That is a very good question. He often seems competent, until Megatron returns. But, Megatron being so crazy and/or powerful, any loyal followers of Starscream soon are treated to a show of Starscream being punished and humiliated. It removes any confidence in Starscream.
Decepticons aren't good at teamwork. It's part of the moral message for the kids. If you make friends and have teamwork you can be winners.
And the probability that a highly militarized faction would have efficient chain of command, teamwork, etc. is kinda swept under the figurative carpet.
But, it would be nice to see more fics with a successful leader Starscream. For me, fics are often for 'fixing' what is forced or implausible about a fandom.
Also you may have the factors of charisma and leader-as-symbol in play. One thing that Megatron clearly beats Scremer in is charisma. Hitler himself largely succeeded due to this even thought he was far less competent than his compatriots. By the end of the war, this charisma had solidified him as the embodiment of The Cause so much that people were still willing to die for him in spite of is increasingly bad judgement and outright insanity. We could be seeing something similar going on with the Cons here.
Hey, it may be overdone, but it's the example I'm most readily familiar with. I'm not familiar enough with the workings of other batshit-insane-but-somehow-still-stay-on-top dictators. :D
You need to think more like a Decepticon! XD The Decepticons don't want things to go smoothly, they want a challenge. They love it when Megatron shows up and frags it all to the pit because then at least they're doing what they love. Even if they lose at least they're having fun! The Decepticons have great moral/spirit you know! XD Or at least that's how I've always explained it to myself....
Starscream should just form his own bleeding faction and wait for the other two to slag each other.
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Decepticons aren't good at teamwork. It's part of the moral message for the kids. If you make friends and have teamwork you can be winners.
And the probability that a highly militarized faction would have efficient chain of command, teamwork, etc. is kinda swept under the figurative carpet.
But, it would be nice to see more fics with a successful leader Starscream. For me, fics are often for 'fixing' what is forced or implausible about a fandom.
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Hey, it may be overdone, but it's the example I'm most readily familiar with. I'm not familiar enough with the workings of other batshit-insane-but-somehow-still-stay-on-top dictators. :D
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The Decepticons don't want things to go smoothly, they want a challenge. They love it when Megatron shows up and frags it all to the pit because then at least they're doing what they love. Even if they lose at least they're having fun! The Decepticons have great moral/spirit you know! XD
Or at least that's how I've always explained it to myself....
Starscream should just form his own bleeding faction and wait for the other two to slag each other.
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