Prisoners of War: Skyfire
Featured Cartoon Appearances: Fire in the Sky, Fire in the Mountain
Featured Comic Appearances: #11, #12
Fanfic Appearances: "The Skyfire Adventures" by Patrick Dilloway, "2001: Max's Transformers" by Stephen Bajzek
From what I've seen in the past years, Skyfire is one of the Transformers that awakens the most emotion from proponents of each faction. The big question that is often asked is "Is Skyfire a traitor?" Depending on who you ask, the answer can go either way. To answer it though, you really have to add some qualifers. How about this: "Is Skyfire a traitor from a military standpoint?" The answer to this one, whether you ask Megatron and Optimus or Space Ghost and Brak, will most likely be "yes." Let's face it, he was given the rights and responsibilities of defending the Decepticon cause and disregarded those. From my point of view, there is a catch. In another perspective, one I hold dear, Skyfire is one of the bravest individuals in the mythos.
Skyfire is given a fairly extensive backstory considering it was from a cartoon in the '80s. We know that Skyfire and Starscream were friends and collegues, both unaffiliated scientists. We also know that Skyfire was lost on Earth (coincidently enough) and that Starscream tried diligently to find his friend. With no luck, he returned to Cybertron and, sometime after this and before the Ark was lost, joined up with the Decepticons. We can fairly assume that the time between Skyfire's disappearance and the crash of the Ark was fairly great. After all, Starscream didn't rise to the rank of second-in-command of the Decepticon army overnight. What happens when Skyfire is found? Starscream comes to the rescue. He is quite anxious to awaken Skyfire, as Megatron notes. And this is understandable; they were friends, after all. Because of this friendship and Starscream's recommendation, he was allowed to join the Decepticons. Because of his size and power, he is given immediate duties. This was Megatron's biggest mistake. Starscream had given Megatron a basic rundown on Skyfire. Where in that description was it obvious that he would instantly join the Decepticons without question? Just because Skyfire is Starscream's friend does not solidify this. Megatron should have taken some time to feel the new recruit out before jumping to conclusions. The Decepticons gave no opportunity for Skyfire to reacclimate himself to his surroundings or to properly indentify with the Decepticon cause. The episode "Fire in the Sky" displays the relationship between Skyfire and Starscream after the former awakens. We see that Skyfire notices a change is his friend. Well, that's only logical. Starscream was awake and walking around after Skyfire was lost and had the opportunity to change. Skyfire, in stasis the entire time, did not. In "Fire in the Sky," Skyfire also admits his doubts to Starscream on several occasions. At first, Starscream is patient about these doubts and tells him that he'll grow to understand the cause. This patience does not remain, as the episode later depicts. Starscream shoots Skyfire and leaves him for dead because Skyfire didn't think it was right to shoot those who had never wronged him.
Later in the season, we see he does attack others even if they hadn't attacked him personally. But Skyfire didn't understand a couple of things just after he was awakened. One, he didn't understand the change in his friend, which must have seemed drastic to him and his shortened memory. Two, he didn't understand the war. I'm sure he experienced war in some form or another, but he was never shown to be an active participant in it. He didn't understand that in order to survive in the long run, those who are your enemy must be stopped. Skyfire later learned this with the Autobots, but could have easily done the same thing with the Decepticons with a bit more patience and understanding on their part. He would have been worth the effort merely because his size, power, and skill would have been a tremendous asset to their cause.
Haven't gotten to why I think he's brave yet, have I? Simply put, Skyfire did what he thought was right. He didn't want to perform acts that he would not be able to live with, despite his friendship with Starscream. But he owed Starscream, right? After all, it was because of him that Skyfire was even walking around. However, did Starscream really have the right to push something on Skyfire, something he *must* have known that his friend would not believe in? Starscream probably knows Skyfire better than anyone, so why couldn't he understand that some of the acts he himself willingly does, Skyfire would not? Think about "Fire in the Sky." Skyfire feels some animosity about causing harm to Spike and Sparkplug. While Starscream would think nothing of killing a human, Skyfire, as a scientist, would rather let them live in order to study them. Imagine yourself in a similar situation. If you didn't think this was right, would you do it just because a friend says to? If it's against what you think is morally right, you wouldn't do it. Starscream was no friend. Friends don't force you to do something you don't believe in and shoot you and leave you for dead when you don't. Skyfire owed Starscream nothing.
What Skyfire did was follow his own convictions. He answered the question "Is Skyfire a traitor to himself?" with a resounding "no." In doing so, he just happened to find himself an Autobot. Skyfire didn't ask to be a part of the war. The war was thrust upon him. He didn't shirk the duties he came to have, and with a bit more patience, these could have been skills lent to the Decepticons.
I would never say that the viewpoint held by others, that Skyfire is a traitor, is false. I simply have a different view. Both personal beliefs and loyalty to the cause you are a part of are important aspects to the war, and vital for your personal survival of it. But for those sitting on the fence with this debate, what it comes down to is this: When your beliefs differ from that of the cause you follow, do you find your own beliefs and convictions more important or do you find that of your cause to be the greater devotion? When you answer this, you will know what side of the debate you fall on.