Or change the preferences so the function keys work as expected and you have to use the fn key to access the media options. I probably use the function keys 100x more often than the media ones.

There is option on Macs (and basically ever other computer) to flip that so Fn is required for media functionality instead.

You can change that setting, and I imagine most developers who rely on function keys do, so no I'm not already doing that.

Well then it's still exactly the same? You can either press fn or change your preferences. You opted for the latter. Do that again?

So the touchbar has a setting where it behaves precisely like the current MBP? Esc, row of 12 keys, which are either f1-f12 or media with a setting, and are toggled between with fn? That's strictly worse if I only ever use it like that because it's the same but with soft keys, but sure that's basically the same.