#idk if i want hardcore megatron fans to see this

[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.