The Reign of Starscream issue 3

	{{#if: "You know you want me, baby!" \|; "You know you want me, baby!"}}}}
	"Transformers: The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Three" {{#if: \| {{#if: \|; (')}} {{#if:\|; ""}}}}
Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
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First published	July 16, 2008}}
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Cover date	June 2008}}
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Written by	Chris Mowry}}
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Art by	Alex Milne}}
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Colors by	Josh Perez}}
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Edits by	Denton J. Tipton}}
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{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

The guy the series is named after vs. some guys we've never seen before. This can only end in tears.

Synopsis

Starscream's Decepticons await the Autobots' incoming attack on their base on Mars and send out their drones as a welcoming party. Smokescreen temporarily disables the first attack wave, which Cliffjumper and Camshaft use to destroy a few of them. Hardtop, who previously warned Thundercracker of the impending Autobot attack, prepares to snipe Smokescreen, but is instead sniped himself by Arcee. But just as the Autobots appear to gain the upper hand, a heavily damaged Air Raid is dropped by Thundercracker, who attacks the Autobots with a sonic blast.

Thundercracker makes his way through the Autobots, slicing Camshaft in half and knocking down Cliffjumper. Just as he is about to kill Cliffjumper too, Arcee, guilt-ridden for having failed to prevent Bumblebee's mutilation at the hands of Megatron attacks Thundercracker, inflicts some damage on him and then continues to attack him together with Cliffjumper. However, Cliffjumper is suddenly shot in the back by Starscream, who then transforms and proceeds to blow up Smokescreen, who is trying to carry the wounded Air Raid to safety. Starscream returns to Arcee, who is tending a heavily wounded Cliffjumper, and takes her out with one punch. Starscream then returns to his base and prepares a ship for launch, setting course back to Cybertron.

Meanwhile, on a base in the Nevada desert, an arriving Sector Seven commander is informed about Starscream's abduction of Agent Salazar and in turn provides a theory about how the Transformers create weapons from their own bodies. Unbeknownst to them, they are eavesdropped on by Barricade, who is standing on a mountain ridge nearby the base. The Sector Seven commander instructs his people that the President of the United States wants to have the vehicles that were given life by the AllSpark in Mission City destroyed.

An unspecified amount of time later, Starscream's Decepticons return to Cybertron, landing in the city of Trypticon. Starscream and Thundercracker are greeted by Ramjet, while Dreadwing prepares to transfer the data retrieved from Frenzy's body. Starscream makes some "renovations" by destroying a giant sculpt of Megatron's head when he's informed by Stockade that construction of a new AllSpark is progressing on schedule.

Featured characters

{{#if:* Smokescreen (2)

Camshaft (3)
Arcee (4)
Cliffjumper (5)
Air Raid (6)|

{{#if:* Smokescreen (2)

Camshaft (3)
Arcee (4)
Cliffjumper (5)
Air Raid (6)|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
Smokescreen (2)
Camshaft (3)
Arcee (4)
Cliffjumper (5)
Air Raid (6) }}{{#if:* Starscream (1)
Thundercracker (7)
Frenzy (8)
Class Beta drone units (9)
Swindle drones (10)
Class Alpha drone units (11)
Hardtop (12)
Barricade (15)
Ramjet (18)
Stockade (19)|

Autobots }}{{#if:* Starscream (1) Thundercracker (7) Frenzy (8) Class Beta drone units (9) Swindle drones (10) Class Alpha drone units (11) Hardtop (12) Barricade (15) Ramjet (18) Stockade (19)\|	Decepticons }}{{#if:* Sector Seven guys (13)\|	Humans }}{{#if:* Landmine (14) Salvage (16) Longarm (17)\|	Others }}{{#if:\|	Misc }}{{#if:\|	Misc }}
Starscream (1) Thundercracker (7) Frenzy (8) Class Beta drone units (9) Swindle drones (10) Class Alpha drone units (11) Hardtop (12) Barricade (15) Ramjet (18) Stockade (19) }}{{#if:* Sector Seven guys (13)\|	Sector Seven guys (13) }}{{#if:* Landmine (14) Salvage (16) Longarm (17)\|	Landmine (14) Salvage (16) Longarm (17) }}{{#if:\|	}}{{#if:\|	}}

Quotes

"They're determined, I'll give them that. It seems to be a trait with the Autobots. Prime brings out the best in all of us, and all we want to do is make him proud. But right now, all I want to do is end this war."

—Arcee has clearly been spending way too much time ~~hanging~~ smoking out with Beachcomber.

"Oh, come on, Smoke. What do you think? Skids was a better sparring partner than these guys!"

—Camshaft ~~complimenting~~ demeaning Skids and his fighting skills.

"The past will not repeat itself, I promise."

—Arcee

"For a time, I thought of Thundercracker as a worthy second to my command. That thought has now vanished."

—Starscream muses on Thundercracker's faults and shortcomings.

Notes

The vehicles seen inside the Sector Seven base which have presumably been given life by the AllSpark in Mission City include Salvage, Longarm and at least two Landmine units, one of them still caught in mid-transformation after having failed in an attempt to be used as a weapon against Starscream in the previous issue.
The Decepticon capital city is called Trypticon, an obvious homage to the original citybot. It remains to be seen if this one also transforms into a giant dinosaur.
The floor of Megatron's palace is covered with pictures of Kremzeek on page 20.
The Autobot Skids is briefly mentioned by Camshaft on page 4.
Cliffjumper's fate is unknown in the actual fiction, but Chris Mowry claims he survived.<ref>[1]</ref> This claim would later be supported by chapter 4 of Convergence, in which Cliffjumper's corpse does not appear on Mars.
The mass slaughter of toys who aren't in the film, both here and later, come from Mowry's feeling that a war story requires deaths and the movie cast are untouchable, and that some of the toy characters wouldn't be missed if they're bumped off. (Poor Crankcase gets singled out as an example of the latter) <ref>[2]</ref><ref>[3]</ref>

Errors

In issue 1 (page 10), Starscream states that the humans' technology is "anything but advanced". Yet on page 12 in this issue, he suddenly praises his "new form", claiming that it grants him new power, "as if all of [his] abilities and strengths are somehow advanced." Considering that all modern technology allegedly originated via reverse-engineering from Sector Seven studying Megatron, this raises the question: What exactly makes an F-22 Raptor so special that scanning and mimicking it actually improves Starscream's abilities?

Covers (3)

Cover A: Starscream vs Arcee; art by Alex Milne & colors by Espen Grundetjern.
Cover B: Optimus Prime and Arcee; art by James Raiz & colors by Josh Burcham.
Incentive Cover RI: Uncolored line art of cover A.

Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight!
That's one hell of a bodyguard.
I need no colors to kill you, Arcee!

References

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