There’s one scene in this issue that truly, 100% makes me sad. And it’s the one where Ratchet tries to give Rodimus a pep talk.

This is how most of his crew sees Rodimus. Ratchet talks to him like a child, and then decides the level he needed to talk to him at was “lower than he thought.” I know it’s supposed to be funny. It’s a joke. But that actually makes it sadder.

That’s how they see him. As a joke.

The character to actually do it, though?

Whirl.

Because Whirl KNOWS people. More importantly, he knows people like himself. Self-loathing people.

Rodimus didn’t need to be pepped the way he’d do it to someone else. Because that’s not really how he feels, especially right now. Whirl talked down to him, but in a way that Rodimus appreciated at the moment. One that kicked him in the aft and reminded him who he was and what he was fighting for.

Look at Ratchet’s face in the panel you see him in. Rodimus is looking directly at him here. “Then you seriously misread my character.” Rodimus doesn’t think it’s funny. He doesn’t like being talked down to like a child. He knows the image he puts forth, he’s pointed out before that he’s completely aware. But he doesn’t want people to think less of him for it.

He doesn’t want people to see him for how he behaves. He wants people to see him for what he DOES. He’s a person of action. If he wants something done, he’ll do it. He doesn’t care if anyone else thinks he can.