Interesting... Wyatt really wanted to get Frankenstein in there, didn't he? Lockdown's original design's also had a strong Frankenstein monster vibe.

When I said "bomb-related" names, I guess I was thinking of stuff along the lines of "Ground Zero" (a bit too loaded these days), Dropzone, Payload, Warhead... stuff like that.

Fat Man works better than Little Boy at least.  

zmog

 

There's a difference between qualities and qualifications. Obviously he's qualified to be a scientist but I'm talking about his characterization.

Again, see above.

Not at all. Knock Out seems consistently more interested in other things not related to his job. It's not just following orders. Optimus tried to bring Ratchet along on missions a few times but it was Ratchet who suggested that his skills would be more useful at the base. Knock Out chooses to go out of the base without ever being ordered to. Both him and Breakdown have requested missions that are not related to their jobs. Knock Out looks for excuses to slack off that's, I think, at least part of why he conspired with Starscream rather than actually trying to repair Megatron.

A scientist no matter how qualified in terms of his intelligence, who is constantly trying to ignore his duties does not have any scientific qualities in terms of his character.