That's it: my Em1.2 is gone before I destroy it.

On my E-M10 the drive modes have been set to the 'down' cursor key. On my G7 it is allocated at the factory to its own dial on top left of the body. On my other Panasonic cameras the drive modes are set to the same down cursor key as the Olympus. Indeed I set as many controls on as many cameras as possible to be in as near the same position as possible, of all brands. Some have more physical controls and Fn buttons than others but the closer they are customised to each other the easier it is to use multiple cameras without blowing any brain fuses.

Having read further than the original post, it seems obvious that the original poster has not learnt his camera's controls and has not customised them to make it intuitive for him to use.

Some little investment in time to learn the camera's controls is needed for every camera. But in this case it could probably have been sorted very quickly by using the 'fireworks' scene mode. Or just switching anti-shock [diamond] mode to another in the second shooting mode page in the menu or, if the cursor pads had been customised, by pressing the 'down' button and choosing one of shooting the modes without the diamond.

As you can tell, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Which should, if the OP knew his way around the camera, make it faster and more convenient to make it do what he wants. Not slower.

Every one of us is different of course, and if this amount of customisation isn't his cup of tea, or even if he can't get along with the Olympus way, yes, the camera is not for him. There's nothing wrong with that. If we were all the same, the world would be a very boring place.

For what it's worth, if forced to choose, I too would prefer the Panasonic menu system. However I'm so used to using multiple systems [Including Fuji] now that it is not something that bothers me at all. I'll use whatever is at hand and make the best of it.

I've only had my new and second Olympus O-MD camera a couple of weeks, so you can tell from the purchase that I have nothing at all against Olympus. I sold the Mk1 and found I missed it, so within three weeks I saw a bargain and bought a MkII.