Transformers Prime

Can you get a comparison between the two?

edited 14th Apr '14 12:34:00 PM by TargetmasterJoe

Is it just me or did it come off as the writers preferred Airachnid over Starscream? Although Starscream ended up being more succesful, Airachnid was treated with more respect.

I miss Animated Starscream. He was perfect.

edited 6th Nov '15 5:14:22 PM by Archivist10

You mean before, or after she got her head stomped on by Soundwave after he utterly stomped her in a fight?

Airachnid looks cooler, and got herself a whole army, but she was just as flawed as Starscream.

Starscream was smart enough to not try and pick a fight with Soundwave. he knew where that action would get him.

After, even though Starscream had better success somewhat. Airachnid was still treated with respect.

That is true.

I guess Starscream being a bit of a No-Respect Guy / Butt-Monkey is just his thing.

I have no problem with that, just make him competent enough you don't feel sorry for him.

Animated Starscream being the Butt-Monkey was funny because he was strong and dangerous but ended up failing.

Its the difference of punching up and punching down humour.

A. Starscream was funny to see bad things happen to him because he was strong and dangerous as well as arrogant. It felt like punching up.

P. Starscream however was weak and occasionally dangerous when the universe wasn't screwing him over as well as being arrogant. Add to the fact that he was probably the weakest named Transformer and it feels more like punching down by season 2.

I've actually noticed that it is easy to make a character a badass and that's the extent of their characterization. Animated Starscream immediately set out to betray Megatron and that always left the two at odds, especially since Starscream WAS dangerous enough on his own.

Prime Starscream actually spent a good portion of the story as an actual minion for Megatron, and explained the symbiotic relationship between them: Megatron needs someone to handle the fine details of managing the army and Starscream needs the charisma of Megatron to inspire the army. It's the fact he is not this hulking badass that actually makes him more dangerous, he relies on cheap shots when you don't expect it.

True. Starscream lasted as long as he did, and accomplished as much as he did because he wasn't a total Bad Ass (or at least didn't look like it).

He pulled off some smooth moves the exact moment everyone thought he wasn't a threat.

Don't forget he was the one who broke the Stalemate with the keys for the Omega Lock.

He also thought a bit farther ahead then Animated Starscream (though that one had much more success), and it earned him his spot back into the decepticons, when other versions would have been killed long ago. (Though it helped that everyone else was either incompetent at the job, or kept betraying him.....or was Soundwave, who apparently had more important shit to do).

It would have been fine if the story presented Starscream as more dangerous as part of the Decepticons than a independent unit, but by season 3 he was easily the least competent Decepticon even Knock Out had a better track record in that season.

A. Starscream however seeing as the writers had no plans for him to return to the Decepticons, that we know of, had to present him as more lethal and a legitimate threat to both Autobots and Decepticons.

Hell, A. Megatron even ended up being out gambited by Starscream in the series final, but did not diminish the threat that Megatron was.

Animated Starscream was pretty much a joke by the time Season 3 came along. Spent nearly the entire season as a head, got blasted by Megatron after getting a new body, went through a Gambit Pileup to kill Megatron which ultimately proves to be ineffective since Megatron survives the point-blank blast of the Lugnut Supreme, and he gets killed off unintentionally by Prowl and Jazz.

He's only dangerous because all the Decepticons got a boost in power but within the Decepticon ranks, he really makes me question why Megatron even made him second-in-command in the first place.

edited 8th Nov '15 5:22:57 PM by Shadao

So if things went ass-up, he could blame his second for not stopping it from happening.

In fairness if Starsceam hadn't died before hand he could have killed Megatron after being weakened by the explosion.

And I don't think what happened to A. Starscream in season 3 was Villain Decay. That would imply he became less competent and less dangerous. He didn't. He just wasn't in any position to do anything through most of the season.

If anything P. Starscream suffered Villain Decay in his serie's third season. Unlike A. Starscream he was in a position that would allow him to become dangerous but ended up being the least threatening and competent Decepticon in the season.

edited 8th Nov '15 6:14:20 PM by Archivist10

Animation Starscream became defined by whatever his recent plan to kill Megatron is. It should be noted that this version is probably his most physically powerful incarnation (short of Transformers Cybertron, but that's an explicit powerup), mostly because they made the Autobots far weaker in comparison. In the original series Starscream was not a particularly powerful Decepticon, was very much a Smug Snake and was certainly not a genuine rival for Megatron.

Prime!Starscream probably went a few notches too far in the other direction, his characterization was a lot more complex but he was beaten around by the other Decepticons a bit too much.

I always thought that Prime!Starscream's physical weaknesses was big part of his character. Why do you think he became such a glory seeking, power hungry, boot licker who can't shut up about that one guy he killed?

BTW What if all this time Starscream's name wasn't star-scream but stars-cream?

No wonder he overcompensates all the time!

But yeah, I always figured that P. Starscream tries so hard because he's the weakest of the Decepticons.

That's fair enough, but the big difference between the two Starscreams was with Animated's I could see why he was second-in-command he was a good planner, particularly in underhanded tactics but not solely, and also a good fighter.

While Prime's leaves me questioning Megatron's judgement, sure he's good every now and then, at least in early season 1, but his tactics rely mostly on underhandedness and he was a weak as hell fighter.

Meanwhile there were other Decepticons like Soundwave, Dreadwing and Shockwave who were, at the very least, decent commanders, better fighters and most importantly loyal.

I can see Megatron overlooking Starscream's treachery if he was useful enough, but series 3 of Prime, even while being loyal, Starscream never seemed worth keeping around.

edited 10th Nov '15 6:13:35 PM by Archivist10

Starscream was still better as Second in Command even with his failures.

He brought them the keys, and when the Autobots bushwhacked him, he turned it around in seconds.

I'm guessing he's had a lot of moments like that offscreen before the events on Earth. Enough to make it seem like keeping him was worthwhile.

Prime!Starscream was power hungry and a glory seeker but he never actually betrayed Megatron until "Master and Student." When he did, Megatron had little mercy on him. Megatron also made it clear that the Decepticon ranks operate on a least a little bit of Klingon Promotion, he probably didn't want a particularly powerful Decepticon who had a real chance to kill him as his number two. Soundwave and Shockwave were certainly more powerful, but both had certain personality flaws that didn't make them suited for Starscreams' job and both were extremely efficient at the job they did have. Dreadwing, in retrospect, was really more of a wild card than Starscream because he was apparently more loyal. With Starscream you kind of know what you're getting from him.