#people had an issue with starscream getting it

[a-dope-fiend]

The thing that bugs me about tfp starscream is that sure, some of his mistakes were definitely him panicking but some of them really seemed like they wanted him to forward the plot

I also hate how the show made it seem like he didn't stand much chance in a fight against other decepticons who were his inferior. HES SECOND IN COMMAND for heavens sake why do they keep having Starscream be overpowered by everyone. The moments we get of Starscream being smart and cunning and kicking ass are so good. Make him scary. He's the second in command bls. Woulda loved to see him kickass more not just with the Decepticons but over the autobots as well. Show us why Megatron would make Starscream his second in command.

[tinydefector]

Hi!! 😆

Can I have Soundwave x human reader (smut pls (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง)?

People didn't write him much, my husband need more love 😔🤌❤️✨

Thank for reading this!!

Stress relief

Soundwave x human reader

Warnings: Smut, Oral, Cockwarning

Word count: 1.5K

Request and ask open, read pinned post

Soundwave masterlist

__________________

"Soundwave can you re-check that scanner for me, I can't reach it to recalibrate its systems from here" the human's voice calls out to the intelligence officer, as they move around Soundwave desk in a scattered fashion trying to find maps and energon signals.

 Soundwave helm tilts slightly at the request as he turns to observe his human.he runs his own diagnostics, clearly indicating the scanner does not need recalibration. Soundwave almost uncanny mix of voices patch together speak:  " assistance not required. Scanner functioning adequately."  He remains standing quietly, typing away at the large computer with his servos while his tendrils rearrange scattered data pads. 

Their eyes meet his visor, looking up at him slightly frazzled. "Are you sure they are?" 

 With a sigh, he re reviews the scanner readings again, analysing more closely given the human's evident fatigue. His displays flash as data is processed.  "Confirmation: scanner calibration within normal parameters. However, you appear in need of recharge." The mixed voices of Knockout, Starscream and their own voice echoes back at them as He awaits a response, sensors attuned to subtle cues that could indicate the depth of exhaustion and other issues requiring assistance. 

"I'm fine soundwave" they call out while moving back to continue working, soundwave wraps his digits around them, pulling them back against his form, his visor tilted down to look at their eyes, he knows full well they are exhausted and Fatigue was catching up to their smaller frame. "I promise soundwave, I'm fine"

Soundwave detects elevated stress levels and the possibility of accident or harm at the current state of exhaustion. Soft ventilations cycle through his frame as his digits gently but firmly enfold the human in a protective hold.  "Statement: physiological indicators suggest otherwise."  His visor dims softly. Forcing the issue would risk negative impact, not only on his work but their work too.  

"I'm not gonna win this argument with you am I?" 

 Soundwave's visor remains dimmed calmly as the human speaks. He processes their words carefully before responding.  "Negative." They sigh softly and press their head against Soundwave's shoulder plating, each of his steps echoing throughout the halls.   "Are you going to stay with me tonight, or does megatron have you working even more?" Soundwave processes the question, sensing his partner's wish for company while recharging.

 A brief comm link check confirms he has no urgent tasks requiring his attention for night's cycle. "Megatron: aware of mission status. No tasks assigned to Soundwave at this time. I will remain for your recharge cycle"  he responds as the doors to his quarters slide open upon their arrival.   

A soft nod comes from his little lover as they lay against him. Their body is exhausted, but their brain isn't willing to shut off. After laying against soundwave for another ten minutes with no luck with falling asleep, they sigh, fidgeting around while trying to get comfortable.

 His vocalizer hums a deep, resonant tone, One digit begins tracing lazy circles on the back, slowly tracing their spinal column, "Systems are monitoring. Please attempt to rest,"  comes another of his recordings.

"Not tired," they whisper while looking up at Soundwave, leaning into his touch, enjoying having him focus on them instead of work. They had both been overrun with work as of recent.

helm tilting minutely as nonverbal concern radiates through his plating.  " Do you require distraction from responsibilities through additional stimuli?"  

They sit up resting on Soundwave's lower torso, hands spread out across the Decepticons chassis. "I am tired, horny and frustrated, soundwave, and with  everything happening, when we get even a small amount of time together, you get called away," they mumble. 

 Soundwave cycles a calm ventilated sigh, processing their words. His field pulses with understanding and care for their concerns. "Your doubts are logical. However, my function is to maximise efficiency of all personnel. A brief interface encounter now could provide valuable recharge. I will ensure we are not disturbed."  His field and plating radiate gentle invitation. 

 A soft gasp escapes their lips as soundwave pulls them further up his body. The Decepticon's digits caressing their body. Leaning in closer, they press their lips to his visor.  A low hum resonates from Soundwave's vocoder. One digit trails tenderly down a flank as another cradles them, holding their form against plating of his chest as a loud purring sound vibrates from him.  

A small squeal leaves their lips as Soundwave discards their clothing quickly with nimble digits. Dimming the lights, Soundwave carefully lowers his battle-mask with a soft hiss, His purple optics glow softly in the darkness, as a talon traces down his lovers form, tracing patterns into their skin.

Leaning close 'til his ex-vents whisper against skin, Pressing a gentle kiss to willing lips in silent promise, he commits this moment to memory. A soft content sigh falls from the human's lips as they kiss him back. It's slightly awkward but neither cares at that moment.

Soundwave runs soft kisses along their neck, chest, and hips as he brings them closer.

At the human's content sigh, gentle pulses from his plating as cooling ex-vents whisper against sensitised skin, his touches trailing softly yet deliberately to relax tense muscles and ease away lingering worries. 

As Soundwave’s glossa finds its way between their legs, soft moans fall from their lips. Small hands move to grip his helm. "Soundwave." At the human's soft calling of his name, Soundwave rumbles acknowledgment against flesh, his servos gripping hips to hold them steady as he runs his glossa across their needy sex. drinking in their essence, committing every hitch of their breath, and fluttered responses to permanent memory files saved only for him. 

As warmth spreads within the human's pliant frame, Soundwave's field surges in adoring pulses, lips, and glossa blessing willing flesh in turn as his devotion shows through electronic hums and tender strokes. Their head rolls back as their back arches, soft whines leaving them with each stroke of Soundwave’s Glossa as it presses into their sweet form. "Soundwave, please," they whine out, their hands attempting to pull the mech's face closer. 

At their breathless plea, Soundwave rumbles acknowledgment, Talons gently part willing thighs as his glossa delves with new focus, oral prehensors savouring each hitching gasp and soft cry his ministrations draw forth. As warmth peaks within the willing human, Soundwave dedicates all sensors to saturating their body. It doesn't take long for them to reach release, so much pent up energy, stress and frustration slips away as they go boneless in the Decepticon's hands. Soft pants leaving their parted lips as soundwave cleans up the mess with his mouth. Gentle affectionate rumbles leave him, field swelling with pulses of devotion and gratitude as he cleans every trace of pleasures with care. His glossa traces tender after-touches as their body goes lax in his hold. 

Optics remain darkened as he simply dedicates sensors to monitoring each slowing ventilation and relaxing muscle, wishing only to ensure their full tranquillity. Soundwave raises his helm to cradled hips,kissing it lightly and nuzzling farewell against flushed skin beneath laboured breaths, inhaling the musk of their sex and skin. 

A final hum resounds through his plating, and powerful yet delicate digits stroke through human hair with utmost care. his array's interface plaque shifts aside, hisses open and pressurises his spike.Optics flare softly to gaze upon at his lover's relaxed features. Secured in cradling servos and pulsing field, the human's lax yet willing frame I'd slowly pressed against his body, content simply to maintain sensory contact,

soft whines fall From his human's lips, as they take him in their body stretching with a loud moan. A few soft thrusts are all it takes for Soundwave to settle into them, cradling their body close, At his lovers soft sounds of pleasure, Soundwave rumbles gentle reciprocation, cradling their sated form securely against his form with one arm as his other arm retrieves a datapad

Ever once in a while his optics flicker down to monitoring his partner's relaxation even as his digits skillfully operate the pad's controls. Data streams across the display - ship schematics, translation algorithms, delicate encryption sequences - yet his true focus remains solely on the human resting atop his array. 

Here in isolated peace, all doubts dissolve. His frame supports theirs. Tired eyes slowly drift closer as soft breath even out, indicating they had fallen asleep, small hands are spread out across his chassis, their body moving slightly with each breath they take. This was true contentment. At the human's soft, steady ex-vents and relaxing muscles, Soundwave's field cycles in waves of tranquil pulsations, a digit gently strokes their hair, back and shoulders as his embrace holds them securely. 

“rest well little one” his voice mumbles softly for no one to hear but himself. 

[lets-try-some-writing]

Sparklings chirp. Birds chirp. Humans occasionaly too the mimics that they are. Cue bots and cons making fools of themselves

Cybertronians are known for their intelligence as a general rule. A technological species built for increadible adaptation and industry is not exactly the most likely to be fooled. However, there are a few things which are the most likely to trip them up across the board. The sound of a sparkling happens to be one of those things.

A sparkling has a unique signature sound that they develop a few cycles after their emergence. But a fresh sparkling does not have this signature song and instead spits out something akin to a chirp. It is simply meant to make noise as a sparkling tests their voice and develops their call. However this has in turn led to a few false alarms amongst Autobots and Decepticons.

Logically they all know that there cannot be sparklings on Earth. It is an impossibility. It is even more of an impossibility for a sparkling young enough to make a basic cry to be anywhere near and organic world. And yet, instincts are strong in those who have not seen a sparkling since the height of the war.

Arcee has tripped up more than a few times due to birds with calls just high enough to sound eerily similar to a smaller framed sparkling crying out for attention. She has, while tired, followed a few of these birds for several minutes before realizing her folly and turning back. No one will ever know, at least, that is what she tells herself. Soundwave knows everything.

Starscream doesn't like sparklings all that much as a general rule, or rather, he doesn't like the idea of any being around him during a war. He adores them in any other situation. Thus it was not hard for him to almost go nose diving toward the ground when a flock of birds got a little too close and had him frantically scanning the area in search of a fictitious sparkling before he figured out that it was just the organic fauna fragging with him.

Knockout had done more than a few hopeful rounds after hearing something small making a whistling almost chirp like sound while on patrol. He is fully aware that a sparkling being on Earth is impossible, but that hasn't stopped him from tailing such sounds only to end up very much disappointed when he finds a human messing around or some sort of bird chirping away. He wants to hope, and one can never be too careful. This has led to issues when Rafael made a squeak that bordered on a chirp during battle. Knockout almost dropped what he was doing to grab the boy on instinct before a punch brought him to his senses.

The bots at base have been led to panic on more than a few occasions when the children or even Agent Fowler whistled a little too high to be registered as normal. There has been scrambling and instinctual urges to coddle in response to the sounds. Surprisingly, Jack of all people has weaponized this to get Arcee's attention when he really wants it. He does not abuse this more than necessary. Rafael tends to accidently get Bumblebee to pick him up when he makes any sound a little too high pitched for comfort. Miko can't seem to get the whistle right, but Bulkhead has internally registered her attempts as her unique call and so he will respond anyway.

[weenwrites]

Anonymous asked: Hello again! Just wondering if you could do headcannons for tfp Optimus, Starscream and Megatron, with a cybertronian reader who is REALLY tall, like twice their size, but is secretly just a big softy, a total cinnamon roll

[ Please do not repost, plagiarize, or use my writing for AI! Translating my work with proper credit is acceptable, but please ask first! ]

Optimus

After the incident with Makeshift, he's naturally suspicious of you the moment the team receives the distress beacon from some unknown vessel harboring a cybertronian lifeform. Upon meeting you, his suspicions only grow as he learns that you were a low-ranking soldier back on Cybertron. He's unsure whether he's heard your name mentioned amongst the armies he's led, and neither is anyone else on the team all too familiar with you.

Even if you were able to prove your alliance lies with the Autobots, he's hesitant to bring you back to base. If you deceived him, you're not going to be an easy threat to handle, Makeshift proved that when he opened a direct groundbridge to the Nemesis and nearly exposed the team's location. He personally takes it upon himself to monitor and supervise you as you gradually gain their trust. He doesn't leave you for a moment, as he fears that any sliver of neglect on his end will serve as an opportunity for you to possibly betray the team, as was the case before.

However as time progresses, his suspicions are thankfully proven false, and he becomes pleased to see how well you get along with everyone else on the team. He gradually begins to feel as though you "brighten" the room whenever you walk in and start talking with someone, and the rest of the team enjoys having you around. He too shares those sentiments, even if he doesn't personally speak with you much. Rather he enjoys your company whenever he hears the others speaking with you, or whenever you spend time around him.

Starscream

When it comes to being issued commands, it can come off as a little difficult to notice how bossy he is with you. He's normally very commanding, rude, and domineering with everyone, so people usually pass this off as his usual behavior. Yet, if you have a keen enough eye, you'll notice that you're the only one he's treating this way.

Naturally, you'd befriend some vehicons, or at the very least get in their good graces, and they'll spill some gossip to you about him. They say a lot of things about him, and it's a mixed bag of exaggerated lies and half-truths, never just one or the other, or the absolute unadulterated truth at all. It's difficult to get a straight story from any one of them no matter how hard you try, but if you know how to discern truth from lie, you'll be able to chalk up his behavior to his own insecurities and his need to feel superior and in control.

Kindness with him will only get you oh so far, as he'll manipulate your kindness to his advantage, to get you on his side and beneath his heel so to speak. He doesn't truly see your kindness as anything more than a tool. At the very least, he thinks you're easily gullible.

Megatron

His first impression was that for your stature and given your previous experience as a soldier, you would make a very fine addition to his armada indeed! As soon as you stepped aboard and finished the tour, you were put to work in the mines, to guard, supervise, and monitor the vehicon miners there.

Before you arrived, the Autobots had been attacking mines left, right, and center, in due part to a lack of resources, Megatron surmises. As of now, they have only succeeded a handful of times and failed the rest, yet these attacks are still costing them their equipment, resources, and miners. But he expects this to be of little difficulty for you, as you will introduce an unexpected twist to what may come as simple routine to Prime and the other Autobots. They know who to expect, what to expect, as well as how to plan around it, and so they say it is difficult to combat the unexpected.

Additionally, the vehicons were also weary of you at first. They assumed you were simply respectful and obedient to Megatron as any Decepticon naturally is, yet the moment he turned his back, they'd start tip-toeing over eggshells. Yet you proved to be the exact opposite of who they made you out to be, and as such you became a favorite amidst them very quickly. There was no yelling, no unreasonable demands or orders, you treated them like actual people. Though not all of them like you for your kindness, you've become a favorite amidst a majority o them.

Though your personality makes you popular amidst the vehicons, he'd strictly forbid mercy of any kind toward the enemy or any human, given almost any situation. So he expects you to be unforgiving and ruthless in battle, as that is the precedent for any Decepticon warrior worthy of even a sliver of respect. Your kindness would only be a weakness for the enemy to exploit and manipulate to their advantage.

[darkstarofchaos]

Spoilers for EarthSpark S2 below the cut.

The problem with Starscream isn't that he was evil. I have to lead with that because apparently if you complain about how he was handled, people are just going to assume you wanted him to be redeemed. I am not a Starscream redemptionist, nor am I a fan of "redemptions" where an evil character becomes a Good Guy. One of the biggest issues I have with Megatron redemptions is that he never actually has to address what he did to his own side, he just fucks off to join the other side/goes his own way. Suffice to say, I was not hoping for EarthSpark to "redeem" Starscream (unless it was in the more personal sense of trying to do better by his own people).

The problem with Starscream is not that he was evil. The problem is that, to make him the specific brand of evil the Powers That Be wanted, they had to completely ignore his previous characterization.

I honestly did not have a problem with most of his (admittedly few) scenes. His motivation for being Evil was disappointingly shallow, but him being grumpy-but-accepting of the new Terrans fit with his S1 characterization. The bit where Skywarp complains when he doesn't do anything to punish "Spitfire's" disrespect could easily have been spun as him trying to be a better leader after his talk with Hashtag. I liked that he isn't stingy with praise when someone accomplishes something. Even the painfully underdeveloped motivation could have been expanded into him trying to do what he thought was best for his faction. All the building blocks for a villainous-but-sympathetic Starscream were right there.

Which is why watching everything fall apart in the last 20 minutes felt like character assassination.

You cannot convince me that the Starscream who knew Hashtag for an hour and was ready to risk his life for her is the same Starscream who murdered two children without blinking. You cannot convince me that the Starscream who criticized Megatron's violent leadership would consider it a compliment when he's called more cruel than Megatron. I don't care what previous Starscreams were like, this one had an established characterization that does not work with what we see later. Not unless working with the Autobots briefly completely disillusioned him to the possibility of a lasting peace.

Also, love how the time skip allows them to just avoid any sort of fallout from having the people you were working with go back to trying to kill you. Love how there was no deeper reason to the war restarting than "they're Decepticons". Heaven forbid we get any sort of conflict with the two sides trying and failing to work together, and the falling out being a shared responsibility and not just "the Cons were actually still evil, lol". Can't have anyone grappling with how things went wrong and wishing they'd done something differently to maintain the peace. Megatron yells at Starscream to end the war like the Autobots played no part in it continuing. Which is obviously the intent, but it just feels like such a lazy copout to keep the Good Guys morally pure.

The Decepticons were being hunted down and locked up. They had no reason to think well of the Autobots or the humans, which means that if the Autobots wanted peace, it was their responsibility to reach out and prove that things could be different. Yes, the Decepticons would need to put in effort too, but they were not the ones - at least not the only ones - who needed to prove that they meant well. If the two sides worked together for a while and the Decepticons still unanimously rejected the possibility of ending the war, the Autobots share the blame for that decision.

I have plenty of other issues with how S2 is going so far (why was Nightshade the only Terran who got completely relegated to side character?), but I'll save my rant about the Chaos Terrans for later. It'll be huge, trust me.

[cosmics-beings]

The last thing I’ll say too is that, I think that Starscream is going to get a redemption arc, but if you want him to have a redemption arc that is well fleshed out, and sends an actual message, you are going to have to accept that he is also bad. You are going to have to accept that, despite the fact that he was a victim of abuse, he also perpetrated abuse/abusive actions to those close to him and he was doing that before he met megatron. in many iterations starscream is also an abuser, ES may not be different.

That’s the issue with the hashtag episode that I think you all missed. starsrcream, despite being a victim himself, is still changing. Hashtag called out his harmful traits and that was something he was seen working on at the end of the episode.

He is STILL going to be working on it. This is his redemption arc. He got to have his trauma and abuse validated, but he is also working on how he treats others that way too. A good redemption arc is going to actually show him changing, and being a better person, and I hate that so many people are throwing that away because they’ve convinced themselves that Starscream is this uwu softboy when he’s not. He’s not at all. And that’s the beauty of his character. He is a victim and an abuser, and he is working on breaking that cycle.

Like I mentioned in my other post, starscream is probably the deception leader, and he is the leader because he is changing. He is the leader of the cons because he is actually helping, listening to them and cares for him. That whole conversation he had with hashtag is probably going to be reflected in how he actually cares abuout and attempt to be a decent leader to teh decepticons.

Also, starscream is the leader the deceptions chose. Megatron, in their mind, abandoned them. Starscream did not, and he is doing everything in his power to make sure that the deeptiocns are okay—unfortunately, because ehe doesn’t trust the autobot that’s probably gonna look bad. His development is more than likely going to be in how much he loves the cons. And how much they love him back, and how much they have forgiven him.

That said, there is still the chance of a redemption arc. So many people are just throwing his character away and I KNEW this was going to happen, and I really wish people looked at the hashtag episode in depth because we saw that starscream was still dealing with evil, manipulative tendencies that the still has to work on.

[quetzalpapalotl]

For my like 10 followers that aren't into Transformers, here is a list of things that are totally canon for the IDW Transformers comics (2005-2018):

Two guys had a meetcute in the morgue of an euthanasia clinic because one guy wanted to kill himself and the other was looking for his dissappeared husband among the corpses. They get married. They seemingly don't talk about what they're going to do once they find the second guy's husband that they're still looking for. The suicidal guy has had other 3 husbands but he erased his memory of that because he's bad at dealing with grief.

The suicidal guy's ex (not one of his dead husbands) is the Autobot second-in-command and had a pet mad scientists that made him war crime machines. They ended up invented the concept of having a child, but then the Autobot SIC had the scientist thrown into the torment nexus because he felt bad about doing war crimes and wahted to stop. He didn't actually stop doing war crimes.

Optimus Prime annexes Earth.

A guy invents time travel to save his unrequited crush's life

God is a real person but he's not actually a deity and is currently a therapist whose license was revoked for getting unprofessionally close to his patients. Everyone who knew his license was revoked died so he just kept on practicing.

Optimus Prime pretends to be havig divinely-inspired visions to get out of situations.

Tumblr exists in-universe.

There's a guy named Centurion who was made to think he's Bumblebee because when his ship crashed a scientist brainwashed them into thinking they were classic Transformers characters to see what happens. Thousands of years later he gets involved in human wars and remembers he's not Bumblebee. He develops a self hatred so great he lets a G.I. Joe villian use him for his schemes. Centurion then has his consciousness fused with a human named Mike Power and lives perpetually with the biggest identity crisis of history.

Another guy also had his memories messed with and has lived multiple human lives (he may be Gilgamesh) when he's actually a Transformer secret agent. He's overcoming his own identity crisis through the power of sheer vanity. He also owns the in-universe equivalent of Facebook and Apple.

On at least 3 occasions Transformers used another Transformer's corpse as a vehicle. And on 1 occasion they used a corpse as a replacement limb (the guys alternate mode was a leg)

The Transformers on planet Cybertron at some point forgot that gender is a thing. There are lost colonies from before this so gender is still a thing in those.

One of those cybertronian colonies sends a delegate after millennia of absence and her bodyguard hates the place so much she causes a terrorist attack just as an excuse to go home, people die. The delegate was like "that was bad but we can move past this" and forgives her.

The Decepticons rewired their own soldiers into bombs and dropped them on people.

The Decepticons also rewired Autobots into anti-personnel live mines that would explode when they good too stressed and needed to be handled by people that could defuse them while keeping them calm.

Transformers are allergic to magic.

A guy has a fanzine dedicated to the Autobot Black-ops where he writes fanfiction. It's so popular multiple people are on a mailing list to have it downloaded directly to their brains when a new issue comes out.

A Decepticon's plan to deal with population decline is to make a bunch of organic babies, have them grow up and make more babies and then transplant their souls to Transformers bodies. He got as far as growing one (1) baby. Tbh, you could erase this whole plot and the story wouldn't suffer much.

Starscream who is a backstabbing liar who cares only for himself becomes president. He routinely neglects and endangers the population for his own ends. He was the best leader Cybertron ever had at the time.

[toaarcan]

People are raving about Skybound Transformers and I'm just sitting here like "This comic is so committed to being G1 But Edgy that it's not actually bothering to develop its characters before they get killed off."

Optimus and to a lesser extent Cliffjumper are the only ones who feel at all more three-dimensional than their G1 toy bios. I feel like I know more about fucking G.I. Joe Man than I do about this version of Starscream, who was the main villain of the comic until last issue.

Like, what do we know about Skybound Starscream's personality? He likes killing people and he was allegedly friends with Jetfire. I say 'allegedly' because he lasts all of a page before killing Jetfire for not immediately throwing in with the Decepticons. There's not even a token attempt at manipulation, the fucking cartoon did more with this idea than Skybound did.

The badly-animated 23-minute toy commercial with the budget of two coffee beans and some pocket lint is not a high bar to clear.

And hey, how about a different example? How about Skywarp's sorta-death?

Skywarp gets ripped apart in Issue 4, and used to repair Teletraan 1 so the Decepticons can revive more of their guys. But... why? They're currently surrounded by dozens of corpses they could cannibalise instead, many of whom are much less useful to the cause than the teleporting fighter jet. Like fuck, you've got three of Reflector and he's nearly always useless. The only reason this doesn't immediately backfire on Soundwave is that when the Autobots retake the Ark, Wheeljack accidentally reactivates what's left of Skywarp's brain and he starts blocking their efforts to revive more Autobots. Congratulates my guy, you turned the teleporting fighter jet into a minor software bug, and him being anything besides a corpse wasn't even intentional.

But you can make this work. Let's say that there's a reason Soundwave needs Skywarp gone. Maybe Skywarp, as a Seeker, is ultra-loyal to Starscream, and being as powerful as he is, makes Screamer's position as the leader of the Decepticons basically unassailable. The only way Soundwave can depose Starscream is to first trick him into helping eliminate Skywarp.

And like that, all three Decepticons get some extra character. Soundwave's manipulative side is put on display, an aspect of his character that often gets left out. Starscream's cruelty and ineptitude as leader is elaborated on by demonstrating that he doesn't reward loyalty, being more likely to backstab even someone who has always had his back if he's convinced it will benefit him. Skywarp gets a personality trait before he's violently killed, and now him dying means something other than another demonstration of weirdly organic robo-gore.

Instead we get "Starscream, we need to kill one of our most dangerous soldiers instead of literally any of these other assholes we've got lying around. I am a better leader because this worked out for me accidentally."

[niqhtlord01]

ROOSTER TEETH CHAMPIONSHIP CROSSOVER!!!!

What’s this?

Are we still on the air?

What the hell do you mean we haven’t had a fight in several months?

Well we’re going to have to fix that right now!

Greetings all you crazy fighting fans to yet another Rooster Teeth Championship Matchup!!!!

We’ve gone pretty hard with the family tree of Rooster Teeth characters and in this special we decided to mix things up with a special crossover event by special request!

You know them, you hate them, and Michael Bay betrayed them! Give it up for the TRANSFORMERS!!!

Optimus: *Drives in as big rig and transformers. Ruby: *Drooling excitedly Optimus: Do not be alarmed, I mean you no harm. Ruby: *Twirls Scythe Ruby: I have so many questions!!!! -----------------

Yang: *Rides in on motorcycle and jumps off. Bumblebee: *Jumbled radio noises Bumblebee: I-Too-Love the FEEL-of-a-FLASHY-Entrance. Yang: You get any k-pop on that? Cause I’m ready to rumble! Bumblebee: *Arm cannon forms Bumblebee: Kids-these-days. -----------------

Salem: *Grim part ways as Salem walks through. Starscream: I will grant you the honor of being the first to kneel before Lord Starscream! Salem: I kneel before no lord; and least of all the lord of cowards. Starscream: *Primes arm cannons Starscream: You! You shall pay for your insolence! ----------------

Constructicons: *Roll in and transformer into Devastator Qrow: *takes sip of flask Qrow: So are you all just standing on top of each other or do you do the cheerleader pyramid in there? Devastator: A wise guy huh? Devastator: We’ll see how wise you are when you’re nothing but a smear on the pavement! Qrow: *Transforms scythe Qrow:  Guess I’ll just keep cutting until I find out or passout. ---------------

Soundwave: *Transforms from boombox and ejects laserbeak who proceeds to rest on his arm Cinder: Oh look, another one of Ironwood’s toy soldiers. Soundwave: (In Monotone) Oh look, another humanoid with parental issues. Cinder: *Roars in anger as she draws dust blades ------------------------

Penny: *Slowly descends into ring with rocket boots Shockwave: A most interesting construct to have come from a primitive species.  Penny: Well that’s certainly kind of you to say. Shockwave: (Charges cannon)I shall enjoy dissecting you on my operating table and revealing your secrets. ------------------------

Roman: *Walks in twirling cane Swindle: Interested in some wares of questionable origin? Roman: I don’t pay for things I’ll just steal later. Swindle: (Pulls out cannon from pocket dimension) Oh be still my beating spark. --------------------------

Ozpin: *Walks in sipping tea Megatron: You remind me of my own world’s leaders. Ozpin: I only do what I think is best for my people. Megatron: (Charges arm cannon) They said the same thing while my people wallowed in chains. ---------------------------

Tyrian: *Flips in laughing before licking wrist blades. Blitzwing: (Head spins) And they say I have a few screws loose. HAHAHA! Tyrian: Is it not madness for sheep to speak peace with wolves? Blitzwing: (Head spins again) Well hot spark! I need to write that one down! ---------------------------

Nora: *Smashes through wall, twirls hammer, then smiles as she holds the grenade launcher. Omega Supreme: Hostiles will be neutralized. Nora: Have you seen how cute I am? (Smiles) How could I be hostile? Omega Supreme: (Alarm blares) Priority target registered! Neutralizing with extreme prejudice! -----------------------------

Shockwave: *Walks in scraping cannon arm barrel against the floor Arthur: So you are what qualifies as a scientist? *Scoffs Shockwave: The sum of your knowledge is little more than a speck of dust compared to the vast knowledge I have obtained over my 10 million years of existence. Arthur: (Adjusts gloves)  10 million years and yet you remain subordinate to a petty tyrant. ----------------------------

Emerald: *Walks in flexing her scythe pistols Jetfire: I can see we are birds of a feather. Emerald: What could I possibly have in common with a 6 story talking robot? Jetfire: (Takes fighting stance) That loyalty and honor are not so easily wasted by those worthy of it. ----------------------

Cardin: *Walks in hefting large mace Hound: I hear you think ur self to be tough slag. Cardin: I’m the toughest fighter there is. Hound: (Laughs as he draws heavy pistol) Hound: Kid, I’ve  purged energon slags tougher than you. -------------------------

Optimus: *rolls in and transforms Ironwood: Stand aside, I won’t ask again. Optimus: I can see there is still good in you human; remember who you are fighting for. Ironwood: (Charges up arm, gets angry) I have never forgotten, who I am fighting for.

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

no bc deadass the rescue bots are straight up mean as hell. like, they arent evil or immoral they’re just rude. to the point where they’re meaner than the decepticons ok like megatron kept avoiding actually gettind rid of starscream despite the constant murder attempts but heatwave was willing to get rid of two of the other bots (blades after he abandoned a rescue bc of an avalanche and blurr bc blurr). heatwave is more ruthless than megatron which is so damn funny. blades keeps insulting people for no good reason (sometimes it makes sense but like quickshadow’s accent and how she talks made him so upset). chase is harder to see but he’s willing to do anything to follow the rules and he tends to repeatedly bring up other people’s issues (i dont think i have to explain but like example is little white lies. that whole episode). boulder is very sweet most of the time but the instant heatwave gets in on it he does too. multiple times in the show this has happened (off the top of my head when blades got the scoop claw hw and boulder were laughing at him and when hw made fun of blades boulder laughed, also heatwave was saying blurr was super annoying and boulder agreed).

to be clear this is a good thing. i wanna see more complex characters who are still fundamentally good people!! you can be callous, have low empathy, be egotistical, get angry, make fun of ur friends and still make good choices and still help people. you at your worst and you at your best are still both you, but your worst being bad doesn’t mean your best isn’t good. especially because morality wise the rescue bots are the best people. i mean, they aren’t war criminals (or regular criminals), they don’t physically harm others, they don’t put others at risk (at least not intentionally), and they literally had to pretend to be actual machines while risking their lives every day. these people who treated them as essentially slaves were who they had to protect. and they did it, over and over again, without hesitation. and i think they deserve to be a bit rude for that, and because their meanness comes from caring. if they didn’t care they wouldn’t bother to speak up and be heard, even if it’s in a disrespectful way. but they do.

anyways idk rescue bots brainrot and the concept of a fundamentally good society have been eating away at me.

[teddy-bear-queen]

Starscream deserved better.

The more and more transformer media I consume the more angry I get at the treatment of Starscream. He’s just desperately trying to survive.

OH YEAH BUT MEGATRON, THE ABSOLUTE ASSHAT?? The ABUSER?? He gets a redemption arc!!! Literally fuck OFF.

‘The decepticons are no more bc I now know what it’s like to be oppressed :(’ fuck off. The reason you are the way you are is because you liked the power. He already knew what it was like to be oppressed, because that was THE WHOLE FUCKING PREMISE OF THE WAR!

I haven’t finished the series but I’ve seen enough from previous iterations to know that this bullshit is going to drive me insane. Here’s an idea: stop giving abusers redemption arcs because you think they’re hot. How about we give redemption arcs to the victims (starscream) instead. OR JUST KEEP THEM BOTH EVIL! IDFC! BUT DONT MAKE IT SEEM LIKE STARSCREAM CANT BE REDEEMED AND MEGATRON CAN. Blatant victim blaming.

EDIT:

Fuck you megatron simpers, if you were a decepticon and real etc. he’d fucking abuse you beyond the point of breaking. He’s an abuser. Deal with it.

I didn’t mean to come off so aggressive in this part, I apologise for that. Here I further explain what I mean. Please read the whole thing.

EDIT 2:

Just because I feel the need to say this: Im not excusing starscream or apologising him. He’s an asshole in every sense of the word, and he’s had his fair share of… shall we say “bad deeds”. He’s toxic. I’m not excusing that (it’s actually another reason I like him, the way he behaves and his personality intrigue me!). I actually also like Megatron in that way. He’s a character I love to hate sort of deal. And some people just love him! That’s also okay! What isn’t okay is the romanticisation and fetishisation of abuse. Don’t excuse either of these characters toxic behaviours just because he’s hot lmao.

My issue with it is that Megatron, who has done so much worse, got redeemed whereas Starscream is continually demonised or straight-up killed. It just makes no sense to me how Starscream, who continually throughout many iterations seems to have the most potential for redemption, is demonised. (if people want I could write an analysis on starscream to further explain because it would be fun).

Either redeem Starscream AND Megatron, or just Starscream.

[pipermca]

Feedback Fest 2024

In honour of International Fanworks Day (today! February 15) I am posting some fic recommendations that I've made in the past. (I am super swamped at work and can't write up any new recs, but I previously rec'd these over on my main blog over the past few years. I'm collecting them together again here on my writing blog!)

These ten rec's are in no particular order, and all are in the Transformers fandom (with some crossovers). Ratings and pairings (if relevant) are noted.

(I also had to split this list into two parts because I waxed too poetic about these fics. See my reblog for the next part. 🙂)

Frivolities by @neveralarch (G, Megatron & Starscream). Summary: “My correct form of address is in my ID tag,” snapped Starscream. “Use it or lose your tongue.” My comments: I love this story. I love it so much I’ve recommended it to people who would ordinarily never read Transformers fanfic, simply because I think they’d appreciate what the author is doing. They took canon and fanon, and from it alchemized a story of dysphoria and wanting to be seen and acknowledged in a way the character wants, and wrapped it up in a tidy package that hits like a truck, and have I mentioned I love this story! (makes fists) Read it!

Working Through It by @trinarysuns (M, Skywarp/Thundercracker/Marissa Faireborn). Summary: “TC,” Skywarp says, “I’m, like, ninety percent sure that humans don’t have interface cables.” Thundercracker squawks and almost knocks him over trying to get the script out of his hands. My comments: I can’t say enough about this story. I love it and it pushed so many buttons for me. Not even smutty buttons, just interaction buttons: humans interacting with giant alien robots, old loves reuniting, logitical issues of interspecies getting it on… Tumblr deleted my review of this story, (SIGH) so I reposted my review on DW here. It says a lot more about this fic!

The Soft Rush of Black Static by Monstrosibee (NR, Bluestreak/Prowl). Summary: Prowl doesn’t know a lot of bots on this newly salvaged Cybertron, and he definitely doesn’t know the bot intruding on his construction site. My comments: While this fic is essentially a fix-it fic for a story from the Aligned continuity, it just destroyed me. You can read the basics of what happened between Bluestreak and Prowl on TFWiki (at the end of Chapter 7 of The Covenant of Primus) but it was devastating to actually read how upset Prowl was by what happened. This short little fix-it brought all those emotions back and then healed them. I loved this.

Someone You Might Have Been by @astolat (T, Megatron/Optimus Prime.) Summary: I didn’t love him because he wasn’t you. My comments: I'm rec'ing this because it's just pure "this is exactly what I want to read!" for me. This is a delightful mashup of the Shattered Glass universe and G1, in which the Optimus Primes from each universe get (temporarily) swapped. It’s an amazingly heartwrenching MegOP story.

Crash Site by Slyboots (G, Breakdown/Knock Out). Summary: June Darby does not believe in aliens, or in haunted highways, or in government conspiracies, or in any other small-town folklore. The new mechanics in town are uncanny, all the same. My comments: I am a sucker for Transformers: Prime fics, and one of the (it's canon! suck it Hasbro) ships from the show that I love is Knock Out/Breakdown. But besides that, I just love the vibe of this story. You can feel Knock Out and Breakdown in it, even if June doesn’t really see them, except out of the corner of her eye. And I am SO HERE for the idea that the two of them got some lovely downtime together before the events in TFP.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Irrational Fears

Earth is absolutely terrifying, a fact that both Autobots and Decepticons can attest to.

Megatron

Despite being so big and tough, there is one thing about the earth that just scares the scrap out of Megatron.

He does not really fear what lurks within earth's biggest bodies of water, no, he fears the bodies of water themselves.

He never needed to learn to swim since Cybertron didn't exactly have huge bodies of anything resembling liquid near the surface beside the occasional acid pool.

And the safe liquids that existed on Cybertron were far denser than earth's liquids, often being thick enough to almost be a paste, posing little issues for those who got stuck in them besides some sticky residue being left on their armor afterward.

As such arriving on earth and falling into the ocean for the first time was rather traumatizing.

His usual method of handling being in liquid did absolutely nothing for him since water is not nearly as dense as what Megatron is familiar with.

He sank like a rock and was left at the bottom of the fragging ocean in the dark with no clear way to get out besides walking to the surface since transforming or ground bridging out would cause more trouble than it was worth.

He was irritated but fine with it at first, after all, no organic thing in the waters could really do him any harm.

But the ominous noises, the random currents which threw his sensors into overdrive, the extreme water pressure, and the rather freaky things passing by him as he traveled back to land just... traumatized him in a way he couldn't really describe.

The ocean threw Megatron off, and since then he has sworn off going near the Unmaker-cursed liquid pools when possible.

Optimus

Surprisingly Optimus's worst fear that originated on earth was not of natural disasters or anything of the sort, no, his fear is of the roads, or more specifically, the people driving on the roads.

Optimus is a textbook driver and obeys every road law to the letter, as such most human drivers scare him half to death.

American drivers are a melting pot of every form of insanity, with customs from all over the world resulting in the most confusing road culture imaginable.

Poor Optimus can't make heads or tails of it and often finds himself bewildered when other drivers honk or scream obscenities at him for following the rules.

Not only that but Americans are freaking crazy drivers.

Optimus has gotten hit, crashed into, pushed off the road, and forced to swerve to save some poor idiotic soul far more times than he will ever be comfortable admitting.

When it happens he panics. After all, the human vehicles have humans in them, and humans are squishy and easily damaged, unlike Cybertronians.

It isn't much better in other countries.

The Europeans are agonizingly slow drivers and park where ever their car will fit, trying to travel through British towns and cities on their tiny roads is an absolute nightmare.

For a vehicle of Optimus's size Europe, as a general rule, is one of the worst places to drive.

But oh boy, Europe has nothing on the Asian and middle eastern countries.

Driving there induces some of the worst anxiety Optimus has ever had since the war began, and that is saying something.

Random cattle on the roads, junk cars sputtering along looking like they are going to explode at any moment, the absurd amount of potholes, the fearless jaywalkers, and the maze-like structure of most roads make Optimus nearly have a panic attack every time he is forced to go driving in such areas.

He doesn't even want to get started on the state of the roads in Canada or the terrifying scrap he has seen while driving in Australia.

Starscream

Fragging Pigeons, Starscream simultaneously hates and fears them with a passion.

The mixed hatred and fear of the stupid birds began shortly after his arrival on earth when he flew through a flock of them.

The end result left him floundering as found himself covered in feathers, gore, and droppings.

Of course, it didn't end there.

The one time he fell into recharge out in the open he awoke to find himself covered in pigeons.

Even after they flew away his armor was still stained by lots of little gifts from the feathery fraggers.

The birds have also caused him to crash numerous times as he just isn't used to maneuvering around the organic things.

Trying to avoid the birds just causes him to lose his senses and flying through them is just messy.

On Cybertron, he could just fly straight through most small mech animals that had flight capabilities and both parties would be fine.

It is, of course, a completely different story on earth.

The never-ending harassment from the birds has led him to begin fearing them.

Where ever he goes there are pigeons.

America? Pigeons. Asia? More Pigeons. Africa? Yep, Pigeons there too. Europe? You guessed it, Pigeons.

They haunt his existence to the point where anything that remotely looks like a pigeon sends him in the opposite direction lest he gets turned into a perch, a fate almost as bad as death in his book.

Ratchet

Normally Ratchet would not consider himself the squeamish type, his particular line of work does not afford him that luxury.

However when it comes to dealing with the mess that is human anatomy he can't help but be a little hesitant.

Everything about them is just so screwed up.

Cybertronain biology while complex, is orderly and only requires energon to function.

Humans though, they are a whole different mess, one that Ratchet tends to find himself feeling a little dizzy when handling.

Their bodies need so much to work right, and the delicate balance sustaining them is so unnerving to him with the children hanging around.

How can humans teeter on the edge of rolling over and dying from nearly everything at any moment and still live so comfortably?

But their squishiness isn't the most traumatizing part for him, no, its the way human bodies fix themselves.

Blood is the most vital part of a human, but the way it is replaced bothers Ratchet on a spiritual level.

Humans make their blood themselves, all the organics do.

But instead of mining or consuming more when they run low like Cybertronians, they go and consume the matter of other creatures instead.

The whole process is somewhat terrifying when looked at too deeply and now Ratchet can only look at the humans in slight fear when they eat a burger or something similar.

How they can casually consume other creatures is beyond him, on Cybertron such behavior would make one a ghoul, mech animal, or Predacon.

[optimal-spark]

Earthspark Spoilers!!

I feel like a LOT of people are completely misinterpreting the Starscream situation so I have to make a post of my own about it.

Looking up ES Starscream stuff on here I’m met by one post after the other going “I can’t believe Starscream abandoned the other seekers! What a piece of shit!!” And I can’t help but wonder if we’ve all been watching the same show or if people just have such a bad bias against Starscream specifically.

Throughout the course of the entirety of ES we have seen nonstop situations of decepticons abandoning each other when things get hairy. Swindle, Hardtop, Soundwave, the cassettes, Novastorm, Skywarp. Everybody has abandoned each other and treated each other terribly at some point. Is it bad? Yes. But why are people acting like Starscream is the only one who’s done it and like he’s Satan incarnate for it while the other cons are innocent for the very same thing?

The decepticons have all around been instilled with the idea that everyone is bound to betray them one way or another. They have the mindset of every man for himself when it comes down to it. Novastorm and Skywarp have abandoned each other and those they’ve worked with. It is how things have just played out. Starscream is just one who had an arc about such a thing so it’s more in the spotlight and fleshed out. He does not trust people. He cares about the seekers (despite what some fans believe) but he has a very intense paranoia of what will happen if he does not try to look out for himself above all. He needs to rationalize this without allowing guilt and other emotions to override. If you think he doesn’t care about his seekers rewatch the scene where the Terrans reunite with each other after he and Hashtag talk about Megatron for a brief moment, watch how he puts on a scowl for them reuniting, then see how his face changes when he sees Novastorm and Skywarp. Also watch how they listen to what he tells them when they want to leave. They all care about each other, despite abandoning one another when things get hairy. It is absolutely something they have gotten drilled into them over time due to a mix of trauma (especially on Starscream’s end where we actively see his hallucinations) and simple patterns learned over the years of being a Decepticon.

Again: Starscream is NOT the only Decepticon that abandons ship when things get extra risky. Every single Decepticon we meet has done the exact same thing once or more throughout the duration of the show. Starscream’s was just spoken about more and turned into an arc so we couldn’t miss it. And he, alongside the other Decepticons, grew from that. He wasn’t the only one to stop turning away when things got scary, the other cons came with him. Therefore they had a similar arc of their own.

One thing about Earthspark is it shows that the characters are the farthest thing from black and white. They all have their own trauma. They have all done bad. They should be held accountable for it, but I am baffled by the intense vilifying of Starscream (and likewise babyfying of Nova and Skywarp) for something every single con has done in the show.

It is giving us an amazing look at character dynamics alongside mental health issues and what trauma can do to someone.

[saxandviolins88]

Transformers Skybound #12 spoilers below cut

Yeeees! Final issue of the arc! I thought it was pretty neat, nothing dick-blowing, but I did like some of the things it touched.

This is such a cool sho-

...

...

Why are you a motorcycle...?

HE'S SO FUCKING AWFUL OMG!! I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM LOVE HIM!!!

GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

(^ This is the sound of a well feed autistic)

Enough about my six awful sons

Nice seeing OP and Elita working together and especially nice seeing Devastator getting fried next panel HA HA.

Do... do these guys have nothing to do when Shockwave isn't there? Like I don't think it's supposed to be interpreted that way, but my first thought was: "Damn you guys just standin' there since SW left? Get a job."

"I'LL TELL MY MUM ABOUT THIS AND THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY FOR BREAKING MY TOYS!!"

Sorry, Skybound Shockwave is a blast to read, fucking cartoon supervillain hahaha.

No comment, just appreciate the art, insanely in love with how anime this is.

Absolutely in love with how Skybound Optimus is written.

He doesn't value life quantitively, he values ALL life and wants to save everybody, this will be coming back.

Michael bay?! Nooooooo!

Joke.

But like, what was that? People are saying Megatron's essence in the arm took over him; I don't know about that, the purple eyes don't exactly convey that for me, but I also have no option but to believe it was (or waiting for a reveal, like a normal person.)

Also, what was that about "Not being like that anymore"?? Guess you don't become Autobot leader without taking a few faces. Speaking of that... urgh Shockwave's death was sooo good, thank Lord they extended that shit through a few panels and it wasn't just a "you blink and you'll miss it" type of death.

OOF! The debacle comes to a boiling point!

Elita wants to save a dying planet using Earth ("The Earth has so much to give, look at all the Energon we already have.") vs Optimus, who cares about life, point. All life is important and Earth needs PROTECTION.

I do think both of them have a point; Elita has been fighting NON-STOP while Optimus was basically in a coma, she can't just abandon Cybertron to die like this, but using Earth is a bit uh... Shockwav-y of her. But I'll give it to her, I'd also be desperate and a little bit pissed if I protected my fucking planet for ages and my husband (Leader of the movement I fought and sent soldiers to die for) disappeared in search of a way to save it and then came back like: "Y'know maybe we should protect this random ass planet you never saw, there are people there too".

Ultimately, none of them are right and none of them are wrong. Optimus's decision was his and now he has to live with it, and Elita too, I'm glad she survived so we get to see MORE of her. (Please DWJ don't forget her too.)

They cut Cybertron's foreskin out.

Optimus had a "Planet of the Apes" moment at the end there so that was cool enough to point out.

OOOH BEACHY SAVES THE DAY, AWESOME!!!

I'm more excited to see how he'll affect the main cast as this goes on, I feel he'll either become an important character or at least bring in an interesting discussion.

.

I quite enjoyed this arc a ton, it gave us a look into the Decepticons and I absolutely love how their whole mentality is getting written, I can only hope this gets explored more in the whole Starscream prequel thing (oooh boy I have a funny anecdote for when we read that, based on the preview pages).

Optimus is the character who gets more focus, yes, but he's so well-written and DWJ takes such good care of him I barely feel like complaining; most characters and scenarios that happen serve to challenge his conviction or show another side of him and I really can't complain about how this has been done.

What do I want more of this comic? uuuuuh, more characterization for side characters (come on DWJ, I'm not asking for a fucking arc for every-single nobody; just write Jazz like a person and we're set!)... Hmm... more Constructicon page time would be nice too, but I guess you already knew I was going to say that...

[cosmics-beings]

You've mentioned Starscream as being abusive before and I was wondering if you had an examples of that?

Well, yes! and i warn this is gonna be heavy critique on starscream so if you like his character you might not want to read this. i say this with starscream being my favorite character T-T

I can list a few examples off of the top of my head - we have his relationship with Knockout, where he is physically abusive to Knockout multiple times, which is why Knockout betrays him. The sad thing is that Knockout himself was trying to be friendly and genuine to Knockout, and he was cruel to him.

I do offer some empathy to Starscream because at this time, he himself was dealing with his own abuse and his own situation of toxicity but that isn't an excuse to be abusive to another person.

Also, i think it's important to understand a lot of Starscream's abusive tendencies can't be tied solely to megatron.

Throughout various continuums we've seen Starscream being abusive to his trine - for instance IDW (and the reason Skywarp and Thundercracker are seekers in IDW is directly linked to Starscream's abuse and manipulation of them).

He is also, in some iterations, abusive to Skyfire (and no I'm not just talking about Skybound) whom is his friend and he has tried to kill and manipulate. This is especially a cycle of abuse because Skyfire trusts Starscream and they are friends, and some people see them closer than that. In many ways it means if Skyfire didn't break from the autobots, there could have very well been a stronger cycle of abuse that grew between the two of them as Starscream in a way began to descend into madness and more hunger. which is why i am kinda annoyed when people make skyfire's sole purpose to save and protect Starscream, when Starscream in many iterations is awful to him.

In Earthspark, it is heavily alluded that he was abusive to and treated his trine the same way Megatron treated him, which is why clearly, the trine isn't very empathetic toward him in regards to the whole megatron thing.

There are other examples; I'm not using him being aggressive toward autobots because those aren't people he is close to.

Also, this isn't a reason to excuse how Megatron treats him. However, I do firmly believe that he had issues way before Megatron, and especially in IDW we see he was also dealing with issues of abuse...

I think i prefer earthspark's characterization of him because it holds him accountable for his abusive actions while being empathetic toward him.

A lot of Starscream's abusive tendencies come from the origin of his creation, especially in IDW hew as created to serve others or created to have his use designated for him. So he does anything he can to not be that person, or to get power and to him, power means stepping over people.

Do I think in some instances, his toxic relationship with megatron can amp up his abuse - yes, absolutely. Whether or not he'd be as bad as he was without megatron in the picture --well i always go back and forth with that.