Hello Razorbrewer and welcome. I'll take a swing at this one:
First of all, this being a lager yeast and not an ale yeast means two things to me: 1) it becomes useless to compare one to the other (even comparing two different ale yeasts is dicey); and 2) since I've never used lager yeast, I don't know what I'm talking about so all bets are off.
Second, even if you skipped making a starter on previous batches (with ale yeast), I would always make a starter when using liquid cultures, no matter what the vial says.
Third, buckets don't always seal perfectly, there's much more opportunity for leakage meaning you can't judge too much by airlock activity.
Fourth, your fermentation did start, yes? So, all is good! Two months from now when you are enjoying a beer, the extra 24 hours you had to wait will be rather meaningless.
Finally, I've had my eyes on that 1554 clone, so I want a full report when you're done. Deal?