Notes: Fierceawakening, I'm really glad to hear you say you like these even though you're not a BW fan. That lets me know I'm doing something right.
How unhappy are they who have a gift that's left to germinate in darkness.
Waspinator is not -and never has been- a soldier.
He's not especially qualified to be one, either.
He has never received any battle training. Given the fact that he's not built to be a soldier, this makes perfect sense. His frame is small and breakable, almost as if he's meant to disassemble at the slightest touch. This leaves him more of a liability than an asset. It's why he's become a bit of a joke.
His weaponry isn't particularly powerful. The damage he can do is minimal at best, excluding his own impressive explosions when he gets shot down or crashes. Mostly, no one takes him as a serious threat, because he isn't one.
Waspinator also has problems with processing; something in his mind isn't quite right. All the information is there, but it gets mixed up easily. The messages don't relay properly, or perhaps it's just the result of one too many crashes. Whatever it is…His hand-eye coordination and depth perception aren't all that stellar. Sometimes, it takes him longer to process commands than it takes others. These limitations don't mesh well with the fast pace of war.
He flusters easily. He gets distracted even easier.
And that is why he screws up.
He is, however, a competent pilot. Put him behind the controls of a shuttle and he can do amazing things. For all his shortcomings, there is nothing wrong with his memory and he's long since memorized the control panel of the average ship. Some of the not-so-average ones as well. Flying is what he was created to do. He knows what to do and he's good at doing it.
It's just that he never gets to.
He always says he has plans; big plans. When he's buzzed on sugar, he can go on and on for hours, twittering about how he's superior to every one, how he should be the boss. He talks to himself, any one, no one about going home, defecting, showing them all! He knows that Megatron is a fool, albeit a brilliant fool, and sometimes pretends he could do better.
But…That's all just talk. Sometimes, he needs to let off steam, because Waspinator is trapped in a cycle of violence and failure brought on by circumstances beyond his control.
He may say he has plans, but his only real goal in life is to prove to every one that he doesn't fail as spectacularly as they think.