Starscream Victim of Abuse-Not!

Starscream: He is not a victim of abuse!

The time has come to address this ridiculous notion that somehow Starscream is a victim of abuse.

The world of the Transformers is replete with fans of Generation One Starscream. Among those legions of followers a great many of them are under this impression that Starscream has somehow been victimized and abused by Megatron. This idea is ludicrous in the extreme. On a continuous basis, Starscream has engaged in mutinous behavior; and he has mocked, taunted, and insulted Megatron without provocation. Despite all of this, Megatron has always forgiven Starscream and spared him with minor punishment only to be betrayed once again. If there is a victim here, it certainly isn’t Starscream.

In More Than Meets The Eye, Starscream let it be known that he aspired to supplant Megatron as leader of the Decepticons. He later fired at Megatron’s back and finally challenged him for the leadership during the three part episode. Starscream’s mutinous behavior would be a recurring theme throughout the series. In Triple Takeover, Starscream led Megatron into a trap, hoping to dispose of Megatron; but he, himself was betrayed by his cohorts and found himself caught in his own trap. Auto Berserk featured Starscream conspiring with an *Autobot* to get control of the Negavator, a device that Megatron was seeking to steal. Starscream even went so far as to sacrifice a Decepticon victory in Enter The Nightbird when he shot Nightbird in the back, disabling her, in an act of spite against Megatron. Apparently, personal vengeance is more important to Starscream than the Decepticon cause. But Starscream’s greatest act of treachery came in Transformers The Movie when he tossed a battle damaged Megatron out an airlock into deep space. These are just a few of the many examples of Starscream’s constant, unending, and unprovoked treachery.

Starscream was not only busy betraying his leader, he also enjoyed insulting, taunting, and mocking him. Starscream constantly belittled Megatron’s schemes with sarcastic remarks and disparaging comments. “Eh, she’ll burn out fast after the way Bombshell overtorked her circuits,” he said about Nightbird after Bombshell reprogrammed her. In Cosmic Rust, Starscream suggested that Megatron was “made of shoddy materials.” The movie actually had Starscream kick Megatron while he was down(that’s really courageous, isn’t it?), “How do you feel, Mighty Megatron?” And then there is the ever sarcastic and mocking, “Oh, how it pains me to do this!” Then he tosses Megatron out of Astrotrain.

Despite all of this, Megatron forgave Starscream, for reasons only he knows and administered only minor punishment to his mutinous lieutenant. In mentioning Megatron’s methods of discipline, let’s put a few things in perspective, shall we? Megatron is known in all circles on Cybertron as the Slag Maker. All together now: The *Slag Maker*. One doesn’t acquire a nickname like that without good reason. Keeping that in mind and considering Starscream’s antics(and mutiny is a fairly major crime), being knocked over, blasted lightly on the wing, and the occasional stranglehold with no real pressure being applied is roughly the Decepticon equivalent to a slap on the wrist. The absolute worst Megatron ever did to Starscream was to exile him. And a slap on the wrist for numerous counts of mutiny is getting off *lucky* and getting away with a lot more than he should. These are Decepticons; *warriors*. What is Megatron supposed to do to Starscream? Stick him in a corner for some time out?! If Starscream cannot handle being knocked around a bit for acting up and betraying his leader, than perhaps he needs to find a new job somewhere where his superiors will coddle him. He is in an army, not a fragging day care.

No, Starscream is not a victim of abuse. His mutinous and treacherous behavior earned him everything he got. To be blunt, he deserved a lot worse than what he did get. Good thing he didn’t work for Galvatron, huh? Now that’s abuse. And Cyclonus survived Galvatron with a lot more loyalty and a lot less whining than Starscream did Megatron. But that’s another essay for another time. To sum it all up, when Starscream was slagged at his coronation, Karma was simply doing its job.