More Than Meets the Eye: Megatron/Starscream (Transformers G1)
Title: More Than Meets the Eye
Author: carbonatedh2o
Fandom: Transformers (G1)
Pairing: Megatron/Starscream
Spoilers: Season 1 + 2 + the 1986 movie. I only briefly touch upon seasons 3 and 4. I mention Beast Wars (as it’s technically part of the G1 canon) twice.
E-mail: carbonatedwater84@yahoo.com
Thanks: Thanks to http://transformers.wikia.com for many of the images and the quotes from the episodes.
More Than Meets the Eye: A Megatron/Starscream Manifesto
As there are different series and alternate realities for the Transformers, I will be covering the relationship between Megatron and Starscream specifically for Generation 1. Their personalities are pretty much the same in each series, and from what little I’ve seen of other canons (specifically the 2007 movie and TF: Animated... I haven’t seen much else), it’s pretty obvious there too. But, that’s another essay for another time.
The first generation cartoon of Transformers has a somewhat basic plot. The giant, transforming robots are split into two factions as basic as black and white: the Autobots and Decepticons. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are the good guys, fighting for freedom for all sentient beings. However, the Decepticons, led by Megatron, are the ruthless bad guys, and just want power and energy. So, it’s fairly easy to guess that these two factions are at war.
The series begins on the home planet of the Transformers: Cybertron. Energon, the basic fuel of the Transformers, is scarce, thus making the robots barely scrape by. The Autobots decide to leave their planet to search for richer sources of energy, but on their way, they are attacked by the Decepticon ship, and both factions end up crash-landing on Earth and being forced into unconsciousness, only to be awoken four million years later. In order to blend in a bit more to this new planet’s atmosphere, the Autobots’ computer Teletran I scans the Earth and sends its data to all of the Transformers, thus enabling them to transform into cars, jets, and various other Earth vehicles (or other things such as guns and microscopes).
The Decepticons begin their new quest for energy, attacking a nearby oil rig. The Autobots intercept, however, and befriend two of the oil workers, who essentially aid them for the rest of the series. From then on, the Decepticons engage in various other quests to gather energy in ruthless ways while the Autobots try to stop them. So, the Autobots inadvertently become Earth’s heroes, and all of the humans grow to fear the Decepticons, who are constantly plotting to either steal energy or defeat the Autobots (or both). This plot basically covers the first two seasons, until the 1986 movie.
The 1986 movie basically made the series take a big turnaround, and killed many characters, including Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Megatron (essentially). This will be explained in depth later. Seasons three and four of the series take place after the movie, and do not focus so much on the Decepticons' plans to destroy the Autobots. A much greater threat is introduced in the form of the Quintessons. The setting of the show expands from Earth into various places in space, and new characters pretty much dominate the scene.
There’s really no “conclusion” to G1. Season four was meant to expand, but for whatever reason, stopped after three episodes.
G1’s universe does continue into other series’, such as Beast Wars, but Megatron is pretty much absent from these other series’, and Starscream doesn’t appear too much either, so I won’t really be touching upon it. Also, I haven’t seen Beast Wars or any of that stuff.
How I discovered this fandom
Now, why in God’s name would someone write an essay about the “love” between two giant robots from a cheesy 80’s cartoon? No, I never would have dreamed it myself. I only entered this fandom recently, specifically during the summer of 2007.
My sister’s boyfriend has always been a Transformers fan, and whenever I visited their apartment, I would see this giant Unicron action figure on top of their stereo, and a whole closet full of other Transformers toys. My sister and I would simply roll our eyes, and the boyfriend would never be able to convert us into Transfans, that is, until he finally made us watch the first episode of G1. Well, let’s just say that I was hooked. It was hilariously amazing.
I immediately noticed, though, from the very first episode, the obvious chemistry between Megatron and Starscream. Of course, I joked about their relationship with my sister and her boyfriend, but they probably have no idea that I am now an avid shipper, have drawn tons of fan-art of them, and am now writing a long essay about why I ship them. I fear the day they find out. Then again, maybe they’ve already found my DeviantArt and are just too afraid to say anything. But, this is beside the point, so I’m going to move on.
Characters:
The Ruthless Dictator: Megatron
Megatron, as I have stated before, is the leader of the “bad guys”, the Decepticons. He will lie, cheat, and steal to get whatever he wants. He hates the Autobots, particularly Optimus Prime, with a fiery passion, and constantly schemes up new plans to destroy them. He wields his power whenever he can, and punishes those who stand in his way. If anyone so much as suggests that his plan to collect energy and destroy the Autobots may be a little off, I guarantee that he will get angry and sometimes rely on violence to get his message across to his army.
He transforms into a Walther P38 gun, which he doesn’t do too often, as he needs someone else to shoot him (this “someone else” usually happens to be Starscream). However, with this mode, he was able to kill a number of Autobots, thus showing that he is indeed extremely powerful.
Megatron is intelligent as well, and often uses his smarts to manipulate humans, and sometimes even the Autobots themselves.
Megatron’s rule came to an end, though, in the 1986 movie. While the movie was made in ’86, it took place 20 years in the future, full of jet-powered, flying surfboards and colonies on the moon: 2005.
Megatron and Optimus Prime, with their rivalry and immense hatred toward one another longstanding, decided to have their final battle. Through strength and pretending to beg for mercy (while really buying time to find a ray gun on the ground), Megatron delivered the killing blow to Optimus, destroying everyone’s beloved Autobot leader.
While traveling back to Cybertron, though, the Decepticons had to lighten their load on the ship, which meant, as Starscream suggested, tossing all of the severely injured Decepticons out of the ship and into the abyss of space. Megatron, being injured from his battle with Optimus Prime, is gleefully tossed into space by Starscream, who uses this chance to usurp his leadership position.
Megatron drifts off into space with his other abandoned and severely injured comrades, headed inevitably for death, but instead, they come across the dark god Unicron, who gives them new bodies and essentially new personalities, and Megatron is reborn as Galvatron. Now, I keep referring to this as the “death” of Megatron, because Galvatron is essentially a completely different character. He’s constantly in pain that drives him to insanity from not doing Unicron’s bidding, and behaves quite a bit differently. He is still a ruthless leader, but essentially, the Megatron we know is gone (or so I think).
Before continuing out to do Unicron’s bidding of finding the Matrix, Galvatron makes one quick stop. Transforming into a cannon, he blasts Starscream and watches him disintegrate.
The Whiny Air-Commander: Starscream
I haven’t mentioned Starscream much before here, but now I can tell you all about him. He, like Megatron, is a Decepticon, and transforms into an F-15 Eagle jet. He is the commander of the other Decepticons who transform into similar jets, making him Megatron’s second-in-command. He is often involved in Megatron’s plans to steal energon and defeat the Autobots.
However, there is a little twist. Starscream would do anything for the leadership position of the Decepticons. He feels that he is smarter, more agile, and simply a better leader than Megatron. He has tried to kill Megatron numerous times, has gone behind his back to form a plan to take him out, or else has formed a what-he-believes-to-be-better plan to steal energy, etc. Even when he does finally succeed in getting rid of Megatron, he temporarily takes over as the Decepticon leader until he is killed by Galvatron.
Starscream often believes that Megatron’s plans to steal energon or defeat the Autobots are completely flawed, and arrogantly tries to correct them, or warn Megatron of his imminent failure, but he is usually painfully shut up before he can say anything worthwhile.
While he is an intelligent and agile fighter, he is also very much a coward. Whenever Megatron so much as threatens to do something violent to him, he whimpers and begs for mercy.
He is eventually killed, as I have said before, but he possesses an immortal spark (which is essentially the “being” of the Transformers), and comes back and possesses other Transformers from time to time in Seasons 3 and 4 and Beast Wars, and I believe in some of the other series of the G1 timeline, such as Kiss Players.
Canonical Evidence
Alright, now to get to the point of this essay: the pairing itself. Now, Megatron and Starscream clearly have quite a love/hate relationship. On one end, they both want to kill each other, but on the other end, they respect one another. Megatron knows Starscream’s value to his army, and Starscream respects and fears Megatron’s might.
At first, Starscream appears as a loyal second-in-command to Megatron. He does remain this way through the series, but it’s not until the third episode that we see otherwise. Starscream reveals to Megatron that he wants the leadership position of the Decepticons for himself, and attempts to shoot his leader in the back. His shot is deflected, though, and Megatron retaliates by blasting Starscream in the arm and knocking him down. After this, Starscream cowers at Megatron’s feet and begs for mercy. Megatron simply ignores his pleas and goes on with his plan to attack the Autobots.
Several other incidents like this occur throughout the series, and just for good measure, I’ll throw in a particularly humorous moment from the episode "Triple Takeover".
As Megatron crushes Starscream’s hand with his foot, he accuses Starscream of conspiring with other treacherous Decepticons, of which Starscream completely denies out of cowardice. Megatron’s response?
Megatron: You’re either lying or you’re stupid!
Starscream: I’m stupid, I’m stupid!
Megatron mentions several times throughout the series, though, that the traitor-like behavior Starscream constantly exhibits is punished by “termination” (apparently they couldn’t say “death” in 1984). Yet, Megatron never so much as comes close to fatally injuring his lieutenant. He is most likely bluffing, and it’s true that in a 1984 kid’s cartoon show, they couldn’t kill off characters (they could only do that in the movie), but even so, Megatron barely even hints at staying true to his word. It is implied that he does punish Starscream for his treachery in many episodes, and sometimes he hits or blasts him on screen. However, the next day (or episode), Megatron and Starscream act as if nothing happened: no death threats or anything.
Now, you may say that Megatron is all bark and no bite, but the show can prove otherwise. He and Starscream kill a number of Autobots in a surprise attack, and when he finally said he was going to kill Optimus Prime, he did. So, you would think that with Starscream trying to kill Megatron, he would be punished in an equal manner. It is likely that he is tortured off screen, but like I said, he is never killed. Megatron has never even tried to kill his second-in-command. He does indeed have the power to do so, but he keeps his lieutenant around.
Megatron knows that Starscream is a valuable asset to the Decepticon army. He never actually says it, but actions do speak louder than words.
One moment in the show particularly grabbed me. It was a small portion of an episode, and could be disregarded, but I thought it very interesting. Megatron was off beginning yet another plan to steal energy and/or destroy the Autobots, yet he brought Starscream along with him as his second-in-command. Starscream could have voiced his complaints about the scheme like he usually does, but he contently went along with Megatron, who spoke of his plans for the future. If I could find the quote, I would post it, but alas, I’ll have to summarize.
Megatron essentially said that soon the Autobots would be gone, and that both he and Starscream would rise again and have control over energy, etc. I don’t remember the exact lines, but I do remember Megatron saying “we” somewhere in there. So, for once, he was acknowledging Starscream’s power, and almost treating him as an equal. Megatron would never share his power. Starscream had no objections to “we”, when normally one would think that he would go on a rant about how it would only be him who had the power, because he wants to destroy Megatron and blah blah blah. .
Another episode labeled “Enter the Nightbird” very much had a Megatron/Starscream undertone to it, in a rather humorous way. Basically, the Decepticons acquired a “female” ninja robot, Nightbird, who happened to be extremely powerful. Megatron was delighted at this, yet Starscream stood in the background, seething with jealousy.
Starscream: She’s not so hot!
Megatron: She’s hot enough to replace you whenever I choose!
Starscream is clearly envious of the favoritism Megatron is showing this newcomer, and voices his discontent several times. Perhaps the fact that Nightbird is a female has something to do with it as well… It’s very possible that Starscream could have taken all of Megatron’s praise towards Nightbird as lust or attraction.
Megatron: Hahaha... She’s everything I’ve always wanted!
Starscream practically goes berserk at this line. He fears being replaced as one of the top positions in the army, but even when he was threatened in other episodes to be replaced or demoted, he did not show a reaction quite as strong as this one. Perhaps he is jealous of Megatron’s affection toward Nightbird. The “She’s everything I’ve always wanted” line could be taken as a very romantic line. So, it is possible that Starscream has a little (or maybe not-so-little) crush on Megatron.
Another rather touching moment between the two occurred in the middle of a somewhat sub-par episode, “A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur’s Court”. Essentially, Starscream and a few other Decepticons and Autobots end up going through a time warp to medieval Europe, while Megatron and the rest of the Transformers remain in the present.
When the time-travelers discovered the time warp to medieval Europe, the Autobots and Decepticons were in the middle of shooting at each other. After a few days in medieval Europe when Starscream and the others returned to the present (or 1985), apparently they returned to the exact time in the present as when they had left. Starscream did not realize this, however, and when he saw Megatron firing in his general direction, he immediately leapt forward and jumped on top of his superior.
Starscream: Megatron, hold your fire! It's me, Starscream! We're back, we're back!
Starscream says this with the utmost enthusiasm, gleefully “glomping” Megatron and stopping his gunfire (the picture of this is at the beginning of the section). Megatron, however, was none too pleased, seeing as according to his view, Starscream was only there a second ago, and said lieutenant just ruined his attack on the Autobots.
Starscream: What’s the matter? Aren’t you glad to see us?
Megatron: RRRRRAAAGGGGH!
The minute Starscream returned to his present day, the first thought on his mind was of Megatron. At that moment, he broke any barriers he had and showed absolute bliss at returning to his beloved leader. The tone of his voice when he discovered that Megatron did not return the affection was absolutely precious. He expressed so clearly through words, “Aren’t you glad to see us?” in such a sad way.
I could go on for decades naming evidence of their relationship just about every single episode, but I am pretty sure everyone reading this would grow very bored. So, I’ll move on.
But Starscream killed Megatron (and vice versa!). They can’t be in love!
Well, you do have a point. Had it not been for Unicron’s intervention, Megatron surely would have died out there in space. However, keep in mind that Megatron was not the only one Starscream left to die in space. He even discarded his two major Seeker buddies, Thundercracker and Skywarp, due to their injuries.
Astrotrain, the ship that the Decepticons were flying in, requested that the load be lightened up, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to fly. With tons of severely injured Decepticons, including Megatron, what else was there to do? Besides, the Decepticons of the ship even took that issue to a fair vote, and the overwhelming majority decided that it would be best to abandon their wounded comrades.
I’m not denying that Starscream used this opportunity to finally get rid of his leader and take his position for himself. At that moment, Starscream’s instincts essentially told him to get rid of Megatron and steal his position while he could. After all, Starscream desired leadership more than anything, and if the two had a relationship, Starscream’s leadership desire would probably outweigh any feelings he had toward his superior.
It is likely that Megatron would not have survived anyway, even if he remained on the ship. His injuries from the battle with Optimus Prime were critical.
Now, what about Galvatron coming back and killing Starscream? Well, first of all, like I said before, Galvatron is essentially a completely different character than Megatron. His thought processes were different, as well as his desires. Even though he remembered Starscream abandoning him in space with a smirk, his basic instinct changed to one of vengeance. Starscream had tried to kill Megatron several times in the series, and maybe would have succeeded, had something not intervened, but as stated before, Megatron never sought the “eye for an eye” treatment in his case. It was only when he became Galvatron that his “punishment” changed.
Okay, there may be evidence for them, but still, who is to say that Transformers are capable of love?
Now, if you’re thinking that maybe the Transformers are incapable of feeling romantic love, think again. Optimus Prime and the “female” Autobot Elita-One are canonically in love, and their former embodiments, Orion Pax and Ariel, respectively, are stated as being “boyfriend and girlfriend”. In season 3, Springer, Arcee, and Rodimus Prime are depicted as in a love triangle. Powerglide and a human, Astoria, fell in love. Seaspray and Alana fell in love (and yes, they used the word “love” in that episode). Need I say more?
Unfortunately, there is no canonical love between any of the Decepticons, mainly because the Decepticons are all male in G1, but in other installments of the show, such as “Armada” and “Energon”, the Decepticons are depicted as being capable of romantic feelings.
So, it is entirely possible for Megatron and Starscream to have a romance. If you’re debating that because you may think that Transformers are inherently heterosexual, consider this: There is an overwhelming majority of “male” Transformers. In fact, it is not made clear that there are any “female” Transformers at all until season 2. Besides, most of the females are left on Cybertron, so perhaps the males get lonely. It’s very possible.
But Still, you ship GIANT ROBOTS.
I have always been an avid fan of slash, but never in a million years would I have pictured shipping, let alone having one of my OTPs as a pair of giant robots. But, when I first watched the show, they just seemed too obvious to pass up, and the fact that they were humanoid robots just did not seem to matter that much to me anymore.
I think that this couple is kind of refreshing for me. I’ve never been an avid rival-slash or love/hate shipper, but it just seems so interesting now! Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy fluff and mush and all that stuff (which, unfortunately, does not work too well with this pairing), but this was just a nice change. Both Megatron and Starscream are very complicated characters on their own, and any kind of romance they would have would most likely be somewhat twisted, due to their conflicting and overwhelming lusts for power.
Now you’re probably asking, “Well gee, they’re robots… How do they do it?” That, my friend, is an excellent question, and this is where the wonderful world of fandom comes in. Some people like to write Transformers as having human-like genitalia, which would probably be the most logical conclusion you’d come to. However, there are other ways of dealing with the sticky (pun not intended) subject of intercourse.
One of the more common forms of Transformer-intercourse involves the use of their “sparks”. Every Transformer has a spark at their center, which is essentially the essence of their being. Many people write by having Transformers “merge” their sparks and whatnot, which is generally what I prefer (for some reason, genitals and robots don’t really mix in my mind). There are several other ways of going about it. Use your imagination. Or, you can avoid the subject of sex entirely. It’s really up to you.
Fandom:
This is a rather popular pairing in the Transformers fandom, and with good reason, so I will post a few fandom recs. Unfortunately, a lot of the good fan-fiction is in 18+ members only communities, so many of you would not be able to view them, so I have to rely on Fanfiction.net links.
Fan-Fiction:
In What Obedience Lies by Megara-Liancourt - The first story I read when I discovered this pairing. It features abuse and fluff - everything you could want.
1Sentence: Megatron and Starscream by Lady Razorsharp - The 1sentence challenge for this pairing. A lot of detail and emotion contained in just a few short sentences.
Peace is Hell by Navigatorsghost - A rather humorous story where the author purposely turns the two extremely OOC (and with good reason).
You, My Killer by Amidoh - A good story, focusing on their twisted relationship and essentially what they want out of each other.
The Decepticons' Day Off by Deceptigrape - Not exactly a Megatron/Starscream story, but a great read when you need a laugh. It features a minor drunk!Megatron/Starscream moment, which is quite funny as well.
Fan-Art:
Lick - Colored by SkinsThunderbomb, drawn by her friend.
Nightshift - By Neffinesse.
Love Gun - Drawn by JaceMoore, colored by From-Hakaryou
Transformers Slash 01 - Drawn by Firestorm33.
Norton Joke - By Darkenlite.
Starscream and Megatron - By Piyo119.
My Stuff (Just to show how much of a nerd I am when it comes to this pairing):
You've Failed Me Yet Again - My very first Transformers drawing.
Oh, What a Night - One of my first attempts at CG-ing (that’s probably fairly obvious).
Lovers - Kissage. :D
Emergency on Cybertron - A silly comic I did.
LJ Communities:
megascream - The only Megatron/Starscream LJ community. It's a community that focuses mostly on Starscream and allows other Starscream-centric pairings, but Megatron/Starscream is the main one. The community just started, which is why it may look a little small. But, it's a lovely community.
mecha_erotica - A very nice community, with all sorts of Transformers pairings. Must be over 18 to join and view.
transficsation - A Transformers fan-fiction community. Features all sorts of stories.
tf80sfun - A nice Transformers community, focused more on G1 and the other Transformers cartoons from the 80s.
Videos:
Starcrossed by WalnutSage - A Megatron/Starscream fan video set to the Turtles' "Happy Together". I’m usually not into fan videos about pairings that much, but this one was quite good. The stark contrast between the song and the clips actually fits very nicely and can provide for a laugh.
Author: carbonatedh2o
Fandom: Transformers (G1)
Pairing: Megatron/Starscream
Spoilers: Season 1 + 2 + the 1986 movie. I only briefly touch upon seasons 3 and 4. I mention Beast Wars (as it’s technically part of the G1 canon) twice.
E-mail: carbonatedwater84@yahoo.com
Thanks: Thanks to http://transformers.wikia.com for many of the images and the quotes from the episodes.
More Than Meets the Eye: A Megatron/Starscream Manifesto
As there are different series and alternate realities for the Transformers, I will be covering the relationship between Megatron and Starscream specifically for Generation 1. Their personalities are pretty much the same in each series, and from what little I’ve seen of other canons (specifically the 2007 movie and TF: Animated... I haven’t seen much else), it’s pretty obvious there too. But, that’s another essay for another time.
The first generation cartoon of Transformers has a somewhat basic plot. The giant, transforming robots are split into two factions as basic as black and white: the Autobots and Decepticons. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are the good guys, fighting for freedom for all sentient beings. However, the Decepticons, led by Megatron, are the ruthless bad guys, and just want power and energy. So, it’s fairly easy to guess that these two factions are at war.
The series begins on the home planet of the Transformers: Cybertron. Energon, the basic fuel of the Transformers, is scarce, thus making the robots barely scrape by. The Autobots decide to leave their planet to search for richer sources of energy, but on their way, they are attacked by the Decepticon ship, and both factions end up crash-landing on Earth and being forced into unconsciousness, only to be awoken four million years later. In order to blend in a bit more to this new planet’s atmosphere, the Autobots’ computer Teletran I scans the Earth and sends its data to all of the Transformers, thus enabling them to transform into cars, jets, and various other Earth vehicles (or other things such as guns and microscopes).
The Decepticons begin their new quest for energy, attacking a nearby oil rig. The Autobots intercept, however, and befriend two of the oil workers, who essentially aid them for the rest of the series. From then on, the Decepticons engage in various other quests to gather energy in ruthless ways while the Autobots try to stop them. So, the Autobots inadvertently become Earth’s heroes, and all of the humans grow to fear the Decepticons, who are constantly plotting to either steal energy or defeat the Autobots (or both). This plot basically covers the first two seasons, until the 1986 movie.
The 1986 movie basically made the series take a big turnaround, and killed many characters, including Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Megatron (essentially). This will be explained in depth later. Seasons three and four of the series take place after the movie, and do not focus so much on the Decepticons' plans to destroy the Autobots. A much greater threat is introduced in the form of the Quintessons. The setting of the show expands from Earth into various places in space, and new characters pretty much dominate the scene.
There’s really no “conclusion” to G1. Season four was meant to expand, but for whatever reason, stopped after three episodes.
G1’s universe does continue into other series’, such as Beast Wars, but Megatron is pretty much absent from these other series’, and Starscream doesn’t appear too much either, so I won’t really be touching upon it. Also, I haven’t seen Beast Wars or any of that stuff.
How I discovered this fandom
Now, why in God’s name would someone write an essay about the “love” between two giant robots from a cheesy 80’s cartoon? No, I never would have dreamed it myself. I only entered this fandom recently, specifically during the summer of 2007.
My sister’s boyfriend has always been a Transformers fan, and whenever I visited their apartment, I would see this giant Unicron action figure on top of their stereo, and a whole closet full of other Transformers toys. My sister and I would simply roll our eyes, and the boyfriend would never be able to convert us into Transfans, that is, until he finally made us watch the first episode of G1. Well, let’s just say that I was hooked. It was hilariously amazing.
I immediately noticed, though, from the very first episode, the obvious chemistry between Megatron and Starscream. Of course, I joked about their relationship with my sister and her boyfriend, but they probably have no idea that I am now an avid shipper, have drawn tons of fan-art of them, and am now writing a long essay about why I ship them. I fear the day they find out. Then again, maybe they’ve already found my DeviantArt and are just too afraid to say anything. But, this is beside the point, so I’m going to move on.
Characters:
The Ruthless Dictator: Megatron
Megatron, as I have stated before, is the leader of the “bad guys”, the Decepticons. He will lie, cheat, and steal to get whatever he wants. He hates the Autobots, particularly Optimus Prime, with a fiery passion, and constantly schemes up new plans to destroy them. He wields his power whenever he can, and punishes those who stand in his way. If anyone so much as suggests that his plan to collect energy and destroy the Autobots may be a little off, I guarantee that he will get angry and sometimes rely on violence to get his message across to his army.
He transforms into a Walther P38 gun, which he doesn’t do too often, as he needs someone else to shoot him (this “someone else” usually happens to be Starscream). However, with this mode, he was able to kill a number of Autobots, thus showing that he is indeed extremely powerful.
Megatron is intelligent as well, and often uses his smarts to manipulate humans, and sometimes even the Autobots themselves.
Megatron’s rule came to an end, though, in the 1986 movie. While the movie was made in ’86, it took place 20 years in the future, full of jet-powered, flying surfboards and colonies on the moon: 2005.
Megatron and Optimus Prime, with their rivalry and immense hatred toward one another longstanding, decided to have their final battle. Through strength and pretending to beg for mercy (while really buying time to find a ray gun on the ground), Megatron delivered the killing blow to Optimus, destroying everyone’s beloved Autobot leader.
While traveling back to Cybertron, though, the Decepticons had to lighten their load on the ship, which meant, as Starscream suggested, tossing all of the severely injured Decepticons out of the ship and into the abyss of space. Megatron, being injured from his battle with Optimus Prime, is gleefully tossed into space by Starscream, who uses this chance to usurp his leadership position.
Megatron drifts off into space with his other abandoned and severely injured comrades, headed inevitably for death, but instead, they come across the dark god Unicron, who gives them new bodies and essentially new personalities, and Megatron is reborn as Galvatron. Now, I keep referring to this as the “death” of Megatron, because Galvatron is essentially a completely different character. He’s constantly in pain that drives him to insanity from not doing Unicron’s bidding, and behaves quite a bit differently. He is still a ruthless leader, but essentially, the Megatron we know is gone (or so I think).
Before continuing out to do Unicron’s bidding of finding the Matrix, Galvatron makes one quick stop. Transforming into a cannon, he blasts Starscream and watches him disintegrate.
The Whiny Air-Commander: Starscream
I haven’t mentioned Starscream much before here, but now I can tell you all about him. He, like Megatron, is a Decepticon, and transforms into an F-15 Eagle jet. He is the commander of the other Decepticons who transform into similar jets, making him Megatron’s second-in-command. He is often involved in Megatron’s plans to steal energon and defeat the Autobots.
However, there is a little twist. Starscream would do anything for the leadership position of the Decepticons. He feels that he is smarter, more agile, and simply a better leader than Megatron. He has tried to kill Megatron numerous times, has gone behind his back to form a plan to take him out, or else has formed a what-he-believes-to-be-better plan to steal energy, etc. Even when he does finally succeed in getting rid of Megatron, he temporarily takes over as the Decepticon leader until he is killed by Galvatron.
Starscream often believes that Megatron’s plans to steal energon or defeat the Autobots are completely flawed, and arrogantly tries to correct them, or warn Megatron of his imminent failure, but he is usually painfully shut up before he can say anything worthwhile.
While he is an intelligent and agile fighter, he is also very much a coward. Whenever Megatron so much as threatens to do something violent to him, he whimpers and begs for mercy.
He is eventually killed, as I have said before, but he possesses an immortal spark (which is essentially the “being” of the Transformers), and comes back and possesses other Transformers from time to time in Seasons 3 and 4 and Beast Wars, and I believe in some of the other series of the G1 timeline, such as Kiss Players.
Canonical Evidence
Alright, now to get to the point of this essay: the pairing itself. Now, Megatron and Starscream clearly have quite a love/hate relationship. On one end, they both want to kill each other, but on the other end, they respect one another. Megatron knows Starscream’s value to his army, and Starscream respects and fears Megatron’s might.
At first, Starscream appears as a loyal second-in-command to Megatron. He does remain this way through the series, but it’s not until the third episode that we see otherwise. Starscream reveals to Megatron that he wants the leadership position of the Decepticons for himself, and attempts to shoot his leader in the back. His shot is deflected, though, and Megatron retaliates by blasting Starscream in the arm and knocking him down. After this, Starscream cowers at Megatron’s feet and begs for mercy. Megatron simply ignores his pleas and goes on with his plan to attack the Autobots.
Several other incidents like this occur throughout the series, and just for good measure, I’ll throw in a particularly humorous moment from the episode "Triple Takeover".
As Megatron crushes Starscream’s hand with his foot, he accuses Starscream of conspiring with other treacherous Decepticons, of which Starscream completely denies out of cowardice. Megatron’s response?
Megatron: You’re either lying or you’re stupid!
Starscream: I’m stupid, I’m stupid!
Megatron mentions several times throughout the series, though, that the traitor-like behavior Starscream constantly exhibits is punished by “termination” (apparently they couldn’t say “death” in 1984). Yet, Megatron never so much as comes close to fatally injuring his lieutenant. He is most likely bluffing, and it’s true that in a 1984 kid’s cartoon show, they couldn’t kill off characters (they could only do that in the movie), but even so, Megatron barely even hints at staying true to his word. It is implied that he does punish Starscream for his treachery in many episodes, and sometimes he hits or blasts him on screen. However, the next day (or episode), Megatron and Starscream act as if nothing happened: no death threats or anything.
Now, you may say that Megatron is all bark and no bite, but the show can prove otherwise. He and Starscream kill a number of Autobots in a surprise attack, and when he finally said he was going to kill Optimus Prime, he did. So, you would think that with Starscream trying to kill Megatron, he would be punished in an equal manner. It is likely that he is tortured off screen, but like I said, he is never killed. Megatron has never even tried to kill his second-in-command. He does indeed have the power to do so, but he keeps his lieutenant around.
Megatron knows that Starscream is a valuable asset to the Decepticon army. He never actually says it, but actions do speak louder than words.
One moment in the show particularly grabbed me. It was a small portion of an episode, and could be disregarded, but I thought it very interesting. Megatron was off beginning yet another plan to steal energy and/or destroy the Autobots, yet he brought Starscream along with him as his second-in-command. Starscream could have voiced his complaints about the scheme like he usually does, but he contently went along with Megatron, who spoke of his plans for the future. If I could find the quote, I would post it, but alas, I’ll have to summarize.
Megatron essentially said that soon the Autobots would be gone, and that both he and Starscream would rise again and have control over energy, etc. I don’t remember the exact lines, but I do remember Megatron saying “we” somewhere in there. So, for once, he was acknowledging Starscream’s power, and almost treating him as an equal. Megatron would never share his power. Starscream had no objections to “we”, when normally one would think that he would go on a rant about how it would only be him who had the power, because he wants to destroy Megatron and blah blah blah. .
Another episode labeled “Enter the Nightbird” very much had a Megatron/Starscream undertone to it, in a rather humorous way. Basically, the Decepticons acquired a “female” ninja robot, Nightbird, who happened to be extremely powerful. Megatron was delighted at this, yet Starscream stood in the background, seething with jealousy.
Starscream: She’s not so hot!
Megatron: She’s hot enough to replace you whenever I choose!
Starscream is clearly envious of the favoritism Megatron is showing this newcomer, and voices his discontent several times. Perhaps the fact that Nightbird is a female has something to do with it as well… It’s very possible that Starscream could have taken all of Megatron’s praise towards Nightbird as lust or attraction.
Megatron: Hahaha... She’s everything I’ve always wanted!
Starscream practically goes berserk at this line. He fears being replaced as one of the top positions in the army, but even when he was threatened in other episodes to be replaced or demoted, he did not show a reaction quite as strong as this one. Perhaps he is jealous of Megatron’s affection toward Nightbird. The “She’s everything I’ve always wanted” line could be taken as a very romantic line. So, it is possible that Starscream has a little (or maybe not-so-little) crush on Megatron.
Another rather touching moment between the two occurred in the middle of a somewhat sub-par episode, “A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur’s Court”. Essentially, Starscream and a few other Decepticons and Autobots end up going through a time warp to medieval Europe, while Megatron and the rest of the Transformers remain in the present.
When the time-travelers discovered the time warp to medieval Europe, the Autobots and Decepticons were in the middle of shooting at each other. After a few days in medieval Europe when Starscream and the others returned to the present (or 1985), apparently they returned to the exact time in the present as when they had left. Starscream did not realize this, however, and when he saw Megatron firing in his general direction, he immediately leapt forward and jumped on top of his superior.
Starscream: Megatron, hold your fire! It's me, Starscream! We're back, we're back!
Starscream says this with the utmost enthusiasm, gleefully “glomping” Megatron and stopping his gunfire (the picture of this is at the beginning of the section). Megatron, however, was none too pleased, seeing as according to his view, Starscream was only there a second ago, and said lieutenant just ruined his attack on the Autobots.
Starscream: What’s the matter? Aren’t you glad to see us?
Megatron: RRRRRAAAGGGGH!
The minute Starscream returned to his present day, the first thought on his mind was of Megatron. At that moment, he broke any barriers he had and showed absolute bliss at returning to his beloved leader. The tone of his voice when he discovered that Megatron did not return the affection was absolutely precious. He expressed so clearly through words, “Aren’t you glad to see us?” in such a sad way.
I could go on for decades naming evidence of their relationship just about every single episode, but I am pretty sure everyone reading this would grow very bored. So, I’ll move on.
But Starscream killed Megatron (and vice versa!). They can’t be in love!
Well, you do have a point. Had it not been for Unicron’s intervention, Megatron surely would have died out there in space. However, keep in mind that Megatron was not the only one Starscream left to die in space. He even discarded his two major Seeker buddies, Thundercracker and Skywarp, due to their injuries.
Astrotrain, the ship that the Decepticons were flying in, requested that the load be lightened up, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to fly. With tons of severely injured Decepticons, including Megatron, what else was there to do? Besides, the Decepticons of the ship even took that issue to a fair vote, and the overwhelming majority decided that it would be best to abandon their wounded comrades.
I’m not denying that Starscream used this opportunity to finally get rid of his leader and take his position for himself. At that moment, Starscream’s instincts essentially told him to get rid of Megatron and steal his position while he could. After all, Starscream desired leadership more than anything, and if the two had a relationship, Starscream’s leadership desire would probably outweigh any feelings he had toward his superior.
It is likely that Megatron would not have survived anyway, even if he remained on the ship. His injuries from the battle with Optimus Prime were critical.
Now, what about Galvatron coming back and killing Starscream? Well, first of all, like I said before, Galvatron is essentially a completely different character than Megatron. His thought processes were different, as well as his desires. Even though he remembered Starscream abandoning him in space with a smirk, his basic instinct changed to one of vengeance. Starscream had tried to kill Megatron several times in the series, and maybe would have succeeded, had something not intervened, but as stated before, Megatron never sought the “eye for an eye” treatment in his case. It was only when he became Galvatron that his “punishment” changed.
Okay, there may be evidence for them, but still, who is to say that Transformers are capable of love?
Now, if you’re thinking that maybe the Transformers are incapable of feeling romantic love, think again. Optimus Prime and the “female” Autobot Elita-One are canonically in love, and their former embodiments, Orion Pax and Ariel, respectively, are stated as being “boyfriend and girlfriend”. In season 3, Springer, Arcee, and Rodimus Prime are depicted as in a love triangle. Powerglide and a human, Astoria, fell in love. Seaspray and Alana fell in love (and yes, they used the word “love” in that episode). Need I say more?
Unfortunately, there is no canonical love between any of the Decepticons, mainly because the Decepticons are all male in G1, but in other installments of the show, such as “Armada” and “Energon”, the Decepticons are depicted as being capable of romantic feelings.
So, it is entirely possible for Megatron and Starscream to have a romance. If you’re debating that because you may think that Transformers are inherently heterosexual, consider this: There is an overwhelming majority of “male” Transformers. In fact, it is not made clear that there are any “female” Transformers at all until season 2. Besides, most of the females are left on Cybertron, so perhaps the males get lonely. It’s very possible.
But Still, you ship GIANT ROBOTS.
I have always been an avid fan of slash, but never in a million years would I have pictured shipping, let alone having one of my OTPs as a pair of giant robots. But, when I first watched the show, they just seemed too obvious to pass up, and the fact that they were humanoid robots just did not seem to matter that much to me anymore.
I think that this couple is kind of refreshing for me. I’ve never been an avid rival-slash or love/hate shipper, but it just seems so interesting now! Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy fluff and mush and all that stuff (which, unfortunately, does not work too well with this pairing), but this was just a nice change. Both Megatron and Starscream are very complicated characters on their own, and any kind of romance they would have would most likely be somewhat twisted, due to their conflicting and overwhelming lusts for power.
Now you’re probably asking, “Well gee, they’re robots… How do they do it?” That, my friend, is an excellent question, and this is where the wonderful world of fandom comes in. Some people like to write Transformers as having human-like genitalia, which would probably be the most logical conclusion you’d come to. However, there are other ways of dealing with the sticky (pun not intended) subject of intercourse.
One of the more common forms of Transformer-intercourse involves the use of their “sparks”. Every Transformer has a spark at their center, which is essentially the essence of their being. Many people write by having Transformers “merge” their sparks and whatnot, which is generally what I prefer (for some reason, genitals and robots don’t really mix in my mind). There are several other ways of going about it. Use your imagination. Or, you can avoid the subject of sex entirely. It’s really up to you.
Fandom:
This is a rather popular pairing in the Transformers fandom, and with good reason, so I will post a few fandom recs. Unfortunately, a lot of the good fan-fiction is in 18+ members only communities, so many of you would not be able to view them, so I have to rely on Fanfiction.net links.
Fan-Fiction:
In What Obedience Lies by Megara-Liancourt - The first story I read when I discovered this pairing. It features abuse and fluff - everything you could want.
1Sentence: Megatron and Starscream by Lady Razorsharp - The 1sentence challenge for this pairing. A lot of detail and emotion contained in just a few short sentences.
Peace is Hell by Navigatorsghost - A rather humorous story where the author purposely turns the two extremely OOC (and with good reason).
You, My Killer by Amidoh - A good story, focusing on their twisted relationship and essentially what they want out of each other.
The Decepticons' Day Off by Deceptigrape - Not exactly a Megatron/Starscream story, but a great read when you need a laugh. It features a minor drunk!Megatron/Starscream moment, which is quite funny as well.
Fan-Art:
Lick - Colored by SkinsThunderbomb, drawn by her friend.
Nightshift - By Neffinesse.
Love Gun - Drawn by JaceMoore, colored by From-Hakaryou
Transformers Slash 01 - Drawn by Firestorm33.
Norton Joke - By Darkenlite.
Starscream and Megatron - By Piyo119.
My Stuff (Just to show how much of a nerd I am when it comes to this pairing):
You've Failed Me Yet Again - My very first Transformers drawing.
Oh, What a Night - One of my first attempts at CG-ing (that’s probably fairly obvious).
Lovers - Kissage. :D
Emergency on Cybertron - A silly comic I did.
LJ Communities:
megascream - The only Megatron/Starscream LJ community. It's a community that focuses mostly on Starscream and allows other Starscream-centric pairings, but Megatron/Starscream is the main one. The community just started, which is why it may look a little small. But, it's a lovely community.
mecha_erotica - A very nice community, with all sorts of Transformers pairings. Must be over 18 to join and view.
transficsation - A Transformers fan-fiction community. Features all sorts of stories.
tf80sfun - A nice Transformers community, focused more on G1 and the other Transformers cartoons from the 80s.
Videos:
Starcrossed by WalnutSage - A Megatron/Starscream fan video set to the Turtles' "Happy Together". I’m usually not into fan videos about pairings that much, but this one was quite good. The stark contrast between the song and the clips actually fits very nicely and can provide for a laugh.