>Recently completed a reread, and it was just as delightful.
>
>I feel compelled to ask, though: is Shingoji unaware of Olaf
>Petersson, or did she simply not recall in that moment that aspect of
>Optimus Prime?
>

All things considered, that aspect is probably highly classified. Komilia didn't know until after the fall of the WDF, and only figured it out by chance.

Given how many enemies Optimus has accumulated over the centuries, that's probably a secret that people work very hard to keep.

>
> In fact, I also went and re-read Transformers: Flesh
>and Steel, and noticed a peculiar detail: like a Friend, Optimus
>Prime's "beast" mode has clothes that are a part of him.
>Gives me the (deeply unlikely) idea that the transmode virus (or some
>mutated descendant thereof) might be a necessary factor in the
>creation of Friends.
>

That actually makes sense, although it might also be a combination of that, the unique energon on Meta Eridani III, and contamination from the stasis pods left over after the Beast Wars, plus a century-plus of who knows what going on.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.