Good to hear you've made peace with it. 
I tried the 'Micro system' by the book when I upped my game to real modeling back in the '70s...and after repeated examples (most with Micro Scale's own decals, I might add)...I was never very impressed. Seemed like a lot of dithering for mediocre results. Then one day at the tiny hole-in-the-wall LHS, I saw the last, literally dusty bottle of something called 'Solvaset' on the shelf -- with aged, slightly-sepia-tinted plastic bottle and a peeling label design that looked like it dated to the late '40s -- and asked the clerk/owner about it. He mumbled something about 'model railroaders'...and offered me 75% off, I'm sure just to get that last dusty bottle out of the place.
Sold.
(Hey, in 1970s money, that probably saved my poor high-school-student self a whole dollar! 
)
Anyway, I took it home...dusted it off...and the stuff changed my life.
MicroScale decals slurped right down like shrink-wrap.
Stiff vinyl-looking Monogram decals would actually conform and adhere to a surface.
Even AMT and MPC kit decals -- which ordinarily had all the flexibility of sheet aluminum -- would...well, they'd do better. (I wasn't expecting miracles.)
When I joined IPMS and started reading their periodicals, I would see Solvaset mentioned...always with dire hand-wringing warnings, as though it were some sort of nuclear byproduct. Tales of decals (and paint finishes) melting like some Nazi's face in "Indiana Jones" were the rule. I eventually just assumed they'd changed the formula since my 1947 bottle, and that the new stuff was more like hydrochloric acid.
When my precious bottle was nearing empty, I checked the voluminous mail-order catalog for a well-known NYC-area hobby retailer, and was delighted to see it available to order. I got the new stuff (in a nice crystal-clear glass bottle, with snow-white label paper and laser-sharp printing) and...cautiously...tried it out.
It was the same docile and dependable stuff I'd first encountered...and it's all I've ever used since.
I will admit it is probably as 'hot' as other modelers have said it is...which to me just means it tends to work satisfyingly fast. Once applied, you can't do much poking or wrangling of the decal, but when you know that ahead of time you just work extra-patiently to make sure you've got your proverbial ducks in a row. You obviously can't leave the decal soaking in a big puddle of the stuff...but I would presume that to be the case for any such product.
What I typically do is put a drop of water on the model surface where the decal will go...lay the decal in it's proper position...then touch a drop or two of Solvaset to a corner, so capillary action will draw it both over and under the decal surface (and slightly dilute it at the same time). After about 30 seconds (or whatever seems right, watching the decal), I'll touch a cloth or tissue to a corner to wick away the excess, as the decal just sort of settles into position. As it continues to soften and settle, I'll occasionally use a damp cotten swab -- usually gently 'rolled' -- to nudge the decal down over lines of rivets or other surface features, as required.
After an hour or two, the decal will usually look 'snug'...but not that impressive. But almost always overnight, it will be drum-tight and conforming like paint. Any leftover bubbles or not-sucked-down areas can be pricked with a needle or scored with a new #11 blade, and re-treated.
Simple, elegant, and no drama. (And just as an FYI, I've used it on delicate laser-printed aftermarket decals and my own fairly delicate home-inkjet-printed ones, with the same success.) In the nearly half-century (gulp!) I've been using the stuff, I don't recall ever having had a decal melt or seriously deform when applied as outlined above.
Thank you for patiently enduring my Ted-Talk. Solvaset isn't bad or scary: it's just another tool you have to learn how to use, like an icepick, a chainsaw or a laser thermographer.
Thank you, and good night! 