I mean he has charisma and personality even a lust for power as he does resent his leader sometimes as he would do anything to be leader and all.
Honestly, out of the four characters that appear the most in TF fiction (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron and Starscream), good ol' Screamer is the only one who I feel is needed in every show he's in. He is the most fun character in the franchise and he just never gets boring. Bumblebee... I can give or take. Optimus and Megatron... they just aren't engaging enough to put into a show again. They're kinda stale nowadays and when you try something new with them, it feels just out of character and really tacked on. But Screamer... oh, boy... he just improves every story he's in. And you can do everything you want with him without taking off the essence of the character from him, which is something I really like. You can make him sympathetic, comedic or menacing and still keep his personality traits perfectly intact. As I've said before, he's basically the Jack Benny of Transformers for me. Like Jack Benny's on-screen persona, he is egotistical, narcissistic, manipulative and he works excellently as the butt of all jokes.
Every interpretation on Starscream is fresh and adds a new spin to the character. I especially love how new media severely punishes Screamer for his treachery.
As a character, Starscream is definitely entertaining. As a henchman, his track record is terrible. I mean, if you were a villain intent on conquering the universe, who would you pick as your lieutenant? Someone who makes no secret of the fact that he would backstab you at the first opportuinity and claim leadership for himself? Not exactly the smartest choice. Again, for the audience, the character dynamic is entertaining. In universe, it's ridiculous.
To be fair, though, once the bullets per se are flying, Starscream is totally focused on the fight and the Decepticon cause as it were. It's not like he'd try to take that shot at Megs if there was a direct threat to the 'Cons present. MTMTE episode 3 illustrated that.
Having a Starscream in the bad guy ranks makes for more plot potential, especially if the writers have the heroes use this wedge in the villain organization to their advantage.
Awesome character, but no, he's a terrible henchman. He doesn't do what he's told, he constantly undermines the leader and tries to replace him. You'd way rather have Soundwave or Shockwave as your henchman.
