Megatron & Starscream, part 1

[janegray]

So, IDW has been publishing Transformers comics. They are pretty good!

Two characters in particular drew my attention: big bad Megatron and his treacherous second Starscream. So I've decided to make a bunch of posts about their interactions in the series.


First, a little introduction. In this particular continuity Starscream was neither a scientist nor a soldier. Apparently, he was just a skilled fighter who admired the powerful gladiator and underground revolutionary Megatron, and wished to fight by his side in the arena.

At this point in time (4 million years before the current events) the Decepticons were still a tiny and fairly powerless group, so Megatron tasked Soundwave with recruiting flight-capable warriors to provide air support and start turning the group into an actual army. Thus Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp were recruited as the very first Decepticons flyers.

At first Starscream believed that he would simply be fighting in the arena side by side with the gladiator he admired, but Megatron revealed to him that his true purpose was global domination.







Starscream took to that like a duck to water.





(From Megatron: Origin #3 and #4)


So the War happens, Autobots VS Decepticons, Cybertron is destroyed, blah blah blah. At one point Starscream conspires with a guy called Scorponok to overthrow Megatron (apparently it didn't take long for him to decide that being second in command was all well and good, but being supreme leader would be better), but takes care to keep a low profile during the whole thing. So, when Megs comes back, Starscream is able to push all the blame on Scorponok and avoid getting punished (no need to feel sorry for Scorponok, he was a total dick).

Four million years pass, and Starscream learns of the existance of a super-powerful energon Ore-13 on planet Earth. Ore-13 boosts the power of Transformers to extreme levels, and Starscream believes that if he got some of that stuff he could finally take Megatron in a fight. He goes to Earth under the pretense of conquering the planet for Megatron's sake and eventually manages to find the Ore-13. But Megatron is not stupid (not in this series, anyway) and quickly realizes that Starscream is up to no good, so he goes to Earth to confront him.

















(From Infiltration #6)


Fun fact: in this continuity, Megatron's fusion cannon was a gift from Starscream! Isn't it nice when your friends put your gifts to good use?

Anyway, Megatron learns that the Ore-13 is an excellent weapon and decides to stay on Earth and conquer it. However, his plans grow increasingly reckless, and the other Decepticons grow worried that Megatron has lost it. None of them have the guts to challenge him, only Starscream could do that...





(From Devastation #1)


It's interesting to note that, normally, Megatron has no mercy whatsoever for treason. When Ramjet betrayed him, Megatron immediately executed him. When Scorponok betrayed him, Megatron crippled him to make him still and defenceless but conscious then ordered his Decepticons to horribly torture him for a very long time.

But when Starscream betrayed him, Megatron severely injured him with a single hit that knocked him out, but refused to finish him off, immediately ordered his Decepticons to give him medical care, then kept him asleep while forbidding the other Decepticons to go anywhere near him.

The ending of the whole thing with Scorponok also seemed to imply that Megatron knew (or at least strongly suspected) that Starscream had been working with Scorponok, but Megatron chose to ignore it and only punish Scorponok.

...Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, Starscream wakes up just as a bunch of big scary aliens attack the Decepticon base. He and Megatron team up to fight them off, but the huge battle is impossible to cover up and the human authorities learn of the existance of Transformers. Megatron realizes that the Decepticons won't be able to fight off the whole world unless they stand united against the common foe, so he accepts Starscream back in the ranks and pardons the others for freeing him.

More Autobot VS Decepticons battles. Optimus VS Megatron. Blah blah blah.

THE DECEPTICONS ACTUALLY WIN THE WAR!

No, seriously. Megs and Screamer come up with plans that are actually intelligent and beat the good guys, who are exiled back to Cybertron through a space bridge.







(From All Hail Megatron #3)


...Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

So, obviously the series can't end like this, and the good guys will make a comeback. I'll make more posts as soon as I can :)

Comments

[crinos]

Is it weird that I now ship these two?

[janegray]

Let's be weirdos together, I'll buy you a drink.

[q99]

Shipping Megatron and Starscream is fairly natural :)

[icon_uk]

I believe you would be far from the first... very.... very far from the first.

I'm not saying it's NOT weird, but this is scans_daily, where weird is pretty much the norm.

[arilou_skiff]

No, it's pretty standard.

[icon_uk]

"Decepticons... TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!"

Thank you Trannsformers Animated for finally giving Megatron a rallying cry for the mostly flight-capable Decepticons that is a match for "Transform and roll out" and gives us a pun that makes so much sense for a revolutionary cause.

I confess when I saw Starscream on trial I presumed he'd asked for an early trial so he could sell out all his allies to save his own fuselage.

[janegray]

I wish I could like Transformers Animated, but the art style seriously puts me off, and I HATE what they did to Blurr :/

Anyway, Starscream has other ways to make a trial go in his favour :P

http://konora.tumblr.com/post/98836478904/armcontrolnerve-deleted-scenes-from-the-trial

(I'm going to post the scene where Starscream testifies in Megatron's trial in one of my next entries).

[icon_uk]

The art style took a little getting used to, but I quickly learned to love it. Especially as it gave us;

The aforementioned Decepticon rallying cry.

An answer to the question "What would happen if a Beast Wars style Protoform scanned the nearest life form and it turned out to be a human?"

The reveal that it was entirely possible for Autobot High Command members to be complete assholes rather than the generic "Good people" (Ultra Magnus in particular was the sort of smug git you would never tire of slapping in the face)

A Megatron who, when he discovered that it was Starscream who tried to kill him, instead of messing around with the whole "I shall keep my enemy close" bit, , simply ordered him shot on sight,

Then when it was realised that due to a plot twist, Starscream was now pretty much immortal, Megatron just kept killing him... repeatedly.

Then we had Starcream create his own army of clones, and wackiness ensues...

The rather adorable Jetfire/Jetstorm twins (themselves the products of an Autobot process

Oh, and a surprisingly accuate toy line! :)

[janegray]

I'll admit, I LOVE Slipstream. I'm not fond of TFA as a whole, but Slipstream is awesome, she is just so hilariously and deliciously vicious. I hope she makes it in the upcoming Robots in Disguise cartoon, the sequel of Transformers Prime.

[icon_uk]

And in turn I found that Transformers Prime CGI style took a LOT of getting used to mostly because it seemed so dull and drab... Unless you were serisouly into purple.

The humans didn't interest me at all (Generic hero male kid, generic hypergenius male kid, spectacularly irritating female kid... token Government rep, and the hero kid's mother)

What redeemed it for me, eventually, were the likes of the creepily mute badass Soundwave and the more creative cringing of Starscream.

[janegray]

Honestly, I don't know how any series with Knock Out could be called dull and drab. He was fabulous <3

The two younger kids annoyed the everloing crap out of me, but I thought Jack was very likeable. He was well aware that he was completely outgunned, so unlike 90% of male heroes in such stories he always took care to be cautious and discreet and keep out of harm's way. When he did fight, it was as a last resort when escape was impossible, and he used his brains in a realistic way (ex: use the environment against a stronger foe, rather than being a SUPAH SPECIAL HACKER WHO CAN TOTALLY OUTSMART SOUNDWAVE or a OMG AMUUUUZING WARRIOR WITH MAGIC ARMOUR WHO TOTALLY DESERVES A SPOT AMONG THE LEGENDARY WRECKERS).

Hia mother was also a refreshing mix of "concerned parent" and "reasonable authority figure." And agent Fowler was a very competent agent with some truly great lines. I would have happily thrown Miko and Raf off a cliff, but I was extremely fond of Jack, June and Fowler :)

Plus, come on, the show gave us these scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChEaL-aq7Nk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEAUJy6f1E4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVfBEnOWlfY

http://youtu.be/5Lu6_8RsuNc?t=30s

[icon_uk]

And let us ot forget the first few minute of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEvRgZ2GSaw

Starscream: Oh yes, you're one of.... those.

Knock Out: Come again?

Starscream: Never understood why any self-respecting Decepticon would choose automobile as his vehicle mode he could have flight.

Knock Out: I like the way I look in steel-belted radials.

I confess I might be letting my dislike of Miko colour my perception of Jack, who was at least, not irritating.

[terrykun]

Actually, the Decepticons have a different battle-cry in this continuity, although it's fallen into more minimal use since their working-class uprising early days.

"You are being deceived!"

[icon_uk]

Yeah, that strikes me as more of a slogan than a rallying cry in the battlefield.

[sir_razorback]

There's been ALOT of fun stuff coming out of the house of IDW in the last few years. TF, in my eyes at least, tops the list. There's pretty much an entire book dedicated to the Megatron/Starscream dynamic in Spotlight: Megatron.

[janegray]

Yep, I'm going to post pages from that issues in one of my next entries :)

[sir_razorback]

I did that a while back, actually. I'll post a link to it in case there was something different you wanted to share from that book.

http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4266027.html

[janegray]

Nice, thank you :D

I do plan on posting some new pages (it has been awhile, so now we can post 1/3 of the issue instead of 4 pages).

[q99]

One of the most pleasant surprises of the last half-decade or so of comics is the rise of companies like IDW.