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Shipping Manifesto I: Megatron/Starscream
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fandomsecrets tonight, people started discussing shipping manifestos and how no one's seen one in a while and it made me want to do one. And some completely adorable anon said s/he would read the fuck out of one if I wrote one. So I've decided to write two, one for each of my OTPs. Megatron/Optimus is the harder of the two to explain, I think, so I'm going to toss myself the softball because I can, dammit, and write about Megatron/Starscream first.Canon evidence is the easy thing in most continuities. IDW has Starscream giving Megatron his cannon. Prime has Starscream calling Megatron "Master" and Megatron teasingly calling him "my dear Starscream" after putting him in his place. Bayverse has Megatron flying back to Cybertron only to announce "Staaarscream, I'm hooooome!" as if greeting his own personal winged June Cleaver (of death.)
Then there's where it all started.
The original G1 cartoon has the famous "glomping" in "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court." The very touchy-feely Megatron casually putting his hand on Starscream's shoulder vent in "The Core" and leaving it there for a long stretch of conversation. And then there's my favorite bit of G1 evidence for the ship. There's this moment in "More Than Meets the Eye" where Starscream gives his usual "I'm going to rule someday" spiel and Megatron reminds him that if he manages it, someone else will become, essentially, Starscream's Starscream, and try to rise to depose him. Here's the exchange:
MEGATRON
At last. Total victory is within my grasp.
STARSCREAM
Not yours, Megatron. Mine!
MEGATRON
(Laughs menacingly) I see that you have learned nothing, Starscream.
STARSCREAM
Wrong! I've learned a great deal. I won't miss this time!
MEGATRON
Beware, Starscream. If you dispose of me, there will always be someone waiting to dispose of you.
STARSCREAM
Let them try! I've waited for this moment a long time, Megatron, and my time is now!
Now this could just be my brain latching on to things and twisting them into signs of affection, but it's interesting to me. Megatron doesn't just tell Starscream he's too weak and order him to back off, or shoot him, or beat him. He explains to Starscream that his behavior shows that he hasn't learned anything, and gives Starscream a warning. But if Megatron just wanted Starscream to buzz off, why would he do that? He could just say "You'll never be ready, imbecile!" and shoot the irritant. Instead he offers a little window into what it's like to be himself, to know there's someone always there, watching and waiting for him to slip.
He has to think. He has to plan. That's what he's revealing -- and what Starscream's revealing he can't or won't do. Where Megatron is "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" (is it just me, or is he actually backhandedly admitting that Starscream might just manage it someday?) Starscream is all lemme-at-'em bravado.
Which is both why Starscream isn't ready, and why I think these two work so well together.
Both Megatron and Starscream are evil. They're villains. They're power-hungry, they're violent, and they'll stop at nothing to get what they want. But the way that evil manifests in each one of them is different.
As I see it, Megatron embodies (the evil side of) Order, and Starscream embodies (the evil side of) Chaos.
Megatron is a dictator. He rules over his faction with an iron fist and expects to be obeyed. He comes up with grand plans (some better than others, depending on the continuity and the episode du jour) designed to gain him a strategic advantage over his enemies. His ultimate goal is conquest, usually of the entire universe, but sometimes something more modest like "just" retaking Cybertron. If he achieves his goals, he'll set something up that roughly resembles the standard Evil Empire trope, with himself as its head. While his plans may ultimately be silly, he's the calm, calculated, scheming sort of baddie.
The one exception I can see to this is Transformers: Prime's Megatron, who is a bit more chaotic, especially under the influence of dark energon. Still, I think he fits the pattern in general (or can be convincingly made to fit it by authors of good fic. I hope that includes me!) While he frequently chews scenery and can get so excited about the plot of the day that he has blind spots, he still seems to be the strategizing type.
(Most) Starscream(s), on the other hand, is ruled by his own whim. While he too is intelligent and clever and capable of scheming, his ambitions are less about setting up the grand and glorious Decepticon Empire, and more about how goddamn fucking COOL it would be to sit in the Emperor's throne once that happens. He's selfish, impatient, and capricious. Unlike Megatron, who has at least some desire to elevate and exalt the Decepticons as a whole, Starscream ultimately wants only to exalt himself. He's smart, clever, and dangerous, but in the end, he's a greedy child. His volatility is both his greatest weapon against his enemies... and his greatest weapon against himself.
And for me, the ship is as simple as "Opposites attract."
Megatron, for all his greed and megalomania, understands what it means to lead a faction. He knows what it means for that faction to not have enough supplies, to lack resources, to find itself desperate and far from home. His desire to impose order is in part about his uncontrollable desire to dominate anything he comes into contact with -- but it's also a desperate attempt to order what remains of his world. That's a burden, even for a baddie. To him, Starscream's unbridled, incandescent passion is a taste of freedom, and that's something he craves in spite of himself.
It's also something rare that he doesn't come across every day: a true challenge. A spark so fierce and singleminded it's willing to stand even against him, if he's in its way (which, of course, he is.) He relishes the challenge and savors the chance to repeatedly assert his dominance over such a strong and devious adversary. It's exciting and intense and, yes, if we're opening the door for robots to like sex in some way, erotic. He's addicted to Starscream's passion and obsessed with the idea of bringing it fully to heel someday.
But at the same time, part of him doesn't and will never want to break Starscream completely. The moment Starscream is utterly his is the moment he loses the fiery fuel that drives him to do it all in the first place.
Starscream is fundamentally drawn to power. He has a lot of it, being the second in command of a faction of fearsome warriors, but being that he's an endless pit of egomania and greed, almost is never enough. He craves the power that Megatron has and will do anything to get it.
But it's not just that. As Megatron is fascinated and repelled by his chaotic nature, he's drawn to and repulsed by Megatron's need for order. Part of him wants to defeat the hidebound, pompous fool and prove that, in the end, all that matters is the whim of the strongest. And that he, being the most passionate, is the one who ultimately will rule. But another part of him knows that Megatron is right about his lack of self-control, and right that it's a weakness. He craves to break free from Megatron's hold on him and at the very same time craves Megatron's control as a replacement for the self-control he lacks. He wants Megatron's power in any way he can get it -- including Megatron forcing him to submit to that power.
So he worships and loathes Megatron. He is in awe of Megatron's power, but despises that submitting to it means admitting that Megatron is stronger. His feelings jump from reverence to hate and back again, and through it all his desperate lust for everything that Megatron is and represents is his only constant.
Which is why their relationship is violent.
This is a tough one. Quite a few people in the fandom see a cycle of abuse where I see sadomasochistic, mutual (though not entirely healthy) lust. And most of my fic is labeled "dubious consent" because even I often write Megatron getting what he wants through threats like "Submit to me or I will do this awful thing to you," where what both of them really want is Starscream submitting and the threat is just for show/to reinforce/assert the power structure.
I don't think I can convince everyone that that's okay or acceptable, even in fantasy. Nor is it my aim to do so. My aim is simply to assert that where some other people see a cycle of abuse that is ultimately destined to wear Starscream down and render him bitter and broken, I see a dance of defiance, dominance, and submission. It's a dance that both mechs know by spark and play with skill and intelligence. And it's dangerous, an endless precarious balancing on a razor's edge that could someday end in the death of either or both of them. But they're war machines, and villains besides. Both of them would consider anything less dangerous a miserable waste of time.
I include violence in my fics because of that. And because, as someone who likes to write about extreme BDSM, I have a lot of fun with giant robots ripping one another apart. They can do things that humans can't, because they can always be repaired or reassembled. So while a particularly violent act might be wrong to do to a human, even a very masochistic one, Starscream can beg and plead for it (or beg and plead for mercy while secretly wanting none) and be fine three pages later.
I shouldn't even have to say this, but I don't condone real-world abuse. Nor am I saying that the kind of "BDSM" Megatron and Starscream do in my darkfic is healthy BDSM practice. It isn't. What it is is fantasy... about bad guys... who have a twisted fondness for one another that is, in my opinion, a very warped form of love. They know each other well, they know what they are doing, and they know deep in their sparks that they're not going to harm one another, as long as they dance nimbly enough on their favorite razor's edge.
Just to add: If anyone is looking for information about abusive relationships, whether that would be how to know if you're in one or how exactly abusive people think or how their behavior affects their victims, I recommend Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft. And it should go without saying that no matter who you are or what your orientation or kinks or what fic you like, if someone makes a pattern of treating you in a way that makes you feel denigrated or demeaned, that's not acceptable behavior on the part of the person treating you that way. Everyone deserves to have enriching real-life relationships. And that includes you, whoever you are. :-)
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(Anonymous) 2012-06-19 08:03 am (UTC)(link)Basically, this whole thing is awesome.
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This so hard. But even beyond that, I don't think their relationship is abusive. It's something else. Something that is not wise in real life, omg! But not abuse. I think abusers do what they do because they fear loss of control and they tighten the screws in a desperate obsessed spiral. They have to control every little thing because they feel out of control.
That's not Megatron, to me. I do think Megatron can't tolerate lacking control... but I don't really see him as someone who feels deep down inside that he doesn't have control. I think he feels very secure in the control he has. Including over Starscream. He's had thousands of vorns to deal with the tantrums. He knows how it starts and how it will end, and that it's not a real threat to him (unless he actually slips.) He doesn't have to destroy Starscream's spirit to control him -- and he'd never want to, either, IMO.
And Starscream, to me, doesn't act like an abuse victim. Abuse victims usually end up "walking on eggshells" and trying to do everything their abuser wants in a (futile, usually) bid to keep the abuser from blowing up at them. Starscream is... not that guy.
No, not all abuse follows the traditional patterns. But in my opinion, neither Megatron nor Starscream resembles someone in an abusive relationship. Their relationship may well not be healthy. I don't think it is healthy, I just think it's stably warped! :-) But it's not an abusive one, because I don't think it actually harms either of them.
Are they capable of hurting one another emotionally and seriously? I think yes, and that's why my TF:P Reunion fics are a little sadder than the rest. Because that's "we broke up, and we're getting back together, and we have to figure out what that means."
But the basic dynamic of power play between them? No, I don't think that's emotionally damaging to them. I think it's their thing.
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I agree with a lot of what you say here, especially the stuff about the give and take of the power and violence. I think their relatioship could be read either way but respect for me is the main difference between abusive Megatron/Starscream and violent but still consenting Megatron/Starscream. Even if they hold each other in utmost contempt, there is still a grudging respect. Something they value in each other which is why TFA Starscream/Megatron don't really work for me.
TF:P - I haven't seen any of the second season yet (really need to marathon it!) But my impression from the first season was that Starscream and Megatron might have had a happily mutually destructive relationship at one point but that this Starscream didn't quite have the self-confidence to sustain it, and that its decaying. Megatron is frustrated and keeps coming close to doing away with Starscream entirely - but he always pulls back. And he does value his second in command, even if no one would believe that fact. Starscream doesn't believe Megatron values him, is convinced every time that Megatron actually will kill him, and all his self-preservation routines are screaming at him to get out. *cough* And all of that ramble has probably been already jossed by the second season :D
Do you know the song 'Kiss with a fist?' Whenever I hear it cold I wince because it really, really does sound like glorifying domestic violence. But listening to it through a Megatron/Starscream haze I grin because then it seems to become an escalation of mutual violence that's nevertheless the foundation of a stable, consensual relationship. Or something.
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And I haven't heard that song. I'll check it out and let you know.
Marilyn Manson's song "Mister Superstar" always makes me think of them too. "Hey Mister Superstar, I wanna grow up just like you..."
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So I don't know. I see it, and it makes me laugh a bit, but it doesn't quite work for me.
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I never thought of what part of evil the two would be but this really fits them. And I love the idea.
To him, Starscream's unbridled, incandescent passion is a taste of freedom, and that's something he craves in spite of himself.
Another never thought of but I can see it so well now. Thank you :D
But at the same time, part of him doesn't and will never want to break Starscream completely.
So, so agree! Which makes the dance all the more interesting.
but being that he's an endless pit of egomania and greed, almost is never enough.
And that is one reason he would be my fav. :3
I did not know about manifestos but loved reading. :D I will have to find the book. I have a feeling I will not beable to walk into B&N and walk out with it. ^^;