Rodimus is a Better Prime

(Published Oct 1, 2020)

I just really love this detail in "Lost Light." It's in the background, not even the main focus of the panel, but Rewind is holding Rodimus' hand. He's scared, and he's comforted by holding the hand of his commander, and Rodimus, while reckless at times, is such a loving, caring leader that his men under his command feel safe and secure enough with him to do things like hand holding when they're uncertain. You'd never see anyone holding Optimus Prime's hand. No, Optimus carries himself more like a god, a superior king than Rodimus who is more of a friend to his soldiers, and just is the one who makes the final decision in the end. And I think this is one of the reasons why Autobots are more loyal to Rodimus than Optimus. Yes, all Autobots worship their Prime, Optimus, and refuse to ever leave him, but there's so much anger still towards Optimus. They blame him for many things, but you don't get that from Rodimus. And unlike Optimus, Rodimus doesn't send in Dinobots or other war-created monsters to do his dirty work. If he wouldn't do it himself he won't order anyone else to do it. Does Rodimus do stupid shit? Can he be immature? Absolutely. But he's also scared of his own power, his own faults, and is always trying to better himself. Optimus already believes himself to be best and belittles Rodimus and others. There's been cases of Optimus threatening people and that one issue where he stands over Starscream screaming at him, and Starscream is so scared he lowers his wings and doesn't even make optic contact... Remembering Megatron and the pain.... You'd think Optimus wouldn't take advantage of an abuse victim's PTSD to get his way, but he's not as righteous as the Prime worshipers would want you to believe. And most importantly, remember in "Chaos Theory" when Optimus asks Rodimus what it felt like bonding with the Matrix? And Rodimus was like, "It felt great! Like it was meant to be! I never felt better!" Meanwhile Optimus had confided in Ratchet that when he bonded with the Matrix it hurt him, he felt like he had to force it. And Rodimus used the power of the Matrix more than once. Say what you want about Rodimus' frat boy habits and playing dead when asked a difficult question (yes, this is canon), but any leader whose men will hold his hand and curl into him for comfort and feel this safe with him is better than a leader whose men are too scared to even touch him. (You could learn something, Megatron!)