Starscream is the original Transformer traitor. Being second-in-command of the Decepticon army, he has, time and again, openly declared his ambition of overthrowing Megatron and placing himself as the rightful leader. His outright ruthlessness and cruelty has made him a fearsome figure within the Decepticon ranks; but his treacherous ways has also earned him Megatron’s (as well as other notable Decepticon officers’) loathe and distrust.

Starscream was once a scientist and explorer during the Golden Age of Cybertron who worked with Jetfire before the civil war broke out. He eventually joined the Decepticons as a warrior as he saw it as “far more exciting” than continuing with his scientific pursuits. His skills as a warrior were glimpsed at during the gladiatorial recruitment activities run by Megatron during the creation of the Decepticon army. His skills coupled with his cold-bloodedness earned him a spot in the Megatron’s inner circle which might have lead to Starscream’s self-awareness of his worthiness of being the Decepticon leader.

Starscream was also second-in-command of the Decepticon contingent aboard the Nemesis that attacked the Autobot ship the Ark; and was among those Transformers who crash-landed and became trapped in stasis on Earth for four million years. When everyone onboard was revived, Starscream was a chief player in the Transformers continuing war on Earth and beyond.

Starscream earned the rank of Decepticon Air Commander because he is the fastest and most skilled flyer in his jet mode. He can reach speeds of up to Mach 2.8, and can climb up to sub-orbital altitudes of 52 miles; and nose-dive down to ground level in mere minutes. It is notable, though, that these nose-dives often overload his gyro-circuitry leaving him briefly disoriented. Still, such skills make him a formidable air warrior; particularly in surprise air, blitzkrieg-like attacks and hit-and-run air operations. He also has considerable strength and offensive capabilities that he has fine-tuned during his gladiatorial days in Cybertron.
Starscream’s arms are mounted with launchers (that are also mounted under his wings when in jet mode) that can launch two types of weaponry. His cluster bombs can be shot up to a distance of 40 miles, each of which can level an area of 10,000 square feet. His primary and favourite weapon, however, is the null ray. It can interrupt the flow of electricity in any circuitry it hits for periods of up to two minutes, effectively rendering any electronic device or machine – including Transformers – temporarily inoperable.
In addition to his physical capabilities, Starscream also possesses a high intellect that has proven to be very useful for the Decepticons. His scientific background has no doubt helped the Decepticons in developing new and better technology in their war against the Autobots. Plus, his experiences in hand-to-hand and field combat has allowed Starscream to become a very efficient tactical warrior and leader thus placing him high in the chain of command and becoming one of Megatron’s lieutenants.

With all these attributes, Starscream, however, has developed an overconfident attitude towards himself, becoming too ambitious and overrated of his skills and capabilities. This has also led him to believe that he is the supposed Decepticon leader; and has become a treacherous character in the eyes of the other Decepticons. While this has aided him in certain instances, oftentimes it has backfired against him putting him in a number of tight situations with Megatron, the Autobots, and his fellow Decepticons.

GENERATION ONE ANIMATED SERIES
During the period when they were stranded on Earth, Starscream continuosly plotted to overthrow Megatron. This obsession has contributed to the Decepticons’ repeated defeats under the Autobots as well as to some unexpected but historic events in Transformers history.
When Starscream was introduced in the pilot episode, his first lines have solidified in every viewer memory his treacherous character:

“The Autobots would have lost eons ago have I been in charge.”
“My time will come, Megatron.”Starscream’s treacherous ways has, since then, become one of the foundations of the Transformers mythos and has also contributed to a number of memorable episodes in the Generation One series.
After being revived by Teletraan-1 and leaving the Ark, the Decepticons went off to continue with their goal of conquering Earth. Starscream’s petty action of shooting the Autobot ship in the hopes of burying the Autobots forever in stasis only brought forth the opposite: it accidentally threw off the body of Autobot leader Optimus Prime within the range of the reconstruction beam, thus allowing the Autobots to be revived and the Cybertronian civil war to continue on Earth. Starscream also had his chance to destroy Earth when he destabilized Doctor Arkeville’s – a human Decepticon ally – exponential generator. He also joined forces with the Decepticon triple-changers Blitzwing and Astrotrain in betraying Megatron; but his backstabbing ways backfired when he, too, was double-crossed by the pair. Another highlight for Starscream came when he decided to go on his own against Megatron and created his own “army:” the Combaticons. He created this famous combiner team after stealing the imprisoned personality components of five renegade Decepticons and installing them into five World War II vehicles left over from the Battle of Guadalcanal. As his own private army, the Combaticons were used by Starscream to overthrow Megatron. Unfortunately for them – and more so for Starscream – they were defeated and were exiled. Though Starscream attempted to exact revenge, he, too, was betrayed by his own army and was forced to ally himself back with Megatron. His assistance in defeating the Combaticons combined form, Bruticus, by revealing the giant robot’s weak spot however, earned him another day to live by – as well as another day to betray – Megatron.GENERATION ONE & TWO COMIC BOOKS
Starscream was also one of the prominent characters in the Transformers comic books. Similar to his animated counterpart, the Marvel comic series also showed his desire for the leadership of the Decepticons; though in this medium, it was usually through snide remarks about Megatron’s capabilities. Following a failed attack on the Ark, Starscream was deactivated and placed in stasis inside the Ark.
His character had an “upgrade” when notable Transformers UK writer Simon Furman portrayed his ambitious and scheming character with more subtlety, and by making him more intelligent and cunning such that he got the recognition of being indeed one of the most formidable warriors in the Decepticon army.
In the Transformers UK mega-serial, Target: 2006, Starscream was seen being revived from stasis and teaming up with future Decepticon leader Galvatron. The latter tolerated Starscream, aware of the irony of the situation: Starscream believed that by working with Galvatron his future was saved, but because of Galvatron, Starscream’s future will be denied since Galvatron will eliminate him in the year 2006 (in the comic’s alternate-future rendition of The Transformers: The Movie). When the Autobots from the future duped Galvatron into turning against Starscream, a repainted Skywarp stood in for him and was the one destroyed by Galvatron. Believing his timeline altered, Galvatron returned to his future, while the future Autobots returned the true Starscream to stasis. Returning to the US stories, Starscream escaped from stasis by the new Decepticon leader, Ratbat, and appointed him to be second-in-command. Starscream, however, immediately went back to his treacherous ways. Upon learning of Ratbat’s plan to acquire the power of the Underbase (a database containing all information gathered by the Autobots during their existence), Starscream orchestrated a battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, giving him the opportunity to seize the database’s energy. Imbued with the great power, Starscream went to Earth and deactivated a great number of Transformers who stood against him. As he steadily grew into a gigantic being, Starscream was defeated by Optimus Prime, by tricking him into absorbing more of the Underbase’s energy. It was more than his body could handle and it ended up destroying him.
Starscream’s shattered remains were turned over to Autobot surgeon Ratchet by Megatron and Starscream was reconstructed as a Pretender. He then went to Earth and attacked Optimus Prime and Scorponok’s forces. Ratchet, however, disobeyed Megatron’s request to reprogram his mind, and Starscream’s original cowardly personality remained.
Now a Pretender Transformer, Starscream joined forces with Shockwave in instigating the Decepticon Civil War, and was transported to Cybertron along with all the other Transformers to battle Unicron. Following the Transformers’ victory, the duo fled the planet in a restored Ark but discovered some unlikely company onboard: Megatron and Ratchet. Starscream proceeded to kill the Autobot but was defeated in a brief fit of rage on Ratchet’s part. The surgeon then proceeded to crash the Ark on Earth to prevent Megatron (who at this point teamed up with another alternate timeline Galvatron) from threatening the universe once more. From this point, Starscream would return in the Marvel Generation Two comic series.
In the Generation Two series, Megatron was the sole survivor of the Ark. After a deal with human terrorist organization Cobra, restored a number of Transformers for his new army. Starscream was one of them. He, however, betrayed Megatron (as usual) when he realized he was going to be eliminated by the Decepticon leader and alerted the Cybertronian general Jhiaxus of the location of the joint Autobot/Decepticon base
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 saw him obtain a new body and weapons. Desperate for troops and in spite of his own misgivings about doing so, Megatron then reactivated Starscream. 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 up and running, he (predictably) betrayed him by alerting the forces of the Cybertronian general Jhiaxus to the location of the joint Autobot/Decepticon base.
Throughout the course of the series, Starscream in time acquired the Creation Matrix. He used it to merge himself with the Decepticon ship, the Warworld and eventually turned himself into a living weapon. However, he found his mind affected by the innate goodness of the Matrix, and rejected it in order to preserve his own personality.
Dreamwave’s take on the Transformers also allowed presented more angles on the character and story of Starscream. In the War Within series, Starscream was seen as an excellent gladiator and again as a traitorous and scheming character. Following the disappearance of Optimus Prime and Megatron, went on to form his own faction: the Predacons. When the other splinter factions attempted to reconcile their differences, Starscream’s Predacons attacked the reconciliation ceremony. The attack occurred concurrently with the return of Megatron, who immediately subjected Starscream to physical torture for stealing his glory.
The two Generation One mini-series once again featured Starscream, but it was in the second mini-series where his familiar treacherous character was once again put in the spotlight. After cowardly disposing of Megatron (who was defeated by Shockwave) on their return trip to Cybertron, he immediately went to conceive his own plans in betraying Shockwave. This was, however, cut short when the rebel Autobot forces attacked Iacon and defeated Shockwave. Starscream took command over a number of Decepticons and escaped back to Earth carrying five Decepticon personality components. Similar to the animated series, he eventually created these five into the Combaticons.
Following the second mini-series, Starscream became one of the central characters in the ongoing series’ first major story arc as he came face-to-face with his very own, Shockwave-spawned, super-powered clone, Sunstorm. Bringing the Autobot scientist Jetfire back online, Starscream and his former colleague deduced the clone’s nature, and created a power siphon to drain his energy. Starscream, ever the traitor however, turned the tables on everyone by freeing Sunstorm. His clone then took him to a mysterious Cybertronian seal beneath the ocean’s surface. His clone claimed that only Starscream could open the seal. Upon doing so, he unlocked a reservoir of a powerful liquid which Sunstorm intended to use to empower his “brother,” so that they could achieve his goals together. Predictably, Starscream also betrayed Sunstorm. The clone fell into the liquid and created a chain reaction causing him and Jetfire to be destroyed. Starscream then returned to the Decepticon base, only to find out that Megatron and Shockwave have returned, and to receive the punishment he deserved from his leader. Eventually, Starscream gave hints to Megatron of his discoveries from his encounter with Sunstorm much to Megatron’s surprise. At this point, however, Dreamwave’s run came to an end and did not bring full closure to the Transformers’ and specifically, Starscream’s fate.A SHORT REIGN BUT A LASTING LEGACY
Starscream’s fate was much clearer in the animated Transformers: The Movie. After his fight with Optimus Prime, a beaten Megatron sits inside Astrotrain as the Decepticons retreated back to Cybertron. Starscream finally got his big chance to dispose of the Decepticon leader when he personally threw Megatron off into space. He then proceeded to naming himself the new leader of the Decepticons. His reign, however, would be shortlived. During his coronation, Megatron returns, this time with a new body courtesy of the chaos-bringer Unicron. Now known as Galvatron, he derided Starscream’s coronation as “bad comedy” and gave the traitor a taste of his new power. Galvatron obliteratd him wih one blast of his cannon mode and urned Starscream into ashes. Starscream’s body may be gone, but his treacherous spark survived. He continued to exist in a ghost-like form. When Octane sought refuge from his pursuers in the crypt, Starscream’s ghost seized control of Cyclonus body, and worked with the triple-changer to turn Galvatron over to the Autobots and take leadership of the Decepticons for themselves. Galvatron escaped and returned to blast Starscream out of Cyclonus. Starscream then went to possess the body of a Sweep and eventually, their leader Scourge. While inside Scourge’s body, he bargained with Unicron. In it, Starscream was to perform three labors for the planet-eater in exchange for getting his body back. Stealing the eyes of Metroplex and the transforming cog of Trypticon, Starscream’s body was restored so that he could make the final connection between Unicron’s head and Cybertron, thus allowing the planet to become the chaos-bringer’s new body. But as with past examples, Starscream refused and betrayed Unicron. An explosion caused by the Autobots hurled Starscream and Unicron’s head off into space with the Decepticon last seen tumbling out of control through space, as Galvatron opened fire on him. Starscream’s ghost even survived the Generation One era and made his way into the Beast Wars. In the first season episode “Possession,” his spark was seen wandering on prehistoric Earth (probably through the same transwarp gate the Maximals and Predacons traveled through, although the exact details remain unknown) and ended up in the Darksyde’s computer console. Possessing Waspinator’s body with Terrorsaur watching, Starscream went on with this traitorous ways, acquiring the trust of Megatron. He told the Predacon leader that he was defending Galvatron against Unicron and was destroyed, with his Spark enduring. The truth, however, was he was planning to overthrow Megatron (as usual). When his real intentions were discovered by Blackarachnia (who knew the truth behind his death), he took the black widow Predacon under his wing, teaching her the ways of treachery. This, ironically, resulted with Blackarachnia betraying him. Caught in an explosion, Starscream’s spark was forced out of Waspinator’s body and wandered in space once more, vowing revenge on both the Maximals and the Predacons. In the show’s second season, the reason as to how and why Starscream’s spark survived death was revealed: a mutation in his spark had rendered it indestructible. Maximal experimentation to replicate this effect resulted in the creation of the insane monster Protoform X, better known as Rampage.
Additionally, Starscream himself was also seen physically, though lifeless. This time he was lying in stasis lock, in the final episode of season two when Megatron entered the Ark in an attempt to change the future (Generation One) by destroying Optimus Prime. In the end, Starscream did manage to achieve what he long desired: he gained the leadership of the Decepticons (though briefly as it was), and he established a legacy that spanned generations.