#from the constant ideation and hero worship he receives as a paragon who does no wrong?

[lord-squiggletits]

People can like or dislike IDW Optimus based on their personal tastes as much as they like, I think the thing that just annoys me about IDW OP hate is that a lot of it just boils down to "he isn't nice/good and I feel uncomfortable" which like is literally the fucking point

Barber (for all his writing's flaws) did not write a story dissecting intergenerational racism, colonialism, systemic oppression, privilege, the inherent fallibility of deifying regular mortal beings, the emotional and societal toll of a lifetime of war, and much, much more for you to look at IDW OP and go "but he's an asshole therefore he's bad." Like god it's literally missing the entire point of the story. Yes he's an asshole, yes he fucks up in catastrophic and tyrannical ways, yes it's uncomfortable to read. And why shouldn't it be given the subject matter it's tackling?

How would it have been better writing for Optimus to somehow magically be the one untouched, pure, sweethearted, morally unquestionable paragon of heroism in an entire universe whose central tone is "everyone here is fucking dysfunctional and traumatized and has bias about SOMETHING" and that constantly explores themes around stuff like the abuse of power and culpability for one's own actions? Hhhhhh