10 Things We Want From Netflix's Transformers: War For Cybertron
4. Shades Of Grey 1: The Heroic Autobots
Heroic Autobots, and Evil Decepticons.
We've all heard those descriptors applied to the two main groups in the Transformers franchise, but the more interesting takes on the war always live in shades of grey.
There's no doubting that Optimus Prime in the original Marvel UK comics was heroic. He fought for under the assumption that freedom was the right of all sentient beings, after all. He was also racked with guilt about bringing the war to Earth and putting humanity in the Decepticons' sights. Ordering his soldiers to protect the humans at all costs, his doubts came to the surface whenever they were injured carrying out those commands.
In the more recent comics, the Autobots were complacent enough to let tyranny rise in their government without even questioning it, as they weren't the ones being affected. It was only in the early days of the war that, inspired by some key Decepticon figures, the first Autobots truly turned against the status quo. And, following the war, it was an Autobot unable to let go of the fight who turned into a serial killer.
Every army is made of soldiers, as flawed as the rest of us, and they should be portrayed as such.