🐸 while I wasn't on tumblr back then, I remember very well that a LOT of the writers (some of whom were fans with their own fics under different pen names) during the height of idw found it funny to hate on the Japanese continuities' shows/manga/exclusive characters and justified it by saying it was too weird or childish. And the average idw fan at the time would parrot those same opinions on forums too.
I wouldn't be surprised that there's more people who were fans of star saber and many of the other Japanese characters from zone, victory and masterforce, etc. who were uncomfortable with their idw iterations; but they didn't say anything out of fear of backlash from those same idw fans.
(I think drift and windblade also faced similar backlash too at the time, because their designs leaned too "anime" for their taste)
That tracks, particularly with James Roberts who does have a somewhat notorious edgy fanfic called Eugenesis (tragically, there's a segment of it that my sister thinks encapsulates Prowl pretty well but it doesn't reflect in what Roberts actually wrote for IDW).
One of the most frustrating facets of the complaints about stories being childish is that... Transformers is a franchise for children! And, to be frank, I don't think that much of IDW1 is much more mature, a lot of it being that "I'm 14 and think this is deep!" approach. Is Star Saber being a religious zealot inherently more nuanced than him being the foster father of a human child? No. Is Metalhawk being an idiotic and manipulative pacifist inherently more nuanced than him being the long term protector of Earth? No. (I hate IDW Metalhawk, even before watching SGM.) SGM Overlord is actually quite fascinating (and the pinnacle of the last few episodes). If these shows were meant for an older audience, the writers would write for an older audience, but it's not so they don't. It's not like the original cartoon didn't have a lot of weird or childish moments either.
Hot take, but nothing in IDW1 beats Dinobot's character arc in Beast Wars.
To be honest, some IDW1 fans come off just like geewunners.
