This is something it got me wondering, Starscream, unlike the other two Jets Thundercracker and Skywarp he has the Decepticons logo upside down in robot mode, I thought it was just an animation error especially 80's cartoons are full of them. Then he continue to have them upside down on toys too. How come Screamer has his logos upside down in robot mode while the rest have them upwards?

 

I think its due to the fact that Starscream is traitorous in nature.

 

seemed to just be a reference to how the toys transformation will flip the logo one way or the other depending on how you put them on. Kinda shocked they bothered to translate it over to the cartoon.

 

Starscream's symbols are supposed to be right-side-up, but I assume someone put the stickers on upside down and drew the animation model like that. Then they just ran with it, just like how they accidentally made Rumble purple/blue.

 

Rib/ fir!

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen it upside down on all the Seekers, though I'm too lazy to check right now. (It is also sometimes right side up on all of them, including Starscream.)

It's actually one of the little touches I've always liked. The way they transform, their symbol would be upside down.

Edit: Yeah, here are Skywarp and Thundercracker with upside down insignias.





Although the way they drew Thundercracker's plane mode, the insignia actually SHOULD be right side up, so the mystery continues.

 

It is upside down because if you are flying in a squadron of Jets you want to identify who is on your team when you are flying above/beside them.

All seekers should have updside down insignias in robot mode. I think the g1 toy sometimes displayed them the other way.

 

This. It has to do with how faction symbols are placed on a real military jet. This results in them being upside down in robotmode. And (most of the time) Skywarp and Thundercracker (and background seekers?) had them drawn upside down as well.

Funny thing is that this was an actual display choice in the 2000 RiD show. The Decepticons had as their faction symbol an upside down Autobot symbol...... that would make the G1 seekers Autobots  

I keep reading this and I keep disagreeing. I can't recall a single event in the cartoon or comics (save for the whole underbase saga (Marvel) in which Starscream played two Decepticon factions and was willing to destroy them) where Starscream worked against the Decepticons or betrayed them in any way. Characters as Beast Wars Dinobot and Blackarachnia can be considered traitors: they left their faction and took active decisions to sabotage the strategies of their faction commanders.

Starscream isn't a traitor. He's absolutely loyal to the Decepticons cause, he's just not loyal to Megatron. Starscream wants the Decepticons to win and conquer the universe, he just isn't interested in then playing second fiddle to Megatron. He wants to rule himself. He's a narcist, egocentric and powerhungry, but not a traitor.

Actually, the only one of the seekers who can be considered to be somewhat traitorous, is Thundercracker. Never really shown in the cartoon (but then the cartoon ignored the bio of most characters), but according to his original bio he's unsure of the Deepticon cause and it's fear for Megatron and the wish to be convinced by Starscream/Skywarp, that result in him sticking with the Decepticons.

Sadly, this was never really a part of any story until AHM and Costa's Ongoing. One of the few things McCartny and Costa got right.

 

Deepest Lore
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I agree about Thundercracker. He's such a great character when written right. I don't think he even really knows what he wants, but since he's been following his "siblings" for so long and living under the fear of Megatron, he hasn't had time to do some soul-searching until everyone else left earth. Thundercracker doesn't necessarily seem evil on his own, just misguided.

 

It's a shame that almost every series outside of the IDW comics pretty much forgot all about this.

 

I have a new twist. Since Starscream's insignia is the only one still shown upside down after all these years, this practice might be continued by the Japanese designers on purpose. It is a common Chinese practice to flip symbols upside down on purpose (I'm Chinese, I see it everyday). The upside down symbol signifies the arrival of that event. Thus ,an upside down Chinese character for "Fortune" means fortune is coming. So an upside down Decepticon insignia means "the arrival of the Decepticons". It's common for the Japanese to adopt some Chinese traditions so that might be why the upside look persist. So in Asian culture, it's not negative at all, rather it's adds another level of meaning. Starscream may think he has "arrived" as the fitting new leader to be or "the Decepticons are coming". It perfectly matches who he is, it works for me.

 

Starscream's logo is upside down (in robot mode) because of universal Airforce insignia placement conventions (correct way in alt form):