Mid long reply to a comment only to realize I could not comment lmao
I did not care about Arcee's upgrade because it felt like an allusion to her being unable to wield power without a man's help. While Elita was about pushing to get what she needed regardless of any other's approval and I liked that more.
Seeing this back to back with Avatar specifically Korra vs the new female avatar is draining.
Elita has held out fighting on Cybertron while Optimus was asleep supporting an already long lost side of the war. With no Megatron anywhere, she's been contending with someone worse but she still survived and had the respect of all the forces remaining. Her going for the Matrix was logical. She was essentially, their leader while Hot Rod and the Void Rivals crew were not on the front lines.
Optimus looking her straight on begging to side with humans must have felt worse than a bucket of ice water. Or rather, an ocean of it.
And the fans (who hate women that are not perfectly subservient) are thirsty for her to die, or have Hot Rod steal the Matrix back as though that isn't literally what Elita did, or push Arcee to more importance because she's a good girl who would never disobey her patriarch.
The madonna whore comparison is spot on, and the comic is careening in a direction that supports it.
The only good thing that could possibly happen is if the next writer does the tried and true 'fuck that last guy' and un-writes the story to have Elita succeed.