The idea of Orion being the thrill-seeking rule-breaker and D-16 being a stickler for the rules somehow just works so much better than what Exodus established with Orion being a rule-follower who has his eyes opened to the possibility of change by Megatron already being a violent radical who wants to tear down the system.
This movie basically inverted what Exodus did with the two and made it work so much better.
The Aligned version always rubbed me the wrong way because Megatron as this miner turned gladiator had hints of "he was always a violent psychopath wasn't he?" which is a far less interesting character.
Maybe it's just me, but I didn't read the story in Exodus as "D-16 opens Orion Pax's eyes" so much as I read it as "idealistic and naive bookworm Orion Pax falls for violent brute using populist ideals to mask his own lust for power."
That is itself a poignant narrative and sure you could go in that direction, but if you really want to sell Orion Pax and D-16 as legitimate friends as close as brothers then I think TF One's inversion works perfectly.
Megs doesn't come off as a violent, power hungry tyrant in waiting. He comes off as a dutiful and well-intentioned guy happy to just do his job and rise up the ranks on his own merit because he believes in the system. His later violence to the point of burning down everyone and anyone who hasn't specifically pledged allegiance to him is understandable because of that earlier devotion and belief in the system. He was lied to. He was duped. He believed in someone who not just lied to him and sold out his home, he took a vital part of who he could be before he was even online.
His anger is far more relatable because he was content to be someone who played by the rules before he realized the rules were all rigged.
Meanwhile Optimus Prime's belief in higher ideals and a desire to build a better Cybertron through those ideals rather than violence is reflected in Orion Pax's nature in this movie. Even when he's content with the status quo for the most part, he sees problems and wants to fix them. Not by hurting people who stand in his way, but by proving his ideals are right.
He doesn't join D-16 on the "anger to the point of political violence" journey because he already had some doubts about things and beliefs in how things could be better.
You see this in the cave scene. Alpha Trion shows them the truth about Sentinel Prime and his regime and Orion responds downtrodden and upset, but he says "I always knew something didn't feel right."
Meanwhile D-16 stews in his anger and rage until he erupts with a loud declaration that he wants to make Sentinel suffer slowly before killing him.
But while this movie sees him taking initiative and wanting more out of life (basically like a Disney Renaissance-era protagonist), I never got the impression he wanted to take over and become an authority figure.
Exactly. His big plan is to find the Matrix
for Sentinel. He's a hothead and not content but he's also not a revolutionary and fully buys into the broad strokes version of Sentinel's regime. He doesn't want to find the Matrix to be a Prime, he wants to find the Matrix and give to the Prime he believes in.
He's still very much an unwilling protagonist, and only really steps up to stand up to D-16 when D-16 starts thinking he can pave a path to peace with blood (or energon as the case may be). He even sacrifices himself for someone he knows to be a despicable Quisling not because he's on his side, but because he just can't let D-16 build a "new order" on a foundation of political violence.
He goes from wanting to find the Matrix
for someone else to being chosen by it due to a selfless sacrifice.
