SG!Shrapnel Headcanon
As the war went on and Shrapnel saw more and more damage, he determined that the Autobots could not be trusted, their methods far too cruel and damaging to the world. Upon joining with Bombshell and Kickback in the name of survival, they decided to join the Decepticon resistance. Shrapnel found himself at home with the Decepticons, picking up menial tasks and archival work to earn his keep since he wasn’t combat-savvy.
He’s highly skittish and can be classified as a bundle of nerves on a good day. He is consistently surprised when he wakes up the next day and responds to it with hopeful enthusiasm despite the full, neurotic expectation that he’s going to die. As such, he ends up being a somewhat cheerful, somewhat paranoid mech. He’s inherently distrustful of Autobots as a rule, but working under Starscream has convinced him that they can’t be all bad. However after years of seeing their atrocities, he’s surprisingly resilient when faced with their nonsense.
He’s nearly phobic of touching other bots due to the irregularity of his mod, double- and triplechecking before making any kind of contact. He’s completely fascinated by humans, especially by their sentience as an alien species, and is trying to design a way to make rubber gloves large enough so he can touch them without worrying over their safety.
The electrical mod, always functioning when attached to him, draws at all times from his fuel levels. In order to help modulate it, he keeps his fuel levels to the minimum level he can without risking stasis. However, this habit often goes ignored since he’s usually seen snacking throughout the day to keep his levels steady. The only time he refuels more than his “diet” allows is when he knows he’s going into a combat-situation, prepping himself for a heavy draw on his fuel levels for the mod. So used to functioning on low energon levels, drinking even low-grade in excessive amounts can cause him to get a little tipsy.
He resigned his mod a little bit upon arriving on Earth, tweaking it cosmetically to fit his chosen altmode of a stag beetle. In addition to his mod, his visor is specifically calibrated to make up for the size difference between himself and his specimens. He rarely loses any insects if they’re in his sight, the visor functioning almost like binoculars while offering technical readouts if data already exists.
He keeps extensive records on the species he encounters, especially those of insects. As such, he’ll often tend to base records when not performing menial patrol or monitor shifts.
