Love the thought concept of Knock Out going as high as he does in medic ranks due to seekers generally trusting him more than, let’s say, gladiator medics. Of course the only medics available to the Decepticons are ones who worked on gladiators in Kaon. Any other medics who tried to join were rightfully hunted down as a fixed Decepticon is a dangerous Decepticon. Seekers wouldn’t trust gladiator medics near their delicate wiring, not to mention their wings. Knock Out is a similar size, sometimes smaller than bulkier seekers, and is viewed as having a more steady servo.
(I know Starscream is lanky and only has like a couple inches on Knock Out but I imagine there’s a wide variety of height in flight frames.)
Comedically Knock Out joining the Decepticon expecting to do light medical work and mainly be a grunt because his only knowledge is cosmetic reforms; suddenly getting flocked (ha pun) because it got out he knew basic welding and has the razor thin talons like seekers.
And Knock Out going from faceless recruit to on-call medic for the Elite Trine in days, maybe weeks. It’s very common to be woken up in the middle of the night by Skywarp needing his shoulder joint popped back in. Knock Out had to learn on the fly (another pun) by wringing out information from the stubborn fliers on how to fix them. He picked up the basics of their language because they refused to speak standard half the time.
Just, Knock Out accidentally becoming a seeker favorite despite being a grounder.
