I guess it's cool. Still on the fence.

 

I don't hate it.

 

that would still be considered tattoos, tattoos are just something indelibly marked on your body whether it be via ink or scarring

 

Awesome, I got a tattoo when a dog bit my face :]

 

damnit you stole my idea

 

Maybe he wanted to pimp his ride/Jet?  

 

He has 'Hate' tattooed on one set of knuckles and 'Also Hate' on the other set. On his shoulder he has 'I Heart Megatron' with the word 'Megatron' crossed out and 'Britney' scrawled in its place. On his innner thigh he has 'Slippery when lubricated', and just above his arse he's got 'Exhaust not intake'. On his forehead is a picture of a crankhandle that the other Decepticons drew on him while he was passed out drunk.

Or maybe they're some kind of incantation that is used to wake the Fallen and he's got to stand in the right spot at the right time so the sun shines through him and shows the location of the Lost Ark.

 

"See... I was in a big blockbuster film. And I felt on top of the world! So I went to see m-my fans, the people I did this role for! But they had a temper... a terrible, terrible temper! They yelled at me... 'You're not Starscream! You're fat! You're ugly! You're not GEEWUN' An-and then they pulled out their knives at me, why, I didn't know what to do! And then came at me, steel digging into my chassis, scarring my beautiful frame with these marks, repeating 'Why so Bayformers! WHY SO BAYFORMERS!' while laughing... laughing!

So Sam Witwicky... why... so... bayformers?"

 

No, he saw Tyrese had a cool arm tattoo with the Autobot insignia and wanted to beat those humans at their own game.

 

no, scarring is scarring, ink is required for it to be a tattoo.

 

Lolz

 

True, for a human tattoo. The Cybertronian version of a tattoo could involve scarring, or what Starscream has done to himself could be considered an older technique of Cybertronian tattooing. Kinda like some of the older forms of human tattooing compared to the more modern form.

Yeah, I've given this just a tad too much thought  

 

Okay, I'll put this down, from the comic, word for word

'The warriors of our history were powerful and fierce... and I sam no different. Just as I finish adorning myself in thier symbolism.'

All the while carving these into his armour plating. Effectively he's scarifying himself to get these markings, though it seems pointless, isn't thier armour regenerative?

And the transformer equivilent of tattooing would be getting a new paint job. Scarification does not = tattooing.

 

They don't regenerate away all damage... you'll notice Ironhide has a scarred right eye.

 

Yeah they had them on Prime voice changer.

If you look at them they are the markings of the allspark. Ecspecially the one on his left wing I believe(the one that doesn't have the decepticon logo on it)It was on the one side of Cube.

 

starscream is one bad sumbitch. I think when the movie explains the warriors from the past and what made them fierce then we shall understand why he chooses to be like them, I think soundwave is one of those fierce warriors from the past, my thinking comes from alliance when starscream immediatly stops his destruction of wreckage and adheres to the calling of soundwave.