Star Scream

Light fruity and floral notes with occasional citrus or peach undertones and a clean, fast-building heat that lingers. Bitterness is usually minimal once the initial burn settles.

Star Scream is a Capsicum chinense hybrid producing 2.5–5 cm peach-to-cream pods with heavily bumpy, gnarly skin and frequent Reaper-like scorpion tails or stingers. Pods ripen from light green through intermediate tones to a creamy peach finish, with medium walls. Plants form classic chinense bushes or small trees reaching 90–130 cm and are productive once established, though late-season. The variety remains somewhat unstable across generations but has stabilized toward consistent shape and stingers in F5+ lines.

Created by Pennsylvania grower James Mallon as a deliberate cross of Jay’s Red Ghost Scorpion × Yellow Carolina Reaper. Named by his then six-year-old son after the Transformers Decepticon Starscream. Note that this is distinct from the similarly named StarrScream / KS StarrScream series independently created by Khang Starr, which is a separate medium-hot chocolate or Thai-type cross with different parentage and heat. The Mallon line has been shared among superhot enthusiasts since at least 2019 and continues to be refined for more consistent pod shape and stingers in later filial generations.