Again asking for the abuse a character receives be acknowledged does not mean forgetting about the evil a character has committed. I never said bad treatment washes away some ones sins. I literally said I wanted punishment and acknowledgement. Also our views of the fandom are subjective. I have seen plenty of posts that look at Starscream as a complex villain. You feel you have not, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Let me try a different approach.
Since you and yours used the argument first of Megatron being a space HitlerĀ to justify your rhetoric, Iām going to expand on that. Again, such World War II themes are present in the comics, particularly when Skids remembers just how Quark died at the hands of the Decepticons and their āteleporter to freedomā ruse. However, itās imperative to keep in mind that this is entirely fictional and in no way at allĀ compares to the suffering actual human beings endured.
If Megatron is space Hitler, then you would agree that he slaughtered countless billionsĀ with a b, and in doing so, left Cybertron in ruin and on the verge of deathāgenerally regardless of the continuity. You would also agree that, generally regardless of the continuity, Starscream is his second in command and that he willfully participated in this genocide of innocents.Ā
Now, letās take Quark, for example.
Letās say someone told Quark, who died in a smelting chamber so that his armor could be used (because thatās all the Decepticons saw him as was a walking piece of armorānotĀ a Cybertronian), that he has to acknowledge that Starscream was abused.
Starscream, who was beaten by Megatron for attempting to murder him, to overthrow him, to take everything he had for himself. Starscreamās goals wereĀ villainous. They were narcissistic and selfish. He wanted to take control of what Megatron had because he thought he could do all the terrible things that Megatron did and do it even better.
You want to acknowledge that his punishments were abuse and erase the actual suffering and abuse the Decepticons inflicted. If you acknowledge that Starscream was abused, how is that fair to anyoneĀ whoās deaths he was responsible for? Do his victims need to acknowledge the abuse of their murderer?
Now, letās apply a real word scenario.
Purely hypothetically, letās say Hitlerās second in command wanted to take his position as leader of the Nazi Party because he thought he could do it better. However, Hitler caught on to his scheming, but was in a predicament of needing his second in command there to keep the high morale of his air force. So, he beats his second in command, hoping to teach him a lesson, to set an example, that this is his Party, and anyone who tries to overthrow him will always be unsuccessful.Ā
And yet, the second in command doesnāt learn, the second in command keeps scheming, keeps trying to overthrow Hitler just because he wants this tyrannical, despotic, murderous empire for himself.
And then, down the road, after Hitlerās regime is destroyed, someone stands up and saysĀ āThe SICās abuse needs to be acknowledged!ā
For the sake of the survivors, I really hope that person is kicked in the teeth.
You have to remember that Starscreamās behavior as an abuser is more important than the abuse he endured. Otherwise, itās like saying that we need to acknowledge the abuse Hitler had (i.e. being roughed up as a kid and the trauma of WWI). And when, if at any time, should that be more of a discussion than what Hitler accomplished during Nazi Germany and WWII?
Moreover, the fact of the matter is, you want Starscreamās abuse to be acknowledged, but Starscream himself has never stopped abusing. He has never stopped turning people into victims or into abusers themselves.
The truth is this: this fandom doesnāt deserve a Starscream with a redemption arc until they can understand why the writers donātĀ acknowledge the fact he was punished for his murderous schemes.
