Megatron and Starscream were where they needed to be in power. When anyone thinks TF decepticons they think Megatron and Starscream. It's like GNR Axl and Slash,or Tyler and Perry, or Plant and Page. By the way, does anyone speak French, I was wonderin if Ego really translates to Starscream? Just a dumb thought.

"Ego" is a Greek word; it just means "I". Not that it's an inappropriate name for Starscream. And not that making him female is all that inappropiate either. (I'm speaking of the French TFs.) But I wouldn't compare Starscream and Megatron to anyone involved in any sort of partnership. If anything, it would be like the relationship between Darth Vader and the Emperor in Star Wars.

Starscream a great leader? Thats the funniest thing I've ever heard. Now as much as I disliked Megatron he at least had the brains to be a leader. He always thought out his plans before he acted and he knew he had to have an army of warriors to help him out with those plans. Megatron was a great evil leader and I never thought I'd say that but facts are facts my freinds. Starscream was a school boy like Hot Rod always thinking but never achieveing and both would have died quicker then hell if they had stayed leaders.

 

 

:usa

Great example. G1 ongoing #2

Starscream runs leaving all his troups behind to die when Sunstorm hits. What kind of a leader does that. He places nothing above himself, whereas Megatron may not like his troups in some cases he still knows their value to the cause which he places above all else

The reason why Starscream wasn't leader can be summed up in one word- vanity. He cared only about how HE looked, and nothing else; not the value of troops, the value of subtlety, careful planning, or building support. Starscream was a prima donna, and anything less than total control galled him. He wanted it all right now, rather than biding his time and waiting.

 

He also made the mistake of making it obvious to Megatron that he wanted his position. All it did was to undermine Starscream's own positon by making Megatron leary of him. Megatron was often tipped off to Starscream's plans by Starscream's very attitude towards him.

 

Starscream also forgot the loyalty of Decepticons that could hurt him, like Soundwave, Rumble, Laserbeak, Frenzy, Buzzsaw and Ravage. They could indeed cause Starscream pain, but not physically. The Decepticon cassettes were loyal to Megatron, and were his spies not only in battle, but against unloyal individuals who had their own agendas. (like Starscream.) Soundwave himself would often record confidential conversations for use as blackmail, and later replay them if he felt Megatron should know. In "More than meets the eye pt 2", Soundwave yelled out to Megatron when Starscream took a cheap shot at the Decepticon leader.

 

Additionaly, Starscream isn't exactly all that brilliant. Intellectually, Starscream is up there, but in combat savvy, strategy, and especially common sense, Stascream lacks the brainpower to be effective in eliminating Megatron. TF:TM was bad luck on Megatron's part, as Starscream was just wise enough to take the opportunity to wrest control from the weakened Decepticon leader. But even then, Starscream didn't have the brute force necessary to keep the Decepticons in line. The fact that he was crowned emperor on Cybertron was probably due to the fact that he made alliances with the others.

 

Finally, Starscream (as mentioned before) didn't have the brute force required to keep unruly, self-serving malcontents in line. Starscream relied on guile and speed, which are fine for flying purposes, but they do NOTHING for leadership. Whereas Megatron could easily scare the living daylights out of someone merely by glaring at them. Not to mention the fact that as Galvatron, he simply walked up to Starscream, transformed to cannon mode, and wiped him off the face of Cybertron.

 

Starscream may have been able to point out flaws in Megatron's plans, but like any egotistical megalomaniac, he wasn't able to see his own. And that led to his downfall.

Ok out of fairness and balance i am forced to comment on this subject, we have heard plenty of reasons why Screamer would not be a good leader, and few examples, so now it is time to hear the other side

 

Sarscream would have been a better leader than megs for one simple reason, Starscream wouldnt let his ego get in the way of victory. Starscream is one of the most egotistical characters ever dont get me wrong, but Megatron was just as bad. in the movie, Megatron said that optimus was his, Screamer would have sent Devastator in to beat optimus within an inch of his life and paralize him, then Screamer would have killed him. Megatron never took the blame for his mistakes he always put it off on Starscream or another, but never accepted when he failed because he had b movie villan syndrome. Example: More than Meets the Eye, they crash land on earth, the decepticons wake up, the autobots are still in stasis lock. Starscream says that they should destroy the autobots now to ensure they dont interfer latter, (now the theory begins) Megatron, knowing screamer had a good idea hated him for it seeing as he didnt think of it first pushed it aside as a waste of energy. Screamer wanting to prove megs wrong, and to show that megs is an incompetent leader, shot the ark causing the autobots to be reactivated by teletran-1 on purpose, providing screamer with more ammunition to use against megatron later.

 

Loyalty, this is not as much of an issue as others make it seem. first the cassetes were not loyal to Megatron, their only loyalty was to Soundwave, they liked megatron because he used them for destruction(rumble frenzy) and spying (lazer beak and ravage) Sound wave i believe was only loyal to who ever lead the decepticons, and that i believe is why he brought megatron to astrotrain and why he supported Starscream, after the fight, Shockwave is too logical for loyalty, in his mind it would be a mutually benefiting alliance (he allied with screamer in the marvel comics when Skorponok took over) and Shockwave would have allied with screamer because screamer didnt have the need to prove himself therefore a vetter leader (Starscream already knew he was the best, thats why he deserved to lead) and with Soundwave and Shockwave in place with him, it wouldnt take much for the rest of the Decepticons to fall in line.

 

one last thing. Megatron always wanted instant results, he wanted the autobots crushed now, Starscream only had one goal, show the universe how incompetent Megatron was, and he was able to bide his time, 20 years really, from the time he reawakened the autobots, to the time he tossed Megs from Astrotrain, his plan had come to fruition, and the only thing that happened that he hadnt planned for was Unicron, but then he had no reason to plan for a giant planet eating Dark Transformer God that he didnt know about to come along.

All those points are true, KS. Come to think of it, didn't the cartoons pretty much portray the BOTH of them as imbeciles? (not to mention everybody ELSE?)

If recent history has taught us one thing, it is that truly evil leaders aren't big, and strong. Most of the time they are short and weak (that is why they use big guns- to compensate).

 

Sure Megatron is the biggest and strongest Decepticon (with the exception of gestaults like Devastator), but strength does not make a good leader (otherwise the world would be ruled by bodybuilders).

 

Starscream had brains (he was after all a scientist with Skyfire on Cybertron). Brains + Ambition + Ruthlessness = Starscream. Would he have stood a chance physically against Optimus, no way. But could he sneak up behind Prime and shoot him in the back, hell yeah.

 

As for how he won the battle royale on Astrotrain, that's simple: he hid in the corner til soundwave won (he did have all his cassettes fighting for him), then shot him in the back. All leaders know to never be involved in a battle yourself, that's why there are armies to fight wars... and when his army wins, the leader waltzes in and claims victory for himself.

Starscream wasnt leader because of one thing: Lack of character development.

He had poor writers behind him. If getting blown up by a re-incarnated Megatron, witnessing Unicron, bargaining for you life, then BETRAYING a dark God that gave you new life doesn't affect your character, then you aren't being written properly.

Armada Starscream was developed perfectly.

Starscream suffered from what all the characters suffered from: lack of development.

 

It would be ineteresting to see a new G1 series with good stories and decent character development. Dreamwave has the right idea.