I'm gonna disagree with you there. I don't see Starscream as a "pointless wuss". To be pointless, he would not of had a purpose in the films, and he did. Starscream is a wuss in many TF Universes, not just Bay's.

 

I'd like to make a chain like this. Like "Watchbot controlled Sam and Sam killed Megatron so Watchbot is more powerful than Megatron."

"Que gave bombs to Sam and Sam killed Starscream with them so Que is more powerful than Starscream. By extension, Soundwave, who killed Que, is more powerful than Starscream."

"Scorponok killed Donnely, and Jetfire killed Scorponok, so Jetfire is more powerful than Donnely."

 

Fixed for accuracy.

 

I believe Laserbeak and Starscream had the same agent for DotM. Guy must really suck  

 

And the best one yet?

"Long Haul killed the little one, who became part of Megatron. Long Haul's head became Igor. Igor is more powerful than Megatron."

 

Never have I disagreed with a post more. Movie 1 Starscream was the closest to an actual Starscream, part bully, part coward, dirty hit and run fighter, shoots Megatron in the back, and runs from the battle when it aint goin his way.

ROTF and DOTM turned him into Igor,.complete with hunchback and drooling, as well as making him totally incompetent on the battlefield. His voice acting was improved by giving him more lines though.

Tftm Starscream acts more like a proper Starscream. Then again, every Decepticon in the sequels (aside from Laserbeak and Sentinel Prime) was pointless cannon fodder that needed no name. They solely existed to spout incoherent lines, get embarassed in battle and die so the heros can look heroic.

Thats what happens when you dont have a good character driven story and build a movie around action set pieces.

 

I agree. You could sort of tell throughout the entire trilogy that some of Starscream's dialogue was written to sound like his usual treacherous self, but for whatever reason this was ignored and the lines just made him seem like an uberloyal suckup.

Heck, even in the DOTM comics he had lines that were more Starscream-like in subtext. Just look at the part where he says "it pains me to see you so weak" in the comic, and then the part in the movie.

 

Definitely not heresy. I'm with you 100%.  

 

I enjoy how the topic title states it as fact, then the post that follows is "I've never read these and don't know but someone told me."

 

Welcome to the interwebz.  

 

If you're going to bring up things that never happened, how are we supposed to argue it?

 

According to Reign, Starscream never had the chance to strike Megatron, he was going to, but at the moment he was about to strike, Sam kills megatron

 

I don't know, to me some of the old Starscream was still there... His superiority in the air was still there, and sometimes even his spite for Megatron was there...

"Oh my poor master, it pains me to see you so weak, so wounded..."

Megatron's furious reaction to that line made me think that Starscream was more mocking his inability to be useful at the moment than kissing ass, I really liked that line...

 

I wish he didn't die at the hands of Sam Witwicky. Anyone else would have been more dignified.

 

Should have been Carly. She would have gone up to Starscream and snapped his fucking neck, then ripped out his goddamn heart for being such an evil bully.

AND IT WOULD BE GLORIOUS.

 

YES!    

Also that would convince me to why Megatron should take her advice.

 

Megs: "You dare lecture ME, slave?!"

Carly: "I'm not lecturing, I'm giving you advice: Help Optimus, or no-one will ever find your corpse."

Megs: 0_0

 

I still giggle at Megatron running his ass off in slow-mo in his hobo get up and shotgun pumping. This just makes it better.

 

Not everything has to be related to a cartoon that started 27 years ago

 

I hated what ROTF and DOTM did to him. It was great in ROS. He wasn't just "random badass jet dude" in that comic. Far from it, he was the best Starscream we'll likely ever see. He had a fantastic character that was a perfect 21st century update for Starscream: Ambitious, highly intelligent, cunning, ruthless. But that's not what made him good. That just makes him a badass, and it can be argued that it is a cheap way to do so, by making a character extreme and dark. What made RoS Starscream so very damn interesting was not just how they executed those traits, but also the new one they gave him, the most important of all: His messiah complex, which tied directly into the plot of the first movie. He didn't want to be the leader just because like in pretty much all the other continuities. He wanted to be the leader because Megatron drove their people to the brink of extinction and believes that he is the one to SAVE them. That was a brilliant idea, and it made him a compelling character and a terrific villain.

I would have loved to see that Starscream in the movies themselves, but no, they turned him into a slobbering, spineless sycophant with tribal tattoos instead. One that never even gets to betray Megatron, ignoring one of his defining characteristics. :/