exactly! This is what I always say about Flint but better.
I WAS annoyed at him during the first season. but mostly because having started watching almost ten years after the ending, through fandom's exposure I was lead to believe exactly what op said, that Flint was a radical figure since the beginning working for a revolution, and so I found his lack of radicalism and vague project of recreating a standard colony with himself (or one of his ally) as the head of the new power structure kind of boring, and not enough of a noble goal to justify all the personal sacrifice and sacrifice of life made in the name of this goal.
Which doesn't mean that I can't enjoy character whose politics I don't agree with or think they are outdated, but because Flint was hyped to me as a character working toward a revolution since the beginning (even if I know the reasons for it would have been explained later), I was underwhelmed by his lack of not-individualistic revolutionary sentiment.
I like Flint as a symphatetic tyramn in season one, I didn't root for him or see him as a revolutionary hero because well. He didn't sold me ideas that I found inspiring enough.
And "discovering" (what I already know) that he was gay in season two didn't change this fact.
Now I do love Flint more but because I have understood him as a character whose sense of community and understanding of the world are meant to change and grow with time and experiences, and in season one he thougght he was at the end of his journey but he was actually always in the beginning.
And I think he is a good character because his flaws and blind post that get either overlooked or demonizes by many fans (or others characters) in early seasons change and mellow gradually in a very human way.
So yeah season 3/season 4 Flint (no spoiler for the end please) is in a very different place, politically, ideologically and even in term of how he has learned to interact with the people fighting with him (and not anymore just FOR him) than season 1 Flint, or even season 2 Flint.
And while "character did nothing wrong" is a common form of fandom joke, I think thinking that for real about Flint and esp to discuss early seasons Flint makes very difficult to appreciate his journey from individualistic rage to working with others to end all oppressions (including the ones who don't affect him personally, like slavery or racism).
And also his growth from a self-made tyramn who didn't listen or respect anyone's opinion others than his own and felt disdain for the very people he said he was fighting for ("fuck these men, fuck their short-sight" very understable sentiment regard Dufrene and his band of idiots but also you can't say you are going on a mission for the future of men like this while also constantly thinking of yourself as innately superior and smarter than them in any occasion lol) to a leader who is willing to discuss military strategies with co-leaders he respect, and who listen to them, and feels a genuine desire to improve the life of the people fighting his war, for theirs own sake, and not just for honoring the memory of a ghost from his past.
Which doesn't mean Flint stop being a general or a very closed-off individual, but you know. Now he has more radical and less individualistic ideas for a better world and respect more the people close to him and fighting alongside him, and those two things are connected.
And deny that he does NOT have them in the beginning of the show is denying his journey (painful, but also full of surprise and new bonds) that brought him here.