Starscream (Generation One)

"My time will come, Megatron!"

- Starscream to Megatron

Starscream is a Decepticon from many different continuities of the Transformers universe. An ambitious and treacherous sort of fellow, he most often gets his chance to lead after backstabbing or betraying Megatron in some form.

He was voiced by the late legendary voice actor, Chris Latta.

Generation One
'"I will rule the universe! Even if I'm the only one in the universe!"

- Starscream in Generation 1 '

Animated Series
Starscream is one of Megatron's most trusted lieutenants, in spite of the fact that he is always trying to usurp Megatron's leadership. Starscream's disloyalty grew more and more obvious to Megatron as the series progressed. Starscream was formerly a scientist and explorer, working with the future Autobot Skyfire (Jetfire), during the Golden Age of Cybertron, shortly before the Autobot/Decepticon war re-erupted. Following the disappearance of Skyfire when the two were exploring a prehistoric Earth, Starscream returned to Cybertron and soon abandoned his scientific pursuits, becoming a warrior in Megatron's Decepticon army as the civil war exploded, considering it "far more exciting". Starscream attended the Cybertron War Academy, mentioned in the episode "A Prime Problem".

Acting as second-in-command of the elite troops Megatron took with him aboard the Nemesis, Starscream was among the Transformers trapped in stasis on Earth for four million years after the Decepticons attacked the Autobot craft, Ark, causing it to crash on the planet. When the ship's computer, Teletraan I, was reactivated by a volcanic explosion in 1984, the Decepticons were the first to be reactivated and were restored with new Earthly alternate modes. Before departing, Starscream shot at the Ark as a petty parting gesture, causing a small tremor that knocked Optimus Prime into the path of the reconstruction beam, allowing the Autobots to be restored, and the war to continue on Earth.

As the war continued, Starscream's old friend Skyfire was discovered frozen in the Arctic Circle, and Megatron noted how concerned Starscream was to see Skyfire rescued. Starscream even took control of the revival process and successfully re-awakened his old friend. It was this friendship that initially led Skyfire to join the Decepticons, but when the latter refused to hurt humans, both Megatron and Starscream voiced their disgust. Not long after, several Autobots came to investigate the Decepticon activity and were subsequently captured; Starscream prepared to execute them and Starscream offered to forgive Skyfire if the latter would accept the first shot. Skyfire, disillusioned by his old friend's new warlike ways, joined the Autobots instead, and Starscream no longer gave him a second thought.

During the cataclysmic events that ensued when Megatron transported Cybertron into Earth's orbit, Starscream attempted to use the Decepticons' human ally, Doctor Arkeville, for his own purposes. Starscream forced him to take him to his secret lab, where he destabilized Arkeville's exponential generator, which, when it reached critical mass, would destroy the Earth. Starscream then fled with Arkeville to Cybertron, where Starscream intended to collect the energy released in Earth's destruction. When Optimus Prime and Megatron were forced to work together to stop Starscream's plan, Starscream returned to Earth to investigate why the generator had not exploded. Meanwhile, to remove the threat of the generator, Prime loaded it into Megatron's gun barrel and fired it into space—blasting Starscream out of the air in the process, causing him to fall to Earth and into a vengeful Megatron's clutches.

Starscream was a prominent figure in most of Megatron's schemes over the next year, but also made several further plays for power—teaming up with the Triple Changers Blitzwing and Astrotrain to betray Megatron, only to be double-crossed himself; duping the paranoiac Autobot, Red Alert into allowing him to acquire the Autobots' Negavator weapon; incapacitating Megatron's Nightbird robot to maintain his own position of power; getting drunk on energon, and more. Ironically, given his invariably treacherous nature, he was the first to sniff out Nergill's treachery when the Decepticons united with the underwater residents of Sub-Atlantica to take over the world, even going as far as saving Megatron from being shot by Nergill. Generally, almost every time that (the virtually indestructible) Megatron sustained even the slightest damage in a battle, Starscream would claim that Megatron had "fallen", and frantically urge the Decepticons to immediately follow himself as their new leader.

In 1985, Starscream was responsible for the creation of the Combaticons by liberating their imprisoned personality components from a detention center on Cybertron and installing them into five World War II vehicles left over from the Battle of Guadalcanal. He changed them into more modern vehicular forms (for example, he made Vortex the helicopter out of a crashed World War II fixed-wing aircraft). He intended them to be his own private army after he was exiled from the Decepticons for attempting to betray Megatron one too many times. Although the Combaticons had defeated Devastator and had Megatron relinquish control of the Decepticons to Starscream using their combined form, Bruticus, they were defeated by an intervening Menasor. Megatron subsequently had Astrotrain relocate Starscream and his giant ally Bruticus, to an asteroid in deep space. Finding himself once again in exile, Starscream vowed revenge.

Despite the promises of revenge on Megatron from his creations, Starscream abandoned the Combaticons, blaming them for his failure to take over the Decepticons (where in reality they had helped him succeed). In a mix of cabin fever and boredom, he took his chances venturing into outer space. Ironically, the Combaticons ended up taking control of Cybertron by exiling Shockwave into deep space [where he ran into Starscream] and altered the space bridge to push the Earth into then sun, achieving revenge on Megatron, the Autobots, the Decepticons, and the Earth. Starscream arrived on Cybertron and tried to reclaim his leadership over his creations, but was imprisoned by the Combaticons along with Shockwave. The Combaticon take over forced another uneasy alliance between the Autobots and Decepticons, who fought Bruticus and ultimately defeated him, thanks to a weak spot revealed by Starscream in exchange for Megatron not killing him on the spot.

The Transformers: The Movie
In the year 2005, (the storyline year for the events of the 1986 release, The Transformers: The Movie), Starscream, along with many other Decepticons, hijacked an Autobot shuttle bound for Autobot City; Megatron's plan being to slip past the city's early warning systems and decimate the Autobots there. At one point during the conflict, Starscream was forced to blast off his own foot in order to escape after being trapped in a transforming section of Autobot City. The Decepticons were eventually forced to retreat after reinforcements led by Optimus Prime arrived. However, Starscream finally got his long-awaited chance to dispose of Megatron—who was severely damaged following his final battle with Optimus Prime—by jettisoning him from Astrotrain, into the endless void of deep-space. After this, Starscream won the surviving Decepticons' battle to decide a new leader. Starscream's long-dreamt-of reign did not last long, however—as he was crowning himself leader/king of the Decepticons, Galvatron arrived, deriding Starscream's coronation as "bad comedy". Just as Starscream realized that Galvatron was actually Megatron in a new, more powerful body (provided by Unicron), Galvatron obliterated him, literally turning Starscream's body to ashes with a single blast while in his cannon mode.

Return as a ghost
Starscream's spark (the core of each Cybertronian that contains their soul/consciousness—referred to as a "laser core" in the original animated series) survived, however, apparently confined to the Decepticon crypt on Cybertron, and he continued to exist in a ghost-like form. When the Decepticon turncoat, Octane, sought refuge from his pursuers in the crypt, Starscream's ghost seized control of Cyclonus' body, and worked with Octane to turn Galvatron over to the Autobots and take leadership of the Decepticons for themselves. Galvatron defeated his captors, escaped, and returned to blast Starscream (literally) out of Cyclonus—only for the ghostly Decepticon to quietly take up residence in a Sweep. A short time later, he possessed Scourge and entered into a bargain with Unicron, performing three labors for the planet-eater in exchange for getting his body back. Acquiring the eyes of Metroplex and the Transforming Cog of Trypticon, Starscream's body was restored so that he could comprise the final connection between Unicron's head and Cybertron, allowing the planet to become the chaos-bringer's new body. However, now that he had what he wanted, Starscream reneged on the agreement. At that point, an explosion instigated by the Autobots hurled Starscream and Unicron's head off into space. Starscream was last seen tumbling out of control through space.

Beast Wars
Starscream doesn't physically appear in Beast Wars, except for his body left in statis lock aboard the Ark spaceship, however Starscream's spark manage possess Waspinator, and temporary took over the Predacons. Ironically he is betrayed by Blackarachnia, and forced out of Waspinator, sending him flying back into space.

There is also a Predacon who is very similar to him called Terrorsaur, who too had the transformation of flight and the same attitude and dangerous ambitions to take over the leadership of his robot race.

Comics
Starscream appears in every comic continuity and was the main villain of idw comics story arc combiner wars.