You May Bow

pre-prime leadership

in the time period before the show, starscream was single-handedly leading the decepticons for three years. three years. absolutely no megatron (that we could see). soundwave served to keep him in line, but starscream was still running shit.

and under whose leadership did the decepticons capture not one, but two autobots, managing to get optimus prime’s message from one of them? starscream. yes, it took convincing from soundwave to go to shockwave, but here we see starscream’s willingness to listen to people, something megatron doesn’t do (we’ll get back to this).

(starscream also deduced that since he had to deliver energon anyway, going to shockwave was killing two birds with one stone.)

and it wasn’t just starscream that caused the prisoners to escape. don’t forget that shockwave gets not only blinded by arcee, but stranded on a dead planet. it’s so funny later when in season three he references that. bro you were literally there too.

starscream was already an air commander before the show, so he has plenty experience leading troops.

let’s also remember that starscream had like how many energon mines? he makes sure to save some energon for himself for safe keeping. he was fighting a war of attrition — and winning.

2. his kill actually stays dead (and is actually relevant)

obviously i have to mention cliffjumper. although yes, you could argue that killing an already beat-up prisoner isn’t much of an accomplishment, but let’s not forget that starscream’s one of the only decepticons to kill an autobot in the show; with arachnid, megatron, and dreadwing being exceptions.

megatron should really have an asterisk next to his name, since bumblebee didn’t stay dead. arachnid also killed an already wounded prisoner. dreadwing is really the only kind of competent example (he blew up seaspray).

but the differences between these deaths and the death of cliffjumper is that his death has the most impact. he’s mentioned multiple times throughout the series, and his death sets the tone for what the autobots are truly facing. who strikes this fear? starscream.

seaspray is never mentioned again; the only reaction he really gets is a few second show of sympathy. you could argue that his death ignites the whole feud with dreadwing, but i’d argue that it would’ve happened regardless.

tailgate is only really relevant in arcee-focused episodes; half her episodes don’t even mention him.

bumblebee was dead for like two minutes; and he got his voice back. then he killed megatron. his death was basically a feel-good moment. way to go, mr. i’m-always-the-smartest-in-the-room. literally the funniest shit i’ve ever seen.

(no, but seriously. bee getting his voice back is one of my favorite moments in the series.)

meanwhile, starscream’s killing of cliffjumper strikes terror in the autobots. arcee says in the same episode, “we’re alone wherever we travel on this rock, cliff.” it wasn’t just his death that impacted them; it was also the fact the decepticons were still lurking around. the autobots thought they were safe. they were wrong.

also, don’t forget that starscream would’ve killed wheeljack if it wasn’t for soundwave. he could’ve offed two autobots not even halfway through season one. that’s crazy.

3. master chef

when it comes to planning, starscream’s cooking gourmet. let’s first discuss his plans outside of his solo arc (we’ll get to those later).

obviously we have skyquake. i don’t know why he was chilling in that plateau unused, but whatever, megatron. don’t use your assets. whatever.

after a beating from the aforementioned mech, starscream later uses dark energon to raise skyquake from the dead. he came up with his revenge plan almost instantly.

as soon as starscream finds out wheeljack is heading to earth, he immediately jumps into action, using makeshift to impersonate the autobot. he would’ve found their base a season before the decepticons ended up finding it. the plan didn’t fail because of starscream. literally everyone around him caused the plan to go up in flames.

also, this isn’t confirmed, but in season three, i think the reason starscream was so certain that wheeljack would escape — certain enough to put a tracking device on him — is because he did it before. starscream doesn’t underestimate wheeljack as much as the others — he underestimated him enough to think he wouldn’t find the device — because he paid for that mistake before.

the silas plan, also in season three, was also due to starscream. he told knock out only a drop or two of dark energon should be used; knock out injected a whole vial. that’s on him. knock out didn’t face much of a punishment for the zombie fiasco; starscream gets beat for the millionth time.

and let’s not forget his most devious plan: getting the autobots to destroy the predacons, with the aim to also get predaking to destroy them — or vice versa. it could be argued that this is one of the smartest moments in the whole show. it’s okay because of knock out’s big ass mouth that ratchet was able to tell predaking the truth.

megatron hardly plans. he’s not someone who acts — not like starscream does. he’s literally an npc until someone else does something, and half the time it goes like this (paraphrasing from the energon zombie episode):

“master, i’ve just made the most intriguing discovery! :D”

“nOt NoW sTaRsCrEaM! >:( continue, shockwave. no, it’s no one important.”

like girl WHAT.

megatron’s stupidest fuck-up has got to be the whole orion pax thing. for such a supposedly cunning mech, he’s really dumb sometimes. i came up with better lies to tell orion while watching the episodes. telling him starscream was dead was just…seriously?

just lie and tell orion that starscream left after trying to kill you! that’s it! that’s all you had to say, megatron!

small lies build up. if megatron lied about something as seemingly inconsequential as that, then there’s got to be more to things, right? sure, i don’t think anyone expected starscream to find the ship, but underestimating him is a common theme in this show. besides, if megatron wants to cover all his bases, it's better to, you know, lie better. ratchet being a warlord? bro wut.

also, encrypt your files better. or maybe do better at restricting his access? orion was recharging at one point; do it then. you’re telling me soundwave couldn’t figure out how to do that? he can do literally everything else.

(soundwave superior.)

4. starscream alone

this is a continuation of section three. halfway through season one, zuko becomes starscream’s literally me character. you’d think he’d fare terribly, but no. if anything, he performs better when allowed to spread his wings (haha).

it could be argued that megatron holds starscream back (as seen by his immediate dismissal of him when conversing with shockwave). by being the tyrant he is, he keeps starscream from doing what he does better than most on the show. notice how starscream’s best plans happen when megatron isn’t around? even the silas plan, which again, failed because of knock out, was smart.

let’s go down the list of feats:

starscream was able to find the decepticon war ship on his own (seemingly without any extra technology to do so).

not instantly killing orion pax and letting him elaborate on the situation was a smart move. if the vehicons hadn’t appeared, starscream likely would’ve gotten something out of orion in exchange for the truth, as orion’s nature wouldn’t allow starscream to leave with nothing.

megatron doesn’t barter the same way starscream does. with megatron, it’s mostly lives he barters with (bulkhead, the kids); with starscream, he expands his avenues.

megatron only teamed up with the autobots because he couldn’t let someone else rule earth who wasn’t him.

starscream allying himself with MECH wasn’t a good idea by any means, but i do see where he’s coming from. he’s all alone, running low on energon, and would be captured/killed by decepticons if they found him. wanting an army makes sense for his situation; not only for protection, but for the obvious reason of taking out megatron and any decepticon that still supports him. it’s also here that starscream almost permanently takes away bumblebee’s ability to transform.

losing his own t-cog didn’t hinder starscream as much as it would for some; if anything, it brings the best of his intelligence out of him. even though he’s working with the limited resources in the harbinger, he concocts and pulls off scheme after scheme.

with cloning being in starscream’s means, this was the next obvious step. upon talking to the clones, who by their own admission tell him they are exactly like him, starscream realizes that he miscalculated. he knew that even before he sent them up to the ship. i think part of him was hoping they would fail, just so he wouldn’t have to deal with them running around. starscream also knew that the last clone would try and kill him.

starscream takes advantage of dreadwing and optimus being distracted in order to get the apex armor. they were forced to work together to subdue him, and only succeeded in sending bro to the bottom of the ocean, which does absolutely nothing to deter him.

even after starscream loses the armor, does he let that stop him? of course not. he secures red energon, and becomes the only reason the decepticons are able to get all the omega keys. the whole plan with the dead clone was genius. starscream’s also the one that helps knock out figure out how the keys work.

5. starscream isn’t cuckoo for cocoa puffs

here we are. the meat and potatoes. this section won’t just discuss the differences in megatron and starscream’s psyches, but differences in operation.

after starscream absorbed the dark energon shard, he viewed himself as invincible; Optimus shooting off his arm showed him he was not. after he returns to the nemesis, starscream takes the shard from his chest and looks down at it with an uncomfortable and disgusted expression; he never goes on to inject himself with dark energon again.

the fact starscream is willing to yell at megatron not to do something is proof of how seriously he took the threat of dark energon. because yeah, maybe injecting yourself with the blood of the cyber-eldritch embodiment of pure evil isn’t exactly a good idea. imagine that. but apparently megatron can’t imagine it.

now we gotta talk about earth. lemme ask the obvious question: why didn’t the decepticons just, i don’t know, take over cybertron? it’s abandoned. there’s no way for the autobots to even get back there!

but no! no! megatron just has to cross the fucking universe in order to chase after his ex-boyfriend! besides the energon, that’s the only reason the decepticons are on earth!

starscream’s enraged when optimus destroys the omega lock. but megatron? he laughs because he knows where the autobot base is. not sure that’s the first thing you should be thinking about.

megatron didn’t care about restoring cybertron for the sake of it — he wants to rule. if he can’t do that, then fuck cybertron. this mentality was evident when he said, “why rule over one world, when i can rule two?”

you did not have to raise that zombie army! you did not have to create an emo star saber! you did not have to cut off a prime’s arm AS WELL AS YOUR OWN and switch them out with each other! you did not have to do ANYTHING except go back and conquer cybertron! there is NO ONE THERE. THE WAR IS OVER. but nooooo, he’s gotta be all obsessed with optimus. like bro he’s LITERALLY the original yandere.

“nO oNe KiLlS oPtImUs BuT mE!”

starscream tried. what happened? megatron beat the shit outta him. my boy didn’t even DO anything but try and make his life easier.

it’s because of this treatment that starscream is completely reasonable to beg megatron for mercy, or when he sucks up to him. megatron is a former gladiator, who routinely beats him — who could kill him at any moment.

although starscream doesn’t feel bad for committing violence — and is shown to revel in it from time to time — he’s nowhere near the level of megatron, who’s simply in it for the love of the game. starscream will and can fight; despite this, he still isn’t physically imposing.

unlike megatron, starscream knows how to be chill with the autobots.his inability to beat someone the way megatron beats him requires starscream to use mind over matter. starscream has to rely on his wits.

it was only because of starscream that the autobots found the space bridge. in exchange for ratchet treating him, of course. starscream later brings his cooperation up after he contacts the autobots a second time. trying to get them to go after arachnid, even for selfish gain, just…made sense? if you’re happy and enjoying your life, arachnid will take that personally and try to put a stop to it.

back to the violence. starscream isn’t typically someone whose first resort is brutality. when starscream snuck onto the nemesis, he hesitated killing those two vehicon soldiers — even though he did it without any effort.

this sort of restraint is partially why he’s able to be so chill with the autobots at times. if starscream truly hated optimus prime like megatron did, he would’ve just launched those missiles right at his spark; instead, he hears orion out and eventually stops pointing the missiles at him. for the rest of the conversation, starscream goes along with orion’s amnesia, and is no longer hostile with him.

he spared arcee when he easily could’ve added another one of them to his kill count. starscream had absolutely no reason to even the score, but he did. megatron wouldn’t have been so generous.

starscream’s clone also doesn’t immediately attack bulkhead when he encounters him on the ship. he was completely ready to let the autobot go, because the only person he was there to kill was megatron. sure, he would’ve left bulkhead to figure things out by himself, but that’s better than, i don’t know, blowing his head off with a missile?

i will acknowledge that starscream was trying to be stealthy, but if anything, that only shows difference in restraint. megatron wouldn’t have given a fuck about alerting others, because his ego and love of violence outweighs rationale.

(i do think this also applies to the vehicon situation.)

after megaton wakes up from his coma, what’s the first thing he does? he orders the death of the autobots.

there are a few times starscream indulges in megatron-like violence, such as when he used the harvester on a vehicon. he did it to intimidate knock out and breakdown, so there was strategic purpose.

speaking of breakdown, starscream not only wanted to rescue him, but he covered for him by not telling megatron the truth about bulkhead coming to the rescue. although he ordered breakdown to destroy the autobot, starscream was clearly paranoid about a potential change of heart; this was a way for his contemporary to prove his loyalty.

megatron is fully self-aware of how diabolical he is. when talking to soundwave about orion, he says that his innate sense of right and wrong will eventually kick in. megatron knows that he himself is “the wrong.” he just doesn’t care.

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thanks for reading! this was super fun to write, and i hope you enjoyed reading my essay as much as i enjoyed concocting it. i tried making it entertaining, and i hope i succeeded.