Quote Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper
JMO but this is why I like the determinist G1 cartoon Quintesson civilian/military hardware origin story better - as well as the potential for both 'races' to complement each other ('cons go out and gather resources through conquest, 'bots stay home and keep the planet running) and avoiding the IMO hamfisted 'divine/supernatural origin' BS, also allows for more interesting moral questions: can the 'cons be blamed for being warlike if that's their basic nature? It also means that those who do defect will have greater impact due to the comparative scarcity & going-against-their-nature bit a la BW Dinobot, and that the Autobots' conscious choice to fight becomes that much more impressive (as well as giving a logical reason for the 'cons being more powerful, since the bad guys are generally supposed to be more powerful from a story POV).
The movie origin is kinda like that too - the Transformers who became Decepticons under the leadership of Lord High Protector Megatron were soldiers in Cybertron's defence forces and fought in the front line. Optimus Prime and the Transformers who became Autobots were relagated to more 'back seat' duties such as guarding the AllSpark and conducting excavations and doing scientific research etc. Ironhide was part of the advanced defence forces and would've been part of Megatron's Decepticons, but early on in the piece he felt morally conflicted after the Cybertronian military reorganised itself as the Decepticon army, and defected to the Autobots.

RE: Defiance.