Stargazing
From Transformers Wiki
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 He's Jewish, you see. | |||||||||||||
| "Stargazing" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 26th December 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Plot | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Script | Ian Rimmer | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Jeff Anderson | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Stephen Baskerville | ||||||||||||
| Colours | Euan Peters | ||||||||||||
| Lettering | Annie Halfacree | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
A boy tries to teach Starscream the meaning of Christmas.
Contents |
Synopsis
Starscream has awakened from his deep sleep capsule and come to a personal revelation. For all his treachery and lust for conquest, what he really wants is to see his home again. His angst is interrupted by a young man who tells Starscream to cheer up—it's Christmas Eve! Starscream is not impressed; he'd squash the fleshling then and there if he weren't so depressed.
Stubbornly, the kid refuses to leave until he demonstrates the Christmas spirit to Starscream. Starscream reluctantly flies him into town, where along the way they spy a van full of senior citizens stuck in some snow. Stopping, the kid suggests to Starscream that he should rescue them. "But what's in it for me?", Starscream asks.
As Starscream reaches for the van, he is blasted from behind by Streetwise, who suspects ill-doing from the Decepticon. After a heated battle, both are interrupted by the kid, who chastises Streetwise for jumping to conclusions. As Streetwise watches, Starscream picks up the van and sets it back down on the road. Streetwise escorts the van to its destination.
Later, downtown in front of a Christmas tree, the kid explains to Starscream the meaning of the Christmas spirit, of charity, and the communal reassurance of good will. Starscream doesn't care. The kid is confused—didn't Starscream enjoy saving the elderly humans in the van? No, Starscream counters, he was merely pleased to humiliate the Autobot.
Distraught, the kid wanders away, finally conceding defeat. Starscream laughs, momentarily thinks better of it, and finally wishes the surprised kid a Merry Christmas.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"It's a sure sign of how bad things are when I can't even stir up the enthusiasm to squash a fleshing!"
- —Starscream is really down in the dumps.
"Go. Do what I cannot. Go home! [Beat] You're still here, aren't you?"
- —Starscream
"You darn fool Autobot. You ought to be ashamed of yourself! This Decepticon wasn't trying to harm people...he was trying to help them!"
- —Christmas Kid utters a truly rare sentence.
"Ohh...Merry Christmas, kid!"
- —Starscream (no, really!)
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
- TBD
Continuity errors
- TBD
Continuity notes
- As far as American Marvel continuity goes, Starscream was sealed in a capsule after getting fragged by Omega Supreme, and wasn't up and about again until Ratbat had him liberated in time for the Underbase Saga. Marvel UK, however, had Starscream awaken during "Target: 2006" as a result of a simple mechanical error in his capsule not being caught; Kup, Hot Rod and Blurr sealed him back up at the end of that story, to return the status quo so it wouldn't interfere with any further US stories, and then this issue came along—which makes it appear that they just left the capsule lying in a field. Starscream drops off the board after this story until the Underbase Saga, when he just chooses to hook up with Ratbat for convenience's sake, rather than having been freed by him.
Real-life references
- TBD
Back-up Material
- Backup Transformers Story: Brothers in Armor!!
- Other strips: Robo-Capers
- Grimlock shows up in a Father Christmas costume, opening a letter with his energo-sword in Grim Grams.
- A spot-the-difference competition (based on a panel from "Distant Thunder!") offered 40 lucky readers the chance to win a copy of MSD/Tempo Video's newest release, featuring "Heavy Metal Wars" and "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide".
Advertisements
- Action Force Skystriker toy
- Action Force computer game for the Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum
Foreign Localization
- Swedish
- Title (1990 & 2021): "Stilla natt" ("Silent Night")
Cover
- Issue #145 cover: Starscream sneers at your Christmas, by Barry Kitson & Robin Bouttell.
Issue #145
Reprints
- Transformers Collected Comics #11 cover: Starscream decorating a Christmas tree, by Robin Smith.
- Transformers: Second Generation cover: Defensor fights Bruticus, by Lee Sullivan.
- Best of Starscream cover: Starscream, by Klaus Scherwinski.
- Classics UK Volume 4 cover: Rodimus and Galvatron fight whilst Scorponok squeezes Highbrow and Goldbug rides Wreck-Gar, by Andrew Wildman.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 12: Cosmic Carnival: Skullgrin and the Cosmic Carnival by Don Figueroa, Frank Springer and Danny Bulanadi.
Collected Comics #11 (Marvel Comics UK, 1988)
Transformers: Second Generation (Titan Books, 2005)
Best of Starscream
(IDW Publishing, 2010)
Classics UK Volume 4 (IDW Publishing, 2013)
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 12: Cosmic Carnival (Hachette Partworks, 2018)
