The Energon Pub

The ghost of Starscream from the G1 cartoon sure know how to get around. He's been in...

• 2 episodes of the G1 cartoon - "Starscream's Ghost" and "Ghost in the Machine"
• 1 chapter of the 2010 manga - issue #4
• 1 episode of the Beast Wars cartoon - "Possession"
• nearly the whole of the Stargate Battles manga
• 3 chapters of the 15 Go! Go! manga - #15, #16, #17
• 1 episode of the Kiss Players radio drama - episode #27
• The 3 Henkei! Henkei! Generations 2009 manga chapters
• and the eHobby Masterpiece MP-03C Starscream Ghost Version's bio

But what would the chronology of all these appearances be?

Naturally, his death in the G1 movie would come first, and the G1 episode "Ghost in the Machine" would come last (since he gets a new body in that one, unless he somehow loses that body).

In realtime, the time periods that each occurs in would be as follows:

• "Possession" - prehistoric times
• The Stargate Battles - latter 1990s
• 15 Go! Go! 15-17 - 2006
• Kiss Players radio drama episode 27 - 2006
• MP-03C bio - some point after 2025
• "Starscream's Ghost" - 2010*
• The story of the Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #4 - 2010
• "Ghost in the Machine" - 2010*

• Generations 2009 manga - Henkei! Henkei! mini-manga universe (he dimension-hopped to get to this one)

*2006 in the English version.

Based on this, the order of the events that take place at the same time periods would likely occur in realtime order. Meaning, the Kiss Players radio episode comes right after the 15 Go! Go! chapters, and the 2010 manga chapter would fall between the two G1 episodes. But as for everything else, it's not that easy, as he's been seen to traverse time and space in certain cases like "Possession" and the Stargate Battles.

If you count only the ones that are strict canon (unless they all are,) then it's easy to follow everything.
But if you allow for time travel and dimension hopping, then stuff gets screwy and confusing.

And if he's a ghost, how is he able to travel to a time period to where he's still alive, even though he's in some sort of hibernation, like in Beast Wars?

Zombie Starscream wrote:If you count only the ones that are strict canon (unless they all are,) then it's easy to follow everything.
But if you allow for time travel and dimension hopping, then stuff gets screwy and confusing.

And if he's a ghost, how is he able to travel to a time period to where he's still alive, even though he's in some sort of hibernation, like in Beast Wars?

And why didn't he possess his own, giant body rather than Waspinator's?

I always assumed that it went Starscream's Ghost, Ghost in the Machine, the various mangas, Possession.

If they happen in anything other than (in-universe) chronological order then Starscream really doesn't take advantage of his future knowledge often enough.

Zombie Starscream wrote:If you count only the ones that are strict canon (unless they all are,) then it's easy to follow everything.
But if you allow for time travel and dimension hopping, then stuff gets screwy and confusing.

And if he's a ghost, how is he able to travel to a time period to where he's still alive, even though he's in some sort of hibernation, like in Beast Wars?

How he got to the time of the Beast Wars we may never know (maybe it was via a similar Transwarp portal like the one that the Axalon and Darksyde came through back in the first episode), but his arrival in the 90s during the Stargate Battles was explained clearly.

Here, Starscream's ghost had been inadvertently transported back in time from the future when, in the present, the giant space warp gate called "The Trigger" had been damaged by a Decepticon attack in an attempt to activate it. When the warp gate was switched on, the then living Starscream was about to unitentionally pass right through it, but Megatron blasted its structure at the very last second, knocking it offline and narrowly (and likely unintentionally) saving Starscream. However, when Megs blasted it as the living Starscream passed through safely to the other side of it, a hole in space-time had inadvertently opened in that brief moment right as it immediately shut off. This hole brought the ghost of Starscream from the future into the present, though nobody took notice to this because it wasn't something that could be visibly seen happening. It wasn't until the living Starscream's reflection on a window started talking back to him later on that anything had been suspected of happening. But it still makes better sense than Starscream's ghost appearing from nowhere.

Diem wrote:I always assumed that it went Starscream's Ghost, Ghost in the Machine, the various mangas, Possession.

If they happen in anything other than (in-universe) chronological order then Starscream really doesn't take advantage of his future knowledge often enough.

The problem with anything occuring after "Ghost in the Machine" is that Starscream gets a new, physical body at the end of that episode. He's then sent tumbling off uncontrollably into space, never to be seen again in the cartoon (still in his new solid body). If his ghost were to appear following this, he'd have to have lost this new body of his somehow, but there's nothing to support this.

Even the Japanese fiction says that, by 2025, he's fighting against Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock somewhere in space. And I'm not sure how they'd be able to do this if he were a ghost again.

Sabrblade wrote:

Diem wrote:I always assumed that it went Starscream's Ghost, Ghost in the Machine, the various mangas, Possession.

If they happen in anything other than (in-universe) chronological order then Starscream really doesn't take advantage of his future knowledge often enough.

The problem with anything occuring after "Ghost in the Machine" is that Starscream gets a new, physical body at the end of that episode. He's then sent tumbling off uncontrollably into space, never to be seen again in the cartoon (still in his new solid body). If his ghost were to appear following this, he'd have to have lost this new body of his somehow, but there's nothing to support this.

Even the Japanese fiction says that, by 2025, he's fighting against Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock somewhere in space. And I'm not sure how they'd be able to do this if he were a ghost again.

Remember that Galvatron wounded him at the end of "Ghost in the Machine".

The rest is conjecture on my part: wounded he went offline and was rescued by some aliens (most likely the Quintessons) made a deal with them for repairs and an upgrade. Starscream became a Pretender, betrayed the Quintessons and stole the Pretender tech and made the other Decepticons Pretenders, and they fought Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock and the rest of the Autobot Pretenders.

He tried to use the Pretenders to take over the Decepticons and he challenged Galvatron to fight him near black hole, basically Galvatron destroyed Starscream a second time by throwing him into the black hole which allowed him to travel backwards through time.

Cyberstrike wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Diem wrote:I always assumed that it went Starscream's Ghost, Ghost in the Machine, the various mangas, Possession.

If they happen in anything other than (in-universe) chronological order then Starscream really doesn't take advantage of his future knowledge often enough.

The problem with anything occuring after "Ghost in the Machine" is that Starscream gets a new, physical body at the end of that episode. He's then sent tumbling off uncontrollably into space, never to be seen again in the cartoon (still in his new solid body). If his ghost were to appear following this, he'd have to have lost this new body of his somehow, but there's nothing to support this.

Even the Japanese fiction says that, by 2025, he's fighting against Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock somewhere in space. And I'm not sure how they'd be able to do this if he were a ghost again.

Remember that Galvatron wounded him at the end of "Ghost in the Machine".

The rest is conjecture on my part: wounded he went offline and was rescued by some aliens (most likely the Quintessons) made a deal with them for repairs and an upgrade. Starscream became a Pretender, betrayed the Quintessons and stole the Pretender tech and made the other Decepticons Pretenders, and they fought Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock and the rest of the Autobot Pretenders.

He tried to use the Pretenders to take over the Decepticons and he challenged Galvatron to fight him near black hole, basically Galvatron destroyed Starscream a second time by throwing him into the black hole which allowed him to travel backwards through time.

If you're going by what I said about him fighting BB, Jazz, and Grimlock in 2025, there are two things wrong with this.

1. Neither BB, Jazz, Grimlock, nor Screamer were Pretenders. They may have had their Classic Pretender inner robot toys used to represent this fight, but they were sold without the shells, thus making them ordinary non-Pretender toys. Just like when they were resold shell-less at Kmart in 1989 as "Legends" figures.

2. Galvatron was dead by the time of this fight. He was frozen in the Arctic and would not be resurrected until some time following 2025 as Super Megatron.

What doesn't help is how vague his fate was portrayed at the end of Ghost in the Machine. He's wounded and screaming and spiraling...and then what? If Possession does happen after, how does that explain how his spark becomes bodyless again?
I know it's been suggested Galvatron destroys him again, but with Transformers being notorious for differences between animation and comics, I'd be weary to reference anything outside of the cartoons.

Nemesis37 wrote:What doesn't help is how vague his fate was portrayed at the end of Ghost in the Machine. He's wounded and screaming and spiraling...and then what? If Possession does happen after, how does that explain how his spark becomes bodyless again?
I know it's been suggested Galvatron destroys him again, but with Transformers being notorious for differences between animation and comics, I'd be weary to reference anything outside of the cartoons.

This is why I'm thinking that "Ghost in the Machine" chronologically occurs last.

This is also supported by the Hero Set which states that he's fighting Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock in 2025. And it would be pretty difficult for them to fight Screamer if he doesn't have a solid body.