I read Train wars: The origins and now I'm thinking about Nightbird again.
I will never find not disappointing that few appearences she has gotten recently make her a transformer, because I believe that she not being one has way more interesting implications. Transformers, while technically robots, are aliens. Nightbird is not an alien, she is a human made robot, and something the transformers as a whole look down on. Even the autobots can help but crack jokes at her expense.
So, upon gaining a conscience, where does she stand?
I don't know if this was the intention of the comic, but with the way it's framed it makes it seem like Shouki's "who am I?" is also Nightbird's, like Atari's words resonated with her in some way.
And who is Nightbird?
"Not good enough."
In her debut episode, Dr. Fujiyama says that Nightbird is "a bit primitive by autobot standars". In Train wars, he is able to create transformers, which leaves Nightbird as nothing more than a prototype. Even if Shadow (an IA created by Dr. Fujiyama) tries to help her by "upgrading" her, she is pretty much doomed to an existence of not feeling good enough, always being "less than".
And I think that would be something interesting to explore, how much of an outsider she is between transformers.
