Starscream (Cyberverse)
| The name or term "Starscream" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Starscream (disambiguation). |
- Starscream is a Decepticon Seeker and later a Quintesson from the Cyberverse continuity family.
Leader of the Seekers and Megatron's second-in-command[1], Starscream is the kind of guy who'd sell you out to Megatron in a heartbeat, then sell Megatron out to whoever offers him more power. He's not a very loyal sort, and often comes at odds with the heroic and loyal Bumblebee - both traits Starscream despises.
Lack of loyalty isn't his only flaw: Starscream himself has earned Megatron's scorn for his cowardice and incompetence over the eons, and neither Shockwave nor Soundwave have much respect for him. Just about the only things he has going for him are his skills as a flier, and the leadership of the Seekers. Strangely enough, despite Starscream's own lack of loyalty, he somehow has the complete loyalty of his Seekers.
So complete that one wonders if they had to choose, would they follow Starscream or Megatron?
Fiction
Cyberverse cartoon
- Voice actor: Billy Bob Thompson (English), Satoshi Tsuruoka (Japanese) , Axel Lutter (German), Gianluca Iacono (Italian)
Before the Great War, Starscream took the newly arrived Camien Windblade to a Cube game where he flaunted his upper class credentials by mocking the plebs and having Bumblebee be kicked out of the stadium. Attempting to spice up the game, Starscream made his way to the Cubes and reprogrammed the AI in one of them to cause chaos only for Bumblebee and Windblade to foil his plot. Cube
Starscream later attended the rally where Megatron unveiled the Decepticon faction and emblem. Soon enough however, the movement had gone from civil disagreements to open revolution with Starscream derisively greeting Optimus when the "file clerk" tried to deter Megatron's ambitions. Later in the war, Megatron conspired to use Vector Sigma to reprogram the AllSpark and have it birth a new generation of loyal Decepticons. When the Autobots got wind up of this plot, Megatron Is My Hero they stole the AllSpark and launched it through a space bridge despite the Seekers' best efforts to retrieve the artifact. Allspark
As Cybertron's condition deteriorated due to the loss of the AllSpark, Starscream led Thundercracker, and Nova Storm to the Grand Imperium where the trio attempted to slay Optimus Prime only to be bested and forced to retreat. Matrix of Leadership
Some 66 million years later, the AllSpark had been tracked to the distant world of Earth. Fractured Starscream sent Slipstream to scout the planet and locate the artifact while he rallied the Decepticon fleet. Siloed Awaken Sleeping Giants
Once the scouting team had made planetfall, Starscream contacted their shuttle for a status report only for the Autobot Bumblebee to answer his call instead. Memory Much to his ire, this would not prove an isolated occurrence and he swore to demote Slipstream as far he could when he came to Earth. Siloed
With his fleet, Starscream entered the Sol system only to find Shockwave had beaten him there. Awaken Sleeping Giants After the Ark crew had been awoken, Starscream's fleet arrived to back up the Decepticons and invade the planet. Eruption
Months of Earth-bound battles eventually resulted in the humans becoming aware of the Transformers. When Megatron opted to simply destroy the Earth, he had Shockwave construct a Planet Smasher on the moon, its complex coming under attack from the Autobots. Starscream led his Seekers into battle, engaging Windblade in a dogfight, before he was chomped on by Grimlock. As the Seekers fled to the safety of the Planet Smasher, Megatron radioed Starscream for air support, an order that the Seeker chose to ignore and instead ordered the force field raised, intending to leave Megatron at the mercy of the Autobots. Unfortunately, Megatron had managed to extradite himself from the danger and had made it to the forcefield. Furious, the warlord threw Starscream around before demoting him, making Slipstream the new leader of the Seekers. Sea of Tranquility
As Starscream seethed over this, the Autobots destroyed the Planet Smasher, prompting the Decepticons to retreat underground and enact their backup plan of using planetary engines to smash the moon into the Earth. When Megatron's injured leg caused him to stumble, a maddened Starscream leapt on the opportunity, kicking his master to the floor and bombarding him with a missile swarm before beating him senseless. Considering Megatron deceased, Starscream declared himself the new Decepticon leader only for his confidence to flounder when the Autobots neared the control room. After Shockwave had primed the control room to self-destruct, Starscream ordered his troops back to the Nemesis with Megatron left behind. Back on the flagship, an exceptionally smug Starscream kicked Soundwave off the command throne, before ordering the Nemesis to take off. As the warship rose, Autobot sabotage caused the planetary engines to begin reversing. Before Starscream could issue a command, a furious Megatron entered the bridge and began silently and relentlessly pummelling Starscream across the ship, even as the Seeker begged for mercy. As Megatron prepared to execute Starscream, he ran for the bay doors only for the full force of Megatron's fusion cannon to strike him in the back, seemingly deactivating him. Contemptuously, Megatron threw Starscream's body onto the moon's surface as the Nemesis left. Bad Moon Rising
Despite Megatron's assault, Starscream barely clung to life. Fatally wounded, he awoke on the moon's surface under the gaze of Cheetor. Witnessing the bestial Cybertronian run through a GroundBridge, Starscream followed, the portal's AllSpark energies healing his wounds. Dark Birth Reaching out to his Seekers, Starscream rallied them to him and had them procure Vector Sigma. As a propaganda move, Megatron made a video directed at the people of Earth that claimed that Starscream tragically lost his life at the hands of the Autobots. As soon as the broadcast was over, however, he immediately warned the other Decepticons to take Starscream's fate as a reminder of the price of failure. He then issued a challenge to them: anyone who succeeded in bringing him the head of Optimus Prime would take Starscream's place as his second-in-command. Bring Me The Spark Of Optimus Prime
When Optimus and Megatron were fighting over the AllSpark in new spark armor, Starscream took the opportunity to steal the AllSpark and escape through another GroundBridge. Trials Starscream's brush with death had left him insane, believing he had come back from the AllSpark with the purpose of creating a new era of peace by returning all other Transformers to it. To facilitate this, he used the AllSpark to give himself his own spark armor while tasking Acid Storm with programming Vector Sigma to command the AllSpark and have it create an army of Scraplets. Dark Birth
Believing these new beings housed the sparks of ancient Transformers reclaimed from the AllSpark, Starscream plotted to use his new "children" to further his plans. Though he attempted to convince Slipstream to join him, she fled to warn the Autobots and Decepticons of his intentions, managing to reveal his location to Windblade before being killed by Bludgeon. Parley Anticipating the Autobots' arrival, Starscream abandoned his temporary base and led his Scraplets in an attack on the Nemesis, draining the the energon from the Decepticons. Megatron managed to send out an SOS, prompting Optimus and a team of Autobots to investigate. Optimus and Windblade eventually found Starscream waiting for them on the bridge, where he ordered his Scraplets to attack and drained their energon, preparing to take the Matrix of Leadership from Optimus. His attempt was interrupted by Cheetor's arrival, who fought Starscream and extracted the AllSpark from his armor, using it to restore everyone and disable the Scraplets. His armor now destroyed, Starscream swore vengeance before making a hasty retreat with the AllSpark in tow. Starscream's Children
Starscream’s next scheme would involve him kidnapping Cheetor and Bumblebee, which he did by sending his seekers to pursue them. While it seemed as though Cheetor and Bumblebee escaped through the Groundbridge Nexus, they were unexpectedly attacked and paralyzed by Acid Storm, who took them back to Starscream’s new lair. After they had awoken only to be surrounded by more Scraplets, Starscream explained how he shared much in common with Cheetor, with the knowledge that the AllSpark gave the young guardian it’s power, he planned to forcibly merge Cheetor’s Spark with his own, but first opted to give his captive a demonstration as he had Bumblebee strapped to a table that was part of the device, and attempted to merge the scout’s Spark with one of his Scraplets, but his plan was ultimately foiled after Cheetor used some Energon as a distraction for the other Scraplets, and broke Bumblebee free of his bonds, ceasing the merging process, and the two escaped, leaving Starscream to continue scheming. Spotted
The Decepticon would then hasten his plans further with the timely arrival of both Jetfire and Sky-Byte, and approached both of the warriors with the promise of defeating one another. Giving them Spark Armor, he assured each of them individually that the other didn’t have anything like their Spark Armor, and revealed to Acid Storm that he planned to have them destroy each other, and possibly both the Autobots and Decepticons. Infinite Vendetta
Acid Storm eventually finished the reprogramming of Vector Sigma, allowing Starscream to absorb it and increase his power. He repaid his loyal seekers in full, by extracting their sparks and leaving their dead bodies to rust. His plan to kill the Autobots and Decepticons failed thanks to the power of the Matrix, and he was soon dragged with the Autobots to the Ark. I Am The Allspark
Guarded by Prowl and Rack'n'Ruin, Starscream attempted to unleash his AllSpark power upon reawakening, only to realize he no longer had it after Rack'n'Ruin mocked him for it. He didn't like this one bit. Escape From Earth Later, he attempted to have the Autobots destroy each other by sabotaging one of the Wheeljack's new AllSpark emitters. However, his plan was foiled when Optimus Prime destroyed the device connecting the emitters. Party Down
Managing to dupe Teletraan-X into giving him enough space to escape, Starscream made it out of the Ark but soon became a tag-along to the Titan Croaton, screaming as he left for parts unknown. Ghost Town
Flying through a storm and dangerously close to a sun, Starscream and Croaton were captured by Quintessons. The acting judge quickly began punishing Starscream with termination thanks to his ego, spurring the Seeker's cowardliness long enough for the judge to fall victim to Starscream's silver tongue, setting a course for Cybertron. Starscream was rewarded... by being part of a new judge created by the Quintessons' resident scientist. The End Of The Universe I
Follwing the destruction of the Quintessons' starship, Starscream made his return and transformation into a Judge known to everyone present and declared them guilty. The Judge Using his newfound powers on his foes, Judge Starscream prolonged the Transformers' trial, wanting both Optimus and Megatron present so they could stand trial for all their wrongdoings towards him. His multiple heads also had a knack for arguing over how to dispose of everyone: one head wanted the two faction leaders humiliated, the second wanted to probe the other Transformers, and the third was so hungry he wanted to eat them all. The End Of The Universe I
Holding the assembled Autobots and Decepticons prisoner, Judge Starscream ranted to them about the injuries they had inflicted on him over the course of his life. He began losing his patience when none of them revealed the whereabouts of either Prime or Megatron, and threatened to offline Arcee, when Iaconus came online and transformed from city mode. The End Of The Universe II
Despite being targeted by Iaconus, Judge Starscream rested assured due to the Quintesson Scientist having prepared for such an event. A brainwashed Croaton came to the judge's aid and was able to tackle Iaconus… right after Starscream got knocked over the horizon by the opposing Titan. His patience worn thin, Judge Starscream offlined Iaconus by dumping some unspace material on his head. The End Of The Universe III
Ordering Coraton to annihilate Iacon City and every Transformer in it, Judge Starscream finally found Optimus Prime. But just before he could pass Optimus' sentence, Megatron suddenly appeared aboard Astrotrain and retaliated against Starscream using magical powers he obtained while in another dimension. After Coraton fled the battle—having been freed from the Quintessons' control by Windblade—Judge Starscream tried to stop Astrotrain himself but was quickly destroyed by the combined power of two Matrixes, putting the rouge Seeker's reign of treachery to a permanent end. The End Of The Universe IV
Starscream's head, as depicted from his time as a Quintesson Judge, was eventually recovered at some point following the downfall of the Quintessons by Meteorfire. Alien Hunt! With Meteorfire And Cosmos
Toys
Cyberverse
- Starscream (Scout Class, 2018)
- Action Attack: "Wing Slice"
- Cyberverse Scout Class Starscream is roughly the size of a Legends Class figure that converts from robot to
Gerwalk modejet with limbs (Also known as a "transformational mode") and back. His wings swing around in a spring-loaded "Wing Slice" attack attached to his waist, which can be locked in using the landing gear. In transformational mode, Starscream can fold his legs up to approximate a more "complete" jet mode.
- This figure is one of the few Cyberverse Starscream toys to feature knee joints. The figure was later redecoed into Slipstream.
- Starscream (1-Step Changer, 2018)
- Cyberverse 1-Step Changers Starscream is an all-new mold, transforming from jet to robot by flipping the nosecone backwards.
- Starscream (Warrior Class, 2018)
- Action Attack: "Wing Slice"
- Released as part of the first wave of Cyberverse Warrior Class lineup, this Starscream is a Deluxe-sized figure that converts from robot to jet and back. His "Wing Slice" Action Attack gimmick is activated by winding up a spring in his waist and releasing the upper part of the figure, allowing it to spin and flip out its spring-loaded wing blades with centrifugal force. The underside of these panels, normally hidden, are painted over in bright pink with large silver Decepticon Insignia. The waist can be locked in place by pegging his landing gear onto a peg on his backside. Additionally, he has non-firing Null Ray blasters molded into his forearms with 5 mm post hole hands.
- While his arms have articulation comparable to other Cyberverse Warrior Class toys, Starscream has the unusual distinction of having his hip swivels molded together, meaning the front-to-back movement is in tandem. He also lacks knees, likely due to his whole legs being cast from the same grey plastic. Despite this otherwise restricted movement, he can splay his legs out to the sides due to hinges on his hips, allowing splits and high kicks. Also unusual, the middle recess on his forehead is shown as unpainted in promotional images (including on the back of his box) and yellow in character art, but is painted in metallic blue on the actual toy. He lacks the red stripes on the inner wings on the final product as well.
- This mold was redecoed into Thundercracker, Acid Storm, and Slipstream.
- Starscream (Warrior Class, 2020)
- Action Attack: "Starseeker Missile"
- This warrior class version of Starscream is a brand new mold, transforming into a cybertronian jet and back. His new Starseeker Missile Action Attack has his null rays (now fixed to his wings rather than his arms) flip up and forward. This Starscream has more show accurate paint apps and proportions in robot mode than the last version, but only just. Differences include larger wings, transparent orange wing-mounted null rays, no outward movement in the arms, a more show accurate whitish plastic, darker blue pain apps and forearm plastic, painted hands, and separately jointed legs with knees of all things, plus many other features making him a different figure. His vehicle mode is now seemingly inspired by the Vic Viper Starfighter from the Gradius video game series, with blade-like wing extensions extending past the nosecone.
- Due to his large wings extending so far above his head, he is packaged in a squatting position. His poor knees.
- Starscream (Ultra Class, 2018)
- Japanese Name: Launcher Strike Starscream
- Japanese Release Date: July 2019
- JapanesE ID Number: TCV-04
- Action Attack: "Starseeker Missile"
- This Cyberverse Starscream is a Voyager-sized figure that converts from a robot to a jet with two giant missile pods under his wings and back. His Action Attack gimmick, when triggered, pops fourteen non-firing missiles from his missile pods (seven on each side), with molded 'smoke trails' to simulate a carpet bombing attack.
- Starscream (Battle Class, 2019)
- Japanese Name: Shovel Fighter Starscream
- Japanese Release Date: September 2019
- Japanese ID Number: TCV-14
- Spark Armor: "Demolition Destroyer"
- Cyberverse Battle Class Starscream is a smaller (about the size of older Scout Class toys), less Action Attack-laden new mold that transforms from robot to a fighter jet. He comes with a bulldozer accessory that also forms his battle armor. He features very few paint applications, which is more evident than his larger Warrior class figure due to being uniformly cast in dark grey plastic. He also features more articulation that his previous toy, with ball joints in his shoulders and hips as well as elbow, knee, and waist joints. His bulldozer armor becomes a new helmet, leg armor, and a shovel weapon. His forearms also sport hexagonal, 5 mm post compatible ports. His transformation scheme is similar to the Thrilling 30 and Authentics figures.
- Starscream (Tiny Turbo Changer, 2019)
- Series: 1, 2
- Bag code: K
- Part of the first Series of Cyberverse Tiny Turbo Changers, Starscream is a soft-plastic robot who transforms into a tiny fighter jet.
- This mold was also used to make Acid Storm.
Merchandise
McDonalds
- Starscream (Happy Meal Toy, 2018)
- Starscream (Happy Meal Toy, 2019)
- As a second Happy Meal promotion for Cyberverse, Starscream is a 4-inch-tall non-transforming figure with articulation at the neck, hips and arms. As an Action Masters-esque play feature, he includes a small excavator (reminiscent of his Battle Class toy) that can be separated in half and reattached into various pins around his body as weapons or pieces of armor.
Burger King
- Starscream (Burger King Toy, 2019)
- Oddly enough released just one month before the aforementioned Happy Meal toy, Burger King's take on Starscream is a non-transforming figure that also looks rather reminiscent to his Battle Class toy with the inclusion of yellow excavator parts sculpted on his body as armor. His hips are articulated and both his arms can be flung upwards at the same time by pressing an action feature button on the rear. Interestingly, he includes a decal sheet for his chest, wings and legs, making him the only one of the four Burger King Cyberverse toys to feature stickers.
Notes
- As with the majority of the Cyberverse cast, Starscream's design is based on the Evergreen design also used for his Generation 1 counterpart, with some minor stylistic tweaks that, unlike almost every other version of Starscream in existence, make him look different from his Seeker comrades aside from paint jobs. However, this is not reflected on their toys, as all current toys of the Seekers are simple redecos of Starscream's (save Ultra Class Slipstream).
- Firstly, he has a unique head sculpt that is very different from the other default "male" and "female" heads the rest of the Seekers use.
- Secondly, his wings are wide with a zigzagging edge compared to the other Seekers' narrow wings with a sharp tip at the end.
- Lastly, he has forearm-mounted null-rays whereas the other Seekers have their null-rays mounted on their upper arms.
- The Japanese dub of Cyberverse Starscream is basically Aligned Starscream. His voice actor gives Cyberverse Screamer the same mannerisms and histrionic personality as Aligned Starscream had in the Japanese dub of Transformers: Prime.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Starscream (スタースクリーム Sutāsukurīmu)
See also
References
- ↑ Character bios at the official Cyberverse website
