Leonid Andreyev - Tumblr Posts
Well, I'm not even gonna watch Earthspark anymore (I tried, I failed, I'm good with it), but my god, I have to make a point. Why I understand those who're tired of Starscream being a piece of shit. It seems to me that all these people who are openly pissed about Starscream being an evil bastard again are not ignorant of the fact that he's canonically a villain in every continuity, except for SG. It's hard not to notice that he's such a traitorous baddie he's got his own evil trope on TV Tropes.
Starscream being the traitor to Megatron's big bad, whose part in the story is to overthrow his leader (well, to be accurate, to try and fail and get his ass kicked), is a core principle of almost any TF narrative. An absolute law of the TF universe.
Look, there's no Jesus' character arc without Judas betraying him. (Some may argue that Judas didn't betray him, he just SOLD him, but, eh, still not nice.) I absolutely love how it was reflected in L. Andreyev's "Judas Iscariot", where it clearly pains Judas to betray his master. But he has to. Otherwise, the story won't happen, the purpose won't be fulfilled, the act of providence won't be done, the myth of Christ won't happen. And from my postmodern point of view, I admire how well this aspect of the myth creation was nailed. Even if I'm doing some crazy hermeneutics here.
So, Starscream being evil, betraying Megatron, and becoming the leader of the Decepticons is fine. It serves the narrative. The problem is that his characterization does not evolve. Cartoon G1 Megs is a far cry from what we're getting now. By this moment, he's been a proletarian, a revolutionary, a gladiator, a poet, an activist, an atoner, Optimus' friend, the Autobot's ally, the American government's ("humanity's") ally. Bad guy, good guy, misunderstood guy. It's all Megatron.
And Starscream? Oh, he's a motherfucker with a heart of a jerk, vile, cowardly, incompetent, prone to gloating, morally inferior, having no goals aside from being the leader for the sake of being the fucking leader. Yeah, they experimented with his personality, his goals, and his methods in Armada. In IDW Starscream was doing better before it turned out to just serve Windblade's arc. But it's not much in comparison with what Megatron's getting.
It's too early to tell in which direction they're gonna take Steamcream in TF: One. But I'm inclined to expect him to follow his usual characterization and tropes. A despicable, corrupt asshole, while Megatron seems like a nice guy turned rebellious and violent under oppression. Again, it's the authors' favorite boy Megatron and their whipping boy Starscream to pin all the lowly evil shit on.
galiba sen ağladın, yahuda? keriyotlu yahuda'nın aptal olduğunu söyleyen kayafa gerçekten haklı mı yoksa? büyük intikam gününde ağlayan ona layık değil demektir, biliyor musun bunu, yahuda? gözlerimin seni kandırmasına izin verme, yüreğinin yalan söylemesine izin verme, ateşin üstüne gözyaşlarını dökme, keriyotlu yahuda!
Leonid Andreyev - Yahuda İskariot