AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Within IDWverse (ignoring AHM) the Decepticons aren't villains.
They didn't start that way and there are elements that still don't view Megatron's ideas in a violent way, like Soundwave and his faction.
Then there's stuff like Grindcore. MTOs made of faces. Bludgeon's approach to titan hunting - no titans? Blow up the natives. Shockwave's cold detachment as he wages proxy wars and seeds worlds just to see what happens, ignoring consequence. Phase six. Galvatron's ruthless execution of General Witwicky. Scorponok's plans in Monstrosity, or even Megatron's betrayal in Autocracy, or Overlord's killing sprees, or mouth flowers which reminds me that yeah, Grindcore, look that up.
The Decepticons
are still portrayed as villains. Decepticonism is, like most actual ideologies, not inherently evil or violent. The story has developed over time in a meaningful way by exploring what kind of system could give rise to an ideology like that, what could go wrong with it, and yes, the moral ambiguity that might be necessary to combat it when it does go wrong.
There are layers upon layers upon layers and while it's occasionally tempting to want "good guys vs bad guys", that's not how the world operates most of the time and I don't want a fictional universe that wants to be taken seriously to be that way either. They've towed that line at times, but in most of these stories if things
are whittled down to good/bad, righteous/wicked, just/unlawful, you wind up at Autobot/Decepticon. There are prominent examples to the contrary in Tyrest, Getaway, Star Saber, Pharma, and more, but internal Autobot villainy is a factor that gave rise to Decepticons in this continuity in the first place.
I could go on but I'm sure I probably lost my point 50 words ago.