Optimus Prime is given more moments where he shows that he does genuinely care about the human race, such as his interactions with Annabelle. And no, he did not let countless innocents in Chicago die so he could prove a point; he and the other Autobots just simply could not get there in time. When Prime sees the destruction the Decepticons are causing, he makes it clear that they will pay.
Megatron remains the intimidating and powerful leader of the Decepticons and does not get overshadowed by Sentinel Prime.
Viewpoints told from Starscream and Soundwave cement their most consistent charactertraits.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: In Summer Vacation, Sam gets nervous about the thought of marriage. In A Child's Innocence, he proposes to Mikaela.
Sarah Lennox's portrayal in this series as a very intimidating Mama Bear is even more hilarious when you remember that her actress, Samantha Smith, plays Mary Winchester in Supernatural who is practically the same character.
Annabelle in A Child's Innocence. She gets kidnapped by the Decepticons only a few chapters into the story. When she gets rescued by Chromia, she’s taken to the NEST base to discover that Sentinel Prime, who the Autobots thought to be a friend, betrayed them, killed Jolt and Flareup, and left Ironhide in critical condition. Then, she discovers that the world leaders are exiling the Autobots from Earth. ‘’Then’’, she watches as the Autobots are seemingly killed when the Xanthium explodes. Despite all of this, she still goes to Chicago even while it's being ravaged by the Decepticons to stop them and save Mikaela from Dylan because she feels like she has to do something to make sure the bad guys don't win.
Sam Witwicky. He's so desperate to get a job that actually allows him to make a difference in the world but he keeps failing to do so. He also misses his best friend, Bumblebee who is too busy with NEST missions. Then, Charlotte Mearing dismisses his heroics from Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, saying he's just "a messenger". Then, Dylan Gould kidnaps Mikaela to force him into being a spy for the Decepticons. It gets worse when Optimus Prime tells Sam that they are friends whilst Sam is in the middle of betraying them (unwillingly, of course) and he is unable to tell them that the Decepticons have Mikaela and are forcing him into betraying them. Then, he seemingly sees his friends die in the Xanthium explosion. This does not stop him from going to Chicago while it's being torn apart by the Decepticons to rescue Mikaela and stop the Decepticons.
Mikaela Banes, she gets kidnapped by Dylan to be used as a bargaining chip against her boyfriend, Sam. Then, Dylan takes her to Chicago and gets a front row seat to the devastation the Decepticons are causing. She cannot do anything in her situation and can only watch as countless innocent people are being killed by the Decepticons. This does not stop her from trying to escape. And when Sam, Bumblebee and Wheelie rescue her, she pulls off some rather impressivestunts against the Decepticons.
Optimus Prime gets betrayed by his former mentor Sentinel Prime who has killed Flareup and Jolt. He and the other Autobots are then forced to leave Earth because the world leaders think that their exile will keep the Decepticons from attacking. While the Autobots have no intention of leaving Earth, Optimus and the other Autobots are forced to listen to Annabelle pleading for them to answer her without being able to respond in order to keep the Decepticons from possibly discovering that they did not die in the Xanthium explosion. By the time Optimus and the Autobots reach Chicago, god know how many people have been killed. Optimus clearly does ‘’not’’ enjoy the fact that he practically let numerous innocent people die nor the fact that his former mentor and friend is now sided with his sworn enemy Megatron, but this does not keep him from being any less badass if his taking down of Shockwave's "Driller" bot or his three way battle with Megatron and Sentinel Prime are any indication.
On that note, all of the Autobots are this considering the loss they have suffered has not deterred them from continuously battling the Decepticons.
Even if Sentinel had a point that Cybertron could only be saved by allying with Megatron, it's quickly lost when he kills Jolt and Flareup. Not to mention the fact that said plan to save Cybertron includes enslaving the entire human race to do the Cybertonians' bidding.
Narm Charm: The entire series runs on this, the idea of a little girl being such close friends with a giant alien robot fighter would be corny, but the author manages to make it genuinely heartwarming.
One-Scene Wonder: The katana-wielding Decepticon who fights Arcee, Mirage and Sideswipe in Chicago. Unlike the other nameless Decepticons, he completely avoids being Cannon Fodder and nearly manages to off-line the trio before Sideswipe finally takes him down for good.
Skids and Mudflap suffering a prank at the hands of Annabelle in Summer Vacation.
Judy and Ron Witwicky being almost entirely removed from the DOTM rewrite could be seen as this considering how disliked they are.
In Dark of the Moon, Carly Spencer was criticized for rarely contributing to the plot outside of convincing Megatron to turn on Sentinel Prime by playing to his ego. In A Child's Innocence, Annabelle not only contributes more to the plot than Carly did but also manages to convince Megatron to turn on Sentinel Prime, only she does it by complete accident. Additionally, whereas Carly was Bullying a Dragon, Annabelle is much more cautious around Megatron.
Prince+Pondincherry: There's something sort of hilarious about Annabelle taking over Carly's role here. It's like you're saying her role was so lame, a child could do it. Although it's pretty funny that, as you pointed out, Annabelle had more of a survival instinct than Carly did in this scene. And yeah, it's somehow entirely in-character for both of them. Wow.
Another one towards Carly occurs when Bumblebee presents rings to Sam and Mikaela, unlike DOTM where Sam does not go through with it, Sam actually goes through with proposing to Mikaela.
The Woobie: Izabella appears in Not According to Plan (albeit a few years younger than in canon) where losing her parents to the Decepticons in Chicago was still recent to her.