Starscream


 * For the disc jockey DJ Starscream, see Sid Wilson.

Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream almost always is portrayed with the same characterization. Formerly being a scientist, Starscream is a treacherous, high ranking Decepticon who turns into a jet and is known to often challenge his leader Megatron for leadership of the Decepticons.

Transformers: Generation 1
Due to his treachery and personality, Starscream has had many future characters within the franchise to bear his name, most of which share his desire to become leader of the Decepticons. Starscream has, at some points, had control over the Decepticons, but his actions usually lead him to being defeated, or overruled by the more powerful Megatron. Starscream makes no secret of his ambition to overthrow Megatron as leader of the Decepticons. He is more intelligent than the average Decepticon, ruthless and cruel, but he is also unlikely to directly act on his ultimate ambition without assurance of conditions favorable to his ascension. He considers himself vastly superior to other Decepticons, and looks down on Megatron for being antiquated in his military strategies and tactics. Starscream believes that the Decepticons should rely more on guile and speed rather than brute destructive force to defeat the Autobots, although when he is given the chance to strike out on his own, he is often less successful than Megatron. Megatron frequently overlooks the potential threat that Starscream represents, though it is occasionally suggested that Megatron tolerates his presence for various reasons, such as a grudging respect for his scheming nature, or a mere safety precaution to keep an eye on him. However, Starscream often exhausts Megatron's patience quickly; violent-yet-brief verbal and/or physical conflicts are not uncommon between the two.

Abilities
Starscream transforms into a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and serves as the Decepticon Air Commander, leading the other Decepticon Seeker jets, many of whom share his physical design. According to his technical specifications, he can reach speeds up to Mach 2.8, and can climb up to sub-orbital altitudes of 52 mi and nose-dive down to ground level in minutes (the real aircraft has a top speed of Mach 2.5 with an altitude ceiling of 65000 ft, or 12.3 miles). His arm is mounted with launchers (mounted under his wings in jet mode), which can launch two types of weaponry — cluster bombs, each of which can level an area 10000 sqft, and his signature weapon, the null ray, which can disrupt the flow of electricity in any circuitry it hits for brief periods, effectively rendering any electronic device or machine (including Transformers) temporarily inoperable.

Marvel Comics
Note: Events specific to the Marvel U.K. comic appear in italics. Again serving as one of Megatron's elite troops in the attack on the Ark, the Marvel Comics incarnation of Starscream possessed the desire to take leadership of the Decepticons, but in the early days of the war on Earth, he limited his actions to making snide remarks about Megatron's capabilities, and did not accomplish any notable acts apart from nearly getting scrapped by Megatron after one snide comment too many. When he participated in an attack on the Ark with several of his fellow Decepticons, Starscream was deactivated by Omega Supreme, and sealed in a stasis pod in the Ark for a prolonged period of time.

''At the same time, the U.K. offices of Marvel Comics were producing their own storylines which were interspliced throughout the U.S. material. Here, writer Simon Furman portrayed the character's scheming and ambition with more subtlety than the animated series, making Starscream more intelligent and cunning than clownish. He was often the focus of his own stories, including a Christmas special based around Starscream's misery at being stranded on Earth. In this story and in many others penned by Furman, Starscream often came across as wry and sarcastic. He was one of the most formidable warriors in the Decepticon army and adversaries were often shown to be visibly intimidated by him before he had even begun to fight. At different points in the series, he bests fellow high ranking Decepticons Ravage and Soundwave in combat, as well as the Autobot Brawn.''

'In the U.K. tales, Starscream was briefly revived from his stasis prison to participate in the events of the Target: 2006 mega-serial, where he teamed up with future Decepticon leader Galvatron. Galvatron tolerated his service with amusement, aware of the irony in the situation — Starscream thought that working with Galvatron would ensure his future, but thanks to Galvatron, Starscream had no future, since he was destined to die at his hands in 2006 (in the comic's alternate-future rendition of The Transformers: The Movie). When Autobots from the future duped Galvatron into turning against Starscream, a repainted Skywarp stood in for Starscream, who Galvatron then blasted. Believing that he had altered his timeline by killing "Starscream", Galvatron returned to his future, while the future Autobots returned the true Starscream to stasis.''

In the U.S. stories, Starscream was liberated from his imprisonment by the new Decepticon leader, Ratbat, who appointed him second-in-command of his operations. Starscream would immediately return to form, learning of Ratbat's plan to acquire the power of the Underbase, and orchestrating a massive battle between the Autobot and Decepticon forces that allowed him to seize the colossal information bank's energy. Now imbued with incredible amounts of power, Starscream turned his attention to Earth, and deactivated scores of Transformers who attempted to stand against him. As he steadily mutated into a gigantic being, Starscream was stopped by Optimus Prime, who tricked him into absorbing more of the Underbase's energy — more than his body could handle, destroying him.

''At this point, Simon Furman began penning the U.S. comic book as well as its U.K. counterpart, and quickly returned Starscream to the fold. In the U.K. comics, Megatron had Dreadwind and Darkwing locate Starscream's shattered body, only to find that it still possessed some of the Underbase's power, and drained it away using their Powermaster partners, leaving the body lifeless.''

Megatron then had Autobot surgeon Ratchet reconstruct Starscream as a Pretender, and had him attack Optimus Prime and Scorponok's forces on Earth. Ratchet disobeyed Megatron's request to reprogram his mind, however, and Starscream's original cowardly personality soon re-emerged.

''Issue #248 of the Marvel U.K. Transformers comic featured a story called "Fallen Star", where Starscream began to doubt himself, despite being among the most powerful Transformers. Soundwave, Mindwipe and Weirdwolf feared Starscream would attack, but Starscream thought they were laughing at him behind his back. Leaving, Starscream came across the Autobots Chainclaw, Cloudburst and Getaway, who were assigned by Optimus Prime to spy on him. Starscream soundly defeated all three Autobots and regained his self-confidence.''

''The U.K. comics then began a breakaway storyline that diverged the continuities, centering around the exploits of the Earthforce, the Earth-based Autobot sub-team. Through a team-up with Soundwave, Starscream succeeded in deposing Megatron and Shockwave briefly, before they returned seeking vengeance. Starscream, however, had some unlikely protectors — the Autobots needed him alive so that his compatible systems could boost those of the Dinobot Snarl, who was dying from the rusting disease, Corrodia Gravis.''

''Issue #279 of the Marvel U.K. Transformers comic featured a story called "Divide and Conquer!" where Soundwave led the bulk of the Decepticon forces on Earth against the Autobot Earthforce headquarters, while Starscream attacked an oil tanker. Sent into battle by Prowl, the Dinobots routed the main Decepticon forces while Springer led the Autobot Survivors, Broadside, Inferno, Skids, and Carnivac to defeat Starscream.''

In the U.S. comics, Starscream went on from his rebirth as a Pretender to join up with Shockwave in instigating the Decepticon Civil War, and was transported to Cybertron along with all the other Transformers in preparation for the battle against Unicron. Following the Transformers' victory, Starscream and Shockwave fled the planet in a restored Ark. On the way the two discovered some unlikely company — Megatron and Ratchet, both restored by Nucleon. Starscream found Ratchet and prepared to kill him. However, in a fit of rage at Starscream's casual attitude to murder, Ratchet defeated the Decepticon. In order to prevent Megatron and Galvatron escaping to threaten the universe once more, Ratchet crashed the Ark on Earth.

In Generation 2 Starscream had been deactivated in the crash of the Ark, but Megatron, who had also been on board, was the only survivor, and over the next few years, restored the Ark, entering into a deal with the human terrorist organization, Cobra, which helped him obtain a new body and weapons. Desperate for troops and in spite of his own misgivings about doing so, Megatron then reactivated Starscream (considering his only other choice was Shockwave, Megatron still felt he had made a good decision). Starscream served Megatron with at least a semblance of loyalty, ferrying him to his showdown with Bludgeon, but when he realized Megatron was going to eliminate him after his new Matrix-created army was functional, he betrayed him by alerting the forces of the Cybertronian general Jhiaxus to the location of the joint Autobot/Decepticon base.

Starscream made an appearance in the Decepticon forces under the command of Megatron in issue #7 of the Marvel Generation 2 comic series, in a story called "New Dawn." Megatron led his Decepticons against Jhiaxus' second generation Cybertronians near the moon of Tykos. The Decepticons were defeated and Megatron left injured, presumed dead, but swearing revenge.

Starscream was subsequently able to acquire the Creation Matrix (previously stolen from Optimus Prime by Megatron), and used it to merge himself with the Decepticon craft, the Warworld, turning himself into a living weapon. However, Starscream found his mind affected by the innate goodness of the Matrix, and rejected it in order to preserve his own personality.

Starscream appeared in his Generation 2 form in the short lived U.K. Generation 2'' comic series. This series also printed a bio for Starscream where he had the new motto "I have a code of conduct — victory at all costs!"''

Animated series
Starscream was formerly a scientist and explorer, working with the 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.

Starscream would make use of his old scientist profession in the future, particularly when he and several other Decepticons were temporarily displaced in time to medieval England. When the weapons of the time-displaced transformers ceased functioning, Starscream knew how to use available materials to create gunpowder as a substitute for himself and the other Decepticons. He was also able create an electric dynamo to replenish their depleted energy.

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 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.

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 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.

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, as Galvatron and the other Decepticons opened fire on him which pushed Starscream far into space.

After the animated series ended in North America, Starscream appeared in animated form in the commercial for the Classic Pretenders.

The precise reason for Starscream's ability to survive after death was never revealed in the original animated series, but would later be covered in Beast Wars. (see below)

Books
Starscream appears in the following books:
 * The 1984 sticker and story book Return to Cybertron written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.
 * The 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.
 * The 1985 Find Your Fate Junior book called Battle Drive by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel.
 * The 1985 Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Megatron's Fight For Power, Autobots Fight Back and Laserbeak's Fury, as well as Galvatron's Air Attack from the 1986 series. In the books, he is depicted as having a yellow visor.
 * The 1985 audio book Sun Raid.
 * The 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books.

Fun Publications
Based on the Transformers Classics toy line, the Timelines 2007 story is set 15 years after the end of the Marvel Comics story (ignoring all events of the Marvel U.K. and Generation 2 comics). Megatron survived the crash of the Ark on Earth. He is joined by Starscream, who realized he needed a leader.

In Transformers: Timelines volume 2 #2, "Games of Deception" Megatron detects the arrival of Bugbite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate. The three Seekers are then taken over by Bugbite's cerebro shells (with Starscream swearing to painfully dismember Bugbite for it). When the Autobots eventually jam the shells to facilitate their own rescue of Mirage, Starscream is freed and battles Bugbite's faction. Whether he survived the battle is unknown. He seems to retain his usual second-in-command status in this story.

Starscream reported to Deathsaurus on the success of the Combaticons' attack on thr Autobot Elite Guard.

Beast Wars
As the 1990s Transformers series, Beast Wars, officially occurred in a universe/continuity that contained aspects of both of the original animated series and Marvel comic, the show most commonly displayed its lineage with references to the animated series. To that end, Starscream's ghost made a brief but memorable appearance in the first season episode, "Possession". His spark, once again without a body through unknown means, wandered to prehistoric Earth and ended up in the Darkside's computer console. Taking control of Waspinator's body with Terrorsaur watching, Starscream went about his standard backstabbing ways, acquiring the trust of Predacon leader Megatron, telling him that he was defending Galvatron against Unicron and was destroyed, with his spark enduring. In reality, he was planning to overthrow Megatron. When his true intent was discovered by Blackarachnia, who knew he was really scrapped by Galvatron for betraying him, Starscream took her under his wing to teach her the ways of treachery —inevitably resulting in her betraying him. Caught in an energon explosion engineered by Blackarachnia, Starscream's spark was forced out of Waspinator's body and set adrift in space once more, vowing vengeance on both sides. In the episode, Starscream was voiced by Doug Parker.

In the second season of Beast Wars, the reason for Starscream's ability to survive beyond death was revealed — a mutation in his spark had rendered it indestructible. Maximal experiments to replicate this effect resulted in the creation of the insane monster Protoform X, later called Rampage.

Starscream's original body was seen, lying in stasis lock, in the last episode of season two when Megatron entered the Ark.

Image Comics
Genesis: The Art of Transformers, while by no means a primary source of story information, does contain several illustrations of Starscream. One of them is perhaps the only official illustration of his Machine Wars form besides the toy's box-art. Machine Wars Starscream is seen standing on a dais, wearing a purple cape and holding Galvatron's torn-off cannon. The artist, Matt Kuphaldt, based the setting on the coronation scene from "The Transformers: The Movie," only golden to indicate a post-"Rebirth" timeframe. Kuphaldt intended the illustration to be a sequel to his fan-art of Starscream's ghost possessing the body of a fallen Decepticon and becoming his Machine Wars self on a similarly-golden battlefield.

Dreamwave Productions
In the 21st century reimagining of the Generation One universe by the comics company Dreamwave Productions, Starscream remained his treacherous, power-hungry self. In the early days of the war on Cybertron, he devastated Iacon with a terraforming process, and went on to form his own faction called the Predacons when Megatron vanished in a spacebridge experiment. When the other splinter factions attempted to reconcile their differences, Starscream's Predacons attacked the ceremony, although their bombing occurred concurrently with the return of Megatron, who immediately subjected Starscream to physical torture for stealing his glory.

Winding up in stasis aboard the Autobot spacecraft, the Ark, along with the other Decepticons when it crashed on prehistoric Earth, Starscream was reactivated in 1984 with the other Transformers. When the Autobots succeeded in defeating the Decepticons in 1999 and they all attempted to return to Cybertron aboard the Ark II, the ship exploded as it exited Earth's atmosphere, and the Transformers were believed destroyed. In actuality, many of their bodies were appropriated by the terrorist, Lazarus, including Starscream's. Bumblebee, Frenzy, Grimlock, Laserbeak, Prowl, Ravage, Soundwave and Starscream were forced to attack the Smitco oil refinery in the Arctic to display their power for sale to the highest bidder.

When Megatron liberated himself from Lazarus's control in 2002, the other Decepticons were soon freed, and Starscream and the other Decepticon jets passed some time by dismembering the Autobot Mini-Bots before joining in an attack on San Francisco, during which they attacked Superion, forcing him to separate.

The following year, Starscream was offered the opportunity to return to type when Shockwave — who had unified Cybertron in their absence — arrived on Earth to arrest Prime and Megatron as war criminals. Seizing an opportunity to remove his main obstacle to power, Starscream blasted open the cargo hold of the ship taking them back to Cybertron, setting Megatron's damaged body adrift in space.

With the aid of Soundwave, he subsequently liberated the Combaticons from imprisonment, and returned with them to Earth, where they attacked the Ark in an attempt to acquire parts to make the Decepticons' space cruiser flight-worthy. With Bruticus defeated by the arrival of Starscream's Shockwave-spawned, super-powered clone, Sunstorm, Starscream fled and brought online Jetfire, who the Decepticons had previously uncovered frozen in ice. Operating together, they deduced Sunstorm's clone nature, and fashioned a power siphon to drain his energy; but Starscream turned the tables on everyone by freeing Sunstorm, who then took him to a mysterious Cybertronian seal beneath the ocean's surface. Sunstorm claimed that only Starscream could open the seal, which he proceeded to do, unlocking an underground reservoir of a powerful, energy-rich liquid, which Sunstorm planned to use to empower his "brother," so that they could achieve his goals together. Starscream turned on Sunstorm, who fell into the liquid, which reacted with his own powers and destroyed both him and Jetfire.

Starscream escaped the conflagration and returned to the Decepticon base, only to discover that Megatron and Shockwave had returned in his absence, and to receive the beating he had earned from his former leader. Starscream hinted that he had discovered some of the secrets in the Transformers' history that Megatron and Shockwave had learned in the past, but unfortunately, Dreamwave went bankrupt and closed its doors before resolution to this storyline could be offered.

Transformers/G.I. Joe
Starscream also appeared in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I. Joe miniseries, set during World War II, plotting with Destro to overthrow Megatron and Cobra Commander using a fusion of Cobra and Decepticon technology called Bruticus. However, he was himself betrayed and destroyed by Destro and the Baroness. In this series, Starscream and the other seekers had alternate modes based on P-51 Mustangs. He reappeared in a second G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover set in continuity with the first, but over 40 years later. Here, he had his familiar alternate mode of an F-15 Eagle. His ultimate purpose was left unknown, as Dreamwave's closure meant the series was left unfinished after just one issue.

Devil's Due Publishing
In this crossover from Devil's Due Publishing, the Ark was discovered by the terrorist Cobra Organization, and all the Transformers inside were reformatted into Cobra vehicles remotely controlled by the Televipers. In this storyline, Starscream turned into a Cobra Nightraven and was used as Cobra Commander's personal transport. Predictably attempting to betray Megatron when the Transformers broke free of Cobra's control, an animosity developed between Starscream and G.I. Joe member Snake Eyes. Starscream (controlled by Cobra Commander) was responsible for Snake-Eyes disfigurement in the initial Cobra attack. Snake-Eyes got his revenge when he confronted Starscream in the final issue, cut out Starscream's eye with his sword and shoved a hand-grenade in the empty socket. When the first series ended Starscream ended up making a deal with Cobra Commander to remove the grenade (which hadn't exploded) from his eye socket in return for transport to safety.

The second series from Devil's Due involved a plot by Starscream and Cobra Commander to get technology from Cybertron by breaking into their space bridge system. However, the intervention of both Ultra Magnus' Autobots and Shockwave's Decepticons complicated this plan, forcing Cobra and G.I. Joe (inadvertently teleported with them) to make a hasty truce to defeat the machinations of Shockwave and recover time-displaced Autobots and Decepticons, including Optimus Prime and the Dinobots. As Starscream tried to weasel his way out of being destroyed by Shockwave, he was instead eliminated when Cobra Commander activated his parting gift: 45 pounds of plastic explosives he had secretly placed in Starscream's housing during repairs.

Transformers: Robot Masters
Starscream also appeared in the Japanese exclusive Transformers: Robot Masters series. When Megatron disappeared, Starscream quickly seized command, only to be forcibly dethroned by a time-lost newcomer — the Megatron of the Beast era. Plotting all the while behind his new leader's back, Starscream nonetheless served him against the Autobots, battling another time-lost Transformer, Star Saber, and losing, before destroying a large chunk of New York City to uncover solitarium. He was shot down by the mysterious Reverse Convoy — who quickly revealed himself as Megatron in a new body.

IDW Publishing
After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken up by IDW Publishing. Their version of the Generation One universe begins with a miniseries called The Transformers: Infiltration. His alternate mode here is that of an F-22 Raptor, foreshadowing the events of the 2007 live action movie.

Chronologically, Starscream first appears in #3 of The Transformers: Megatron Origin series, which details the rise of the Decepticons. He is specifically sent to Megatron by Soundwave due to his flight capabilities; pledging complete allegiance, he is sent to launch a terrorist attack on Autobot Senator Decimus. It is later revealed that Megatron has asked him to carry out a task, one Starscream doesn't understand the purpose of but is told it is to "send a message". Shortly afterward, the Decepticons are captured by the Autobots. As part of Megatron's plan, Starscream swiftly becomes an Autobot informant. Starscream informs the senators they bear responsibility for the current situation; afterward, he and Soundwave massacre the Senate. After freeing Megatron and the prisoners, Starscream gives Megatron his fusion cannon, helping the Decepticon leader in his battle against Sentinel Prime. Although his robot mode is different and bears more resemblance to his original G1 incarnation, his alternate jet mode is the same as that seen in The War Within. It was also revealed in The Transformers: Devastation that Starscream also spent some time as Megatron's bodyguard.

By the time of Infiltration, Starscream is in command of a small group of Decepticons on Earth, including Skywarp, Thundercracker, Astrotrain, Blitzwing and the Battlechargers Runabout and Runamuck. Megatron, as stated in #6, believes the two of them have grown past the backstabbing and posturing of their mutual past. However, on Earth Starscream discovered a variant ore of energon on Earth that was the Transformer equivalent of steroids, making him bold enough to advance their infiltration phase ahead of schedule. As a result, the humans seemingly obtain evidence of the Transformers' existence, causing Starscream to desperately bump off everyone who has seen the evidence. (The evidence-gathering turns out to be a plot by the Machination to locate a Transformer base. )

Learning of this though, Megatron comes to Earth and duels with Starscream, battling physically and verbally. Even Starscream's supercharged power isn't enough, and Megatron ends the duel with the statement, "Take your punishment like a Decepticon" before blowing a hole clean through Starscream's torso with a blast of his arm cannon at point blank range. Despite the immense damage he took, Megatron's commands to Runabout and Runamuck indicate that Starscream had survived. In issue #1 of The Transformers: Devastation, Megatron's increasing instability forces the other Decepticons, led by Astrotrain, to consider reviving Starscream, who is seen in a stasis tank repaired. He makes his return during the midst of a pitched battle between the Reapers (an army of living weapons) and Sixshot. Sixshot, upon seeing Starscream, defects to the Reapers, but Starscream takes him out with a shut-off code learned during his time as Megatron's bodyguard. He then attacks the Reapers single-handedly, forcing Megatron to lead the other Decepticons in assisting him. The two managed to put their differences aside, with Starscream stating that he was still loyal to the Decepticon cause, and the Decepticons defeated the Reapers (unknowingly aided by Galvatron).

G1 Starscream and G1 Pretender Starscream received a cameo on the cover of Spotlight: Galvatron. G1 Starscream, standing with his back towards the reader, can be seen with a hole in his stomach (similar to that in Infiltration) among the creatures that attacked Galvatron. Starscream's Pretender shell can be seen beside him. A Sharkticon can also be seen.

Evolutions: Hearts of Steel
Starscream is also a major player in the mini-series Evolutions: Hearts of Steel, which takes place in an out-of-continuity 19th century. Starscream and the other Seekers are reconfigured as Wright Brothers-esque early aircraft and Starscream plans the familiar concepts of taking over Earth and destroying Megatron. This version of Starscream is less impetuous and has thought his plans through, even using humans to help. Unfortunately his plan was still thwarted by John Henry and Bumblebee, who were able to redirect the railway so that the Decepticon train convoy was dropped into a chasm.

Kiss Players
The Japanese-exclusive Transformers: Kiss Players toy line features the concept of Transformers who attain power-ups through being kissed by young women, in a universe that branches off from the original animated series. Set in 2006 (one year after Starscream's death in The Transformers: The Movie, but four years before the third season of the show, which in Japan occurred in 2010), the Kiss Players radio drama sees Starscream's ghost possess Earth Defense Command (EDC) operative Atari Hitotonari, and forced her to seek out his old ally, Doctor Arkeville. Arkeville constructed a new body for Starscream (meant to represent his Masterpiece toy) out of a stolen fighter jet, and Atari transferred his spark into it with a kiss. Transforming into his new robot mode, Starscream was only able to enjoy it for a few minutes before EDC Autotrooper robots blew it up and sent his spark flying back into space.

Video games
Transformers Battle Circuit is a simple Flash-based video game on the Hasbro web site. In this one-on-one fighting game you press the right and left arrow keys to try to overpower your opponent. In the game you can play Rodimus, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Jetfire, Starscream, Astrotrain, Trypticon or Menasor. Optimus Prime and Megatron each appear as the boss you must defeat to win the game.

Starscream appears as a playable character in Hasbro's Net Jet fighting game Transformers Battle Universe. Although other playable Transformers have several incarnations featured, the only playable incarnation of Starscream is the Generation 1 version.

A color scheme of Generation 1 Starscream is available in the Transformers: The Game video game by completing the Decepticon Campaign. This scheme of G1 Starscream also appears as an unlockable bonus form for Create-A-Bot, and a Target exclusive for the Transformers: Decepticons DS game, and can be obtained by earning 2500 tokens through Wi-Fi play.

The Generation 1 Starscream is also a downloadable character for the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game.

Starscream appears in the video game Transformers: War for Cybertron. In the Decepticon campaign he is a playable character, whereas he is a boss character in the Autobot campaign. His character is also playeable in the Escalation multiplayer mode, whereas his model can be used in the competative multiplayer mode. In the game his character adheres much to his G1 behavior and established history as a friend of Jetfire who joins the Decepticons with desires of usurping Megatron when the time is right.

Other appearances
A parody of the Generation 1 Transformers was aired in the December 23rd 2008 episode of Frank TV, called "Frank the Halls." In the story Optimus Prime and his Autobots (Bumblebee, Jazz and Wheeljack) battle Megatron and his Decepticons (Soundwave and Starscream) when Optimus runs out of gas. Optimus becomes enraged at the price of gas, steals the fuel from the annoying hybrid Autobot Prius Maximus, then joins the Decepticons in destroying the city.

Honors
At BotCon 2010, Hasbro named Starscream as one of the first five robot inductees in the Transformers Hall of Fame.

Wizard Magazine rated Starscream the 46th Greatest villain of all time.

Toys
The original Starscream toy was originally part of the Japanese Diaclone toy line and was designed by Kohjin Ohno in the early eighties. It was imported to become part of the Transformers toy line by Hasbro in 1984. The toy was later re-issued in Japan in 2001, with black-and-gold and translucent "ghost" variants, and again in 2003, redecorated into a more cartoon-accurate color scheme. He was also reissued in the west in 2003, with extended missiles to comply with safety regulations. Japan re-released Starscream once again in 2007 for their "Encore Series". A highly prized collectable, the original Starscream toy has sold over $2000 on eBay.

During the original Transformers toy line Starscream was also released as an Action Master and Pretender toy.

The original Starscream toy was altered somewhat and an electronic sound maker was added for the Generation 2 toy line.

Beast Wars II
In the Japanese-exclusive animated series, Beast Wars II, a character named Starscream was one of Galvatron's most loyal minions (neither character, however, was meant to be the same as his Generation 1 namesake, as was the case in the original Beast Wars series; preexisting names were reused for entirely different characters). He was the only sophisticated member of the bunch, but used his hulking sidekick, BB, to back him up.

Like the Decepticon air commander who came before him, Starscream is both ambitious and deadly. He makes up for his lack of size with unmatched speed and maneuverability. Starscream desires power and lots of it. He hopes to one day dethrone Galvatron as the Predacon emperor of destruction and rule the universe himself. He is also slightly effeminate, often laughing and gesturing in a shaky way. Nevertheless, he is not a warrior to be taken lightly. He often psyches himself up for a battle by listening to music from the Earth composer Wagner. Along with his subordinate, BB, he is a Predacon one should never underestimate.

When transformed Starscream becomes a stealth fighter capable of soaring at speeds few can imagine. In fighter mode he can use the "Formation Scream" and combine with his partner BB to become a powerful air fighter. In robot mode his attack of choice are his "Screamwinder Missiles" which are strong enough to vaporize most opponents.

Starscream is often a little too ambitious for his own good. His attempts to gain power are not always subtle and occasionally backfire.

Though stronger as Hellscream, Starscream's lust for power still keeps him under the watchful eyes of his superior officers.

Animated series
Starscream first appears in episodes #1 of Beast Wars Second, called "The Birth of a New Army."

Starscream appears in episode #14, "The Combined Giant, Tripledacus." Upon arriving on Gaea the Jointrons briefly fight Bighorn, Diver, Tasmanian Kid, Starscream and BB. After chasing away the Predacons Tripledacus notices the remaining mechs are Maximals and becomes friends with them. Later, when Tripledacus confronts Megastorm, Starscream and BB the Maximals arrive to chase the Predacons away from their new ally.

In episode #31, "The End of Starscream," Starscream is unwillingly plunged into a lava crater riddled with Angolmois energy by Gigastorm. This evolves him into Hellscream, a cybernetic flying shark. Even more cruel and ruthless than before, Hellscream retains his hateful personality but with newfound abilities. He still has his Screamwinder missiles but has gained a new power, the "Terrorstorm". With this, he unleashes a hellish torrent of fire and missiles reducing any Maximal to ashes.

Manga
In The Maximal Brainwashing Project Starscream and BB were able to capture Diver and the Tasmanian Kid, brainwashing them into serving the Predacons. Meanwhile Leo Prime, Apache and Scuba were able to capture Dirge and Thrust. The shock of being damaged in capture had the side effect of making the Predacons think they were Maximals. Diver and the Kid were able to ambush the Maximals, allowing Galvatron to gain the upper hand on Lio Convoy, but the Maximals were aided by Dirge and Thrust. Furious that Lio had seemingly stolen his brainwashing idea Starscream had BB attacked the Maximals. Megastorm found the whole turn of events amusing and planned to use his main cannon to destroy all the Maximals and Predacons in the conflict, becoming the leader of the Predacons. His attack took so long to charge Diver was able to ruin it with a water geyser. The explosion was enough to shock the brainwashed Maximals back to their senses. Galvatron and the Predacons retreated with Dirge and Thrust in tow.

IDW Publishing
Starscream had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing. According to the Beast Wars Sourcebook Starscream saved BB from a Maximal reeducation camp, which is why BB is so loyal to him.

In Beast Wars: The Ascending Shokaract's heralds Hellscream, Max-B, Antagony, Thrustor and Hardhead defended their master on Cybertron until he was shunted into limbo by the Maximal Snarl. The heralds then retreated once there was no vessel for Unicron.

Toys
Beast Wars Second Starscream had two toys produced exclusively in Japan. In 1997 he was released as a black redeco of Generation 2 Smokescreen. He was packaged together with his larger partner BB. This same toy was recolored into Robot Masters Smokesniper. In 1998 he was released as "Hellscream", a remold of Beast Wars Cybershark. This second toy was eventually released with a slight color change in the US as Universe Overbite. Hellscream was voted the 9th strangest Transformers Beast Wars figure by Topless Robots.

Unicron Trilogy
The Starscream of the "Unicron Trilogy" universe has gone through many notable changes in his personality as his story has progressed. At times he is quite similar to his G1 predecessor, but on many other occasions has displayed markedly different traits to his namesake, for a variety of reasons.

Transformers: Armada
The Starscream of the Transformers: Armada (Micron Legend in Japan) universe was notably similar yet different from his G1 predecessor. Like him, this incarnation of Starscream 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. Another notable difference between Armada Starscream and his G1 predecessor was that this Starscream was a formidable warrior and a more serious character, never shying away from battle even when the odds were against him, while the G1 incarnation was rather faint-hearted. He possessed a rivalry with Hot Shot and later information would credit him with the severing of the Autobot Red Alert's hand. He also possessed a samurai-like sense of warrior's honor and he transforms into what resembles a Sukhoi Su-35.

It is often thought that the inspiration for his character came from the Beast Wars-era Maximal Dinobot, who also defected from his initial faction, the Predacons, out of contempt for his universe's Megatron, possessed a code of honor and died a hero while gaining redemption.

In his original body, Starscream transformed into a jet, armed with twin null laser cannons activated by his partner Mini-Con, Swindle (Grid in the Japanese version). In robot mode, his left wing transforms into an energised sword blade, which he wields expertly (at one point, managing to outduel Hot Shot who was using the Star Saber at the time).

Starscream originally came to Earth as part of Megatron's expedition to gain the power of the Mini-Cons alongside Demolishor and Cyclonus. However, Starscream's frustration over having been made the last of the Decepticons to gain his partner Mini-Con led him to be manipulated by Sideways into battling with Megatron, which he promptly lost. A short time later, Starscream was given ownership of the Star Saber as part of a scheme by Thrust to make him the patsy in his plan to steal the Requiem Blaster from the Autobots. This 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. Starscream's defection was not without difficulty however; he constantly clashed with the Autobots over morals and battle strategies. Nonetheless, he proved to be a capable Autobot. However, Thrust (himself being manipulated by Sideways) then toyed with Starscream, planting seeds of doubt in his mind. This eventually caused him to steal the Skyboom Shield from the Autobots and return to the Decepticon fold, giving the Decepticons possession of all three Mini-Con weapons.

Subsequently, Starscream was among the Transformers injured battling Nemesis Prime, and who then received power boosts from their Mini-Cons. Starscream gained a new, blue coloration that he commented made him look like his contemporary, Thundercracker. Returning to Cybertron, Starscream pursued Thrust into the depths of the planet when the turncoat tactician revealed his treachery by stealing the Requiem Blaster and Skyboom Shield. Starscream took a fatal shot from the Requiem Blaster as he battled Thrust in the subterranean tunnels, but the Mini-Con High Wire used his powers to restructure the timeline, saving Starscream. Thrust escaped and delivered the weapons to Sideways and his master, Unicron, presently disguised as Cybertron's moon. Following Thrust through a warp gate and briefly reuniting with Alexis, Starscream entered the belly of the beast along with Hot Shot and Wheeljack, but the unlikely trio were stymied by Unicron's internal defenses and failed to stop Sideways from using the weapons to begin Unicron's reactivation. Galvatron (the renamed Megatron after the Mini-con power boost) was unwilling to acknowledge Unicron's threat, however, dismissing it as an Autobot trick. Starscream, however, knew the threat was real, and that only united under a true leader like Optimus Prime – whose strength of character and nobility had touched Starscream during his time with the Autobots – could the Transformers hope to stop him. Unwilling to betray his leader, Starscream decided on a new course of action. To show Galvatron the error of his ways, he challenged him to a duel in which he allowed Galvatron to run him through with the Star Saber, and then turned his firepower on Unicron, right after he demands Galvatron to join forces with Optimus Prime to stop Unicron. Unicron promptly obliterated him, much to the shock of both Galvatron and Optimus Prime. It was then Galvatron realized that the danger of Unicron was real. Upon realizing Starscream's reasons of his rebellion, Galvatron became more than willing to have the Decepticons form an alliance with Optimus and the Autobots to stop Unicron for good. Other than that, Galvatron develops a newfound respect for Starscream, despite his treason (although it was for the same good reasons), and develops a hatred against Unicron for killing Starscream. Starsceam's final action saved everyone and made him the only incarnation of Starscream in the various Transformers universes with a good heart in the end. Alexis, who Starscream had formed a close bond with, was deeply affected by his death. Starscream, or a version thereof, was briefly seen only once more, in a dream that Galvatron had while he was temporarily absorbed into Unicron's mind.

Transformers: Energon
Starscream would return in the follow-up series, recreated by Alpha Q with raw Energon. He still transformed into a jet, and was now equipped with Hyper Power missiles and a colossal Energon sword. Additionally, Starscream (now renamed Nightscream in Japan) is suffering from memory loss (deliberately done by Alpha Q), at one point querying Scorponok as to why he kept calling him Starscream.

Ten years after Starscream's death, a revived Megatron seized control of Unicron's body by ousting its former occupant, the alien being Alpha Q. The evicted extraterrestrial needed an assassin to eliminate both Megatron and Optimus Prime (who controlled the Autobot Energon deposits) so that he could return to his original task of recreating the worlds destroyed by Unicron. Using what little Energon he had left, Alpha Q recreated another victim of Unicron – Starscream. However, Alpha Q ran out of Energon before the process could be completed, leaving Starscream's body unstable, constantly shifting from a physical to an ethereal form, able to teleport by "ghosting" from location to location (in homage to G1 Starscream and his return as a ghost). Alpha Q unleashed Starscream upon Ocean City, where he battled Optimus Prime (nearly killing him) and then tracked Megatron back to Unicron's body. Even his awesome new abilities proved no match for the Decepticon leader, himself recreated through Unicron's power. Megatron used the Chaos-Bringer's power to wipe Starscream's mind, turning him into his right-hand man and most loyal subordinate. Rather ironically, Megatron now treated Starscream with far more respect than previously, even entrusting him with some of the most difficult missions. However when Shockblast joined Megatron he seem to respect the Decepticon criminal as defends him from Megatron's wrath and follows his order to listen to him.

Later, when Megatron became Galvatron through immersion in a subterranean reservoir of Super Energon on Cybertron, Starscream was allowed to do the same as a reward for his loyalty; the influx of power stabilised his physical form, while allowing him to retain his teleporting powers. When Primus later used the Super Energon to create a sun, Galvatron plunged himself into it in order to contain Unicron's spark at its core, and Starscream seemingly sacrificed himself alongside his leader.

In the Energon dub, all of the characters react to Starscream's return in an uneventful way. This is because in Super-Link, the Japanese original counterpart to Energon, Starscream is never referred to by his former name, yet is only recognized by Grand Convoy and Galvatron as being Starscream, from the previous series. He is quickly acknowledged as a soldier who once served Galvatron, and is christened "Nightscream", related to a poetic moment in the darkness when Galvatron formats his spark. In Super-Link, the characters would refrain from ever recognizing that this being was once Starscream, being that his spark signature had changed, as well as his voice, appearance, and personality. Nightscream, for all intent, was completely free of his former persona.

Transformers: Cybertron
Starscream returned once again in Cybertron as a darker, more ruthless character. A decade after the events of Energon, when Primus's plan to contain Unicron's spark at the core of the Energon sun failed, the sun collapsed, becoming a deadly black hole that threatened Cybertron. Freed from his imprisonment in the sun by Megatron as a reward for his loyalty during the events of Energon, Starscream's mind was his own again, and his body was refurbished into yet another new form. Transforming into a new style of Cybertronian jet craft, Starscream retained his standard array of null ray weapons (located on his arms and chest turrets), he could now call upon a Cyber Key to unlock twin blades in his arms to bolster his melee combat. Once enhanced by the power of the Cyber Keys, Starscream displayed abilities such as being able to channel blasts of raw energy, teleportation and the ability to increase or decrease his mass.

Megatron began his campaign to acquire the legendary Cyber Planet Keys by stealing the map that showed their locations from the ancient Transformer, Vector Prime while Starscream, serving as his right-hand man, created a diversion that kept the other Autobots busy. During the fight, Starscream sent Landmine tumbling into the black hole, but Vector Prime saved him at the last moment, opening a dimensional gate that teleported him to Earth. The Autobots and Decepticons followed, and when it was deduced that the Cyber Planet Keys' focusing device, the Omega Lock, was hidden somewhere on the planet, Megatron charged Starscream with locating it while he focused on acquiring the Cyber Planet Key of Velocitron, the Speed Planet.

Little did Megatron suspect, however, that Starscream had evolved a new ambition – where in Armada he had sought little more than Megatron's respect, now he sought to oust Megatron and become the leader of the Decepticons, then the universe. Unlike his similarly-styled G1 predecessor, however, Starscream was smart enough to keep his intentions to himself, quietly working to achieve his goals through subtle means. While on a brief mission to attack Red Alert on Velocitron, Starscream was able to secretly switch Megatron's map with a copy that would play an important role later, and in an attempt to acquire more troops loyal to him, recruited the disillusioned Autobot Mudflap into his service on Earth.

In episode 20, "Ice", Starscream and Mudflap confront the Autobot's human allies at the North Pole, but are opposed by Scattorshot. Although Scattorshot gets the better of Mudflap initially, Starscream uses water to freeze up Scattorshot's systems. The humans and Mini-Con Recon Team use Mudflap's dropped gun to signal the other Autobots, who come to their rescue.

He later crossed paths once again with the mysterious Sideways, who saw in him the best chance to achieve his own goals.

With the Autobots having successfully acquired the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys from Velocitron and the Jungle Planet, Starscream realised it was time to step up his agenda. His duplicate planet map led Megatron and the other Decepticons to a dead sector of space and sealed them within a metal sphere, freeing Starscream to search for the third Cyber Planet Key, from Earth itself. Encountering the Autobot monster-hunter, Crosswise – one of the ancient Transformers whose ancestors had come to Earth with the Cyber Planet Key eons ago, who had recently been reactivated – Starscream discovered a vast underground holding cell in which Crosswise had imprisoned the ancient Decepticons of his time. Liberating them, Starscream took command of their forces and began a planetwide search for the Cyber Planet Key, fighting back the Autobot and human military resistance. The Autobots had Crosswise's ally Evac recover the key from its hiding place in preparation for a retreat to Velocitron, but Starscream fought his way through the entire Autobot army and confronted Optimus Prime himself, successfully purloining the lock and all three keys by endangering the Autobots' human allies and drawing Prime out of the fight.

Retreating to a small volcanic island in the South Pacific, Starscream attempted to harness the power of the Cyber Planet Keys. Megatron, meanwhile, had been freed by Scourge, and immediately sought retribution, only to wind up clashing with the Autobots first. The extra time this afforded Starscream allowed him to tap the power of the keys and harness a fragment of the spark of Primus, growing to a gigantic height and besting Megatron in combat. He then gave himself a crown whose design is an homage to the crown the original G1 Starscream wore in the 1986 Transformers movie. With an extra power boost courtesy of his combination with Wing Saber, Optimus Prime was able to defeat Starscream, but Sideways teleported his body away to the ancient starship Atlantis to recuperate.

Subsequent events would see him battling Primus himself and attempting to absorb his Spark, although he lost. Attempting to force Thunderblast to steal the Omega Lock, he was driven off by the Autobots and Thunderblast betrayed him by refusing to steal it. He clashed with Primus again when he interfered with Primus' reactivation sequence and grew to the size of a planet, although Primus defeated him once more and returned him to normal size. Thanks to the Autobots and humans, Starscream lost once more. Subsequent battles on the Gigantion ship Muriaé and with a Cyber Key empowered Landmine made Starscream ever more desperate. Despite this, Starscream remained a serious threat to both the Autobots and the Decepticons still loyal to Megatron.

With his options spent, Starscream eventually challenged Galvatron (Megatron's new form) to a final battle after his former leader had acquired the Omega Lock. Starscream nearly defeated Galvatron with his mastery of the planet forces he absorbed such as his null-ray cannon and changing size, but Galvatron stubbornly refused to lose to his former lieutenant. The two combatants powered up for one final strike, with Galvatron's blow finally defeating Starscream. So incredible were the energies released during the battle that space and time itself was rended by the final explosion, and Starscream was hurtled into to another dimension along with Sideways and Soundwave. At the end of the episode, Starscream's crown is seen floating in space.

He would appear for one final time before a defeated Galvatron, his spirit reaching out across the dimensions to encourage him to fight on. Starscream's crown also somehow floated to Galvatron's location, motivating Galvatron even more as he crushed it in his hand. This, ironically, led Galvatron to his demise at the hands of Optimus Prime. At the conclusion of the series, however, Wing Saber – departing from the rest of the Autobots to continue with his "loner" lifestyle – radios Cybertron to inform Optimus that he had found a lead on Starscream's trail and was pursuing it. Landmine and Mudflap are dispatched to aid him, and in the montage of still images that runs through the closing credits, it seems their mission to locate him is a success.

Transformers: Armada
Just as Marvel Comics produced a companion comic for the G1 toyline and cartoon, so too did Dreamwave Productions for the 21st century cartoon and toyline that was different from the animated continuity.

In these comics, the Armada incarnation of Starscream had a much smaller role, but was written in a fashion much closer to the original treacherous G1 character – a trait that would ultimately lead to his seeming demise when the Energon comic book began. He still possessed elements of the animated Armada Starscream, such as an unwillingness to shy away from battle.

Starscream would first appear as part of Megatron's strike squad that conquered Cyber City. With a set of Mini-Cons boosting their powers, they easily drove off the Autobot defenders. However, the Mini-Con leaders were able to commandeer a ship, allowing most of the Mini-Cons to escape.

Over the next million years the Decepticons managed to conquer virtually all of Cybertron. When a signal from Earth revealing the location of the Mini-Cons was detected, Starscream was among the Decepticons assembled by Megatron to travel across the Spacebridge to find them. It was here he gained an Earthen alternate mode of a fighter jet and was also responsible for Megatron's reformatting into his Earth mode – a gigantic tank. Tracking down the Mini-Cons, the Decepticons engaged in battle with the Autobots, also recently arrived over the Spacebridge. Starscream and Cyclonus battled Hot Shot, Scavenger and Red Alert, winning due to their Mini-Con enhanced power, until the rest of the Mini-Cons arrived and bonded to the Autobots, forcing the Decepticons to retreat.

Starscream would appear in many of Megatron's subsequent schemes, including capturing Swindle, attempting to capture Mini-Cons for his own use and launching an attack on the Mini-Con base on the Moon. His next mission would not turn out to be so fortunate – while battling a group of Autobots both sides were ambushed by Gen 1 Galvatron, one of the Heralds of Unicron, barely escaping with his life. Escaping to inform Megatron, he then participated in an assault on the Autobot base, in which he blasted Red Alert before getting attacked by Galvatron. He was later seen when the Autobots and Decepticons teamed up to defeat Unicron. When Megatron was killed by Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Scavenger, Starscream was seen fleeing from Unicron.

Transformers: Energon
His next appearance would be 10 years after Unicron's defeat. When Starscream gatecrashed a meeting of the Terrorcons – renegade Decepticons who were unhappy with the peace between Autobot and Decepticon that had emerged in the wake of Unicron's defeat – at an energon plant, his mistake soon became apparent when he discovered that they had struck a deal with Unicron and gained new "Hyper Mode" powers. When their leader, Scorponok, arrived, Starscream was unable to talk himself out of trouble and was blasted into the plant's machinery by Scorponok, seemingly dying.

True to form, Starscream soon proved that he was not that easy to kill. The raw energon in the plant reacted in some mysterious way, giving him a ghostly body of pure energon (like the cartoon Energon version, this was also a homage to the ghost form of the original Starscream). In this form he ended up attacking Demolishor and draining him of his energy. Due to the collapse of Dreamwave, further tales of Starscream would remain untold, but it is known that issue #33 of the Energon comic would have had him battling the Omnicons.

Other
Although the Cybertron stage of Dreamwave comics was not reached due to Dreamwave's closure, the Cybertron comic strip available exclusively through the Transformers Fan Club indicates that at some point in the future of the comic continuity, Starscream would have killed the Mini-Con, Over-Run.

The Armada series of More Than Meets the Eye profile comics also revealed that not only was Starscream trained by the mercenary Thundercracker, but also that he and Skywarp are related.

Video games
Starscream is among the characters appearing in the 2004 Transformers video game for the Playstation. He appears as a level boss, battling the player's character at two points

Toys

 * Armada Starscream (2002)


 * The Armada toy was the first new-mould Starscream figure since 1990, and it clung to tradition with a jet alternate mode and a robot form featuring many callbacks to the original Starscream figure, such as shoulder-wings, air intakes on the shoulders, a cockpit in the chest, and a headsculpt designed to look like the original animated character. When the Mini-Con port on his backpack is pulled back and held, an electronic jet-take off noise is made. Attaching his Mini-Con partner Swindle to this port, however, unlocks his shoulder-mounted null laser cannons, and changes the sound to a repeating laser blast. Swindle can also mount under the jet-mode nosecone – by pressing the cockpit, Swindle is dropped to the ground with an accompanying electronic noise, while a press without Swindle attached yields more noises. In robot mode, Starscream's left wing can detach and unfold into a sword for him to wield.
 * Armada Starscream is supposed to be 19 feet 7 inches tall according to the Armada video game (597cm) and the toy is 19cm tall. So that's a scale of 1:31.


 * Micron Legend Starscream Super Mode (2003)
 * A repaint of the Starscream toy in blue, grey and red coloration reminiscent of the original Generation 1 Thundercracker toy. While the American toyline opted to present this toy as a different character (actually named Thundercracker), the Japanese released it as "Starscream Super Mode," an upgraded version of Starscream himself. The change was reflected in the animated series, which necessitated an extra line being inserted into the English dub where Starscream compared himself to Thundercracker. Swindle, now grey and blue, was redubbed "Spark Grid" for the Japanese release, while he became a new character as Thundercracker's partner, Zapmaster.


 * Armada Happy Meal Starscream
 * Released as a McDonalds Happy Meal toy, Starscream was a pull back toy with automatic transformation that was more than a little like the Generation 1 Jumpstarter toys.


 * Armada Built To Rule Starscream with Swindle
 * A building toy kit.


 * Energon Deluxe Starscream (2004)
 * Starscream's Energon toy is based heavily on the Generation 2 figure Smokescreen, although the belief that he is simply a repaint of remould of the figure is incorrect – the mould of the figure is completely different, even though the transformation is nominally the same. Cast partially in translucent plastic to represent his status as an "energon ghost," the toy retains such traditional design features as a cockpit chest and shoulder intakes, with the familiar headsculpt. It features two Hyper Power missile launchers under his wings, which can be rotated over his robot mode shoulders, and an energon sword and blaster, which can be combined together to form a massive energon blade.


 * Energon Sam's Club Starscream (2004)
 * Available exclusively at Sam's Club stores in a two-pack with Red Alert, this Starscream is a redeco of his Armada toy, in the color scheme of his Energon one. The package listed his Mini-Con partner as Zapmaster, the name of the Mini-Con formerly packaged with Armada Thundercracker. It should be noted that the Hasbro web site posted this Sam's Club exclusive as a Transformers: Universe toy.


 * Energon Deluxe Energon Starscream (2005)
 * A repaint of the standard Energon Starscream figure, representing Starscream after his immersion in Super Energon. It now features an "Energon" prefix in its name (effectively making the toy "Energon Energon Starscream"), and is cast in solid plastic, as he is no longer a ghost, while the color scheme is a homage to the original Generation 1 Starscream. The toy's Japanese counterpart, "Nightscream Reverse", is actually still made with clear blue plastic, still giving the suggestion of ghost traits.


 * Galaxy Force Voyager Starscream (2005)
 * Starscream's new body for the third installment of the Unicron Trilogy was based directly on the design created for the original Starscream in the Dreamwave comic book series, Transformers: The War Within, by artist Don Figueroa. The insertion of the toy's Cybertron Cyber Key causes twin blades to pop out from under his wings/arms, and it also includes a firing blaster than can mount under the jet-mode nosecone.


 * The Japanese version of the Cybertron animated series, Transformers: Galaxy Force, is not presented as a sequel to Armada and Energon, hence in Japan, this particular figure does not represent the same character as the Starscream of the previous two seasons.


 * Cybertron Supreme Starscream (2005)
 * Strangely enough, Hasbro elected not to release the "Voyager" size class ($20 price point) Starscream figure (right) in their first wave of Cybertron (though the toy was released in a 2-pack with Vector Prime, both repainted), instead producing a giant "Supreme" ($50 price point) version of the character instead, representing him in his giant Planet-Key-upgraded body. The figure comes with both a Cybertron Cyber Key and the Earth Cyber Planet Key, which can unlock his arm weapons – one blade, and one firing missile launcher. Pressing the button on the toy's shoulder causes missile firing noises and LED lights, while moving his arms activate accompanying sound effects. Although the toy has one main point of articulation that the smaller version does not (rotating midriff cannons), overall, it is little more than an upsizing on the smaller figure, with no increase in articulation to bring it up to the levels of other Supreme-sized toys.
 * This version of Starscream comes with a crown meant to represent his upgrading by the power of the Cyber Planet Keys. (Inspired from the original Transformers movie)


 * 'Cybertron Voyager Vector Prime vs. Voyager Starscream' (2005)
 * Hasbro finally released the Voyager class Starscream figure as part of a two pack with Vector Prime, exclusively to Toys R US. The figure was not rendered in the character's standard color scheme, however, appearing as mostly burgundy with some grey, reminiscent of the Generation 1 character, Thrust.


 * Cybertron Legends Starscream (2005)
 * A miniature version of the Starscream toy, transforming in almost precisely the same way. Notably, the figure is based on the "Supreme" version of the toy, as it features both a sword and a gun, rather than two swords. This toy was repainted as SDCC Skywarp, BotCon Ramjet, Dairycon 2006 The Leader and later as Micro Sunstorm.


 * Attacktix Starscream (2006)
 * A small non-transforming Starscream looking like his Cybertron form was released as a figure in the Attacktix collectible game.


 * Transformable Robot Velocity Battle Plane (2007)
 * A Chinese made unofficial toy based on the Legends of Cybertron Starscream in a larger size and with slightly different colors. Came with an additional rifle accessory. Available at discount stores like Big Lots.

Transformers
During production of the live-action film, writer Alex Kurtzman stated that Starscream would not stray from his treacherous roots as he seeks to overthrow Megatron, and frequently engages in bickering arguments with him. In the first film, he is seen vehemently pledging his allegiance to Megatron when the latter breaks free from the Hoover Dam, but unlike the other Decepticons, he is not killed in the final battle and escapes the planet at the end of the movie. For unknown reasons, he passes up a chance to take the All Spark for himself. Although, it could be that he didn't dare try, with Megatron so near.

As always, Starscream transforms into a jet, in this case a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. He has a hatred of Megatron and seeks to be Leader of the Decepticons. He is bulkier than most incarnations, due to the size of the Raptor combined with the lack of mass displacement. He maintains a simian body shape with a large, triangular chest, large shoulders formed by the jet's distinctive twin tails, long arms, and legs with a digitigrade structure. His design retains some iconic fatures of his original Generation 1 incarnation, such as his chest still formed by the jet's cockpit. The jet's powerful main engines end up on his back, allowing him to leap great heights into the air and take flight, much like a jetpack. They also allow him to control his descent if he transforms out of his jet form in midair. His movements are a combination of acrobatic and avian, grabbing hold of a bridge's bottom to launch himself up into the air and transforming in mid-flight to swoop down upon his prey. His arms store heavy weaponry, with a missile launcher carrying six missiles in both arms, a saw in his right arm, and a high caliber machine gun (probably the jet's Vulcan cannon). In the movie's video game tie-ins, he is also seen detaching one or both of his wings and using them as short swords (a reference to his depiction in Transformers: Armada). When in Raptor mode he can simulate the presence of a human pilot, the same holographic model (referred to as "Mustache Man" on-set and in the credits) that "pilots" Blackout and "drives" Barricade. The actor is Air Force Major Brian Reece, a helicopter pilot instructor at Kirtland Air Force Base.

The official guide to the Transformers video game says he is 31 feet tall (9.4 m), although measuring his 2007 Voyager class toy suggests he would stand 55 feet (16.8 m) tall and 2009 Voyager toy suggests he would stand 46.2 feet tall. The Transformers U.K. magazine states he stands 31 feet (9.4 m) tall, weighs 5.3 (short) tons (4.8 tons) and can travel up to Mach 3.

The movie prequel comics show Starscream acquiring his Raptor form by scanning an experimental Raptor prototype before shooting it down, which should put him among the 411th Flight Test Squadron based out of Edwards Air Force Base (responsible for testing new F-22s). Movie scenes show him among a squadron bearing "ED" tail markings, placing him at Edwards. However, promotional photos of Starscream released with the movie show sufficient detail to recognize the markings on the fuselage of Starscream's disguise: the tail that forms his left shoulder bears a winged sword enclosed in a shield, denoting the Air Combat Command, as well as the letters "FF 1st FW" indicating the 1st Fighter Wing based out of Langley Air Force Base; a portion of the nose forming his chest shows a reversed version of the "flying fist" insignia of the 1st Fighter Wing's 71st Fighter Squadron. This is inaccurate on two counts, since the 71st still flies the F-15 Eagle; however, this could be a homage to the Generation 1 Starscream's F-15 mode.



Books
In the prequel novel Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday it is revealed that Starscream is the leader of the Decepticons following Megatron's disappearance during his search for the Allspark. He and a crew of Decepticons travel aboard the Nemesis to search for the Allspark and Megatron, although Starscream is not keen on finding the latter. His leadership is uneasy at best: Blackout opposes him at every turn (rightly not trusting Starscream and thinking that he would prefer that they never find Megatron), while Barricade tolerates it only as a means of finding Megatron. Encountering Ghost-1, a human craft of Cybertronian design, Starscream manipulates them into revealing that Megatron and the Allspark are on Earth, then betrays them. After winning a vicious duel with Blackout for leadership, he launches a full-scale assault on the Autobots. Just as he and Bonecrusher almost kill Optimus Prime, Starscream is severely injured by Ghost-1. In retaliation, he destroys the human craft before retreating. Optimus Prime notes that Starscream's Cybertronian jet mode resembles that of Megatron's.

Starscream returns in Transformers: The Veiled Threat. With Megatron dead, Starscream eventually returns to Earth around Zambia, where he gains control over local rebel groups by using his internal synthesizers to create gold coins. With his group composed of Dropkick, Macerator, and Payload, Starscream leads an attack on a local dam construction site, making short work of the security forces, and proceeds to steal mass quantities of explosives. But as the Autobots arrive to engage his followers, Starscream springs his trap as both sides are nearly killed with Beachbreak the only casualty before Macerator is killed. Making his way to Europe, Starscream strikes a deal with an Italian criminal named Bruno Carrera to help destroy Optimus Prime in exchange for dominion over Europe when the Decepticons triumph. With Swindle and Dead End to call out the Autobots, Starscream tricks Prime with the strong set of restraints arranged by Carrera before he attacks the remaining Autobots until Prime breaks free. Forced to fall back, Starscream attacks Carrera at this villa for his “failure”.

IDW Publishing
The back story of the Transformers on ancient Cybertron is told in Transformers: Defiance. In this story, Starscream returns to Cybertron after encountering an enemy scout ship in the Eshems Nebula. After being repaired for minor damage by Ratchet, Starscream and Ironhide report to Optimus Prime and Megatron. Later, the planet is invaded by aliens from the Eshems Nebula and Starscream is among the defenders in the city of Metrotitan, near the temple at Simfur. In issue #2, he sides with Megatron in his decision to counterattack Cybertron's invaders and is among the fleet that attacks their ships.

Starscream also appears at the end of issue #3 of Transformers: Movie Prequel, where he, Blackout and Barricade destroy the Mars Beagle probe. In issue 4, he travels to Earth, gaining his F-22 alternate mode by scanning an experimental Raptor before shooting it down. The three Decepticons, detecting emissions similar to that of the Allspark, then stumble onto Sector 7's trap for Bumblebee, wiping out their military backup. Starscream then approves Barricade's plan to follow Bumblebee and see if he could lead them to the All Spark, tailing him from the air.

He appears in the official movie sequel comic called "The Reign of Starscream". In this story, Starscream leaves the battle in Mission City, where he finds Barricade alive, but damaged, and then goes to recover Frenzy's body from the Sector 7 base under Hoover Dam in hopes of gaining information on the All Spark. After recovering Frenzy, Starscream is confronted by Sector 7 forces commanded by Agent Salazar. After an unsuccessful attempt by Salazar to use L.M.-1 in battle Starscream kidnaps Salazar and leaves Earth for Mars. Salazar dies from decompression, much to Starscream's surprise, when they leave Earth's atmosphere. Starscream barely makes it to the Nemesis on Mars before he runs out of power. His return is noted by the Autobot Cosmos, who alerts Arcee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, Camshaft and Air Raid. Aided by Thundercracker aboard the Nemesis, Starscream recovers and sends the information Frenzy had gathered back to Cybertron just as Hardtop spots the Autobots closing on the Nemesis. In issue #5, Starscream sacrifices the sparks of Crankcase, Elita One, Grindcore, Signal Flare and Warpath to bring his new All Spark Cube online. Although the cube fails to function, Starscream does not have time to find out why, as Dreadwing makes his bid to overthrow the Decepticons using his army of drones. Ramjet and Divebomb side with Dreadwing, but Thundercracker and Stockade remain loyal to Starscream. Crosshairs beheads Ramjet and the Autobots are able to deactivate the drones as Starscream overcomes Dreadwing's remaining forces, including Divebomb. Dreadwing escapes to the Nemesis, but is followed by Starscream. Crashing on Mars, Dreadwing thinks he was free, but Starscream kills him before turning his eye to Earth.

In Transformers: Alliance, a month after the battle at Mission City, Epps and Lennox contact Optimus Prime, Ratchet and Ironhide about aiding them in escorting the remains of the Decepticons to the naval yard. Unknowingly, they are spied on by Barricade, who transmits the information to Starscream, who is applying Cybertronian symbols on his body. Unable to ignore the possibility of being able to take out Prime, Megatron and Wreckage at once, Starscream attacks, but is unable to overpower Wreckage, who is enhanced with a sliver of the All Spark. As Wreckage is about to deal a deathblow, he is distracted by Bumblebee. Starscream capitalizes and guts his foe before turning his firepower on the Autobot and the humans. However, he then retreats, having an unexpected communication from Soundwave.

In Transformers: Rising Storm, it is revealed that Starscream has broken away from Megatron's rule, and formed his own army - Club Starscream - with Barricade and some others under his command. However after blasting his way past Ruination and Deadlift, Shockwave tells Starscream that Megatron requires his services. Shockwave then sends Starscream to recover the drone called Brains. Starscream fought against the Autobots in Philidelphia and later retreated back to Africa, where he complained to Megatron.

Role in the films
In the first film, Starscream rallies the other Decepticons to battle when Frenzy alerts them to the All Spark's location. He destroys the electrical substation that powers Sector 7's base, allowing Megatron to come out of his deep freeze. Upon being reunited with Megatron, however, he is scolded by his leader for letting the All Spark escape with the humans in a manner reminiscent of his G1 counterpart: "You've failed me yet again, Starscream." In the first battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, he is the first Decepticon to arrive on the scene, thanks to his flight capability, which he also uses to ambush the Autobots when their human allies mistake him for a friendly Air Force pilot. He then opens fire by firing missiles in his Raptor form at Bumblebee and Ironhide, destroying the former's legs and injuring the latter. Later, he stops Sam Witwicky from fleeing by land with the All Spark, and even without much effort, he easily disables both Ironhide and Ratchet in the process; however, even though he had the chance, he does not take the All Spark with him. When Sam is about to hand off the All Spark to a Black Hawk crewman, Starscream shoots down the helicopter. Later, when a full airstrike has been called in on Megatron and Blackout, Starscream conceals himself among the attacking jets in order to ambush them. He destroys three of the jets, but retreats from the battle after the F-22 pilots regroup and engage him, allowing the jets to complete their mission. An interlude during the end credits shows Starscream leaving Earth's atmosphere. He can be heard speaking in Cybertronian, though his words are not clear, nor subtitled.

In the second film, Starscream is first seen aboard the Nemesis shipwreck and is confronted by a returning Megatron, who is angry because Starscream left him to die on Earth, but he reveals to Megatron that he only left to spawn a new army, and that he had to take command during Megatron's absence. Megatron then immediately scolds him with such force, telling Starscream that it is only his right to take command, even in death. Starscream then reveals that they are nearly running out of energon, the secondary source of life, after a couple of the Cybertronian protoforms in the Nemesis die prematurely. When Grindor brings Sam, Mikaela, and Leo and drops them into an abandoned warehouse, Starscream cuts open the car that they were dropped in in half with his buzzsaw and seemingly spits on Sam several times before letting Megatron confront Sam himself. As Optimus Prime and Bumblebee arrive on the scene, Starscream battles Bumblebee for a short while until he confronts Optimus (who was also confronting Megatron) himself, but is somewhat overwhelmed as he did not attempt to fight back at all and then shot out of a window. He and Grindor arrive at a nearby forest from Megatron's call as he chases after Sam but fails. When Megatron was temporarily out of the battle, Starscream battles Optimus again with somewhat of an effort this time, but was still no match as he gets kicked in the face, knocking parts of his mouth off. Moments later, he finally gets the better of Optimus; slicing him with his buzzsaw and firing at him with his missiles and gatling gun. But he is subdued quickly as he gets his arm chopped off as Optimus kills Grindor, then being killed by Megatron. He and Megatron escape after Autobot reinforcements arrive to protect Prime's body. Moments later, he and Megatron have a quick meeting on top of the Metlife Building in Manhattan, New York, but because he could not catch Sam, Megatron is furious as he beats him with brute force. Starscream then easily reattaches his arm. Later, he finds Sam and the others as he opens fire onto Bumblebee, Skids, and Mudflap, but fails to hit his target. He then reports to Megatron that the soldiers had brought Prime's body; with Megatron realizing that Sam has the Matrix, he orders Starscream that Sam must not reach Optimus, and then ordering the Decepticon assault. He is later seen in Egypt with the other Decepticons who are looking for Sam at the second battle. He finds Sam and Mikaela, but fails to kill them both as he opened fire, despite being extremely close in killing them. He then tells Rampage to spring the trap for Sam when Sam and Mikaela get close, which results in the demise of Rampage and Ravage by Bumblebee. When the Fallen is killed, Starscream convinces Megatron that retreating is their only option of survival: "Not to call you a coward master, but, sometimes, cowards do survive.", with Megatron agreeing with his words, he vows that the battle is not over as they leave the already-over battle.

In the third film, Starscream still continues to serve under Megatron while he recuperates from his injuries at Decepticon High Command in Africa, as he comments on Megatron's current state, but with such sarcasm, and only in hopes of learning what his master's plan was. He is later seen in Washington D.C., along with Megatron and Sentinel Prime, complementing Megatron on his brilliance, but again with sarcasm. When the Xantium departed Earth, Starscream, having laid in wait, swooped in and destroyed the ship, and presumably every Autobot on board. He then attacked the Ospreys holding William Lennox's team as they tried to enter Chicago. Although he did destroy most of the Ospreys, Lennox and many other soldiers managed to jump to safety. Later on, Starscream took several potshots at Robert Epps' team, which resulted in Sam and Carly being separated from the soldiers. With Sam and Carly not knowing at all, Starscream cornered them and tries to kill Sam. However, Sam had a grappling hook and a "boomstick" from Que and shot the hook into Starscream's right eye, partially and painfully blinding him, while Sam could not let go of the grappling hook. Then Lennox's team arrived on the scene to help Sam and ambush Starscream. Realizing that he was outnumbered, Starscream opened fire onto some of Lennox's men, but was no use as he could not hold still as he would constantly flail around, and attempted to remove the hook numerous times; trying to scrape the hook out with his hand, banging his own head on the ground, and trying to fly on top of a building, but his boosters were malfunctioning. Then when he had the chance, Sam stabbed the boomstick into Starscream's other eye, completely blinding him. Lennox then attempted to free a dangling Sam, but Starscream still continued to flail around as he finally made it to the top of a building, taking both Sam and Lennox with him. Eventually the boomstick went off, fatally blowing off a large portion of his head, and even allowed parts of his body to explode, killing him as Bumblebee saves Sam and Lennox from the fall. This also ended Starscream's dreams and accomplishments of becoming the Decepticon leader.

Titan Magazine
In "Twilight's Last Greaming" part 3, Starscream and Scorponok attack the Autobots Arcee, Armorhide, Elita One, Longarm, Skyblast and Strongarm on the moon. The Autobots flee to Earth, which is exactly what Starscream hoped they'd do.

Starscream would return in issue #22 of the Titan Transformers Magazine series in a story called "The Decepticon who Haunted Himself".

Video games
Starscream is a playable character in the video game, with a white and red 'G1 Repaint' unlockable after the player completes the Decepticon campaign. He would appear as a boss alongside with Blackout in the Autobot campaign, where he is seemingly killed by Jazz. In the Decepticon campaign he is playable, and is also featured in many cutscenes and communications. Starscream's color is the same as the jet's in the movie and the video game's cutscenes, but when Starscream is controlled by the player or the computer, his skin turns green.

In the Nintendo DS Transformers: Decepticons game, Starscream would kill Barricade and Blackout, and perhaps Brawl, who simply disappears after killing Ironhide, steal the Allspark and betray Megatron. Starscream is fought by Megatron as the final boss after he is heavily damaged and loses the AllSpark to Create-A-Bot. After being defeated, Megatron kills him for being a traitor, as well as Create-A-Bot for being weak. In the Autobots version he is a simple boss who ambushes Ironhide and the Autobot Create-A-Bot in the Artic but retreats after a long battle and does not reappear or heard of again.

Starscream is among the playable characters in the 2009 Revenge of the Fallen video game by Activision. In the Decepticon campaign he kidnapped Theodore Galloway to learn the location of the Allspark shard, attacked the naval fleet guarding Megatron's body while he was being revived, and destroyed a museum while trying to kill Sam. In the Autobot campaign he appears at the building Sam was held in, attacking Optimus Prime but being forced to retreat, and later reappeared to help Megatron fight Optimus and Jetfire, only to be defeated again and retreat. There was also an unlockable skin for Starscream in which players could choose to play in his original G1 colours.

In the Nintendo DS game, Revenge of the Fallen: Decepticons, Starscream was the temporary leader of the Decepticons until Fallen forces him to revive Megatron. In the end he swore one day he would be the permanent leader of the Decepticons.

Starscream appears in the 2011 Dark of the Moon video game.

Starscream is among the characters who appear in the TRANSFORMERS CVBERVERSE Battle Builder Game.

Toys
Starscream for the 2007 and 2009 movie had numerous toys released. He was one of two promotional figures released long before the 2007 movie, as a "protoform". During the 2007 film release he was sold in various size classes as a licensed F-22 Raptor replica. These toys were recolored and released as fellow Decepticons Ramjet, Skywarp and Thundercracker. During the 2009 film he was released as both redeco of the 2007 film toys as well as new molds. This time with the distinctive tattoos painted on the toy. Starscream was also released in the 2010 "Transformers" line in his largest size yet among Hasbro's "Leader" class, and in Japan in the Masterpiece collection by Takara. In 2011, a "Deluxe" class Starscream was released as part of Hasbro's Transformers: Dark of the Moon Mech Tech assortment. This figure retains the Cybertronian tattoos from the previous film, and is considered to be a miniature version of the Leader class counterpart. All toys of this character are officially licensed from Lockheed Martin.

Transformers Animated
Starscream appears in the 2007 animated series. He transforms into a futuristic harrier jet, (sporting a notable similarity to the Variable Fighters of Macross fame in his transformation sequence) and resembles his Generation 1 counterpart in both design, personality, and ambitions. He flies at high speeds in both modes, and wields his trademark null-rays, though these function simply as powerful lasers. He's unintentionally comical in this incarnation displaying a degree of incompetence similar to his animated G1 counterpart. However, this incarnation displays a resolute tenacity towards his objective, shown by his flying around in a brutally-damaged Nemesis to track down the Allspark's energy signature for 50 years by himself. Unlike his G1 namesake, Starscream is far from cowardly and is an excellent warrior, since he almost single-handedly took down all of the Autobots in a battle over the Allspark. During season 2, upon being resurrected by a shard of the Allspark embedded on his forehead, Starscream displays a sense of perseverance in the series, making numerous attempts to eliminate Megatron before and after being destroyed by the Decepticon leader. He also can't tell the difference between any two humans.

In the Japanese translation of Transformers: Animated, the story has been changed to make it a prequel to the 2007 Transformers film. This makes this version of Starscream an earlier version of the film character.

Animated series
In "Transform & Roll Out", Starscream didn't even believe the Allspark existed in the first place, but when there was proof of the Allspark's existence on-board the Autobot's ship (which he opted immediately to just destroy) he made it second on his priority list – right behind becoming the new leader of the Decepticons. Seeing an opportunity to realize his primary goal (and to get Megatron back for damaging his wing when he suggested getting the Allspark himself), he planted an explosive charge on Megatron's back as he, oblivious to the device, exited the ship to fly out and board the Autobot vessel containing the Allspark. The massive explosion, though, only severely damaged Megatron instead of expunging him like he had expected, leading Starscream to believe that his plan was a success. Overjoyed to the realization of his dream, he faked mourning the loss of his former leader as he immediately proclaimed himself the new leader of the Decepticons. Unfortunately, the other Decepticons abandoned ship while Starscream failed to notice the massive explosion caused by the ensuing battle that the ship was heading directly into. Starscream, along with the Nemesis, was engulfed in the explosion. It would be decades later that he ended up on Earth with what was left of the Nemesis, adapting his vehicle mode from intercepting fighter jets and blending in with an air show to ambush the Autobots, using his high speed flight abilities to fly rings around the Autobots and taking Bumblebee, Captain Fanzone, and the mayor of Detroit hostage to coerce them into giving him the Allspark. He even managed to wrench it from their possession, despite growing furious with their game of "Keep-Away," and harnessed the power of the Allspark as a devastating weapon, using it to destroy a large chunk of the city. It was his hysteria from this new-found power that led him to be caught off guard as Optimus Prime got the jump on him, and a devastating battle ensued, ending with the Allspark accidentally being unleashed in a similar fashion as the Matrix is activated in G1, only here due to its size, by Optimus and Starscream trying to pull it from each-other's grasp. The resulting blast repelled Starscream away, forcing him to wait for a better chance.

Given some time to repair, Starscream resurfaced again later after Lugnut and Blitzwing were gravely wounded in "Lost and Found", offering to repair them in return for their pledge of loyalty to him.

In "Megatron Rising Part 1", he attempted to convince them both that Megatron had fallen to the hands of the Autobots, thus making him the new leader. Lugnut, however, with his undying, almost obsessive loyalty to Megatron, could not accept this, denying it repeatedly. Just as Starscream was getting angry with Lugnut's inability to consider him a leader, Megatron contacted Lugnut's frequency exclusively, where Lugnut promptly bowed and started addressing his master respectfully. Starscream, thinking Lugnut was talking to him, smirked and said, "Well...that's better...just don't let it happen again." Lugnut revealed to him that Megatron had just issued them orders, where Starscream was quick to jump that it was a treacherous impostor trying to lead them into a trap. He instructed Blitzwing and Lugnut to retrieve the Allspark, while he himself went to intercept the "fake" Megatron transmission. Starscream intercepted it back to Professor Sumdac's lab to discover Megatron's disembodied head. Starscream toyed and mocked Megatron, enjoying his superior's standing on the situation while making a speech of Megatron's feeble condition. However, Bumblebee interfered, annoying Starscream for interrupting him during the speech before he attacked the Autobot. Megatron, who had known of Starscream's earlier attempt on his life for quite some time, manipulated the lab's machinery to throw both Starscream and Bumblebee to the roof of Sumdac Tower. During the melee, Lugnut and Blitzwing arrived on the scene, inserting Sari's stolen key into Megatron's head. The charge from the key quickly rebuilt Megatron's body, much to Starscream's dismay and disappointment.

Noticing how the tides of battle changed with Megatron reborn, Starscream weighed his options of fighting the new, super-powered Megatron to claim his place as leader, or rejoin the ranks and wait for a better opportunity to present itself. Picking the latter, Starscream approached Megatron with a charm and gleam requesting to come back as Megatron's second-in-command as Megatron had his Fusion Cannon aimed at Prime. But at the last second, Megatron faked-out and delivered a massive fatal uppercut on Starscream with the Allspark key, rendering him offline for the remainder of the episode.

Later, in "Mission Accomplished", Starscream regained consciousness in a garbage barge and found his spark strangely extinguished before following Lugnut and Blitzwing to attack Megatron head on. It was from his vain attempt and second "death" by Megatron's hands that Starscream learned that a fragment of the Allspark was embedded on his forehead, keeping him alive and making him immortal. Though invincible, his repeated attempts at Megatron resulted with him being easily defeated, though unable to die. (At one point, he even attempts to pull a Captain Jack on Megatron before being damaged by Megatron's sword and fusion cannon.) After finding another fragment of the Allspark, he planned to lure Megatron out into the open by placing the fragment on a high-speed train which he set to explode, but only the Autobot Elite Guard fell for the trick while Megatron and Blitzwing watched from above before he had Blitzwing shoot Starscream down from the sky. He regained consciousness before attacking Ultra Magnus to take back his fragment. It took stasis cuffs to finally subdue Starscream, who is then sent to Cybertron for imprisonment.

However, in "A Fistful of Energon", he escaped and made his return to Earth, with Megatron setting a bounty on him. Setting up base on the Nemesis wreck on the moon, Starscream used the protoforms to create a massive supply of "decoy Starscreams" to act in his stead, using a cowardly version that Lockdown caught with Prowl's aid and a brightly-colored "scheming" decoy that the Autobots captured while heading to Megatron and Lockdown's meeting area. When the Autobots and Decepticons learned the true nature of the Starscream decoys, Starscream activated the bombs in their spark chambers to take out both factions. But while the Decepticons escaped the warehouse to pursue Starscream, Prowl managed to launch the decoys with his newly-acquired Samurai armor into the sky where they exploded near the Decepticons without any damage done to the city. However, Starscream had already made many more clones after learning that Megatron had increased the amount of his bounty.

Starscream returned in the two-part episode "A Bridge Too Close", installing life into five of his clones with chips of the Allspark fragment in his head. The clones each represented a different side of his personality – cowardice, egomania, dishonesty, sycophancy, and a female clone, who advised him not to ask about her origin. He led his small army to attack Megatron and had the upper hand against him and the Autobots until his head was removed by a Headmaster unit piloted by Isaac Sumdac. Seeing their creator beheaded, the three remaining Starscream clones sided with Megatron. Later, Starscream's head was used by Megatron to reactivate the Decepticon Space Bridge, overloading the systems and resulting in both Starscream's head and Megatron being sucked into an unstable portal. The two were later seen bickering with each other in an random part of space.

Starscream returned in the season three premiere event, "TransWarped." The AllSpark fragment in his forehead gave him the power to convert his mouth into a sonic laser, which freed Megatron from the stasis cuffs. Megatron later used Starscream to override an offline Omega Supreme's circuitry, taking control of him. Starscream planned to use Omega to take over Cybertron, but his plans were derailed when Optimus Prime placed a malfunctioning Space Bridge component on Omega, causing him to go through an endless Transwarp cycle. However, Megatron was able to remove the component, picking up Lugnut and then Shockwave with Arcee, who possessed Omega's activation codes. They returned to Earth's moon, where Starscream took the opportunity to sneak over to the ruins of the Nemesis and use a protoform to build a new body for himself, before Megatron arrived and destroyed all of the decoys. Learning of Megatron's plan to create clones of Omega, Starscream attempted to download the activation codes and take control of them himself. However, Lugnut intervened, gaining and downloading the activation codes himself, and Starscream ended up in pieces from the waist down, courtesy of Megatron.

In "Endgame Part 2," Starscream got his chance at revenge, when it is revealed that he had furtively booby-trapped the Omega Supreme clones with self-destruct devices during their construction and also inserted a program that rendered him in control of the Lugnut Supremes. He eventually reconstructed himself and headed to Earth to watch Megatron's death. However, he met his own demise at the hands of Jazz and Prowl, during the reconstruction of the AllSpark. His own AllSpark fragment was pulled out of his head. Lacking the fragment, Starscream fell to the ground, offline forever.

IDW Publishing
In IDW comics "The Arrival Part 2", Starscream was found unable to move by Professor Princess. The prankster villain then proceeded to put feminine makeup and a wig on him, while teasing him with her blaster. Once his systems were reset by the blaster, Starscream threatened to destroy the little girl, but she had set up a transmission of pictures of Starscream in makeup to be broadcast if she or her pony Powered Sugar were injured and Starscream agreed to leave and forget the whole affair. He never even noticed she had painted his back in rainbow colors.

Toys
Animated Starscream also received numerous toys in many size classes during the run of the Animated toy line. Many of the Starscream toys were recolored as his clones Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ramjet, Dirge and Sunstorm. In 2008 a McDonalds happy meal was produced with a simple transforming Starscream toy inside to promote the series. This Starscream was also released in the Universe toy as a small Legends figure, shipping with a whole wave of tiny Animated characters. In Japan the Starscream figures were released in metallic finish by Takara.

Transformers: Timelines (Shattered Glass)
This Starscream is a morally good version of the Generation 1 character from the BotCon exclusive "Shattered Glass" comic, in which the Decepticons are on the side of good and the Autobots on the side of evil.

According to his tech specs Starscream was a brilliant young scientist who graduated at the Crystal City Science Institute. When the war between the Autobots and Decepticons broke out Optimus Prime tried to recruit him, but he refused. After joining the Decepticons he helped refine the Transformation process Megatron invented. He turns into a Cybertronian jet.

This version is loyal to Megatron, as opposed to his normally treacherous portrayal. He longs to return to his life as a scientist, finding it much more exciting than war. To makes things better, whenever Starscream comes up with a wise idea that works, Megatron calls him a genius in return.

Reception
The Botcon 2008 set was chosen as the "Action Figure Digest Hot Pick."

Fun Publications
Starscream appears in the 2008 April Fool's comic Shattered Expectations by Fun Publications. He and Razorclaw confront his world's Goldbug, Grimlock and Jazz. When the Autobots refuse to surrender the Decepticons call in the Mayhem Suppression Squad.

Starscream then appears in the BotCon 2008 Timelines comic Transformers: Timelines story "Shattered Glass" as one of the troops of the heroic Decepticon Megatron. Starscream, Divebomb and Whisper drop "glass gas" bombs on the Autobot's Ark launch platform to make it vulnerable to attack.

Starscream appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text based story from Fun Publications. He defends the Arch-Ayr fuel dump from an Autobot attack.

Starscream appears in the story Do Over. He is the first to discover that the Dinocons Slugfest and Overkill have gained the ability to transform. When Megatron is captured by the Autobot Targetmasters he wants to order a full scale rescue effort, but Cliffjumper talks him into only sending a small team of Micromasters to rescue Megatron, so that the Decepticons efforts in finishing the Nemesis won't be compromised. Starscream was later commands the Nemesis, which follows the Autobot's Ark to Earth before being shot down and ordering the crew to escape in life pods. Among his troops on the Nemesis are Cliffjumper, Demolishor, Heatwave and Soundwave.

Starscream appears in Eye in the Sky, where it is revealed that he survived the crash of the Nemesis. Because he lacks a stasis pod to reformat himself, he maintains a Cybertronian style alternate mode. He becomes good friends with the human scientist Doctor Arkeville and his assistants. Starscream felt it was the Decepticon duty to make sure the supposedly deactivated Autobots posed no threat to Earth before the Decepticon returned to Cybertron. Sadly the Autobot threat surfaces shortly when Rodimus Prime's band take possession of a military base controlling an orbital defense system. Starscream sends a team of Decepticons and their human allies to destroy the defense system and defeat the Autobots.

Starscream defeated the human villain called the Arachnolord.

Starscream appears in a flashback in Transformers: The Coming Storm.

Toys
The toy for the heroic Starscream is redeco of the Cybertron Voyager Starscream, and was available only at the 2008 BotCon. His color scheme is an homage to the Generation 1 Autobot Jetfire.

Transformers: Timelines (Transtech)
Starscream works in civil intelligence on Transtech Cybertron.

The Transtech concept was a line intended to take Transformers to their most futuristic, and although Toronto-based design studio Draxhall Jump created several designs, the idea was eventually aborted in favor of Transformers: Armada (with Transformers: Robots in Disguise serving as a filler line between years). Several figures made it to the prototype stage before the project was canceled, including Starscream.

Fun Publications
Starscream appeared in the Fun Publications story "Transcendent", where he reported his findings on Skyfall and Landquake to Optimus Prime.

Prowl and Starscream had a biographies printed by Fun Publications.

Toys
Although a prototype for this toy was produced, it was never released to the general public.

Transformers: Prime
Starscream is one of the main group of Decepticons in the 2010 computer animated series Transformers: Prime. In this series, he is a much darker character like his Unicron Trilogy Counterpart.

He has displayed a contempt for Decepticons who do not choose a flying alternate mode, like Knockout.

Books
Starscream appears in the short story Bumblebee at Tyger Pax By Alex Irvine.

Starscream appears in the novel Transformers: Exodus.

Video games
Starscream appears as a playable Decepticon character in the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron, voiced by Sam Riegel. In the Decepticon campaign, Starscream starts out as a Seeker guarding dark energon, but when Megatron immerses himself in dark energon, he quickly allies himself under the Decepticon leader, hoping to learn from him the ways of controlling dark energon. Starscream – along with Skywarp and Thundercracker – are assigned to reactivate the energon bridge that connects his space station to Cybertron.

In the Autobot campaign, Starscream is a sub-boss who leads an assault on the Autobot city of Iacon. He retreats after being defeated by Optimus and his forces.

Starscream appears as a level boss in the Nintendo DS video game Transformers: War for Cybertron Decepticons, where he is defeated by the Decepticons at Trypticon, but survives by begging to live and swearing to serve Megatron. After this point in the game, Starscream and Skywarp become playable characters.

Animated series
Since Megatron's disappearance, Starscream was leading the Deceptions on Earth while waiting for his leader's return. After killing off Cliffjumper, Starscream sends a pair of Eradicons after Arcee and the resulting humans who come in contact with her. Eventually, once Soundwave detects Megatron's signal, Starscream has the Space Bridge open to guide Megatron to Earth. Upon learning of Megatron's finding of Dark Energon, Starscream offers Cliffjumper's body to be used when offered the opportunity of sacrificing himself for the Decepticon cause. This action results with the Autobot's following Cliffjumper's signal to the Energon mine Starscream was mining, forcing the Decepticon to destroy it. Though confident that he destroys Optimus despite Megatron insisting otherwise, Starscream becomes horrified when his leader uses the Dark Energon on himself. Eventually after Megatron is seemingly killed when their Space Bridge Gate exploded, Starscream eagerly take over as leader.

Attempting to boost up morale and be respected as leader, Starscream revives Skyquake to kill Optimus Prime for him. But during the battle, Starscream learns that Megatron survived and investigates it in hopes it was a glitch. But finding Megatron alive, Starscream attempts to kill him by removing the shard of dark energon from him, only to be forced transport Megatron to their base's sick bay to hide his act from Soundwave.

Starscream's schemes would mainly revolve around locating the Autobot base, and stockpiling on Energon. He tries to find the Autobot base with shape-shifter Makeshift, though he is eventually caught in his deception by the Autobots. In Convoy, he sends a squad of Vehicons to defeat the Autobots, again ending in failure. In Deus ex Machina, the crew is dissatisfied with Megatron's slow recovery, so they vote to bring Knock Out and Breakdown to the ship to effect better repairs. Starscream attempts to use an Energon Harvester to collect Energon easily, but is thwarted by Bulkhead. In Speed Metal, he is angered by Knock Out's participation in human street races, and punishes his subordinate by scratching into Knock Out's paint job, much to the narcissic and image-sensitive Decepticon's horror.

In Sick Mind, Starscream believes the only way forward for the Decepticons is to kill the comatose Megatron, and offers Knock Out the post of second-in-command if he convinces Soundwave to pull the plug on Megatron. However, though Soundwave appears convinced, Starscream discovers Bumblebee and Arcee on board the Nemesis escaping, and while Arcee severs Megatron's life support, Soundwave silently yet clearly angrily makes Starscream replug Megatron, as to not let their leader die by an Autobot's hand. Knock Out later reported that whatever the Autobots did to Megatron, it left him brain-dead. Overjoyed by this, Starscream decides to start his official tenure as leader in Out of his Head by melting a glacier to uncover a cache of Energon. Optimus Prime thwarts this latest plan, leading a furious Starscream to fatally shoot Prime in a nosedive. However, midway during his descent, he is stopped by the revived Megatron, much to his absolute horror. Starscream at first claims it's a miracle that Megatron has returned, but Megatron retorts that it will be a miracle if Starscream survives the punishment he is about to take for his assassination attempt on Megatron.

In Shadowzone, he is shown to have grievous wounds from Megatron's punishment, but still has the shard of Dark Energon he ripped from Megatron's chest. Starscream travels to Skyquake's grave, and infusing himself with Dark Energon, attempts to raise Skyquake from the dead to help overthrow Megatron. However, the Autobots arrive, and Optimus Prime shoots Starscream's entire arm off his body. A Ground Bridge mishap results in the three children and Starscream's arm being trapped in an alternate dimension with the revived Skyquake. Starscream returns to the ship, only for Knock Out to be mostly unable to repair his arm, due to Starscream being obsolete in terms of technology and models. When he realizes Skyquake lives, Starscream returns to where he revived Skyquake, only to be attacked by the undead's severed hand, much to his horror. In the next episode, Operation: Breakdown, he has fully recovered from the incident.

In Rock Bottom, Megatron accuses him of hoarding Energon from an energon mine, even though Arcee, Bulkhead, Miko, and Jack were in the mine earlier to investigate it after it was strippped clean. Starscream escapes Megatron's wrath when Jack and Arcee confront the latter, but he ends up fighting Bulkhead. He ends up holding the ceiling up to prevent the mine from collapsing after Arcee shows up. After Megatron digs himself out of the rubble, he wonders what he will do with Starscream.

In Partners, he states to Megatron that he is only loyal to him, and wants nothing more to do than be his trustworthy second-in-command, which he believes. Starscream leads Airachnid to a piece of a crashed Decepticon ship in order to obtain a weapon called The Immobilizer, which paralizes its enemies. Airachnid betrays Starscream, who then tells the Autobots that he wants to join them, as he has been betrayed by Airachnid and doesn't wish for Megatron to see him as a failure. He is put in stasis cuffs and his flight capabilities are temporarily deactivated until further notice. Arcee is asked to keep an eye on Starscream, and learns that Starscream was the one who killed Cliffjumper. Starscream breaks out of his cuffs and beats on Arcee up until she gets the upper hand and almost kills him, but Bumblebee convinces her not to, and Starscream escapes. Later that night, he gets his flight ability back, and decides to fight against both the Autobots and the Decepticons and flies off into the night.

Toys

 * Prime Deluxe Starscream (not yet released)
 * An all-new mold of Starscream from the Prime animated series.


 * Prime Voyager Starscream (not yet released)
 * A Voyager Class figure of Starscream is tentatively set for release in 2012.