Starscream (Armada)
| 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 character in the Unicron Trilogy.
Starscream is disillusioned by his leader Megatron. It took a while for Starscream to come to grips with Megatron's faults, but there's no turning back. Megatron doesn't respect him, doesn't appreciate him, and would casually toss Starscream's life away if it got him something he wanted. If following Megatron is the school of hard knocks, then Starscream is the valedictorian -- but not without a few scars. Starscream may have once been compassionate, he may once have known what true friendship is, but all that has been replaced, scab for scab, with the lessons of Megatron's abuse.
Unwittingly, Megatron may have created a monster even he cannot ultimately control.
Starscream's nominal Mini-Con partner is Swindle, thought he has been seen to work with Zapmaster.
Japanese name: Nightscream (Energon)
Fiction
Animated continuity
Armada
Voice Actor: Michael Dobson (US) ??? (Japan)
Summary from Wikipedia: Across the Transformers multiverse, the name Starscream carries connotations of treachery and a desire to rule the Decepticons... but the Starscream of this universe was different. He loathed his commander, Megatron, but not out of any desire to take command of the Decepticons - simply because of the sheer mistreatment and contempt Megatron heaped upon him. Forcibly made the last of the Decepticons to gain his partner Mini-Con, Swindle, Starscream was then manipulated by Sideways into a duel with Megatron, which Starscream promptly lost. A short time later, Starscream, given ownership of the Star Saber was made the patsy in Thrust's plan to steal the Requiem Blaster from the Autobots, which led to him being abandoned on the battlefield. Surviving to return to the Decepticon base, Starscream went on a rampage with the sword and disowned the Decepticons, siding up with the wary Autobots, not out of any desire to do good, but out of sheer hatred for Megatron. After a clash with Hot Shot and a trip to Mars with Jetfire, Starscream befriended the Autobots' human allies, particularly Alexis, and then gave the Autobots access to the Decepticon base, resulting in a raid that freed all the captive Mini-Cons. However, Thrust (himself being manipulated by Sideways) then toyed with Starscream, planting seeds of doubt in his mind that eventually caused him to steal the Skyboom Shield from the Autobots and return to the Decepticon fold, giving the evil robots possession of all three Mini-Con weapons. Subsequently, Starscream was among the Transformers powered up by their Mini-Cons (the American toy renamed Starscream and Swindle to Thundercracker and Zapmaster and treated them as different characters, while the American animated series continued to use their original names, with a line inserted into the English dub that sees Starscream comment on his similarity to Thundercracker). Returning to Cybertron, Starscream engaged Thrust in battle when he revealed his treachery by stealing the Requiem Blaster and Skyboom Shield. Starscream failed in the battle, and Thrust delivered the weapons to Sideways and his master, Unicron, presently disguised as Cybertron's moon. Entering the warp gate Thrust had used, Starscream entered the belly of the beast along with Hot Shot and Wheeljack, but failed to stop Sideways from using the weapons to begin Unicron's reactivation. Galvatron was unwilling to acknowledge Unicron's threat, however, dismissing it as an Autobot trick, but Starscream knew the threat was real and that only united under a true leader like Optimus Prime could the Transformers hope to stop him. To show Galvatron the error of his ways, he challenging him to a duel in which he allowed Galvatron to run him through with the Star Saber, and then turned his firepower on Unicron, prompting the chaos-bringer to destroy him, proving to Galvatron that the danger was real.
Energon
Voice Actor: Michael Dobson (US), Nobuo Tobita (Japan)
After Megatron wrested control of the Decepticons, Alpha Q needed a new agent to continue gathering Energon for Unicron. For this purpose, he resurrected Starscream. However, Alpha Q did not have enough Energon to completely restore Starscream. The result was a Starscream with no memory of his former self. He was now a loyal phantom soldier with no ambition. Due to his incomplete nature, Starscream could teleport and turn invisable. Alpha Q gained Starscream's loyalty by telling Starscream he needed to gather more Energon so they could finish the process.
Starscream failed an assassination attempt on Megatron, who unleashed a torrent of vicious mind-games and abuse on the phantom. From then on Starscream was once again Megatron's loyal second-in-command, the latter of whom likely enjoyed the fact that this reincarnated version retained all of Starscream's skill, but none of his ambition.
Unlike the previous relationship that Megatron shared with Starscream, he would correct many of his mistakes, treating this reborn Starscream like a student or son. Now, Starscream was the only soldier he praised or trusted to any extent and Megatron trusted all operations to him. In many ways, Megatron was able to correct his poor "parental" mistakes during Armada, creating a loyal destructive soldier in Energon. Contrary to popular belief, Starscream was not under any sort of mind-control in the Energon series. What was depicted in the story was the direct result of Megatron's treatment of his brave soldier reborn: With respect. This put Starscream down a path that was the direct contradition of his Armada outcome.
Later, Megatron found the Super Energon Pool and upgraded himself to Galvatron. Starscream was the first to join him, and his form and colors were powered up. When Galvatron sacrificed himself by throwing himself into the newborn Energon sun in an attempt to destroy Unicron's essence once and for all, Starscream followed him.
Cybertron
Special Attacks: Vortex Blade, Vortex Cannon, Vortex Storm
Voice actor: Michael Dobson (US) Takaya Kuroda (Japan)
Starscream's debut in the third part to the Unicron Trilogy would be very similar to his appearances in Energon. He was seemingly the loyal soldier he was in Energon, and the only soldier Megatron trusted as his right-hand man. He appears with Megatron early on, but quickly shows that he has grown since his last appearance. He no longer trusts Megatron to lead the Decepticons, but unlike his Armada ideas, he does not seek respect and leadership, but only universal conquest. Megatron has taught him so well, they share identical dreams, even if it means unseating Megatron himself.
Starscream would go on to manipulate various characters in the Cybertron series, only to be manipulated by Sideways, once again, in his own agenda. Starscream's highlight achievement early on would be challenging and dismantling the entire Autobot army in order to obtain the Omega Lock, and retreat to Easter Island. It was during this battle that he lost the sword on his left arm, which would be replaced with a cannon when the power of Primus more than tripled his size.
He would soon be defeated by Optimus Prime and the returning Wing Saber due to his underestimation of their power. Eventually, he found himself aboard the damaged Atlantis ship, having been rescued by the agent Sideways. Due to his growing pride, Starscream engaged Primus in several battles, the last of which left him injured in outer space after being bludgeoned by two moons that Primus had lassoed with energy beams. His story continues currently in the Cybertron animated series.
Dreamwave Comics continuity
Armada
Energon
After disturbing a raid led by Tidal Wave, Starscream tangled with Scorponok's Hyper Mode, and was flung into a trash compactor, then left for dead.
Fan club Cybertron Comic
Starscream kills Mini-Con Over-run as the little guy's uploading himself into Cybertron's planetary mainframe. An allusion to a Dreamwave Comics continuity event, but apparently it also took place in the animated continuity, too? Well, okay. Don't think too hard on this one.
Toys
Armada
- Starscream with Swindle (Mega)
- Japanese ID number: MD-02
- Starscream (Happy Meal)
- Thundercracker with Zapmaster (Mega)
- Japanese ID number: MD-09
- This one's sort of Starscream. It's complicated. The Japanese version definitely was, though!
Energon
- Starscream (Deluxe)
- Japanese ID number: SD-01
- Not a remold of Smokescreen.
- Prowl with Longarm & Starscream with Zapmaster (Sam's Club exclusive)
- Energon Starscream (Deluxe)
- Japanese ID number: SD-19
Cybertron
- Starscream (Supreme)
- Supreme Starscream comes with a Decepticon Crown of Leadership(identical to the one in the Movie), two Cyber Planet Keys (Cybertron-Decepticon and a gold-trimmed Earth key), and a quarrel for his null-ray cannon. He is different from the Japanese release of the figure in a several other ways apart from size: one of his swing-out blades has been replaced with a Null Ray Cannon, a reference to Generation 1 Starscream's armaments; his swing out features are activated by two separate Cyber Key slots(leaving the original one in his back as a non-active key holder); the turrents on the side of the cockpit can also be aimed, whereas on the smaller version they were fixed in place. Lights and sounds have been added for the figure, a feature not present in the smaller figure. The lights and sounds react to the moving of his sword arm.
- Starscream (Galaxy Force Voyager)
- Japanese ID number: GD-03
- Starscream vs. Vector Prime (Toys "R" Us exclusive)
