#tfeu

I absolutely love this direct parallel. Thundercracker is always such an interesting character when he's portrayed like this - he's loyal to the Decepticon cause, but not interested in wanton destruction and death the way many other Decepticons are. He pities small weak things and finds no entertainment or honour in killing them unless he absolutely has to.

From the sneak peek for Transformers #10

Rather than being relegated to the role of comedic relief, Starscream is depicted as a force to be reckoned with and an irredeemable character. (As much I want to see a redemption arc, it doubt it's possible.) Upon being reawakened on Earth by Jetfire, what's the first thing he does ?

He shoots Bumblebee's face, blasts his only friend for showing weakness and squishes Carly's father like a squeaky toy just for fun.

Later, he willingly abandons an injured Skywarp, telling him he'll come back for him, only he does the opposite and shoots a hospital. This shows how careless Starscream is of the other Decepticons and how he's willing to abandon his men if it benefits him. Once they get back to base, the wounded Seeker is ripped apart in order to repair Teletraan-1 with his parts.

In Issue #13, Starscream mentions that he and his "brothers" are refusing to join a side, clearly referring to Thundercracker and Skywarp. This makes Starscream and Soundwave tearing Skywarp apart even more disturbing than it already was. Did I mention Starscream kicked Soundwave's Ravage and replaces Skywarp with Thundercracker ?

During Devastator's attack on The Ark, Starscream is shot by Carly, only to be spared by Cliffjumper. (Mind you he killed Cliff's entire clan.) Just when he's about to kill Carly in a similar fashion to her father's death, he's accidentally injured by the combiner.

After being challenged by Soundwave in a fight for leadership over the Decepticons in Issue #7, Starscream has his eye gouged by Laserbeak and gets tossed into an active volcano.

It isn't until issue #13 where we see what happens to him and and how he came to be. Prior to the war, Starscream was a blue-eyed scientist named Ulchtar and was friends with Jetfire and a Decepticon named Genvo.

After Jetfire leaves Cybertron, a battle erupts outside Ulchtar's lab before a stray missile destroys the building. Genvo grabs his friend and runs, but gets shot by none other than Optimus Prime himself. Ulchtar is praised by his friend for "screaming the stars into seeing us" before dying in his arms.

With his work destroyed and his friend dead, Ulchtar ponders his future until Megatron approaches him and offers revenge for Genvo and his clan as a Decepticon. Upon being asked what his brothers called him, Ulchtar's eyes turn red and, inspired by his friend's dying words, answers "My name- is Starscream".

A fun little detail I love about this backstory is that both Optimus and Megatron are responsible for Ulchtar's transformation into Starscream.

Ulchtar is a more sympathetic and likeable character. Rather than the treacherous power-hungry homocidal maniac we all know and love, he's somewhat a juvenile delinquent (hence his innocent baby blue eyes) and a bit haughty, self-assured and overly confident (kinda like Maverick in the Top Gun films). When meeting Megatron, his eyes change from blue to red, showing the end of his innocence and the beginning of his corruption.

Issue #14's preview shows Starscream getting fused to a tank by the M.A.R.S. salvage team after getting his legs burned off in the previous issue.

I guess he's Cybertronian Charles Xavier now.