I suppose that's fair enough-- I've been in the fandom for less than a year, and while the local comic shop has some selection, it's mostly old Marvel and Dreamwave issues, with the occasional "Best of UK" or Spotlight Arcee (which I have yet to grab, mostly because it sounds like EPIC WTF in the bad way). So, in my case, a stand-alone story about Mirage was right up my alley.
Personally, I bought Prime's surrender-- they're the last, what, four? Autobots left alive, and they were losing the fight, and they were offered surrender by someone who used to be a friend... there's more hope in being a prisoner than there is in being dead. So, yeah.
But then, as said, I haven't read much of the IDW G1 'verse~ so perhaps you're right.