring his original body. Finally whole, Starscream undertook the long journey through transwarp back to Cybertron. {{storylink|Transformers Beast Wars: Transmetals}}
{{note|Each character possessed an alternate ending, displayed if the N64 version of the game was beaten with said character. Each character has only their own ending listed on their pages, see the other characters' pages for Starscream’s fate in those outcomes.}}
{{-}}

===3D Battle-Card Game===
Starscream serves under [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] as one of his Decepticon soldiers, battling [[Optimus Primal]]'s many Autobot allies in what might possibly have been an inter-universe battle. {{storylink|3D Battle-Card Game#Energon Wars expansion|Energon Wars Expansion Set}}
{{-}}

===Sector Seven Alternate Reality Game===
[[Image:Starscream 1982.jpg|200px|thumb|Masterpiece attack!]]
Disguised as an F-15 Eagle fighter jet, Starscream was active on Earth in early 1982, with documented sightings of jets sporting his unique colors on several continents before he was caught on camera transforming to robot mode in California. This sighting (and its subsequent leak) was the direct impetus for [[Hungry Dragon|Hungry Dragon 1]].

Later, during late April/early May of 2007, [[Sector Seven]] intercepted two sound clips through Agent Cod3x and another source (currently unknown). Apparently, Starscream wanted to make his presence known and left a message announcing that he would have the All Spark, and that Agent Powers would be the one to hand it over. These messages were somewhat garbled, as they were apparently received over a SETI@home system. So far, only these two "blips" have been analyzed (the second still needing work), but more may come in the near future. {{storylink|Sector Seven (game)|Sector Seven}}
{{-}}

===''#Revenge of the Fallen'' - The Game (Xbox 360/Sony PS3/PC)===
[[Image:ROTF_360PS3PC__DLC_G1Starscream.jpg|thumb|200px|"Why do I feel like [[Pat Lee]] designed me?"]]
:''Voice actor:'' [[Charlie Adler]]

{{Note|On [[August 27]], [[2009]], Starscream was one of a handful of downloadable characters in a DLC pack for Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. }}
{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
{{-}}

{{charstubfiction}}
{{-}}

==Toys==
{{main|Starscream (G1)/toys}}

==Notes==
[[Image:Ulchtar.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Phew.]]

*In [[Jim Shooter]] and [[Denny O'Neil|Denny O'Neil's]] original Transformers treatment, Starscream was named "'''Ulchtar'''." Yes. When [[Bob Budiansky]] took over Transformers preproduction from them, he changed it to "Starscream." <ref>[http://transformers-advent.blogspot.com/2009/07/exclusive-interview-with-bob-budiansky.html Exclusive Interview with Bob Budiansky!]</ref> And "Starscream" was the name given to [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]]'s bio, so who knows what else was going on. This may be related to a mix-up that involved all three jets' [[Tech Spec]] numbers being switched around (Starscream was given Skywarp's stats by mistake).

* An early ''[[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Universe]]''-style character profile published in ''[[The Transformers Comic Magazine]]'' gave Starscream the smirk-worthy nickname of "The Silver Snake". A second "alternate name" for Starscream shows up in Bob Budiansky's hand-written write-up of his bio, which is briefly visible in one of [[Shout! Factory]]'s DVD featurettes. In addition to "The Silver Snake", the hand-written bio gives Starscream the alternate name of "Pretty Poison". Oookay then...

[[Image:Starscreamg1early.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Confusing Nelson Yomtov since 1984.]]

* 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!]]"

* An actor in a Starscream costume was among "live" Transformers one could meet at the 1985 [[Universal Studios Tour]].

* In the French dub of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', Starscream (along with [[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]]) inexplicably became a female. This change, however, was only for the movie, as it used a different dubbing team from the television show. Most likely, the movie's French dubbing team mistook Starscream's rather high-pitched voice for a woman's voice.

[[Image:G2BlackDeathStarscream.jpg|thumb|250px|Chucky Sol, I am your angel of death.]]

* The Generation 1 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 (2006)|Classics]] toys and the [http://tfu.info/2004/Destron/RMStarscream/starscream.htm art of the Robot Master version].<ref>[[Transformers Visualworks]]</ref>

*A hand-painted mock-up and accompanying artwork for what seems to have been a proposed ''Generation 2''-era redeco of Starscream appeared in auctions on [[eBay]], amongst similar items put up for sale from the collection of a former [[Hasbro]] employee. The mock-up features the words "Black Death" on its nosecone, which would probably lead fans to refer to the figure as "Black Death Starscream" if anyone were aware of it existing. The actuality of the figure being intended as Starscream is uncertain, but given that the artwork is Starscream's ''Generation 2'' card art, Occam's Razor suggests it was meant to be him.

[[Image:StarscreamMW Genesis.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Bringing a [[Particle cannon|cannon]] to a [[canon]]-fight.]]

*In ''[[Genesis: The Art of Transformers]]'' is a picture by [[Matt Kuphaldt]] of [[Machine Wars]] Starscream wearing a purple cape and brandishing [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]'s torn-off arm cannon. To date, this remains the only canonical appearance of Starscream in this body—so far as the canonicity of art books can be placed.

* Starscream appears in the DLC for Revenge of the Fallen on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in his G1 appearance with quite a few new features, not the least of which is the fact that he can summon and fire [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron's]] gun mode (despite the fact that Megatron is already playable as a separate downloadable character).

==Footnotes==
<references />

==External links==
*[http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Starscream Starscream's Universe profile at NTFA.net]
*[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-toys/toy-gallery/1784/Generation+2/Starscream.html Gallery of G2 Starscream with comparison to BW Starscream at Transformers At the Moon]

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